Karin felt as if the world before her suddenly grew brighter, as if a sealed valley in her heart had burst open and a great wind rushed in without end. "Karin? That's your name, right?"
Shadow lowered himself slightly, resting his hands on his knees to meet her gaze. He extended a hand and asked gently, "If you come with me, you might still have hope to see your mother again."
Karin did not answer Shadow's question. Instead, as if using all her strength, she raised her small, slightly cold hand and timidly yet firmly grasped his.
She held on tightly, her knuckles turning pale as her body leaned toward him, almost pressing against his leg. It was as if she feared that this only lifeline would disappear if she let go.
pata… pata… Her tears were no longer born purely of fear, but mixed with disbelief, the bitterness of survival, and a vague sense of reliance as they fell in heavy drops.
Seeing this, Nagato, who had intended to speak, silently closed his mouth. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, he was also suitable to take in Karin.
But he was currently wrapped in White Zetsu, with only a pair of Rinnegan showing on his face. If Karin could still sense his shared bloodline under such conditions, that would truly defy reason.
Nagato could not openly compete for her, so he could only let Shadow have his way. Nearby, Kakuzu curled his lips, thinking that this guy was tricking children again.
The dead, even if revived, were still dead. Besides, even the body had been burned.
Yet no alert sounded in Shadow's mind. That meant he was not lying.
"Mm, although it cost two or three thousand points, it confirmed that the plan is workable." Shadow stood up and looked at Karin hiding behind him, thinking, "And I gained a highly gifted Uzumaki clanswoman, plus a decent Void."
The Void transformed from Karin's mother was only one step away from becoming a mid-level Great Hollow and had already been transferred into the space of the Underground Palace. Once it reached mid-level Great Hollow, it would gain self-awareness and intelligence, and in the future, as a high-level Great Hollow, it could even restore a human appearance, allowing mother and daughter to reunite.
As for Karin, in the future she would awaken Kagura Mind's Eye, Vajra Sealing, and physical healing without instruction. Vajra Sealing needed no explanation, as it was the most convenient Sealing Technique.
Kagura Mind's Eye could sense abnormalities within a radius of dozens of kilometers through Chakra, and with marked Chakra it could pinpoint positions and movements. It could also judge whether someone was lying by sensing their Chakra.
As for the physical healing like her mother's, its effect was extremely strong. It could even fully restore Tsunade after she had been cut in half by Madara.
Most important of all was Zetsu's loyalty. "Speaking of which, before the clone was removed, it seems 'I' had no memory at all?"
Shadow blinked and laughed inwardly. "When the news reaches Konoha, I might even harvest another wave of points from myself." This seemed like another new way to gain points.
At this point, he had truly even "deceived" himself. At the same time, in the Land of Mountains, the Mountain Graveyard.
Inside a circular pit hundreds of meters wide, the corpse of a gigantic beast lay buried, with only a segment of pale white spine exposed. Dust was lifted by downward winds and poured into the cave openings surrounded by rock walls, producing chilling and eerie echoes more unsettling than the wind itself.
It sounded like the low groans of humans, as if countless voices of men and women, old and young, were tangled together like threads. One could almost hear hatred and malice hidden within the wind.
The Mountain Graveyard was named not only because it was a burial ground for giant beasts, but also because it was regarded as a strange and forbidden place. Its interior was filled with complex and rugged caves, and anyone who entered would become lost, with the lucky ones finding their way out and the unlucky ones disappearing entirely.
But the people of the Land of Mountains did not know that deep within this forbidden area, a place unseen by others had already been turned into living quarters. Massive intertwined trees surrounded it, with branches rising from underground shaped into tables, chairs, and beds, clearly showing signs of habitation.
"So you're saying your identity was exposed?" Inside the stone chamber, Black Zetsu looked at the utterly disheveled Obito Uchiha and spoke in a deep voice.
When he saw the blinded three-tomoe Sharingan of Obito Uchiha, he had already sensed trouble. Half of Obito Uchiha's body was made of White Zetsu, and only by using Izanagi could such blindness occur.
As the ultimate dojutsu unique to the Uchiha Clan, Izanagi could turn events unfavorable to the user within a period of time into things that never happened, choosing only beneficial outcomes to become reality. During its activation, even death could be rewritten, but after use, blindness was unavoidable.
With a wet sound, Obito Uchiha dug out the blinded three-tomoe Sharingan and placed the Sharingan left behind by Madara Uchiha into the socket. "Only the false identity of 'Madara' was exposed."
As the eye rotated unnaturally in its socket, Obito Uchiha's face darkened further as he corrected him. "My real identity was not exposed." "What difference does it make?" Black Zetsu's voice remained hoarse and low. "Without the identity of 'Madara,' what can you still do to Nagato?"
Hearing this, Obito Uchiha's body trembled slightly, whether from rage or shame he could not tell. He knew that Black Zetsu was right.
No matter how much Nagato had doubted him before, he had still been forced to cooperate and obey because of the name 'Madara' and the Mangekyo Sharingan. But once he was exposed as a fake, someone with the Rinnegan like Nagato would never submit to an unknown nobody.
"Damn it!" Obito Uchiha grabbed his hair tightly and cursed. "It's all because of that guy. After being stabbed by that pitch-black thing, I couldn't move at all."
"…?" Hearing this, Black Zetsu, who was covered in White Zetsu, paused slightly and asked in shock, "What did you say?"
"What did you say?"
Hearing the emotional shift in Black Zetsu's words, Obito Uchiha raised his head without thinking. He gave Black Zetsu a quick look and snorted coldly, his tone sharp and unpleasant.
"Hmph. That guy is a bit like you too, all black and sticky looking." He narrowed his eyes and continued, his voice turning colder. "But he is stronger than you, far stronger."
"He figured out my abilities in a very short time, and in the end he grabbed my body and restrained me, forcing me to use Izanagi just to escape." Obito Uchiha clenched his teeth as he spoke. "Oh right, that guy could even hide a clone in my shadow. Damn it. If not for that ability, I would have killed him already."
After listening to Obito Uchiha's brief account, Black Zetsu's body began to tremble. The more it heard, the more familiar it all sounded.
Back then, it had hidden in Madara Uchiha's shadow and disguised itself at the final moment as something created by Madara Uchiha. In truth, it was a product created by its mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, using Yin-Yang Release, and it represented Kaguya Otsutsuki's will.