Hokage: Ryo's Path

Chapter 223: The Encounter with Black Zetsu

White Zetsu controlled his spores, making them float inside the Akatsuki’s headquarters, attaching them to its members without them knowing.

These spores allowed him to monitor their movements, and they all could absorb their Chakra whenever Zetsu wanted to grow into now Zetsu.

After doing this, he left immediately to stay by Madara’s side if ever needed.

Black Zetsu was deep underground, squirming his way to Hanzo and Danzo.

When reaching them, he revealed half of its head. He prepared to move in, just when he saw Ryo!

Witnessing the unexpected ‘guest’, Black was shocked and went back in underground. With Ryo focusing on Danzo and Hanzo, he shouldn’t be able to find out about him.

“Damn! What’s Ryo Yamanaka doing here?” Zetsu Black at this time couldn’t fight Ryo, at least not without exposing more of his cards to him.

Therefore, he could only choose to endure the situation temporarily, sneaking into the depths of underground and following Ryo.

At first, the latter didn’t notice. However, after a while, he kept feeling that something was just wrong.

This wasn’t him sensing Zetsu or anything; it was a mere hunch.

Therefore, Ryo entered Sage Mode, which allowed him immediately to perceive Black Zetsu deep underground.

Ryo didn’t rush to react, and instead continued to “scan” the area. In the end, he determined that there was no trace of Obito or White Zetsu.

With Black Zetsu being alone, Ryo wasn’t risking being watched by Madara or his followers. On top of that, this was the Rain Country, where it rained all year long. Ryo was surrounded by very high levels of humidity that fit his fighting style extremely well!

Ryo controlled the water in vicinity of Black Zetsu to condensate into a hollow white cube! It was too fast, too sudden, and Black only realized it was happening after he was caught.

He was advancing underground, when a wall of Ice hit his face out of nowhere. At first, Black though he hit some stone, and tried to go around it, but when finding that he had no escape, he realized he was caught by Ryo.

Ryo controlled the Ice Cube, moving it above the ground with Zetsu.

Black Zetsu was enveloped in dirt and could not be seen, so Ryo undid his Ice Cube.

With nothing supporting it, the dried out dirt instantly fell, and Zetsu Black was exposed to Ryo for the first time.

“A Zetsu? A black one? Are you also with Madara? Why were you following me?” Ryo pretended not to know Black Zetsu.

However, Black did not answer. He was shocked to see Ryo, and never expected him to have such keen perception. With his Chakra hidden so low underground, it shouldn’t be perceived.

“So you’re just not going to answer? Then I can only do this!” Ryo immediately opened his Mangekyo Sharingan, dragging Black’s soul into the Ice World.

With his soul in there, Zetsu Black wasn’t nervous at all. This wasn’t the first time for him to see such a world. He had been in the Tsukuyomi’s world before, and guessed that this similar world should be also built with Spiritual Power and Chakra.

He had been there for many years since ancient times, and had witnessed many Mangekyo bearers. Ryo’s Ice World should be nothing to him, for he is Kaguya’s will incarnate, and no Spiritual Power based Jutsu could ever have an effect on him.

So he thought, but soon, Black realized he was wrong. Tsukuyomi’s world is just an illusory space, whereas the Ice World was a true world, one that life between illusion and reality.

In the Ice World, the ice and snow were constituted by Chakra and spiritual power, and the cold wind was Ice Packed Natural energy.

Yes, Black Zetsu could ignore the mental damage to his soul, but dealing with Natural Energy was something else. On top of that, his body was not his in this world; it could not just slither away.

The Ice World’s blizzard soon got snow surrounding him. Although his soul was not damaged, he could still feel the bitter cold under the influence of Natural Energy.

After a while, Black’s soul was finally frozen. With him being Kaguya’s will, he would not lose consciousness like an average soul. The cold was becoming overwhelming, and Black Zetsu finally spoke to Ryo.

“Ryo... Ryo Yamanaka, you.... Get me out! What do you want to know?”

After Ryo sensed Black Zetsu’s spirit fluctuations, he smiled and then entered Ice World after him.

Ryo clacked his fingers, and the ice fell off Black’s soul, and the surrounding blizzard stopped.

“So you’ll speak now? Shouldn’t you have chosen to cooperate earlier? Why even resist?” Ryo said with a smug smile.

“You... what do you want to know?” Zetsu was trembling, apparently still under the effect of the extreme cold.

“I just have a few simple questions: Who are you? What’s your relationship with Madara? How come this technique of mine is not doing more harm to you? And what are you doing here in the Rain Country?”

Ryo naturally didn’t care about the answer for the first two questions. He just had to ask them as he had to in order to sound natural.

Black Zetsu didn’t hesitate, saying directly: “I’m the incarnation of Madara sama’s will, given to White Zetsu. Because of this, your Jutsu does not act on me. I just arrived to the Rain Country, and still haven’t done anything.”

Ryo looked down thinking after he heard Black Zetsu, trying to tell the facts from the lies. He knew that some of these were obvious; but had some clues.

Yes, Black Zetsu was not the incarnation of Madara’s will, but what he was indeed Kagyua’s will incarnate, which should be enough to save him from soul damage.

In fact, Ryo tried to destroy him completely and immediately, putting this negotiation as a last resort.

It was a pity that the Ice World wasn’t enough to do the job. In the outside world, Ryo also tried various methods to destroy his body, but in vain.

In the end, Ryo concluded that he had no way to do this. The only way he thought about using to successfully beat Black Zetsu was the use of the Rikudo Sennin’s power. This being was Kaguya’s will incarnate, and only power of the same caliber should be enough to damage him.

Helpless, Ryo realized that he just had to let him go. Any questioning of his motives would give out suspension, not to mention that it would be in vain. Therefore, he just kicked him off the Ice world, and then walked away.

With Zetsu regaining freedom, he stared at Ryo’s back before disappearing into the ground.

What Ryo did not know was that he didn’t just leave the Rain Country, but instead went to the Akatsuki’s headquarter.