High atop a mountain near Kumo, Chad gazed at the landscape while waiting for the Akatsuki member he was supposed to meet today. At his side lay two scrolls resting silently against the ground.
All those jobs for Kakuzu over the years had served more than just his own purposes—they had been aimed at this very day, at drawing a specific member of the group with complete certainty.
It took an hour of invested patience before the contact decided to reveal himself.
The ground behind Chad warped as a humanoid plant-like creature emerged, revealing Akatsuki robes. It was strangely divided, one side white and the other completely dark.
"You're late," Chad said, turning unhurriedly to face him.
Zetsu let out a soft chuckle.
"A small setback along the way," he excused himself. "Kakuzu-san wasn't specific about which part of the mountain you'd be on. I had to search a little," he added, examining Chad with his gaze.
That Kakuzu had approached him for a job was somewhat unexpected, but Zetsu stopped being suspicious as soon as he learned that one of the organization's regular clients needed an expert in intelligence gathering this time.
Kakuzu clearly didn't have the necessary skills, so he very reluctantly transferred the job over—a well-paid job.
There was no reason to refuse. The sooner they gathered the money, the sooner they could start collecting the Tailed Beasts and carry out the real plan. As it happened, the master of one of the jinchūriki was the client, so it wouldn't hurt to gather some additional information.
As for the delay, he had naturally made sure to check the surroundings to confirm there were no traps or ambushes.
"It doesn't matter. Let's get to the point," Chad waved a hand to signal him to drop the excuses. "I need you to obtain two pieces of information. The more complete, the better."
"I'm all ears."
"The first information I want you to confirm is about Ronan." He tossed a scroll, which the white side caught easily. "Verify it and tell me if you think it's possible."
White Zetsu unrolled the scroll and positioned it so both sides could read it.
The scroll detailed the information he was seeking: Ronan's current status, who and where the queen was, and so on.
It specifically mentioned that no one was to notice during the investigation.
Quite simple—and the area was familiar to him. It didn't even warrant a personal trip; ten White Zetsus would be enough for the task.
"No problem. I'll have the information in two weeks," he could do it in one, but he wasn't in a hurry. "What's the other information?"
"This." Chad lifted the second scroll.
Zetsu's eyes followed the movement unconsciously and saw that, at some point, a red eye with an interconnected black pattern in its pupil had appeared on Chad's wrist.
Mangekyō Sharingan?!
"Huh?" White Zetsu noticed that Black Zetsu seemed stunned for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.
"Aren't you going to take it? How distrustful." Chad frowned. "Fine, I'll throw it."
White Zetsu caught the scroll instinctively and glanced again at Chad's wrist, where there was no longer any sinister extra eye.
"What are you waiting for? Open it!" Black Zetsu urged in a whisper.
"O-Oh…" White Zetsu hurried to obey.
Had he imagined it all?
"This scroll takes priority over the other task. How long will you need?" Chad asked, crossing his arms.
White Zetsu read the contents.
Hmm?
This didn't seem like the agreed-upon job…
"One month will be enough," Black Zetsu said.
"Hey!" White Zetsu whispered to Black Zetsu. "Are we really going to do this?"
"Shut up," Black Zetsu scolded him. "Even if the job is different, we'll still get the money."
White Zetsu scratched the side of his head.
Ah… that actually seemed to make sense?
"In that case, I'll see you in a month at this same place," Chad concluded, turning around and leaping down the mountainside.
Once they were alone, White Zetsu began speaking to Black Zetsu.
"What do we do? The Ronan job is easy—we can send several to gather the information—but this one might—"
"We'll handle it ourselves."
"Huh? I thought you didn't want to draw Obito's attention."
"We don't have to tell him. As far as he's concerned, we're doing a job to earn money for Akatsuki." Black Zetsu didn't seem worried in the slightest. "Besides, let me remind you—the puppet is him, not us."
"Ah, that's right!"
"Come on. We need the information from the Zetsus in Konoha before we begin."
"You seem very motivated all of a sudden."
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"Me? Not at all!"
…
In a hidden laboratory within a ravine in the Land of Lightning.
Orochimaru pulled an intravenous needle from his arm and rose from the medical bed, grimacing in the process.
"This treatment should prolong the lifespan of this body long enough for now," he muttered as he moved into the adjacent room, which smelled of disinfectant and looked like a well-equipped laboratory.
With two fingers, he retrieved one of two vials from inside a refrigeration chamber, where a small amount of blood flowed within.
One vial reserved to perform the forbidden technique Edo Tensei after Chad's death, and the other—the one he was holding—to study his biology. Perhaps to make some clones.
He carefully let a drop fall into a Petri dish, injected an additional pale yellow substance, and placed it beneath a microscope.
"Let's see what secrets you hide," he said to himself, licking his lips as he leaned toward the lenses, adjusting the side dial to achieve maximum resolution and observe the blood's reaction to the substance in detail.
Silence settled over the laboratory as Orochimaru examined the sample, broken only by the sound of writing as he took notes on what he observed.
Two hours later, Orochimaru lifted his gaze with a bewildered expression.
"I've seen this before… when and where was it?" He ran a hand across his forehead, trying to remember. His mind clearly highlighted the strange sense of familiarity he had felt when facing Chad—something he had experienced before. "No, I need to check the notes!"
Driven by that vague recollection, Orochimaru spent days reviewing his records, even pulling out the oldest ones.
He was certain he had notes about it.
Until…
"That's impossible." Orochimaru found not one, not two, but three DNA matches. Yet despite the evidence before him, he refused to admit this was possible. "For something like this to happen, it would require a transplant. Otherwise, the only possibility would be if… but he would never do that, would he?"
He slowly sat down in the nearest chair, his head buzzing at the implications of his discovery. He reviewed the information he had on Chad over and over, recalling what he had seen at the beach that day and drawing connections.
A shadow of discomfort and fear began to grow in his heart as the "truth" lifted its delicate silk layers before his deduction.
One of the DNA samples matched a Kumo kunoichi named Inazuri. During the war back then, due to repeated encounters with her on the Kumo front, it had been easy to obtain her blood for study along with that of many other ninjas.
The other two samples…
"Was it back then? The chances would be remote, but not impossible," Orochimaru thought as he stood and paced around the lab. When the subordinates guarding the place noticed this behavior, they subtly shifted to remain out of their lord's sight.
After several minutes of pacing and running scenarios through his mind, Orochimaru couldn't take it anymore.
He grabbed the expensive microscope and hurled it violently against the wall, shattering it into pieces and startling the guards, who were doing everything possible to minimize their presence and existence amid cold sweats of fear.
"Tsunade, what exactly did you do?!" he growled, clutching his head as a terrible headache throbbed through him.