So White Zetsu can actually merge?
Night Maple was just as shocked and stepped forward at once.
He was very interested in these things rumored to be cultivated from Hashirama cells—and vaguely remembered Kishimoto later retconned it so White Zetsu were people trapped long ago by Kaguya's Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Whatever the case, Night Maple was extremely curious!
"You three fall back—leave it to me!"
Kakashi, Obito, and Rin saw Night Maple step out; they quickly moved aside, all eyes on him.
All along the way, they'd been dying to know Night Maple's true strength.
Now they were anxious—wanting to see his full power, yet afraid the white monster opposite might kill him.
"Sensei, you can do it!" Rin mustered her courage to cheer.
Night Maple took the chance to give her a head-pat.
Kakashi and Obito were both speechless.
By now White Zetsu was already charging, body bristling with vicious spikes.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
Night Maple poured chakra into the shuriken in his hand and flicked it forward; then the shuriken split by the tens of thousands, lancing toward White Zetsu ahead.
Team Seven, huddled behind Night Maple, stared slack-jawed at the skyful of shuriken.
"Whoa!"
"Woooah!"
"I wanna learn that jutsu too!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Yet all those shuriken sank into White Zetsu's body and seemed to have no effect at all.
"Looks like physical attacks won't cut it—their physical defense is pretty high?"
"But it also looks like White Zetsu can use Wood Release. Will my Wood Release work?"
"If Wood Release doesn't work, this'll be a tough fight—I'll have to relocate them first."
As White Zetsu pounced, Night Maple's figure blurred; he scooped up the three and leapt back.
"Sensei, we can't beat it?"
Being carried, Rin was on the verge of tears.
Mostly because that white monster was so ugly!
"No—you're too weak. I'm afraid you'll get hurt."
With that, Night Maple set them down.
Only then did Team Seven realize—they'd already crossed the bridge.
A kilometer-long bridge—cleared in an instant?
So this is Sensei's power?!
Kakashi, Obito, and Rin all wore looks of utter shock.
And in the next heartbeat, Night Maple was in front of White Zetsu.
"Primary Lotus—First Step!"
Night Maple flashed beneath White Zetsu and kicked upward, booting its jaw and sending it flying.
Of course, the follow-ups of the Primary Lotus get… weird—tying up and hugging—so Night Maple naturally canceled the rest.
"Sensei is amazing!" Rin's eyes shone.
Kakashi thought to himself: So this is a jōnin?
Obito couldn't help blurting, "I'll definitely be even stronger than Sensei someday!"
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
Night Maple wasn't about to give White Zetsu any time to react. He formed seals, sent chakra into seeds of wood, and a massive dragon burst forth, coiling around the airborne White Zetsu.
The instant the Wood Dragon bound it, Night Maple felt the dragon drawing not only chakra from White Zetsu—but a kind of primal life essence!
That had to be Hashirama cells!
Sure enough, White Zetsu was made from Hashirama cells!
Within seconds, White Zetsu was drained shriveled by Night Maple—until only a puddle of clear liquid dripped onto the ground, the lone trace it had ever existed.
Watching from afar, Team Seven shivered. Night Maple was terrifying—he'd drained the white monster into a husk just like that.
Night Maple glanced at his fusion rate—already 57.9%. This White Zetsu had given him 0.3%.
If he absorbed a thousand of them, he could jump from 0% to 100% in a flash!
He looked at the watery residue on the ground and sighed—what a pity.
He hadn't figured anything out, and White Zetsu was gone.
When Night Maple turned back, he felt the looks from Team Seven had changed—tinged with fear—and he could only give a wry smile.
Seemed draining White Zetsu had spooked the kids.
"Let's move."
Night Maple wondered: now that White Zetsu had appeared, would Madara show himself?
Not likely.
Back at the Kannabi Bridge battle, old Madara didn't even dare appear before Namikaze Minato.
By the time he saved Obito, he already looked like he was about to keel over.
So he must've had very little strength left then.
At this stage—this moment—we were at the outset of the next Shinobi World War.
The Kannabi Bridge battle shouldn't be too far off—maybe three to five years, ten at most.
So Madara now would also be in his dotage.
Pushing the thought further, maybe after his feigned death and escape, Madara had long been on his last legs—just clinging to life.
Otherwise, why, amid the chaos of the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, did Madara never show in person?
Even when Second Hokage Senju Tobirama was mortally wounded and Sarutobi Hiruzen took over, with Konoha in turmoil—why didn't Madara return to make trouble?
He only dared pull strings in the shadows—grooming successors like Nagato and Obito.
Most likely Madara wasn't confident in his own power—so he wouldn't show up himself.
At most he'd send White Zetsu and Black Zetsu to probe?
With Night Maple's fusion past fifty percent, he certainly wouldn't fear an elderly Madara.
In a certain cavern, pitch-dark within, a withered old man sat on a stone throne, great tubes trailing from his back into the colossal statue behind him.
That old man was Uchiha Madara.
A White Zetsu slid out of the wall. "Lord Madara, that Night Maple is very strong."
"You mean the one Uzumaki Mito recognizes as the last blood of the Senju?"
"Yes… His power is formidable—and he can absorb us. Three White Zetsu were gone in under ten seconds…"
A gleam flashed in Madara's eyes. "He's heading to Kirigakure?"
"Yes."
"White Zetsu, if he can absorb three—what about a thousand? Ten thousand?"
As his words fell, in the gloom beneath the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, a dense host of White Zetsu opened their eyes at once—at least tens of thousands.