Haku blinked in surprise at the God-King's words.
But after thinking it through carefully… it really did make sense.
Even she understood—some people were simply born with extraordinary bodies.
She, on the other hand, was just an ordinary human.
How could she ever compare herself to the God-King?
If she kept eating too much, she really would get fat… and she definitely didn't want that.
Two hours later, Zabuza finally returned to the restaurant, carrying a bundle.
"God-King, the clothes you requested are ready."
He'd been able to come back so quickly for one reason:
When he went to the tailor and was told the robes would take two full days, he refused outright.
How could he accept that?
It was far too slow.
So he simply threatened the tailor.
Under pressure, the terrified tailor dropped all other work and rushed the order.
Zabuza looked like someone you didn't want to offend — so the tailor had complied.
Ryosuke nodded in satisfaction.
Even without specific instructions, Zabuza handled things well.
Reliable, as always.
"Zabuza, you've done well. Eat first.
Once we rest a little, we'll head for the Land of Rivers."
"Yes, God-King."
Clearly, the God-King intended to claim the tailed beast residing in Takigakure.
During the first Five Kage Summit, the village had been assigned the Seven-Tails…
Meanwhile, in a forest deep within the Land of Lightning—
A figure emerged from underground.
Its right half pitch-black, its left half snow-white, protected by two pitcher-plant-like lobes.
Black Zetsu.
He quietly listened to several Cloud nin resting nearby…
And what he heard made his eyes widen.
Uchiha Madara attacked the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Killer Bee—
and kidnapped him.
Impossible.
Madara had died long ago.
That was an established fact.
Black Zetsu had been right there when Madara passed, entrusted with the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.
So what was happening?
Had Madara faked his death?
…He'd done so once before to deceive Hashirama Senju, after all.
That fake death had even earned him Hashirama's cells and awakened the Rinnegan decades later.
But this time—Madara had no reason to deceive him.
As far as Black Zetsu knew, only Obito had been acting under Madara's name.
And Obito should be at the Mountain Graveyard right now, cultivating White Zetsu.
This matter concerned tailed beasts—and the revival of Mother.
He had to investigate.
The Cloud nin began dispersing into search teams.
Perfect.
Black Zetsu sank into the ground, and with Wood Release swiftly dragged one Cloud shinobi down beneath the earth.
Then he split off a White Zetsu clone.
"White Zetsu. Use your impersonation technique and infiltrate the Cloud forces.
Find out what's going on."
"Got it!"
White Zetsu absorbed the captured Cloud ninja's chakra and morphed perfectly into his form.
Even close family couldn't detect the impostor.
He slipped back into the Cloud group with a casual excuse.
Soon, he returned with the information.
Black Zetsu was stunned.
A colossal Fire Release…
A Susanoo bigger than a tailed beast…
Fire Release was the Uchiha clan's specialty — and Madara's flames were legendary.
And that enormous Susanoo… only an Eternal Mangekyō could manifest such a thing.
But throughout history, only Madara had succeeded in opening the Eternal Mangekyō.
Everything pointed toward Madara.
He had to verify Madara's corpse.
"Continue gathering intel inside the Cloud Village," he ordered White Zetsu.
Then he plunged underground and sped north.
Half a day later, he reached the Mountain Graveyard.
At that moment, Obito was in a very good mood.
Working at full speed, he had completed the creation of thirty thousand White Zetsu.
With this army, he could finally kill Uchiha Ryosuke.
That one kick the man had given him… had snapped his waist in half and aggravated every old injury he had.
The pain was unforgettable.
Ryosuke had hurt him more deeply than even the giant boulder that had crushed half his body all those years ago.
That debt had to be repaid.
And he still needed to collect the tailed beasts.
With an army of White Zetsu, success was guaranteed.
No nation could withstand so many relentless clones.
Of course, he planned to make Nagato do the tedious work.
Nagato was only a pawn holding borrowed Rinnegan anyway.
Akatsuki would gather the tailed beasts, the nations would be forced into alliance, and he would prepare for the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But for that, he would need even more Zetsu.
Thirty thousand wasn't enough to start a war with the entire world.
The ninja population was at least seventy to eighty thousand.
He needed more.
A hundred thousand White Zetsu would be enough to trample the world.
Then Akatsuki would march on Konoha.
The Nine-Tails was still there—
and he would eventually have to face Uchiha Ryosuke.
Let Nagato, with his weakening body, fight Ryosuke first.
The Rinnegan drained even Uzumaki vitality; Nagato couldn't sustain long battles.
Perfect.
Let the two injure or kill each other.
Then he would lead the White Zetsu army in and annihilate Konoha in one sweep.
There was nothing in the village worth cherishing anymore…
Except maybe sparing Kakashi.
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