In the orphanage at night, when Menma opened his eyes again, he had returned from his mental space to reality.
Feeling the Chakra flowing continuously through his Chakra Pathway, Menma felt his entire body brimming with power.
Even with his Uzumaki Clan's physical constitution, it had taken him three years to accumulate enough Chakra to form the little Nine-Tails. But now that the little Nine-Tails had been born, Menma's Chakra was no longer being absorbed by that bottomless pit.
In fact, he could even borrow chakra from the little Nine-Tails.
"Kyu-chan, give me some Chakra." Menma communicated with the little Nine-Tails in his heart. (T/N: Nine-Tails is usually called Kyubi, so this one is called Kyu-chan.)
"I'll give you the equivalent of one Tailed Beast Bomb's worth first. I don't have much left myself." The little Nine-Tails replied somewhat reluctantly, parting with a portion of her limited Chakra.
The chakra equivalent of one Tailed Beast Bomb was nothing more than a drop in the bucket for a full-sized Tailed Beast, but for the current little Nine-Tails, it was nearly half of her total Chakra reserves.
However, the amount of Chakra in this Tailed Beast Bomb's worth already surpassed the total reserves of most Elite Jonin.
[Shadow Clone Technique]
Menma formed a series of hand seals.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke erupted, and a shadow clone of Menma appeared beside the bed. After exchanging a nod with his clone, Menma carefully climbed out of bed, while the clone took his place under the covers.
Menma then moved to the window, pulling it open… but instead of jumping out immediately, he channeled the little Nine-Tails' Chakra to activate Negative Emotions Sensing.
The little Nine-Tailed Fox, who had come from the Limited Tsukuyomi World, was regarded by the people of that world as the embodiment of 'hatred, malice, and betrayal', making her exceptionally sensitive to the presence of good and evil.
Menma, who had gained access of her Chakra, had also mastered the Negative Emotions Sensing ability with great proficiency.
It is known that during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kurama could sense the malicious Chakra of the entire main battlefield. Then just how vast was the range of Negative Emotions Sensing?
"Found it!" Before he could ponder further, Menma detected a source of malicious Chakra within a tree less than ten meters from the orphanage.
A White Zetsu is monitoring the orphanage.
Not wanting to disturb the other children in the orphanage or his foster mother, Nono, Menma slipped out the window and closed it behind him before using Body Flicker Technique to swiftly move forward.
Purple Lightning Attribute Chakra condensed around his palm, enveloping his right hand in a technique similar to the Chakra Scalpel.
This was one of the many techniques Menma had mastered in the Limited Tsukuyomi World
In order to leave the Limited Tsukuyomi World, Menma not only captured the Tailed Beast's Jinchurikis from various nations, but also collected a lot of secret techniques and Ninjutsu, giving him an extensive knowledge of Ninjutsu.
Zzzzt…
The purple lightning around his right hand crackled softly as Menma drove it straight through the tree.
"Ahhh…!!!" A scream came from the big tree that required at least three people to hug.
"Y-You…!" A pale, humanoid figure was dragged out of the tree by Menma, his white face twisted in terror.
This White Zetsu couldn't understand why the kid he had been monitoring for over two years had suddenly detected its presence… and why he knew such a terrifying Ninjutsu.
White Zetsu were weak in combat. After being pierced through, this one died instantly, leaving behind nothing but a white corpse.
"Too bad I don't have a sealing scroll." Menma picked up the corpse of White Zetsu and quickly went towards the direction of Konoha Village.
Leaping through the trees, Menma carried the corpse with one hand while forming hand seals with the other, using a Transformation Technique to change into the appearance he had in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
Under his short black hair, a white three-eyed fox mask covered his handsome face. He wore a long black robe with a white fur-lined collar, red bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, and fingerless gloves covering his hands.
The overall dark color scheme stood in stark contrast to Naruto's bright orange outfit.
"Menma, what is this thing?" The little Nine-Tails perched on Menma's shoulder, poking her head out from the white fur collar.
Looking at the white creature that Menma was holding in one hand, she instinctively felt some disgust.
She had never seen anything like it in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
"White Zetsu. Just tragic remnants of people drained of their Chakra and life force during the era of the God Tree."
As he spoke, Menma reached the outskirts of the village. Through Negative Emotions Sensing, he discovered another White Zetsu hiding in a big tree, who seemed to be staring in the direction of the gate of Konoha Village.
'It seems that Black Zetsu has deployed quite a few White Zetsu in Konoha Village.' Menma recalled that ever since Madara's death, the darkened Obito had likely been keeping tabs on the village.
'Aside from the Hyuga Clan's compound, which was protected by the Byakugan, there were probably many White Zetsu lurking in the village, especially around the Uchiha Clan's compound.'
While lost in thought, Menma had already closed in on the tree hiding the White Zetsu. With a single Chakra-infused chop, he sliced the tree in half… along with the White Zetsu inside.
Grabbing the corpse, he pressed onward.
He had to find a way to clear out all the White Zetsu hiding around the orphanage to move freely. Otherwise, it would be uncomfortable to be monitored by White Zetsu all the time.
But he couldn't alert Obito or Black Zetsu, so he had to shift the blame elsewhere.
The night in Konoha Village was peaceful and quiet.
Menma stepped out of a weapons shop and leaped onto the rooftops, gazing toward the Hokage Rock, taking in the night view of the village.
The White Zetsu's corpses were no longer in his hands… instead, he now carried a few sealing scrolls.
He had also 'borrowed' some ninja tools from the shop, which are probably only worth Asuma's head.
'Wait, is that Tenten's family's shop?' Menma suddenly felt that the location of this ninja tool shop was a little familiar.
'Ah well, I'll pay them back later if I get the chance.' Shaking off the thought, Menma turned his attention back to the Hokage Rock.
'If I remember right, the Root's base is hidden right beneath the Hokage Rock.'
Menma's feet moved swiftly as he bounded across the rooftops of Konoha Village.
'It seems that I need to develop the Nine Masked Beasts as soon as possible.'
Menma missed the flight ability granted by the [Tennyo] from his Nine Masked Beasts Technique.
The Nine Masked Beasts Technique summoned nine masked fox kits, and was a Summoning Technique developed using the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
Therefore, only with the help of the little Nine-Tails can the Nine Masked Beasts be developed.
Moving through the village with incredible speed and Negative Emotion Sensing, Menma avoided detection by the more perceptive Ninja and eliminated two White Zetsu lurking beneath the Hokage Rock.
However, he didn't wipe out all the White Zetsu he found… only clearing the path between the Hokage Rock and the orphanage.
'I'm sure the Blame Kage-sama won't mind a few more blames on his back.'
'By the time Obito and Black Zetsu realized something was wrong, I should already be able to live independently.'
After his work was done, Menma felt his stomach growl and decided to grab some food.
Menma landed in an alley, and after using the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as an ordinary black-haired boy, he stepped out of the alley and walked into Ichiraku Ramen.
"Hey, hey, I heard the war's about to end. Peace is finally coming."
"The envoys from Kumogakure arrived yesterday. The Third Hokage himself hosted a banquet for them. This war should be over soon." Two Ninjas chatted between slurps of ramen.
'The envoys from Kumogakure?' Menma sat down nearby.
'Right, this is the Year 54 of the Konoha calendar… the war between Kumogakure and Konoha ended in this year.'