He kept his mouth shut, which was a disguised admission...
Even though the visual impact of these four "pillars of blood energy" wasn't as shocking as the "blood cocoon" formed last time,
to someone like Netero, who was witnessing this situation for the first time, it was undoubtedly astonishing... In fact,
from Netero's perspective, the boy's sudden, convulsive surges in strength brought him an extremely absurd sense of frustration...
"He is usually like this," a gentle, warm breeze blew through the window lattice into the training room, lightly swaying their white hair.
Zeno remained silent for a long while, taking a deep look toward Roy's bedroom before saying, "This isn't the first time. You'll get used to it."
A glistening light flickered in Netero's old eyes. After his initial shock, he slowly sat back down. His gaze swept from Roy's bedroom to that dim little room, and finally up to the second floor. He chuckled, "You might be calm about it, but certain others might not be."
Zeno raised an eyebrow and followed Netero's gaze...
On the second floor of the Zoldyck family castle, the door to the spacious master bedroom was open, but it was firmly blocked by a tall figure.
From behind him came the sound of Kikyo softly singing a nursery rhyme, coaxing Killua to take his afternoon nap...
Nearby was the small bed prepared for him, along with plush toys and a few cartoon ornaments hanging at the head of the bed...
Silva, his beautiful silver hair draped over his back and his arms crossed over his chest, stood right next to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, silently looking toward Roy's bedroom.
Inside the room, Kikyo's electronic visor flickered. As she coaxed Killua, she looked at his back. She didn't know why, but she felt like... her husband had been zoning out from time to time lately.
Was it because taking care of the child was too exhausting, or was it because she had been demanding too much during her ovulation period?
Neither... Kikyo turned her pale neck, and amidst the flickering of her electronic visor, a few complex streaks of static appeared.
Among all Nen users, although she wasn't a "combat-type" personnel specifically responsible for fighting, she was, after all, the chosen daughter-in-law of the Zoldyck family and the current matriarch of the world's number one assassin family.
When it came to reconnaissance, she was not inferior to anyone.
Naturally, she also sensed those "pillars of blood energy" that continuously pierced the sky, one after another!
'Roy... how did you suddenly get silver hair, child?'
"Babble, babble..." In her arms, Killua opened his mouth and chewed on his fingers. A few sparse tufts of silver fuzz on his head came into Kikyo's view as she looked down to gently pull his little hand away. This caused the woman, amidst her confusion and bewilderment... to constantly zone out from time to time, just like Silva.
Ever since marrying into the Zoldyck family, the woman had constantly dreamed of giving birth to a silver-haired child, even if it was just one.
Now, over a decade later, her wish had finally come true.
Not only was the newborn Killua silver-haired, but even her eldest son had turned silver-haired.
Yet, Kikyo wasn't as happy as she had imagined. Instead, she fell into deep confusion, occasionally staring blankly at Killua in her arms. She even doubted if there was any need to give birth to him... if she had known earlier that Roy could undergo such a transformation!
But the wheels of time only roll forward; they never roll backward...
"Zzz..." Killua closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Kikyo draped a coat over her shoulders and stood up, gently placing him in the small bed. Slipping on her slippers, she slowly left the bedroom and approached Silva. She reached out to hook her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder, and asked, "Stop looking. Just wait a little longer. Won't tomorrow be here soon enough?"
Tomorrow... it would be tomorrow... Silva's gaze was sharp as a hawk's, piercing like a sword. Expressionless, he exhaled two long streams of air from his nose, reached out to push Kikyo away, and turned to walk toward his study. "Tonight, I'm sleeping in the study alone."
"Even if you didn't say it, I wouldn't ask for it!" Kikyo stomped her foot and shouted at Silva's departing back. "I can hold back."
Silva didn't stop walking, nor did he turn his head. "I meant me,"
"I'm the one who can't hold back!"
He had finally waited for this day, waited for this... day that came much faster than he had imagined!
Silva's breathing was heavy, a turbulent flame burning within his chest. Now that it was truly here, he suddenly realized that he... was finding it much harder to stay calm than he had anticipated!
He didn't know how long it had been since he last felt this way. The last time,
was twenty years ago,
during his battle with Zeno. It was the battle where he successfully defeated his father, received his grandfather Maha's nod of approval, and took over as the head of the family.
Now, time had flown by. Twenty years later, it was his turn to stand in the position Zeno once stood.
How would he fare? How would Roy fare?
In any case,
he would not lose!
Silva's hands hung by his sides. He suddenly clenched his fists, causing the air in his palms to explode, instantly producing an ear-piercing sonic boom that he forcibly snuffed out the next second...
The man didn't look back.
Stepping inside,
he closed the study door with a loud "Bang!".
In an instant, he left Kikyo alone in the empty hallway, her electronic visor flashing frantically with chaotic static as she stood there in a flustered daze...
"Sigh... these children each have their own stubbornness. Zigg was like this before, and now Silva and Roy are the same." Inside that dim little room in the Zoldyck family castle,
swirling Nen aura evaporated. Betty Zoldyck, her hair tied in a ponytail, emerged from Maha's body. Her bright, watery eyes, though filled with the weathering of time, gazed far through the thick walls, glancing at the second floor once, then again. She turned her head to glare at Maha and said, "Really... they all take after you..."
Maha's shriveled body sprawled lazily on the rocking chair. He rocked it back and forth, making it creak, and let out a raspy chuckle.
He didn't argue back.
He merely cast a glance toward Roy's bedroom, a hint of thoughtfulness hidden within his shrewd gaze...
Betty Zoldyck's eyes shifted. She floated over and nestled into his embrace, resting her hand on his chest, and asked softly, "What did you discover this time?"
"Do you feel that Roy is progressing too fast, and you're worried he'll suffer a backlash from [Nature]... or..."
Maha reached out to wrap his arm around Betty's waist and slowly shook his head. "He is the sun, inherently a part of [Nature]. How could he suffer a backlash?"
"Then what are you worried about?"
Maha didn't answer. He ran his bony hand up along Betty's spine, his gaze distant. After a moment, he said profoundly, "I'm worried he might lose himself."
The old man narrowed his eyes, recalling Orochimaru, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and the others he had just seen in the [Mental Space]. He said faintly, "[Dreams] are unpredictable, and neither you nor I can dream for him... You saw it today. That child can even achieve resurrection in his dreams. Whatever people or events he encounters in his dreams in the future, or even... life-threatening dangers, he must face them all alone. I'm saying, what if..."
Maha paused, his tone turning solemn. "If he experiences life and death in his dreams, and it reflects upon the real world, it might cause him completely irreversible effects and harm."
Betty Zoldyck was startled. She abruptly sat up straight, staring at Maha. "Are you saying someone is going to target Roy in his dreams?!"
"It's just a guess..."
"What do you mean, a guess?! Back then with Zigg, you also said it was a guess, and look what happened!"
Betty swatted away Maha's bony hand that reached out to comfort her, and began pacing the room in worry...
As she walked, she wrung her hands together, muttering anxiously, "Conjurers are especially prone to getting lost between [Illusion] and [Reality]. Zigg was trapped back then because someone reverse-exploited his [Game]. What if Roy..."
"Maha," Betty suddenly stopped in her tracks. "This won't do. You have to think of a way!"
The rocking chair creaked as it swayed...
Maha lay there with his eyes narrowed, remaining silent for a long time.
He sighed helplessly. "There is no way."
"He can only rely on himself. After all, it is his own dream."
"As for us," the old man's eyes opened and closed as he looked at the bright sunlight outside the window, baking the ground and evaporating the summer heat. He said slowly, "We can only pray that no one targets him. That is all..."
As his words fell, the dim little room sank into a long silence...
"Mother..."
In the Naruto world, within a hidden forest adjacent to Konoha,
a blurry, pitch-black shadow attached to the shade of a large tree jolted awake... He abruptly sat up, a cold sweat breaking out on his ink-black forehead...
Another nightmare. He didn't know how many nightmares this made for Black Zetsu over the thousands of years since Kaguya Otsutsuki was sealed...
Every time in his dreams, he would see his mother weeping tears of blood, glaring at him with her Byakugan, questioning him about how much longer she had to wait.
Black Zetsu would be so terrified and overwhelmed that he could barely breathe.
"Zetsu, are you going to betray me just like your two brothers?"
His mother's words were still vivid in his mind. At the mention of his two brothers, Black Zetsu peered through the thick night. Bathed in the moonlight, he shrank into the tree's shadow and gazed up at the bright moon. That was the prison where his mother was sealed, and also the place guarded by his dear second brother, Hamura Otsutsuki.
Now, a thousand years had passed. His eldest brother was dead, and his second brother had likely died long ago as well... With half his body submerged in the shadows and the other half looking up at the starry sky, Black Zetsu slowly shook his head and said, "Of course not, Mother. Please believe me. I have always been working hard and have never slacked off. Soon... I will release you."
He then slowly sank into the ground like a mayfly. Using the [Mayfly Technique], he freely traversed through the earth and soon arrived at a mysterious underground space. It was a hidden bunker dug deep underground by the Uchiha clan in the past to prepare for war.
Unfortunately, that batch of Uchiha from back then had all died off, swept into the dustbin of history one by one...
The remaining young Uchiha, such as Fugaku Uchiha, Yashiro Uchiha, and even... the most senior elder of the Uchiha clan, Setsuna Uchiha... could never imagine that right on the outskirts of Konoha, at the edge of the sensory barrier's coverage, such a hidden bunker was concealed. And inside it, someone who should have been dead... was still clinging to life...
"You're here..."
At the top of the hidden bunker, Black Zetsu slowly poked his head out.
The moment he appeared, a faint, weathered, and weak voice echoed... It was like a candle placed in the cold wind, ready to be extinguished by a sudden gust... It was so eerie that it made the back of one's neck tingle with dread...
Black Zetsu was already accustomed to hearing this voice.
He fully emerged from the dirt, flipped over, and slowly descended. Entering his sight... was a withered body, covered in tubes connected to a massive demonic statue,
slowly feeding it chakra.
A hint of mockery flashed deep within Black Zetsu's eyes. He reached into his robes, pulled out a few scrolls, unrolled them, and held them up one by one in front of the "corpse" for him to inspect.
"According to your orders, Master, among the current younger generation of the Uchiha clan, there are a total of three individuals who can be listed as key observation targets."
Black Zetsu's hoarse, gloomy voice slowly spread as the scrolls opened to reveal several portraits. "They are Obito Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, and the one I reported to you last time... Jin Uchiha!"
Hearing "Jin Uchiha," the "corpse's" ears twitched, and he struggled to open his eyes. Bizarrely... one of his eyes was missing, leaving only a pitch-black socket that sent shivers down one's spine...
He said weakly, "Bring it closer."
Black Zetsu obeyed and stepped forward with the unrolled scroll. The scroll bearing the name "Jin Uchiha" was spread out, revealing a handsome young face that looked thirty percent like Fugaku and seventy percent like Mikoto, staring back at him with a calm gaze...
The "corpse" was slightly taken aback. Through this youthful face, he vaguely seemed to see his own younger brother—the brother who died at the hands of Tobirama Senju, the brother who gave him his eyes before dying, the brother who, even on the brink of death, didn't forget to warn him to protect the Uchiha...
The "corpse" hunched over, his chest heaving as he hoarsely murmured, "Izuna..."
He stared blankly for a long time... a very long time...
A moment later, perhaps due to emotional fluctuations, or perhaps because he hadn't spoken to anyone in so long, the "corpse" began to cough violently. It took him a long while to catch his breath. Relying on the demonic statue behind him to increase its chakra output, he stabilized his body. Taking another look, he raised his head to look at Black Zetsu and asked, "Does he have a younger brother?"
"He does." Black Zetsu recalled a glimpse of what he had seen and narrowed his eyes. "His younger brother is named Itachi Uchiha, the youngest son of the current Uchiha clan head, Fugaku Uchiha."
"Itachi..." The "corpse" muttered the name, letting out a weak, raspy laugh...
"It's good that he has a brother,"
"It's good that he has a brother... Then it will be him... Execute the original plan..."
"I want to watch him fall into the endless abyss of hell,"
"Experience the loss of his loved ones... and awaken—"
"The Mangekyo!"
Black Zetsu unrolled the scroll belonging to Obito, glanced at Madara, and said, "You're not choosing him? He looks like an idiot, very easy to manipulate..."
Madara shot him an unquestionable sideways glance and said, "Remember, you are merely a wisp of my will. All you need to do... is obey!"
Black Zetsu bowed respectfully and said, "Yes, Lord Madara."
Subsequently, a hint of mockery quickly flashed across his lowered head. Then... he sank into the ground and disappeared...
In the gloomy, dark underground bunker, only the "corpse" and a mute demonic statue were left in an instant, savoring the solitude...
Once Black Zetsu's shadow was gone from his sight,
the "corpse" looked far through the heavy layers of rock toward the location of Konoha...
Today's Konoha was just like any other day—peaceful and tranquil, as if undisturbed by the Third Shinobi World War. It was almost too peaceful... except for,
Fugaku's house, whose door was being pounded on vigorously by someone!
"....."
"....."
Within the Uchiha clan compound, the small courtyard belonging to Fugaku Uchiha welcomed two rare "uninvited guests"!
Hearing the knock on the door, Fugaku Uchiha—who had just gotten off his night shift and was sitting at the dining table in the living room, drinking tea while waiting for Mikoto to finish making breakfast before going to sleep—frowned. He got up, walked to the entryway, pulled the door open, and froze for a few seconds before saying:
"Lady Tsunade..."