It wasn't that Black Zetsu had a poor memory. On the contrary, it was precisely because his memory was too good that he hadn't immediately recalled who the "Earth-Walking Yaksha" was.
After all, with only a single sobriquet to go on, several faces surfaced in his mind at once.
Heroic, intimidating epithets like that were limited in number.
Across the thousand-year history of the shinobi world, it was nothing unusual for the same nickname to be passed around among different individuals. Titles such as "Yaksha" or "Asura" appeared in nearly every era, at most distinguished by slightly different prefixes.
So when the name Earth-Walking Yaksha came up,
Black Zetsu needed a moment before recalling that, in this era, a newcomer had claimed that title.
"... Hatoha, is this Koeda Kyoichi really that formidable?"
Black Zetsu finally asked.
"He really is," Hatoha replied frankly. "If I were to fight him one-on-one right now... to be honest, I don't have much confidence I could take him down."
"..."
Black Zetsu frowned slightly.
So strong, then.
It seemed there was yet another shinobi in this world who warranted his special attention.
"But that's only for now," Hatoha continued calmly. "Once my Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto gathers a few more sufficiently powerful souls... Kyoichi's soul will also become one of my spoils."
Black Zetsu froze for a brief moment,
then realized he might have been worrying too much.
The pawn he and Uchiha Madara had chosen this time was far more exceptional than expected. Given enough time and nourishment to grow, flattening the entire shinobi world wouldn't be out of reach. The stronger the enemy, the richer the nourishment for Hatoha's growth.
Since Kyoichi had already caught Hatoha's eye,
it was only a matter of time before he became Hatoha's trophy.
"...So, what next? Will you continue targeting Kyoichi?"
Black Zetsu asked after a short pause.
"No."
Hatoha shook his head decisively. "I've already said I don't yet have the confidence to deal with Koeda Kyoichi. As for the other members of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen... frankly, their souls aren't worthy of becoming pieces of my Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto."
Killing Hōzuki Mangetsu and enslaving his soul had not been driven by hatred alone.
The Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique possessed truly unique qualities, and among the current Hōzuki, there might not be a single person whose mastery surpassed that of the prodigy Hōzuki Mangetsu. That was why Mangetsu's soul qualified as a puzzle piece.
Aside from Mangetsu, the only other one who had caught Hatoha's interest was Kyoichi.
The rest... did not merit a second glance.
"Then where is the new piece you're looking for?"
Black Zetsu asked.
"Kumogakure."
"The Kumo nin?"
"Exactly. Within Kumogakure, there exists a secret technique that pairs perfectly with Hydrification and possesses extremely high combat value. The soul of the Kumo shinobi who wields that technique is worthy of becoming another piece of my Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto."
Hatoha answered without hesitation.
"...Are you sure this isn't just revenge?"
Black Zetsu asked pointedly.
"Of course it is."
Hatoha's blunt reply left Black Zetsu momentarily speechless.
This kid's honesty was almost disarming.
"The direct killers of Tsuruha were the Kumo nin. The indirect culprits were Konoha and Kirigakure. And the root cause of it all is this rotten world itself..."
Hatoha said coldly. "I've etched this hatred into my bones. I won't forget it for even a moment. I'll hunt down each of my enemies one by one. Hōzuki Mangetsu was the first step. The Kumo nin... will be the second."
As he spoke,
Hatoha turned his gaze toward the northeast.
A hatred deep enough to scar the soul flickered in his eyes.
"...So you already have a concrete plan in mind?"
Black Zetsu asked after a few seconds of silence.
"I wouldn't call it a concrete plan. More like a rough idea," Hatoha replied. "I'll first gather as many puzzle pieces for Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto as possible. Once it's complete... I'll decide what to do next. If things go smoothly, I'll just destroy this wretched world outright."
He spoke of destroying the world as if it carried no psychological weight at all.
Watching the increasingly fanatical Hatoha, Black Zetsu couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Over the past thousand years, he had seen countless Uchiha fall into obsession, but one as extreme as Hatoha was exceedingly rare.
And yet—
it was precisely such Uchihas who were the most powerful, and the most likely to help realize the Eye of the Moon Plan.
"And if it doesn't go smoothly?"
Black Zetsu asked.
"Then I'll deal with it then."
Hatoha answered without hesitation. "With Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto, I can continuously harvest the souls of powerful shinobi from the Five Great Nations. And if destroying this rotten world isn't something I can do alone... then I'll just use Amenoyagōmimi no Mikoto to create enough helpers to do it."
Black Zetsu nodded, finding nothing to refute.
It was indeed nothing more than a crude idea, hardly a real plan.
And yet—
he found himself believing it had an alarmingly high chance of becoming reality.
In the end,
this world still bowed before strength.
As long as one was strong enough, even the roughest idea could be made real.
"Oh, right," Hatoha added. "Do you have detailed information on Kumogakure? I'd like to study it first, so I don't go blundering around like a headless fly when I get there."
Having grown up in Konoha, Hatoha was intimately familiar with Konoha's open intelligence. His time fighting Kirigakure on the eastern front had also given him a working understanding of the Kiri.
But beyond Konoha and Kirigakure,
his knowledge of the other villages was little more than—seeing a leopard through a bamboo tube, catching only a glimpse.
"Yes," Black Zetsu replied.
The long shadow on the wall, shaped like a pitcher plant, rose to its feet. "I'll take you to where the files are stored. Not just Kumogakure, but Konoha, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure as well. All of it is the latest intelligence gathered by the White Zetsu."
The door to the room opened.
The two figures, one shaped like a pitcher plant and the other wearing a bird-beak mask, stepped out of the cramped chamber and headed deeper into the underground base, toward the archive room.