Inside a room within the Konoha research facility.
Chakra surged like a howling gust of wind.
Kabuto Yakushi observed the White Zetsu in the chamber, his hands swiftly forming hand seals.
This White Zetsu wasn't genuine—it was pieced together from lab-grown White Zetsu cells.
In other words, it had no soul.
Under the pull of chakra, the White Zetsu trembled continuously, surrounded by floating shards of light that resembled scattered paper.
But after a brief moment, it collapsed to the ground once again.
No revival occurred as expected.
"No way around it—we need a live sacrifice," Natsume said with some regret.
"Remember to capture a few alive," Kabuto reminded him, lowering his hands.
Natsume nodded and turned to leave.
White Zetsu mainly came from two sources:
First, humans transformed under Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Second, White Zetsu cultivated from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path using Hashirama cells.
The army of one hundred thousand White Zetsu during the Fourth Great Ninja War had all been produced using the second method.
Although these two types were quite similar, the first type was clearly superior in strength.
After Natsume's Dragon Vein time travel, to avoid excessive butterfly effects, he had Kaguya create many White Zetsu units.
The White Zetsu currently controlled by Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu were actually his doing.
He didn't know whether they'd already been deployed.
But that didn't matter.
At the moment, White Zetsus were just surveillance tools.
In other words, there should already be some inside Konoha Village.
Natsume entered Sage Mode, enhancing his sensory perception.
Shortly afterward, he captured two White Zetsu.
He came back quickly.
Kabuto couldn't help but exclaim, "So soon?"
"It wasn't that hard," Natsume replied, dropping the unconscious White Zetsu onto the floor. "Begin the summoning."
Kabuto nodded and resumed forming hand seals.
This time, it worked.
The White Zetsu gradually transformed into the appearance of a young girl—Rin Nohara.
She looked bewildered at the two unfamiliar teenagers before her.
"Didn't I… die?"
Pure Land.
It was essentially equivalent to the underworld.
When any ninja died, their soul would enter the Pure Land,
retaining all memories from the living world.
For example, the Sage of Six Paths had once summoned the previous Kage who had passed away.
They had been exactly the same as when they were alive.
"You died, but now you're back," Natsume paused before saying, "though you're not really alive either—you're only staying in this world temporarily because of this technique."
"Who are you?"
Rin seemed to understand the situation, her voice calm and steady. "Why bring me back?"
Perhaps because she'd already died once, she stayed calmer than expected.
"I'm the Sixth Hokage—Natsume."
Natsume responded.
"The Sixth?"
Rin hesitated for a moment, asking, "How long have I been dead? How did it reach the Sixth already?"
Her memories were still stuck on the era of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze—
her teacher.
To her, Minato had been so young—he should have lived much longer.
"It'll take too long to explain everything now," Natsume said with a light chuckle. "Maybe it's better if someone you'd like to see explains it to you instead."
"Kakashi, is he doing okay?"
After being reminded, Rin Nohara quickly asked.
She didn't ask about Obito Uchiha because he had died earlier.
"Not really."
Natsume shook his head and said, "Ever since the two of you passed away, he's seemed quite withdrawn."
On hearing this, Rin's face fell.
She had expected it, so she wasn't taken aback.
"Where is he?"
Rin pleaded, "Please, I need to see him."
Since her revival, she had felt restricted. She could sense she was under control, unable to move freely.
"To avoid scaring people, you'll stay here for now," Natsume said after a brief pause. "As for Kakashi, I'll make sure he comes to see you."
It was definitely worth planning how to make the most of Rin's presence.
There was no rush though.
Besides, letting her meet Kakashi Hatake would probably earn quite a bit of destiny value.
He just wasn't sure if Rin would be able to contribute anything at all.
Natsume returned to the Hokage's office.
He waited for a long time but didn't hear Tamaki of Destiny ring even once.
Well then.
His plan had failed.
The Rin brought back through Impure World Reincarnation was still technically dead, meaning she wouldn't generate any destiny value.
The unexpected advantage he'd been hoping for never materialized.
"Sister Kurenai Yuhi."
Natsume called over Kurenai Yuhi and asked, "Is Kakashi Hatake in the village?"
"He is."
Kurenai Yuhi flipped through some documents and replied, "Their team just returned from a mission."
"Call him over here."
Natsume instructed.
Kurenai nodded and left.
Shortly afterward, a knock sounded at the door.
"Hokage-sama."
Kakashi Hatake looked just as always, still wearing his signature jonin vest.
"There's something important I need to tell you."
Natsume looked at his perpetually half-dead eyes and couldn't help sighing inwardly.
In a way, it was almost cruel.
Losing someone all over again after they came back.
Still, maybe it was for the best.
Kakashi Hatake had been feeling down for a while now.
Thanks to Natsume's influence, he had never become the team-leading teacher for Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno.
Now that Rin had returned, maybe she could reach him.
"What is it?"
Kakashi showed little reaction.
For him, life might have boiled down to nothing but missions.
"Do you know about Impure World Reincarnation?"
Natsume pulled out a document and said, "Take a look."
Slightly confused, Kakashi took it and skimmed through before asking in surprise, "Such a... jutsu exists?"
Truthfully, he had wanted to say such a despicable jutsu existed.
But when he saw that the creator was Tobirama Senju, he wisely held his tongue.
How can one put it?
Though Kakashi was intrigued by its effects, given his personality, he'd never actually use it.
First, he worried it would disturb the souls of the departed.
Second, because it required living sacrifices.
Kakashi looked at Natsume, clearly wanting to say something but holding back.
Calling him here specifically and showing him Impure World Reincarnation—
Did it mean he wanted Kakashi to perform the technique? But there was absolutely no way he was willing to do that.
"The Impure World Reincarnation is connected to a classified plan of Konoha Village."
Natsume raised his flag and said, "I'm telling you this because the person revived through the Impure World Reincarnation has a connection to you. So I'm planning to have you look after her for a while."
"Who is it?"
Kakashi Hatake's eyes widened — he hadn't expected it to be Rin Nohara.
After all, Natsume had only said "has some connection."
His first thought was that it might be someone he'd previously worked with.
"Head to the research facility."
Natsume smiled slightly and added, "You'll know who it is once you get there."
That mysterious?
Kakashi fell into thought but didn't ask further questions.
He gave a slight bow, then took his leave and headed straight for the research facility.
[Because of your actions, Kakashi Hatake's destiny has changed. You have gained 60 destiny points.]
Soon after, a prompt tone sounded from the Tamaki of Destiny.
Natsume exhaled in relief.
It seemed Rin's Talk No Jutsu was far from weak.
Next was the Third Raikage.
Though meant as training for Sasuke Uchiha, to ensure effectiveness, Natsume decided not to inform him about it.
Therefore, assigning a mission would be more appropriate.
Rubbing his chin, Natsume pondered for a moment before forming a plan.
This time, he wouldn't be taking Naruto Uzumaki or Hinata Hyuga, but rather Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.
Hmm, two medical ninja.
That should push Sasuke Uchiha to put in extra effort.
As for Sakura, no explanation needed.
Natsume decided to bring Ino Yamanaka along because he had previously promised to let her join a mission.
Didn't expect this would drag on so long. Ahem. Truth is, he completely forgot about it.
Hinata Hyūga is pretty obedient. Even if she wasn't taken along, she wouldn't complain. But Naruto Uzumaki? He'd definitely throw a fit. Still, not too much trouble — his personality makes him easy to appease.
Natsume decided to pawn him off on Might Guy for a couple of days. As long as Naruto had a mission to do, it didn't matter whose it was.
With that in mind, Natsume had Kurenai Yuhi bring over the latest available missions.
He wanted to see if any of them were familiar enough to serve as practice arcs.
But after flipping through them, he found nothing. That made sense — it wouldn't just randomly line up with what he wanted.
Natsume paused in thought, then ordered the Anbu to deliver an intelligence report list.
Since there was nothing in Konoha, he'd check other hidden villages next.
"Rogue Takigakure Jonin Mizusenga?"
Natsume raised an eyebrow.
That name sounded familiar.
Then it clicked.
This must be an anime-original arc.
The rebel ninja Mizusenga allied with Amegakure to stage a coup against Takigakure.
But they failed after encountering Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno.
Takigakure was a ninja village with notable presence in the original story.
Because it housed one of the tailed beasts.
Out of the nine tailed beasts, eight were allocated to the Five Great Villages.
Only the Seven-Tails was assigned to Takigakure.
No explanation was ever given for this.
Natsume speculated it might be due to the village's strategically unique location.
A hidden village located behind a massive waterfall in the Land of Waterfalls — somewhat akin to a utopia.
So far, it had never been invaded by other ninja villages or nations.
Of course, to someone as powerful as Hashirama Senju, no geographical location was truly safe anyway.
Therefore, Natsume couldn't understand why the tailed beasts were distributed in the first place.
Yugito had just betrayed recently, and judging from the timeline, there should still be some time before the main events began.
It wasn't hard to see why Amegakure was involved—it was most likely also about the tailed beasts.
Natsume naturally wouldn't just wait around. His plan was to have the Third Raikage act as Providence Organization and make contact with Yugito.
Yet another one of his self-written, self-directed acts.
Now that's dedication.
Natsume felt he was doing a great job.
And he didn't even expect anything in return from Sasuke Uchiha.
Such a genuinely good guy.
Hmm, maybe he could ask Mikoto Uchiha for some compensation instead.
Natsume immediately got up, activated the [Flying Thunder God Technique], and appeared within Uchiha clan territory.
Acting on impulse—that was his Ninja Way.
Cough cough.
He pushed open the door.
Mikoto Uchiha was sitting on the sofa, eyes closed.
She wasn't asleep—just refining her chakra.
In truth, her efforts were no less intense than Sasuke's.
Normally, she was always training herself.
Before Natsume could approach, Mikoto had already opened her eyes.
To a ninja, this was second nature.
A smile appeared on Mikoto's face as she placed her silk-stockinged feet down and started to rise—but Natsume stopped her.
This short chapter isn't finished yet—there's more to come!
Since she was at home, she was wearing a loose white long-sleeved shirt.
Standing above her, Natsume caught a clear view of her delicate collarbone.
Noticing his gaze, Mikoto naturally reached out and hugged him.
"Natsume."
Her warm breath whispered past his ear, carrying a deep tenderness.
Natsume's scattered thoughts quickly calmed.
He gently stroked her smooth hair and said, "I'm planning to take Sasuke on a mission soon."
Upon hearing that, Mikoto pressed her lips together and hesitantly asked, "Will… will there be danger?"
"Danger is definitely involved," Natsume replied with a smile. "But don't worry—it won't threaten his life."
Mikoto pressed her lips into a thin line.
She knew the reasoning made sense. But as a mother, it was only natural for her to worry about her son.
She sighed inwardly. If only she were stronger…
From what Natsume had told her, she now understood just how powerful Itachi truly was.
More powerful than she had imagined.
Simply awakening the Sharingan wouldn't be enough to defeat him.
She would need to activate Susanoo as well.
But so far, Mikoto hadn't even begun to figure out how.
That was likely due to talent.
Even awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan had been an immense challenge for her.
"Go get cleaned up," Natsume said, stepping back slightly. "I'll go check on that black cat first."
"Okay."
Mikoto lowered her gaze slightly and gave a small nod.
She stood up and walked toward the bathroom.
Natsume withdrew his gaze and turned to another room.
Yugito looked up the moment he walked in.
Her eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly leaned forward.
Before Natsume could speak, she had already begun frantically licking his face.
"This cat's pretty affectionate," Natsume mused.
After a two-second pause, he reached out and stroked her soft back.
Once drenched in cat saliva, he picked her up and settled onto the sofa.
"Do you miss Kumogakure?"
Natsume asked suddenly.
The dazed black cat immediately sobered. Her body trembled as she instinctively tried to pull away.
But his grip tightened, holding her firmly in place.
"If you do, just meow once."
His hands idly ran through her soft fur.
"Meow..."
The black cat let out an automatic "meow."
Her tense body relaxed again.
Her eyes fluttered shut in contentment.
Natsume leaned in, taking in the subtle scent from her neck.
"You've been good lately. I'll take you back to Kumogakure for a visit."
The black cat opened her eyes wide. They showed surprise, joy, and a hint of fear.
In short, they were complicated — a mix of emotions.
She wanted to return to Kumogakure — just not like this.
If anyone saw her like this, she'd rather not go at all.
Lifting her head, she met Natsume's gaze, her eyes betraying her feelings.
She wanted to know exactly what would happen?
"Don't worry."
Natsume smiled slightly as he said, "As long as you're obedient, I won't make things hard for you."
The black cat acknowledged with a sound and adjusted her position, curling comfortably within his embrace.
Meanwhile, her tail swayed gently beside him, silently betraying her emotions.
"Meow."
Soon, the warmth of her steady breathing filled his arms.
Natsume nodded in satisfaction.
Still, he knew Yugito Nii hadn't fully embraced her role yet.
At the first chance, she wouldn't hesitate to tear into her master's throat.
Watching the black cat try so hard to please him, Natsume leaned back into the sofa.
He closed his eyes and drifted off shortly after.
The next day, when he opened his eyes again, Mikoto Uchiha was the first thing he saw.
"Where's my cat?" he muttered, still half-asleep.
Mikoto Uchiha leaned in, lips lightly pressed together, seeing him awake.
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