My Journey as Fourth Kazekage

Sunagakure.

A gust of yellow sand swept through the village.

For the first time in countless years, Black Zetsu, who had always believed the entire shinobi world to be within his grasp, felt truly unsettled. In that moment, he even considered striking down the man before him to eliminate the source of this unease. But the other party's mysterious aura and his stated intent to cooperate made Black Zetsu suppress his agitation and slowly speak.

"Cooperate? What kind of cooperation do you want?"

Rasa didn't answer directly. Instead, he said,

"You haven't answered my earlier question yet."

Black Zetsu's face darkened, but he gave a short reply.

"I am the manifestation of Mother's will, born from the power of the Ōtsutsuki, not created from chakra."

"And what about the other half of your body?"

That question made Black Zetsu even more certain, the man standing before him truly knew too much.

"That's one of the White Zetsu created from the Ten Tails' chakra a thousand years ago by Mother herself. Even Hagoromo has no control over them."

"I see."

With that, Rasa finally asked the question that mattered most to him.

"Then, do you have a method that can completely block the Sage of Six Paths from using others' chakra to sense into our world? That will be the foundation of our conversation."

!!!

Black Zetsu's expression grew more unpleasant, but he still replied.

"The Tengen Fūin, a sealing technique that fuses a ninja's chakra with the surrounding natural world. It can mask someone from Hagoromo's sensing abilities."

"Very good. Give me that technique, and we can proceed with the rest of our discussion."

Seeing Rasa's commanding tone, Black Zetsu's expression turned dark as he said coldly,

"Why? What makes you think I would simply hand it over?"

Rasa's answer was straightforward.

"Because I know everything about you... while you know nothing about me."

!!!

"In my current state, I can easily prevent Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's resurrection. If you don't believe me, I can go to Amegakure right now and destroy Nagato's eyes."

!!!

Black Zetsu's face turned darker than ever before, and yet he found himself helpless in the face of it. Still, he wouldn't give in so easily.

"You think you can threaten me with that? Even if you destroy those eyes, so what? I've waited nearly a thousand years already. I can wait another thousand. I'll wait until another Hashirama and Madara appear. But can you live that long?"

Rasa didn't argue. Instead, he replied calmly.

"You're right. That's why I'm not threatening you. I'm simply making it clear that I have the leverage and qualifications to work with you. And to be honest, I don't even intend to stop Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's resurrection."

"???"

That caught Black Zetsu even more off guard.

"You think I'll believe that? Do you also hate this world?"

"No... I don't hate this world. In fact, I rather like it. As for your mother, as the embodiment of Kaguya's will, you should understand this better than me. Reviving her doesn't require destroying this world. And frankly, if I were Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, I wouldn't destroy it either."

"Why?"

"Simple," Rasa said, "that's the answer to the question you just asked me, why I want to cooperate with you. Because we have a common enemy: the Ōtsutsuki clan."

Black Zetsu's pupils visibly trembled, an involuntary response born of fear.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's deep-seated fear of her own clan was clearly passed down through the will she left behind, Black Zetsu. To further emphasize his point, Rasa revealed an even more terrifying piece of information.

"As a show of good faith in our cooperation, I'll even throw in a bonus intel: Isshiki isn't dead."

"!!"

Cold sweat broke out on Black Zetsu's forehead as he snapped, almost frantically,

"Impossible... Mother fed Isshiki to the Ten Tails..."

Rasa raised his brow as if he were looking at a complete idiot.

"Stop lying to yourself. You should know better than anyone that what Kaguya fed to the Ten Tails was only half of Isshiki's body. The other half escaped. He has survived by assuming a new identity and is currently observing this world from the shadows. If you don't believe me, look into it yourself. His current identity is a monk named Jigen. But be careful, I'm not entirely sure how much of his power he's recovered. If he captures and seals you, that would be unfortunate."

Seeing how confidently Rasa spoke, even Black Zetsu couldn't deny the possibility any longer.

"How could this be...?"

Rasa pressed on, his tone becoming colder.

"Also, you should be aware that the time you calculated for the chakra fruit's maturation has long since passed. It won't be long now before the Ōtsutsuki clan sends someone to retrieve it. Isshiki, and whoever else they send... Do you really believe that even if your mother Kaguya is resurrected, she can defeat them?"

After that, Rasa pressed further.

"To be honest, I'd sooner believe your unfilial child could take on the Ōtsutsuki clan before I'd bet on your mother. Sure, Kaguya has overwhelming power, but when it comes to actual combat, she's... not particularly good at it."

Black Zetsu's expression darkened. Though he didn't want to admit flaws about his mother, he couldn't help but acknowledge that, should that day truly come, her fate might already be sealed. And as for Hagoromo, who sealed her once, he was obviously not an ally.

Maybe... this man standing before him truly was the better option. There was something strange and unfathomable about the power he wielded. But Black Zetsu continued to speak with guarded suspicion.

"Is that so? Then why not cooperate with that Hagoromo bastard instead?"

"Simple," Rasa replied. "I'm not someone who likes to subordinate myself to others, whether they're righteous or evil. To me, both your mother, Kaguya, and the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo, are terrifying tigers. And if I absolutely must choose a side, then I'd rather go with the weaker one. After all, your mother is currently sealed. Even if she intends to do me harm, she'll have to wait until she escapes the seal first."

It was a flawless argument, but Black Zetsu wasn't the type to agree easily.

"I'll need time to consider."

With that, he began sinking into the earth.

"No problem," Rasa replied. "When you're ready, come find me in Sunagakure. Don't worry, I'll know the moment you appear in the village."

Rasa said, and then he remembered something he was forgetting.

"Oh, and that sealing technique… "

Black Zetsu spat out a scroll before vanishing completely.

Rasa picked it up and his eyes gleamed. His goal was now more or less achieved. As for whether Black Zetsu had tampered with the sealing formula, Rasa wasn't concerned at all.

As long as the jutsu could truly block the Sage of Six Paths from sensing chakra, that was enough. Even if the two versions of Black Zetsu from both worlds managed to connect using this technique, as long as Kaguya remained sealed on the moon, Rasa had nothing to fear.

Now, it was time for the next step of the plan.

By briefly testing the technique, Rasa confirmed that it could be powered by senjutsu chakra. Moreover, it truly could create a "chakra-blind" nation.

He returned directly to the Kazekage's office. Looking at the three children he had taken in, he placed seals on each of them. The next step was to take them back to his own world.