Only then did they clearly see him. A black robe covered his entire body and flowed like liquid, hiding his face completely in deep shadow.
Facing Hanzo's cloudy yet still sharp eyes, Yunchuan Hyuga stopped before him and smiled softly. "Do not move."
As his words fell, he reached out toward Hanzo. Shenda's expression changed as he moved to stop him, but Hanzo spoke calmly.
"Do as he says."
The movements of Shenda and the others from Amegakure froze. At the same time, Yunchuan Hyuga placed his hand on Hanzo's shoulder.
In the next instant, black winding lines spread from his palm and crawled over Hanzo's body. This was a reduced version of the "wedge."
Like the complete form, it could absorb and release Ninjutsu, and it also carried some effects of Yin Seal and the Heavenly Curse Seal. Simply put, it could not copy a complete genetic record, only parasitize at the level of Chakra and the soul.
Much like how parts of Chakra were sealed into Naruto Uzumaki by Minato and Kushina, Yunchuan Hyuga could use the wedge's Chakra to speak directly with its bearer. With this technique, he could do many things and quietly reach people he could not meet openly.
Buzz. Buzz.
As the gentle yet overbearing Chakra flowed into his body, Hanzo frowned and opened his mouth to speak, then suddenly froze. On his shoulder, something white began to squirm and grow.
"Ah!"
With a terrified scream, first the head and then the body, a white humanoid creature twisted its way out. Both the white figure and Hanzo cried out in fear at the same time.
Hanzo did not know what it was, but Yunchuan knew very well. It was White Zetsu.
It had been living inside Hanzo's body to monitor him and pass on information, remaining quiet for years. That changed only because of this sudden intruder.
"How is this possible?!"
White Zetsu twisted as if squeezed out like white liquid, crawling from Hanzo's body while shouting like a human. Its pale face was filled with terror as it screamed, "What kind of monster are you?!"
That black power, so similar to Chakra, had forced it out. It had been created using the Demonic Statue and Hashirama Cells, yet that Chakra felt even more brutal and domineering than Hashirama Cells.
It was as if Hanzo's body had been claimed as personal territory, allowing no foreign presence. Before it could get an answer, Hanzo grabbed it by the neck in fury.
He ripped it out of his body with brutal force and stared at it with a twisted expression. "What are you? Why were you inside me, and since when?"
Just as Hanzo questioned White Zetsu in shock and anger, several figures among the stunned crowd from Amegakure suddenly turned around and ran. The movement was so abrupt that even Hanzo failed to react in time. It did not surprise Yunchuan Hyuga at all.
"Since you are already here, do you think you can still leave?"
Yunchuan Hyuga lifted his eyelids slightly, and several black shadows stretched out from his body and shot forward. They moved fast and straight, without any hesitation.
Wet, tearing sounds rang out as the shadows pierced through several chests with perfect accuracy. The victims let out sharp screams filled with pain as their bodies jerked in place.
Seeing this, the people of Amegakure snapped out of their daze and their expressions changed. Someone shouted in anger, "What are you doing?!"
"Shut up, idiots!"
Before the man could finish, and before anyone else could act, Hanzo cut them off with a cold voice. "Open your eyes wide and look carefully. Are those really your companions?"
The anger on the faces of the Amegakure crowd froze. When they looked again, they realized the liquid splashed on the ground was not red blood, but a white fluid.
The people pierced through the chest were slowly covered by black shadows. As they screamed, their bodies were forced to reveal white forms beneath the disguise. Every one of them was a White Zetsu in disguise.
"How is this possible?" Shenda said in a trembling voice beside Hanzo. "Huita, Minghong, Junya…"
Yunchuan Hyuga ignored the fear spreading through the Amegakure crowd and shifted his gaze back to the White Zetsu in Hanzo's hand. These were perfect sacrifices for using Edo Tensei. They could not be wasted by being killed outright.
With that thought, the black shadows rippled like liquid and spread toward the White Zetsu's body. Hanzo frowned and released his grip.
"No, no! Do not come closer! You monster!"
The White Zetsu gurgled from its throat like a frightened child. It screamed in panic and flailed its arms wildly, trying to brush the shadows away.
It was useless. Once it was fully wrapped into a black cocoon, all sound stopped.
The surface of the cocoon squirmed slightly under the moonlight. The sight stirred a deep sense of discomfort in anyone who watched it.
Deep within an underground cavern in the Land of Rain, a massive Venus Flytrap rested with its petals closed. Tendo Pain sat on a stone seat with his eyes shut, unmoving and silent.
At that moment, the stone wall began to writhe. A White Zetsu suddenly emerged from it and dropped to the ground.
"Main body!"
As if sensing something unbelievable, it turned toward the nearby Venus Flytrap with a startled expression. "All the White Zetsu assigned to monitor Amegakure lost contact at the exact same time!"
The Venus Flytrap snapped open, revealing Zetsu with a half black and half white face. "Impossible!" it blurted out.
In the next instant, it checked for itself. The connections were truly gone.
"What happened?"
The voice that spoke was flat and lifeless, as cold as a corpse. It came from Tendo Pain.
Zetsu looked toward Tendo Pain and said, "Something may have gone wrong with Hanzo and the situation in Amegakure."
Tendo Pain's expression did not change, but his brows drew together slightly. "Could it be the Five Great Nations?" he asked in a detached tone. "Did you not say yesterday that many spies had infiltrated the Land of Rain?"
"No," Zetsu replied, shaking its head with confidence. "They have not discovered my abilities."
Although the White Zetsu created from the Outer Path Statue were mostly the same, some special individuals excelled in certain areas. The half-body White Zetsu possessed by Zetsu was one of the two strongest White Zetsu originally created by Madara Uchiha. The other was the spiral-patterned White Zetsu once worn by Obito, the one known as the true "Tobi."
This half-body White Zetsu was the best among all White Zetsu at underground movement and impersonation. By linking with organic networks such as plant roots and underground water, it could move anywhere at high speed while completely cutting off Zetsu's presence. It could also absorb another person's Chakra and perfectly imitate their appearance and Chakra, fooling even close companions and sensory ninja.
"Tobi," on the other hand, was the one best suited for combat. By wrapping its body around a host, it could use that person's abilities, enhance their overall power, and unleash extremely strong Wood Release.
The White Zetsu sent out to gather intelligence in secret were produced through Lie division from the half-body White Zetsu. Even if they were weaker than the main body, their disguise and concealment abilities were still terrifying.
With Hanzo's strength and the spies' skill, how could they possibly have been discovered? And yet, it happened at this exact moment.
Why now, when they were preparing to move against Amegakure? Why now, when "Lord Madara" was away in Konoha?
"…If that is the case."