"Bastard, what kind of freakish power is this?!"
White Zetsu kept twisting its body; the instant it crawled out of Ichie it shrieked.
It actually—actually made every cell in its body riot out of control! What accursed Kekkei Genkai was this? It wasn't even Senjutsu!
"What the hell are you?!"
Ichie sprang up by pure battle instinct, Sharingan flaring, and kicked the thing away.
"So you were parasitised, Ichie. Looks like they marked you long ago."
Bai Lu rose slowly, staring at the White Zetsu with a grave face.
Before the creature could recover and flee, Bai Lu struck.
A vast cloud of Radiation unfurled, swallowing White Zetsu and shredding its cells.
Tissue born of the God Tree buckled and warped under nuclear assault, forcing the Spore-form Zetsu to reveal itself.
Never in the Ninja World had a power appeared that could twist and mutate every living cell.
"Ichie, Guy—kill it now. No survivors," Bai Lu ordered quietly.
The three-man cell moved for the first time as one, slamming White Zetsu down and pinning it.
"I don't know what you are, but I'll carry out Mr. Bai Lu's will! Eight Gates Released Formation—Gate of Opening, OPEN!"
Guy's fist smashed into White Zetsu's neck with a sickening crack.
White Zetsu died.
Still uneasy, Bai Lu drew a kunai and severed its head to be sure.
"Good, the village wasn't alerted."
"Bai Lu, what was that thing? No blood, no brain—yet it lived inside me."
Ichie trembled with rage and dread, her nerves frayed.
Her red Sharingan, already stressed by Radiation and fury, suddenly broke a small Bottleneck.
Two-Tomoe Sharingan!
Ichie paled; the jump to two tomoe taxed her body. Each tomoe looked faint unless looked at closely.
Bai Lu let his Radiation cloud seep through the house, carefully skirting Izumi playing with her toys.
No other White Zetsu were found.
"Don't ask again, and speak of this to no one. I'll handle it."
Ichie hesitated.
Guy simply nodded. "Understood, Mr. Bai Lu. My lips are sealed—even from my father!"
Ichie, face ashen, finally agreed.
Bai Lu studied the corpse, brows knit in thought.
Troublesome.
Uchiha Madara had already set his sights on Ichie. That wouldn't do—she was his.
Bai Lu pondered.
"This thing is priceless—beyond priceless."
He wrapped the body solemnly. "Seal it in a Scroll, then get me Lab Equipment. I need to study it."
"I'll manage basic tools, but nothing precision-grade."
"Enough."
Bai Lu nodded.
The corpse was grown from Hashirama's cells—God Tree offshoots, diluted but potent.
If he could unravel it,
secrets of Wood Release and the God Tree might open to him.
"I'm not chasing Wood Release, but it's still worth borrowing."
He sliced a sliver of tissue, stored it safely, and mulled over Hashirama's jutsu.
Wood Clone topped the list—tough, versatile, nearly unkillable, the perfect solid Clone.
Soon the trio slipped out of Ichie's house before her parents returned.
Acting as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile.
Lord Uchiha Madara, using White Zetsu's power, reached Konoha and stole into the Uchiha Clan Compound.
"After all these years, nothing here has changed."
A cold look crossed his face; with a puff he became Obito's Granny—stooped, flawless.
He tottered.
Today he would give Obito a funeral for his only blood kin, letting the boy taste darkness and pain.
Madara shuffled, half-dead with every step.
"Lord Madara, the Spore I placed on Ichie just vanished," a White Zetsu head popped from the ground.
"Oh? The little thing found it—how?"
"No idea. We Spores don't share a mind."
"Hmph, one White Zetsu less. A trifle—Obito is what matters."
Madara hobbled home to die before Obito's eyes.
"Ah! Granny, why sneak out? Rest like I said!"
"Hehe, good boy, I wanted fruit for you. I'm all you have, so I must care for you—oh! I've fallen!"
"No! Are you ill again?" Obito panicked, tears welling as he rushed to his only kin.
Too late.
Granny would die in agony—eyes wide, gasping. Madara's acting outshone even Boruto; every twitch perfect.
"Oh dear, oh dear!"
Madara pitched forward, ready to collapse and break Obito.
Foolish boy, the world is ugly—partings cruel. Wake up!
A strong arm caught him mid-fall.
"Are you all right?"
Bai Lu looked on in concern—at him, her, or whatever stood before him.
"...Fine, child, thanks to you."
"No, I'm not good—and too late. Elder, stay indoors; your stroll is complicating my life."
Bai Lu hauled the collapsing legend upright.
"..."
Tch—can't even die.
Whose brat is this? I should have throttled his grandpa years ago.