White Zetsu could reach Hozuki Castle by relying on special White Zetsu cells; for example, they could absorb the chakra of sea beasts in the ocean, transform into their likeness, and swim over.
The Mayfly Technique is not omnipotent; it also has its limitations.
The Mayfly Technique can travel using an underground organic network, which is a continuous, living natural network beneath the ground.
Examples include plant root systems, mycelia, colonies, moist soil, humus layers, and so on.
However, the ocean has no reliance on root systems or soil; if White Zetsu wants to travel through the ocean, they must go deep into the silt layer beneath the sea.
But the water pressure of the deep sea can crush White Zetsu, making it impossible to go that deep.
In the original work, it was precisely because the Five Kage considered White Zetsu's incredible infiltration capabilities on land that they had Naruto and Killer Bee hide on Turtle Island.
Black Zetsu observed the situation at Hozuki Castle with his soybean-like eyes while answering White Zetsu, "Why didn't you arrive at Hozuki Castle along with Ryou and the others earlier?"
White Zetsu said, "That wouldn't work. Lord Madara sent us to monitor Lord Ryou; if he saw us, wouldn't we be exposed?"
White Zetsu noticed the prisoner activity square in Hozuki Castle prison, where there was a box emitting an ominous chakra. "Is that the Box of Ultimate Bliss? I sense a very evil chakra."
At that moment, walking corpses began to emerge from the Joyous Ghost Mask of the Box of Ultimate Bliss; they were all killing machines brainwashed into puppets by the negative energy within the box.
White Zetsu asked, "What are these things?"
Black Zetsu said, "These are Satori's puppets. The people of the Land of Grass once relied on the Box of Ultimate Bliss and Satori to rule the world. The Box of Ultimate Bliss can swallow all surrounding life and turn them into puppets that only know how to kill."
White Zetsu was somewhat puzzled, "Black Zetsu, how do you know this?"
Because I've experienced it, of course!
However, Black Zetsu was currently playing the role of a will-life created by Madara using Yin-Yang Release, so he couldn't reveal information beyond his supposed knowledge.
It replied, "I am Madara's will. Madara once consulted the Uchiha Clan's records and knew about the Box of Ultimate Bliss!"
"So that's how it is!"
Black Zetsu attributed his information to Madara, and White Zetsu no longer found it strange.
Then, Black and White Zetsu began to pay attention to the two giant figures fighting in the distance.
One was a Samurai composed of Wood Release and Susanoo, and the other was a black-feathered monster that looked like an owl.
The black-feathered monster was not as massive as the Samurai, but its flight speed and agility were beyond common sense, as if it were a Tailed Beast of the sky by birth.
"What kind of monster is this?"
Black Zetsu recognized it: "This is Satori, the Mind-Reading Demon sealed in the Box of Ultimate Bliss during the era of the Sage of Six Paths."
"Someone opened the Box of Ultimate Bliss and released Satori!"
Black Zetsu looked toward the direction where people were gathering in Hozuki Castle and saw Kusagakure Shinobi working with the Hozuki Castle guards to suppress the puppets brainwashed by the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
It laughed inwardly; if they had come earlier, they would have seen the moment Kusagakure and the others' defenses were broken.
Unfortunately, White Zetsu didn't swim fast enough.
White Zetsu guessed, "It must be Lord Ryou's wish to monopolize the Box of Ultimate Bliss, so he had the Seven-Tails use Tailed Beast chakra to open it."
"But he didn't expect that the wish wouldn't come true, and instead, a monster appeared."
"I wonder what Lord Madara will think?"
White Zetsu was a bit gloating, while Black Zetsu remained expressionless.
Black and White Zetsu closely observed the battle between Ryou and Satori in the distance.
Candy and Shukaku's attacks were useless against Satori, but Satori also couldn't break through the double defense formed by Wood Release and Susanoo.
Satori's mechanics were excellent and they couldn't counter them, but Ryou's stats were also so high that Satori couldn't bite through them.
If it were the previous Seven-Tails, Satori would have devoured it by now.
Ryou slowly opened his eyes, and his entire being quieted down.
Ryou took control of Susanoo again, and using the Gunbai, he fanned out a Wind Pressure Cannon toward Satori.
"It's useless. Fear of me, or attacks bearing malice toward me, cannot harm me in the slightest."
Satori saw the Wind Pressure Cannon and used its top-tier flight mechanics to dodge, then looked at Ryou.
"..."
It was suddenly stunned because Satori couldn't read anything at all.
There was no fear, no hostility, but rather an emotion of love; Satori could not decipher Ryou's thoughts from such an emotion.
This was because Ryou had hypnotized himself with the Sharingan. Now, in his eyes, Satori was just that cute and soft catgirl from before; he couldn't wait to dote on it.
How could he possibly hurt it?
In the original work, Ryūzetsu's emotion toward Satori was expressed as love for Muku, Mui's was paternal love, and Naruto's was redemption.
These were all positive emotions.
Satori cannot decipher positive energy.
Ryou couldn't make himself think of nothing at all, because the characteristic that distinguishes humans from beasts is thinking; as long as one thinks, one will have stray thoughts.
So, he tried to guide his thoughts, such as imagining the opponent as a catgirl.
"Little catgirl, let big brother catch you and love you to death!"
Ryou controlled the Magnet Release, and the iron sand transformed into ropes that reached out to grab Satori. Because there was no killing intent, the iron sand all became steel cables for binding people.
Satori felt a bit of a chill; having lived for thousands of years, it had seen all kinds of people, but it had never seen someone who wanted to possess a demonic creature like itself.
How could there be such a perverted human?
Konoha.
The Five Great Shinobi Villages had all decided to form the Shinobi Allied Forces, but the question arose: how many people should each Village contribute? And who would be the supreme commander of this alliance?
On the Sunagakure side, Pakura was just a Kazekage mascot; the one speaking was Chiyo, and the people from the other Villages didn't take the young and aggressive Pakura seriously.
Chiyo's words were still more effective.
Chiyo said, pretending to be pitiful, "That damnable Uchiha Ryou killed all of our Sunagakure Anbu and Jonin forces."
"The Village's Kazekage is dead, Shukaku has been taken; being able to pull together a force of one thousand is already doing our absolute best!"
Ōnoki immediately shouted, "A thousand?!"
Although the Third Shinobi World War had just ended and all the Villages were in a state of exhaustion, it shouldn't be to the point where they could only mobilize a force of one thousand Shinobi!
The Three Hokage also found it ridiculous: "Lady Chiyo, one thousand is far too few. Sunagakure should at least mobilize five thousand Shinobi!"
Chiyo shook her head, "Hokage, I'm really not lying to you. Our Sunagakure was truly heavily damaged by Uchiha Ryou."
"The fact that we are even participating in the Five Kage Summit without caring about the Village's reconstruction shows our concern for the big picture."
Chiyo was talking nonsense; Sunagakure hadn't actually been crippled. Even the Elder Council members killed by Sasori were a case of removing a scourge for Sunagakure.
Because those Elder Council members were all elderly men, blinded by greed and always putting their own interests first.
Pakura was the one sold out by these people to be a sacrifice.
In terms of combat power, Sunagakure only lacked Rasa and Shukaku; the Village's Anbu and Shinobi forces were still intact and hadn't been crippled at all.
They still had the ability to squeeze out a force of five thousand Shinobi.
But the current Sunagakure—Chiyo, Pakura, and the Anbu—were all held in Ryou's hand.
They had already been molded into Ryou's shape.
Therefore, Chiyo didn't dare to commit the Village's Shinobi forces to the Shinobi Allied Forces.
She knew exactly how strong Ryou's power was; Ryou could suppress the entire Sunagakure Village just by relying on the Wood Golem.
Not to mention Madara?
In Chiyo's mind, she wasn't even willing to provide a thousand Shinobi forces; she planned to find death row prisoners from the Land of Wind to replace them.
She would brainwash them, put them in Sunagakure Shinobi uniforms, and send them to make up the numbers.
In any case, throwing a few shuriken and Kunai from a distance would count as participating in the war.
Whether they were Genin, Chunin, or Jonin, facing Madara, they would all be kicked to death like stray dogs on the side of the road.
So what was the difference if ordinary people went?
They'd all be kicked to death the same way; even I could do it.