Chapter 161: I'm Screwed—Did I Become Madara's Son?
"All right, you can go now."
"If there's a mission, White Zetsu will inform you."
With that, Madara gave his final order, and White Zetsu escorted Li Yao out.
Li Yao was more than happy to leave—he had no desire to stay locked up in a cave with an old man who could take his life at any moment.
Once outside, Li Yao learned from White Zetsu that an entire year had passed since he fell into a coma.
"Remember, you must never reveal even a single word about Lord Madara."
Before parting, White Zetsu looked at Li Yao seriously and warned him.
"Understood," Li Yao replied with a smile. Then, just as White Zetsu was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "That Uzumaki girl who was in the barrier back then… is she still alive?"
Kushi had sacrificed herself to save him and Ayase by taking on the Reverse Four Symbols Seal. He had no idea what became of her daughter, Yuzu .
"She's alive," White Zetsu replied, shaking his head.
"Where is she? How is she doing?" Li Yao continued.
If she was doing well, he had no plans to bother her.
After all, staying near him was anything but safe.
White Zetsu shook his head again. "She was taken by the Third Raikage. I don't know her current condition, but I doubt it's good."
Shortly after Ōnoki had unleashed his Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu, the Four Red Yang Formation collapsed.
Yuzu had been the first to escape.
Unfortunately, she had fled right in the direction of the Third Raikage.
The Raikage, who had long been searching for advanced Uzumaki sealing techniques, naturally wouldn't let her go. He captured her immediately.
"You planning to go to Kumogakure and rescue that girl?" White Zetsu asked.
"Yeah," Li Yao nodded. Kushi had saved his life—her daughter was still alive. He couldn't just let her suffer. Even if she had died, he'd have to avenge her.
"You better not make too much noise and draw attention to Lord Madara," White Zetsu warned.
He could already tell that Li Yao was the type to cause chaos.
But right now, Madara needed to remain hidden. His Rinnegan hadn't fully matured yet.
Everything needed time. Unforeseen disruptions weren't welcome.
"Relax. I've always been... low-profile," Li Yao replied—but then suddenly furrowed his brows and cast White Zetsu a thoughtful glance.
In Dan Katō's memories… it seemed it wasn't Konoha who found him back then!
"As long as you understand." White Zetsu then sank into the earth.
Li Yao stared at the spot where White Zetsu vanished. His expression gradually darkened, a cold gleam flickering in his eyes.
In his chakra perception, White Zetsu had completely disappeared after entering the ground—there wasn't a trace of Wood Release chakra left. It was as if he had become part of the earth itself.
Even his spiritual senses detected no soul presence.
Boom!
With a grim expression, Li Yao willed a clay bird into existence using Explosion Release chakra. The white bird flapped its wings and carried him into the sky, soaring up to 8,000 meters.
"At this height, that bastard White Zetsu shouldn't be able to sense me."
"Shit!"
Standing atop the bird, Li Yao couldn't help but curse. His face was dark with uncertainty. He'd always believed it was someone from Konoha who found him, but now he realized the whole thing might have been orchestrated by Madara from the start.
Having one's life controlled by someone else was already bad enough.
But to be toyed with by fate? That was worse.
Damn it!
"What did Madara do to me exactly?!"
Muttering curses, Li Yao began inspecting his body. Madara's chakra signature within him wasn't enough to control him, he was certain.
Otherwise, he would've been able to control the chakra within Ayase's unborn child back then.
So Madara must have left behind something else.
What could it be… wait.
Suddenly, Li Yao thought of Obito and focused his sensing toward his own heart.
"My heart must have been implanted with a curse seal just like Obito's—something that could kill me instantly."
But no matter how carefully he examined himself, he found nothing out of place. No abnormal chakra flows, nothing suspicious.
In the past, he might've taken this as a good sign. But after witnessing White Zetsu vanish from all sensory perception, he now understood—he couldn't detect it because Madara's techniques were too advanced.
"It must be a Six Paths-level chakra curse seal."
Thinking of the massive Gedo Statue in that chamber, Li Yao reached a conclusion. Only a curse crafted with Six Paths-level chakra could completely nullify his chakra sensing.
In a way, White Zetsu was also a product of Yin-Yang Release at the Six Paths level. His ability to merge with nature must've been part of that.
With his current strength, Li Yao simply wasn't able to perceive chakra of that caliber.
"Didn't expect Madara to already be using Six Paths-level powers…"
Li Yao frowned slightly, but after thinking it over, it started to make sense.
In the original story, both Madara and Obito had mastered Six Paths-level chakra—because their base powers came from the Rinnegan and the combined chakra of the Nine Tailed Beasts.
Li Yao speculated that the fusion of the Nine Beasts' chakra elevated its nature to the Six Paths level.
And the Gedo Statue was, after all, the husk of the Ten Tails.
It carried the chakra of all Nine Tailed Beasts fused together.
Madara's Rinnegan allowed him to summon the Gedo Statue and gain its chakra, making him already functionally at the Six Paths level.
But due to the degeneration of his body, he couldn't utilize much of that power. That was why he had created White Zetsu to act on his behalf.
"For example… to leak his location to the Five Great Nations."
As the clay bird continued flying northward, Li Yao sorted through the memories he had absorbed from Dan Katō.
When Dan had burned his soul to immobilize Li Yao, his spirit chakra was devoured by Li Yao's Vajra Sealing Chains—along with a large portion of his soul's memories.
That was how Li Yao discovered Dan had used the Spiritualization Technique—the very ability he'd been looking for.
Its chakra-based soul-sensing ability was what allowed Dan to detect and distinguish Li Yao's real body from his clones—the difference in soul intensity.
Now, thanks to the memories left behind during Dan's soul invasion, Li Yao had successfully copied spiritual chakra.
Thirty minutes later—
Li Yao had fully organized Dan's memories. With the complete technique and copied chakra, he could now use all of the Spiritualization Technique's abilities.
And through those memories, Li Yao confirmed that it hadn't been Konoha—or any of the Five Great Nations—that found him when he was hiding on an island in the Arctic Circle.
The intel came from the black market bounty network.
Dan's team had only found Li Yao after receiving the tipoff.
So who had better intelligence-gathering capabilities than the elite forces of five nations? Who could find him in a place as remote and desolate as the Arctic Circle?
Until recently, Li Yao had always believed his chakra sensing was flawless—no person or object carrying chakra could approach him without being noticed.
Dan's sudden appearance made him think someone had developed an advanced long-range sensory jutsu.
But the moment he saw White Zetsu sink into the earth undetectably, he began to suspect otherwise.
Now, with Dan's memories, he could confirm it.
The one who leaked his location… was White Zetsu.
The goal?
To ensure he fell under their control.
(END CHAPTER)
Get 30% off on my Patreon and enjoy early access to new chapters.
You can also purchase the next 100 chapters of the novel directly from my Patreon page.
Hurry up! The promotion ends on January 2, 2026.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997