Having just let go of Kakuzu's sleeve, Karin now trembled again in fear and instinctively wanted to retreat. These three people had taken her away from that hellish place, and she did not know who they were, only that the green eyed man called Kakuzu felt like a monster.
The white bodied person had an aura that felt cold and hollow, while the Shadow in front of her, whose presence she could not sense at all, felt the most mysterious and the most frightening. She hunched her shoulders like a startled chick, her red eyes full of tears mixed with the terror and confusion of seeing her mother die and losing her home the night before.
At that moment, a hand landed steadily on her messy red hair, firm but not rough. Karin shuddered, her small body tensing as she squeezed her eyes shut and waited for pain or scolding.
Yet the coldness or violence she expected never came. Her tightly pressed lips loosened slightly, and her lashes trembled as she cautiously opened a thin slit and looked up with a hesitant Wang.
She still saw only darkness that could not be perceived, unable to make out the expression on the face hidden in shadow. But that hand was steady and clear boned, and she felt an indescribable gentleness, like an unexpected patch of warmth laid over a cold night.
"Since you don't want her, then leave this child to me." Shadow's voice carried a smile, yet it held a firmness that allowed no refusal.
Karin felt as if the world before her suddenly grew brighter, as if a sealed valley in her heart had burst open and a great wind rushed in without end. "Karin? That's your name, right?"
Shadow lowered himself slightly, resting his hands on his knees to meet her gaze. He extended a hand and asked gently, "If you come with me, you might still have hope to see your mother again."
Karin did not answer Shadow's question. Instead, as if using all her strength, she raised her small, slightly cold hand and timidly yet firmly grasped his.
She held on tightly, her knuckles turning pale as her body leaned toward him, almost pressing against his leg. It was as if she feared that this only lifeline would disappear if she let go.
pata… pata… Her tears were no longer born purely of fear, but mixed with disbelief, the bitterness of survival, and a vague sense of reliance as they fell in heavy drops.
Seeing this, Nagato, who had intended to speak, silently closed his mouth. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, he was also suitable to take in Karin.
But he was currently wrapped in White Zetsu, with only a pair of Rinnegan showing on his face. If Karin could still sense his shared bloodline under such conditions, that would truly defy reason.
Nagato could not openly compete for her, so he could only let Shadow have his way. Nearby, Kakuzu curled his lips, thinking that this guy was tricking children again.
The dead, even if revived, were still dead. Besides, even the body had been burned.
Yet no alert sounded in Shadow's mind. That meant he was not lying.
"Mm, although it cost two or three thousand points, it confirmed that the plan is workable." Shadow stood up and looked at Karin hiding behind him, thinking, "And I gained a highly gifted Uzumaki clanswoman, plus a decent Void."
The Void transformed from Karin's mother was only one step away from becoming a mid level Great Hollow and had already been transferred into the space of Underground Palace. Once it reached mid level Great Hollow, it would gain self awareness and intelligence, and in the future, as a high level Great Hollow, it could even restore a human appearance, allowing mother and daughter to reunite.
As for Karin, in the future she would awaken "Kagura Mind's Eye," Vajra Sealing, and physical healing without instruction. Vajra Sealing needed no explanation, as it was the most convenient Sealing Technique.
"Kagura Mind's Eye" could sense abnormalities within a radius of dozens of kilometers through Chakra, and with marked Chakra it could pinpoint positions and movements. It could also judge whether someone was lying by sensing their Chakra.
As for the physical healing like her mother's, its effect was extremely strong. It could even fully restore Tsunade after she had been cut in half by Madara.
Most important of all was Zetsu's loyalty. "Speaking of which, before the clone was Remove, it seems 'I' had no memory at all?"
Shadow blinked and laughed inwardly. "When the news reaches Konoha, I might even harvest another wave of points from myself." This seemed like another new way to gain points.
At this point, he had truly even "deceived" himself. At the same time, in the Land of Mountains, the Mountain Graveyard.
Inside a circular pit hundreds of meters wide, the corpse of a gigantic beast lay buried, with only a segment of pale white spine exposed. Dust was lifted by downward winds and poured into the cave openings surrounded by rock walls, producing chilling and eerie echoes more unsettling than the wind itself.
It sounded like the low groans of humans, as if countless voices of men and women, old and young, were tangled together like threads. One could almost hear hatred and malice hidden within the wind.
The Mountain Graveyard was named not only because it was a burial ground for giant beasts, but also because it was regarded as a strange and forbidden place. Its interior was filled with complex and rugged caves, and anyone who entered would become lost, with the lucky ones finding their way out and the unlucky ones disappearing entirely.
But the people of the Land of Mountains did not know that deep within this forbidden area, a place unseen by others had already been turned into living quarters. Massive intertwined trees surrounded it, with branches rising from underground shaped into tables, chairs, and beds, clearly showing signs of habitation.
"So you're saying your identity was exposed?" Inside the stone chamber, Black Zetsu looked at the utterly disheveled Obito Uchiha and spoke in a deep voice.
When he saw the blinded three tomoe Sharingan of Obito Uchiha, he had already sensed trouble. Half of Obito Uchiha's body was made of White Zetsu, and only by using Izanagi could such blindness occur.
As the ultimate dojutsu unique to the Uchiha Clan, Izanagi could turn events unfavorable to the user within a period of time into things that never happened, choosing only beneficial outcomes to become reality. During its activation, even death could be rewritten, but after use, blindness was unavoidable.
With a wet sound, Obito Uchiha dug out the blinded three tomoe Sharingan and placed the Sharingan left behind by Madara Uchiha into the socket. "Only the false identity of 'Madara' was exposed."
As the eye rotated unnaturally in its socket, Obito Uchiha's face darkened further as he corrected him. "My real identity was not exposed." "What difference does it make?" Black Zetsu's voice remained hoarse and low. "Without the identity of 'Madara,' what can you still do to Nagato?"
Hearing this, Obito Uchiha's body trembled slightly, whether from rage or shame he could not tell. He knew that Black Zetsu was right.
No matter how much Nagato had doubted him before, he had still been forced to cooperate and obey because of the name 'Madara' and the Mangekyo Sharingan. But once he was exposed as a fake, someone with the Rinnegan like Nagato would never submit to an unknown nobody.
"Damn it!" Obito Uchiha grabbed his hair tightly and cursed. "It's all because of that guy. After being stabbed by that pitch black thing, I couldn't move at all."
"…?" Hearing this, Black Zetsu, who was covered in White Zetsu, paused slightly and asked in shock, "What did you say?"
"What did you say?"
Hearing the emotional shift in Black Zetsu's words, Obito Uchiha raised his head without thinking. He gave Black Zetsu a quick look and snorted coldly, his tone sharp and unpleasant.
"Hmph. That guy is a bit like you too, all black and sticky looking." He narrowed his eyes and continued, his voice turning colder. "But he is stronger than you, far stronger."
"He figured out my abilities in a very short time, and in the end he grabbed my body and restrained me, forcing me to use Izanagi just to escape." Obito Uchiha clenched his teeth as he spoke. "Oh right, that guy could even hide a clone in my shadow. Damn it. If not for that ability, I would have killed him already."
After listening to Obito Uchiha's brief account, Black Zetsu's body began to tremble. The more it heard, the more familiar it all sounded.
Back then, it had hidden in Madara Uchiha's shadow and disguised itself at the final moment as something created by Madara Uchiha. In truth, it was a product created by its mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, using Yin-Yang Release, and it represented Kaguya Otsutsuki's will.
The reason Madara Uchiha had mistaken it for his own will was because Madara Uchiha, who possessed Rinnegan at the time, truly could create things similar to it through Yin-Yang Release. Thinking of this, a terrible possibility surfaced in Black Zetsu's mind.
"Could the one Obito Uchiha mentioned be like me, a manifestation of someone's will?" As this thought formed, a chill ran through Black Zetsu. An image from Land of Hot Water surfaced in its mind without warning.