"Uchiha Madara?"
Hearing this familiar name, Aizen, who was in the midst of a new round of sealing and engraving on the sword embryo, paused his movements.
His eyes, half-closed beneath his thick glasses, lingered on the empty space before him, as if looking at a non-existent screen, and a playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
For several years now, he had detected an unusual Chakra fluctuation frequently entering and exiting Konoha's territory through the Konoha barrier.
Although this Chakra signature was very faint, under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to detect unless one saw it directly.
However, after high-frequency accumulation, it successfully caught his attention.
Initially, Aizen didn't pay much mind to this Chakra signature.
As a standard militarized unit, the number of various individuals coming to Konoha for reconnaissance was simply too numerous to count: Ninja, merchants, spies, nobles... What appeared to be a small village of only tens of thousands of people was actually a vast melting pot, crowded with people of different statuses.
However, this was the first time someone had appeared so many times yet remained uncatchable by him.
After years of statistics, the locations where this Chakra signature appeared most frequently and was monitored most often were the Hokage Building, the Root base, the Uchiha Clan Compound, Kakashi Hatake, and the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki.
This highly targeted probing had made him wary early on, and he had made some arrangements on Uchiha Itachi.
Don't trust anyone, and that, of course, includes him.
This statement was not made out of thin air.
What he didn't expect, however, was that the opponent's patience was so limited, or perhaps, they were overly confident.
The Uchiha Clan had only been annihilated for two days, and they exposed their identity so openly in front of Uchiha Itachi.
"Should I say, it's too naive?"
"The Asura who once dominated the Ninja World wouldn't be so secretive like you."
Aizen listened to the opponent's clumsy rhetoric, like watching a clumsy monkey on a circus stage, shook his head slightly, and then sat back down at the experimental bench, continuing to listen quietly... "Heh."
It was clear that Aizen was not the only one who scoffed at White Zetsu's words.
Uchiha Itachi looked at the strange person in front of him, casually threw away the severed arm, and scanned him with dangerous eyes.
White Zetsu, however, seemed completely unaware of the coldness in Itachi's eyes, his smile still mischievous:
"Don't be in a hurry to act, Itachi-kun."
"What I'm about to say, whether you believe it or not, doesn't matter."
"After obtaining those eyes, you must have noticed it too, right?"
"The longer and more frequently you use them, the more severely your eyesight will decline, until all your ocular power is depleted, leading to blindness."
"Do you know, there's actually a solution to this problem."
"Above the Mangekyo Sharingan, there exists an even more powerful pair of eyes, just like Lord Madara."
"And above the eternity Lord Madara achieved, there exists an even higher level."
"All of this is recorded in the stone tablet deep within the Naka Shrine."
"Go and see it, the ultimate power of this world."
"As long as you possess that power, everything you desire can be realized."
As he spoke, White Zetsu's initial playful expression gradually faded, replaced by a touch of solemnity.
Uchiha Itachi still looked at him coldly, but a hint of suspicion involuntarily appeared in his expression.
The inscription deep within the Naka Shrine.
How did he come to know such a secret?
Could it be that it really was related to Uchiha Madara back then?
Seeing his expression, White Zetsu knew his goal had been achieved.
Planting a seed in people's hearts and then waiting for them to sprout on their own was far more effective than any scheme or trick.
Just as he was about to turn and leave.
A familiar voice suddenly echoed in Uchiha Itachi's mind:
"Please keep him here."
"Itachi-kun."
In an instant, Uchiha Itachi tensed up.
The White Zetsu opposite also seemed to sense something unusual, looking at him in confusion.
The next moment.
Uchiha Itachi's figure flickered suddenly, a sharp flash of a blade cutting a brilliant arc through the air, piercing the eardrums with a clang.
"Whoosh!"
In a brief moment.
The White Zetsu, which had been whole just now, instantly fell into pieces.
"Eh?"
White Zetsu's head fell to the ground, looking at Itachi in confusion.
Uchiha Itachi sheathed his blade and stood respectfully to one side.
Before White Zetsu could clearly see the figure of the newcomer.
A large hand had already landed on his forehead.
White Zetsu, who hadn't reacted at all even when his body was sliced apart, suddenly showed a hint of disbelief the moment this palm landed.
The mental connection with his main body, severed?!
"Indeed."
"Just a clone, is it?"
It was only when the voice sounded again that White Zetsu clearly saw the newcomer's appearance.
It was a tall, gentle, and handsome young man with a benevolent smile on his face.
"Who are you?"
White Zetsu looked at him in confusion.
Having monitored Konoha for so long, he had never noticed this man before.
"Pleasure to meet you."
"I am Aizen Sōsuke."
The man's smile was benevolent and profound, as he looked down at him from above:
"A body structure similar to Wood Release cells in physical form, and an unnatural life bestowed by Yang Release from nothing."
"Truly remarkable."
"It's almost like a Tailed Beast."
Hearing the other party instantly reveal his true nature, even the thick-skinned White Zetsu realized that something was amiss.
He looked at Uchiha Itachi, who was respectfully standing by, and then at Aizen Sōsuke, who clearly held the dominant position, and a strong sense of crisis suddenly arose within him.
So that's how it is.
No wonder Obito's plan had such a huge deviation.
So, behind Uchiha Itachi, there were actually other people?!
Who exactly is this guy?
Did he detect Obito's existence long ago?
He must find a way to send this information back.
The unexpected situation and his absolute loyalty to Uchiha Madara's successor led White Zetsu's simple logic to make the quickest judgment.
In just an instant, all his scattered limbs seemed to melt as they tried to burrow into the soil.
"It's a little too late to try and escape now."
However, the man opposite him merely made a calm statement, sealing his ultimate fate.
In an instant, sealing runes, dense like insects, suddenly spread out from deep underground, quickly clinging to White Zetsu's melting body, covering every part of his shell.
"Oh dear."
"This is bad."
White Zetsu's expression froze.
And then, this expression, as if frozen, solidified forever within the seal.
The seals clinging to his limbs and the ground slowly pulled, reassembling his body into one piece.
Watching this unprecedented sealing technique, Uchiha Itachi, who had maintained a lowered gaze, couldn't help but twitch his eyelids, his gaze lingering slightly behind Aizen Sōsuke, wondering what he was thinking.
After a moment of thought, he voluntarily spoke:
"Lord Aizen."
"Please allow me to use the Konoha Military Police Force's strength to immediately conduct a search in this vicinity."
"I will ensure no single one slips through."
"No need."
Listening to his loyal words, Aizen's expression remained unchanged, his tone still gentle:
"Whether there is one speck of dust or two to sweep away, there is no difference to the naked eye."
"Compared to the information they obtained, this peculiar life form is what holds some value."
"Let me see…"
Aizen murmured, his attention gradually focusing on the reassembled body before him:
"What exactly is the soul of a Chakra life form like."
Amidst these calm words, his hand, pressed against White Zetsu's head, slowly lifted.
Amidst piercing, boiling shrieks, a vaguely indistinct dark Chakra was seen tightly clutched in his hand, slowly peeling away from this inhuman body, constantly struggling in his palm.
Watching this scene, Uchiha Itachi's head bowed even lower.