The rookie medic-nin's dismissive attitude drew no response from the others. Silently, they removed the test subject's heart and crushed it into a pulpy mess.
Foul, black ichor splattered, staining their white lab coat. They tossed the filth into a waste pit, their expression icy.
"This is just a basic, low-Level modified body. On its own, it's not much. The problem is their numbers. Too many of these things, and every corpse left on the battlefield—or every prisoner taken alive—could be twisted into one of these half-human monstrosities!"
Many had long suspected this truth, but hearing it stated so bluntly was jarring, almost unbearable. It was as if an invisible hand gripped their hearts, a chilling dread creeping through them. Faces shifted, unease spreading in the stifling silence.
"Every comrade we lose strengthens their forces," someone said coldly, shattering the tension. Their fist smashed through the skull of a legion soldier, still twitching despite its missing heart. Brain matter sprayed like watermelon juice.
Everyone witnessed it—Onoki, Tsunade, the Mizukage, the Raikage, and the others observing the experiment.
"These monsters operate on a completely different system from ninja," Onoki said, his face grim, a flicker of irritation in his eyes. "I'd hoped to buy time, study their powers, and find their weaknesses. But we must face the brutal reality: delaying is suicide. We're out of time. Drag this out, and darkness will swallow the entire world!"
...
Until recently, the Land of Earth had been thriving. Sacrificing countless innocents to the Box of Ultimate Bliss was costly, but Onoki believed their deaths served a greater purpose. While the ninja world declined, Iwagakure flourished!
Onoki fancied himself the greatest warrior, the sharpest mind, and—why not?—the most dashing man in ninja history. The perfect man. He'd planned to wait out the other nations, letting them collapse under their own weight. Then, he'd unify the world under Iwagakure, sacrificing everyone to the Box for an even grander wish!
Desire, though, is a bottomless pit.
His dreams crumbled when the Sage of the Six Paths appeared—not in person, but in a dream. The Sage urged Onoki to unite all ninja against a dark force threatening the world.
Onoki, ever the schemer, realized he'd been dragged into a conflict among titans. He'd thought himself a big shot—Third Tsuchikage, ruler of the Land of Earth. But there were greater powers at play, and now the legendary Sage of the Six Paths himself had shown up!
Meeting the Sage, Onoki feared retribution. The Box of Ultimate Bliss had fueled his misdeeds, and though he justified it as serving Iwagakure's greater good, he knew the truth: he'd cloaked personal gain in noble rhetoric. As his ambitions grew, his original ideals had faded.
To his relief, the Sage never mentioned the Box. It was as if he'd forgotten creating such a dangerous artifact. Onoki wasn't about to remind him—he wanted the Box's existence to remain his secret alone.
...
The Sage sought Onoki because he was the strongest living ninja. When Orochimaru consumed Naruto, the Sage sensed his beloved youngest son's chakra fading. In a rage, he struck Orochimaru down from afar, only to encounter an unknown entity—a bizarre, black slime-like creature.
This creature knew the Sage's true name and likely the secrets of Kaguya's sealing a thousand years ago. Its aura pulsed with magic, and the Sage instinctively pegged it as the mastermind stirring chaos in the ninja world.
Their encounter was brief—the black monster fled—but the Sage wouldn't let the trail go cold. He scoured the world, eventually finding something similar in the Akatsuki: Zetsu.
The Sage was familiar with White Zetsu, but Black Zetsu...
The Black Zetsu in Akatsuki was weak, a far cry from the black sludge that had confronted him. A clone, perhaps? Or a mere pawn?
The Sage's two sons' chakra had reincarnated across generations, spawning many powerful ninja—pawns in his grand design. He doubted his methods were unique. The black monster might use similar tactics, perhaps even with someone as prodigiously strong as Uchiha Sasuke. Akatsuki's Zetsu was likely another pawn, tasked with monitoring the Rinnegan to free Kaguya.
As for the Rinnegan in Akatsuki, the Sage wasn't entirely ignorant, but he'd let it slide. Maybe he hoped for Indra and Asura's final reconciliation, or perhaps he had other reasons known only to him.
...
After uncovering Akatsuki's Black Zetsu, several mysterious figures emerged in the ninja world. They gathered refugees into armies, selecting some to have their souls extracted and their bodies infused with magic for transformation. To the masses, it seemed miraculous, earning these "leaders" fierce loyalty.
Then, a demon posing as Black Zetsu—claiming to be the "true" Black Zetsu—issued a challenge to the Sage. The real Black Zetsu in Akatsuki was dismissed as an insignificant clone.
The false "Black Zetsu" declared its intent to spark a world war with these legions, eradicate ninja, reclaim chakra, and unleash Kaguya. The Sage, busy purging the Crimson Ice, refused to lower himself to direct confrontation. Black Zetsu operated from the shadows, pulling strings through puppet leaders. The Sage, valuing his mystique, knew whoever revealed their hand first would lose the upper hand.
So, he turned to Onoki, the ninja world's mightiest, tasking him with rallying ninja to save the world.
When the Sage approached, the Box of Ultimate Bliss concealed its magical aura—and Onoki's—from him.
How the Sage interpreted "Black Zetsu's" origins is unclear, but he likely misjudged its true aim. Reclaiming chakra and freeing Kaguya were mere smokescreens. The hidden demon sought to destroy everyone equally.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
Fanfic is finished on Patreon (160 chapters in total.)
Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)