Aside from Hashirama Senju, both Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito were extremely familiar with Zetsu. In fact, they were familiar with it to an absurd degree.
The moment Ryūjin's Black Zetsu split away, the two of them nearly lost control of themselves and almost stepped forward to kill it on sight.
That thing had manipulated them like fools, dragging them around in circles for years.
If Uchiha Ryūjin had not exposed Black Zetsu's schemes in time, the two of them would have already gone completely astray with no chance of turning back.
"This is my consciousness body. It will travel with you to the other world," Ryūjin said flatly, without bothering to elaborate further.
Still, whether it was Senju Hashirama, Madara, or Obito, all of them understood immediately.
Once they arrived in that other world, Zetsu would represent Uchiha Ryūjin and act as the leader of their group.
No one needed to say it aloud.
Ryūjin wasted no more words after that. He directly transferred Hashirama and the others into the Kamui Dimension, condensed a Truth Seeking Orb, and stepped through the portal.
In the next instant, he returned to the world of One Piece.
"My consciousness body will teach you methods to grow stronger. Try not to waste your time in this world."
After saying that to Hashirama and the others, Ryūjin returned to the Ninja World through Kaguya's Chibaku Tensei Space.
"Lord Ryūjin, which life-bearing planet do you intend to visit next?" Orochimaru asked inside the experimental base.
After sending Hashirama and the others to the One Piece world, Ryūjin had already changed his original plans.
At first, he had intended to remain in the Ninja World for a while longer. However, after meeting Marcel, he decided to move up his schedule.
There was no point waiting any longer.
He would head to another world immediately.
"Take me to the life-bearing planet I named 'Shinigami'," Ryūjin replied after a brief pause.
This trip to the Shinigami world had two primary objectives.
The first was to improve his combat methods.
To put it bluntly, he wanted to eliminate the weakness of hand seals.
Compared to systems like Kidō and zanpakutō in the Shinigami world, the hand seal based ninjutsu of the Ninja World felt outdated.
Inside the Ninja World, the flaw was not obvious. But once placed within the wider universe, it became a fatal weakness.
In an actual battle to the death, nobody would patiently wait for someone to finish forming hand seals.
Even if the seals were formed at incredible speed, there was still a delay.
Against top-tier experts, that brief delay alone could decide victory or death.
That was the first reason.
The second reason was the Hōgyoku.
Ryūjin intended to obtain it and use it for his next stage of evolution.
The Hōgyoku was not inferior to a Chakra Fruit in the slightest.
Although it could not instantly provide overwhelming power like a Chakra Fruit, the evolution granted by the Hōgyoku possessed limitless potential.
Its upper limit was terrifyingly high.
Aizen alone proved that point.
Beyond that, the Shinigami world contained countless absurd rule based abilities.
The Deathdealing.
The Balance.
The Massacre.
Abilities like those were simply unreasonable.
They clearly operated on an entirely higher level of power.
Ryūjin valued them highly.
"As you wish, Lord Ryūjin."
Orochimaru immediately opened a portal to the Shinigami world without hesitation.
Ryūjin condensed a layer of Truth Seeking Orbs around himself and charged into the portal with a sharp swish.
His figure vanished instantly.
The next moment, Ryūjin's vision blurred before he appeared on a modern city street.
Beep beep beep!
Familiar car horns echoed through the air.
Neon signs flickered overhead while massive buildings towered over the bustling streets.
For a brief moment, Ryūjin almost felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.
A modern city.
Long time no see.
This was the kind of world he truly recognized.
After wandering through the busy streets for a while, Ryūjin casually entered a coffee shop.
He ordered a cup of coffee and sat beside the window, quietly observing the scenery outside while sipping his drink.
It was surprisingly comfortable.
As for money?
Heh.
The Sharingan handled that problem perfectly.
After enjoying the atmosphere of the modern city for some time, Ryūjin's gaze sharpened slightly.
Then his Observation Haki expanded outward, instantly covering the entire planet.
Like Professor X using Cerebro, every person on Earth appeared clearly within Ryūjin's perception.
Naturally, ordinary humans were not the only ones he noticed.
The Hollows appearing throughout different cities.
The Shinigami sent from Soul Society on missions.
The Visored hiding in the human world, including Shinji Hirako.
None of them escaped Ryūjin's senses.
Observation Haki really was absurdly convenient.
"Found him, Ichigo Kurosaki."
A faint smile appeared on Ryūjin's face as he located the child of destiny attending high school.
Judging from Ichigo Kurosaki's age, the timeline was already close to the start of the original story.
However, Ryūjin searched carefully and failed to locate Rukia Kuchiki.
That meant the plot had not officially begun yet, though it likely would not be long before Rukia arrived in Karakura Town.
Still, Ryūjin remembered something clearly.
When he had first opened a portal to the Shinigami world while studying Sasori of the Red Sand's scrolls, he had accidentally encountered Kenpachi Zaraki.
At the time, Kenpachi Zaraki had neither worn an eyepatch nor a Shihakushō.
Based on that, Ryūjin originally believed the timeline was from before Kenpachi became a captain.
But that clearly conflicted with the current situation.
After thinking it over, Ryūjin figured his earlier judgment had probably been flawed.
Kenpachi removing his eyepatch during battle was not strange at all.
As for the missing Shihakushō, Ryūjin could not be bothered investigating further.
"Since the plot's about to start, I should move too."
Soon, Ryūjin's Observation Haki locked onto a Hollow twenty kilometers away.
Without another word, he silently left the coffee shop.
"I'll test things out with you."
He entered a blind spot beyond the range of surveillance cameras and activated the Kamui Technique.
His body vanished instantly.
The next moment, Ryūjin appeared in midair twenty kilometers away.
Before him floated a grotesque worm-like creature wearing a white mask.
It looked hideous enough to terrify children on sight.
At close range, Ryūjin realized he could see the Hollow perfectly without even relying on Observation Haki.
There was no obstruction whatsoever.
After a brief thought, he concluded it was most likely due to his mastery over Yin Yang Release and the Human Path of the Rinnegan.
Those abilities allowed him to perceive souls directly.
And Hollows were ultimately mutated souls.
Nothing surprising there.
"ROAR!"
The Hollow let out a savage roar and lunged directly toward Ryūjin.
Ryūjin did not move.
With a mere thought, he instantly transferred the Hollow into the Chibaku Tensei Space.
Meanwhile, five streets away, a Shinigami wearing a Shihakushō was rapidly moving toward the Hollow's location while holding a phone-like device.
Then suddenly, the signal representing the Hollow vanished from the screen.
"Huh?"
The Shinigami frowned in confusion.
After hesitating briefly, he still used Shunpo and rushed to the area in several flashes.
But when he arrived, everything appeared completely normal.
There was not even a trace of the Hollow left behind.
"Is the equipment malfunctioning?"
The Shinigami scratched his head while muttering to himself.
Swish!
A moment later, he disappeared.
What he could never have imagined was that the Hollow he had been tracking was currently being experimented on by Ryūjin.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Ryūjin flicked several kunai forward, each one piercing directly into the Hollow's body.
"Fire Release."
"Water Release."
"Wood Release."
"Chidori Current."
"Wind Release."
One after another, Ryūjin tested his ninjutsu, dōjutsu, and various abilities against the Hollow.
Every single technique worked perfectly.
That result completely reassured him.
Hollows and Shinigami were essentially two sides of the same coin.
If his abilities worked on Hollows, then they would naturally work on Shinigami as well.
That was crucial.
It formed the foundation for Ryūjin to infiltrate Soul Society.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After finishing his experiments, Ryūjin casually launched several black receivers, pinning the Hollow firmly to the ground and restraining it completely.
Then he quietly organized his thoughts.
Through this encounter, he gained a deeper understanding of Hollows.
Although Hollows originated from souls, they differed fundamentally from ordinary souls.
In some ways, they resembled the Tailed Beasts of the Naruto world, beings formed entirely from energy.
The difference was simply the type of energy involved.
Hollows were composed of reishi.
Tailed Beasts were composed of chakra.
That was all.
The same principle applied to Shinigami and everything within Soul Society.
Everything there was formed from reishi.
In other words, Ryūjin's existing abilities could function inside this system without issue.
"So the next step is simple."
"I need to infiltrate Soul Society."
Sneaking into Soul Society, signing in, collecting Kidō, zanpakutō, and various abilities while obtaining the Hōgyoku along the way, this was Ryūjin's preliminary plan.
However, there was one major issue.
Ryūjin was not a Shinigami.
He was a living human.
Could a human disguise themselves as a Shinigami?
Ryūjin was not entirely certain, but theoretically, it should be possible.
After all, what truly separated Shinigami from humans?
From a physical standpoint, Shinigami were almost identical to humans.
They bled.
They possessed internal organs and bones.
They needed food.
The only real difference was that ordinary humans could not see them.
So what actually distinguished humans from Shinigami?
The answer was simple.
Spiritual Pressure.
Humans lacked Spiritual Pressure.
And what exactly was Spiritual Pressure?
At its core, it was merely a form of energy fluctuation.
In fact, chakra fluctuations could easily be viewed as a specialized variation of Spiritual Pressure.
Ryūjin possessed mastery over all seven chakra attributes: Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, and Yang.
Theoretically, altering his chakra fluctuations to imitate Spiritual Pressure was achievable.
After all, those seven attributes formed the foundation of all things.
By combining and adjusting them, Ryūjin should theoretically be able to mimic the Spiritual Pressure of Soul Society.
But theory and reality were two completely different matters.
Fusing chakra attributes was essentially equivalent to creating Bloodline Limits from scratch.
That required absurd talent.
Even if Ryūjin possessed god-like strength within the Naruto world, strength did not automatically improve natural aptitude.
This would still be extremely difficult.
"Looks like I'll have to find that guy after all."
After considering things carefully, Ryūjin finally made a decision.
He exited the Chibaku Tensei Space and expanded his Observation Haki across the entire Earth once more.
Soon, a faint grin appeared on his face.
"Found you."
Buzz!
Ryūjin vanished from the Kamui Dimension.
The next moment, he appeared at an ordinary looking convenience store hidden within Karakura Town.
Urahara Shop.
To outsiders, it looked insignificant.
But in reality, it was the secret base of Kisuke Urahara.
And yes, Ryūjin had come specifically to seek Kisuke Urahara's assistance.
Within the world of Shinigami, Kisuke Urahara's intelligence was not inferior to Aizen's in the slightest.
Not only that, he was also one of the greatest scientists in existence.
The Research and Development Bureau, the technological backbone of Soul Society, had been founded entirely by Kisuke Urahara himself.
Even Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the current director of the Research and Development Bureau, looked like a junior compared to him.
Especially during the Thousand Year Blood War arc, Kisuke Urahara repeatedly developed critical inventions at key moments, playing a massive role in the war against Yhwach's Quincy army.
If there was anyone capable of helping Ryūjin disguise himself as a Shinigami, then besides Kisuke Urahara, there was no one else worth considering.
===
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