If what happened tonight were ever to be recorded in the history of the ninja world, it would surely deserve a fitting title—
something like "The Speech on the Dissolution of the Hagumi Clan and the Founding of the Ashes Organization."
After that speech, the last sixteen members of the Hagumi clan burned their forehead protectors.
From that moment on, the Hagumi name vanished from the ninja world.
But, as Hajime himself had said—who in this chaotic world would care whether a tiny clan like the Hagumi existed or not?
Everyone obeyed his command, even though it meant erasing their own family name.
That didn't mean they fully agreed, nor that they had no objections—
only that none of them dared to voice open resistance.
And that, for Hajime's purposes, was enough.
A few among them even managed to find comfort in the change.
Their "clan leader"… well, he wasn't a clan leader anymore.
Now he was just a captain.
It sounded like a demotion, sure—but the title "captain" could hold new possibilities.
What those were, only time would tell.
Could they really pull this off? No one knew.
But even a hopeless dream was better than having no dream at all.
Each of them still carried a deep attachment—to the Hagumi name,
to their old village,
to the countless kin who had fallen.
No one could completely abandon their past.
But for now, they had to put it aside and keep moving forward.
Forward—that was the only direction left.
At least the leader—no, the captain—had pointed them somewhere to go.
Whether it was the right way or not didn't matter;
anything was better than standing still, or being trapped in yesterday.
Hajime's first goal was survival,
but that didn't mean he'd abandoned vengeance.
The Tsugawa clan, who had destroyed the Hagumi,
would one day have to pay for it.
Only—revenge required a foundation.
They had to survive, grow stronger, and wait for the right moment.
After setting this course and uniting everyone under a single direction,
the restlessness that had lingered among the group finally faded.
For the first time, their small camp felt… stable.
The next day, Hajime set out alone.
He returned to the site where they had fought the Tsugawa ninja.
As expected, all three battlefields had been cleaned up.
The enemy had come back to erase their own traces.
Ideally, Hajime would have destroyed the evidence himself—
but he'd had no choice but to flee with his people.
Now, the chance to gather battlefield intel had been left entirely to the enemy.
Still, there was one place only he cared about:
the spot where he had "eaten" that White Zetsu.
He found it easily, and without hesitation,
set the remaining corpse ablaze until nothing but ashes remained.
When the last wisp of smoke vanished into the wind,
Hajime exhaled deeply.
Only then, after returning to camp, did he finally have the time
to examine what exactly had happened to his own body.
Why could he now use White Zetsu's techniques?
Why could parts of his body turn into White Zetsu?
His best guess: he had been parasitized.
That White Zetsu might not have died completely.
It had been close—its life force nearly extinguished—
but perhaps, like a fungus sprouting from a dying host,
it had sought new life by taking root in him.
Only, when it tried to "grow,"
he had eaten it alive instead.
So, driven by instinct, the dying Zetsu had attempted to parasitize him—
but being too weak, it failed,
and instead was absorbed by him.
That much made sense.
But the bigger question was:
Why could Hajime's body absorb a White Zetsu at all?
No answer came easily.
Could it have something to do with his own soul—
an outsider's consciousness that had taken over this body?
Was he, in essence, a parasite himself?
Still, even that didn't fully explain it.
White Zetsu were not known for physical strength—
yet since the "assimilation," Hajime's physique and chakra
had both improved dramatically.
He couldn't grasp the principle,
so he focused instead on application.
Beyond the techniques he already knew—
Ephemeral Technique , Spore Technique, and Perfect Transformation—
he'd discovered other, subtler changes in his body.
When he partially "White Zetsu-fied" himself,
his body underwent a kind of fiber-like, almost plant-like transformation.
It didn't make him much tougher,
but it dulled the pain considerably.
And the White Zetsu parts, when injured, healed at astonishing speed
so long as he maintained that form.
For example, the wound on his shoulder—
within three days, he could move normally again;
in seven, it had completely vanished, leaving no scar at all.
That vitality reminded him of chopped leeks sprouting anew,
or bamboo shoots breaking through the soil overnight.
He couldn't compare to the truly monstrous ninjas
who could regenerate from fatal wounds mid-battle,
but even this much was a gift worth celebrating.
And there was more.
Whenever he maintained the "White Zetsu form" under bright sunlight,
he felt a distinct surge of energy,
as if every cell in his body was cheering.
His stamina and focus would rise dramatically.
It was almost as though—
he could photosynthesize.
The thought was both ridiculous and oddly plausible.
But one discovery was even stranger.
When he fully "White Zetsu-fied" himself—
completely—
he could faintly sense something.
A whisper, or a pulse, in the back of his mind.
It wasn't a message he could understand,
nor a channel he could use to communicate—
but it was something real.
A presence.
Perhaps from the original White Zetsu network.
Perhaps from Black Zetsu itself.
Or perhaps from the collective consciousness of countless Zetsu.
The sensation wasn't threatening—
it was warm.
Peaceful.
Almost… comforting.
At first, he couldn't make sense of it.
Then, suddenly, realization struck.
"Oh, hell—
this is White Zetsu's brainwashing broadcast channel, isn't it?"
A constant signal whispering,
'Mother is the best, Mother must be saved…'
over and over, forever.
No wonder the entire Zetsu race could toil for a thousand years
for a false god and a forgotten dream.
The moment he realized this, Hajime immediately dispelled his transformation.
He decided that, from now on, he would avoid letting his head turn into White Zetsu unless absolutely necessary.
The last thing he needed
was to wake up one day having joined
the "Let's Split the Moon and Rescue Mother" fan club.
Once he'd grasped the basics of his transformation,
Hajime's mind began to wander—
specifically, in a very productive direction.
If one White Zetsu had given him such benefits—
enhanced strength, recovery, chakra capacity—
then what if he… ate more?
After all, there were many ways to "prepare" White Zetsu—
not just sashimi.
There was steaming, roasting, stir-frying, deep-frying… endless options.
So—
wasn't it possible that White Zetsu could become
his very own personal "experience packs"?