Chapter 451: Black Zetsu's Body
Ishiro frowned. This little bit of black substance looked like a speck of dirt, very inconspicuous.
But he was the Tsuchikage. If this were an earth-based substance, with his sensory abilities and Earth Release standards, he would have been able to easily distinguish it. What's more, he was currently boosted by Sage Mode; his Mind's Eye sensory ability was incredibly powerful. Even the perception-shielding barrier that had been activated outside the laboratory could not block his Mind's Eye.
Therefore, this tiny black substance, though inconspicuous, still caught his attention.
Ishiro picked up a tool from the side, intending to clamp the substance and put it in a glass bottle.
Who would have known that the moment the clamp touched the substance, it would start to move as if it were alive?
It actively detached itself from the jar, fell to the ground, and then began to move quickly in a certain direction.
In the eyes of Ishiro and Ogura Saki, its movement speed was not particularly fast; both of them could easily catch it. But relative to its size, its speed was astonishing.
Holding the glass bottle, Ishiro aimed the mouth at the rapidly retreating speck and said softly, "Banshō Ten'in."
Then, the black substance, which had been about to touch the laboratory wall, immediately lifted off the ground and was accurately sucked into the bottle in his hand.
He put the cap on. Watching the substance that was still wandering around inside, constantly bumping against the glass, he became thoughtful.
He formed a hand seal and applied a Five Elements Seal to the glass bottle. The black substance immediately slowed down. Although it wasn't completely motionless, it felt much more sluggish and no longer rammed the glass.
"Affected by the seal?" Ishiro wasn't sure.
"Saki, go outside and call Katsumata in," he said after a moment,
"Got it." After agreeing, she communicated with the barrier team outside. Then, Katsumata, who had been maintaining the soul seal, came in.
Ishiro was well-prepared. Not only was Katsumata outside, but Akino Atsumi, the specialist in space-time ninjutsu, was also there.
"What level of soul seal can you cast?" Ishiro asked him.
Katsumata said, "It is much stronger than the seal I submitted to the village last time, but it is still far from being comparable to the Priestess's seal."
Ishiro nodded. "We don't need to compare it to the Priestess. Their constitution is special; there's no comparison."
"Come, I will undo the Five Elements Seal. You will cast your strongest soul-sealing jutsu on it," he said, pointing to the bottle in his hand.
"Yes," Katsumata replied.
A moment later, looking at the completely immobile black substance, Ishiro revealed a cold smile.
The soul seal was more effective than the elemental seal. This black substance was definitely a soul.
"It really is you, Black Zetsu!"
That's right, this little bit of black substance was a part of Black Zetsu's body, which he had attached to the jar to monitor its status.
Suddenly, Ishiro's interest in the ghost fire plummeted. He stared at the bottle in his hand, his eyes shining.
Who cares about researching some ghost fire? How can that compare to researching Black Zetsu's body?
Black Zetsu was the representative of the ultimate Yin Release in the ninja world. Perhaps hidden within it was the secret of how to get from mortal to sage.
Ogura Saki and Katsumata both sensed Ishiro's intense emotional fluctuations. Both were a little surprised. In their eyes, although he was unreliable, there was nothing that could make him this excited. Not to mention anything else, he hadn't shown such a strong emotional fluctuation even for the two shrines related to them.
They exchanged a glance, both developing an extreme interest in the black substance in his hand.
Ishiro applied another defensive barrier to the outside of the glass bottle, then put it away in his robes.
"Katsumata, if you guys research a stronger soul seal in the future, come to me at the first opportunity to replace the seal on this bottle," he said.
After hesitating for a long time, Ishiro decided not to study this part of Black Zetsu's body for now. His own level was still not high enough. He had to at least wait until their research on soul-sealing jutsu had made substantial progress. At the very least, he had to reach the level of being able to seal a Kage-level soul. At that time, he would learn the soul seal first, and then begin the research. Otherwise, the risk was too great. It would be bad if he accidentally let it run away or was controlled by it in a sneak attack.
Black Zetsu had this ability. In the original story, it could even control Obito, who possessed the Rinnegan. Although this part of the body was not large, its level was there. He had to be careful.
Hearing his words, Katsumata immediately agreed.
Taking a deep breath, Ishiro finally forced his attention back to the jar.
After careful observation, he came to a conclusion: this jar was very ordinary.
Perhaps the material was somewhat exquisite, but it was not like the monk statue in the previous shrine, which had a soul seal placed on it. There was nothing on this jar. Its function was truly just a simple container, used to house the magical life inside.
After a little thought, Ishiro knew that he had fallen into a mental trap.
In the first shrine, the function of the statue should have been to seal and suppress. That was why there was a seal on the carving and a special seal on the shrine itself.
But the function of the second shrine was clearly different. This shrine was enshrining this jar, or to be precise, the thing inside the jar. In the eyes of those believers, the thing in the jar was a god. How could they place a seal on their god?
After figuring this out, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Without a seal to isolate it, this existence in the jar had little power. This was enough to show its weakness.
It seemed he had overestimated the thing in this jar.
Ishiro signaled for Katsumata and Saki to go out. After leaving a shadow clone behind, he also left the laboratory.
Then, the shadow clone opened the jar alone.
"Phew." The shadow clone breathed a sigh of relief.
When the jar was opened, no world-shaking monster appeared. There was only a ball of blue flame inside.
But the next moment, the flame suddenly shot up, pouncing straight at its head.
Although this was only a shadow clone, and its reaction speed was far inferior to the main body, the clone had been on guard against the danger in the jar. So it easily dodged it.
The blue flame missed the clone, circled in the air, and then rushed at its head again.
The clone quickly formed hand seals. "Water Style!"
Doused by a C-rank water jutsu, the flame seemed to be in great pain. It no longer dared to approach and instead tried to flee the laboratory.
The clone didn't stop it, wanting to see what special abilities it had.
But it was doomed to be disappointed. This flame could not pass through walls, could not ignite other objects, and had no way to open or break through the door. It was as if it were just a harmless little flame.
But from its pounce just now, it was indeed full of malice towards the clone. It definitely had an offensive ability, but Ishiro just didn't understand it yet.
After thinking, he used a miniature Great Fireball Technique.
Since this blue flame is afraid of water, then it should be similar to a normal flame.
Ishiro had thought that since they were both flames, it might be able to absorb the Great Fireball to strengthen itself. But he had overthought it. After coming into contact with the fireball, the blue flame shrank by a circle, and even its flying speed slowed by a notch. It was clearly badly injured.
Then, he used his various other ninjutsu and found that all of them could attack the flame. Oh, calling it a "small flame" might be more appropriate now. After being experimented on by him for a while, although its size hadn't changed much, its brightness had clearly diminished a lot.
After thinking, the clone had the main body outside bring in some small animals.
As soon as a rabbit entered the lab, the blue flame pounced on its head.
The next moment, the rabbit began to struggle, but this process was not long. It soon died.
When the blue flame emerged from the rabbit's head, its color was clearly a bit brighter.
The shadow clone's eyes lit up, as if it understood something. It dispelled itself, passing its memories to the main body outside.
Ishiro's main body hesitated for a moment, then gave a few instructions to Katsumata and the others, and entered the laboratory.
Seeing that life had entered again, the blue flame once again pounced on his head, but it was immediately struck by a water jutsu, its light dimming.
Next, Ishiro threw another rabbit to it.
The result was the same as before. The flame entered the rabbit's head, then came out, and after coming out, it became a little brighter again.
Ishiro took a deep breath. This time, he felt it. This blue flame was forcibly absorbing the rabbit's soul.
Unlike the shadow clone, his main body's Yin Release level was sufficient, and his sensory ability was also sufficient, so he could roughly understand what had happened after the flame entered the rabbit's body.
He didn't know what this blue flame's original existence was, but now he had confirmed one of its abilities: devouring souls.
It had ignited the rabbit's weak soul like firewood, and the energy released after ignition was absorbed by it.
It was a very broken ability. In an instant, Ishiro thought of many uses for it.
But no matter which method of use, there was a fatal flaw: this flame was too weak.
The ninja he needed to deal with were not weak, and this flame couldn't even get close to them. If it were to devour a certain number of souls, it might become strong enough to resist ninjutsu attacks. But he knew that this flame was uncontrollable. Releasing it would harm both the enemy and himself.
I'll keep it for now. Maybe one day it will have a special use.
At least I got a part of Black Zetsu's body. Although building the laboratory was a bit expensive, I feel it's not a loss.
Picking up the jar again, he, just as he had dealt with the part of Black Zetsu's body, used Banshō Ten'in to suck the blue flame back into the jar.
Gently putting the lid on, the blue flame could no longer cause any trouble. Apart from dealing with souls, it had almost no other abilities. The ghost fires it created were most likely just for preying. When this blue flame was strong, the ghost fires it created could probably easily devour the souls of ordinary living beings. It only needed to stay in the jar, and it could strengthen itself by devouring souls through the ghost fires.
But he wasn't afraid now. In its current state, the ghost fires it created probably couldn't even deal with a single rabbit.
However, Ishiro was still very cautious and placed a seal on the jar.
After finishing, he left the lab with the jar and had Katsumata, who was waiting outside, apply a soul seal to it as well.
Ishiro patted the jar and said to Saki, "Alright, there's nothing more here. This ghost fire looks like a flame but it's not. It's related to the soul."
"Right now, this thing is useless. We'll seal it up for now. If there's a special need in the future, we can take it out to use."
Saki nodded, a little disappointed. She had thought she had encountered some special fire-attribute energy. Maybe she could have used this flame to improve her Blaze Release.
(End of Chapter)
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