Kabuto Yakushi had inherited Orochimaru's legacy, mastering the Edo Tensei technique—making him a formidable power in his own right.
However, ever since joining the Akatsuki, Kabuto had been constantly on the move. He simply didn't have the time to go grave-robbing and corpse-hunting to collect the biological material necessary for the jutsu.
Before heading off to capture the Four-Tails and Eight-Tails Jinchūriki from the refugee army, he had already reincarnated a few elite shinobi and sealed them into coffins, keeping them ready for battle at a moment's notice.
Karin's unexpected betrayal had cost the organization some manpower. But to Kabuto, betrayal was nothing new—just another day in the ninja world. He wasn't surprised, though he did start viewing Karin as a potential threat.
Don't get the wrong idea—Kabuto had no loyalty to the Akatsuki. He wasn't going to go out of his way to deal with a traitor on their behalf. It's just that he'd assumed Karin, as a double agent, wasn't all that strong—someone good for a little skirmish on the outskirts of battle, nothing more.
Unfortunately, he'd miscalculated. Karin was far stronger than he'd anticipated. The few elite shinobi he'd prepared had all been defeated.
The bodies of the reincarnated are incredibly resilient—they can be smashed apart and still regenerate. But if Karin managed to land a hit, that was it. The damaged parts wouldn't recover. It was as if their souls had been devoured—eaten away by some invisible force.
Kabuto didn't have many reserves left. After exhausting his first batch, he had no choice but to perform the Edo Tensei again and summon more elite warriors.
And then... nothing happened.
The reincarnations failed. The Second Mizukage, the Second Tsuchikage, the Third Raikage, and the Fourth Kazekage—none of them appeared.
In the heat of battle, there was no time to reflect. Kabuto was forced to settle for summoning some second-rate jōnin, just to stall for time.
Failed reincarnations weren't unheard of. Back when he first learned the technique, it happened often. But at his current level, such rookie mistakes were rare. Even stranger—no matter how many times he tried, the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage couldn't be brought back. The reason remained unknown.
With the entrance to Ryūchi sealed off and no access to Sage Mode, the Edo Tensei was Kabuto's trump card. And now that it was broken, the tide of battle with Karin was beginning to turn against him.
A hint of panic flickered in Kabuto's eyes.
"Why did the Edo Tensei fail? Could something have happened to the souls of those Kage?"
...And he was right. Nearly all the souls of the deceased elite shinobi—including the First Hokage—had long since been devoured by the demon, digested like a sweet after-dinner treat.
One of the main reasons the demon had made a deal with Orochimaru back then was precisely because of the Edo Tensei. The demon fed on souls, and this jutsu could summon them back from the Pure Land to the realm of the living—an ideal match.
Besides, the demon had always been working to undermine the overall military power of the shinobi world. Why would it allow top-tier fighters like the First Hokage to come back and stir the pot?
Overpowered enemies should be dealt with through scheming and treachery—not by wasting time with frontal assaults!
And so, the ever-helpful, ever-dutiful Kabuto—who dreamed of fulfilling the wishes of the living and resolving the regrets of the dead—found himself upstaged by a cruel, inhuman, utterly depraved demon who had beaten him to the punch by summoning those souls ahead of time... and eating them. Now all Kabuto had left were cannon fodder and no-names.
Heaven weeps. Earth mourns.
Before devouring Senju Hashirama's soul, the demon had asked him a few lingering historical questions—like what his child's name was, or why Uzumaki Mito, despite the intensely invasive nature of Hashirama Cells, remained unaffected and even managed to bear his child.
But Hashirama had no answers. All he could offer was: "My son's name is Senju ██."
It wasn't surprising. Hashirama might've looked a bit simple-minded, but he wasn't stupid. He wouldn't casually reveal personal information to just anyone.
Still, the demon tried a new angle, claiming to be a member of the Uchiha clan and introducing himself as a novelist. He said he was planning to write a book about the First Hokage, titled "He and Her: Who Was Hashirama?"—and had summoned him for an interview to discuss history.
Hashirama just laughed it off, giving up no intel at all. Senju Tobirama was even more tight-lipped. The demon's thirst for gossip went unquenched... so it turned them both into a hotpot dish.
...
In the distance, a pitcher plant silently emerged from underground. Half black, half white, Zetsu gazed out over the battlefield.
Then—without warning—a slash fell from the sky, right onto his head.
The surrounding space itself seemed to be cleaved apart. The pitcher plant disintegrated in an instant. White Zetsu was obliterated. Black Zetsu, now alone, slithered into a pool of dark liquid, his pitch-black face twisted in visible horror.
"Damn it! Who attacked me?!"
"If only that idiot Obito were still around—I wouldn't be in such a vulnerable position."
His sinister eyes swept the area. The silence was suffocating. Somewhere in the void, an invisible sense of danger loomed.
A chill ran down Black Zetsu's spine. No one was in sight... yet he felt the presence of countless monstrous eyes watching him from the shadows, peering straight into the depths of his soul. It was eerie. Terrifying.
Unease twisted in his chest. As a mastermind with centuries of experience pulling strings from the shadows, Black Zetsu made a snap decision—retreat.
The inky liquid began to sink into the ground, about to vanish completely...
Suddenly, a mat of fungal growth spread out from the earth and latched onto him. The soft, fuzzy tendrils brushed against his body. He shuddered as the mycelium began to devour him.
Panicked, Black Zetsu severed the infected part and squirmed away at high speed.
"Where do you think you're going?" came a voice—cold and mocking. It sounded like it was coming from the sky, or maybe the earth, or perhaps even directly inside his mind.
Black Zetsu's heart sank to rock bottom. For the first time in ages, he actually missed the reliability of Obito.
In theory, there was almost no secret in the shinobi world that Black Zetsu didn't know. But in recent years, things had gotten increasingly bizarre. Strange new individuals had emerged—people and powers unlike anything he'd ever encountered in nearly a millennium of existence.
His sense of unease peaked. The resurrection plan to free his mother had already been completely derai—
----------------
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)