Chapter 196: I am the Will of Ida Mutzuki
Yahiko lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the muddy ground beneath his boots. Fragments of his agonizing experiences in the Land of Rain flashed relentlessly through his mind, a bitter carousel of memories.
The sheer, suffocating despair experienced by war orphans was far beyond what any sheltered village ninja could possibly comprehend. It was a life of forced acceptance, struggling to survive in a numb daze, only to inevitably face the prospect of dying from starvation in some forgotten alleyway. If hunger didn't claim them, a stray explosive tag from a careless shinobi conflict surely would.
This was the bleak, inescapable reality for the vast majority of children in the Land of Rain.
But did it have to be this way? Did they truly deserve to live like rats in the mud?
Yahiko clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned a stark white. When he finally looked up, his eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding light that seemed to pierce through the perpetual gloom of the rainy country.
"Master, I stand by my ideals," Yahiko declared, his voice ringing with absolute conviction. "The Fourth Hokage was not wrong, and neither am I. This world is deeply, fundamentally sick, and it desperately needs someone to cure it."
"Even if that cure ends up costing you your life?" Mie asked, his tone mild but probing.
"No matter the cost!" Yahiko's expression hardened into solemn resolve, his tone firm and unshakeable. "Someone has to take the first step. If the Fourth Hokage couldn't see it through to the end, then I will carry that torch. And if I fail, there will be others who follow in my footsteps. One day, the Ninja World will become the peaceful place we envision."
Standing slightly behind him, Konan was already completely captivated by Yahiko's grand ambitions. Her amber eyes shone with admiration. "Yahiko, I'll help you. I'm with you to the end."
"And me!" Nagato's voice chimed in, weak but brimming with an underlying determination.
The scene was incredibly poignant, radiating a resolute aura as if they were swearing a sacred blood oath. It was the kind of passionate, youthful declaration that could make anyone's blood boil with inspiration.
However, in the very next second, that epic atmosphere was ruthlessly shattered by a series of highly discordant, rumbling sounds.
Gurgle... Grumble...
After enduring a grueling afternoon of intense physical training, the three growing teenagers were absolutely famished. Their stomachs betrayed their grand speeches without a shred of mercy.
Yahiko's face instantly flushed a deep, embarrassed red. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly unable to meet his master's eyes.
Mie chuckled, the sound light and teasing.
"Your ideals are grand and certainly worthy of praise, but right now, you need to go cook for me immediately," Mie ordered, waving a hand dismissively toward their makeshift camp. "And focus on the food. Don't get distracted chatting with Konan and Nagato while manning the fire. If you burn our dinner, I promise I'll let you experience the true, unforgiving cruelty of the Ninja World a few years in advance."
Properly chastised, the three teenagers quickly scrambled out of the woods to prepare the meal. Once they were out of earshot, the shadows at the base of a nearby tree began to warp and twist.
Black Zetsu slithered out from the roots, rising from the earth like a puddle of moving, sentient ink.
He circled around Mie, his singular yellow eye meeting Mie's gentle, deceptively calm gaze. A raspy, strange laugh bubbled up from the dark entity's throat.
"I genuinely didn't expect you to be so good with kids," Black Zetsu remarked, his voice dripping with amusement. "I was honestly wondering if a guy like you—someone absolutely brimming with bad intentions and sporting a smile that usually looks gloomy and eerie—would scare those poor brats to tears the moment you opened your mouth."
Like a mass of viscous black water, he glided around Mie a few more times, assessing him, before finally stopping and solidifying back into his humanoid form. "You're putting on quite a convincing act. It's almost sickeningly sweet."
Mie casually touched his own cheek, tilting his head to look at the shadowy figure.
"Don't you think this particular expression looks familiar?" Mie asked, his lips curving into a perfectly warm, radiant smile. "I studied it for a very long time and specifically trained my facial muscles to replicate it."
Black Zetsu's head did a sickening, unnatural 360-degree rotation on his neck as he scrutinized the smile. "Now that you mention it, it does look a bit familiar. Like who?"
Mie leaned closer to the dark, shifting body, his voice dropping to a soft, deliberate whisper. He enunciated every single syllable. "Ida. Mutzuki."
Black Zetsu was so violently startled that his entire inky body shuddered. In a blind panic, he instantly dissolved, transforming into a sleek black snake that frantically scurried high up into the branches of the nearest tree.
Why in the world would he bring up Ida Mutzuki out of the blue?!
That terrifying woman was already dead!
Once he felt relatively secure on a high branch, Black Zetsu peered down, his voice trembling with lingering fear. "Don't mention that unlucky lunatic for no reason! It's absolutely terrifying."
He truly harbored a massive psychological shadow when it came to Ida Mutzuki.
Who on earth practices Sealing Jutsu to the absurd point of instant casting? She was a monster who could slap a devastating seal on someone the very microsecond they made physical contact!
While Mie's own Sealing Jutsu was undeniably powerful, it at least had a recognizable wind-up time. As long as Black Zetsu remained serious and highly alert, he could easily dodge Mie's attempts. But Mutzuki? She was a walking nightmare.
"Is there anything you actually need my help with out here?" Black Zetsu asked, trying to regain his composure. "I can offer you some strategic advice regarding those kids."
Mie's dark eyes locked onto Black Zetsu. His expression shifted into a half-smile that clearly conveyed: 'What could a useless hindrance like you possibly contribute?'
"I won't interfere with what you do, and you'd better not mess with what I do," Mie warned, his tone dropping its previous warmth, replaced by a chilling edge. "If you ruin my plans, even if you are the supposed will of Lord Madara, I can—and will—seal you away so thoroughly that you never see the light of day again."
Fine. If you won't let me interfere, then I won't.
Black Zetsu wisely chose not to push the topic.
The Gedo Statue had already been successfully summoned, and Mie had used the harvested Hashirama cells to cultivate a fresh batch of White Zetsu clones. Currently, Mie was arranging for those clones to scatter and gather intelligence across the Ninja World. However, Black Zetsu had secretly positioned two of his own White Zetsu nearby to keep a close eye on Mie's activities. Everything was still progressing in the direction he desired.
He didn't fully trust Mie—not by a long shot—but he wasn't foolish enough to oppose him openly either.
They were just a few insignificant kids from the Rain Village. Black Zetsu simply wanted to see what kind of chaotic variables Mie could cook up by getting involved with them. Regardless of what schemes Mie hatched, it would all remain under his watchful surveillance.
Satisfied for now, Black Zetsu sank into the bark of the tree, traveling through the earth to return to one of his hidden, underground bases.
As he manifested in the dimly lit cavern, a White Zetsu clone came scurrying over. It pointed a pale finger toward a closed door down the hall. "That woman is awake. She's demanding to see you."
"Understood," Black Zetsu grunted.
He glided down the corridor and entered the room situated at the very deepest part of the base. The air inside was thick and heavy, saturated with the pungent, bitter scent of medicinal herbs and sterilized bandages.
The woman lying on the stone bed had indeed woken up. She stared warily at the incoming entity. However, the moment her eyes fully processed Black Zetsu's bizarre, half-black, half-shadowy appearance, her guarded expression froze completely.
"Do people in hell seriously look this abstract?" she deadpanned.
She lifted her arms, inspecting her own hands and feet with a critical eye. "Why do I look different? Did I take a wrong turn at the afterlife?"
Black Zetsu's carefully prepared, mysterious, and sacred entrance was utterly demolished by that single, mocking sentence.
He forcibly swallowed the grand monologue he had been about to deliver. Since his attempt to act like an omniscient, god-like savior had failed spectacularly right out of the gate, he felt a surge of deep frustration.
"Kazue Enkawa, you aren't dead yet," Black Zetsu stated flatly. "I saved you."
Saying those words out loud somehow made his imposing aura shrink even further. Black Zetsu held his breath, feeling incredibly awkward and uncomfortable under her unimpressed stare.
"Who are you? And why would you bother saving me?"
Kazue reached up, her fingers gently touching her chest. The fatal wound that should have been there had completely healed over, leaving only smooth skin. Yet, her entire body felt incredibly weak; her chakra reserves were empty, and she barely had the physical strength to twitch her legs.
Black Zetsu rapidly calculated his options. He immediately abandoned his original explanation and decided to temporarily adopt a completely different identity.
No one in the world knew his true identity—except for the late Ida Mutzuki.
On that fateful night, he had been caught in Konoha and trapped within a seal. Because the scale of the battle had been so massive and destructive, the surrounding ninja couldn't get anywhere near the epicenter. Only two or three people alive even knew of his existence, making him an absolute secret.
Therefore, to properly deceive and manipulate Kazue Enkawa, Black Zetsu selected the one identity most likely to make a Konoha-affiliated ninja lower their guard.
"I am a sentient consciousness, created by the Fourth Hokage using a forbidden Ninjutsu right before her tragic death," Black Zetsu proclaimed, puffing out his dark chest to look more imposing. "If you must ask who I truly am... I am the living will of Ida Mutzuki."
Kazue stared at him.
...Are you seriously trying to make me die of laughter so I can exit this persona early?
To be completely fair, using this specific identity to bluff random people was actually a brilliant tactical move. There were countless fanatic loyalists of Ida Mutzuki scattered throughout Konoha. As long as Black Zetsu kept a low profile and found a way to secretly contact those fanatics, the manipulative potential would be extraordinary.
But Black Zetsu didn't just look down on anyone; he despised humanity. More, Black Zetsu absolutely refused to set foot anywhere near Konoha. The trauma was too fresh.
But the fatal flaw in his grand deception was the specific person he was currently trying to fool.
He was talking to Kazue.
A Kazue Enkawa who was originally fully prepared to fake her death and exit this specific persona's storyline, only to have her dramatic exit abruptly interrupted by this shadowy idiot, forcing her to keep living in this body.
The sheer irony of the situation was difficult to describe. There were so many glaring holes and ridiculous elements to criticize that she honestly didn't even know where to begin.
Kazue just stared at Black Zetsu, her face completely expressionless, refusing to say a single word.
Thinking about it carefully... she mused internally. It isn't actually a problem. In the professional scamming industry, your identity is whatever you confidently claim it is. Stay calm, Stelle. You've got this.
She possessed a massive laundry list of aliases and fake personas herself. Surely, she could allow Black Zetsu the courtesy of having a bunch of fake "wills." Hell, at this rate, maybe one day he would try to claim he was the will of Kazue Enkawa, too.
After letting her expression remain perfectly blank for a few agonizing seconds to build tension, her face suddenly shifted into a mask of pure, unadulterated horror and disbelief.
"The Fourth Hokage... is dead?!" Kazue gasped, her voice trembling with perfectly acted devastation. "How is that even possible?! Who on earth could possibly defeat her?! What exactly happened?!"
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