Late at night, only a scattering of lights remained lit in the streets and alleys of Sunagakure.
Teizawa walked alone down a remote path.
His steps were unhurried.
Moonlight washed his dark-gold robe in silver-white.
The surroundings were quiet. Only the night wind rustled through the palm trees, accompanied by the occasional barking of dogs in the distance.
He stopped.
This was the place.
That abnormal life energy was directly beneath his feet.
About thirty meters down, it was curled up and motionless.
As if it knew it had been discovered.
As if it were hiding and refusing to come out.
The corner of Teizawa's mouth lifted slightly.
He crouched and pressed his palm against the ground.
Chakra poured from his palm into the earth.
With him at the center, rings of invisible electromagnetic waves spread in every direction.
It was not an attack.
It was a scan.
He needed to confirm the situation underground.
Whether there were any other life forms, whether there were traps, whether there were escape routes.
Soon, the data came back.
Thirty meters underground.
A lone life form. No weapons. No companions. No layered defenses around it.
Teizawa withdrew his hand and stood.
"Come out."
His voice was not loud, but it passed clearly through the layers of earth and reached White Zetsu's ears.
"I know you're down there. Stop hiding."
No response.
Teizawa shook his head and formed hand seals.
Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!
The ground began to tremble.
It was not the kind of violent shaking that made it impossible to stand.
It was slow and rhythmic.
Like a heartbeat.
Like breathing.
The layers of earth softened amid the tremors.
Sand began flowing downward, like an hourglass, like a vortex.
White Zetsu was caught in the sand flow.
Helplessly, it was forced upward.
It desperately tried to burrow down.
But for every inch it dug, the surrounding sand pressed down two more.
"Don't waste your strength."
Teizawa's voice came from above, carrying a faint smile.
"I've already locked down the magnetic field in this area. Every inch of your body is exposed to my senses. No matter where you run, it's useless."
White Zetsu finally gave up struggling.
The sand flow pushed it to the surface.
Its head emerged from the ground, its white body shimmering faintly beneath the moonlight.
That half-black, half-white face was filled with fear and wariness.
"You… how did you know I was down there?"
Its voice no longer carried its usual lazy, careless tone.
Instead, there was a trace of genuine fear.
Teizawa did not answer.
He took a sealing scroll from inside his clothes and unfurled it.
Then he bit his thumb and rapidly drew several runes across the paper.
"Sealing Jutsu: Five Elements Seal."
He pressed the scroll onto White Zetsu's head.
Chakra surged, and black runes detached from the scroll.
Like snakes, they coiled around White Zetsu's body.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings.
They bound it tightly from head to toe.
White Zetsu struggled.
Then it realized it could not move.
The runes clamped around its body like iron hoops.
Every time it struggled, they tightened another inch.
"You… let me go!" White Zetsu's voice grew sharp. "Madara won't let you get away with this!"
"Madara?"
Teizawa crouched, lowered his head, and looked at it, the corner of his eye rising slightly.
"That masked guy? His name is Madara? Didn't Madara die already? Perfect. Let him come. I was just thinking I wanted to talk to him."
Inwardly, he could not help mocking it.
Did Obito really think hiding his head and tail made him Madara?
White Zetsu struggled desperately.
But by then, the seal was complete.
Teizawa picked up the sealing scroll as if he were carrying a piece of luggage.
"Let's go."
He turned and headed back toward his residence.
"Don't think about running. This seal contains my magnetic marker. Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I'll still find you."
White Zetsu shut its mouth and stopped speaking.
After returning to his residence, Teizawa did not go to the bedroom.
He went straight into the basement.
This was a laboratory he had specially modified.
Night pearls were embedded in the walls, emitting a cold,幽 faint glow.
A large stone platform stood in the center of the room.
Its surface was carved with dense layers of runes.
All around it were piles of experimental equipment and sealing scrolls.
Teizawa placed White Zetsu onto the stone platform and fixed its limbs in place.
White Zetsu lay there.
Under the glow of the runes, its white body looked especially eerie.
"You… what are you planning to do?"
Its voice sounded unsteady.
Teizawa did not answer.
He walked to the cabinet in the corner and opened it.
From inside, he took out a sealing scroll.
It was the Edo Tensei scroll Orochimaru had given him.
Recorded inside were the complete jutsu formula and casting method.
He had never used it before.
Today would be the first time.
But he did not intend to use White Zetsu to directly revive those old ghosts.
The risk was too high.
If it failed, White Zetsu would be wasted.
He needed to conduct one experiment first.
He had to confirm how effective White Zetsu would be as a sacrifice.
As for the experimental subject, he had already made his choice.
A former hero of Sunagakure.
Pakura.
A user of Scorch Release, once praised as the "Hero of Sunagakure."
She had achieved countless battle merits for the village.
In the end, however, she had been betrayed by her own village and died in an ambush in Kirigakure.
She was one of the most tragic figures in Sunagakure's history.
She was also one of its strongest female shinobi.
Teizawa spread the scroll across the stone platform.
He already knew the jutsu formula by heart.
Even so, to be safe, he checked it again from beginning to end.
After confirming there were no mistakes, he drew a deep breath.
Then he began forming hand seals.
Snake. Boar. Ram. Hare. Dog. Rat. Bird. Horse. Snake.
Every seal was slow and precise.
Chakra surged at his fingertips.
Following the runes, it spread across the entire stone platform.
White Zetsu's pale body began to tremble.
Dense black runes surfaced across its white skin.
Like blood vessels.
Like tree roots.
Like some ancient curse.
The runes grew more numerous and denser.
In the end, they covered White Zetsu completely.
Then a cloud of gray smoke poured out of its body.
It gathered above the stone platform.
Then it took the shape of a blurry human figure.
Teizawa's pupils constricted slightly.
It worked.
He continued feeding chakra into the jutsu.
The human figure became clearer and more defined.
A woman's form appeared, sharp and solid.
Long dark-brown hair drifted gently within the smoke.
At last, the smoke dispersed.
A woman stood atop the stone platform.
Her long dark-brown hair fell over her shoulders.
Her features were refined and striking, and her skin was a healthy wheat-brown.
She wore a Sunagakure jōnin uniform.
Her gaze was somewhat dazed.
As if she had just awakened from a long dream.
"This is…"
The woman looked down at her hands, then raised her head and examined the unfamiliar surroundings.
"I… wasn't I dead?"
Teizawa leaned against the wall with his arms folded, watching her.
"Welcome back, Pakura."
(End of Chapter)
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