"Well, that went much better than I expected."
His theory that Black Zetsu might fall under Kotoamatsukami had been something of a gamble—one he had only been about 60–70% confident in.
As for why he had doubts…
Black Zetsu had demonstrated that he could absorb chakra and was a creature created by Kaguya using Yin Release, with a will tempered by a thousand years of life and backstage scheming.
Being prepared to fail had been prudent—but he pulled it off!
After all, who would expect him to have an eye capable of altering someone's will right on his wrist?
By the time Black Zetsu realized his mistake, it had already been too late.
Was it worth it? Absolutely!
Taking Black Zetsu was like taking all the White Zetsus in a single package. He could accomplish a great deal with them under his command.
As for a possible reaction from Obito, Pain, or Madara—what was there to fear?
Madara wouldn't return unless Obito resurrected him (or someone on Orochimaru's side), and now he had ways to counter Edo Tensei.
Obito himself wouldn't expect the one most invested in carrying out the Eye of the Moon Plan to suddenly change his mind or switch sides. He had room to maneuver with him.
As for Pain…
Heh. He could deal with him whenever he wanted. With his main body in such a pitiful condition, he only needed to locate him, sprout an arm—or several—behind his back, and stab his head with a finger.
Even if Konan were by his side, she wouldn't be able to stop him or react in time—much less Nagato himself. At most, knowing the absurd number of explosive tags the blue-haired woman carried with her, he had to make sure she never learned he was the one who killed Nagato. Otherwise, she would probably unleash a literal sea of explosive tags on him—or on Kumo—in revenge.
She was more than capable of wiping a village off the map, driven by her pain—possibly with herself inside the blast radius.
That, or he could eliminate her just as quickly. But with her Dance of the Shikigami, she was a much bigger problem. Perhaps he could separate her from Nagato with Black Zetsu's help and then feed her false information about the culprit—or paralyze her and finish her before she had the chance to turn into paper. He would think of something.
"Poor Konan," he shook his head with a trace of pity. "Another case of great talent dragged through the mud by the weights on her arms and in her heart." Though he sympathized with Konan, he couldn't afford to hesitate if action became necessary.
Yahiko had been positive, but far too idealistic. Despite his charisma in drawing people to the original Akatsuki, he refused—or was unable—to understand how his actions affected other factions around him. Always focused on what "they" could do, never thinking about how others would respond.
In his opinion, if Yahiko had become a merchant to support the Hidden Rain, he would have contributed far more and achieved even greater things.
Then there was that idiot toad, who decided to ignore Minato for years to train three Rain orphans—a decision that honestly should have earned him a rogue ninja label. They barely achieved genin-level strength; he patted them on the back and whistled his way back to Konoha, not even trying to take them with him.
Surely even Hiruzen had been annoyed by that. So much time spent training orphans without taking missions for the village—couldn't he at least have them join to justify the absence?
Nagato… there was no need to speak of his tragedy and life manipulated by Madara and Danzō. But that Konan said nothing when he began rambling about divinity—that was a massive problem in itself and the point where everything rapidly deteriorated.
Konan herself was dragged along by Nagato, and her behavior changed. Chad wasn't excusing her, but anyone who had seen her past would understand how different she was now compared to her younger self.
"In fact, if I remember correctly, Konan even went so far as to deliberately send Ajisai to die on an S-rank mission just to provide Nagato with a new puppet when he created the human puppets of the different Paths."
As for obtaining the Rinnegan, honestly, he wasn't very interested. He was realistic—his body could accept at most one more dōjutsu eye, and only because he still wanted to maintain a considerable margin of safety—but certainly nothing on the level of the Rinnegan.
Even if he removed Ao's Byakugan, Itachi's Sharingan, and Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan from his body, the Rinnegan would still be too much for him.
As immortal cultivators in xianxia stories always did—if something couldn't be yours or benefit you, destroy it so no one else could have it or use it against you!
And he had essentially just prevented Kaguya's resurrection. That should give him the right to do whatever he wanted with those eyes—if he actually obtained them.
As for giving them to someone else, he didn't consider it for even a moment. Too many consequences would follow that decision.
"Given that I have a month before Zetsu completes the job, I should take advantage of the time and go to Yukigakure."
His subordinates in the lab could already prepare the Dance Powder without his supervision, and he had reviewed all ongoing projects under his responsibility. The only reason he hadn't gone yet was because, after the incident with Orochimaru, he wanted to stay in the village a few extra days—just in case.
"I wonder if the snake has already seen the surprise," he thought as he entered his house to prepare for the trip.
"Chad!" x2
"Hm? Oh—Kiyui! Hibui!" Chad brightened when he saw them. "I thought you'd gone to the Land of Fire for a tour. When did you get back?" he asked, pulling them both into a hug.
The concert tour was supposed to last at least another week—he hadn't expected to see them back so soon!
"Just an hour ago," Kiyui said happily, her cheek pressed against his pectoral. "Mabui told us you were out, so we thought we'd wait for you here."
"Remember the plan you told me to make money?" Hibui commented, not bothering to step out of the embrace. "Let me tell you, it was a resounding success. If it weren't for that replica you gave me, we might not have made nearly as much."
"How much did you get?" Chad asked curiously, loosening the hug to look her in the eyes.
"My tour brought in a total of sixty million ryō," Kiyui said. "We didn't stay more than a day in the same town, and the concerts were short—but your plan…"
"A total of seven hundred and eighty-eight million ryō!" Hibui burst into laughter, completely thrilled, pointing to a medium-sized scroll on the table containing the money. "If I'd known this years ago—"
"It wouldn't have worked," Chad interrupted her. "Stop and think about it for a second."
"Oh." Hibui blinked twice. "Right… I guess we needed the 'legend' to settle in, and it's not like anyone would have thought to do it. Though, how did you get the replica of the seal?" she asked, pulling out the seal used to stamp documents.
"It wasn't a replica," Chad smiled, taking the seal and spinning it on the tip of his index finger. "It was the backup copy kept in the ancestral house."
Anyone with trained eyes would notice the seal bore the striking surname "Senju."
As for Chad's plan to make money, it had been so simple it was surprising no one had tried it before: request the maximum possible loan limit—regardless of interest rate—from every lending house in the Land of Fire that Kiyui's tour passed through, while Hibui used the Transformation Technique and the clan seal to impersonate Tsunade.
With the gambler's reputation as a "fat sheep," lending houses were delighted to throw money at the Senju heiress, as they had no fear she lacked funds.
For them, it wasn't a loan—it was guaranteed return money!
At worst, they would lose some time chasing her down. But at this point, hunting her over debts was practically a national sport.
Now that money had been pulled out of the Land of Fire's economic circulation and injected into his pockets—while the gambling addict had even more debts to settle. She probably wouldn't even notice, right?
"The only shame is that the Land of Fire's banks are smarter than they look," Hibui clicked her tongue. "Even with the information you gave me, I barely started draining the accounts before they realized something was wrong."
"I told you," Kiyui shrugged. "Withdrawing that much money from a bank all at once was bound to draw attention. You were too greedy."
"I know, okay?" Hibui groaned regretfully. If instead of taking large sums, she had withdrawn more modest amounts over time, she wouldn't have drawn attention so quickly.
"By the way, are you getting ready to leave?" Hibui asked, eager to change the subject as she noticed the things on the floor.
"Yes. I was planning to head to the Land of Snow for a few days," Chad admitted.
Kiyui and Hibui exchanged glances when they heard that.
"Do you think you could leave tomorrow instead~?" they asked, each hugging one of his arms.
"I feel that would be insincere of me," Chad said, giving them a "gentle" smile that made their skin crawl. "Better I leave the day after tomorrow!"