Bck Zetsu was, without a doubt, a chatterbox.

  Masashi truly believed this. And here I thought Uchiha elders could talk. This guy puts them all to shame.

  For the first time in his life, despite clearly being the one "pig apart" someone else, it felt like he was the one being picked apart. The other party seemed to still have so much more to say, like they could go on for another chapter.

  "Indra was a misuood genius. His father's expectations weighed heavily upon him," Bck Zetsu gestured dramatically. "The burden of being the firstborn..."

  This reads like bad fiasashi thought, fighting to keep his expressioral.

  Listening to it utting him to sleep.

  In Bck Zetsu's version, Indra was a deeply loving individual who couldn't gain his father's approval. Then, his scheming younger brother took advantage of the situation, winning their father's favor and seg the position of successor.

  The whole thing pyed out like a pace drama. Indra was the clueless, naive protagonist. Holy, any random pace drama from Earth had a more pelling plot than this.

  Barely managing to sit through the whole reination story, Masashi quickly interjected, cutting through Bck Zetsu's theatrical retelling.

  "So… Madara is the reination of this aor?" Let's get to the useful information. e on!

  "Of the chakra," Bck Zetsu corrected. Even though he was interrupted, he didn't seem upset. If anything, he ehe versation so much he didn't care. "The aor's chakra altered Madara's chakra, while alsthening itself to prepare for the reination."

  Given his behavior over the st thousand years, engaging in a discussion like this was almost unheard of.

  But, bizarrely enough, he felt a sense of "equality" when speaking to Masashi. Though Masashi didn't trust Bck Zetsu, he still treated him as a se being with his owions and will, rather than a humanoid tool or a mere product of ninjutsu. Nor did Masashi see him as something inferior.

  This was a treatment Bck Zetsu had never received from any of the "Indras" throughout history.

  At best, previous "Indras" regarded him as a pitiful entity coveting the power of the Uchiha , using him with an air of mutual exploitation, often coupled with dession and ridicule.

  Madara was somewhat better, thanks to ges in the narrative, but he still saw Bck Zetsu as a subordinate. His eyes always held that familiar Uchiha pride when giving orders.

  Obito added a yer of deep suspi to this dynamic, treating Bck Zetsu like an annoying tag-along.

  As for Indra himself, perhaps due to ck of experience as the first ination, he nearly said ht, "I tell with one gnce you're not human." The disgust in his eyes had never quite faded from Bck Zetsu's memory.

  Regardless, the retionship had always been one of inequality, f him to adopt a subservient attitude just to unicate with his "pawns."

  But he was the child of Kaguya!

  No matter what others thought, this was how Bck Zetsu saw himself.

  He had never sidered himself inferior to anyone. In his view, he was the most superior existen this earth.

  For the first time in a long while, he was having fun. He even cherished the feeling of chatting with Masashi. The way he listened, analyzed, questio was refreshingly different.

  Maybe… I should plead with Mother to keep him around… The garden would still ending, and being alone could be dull.

  While Bck Zetsu's thoughts wandered, Masashi was digesting its words.

  From a surface-level perspective, it sounded a bit like brewing tea.

  The reinated chakra was the tea leaves, and the chakra of the reinated body was the hot water.

  Except, the chakras of Indra and Asura were like unendingly reusable tea leaves. Not only reusable, but capable of produg more tea leaves.

  What the heck!? This was like raising a y of parasites! No wohe Uchiha's power keeps growing geion after geion.

  The ōtsutsuki family was a mess; not a single det person among them.

  And they say the Uchiha have issues.

  "I think I get it now." He nodded. "So, to put it simply, White Zetsu, as a body cultivated from the cells of the First Hokage, possesses the qualities of Asura's chakra, correct?"

  He turo look at Bck Zetsu, only to find—

  The guy dozed off!?

  I didn't fall asleep during your rambling, did I!?

  "Were you fighting ghosts st night or something?" He waved a hand in front of Bck Zetsu. "Why are you dozing off?"

  "Ah… apologies, I was just thinking about something," Bck Zetsu apologized unusually early. "But I was listening carefully; you're absolutely correct."

  "Then I have one more question." Masashi, seeing Bck Zetsu in a good mood, decided not to mind his sg and tinued. "After the First Hokage's death, Asura's chakra reinates. Does his body still retain the qualities of Asura's chakra?"

  "It's not an issue. His body had already acquired the qualities while he was alive. It just won't grow stronger anymore. Moreover…" Bck Zetsu g the idle White Zetsu wandering around. "After being diluted by White Zetsu, the chakra is perfectly banced—safe without any side effects."

  "Alright, I'm out of questions. When do we begin?"

  "Don't you want to rest first?" Bck Zetsu seemed relut to rush. "Since you're already here, why not stay a few more days? I only have knowledge; I 't directly make you stronger. It may take quite some time—it won't hurt to wait a bit."

  "That's not an option." Masashi shook his head. "I'm not like Obito; I have an official position. I 't disappear for too long."

  "Ah…" Bck Zetsu sounded disappointed but uanding.

  This was o him. When had he ever go of his way to sider a pawn's feelings? This first-time experience felt oddly pleasant.

  I might as well look forward to Mother reizing you, Masashi…

  A White Zetsu shuffled over, flopping weakly at Masashi's feet.

  "Feel its chakra, Masashi. I will assist you as well."

  Bck Zetsu's body distorted, flowing like liquid to envelop Masashi's form. The sensation was stra unpleasant, but alien, like being ed in living shadow.

  So this is what Eddie felt when Venom first took over. At least this one's less ied iing people.

  In no time, his left side was pletely covered by Bck Zetsu.

  Bck Zetsu didn't attempt to seize trol of this half of his body but could sense Masashi's extraordinary ocur power, which was astonishingly potent even by Uchiha standards.

  This level of ocur power was already approag the Mangekyō Sharingan.

  "I o borrow your ha. Do you agree?" Such potential. Maybe Mother will be pleased...

  "Go ahead."

  The darkened hand plunged into White Zetsu's body.

  Under Bck Zetsu's guidance, White Zetsu's chakra flowed into Masashi like a steady stream, gathering within him like a river. The sensation was unlike anything he'd felt before—pure, raw chakra essence.

  "Abs chakra is one of the abilities of a Sage," Bck Zetsu expined. "White Zetsu also possesses this ability, derived from chakra itself."

  "Chakra do so many things," Masashi remarked, fog on the sensation. "I've studied chakra for years but never grasped its essence."

  "Most people only see chakra as a tool for bat and remain ignorant of its true nature," Bck Zetsu said with disdain.

  As a product of Yin-Yang Release, he was naturally closer to the essence of chakra than anyone else.

  "Masashi, you're the first Uchiha I've met who's genuinely ied iure of chakra."

  "Thanks. You're also the most talkative person I've met," Masashi finally said, "Not that I mean to criticize, but could you be quiet for a bit? Talking nonstop distracts me."

  "Ah… sorry…" Bck Zetsu relutly shut up.

  He decided to teach a little more while he still could.

  The revival of his mother was only a matter of time. He might as well savor these st moments of enjoyable versation.

  "So this is how chakra extra works…" Masashi suddenly uood.

  This was a teique he had wao learn during his first life but had failed to grasp due to the bizarre teag methods of his instructor.

  Even in his sed life, despite trying everything, he couldn't master it. It was simply too abstract, like trying to catch smoke with bare hands.

  However, with the help of Bck Zetsu's abilities, it finally became clear to him. Through their shared trol, he could feel every subtle movement.

  The essence of abs chakra was about the iioween chakras, not the use of physiental energy. Each strand had to be carefully untangled, trolled, and guided—like dug an orchestra where every note had to be perfect.

  This uanding ossible because Bck Zetsu utilized his own chakra to demonstrate everything. His trol was beyond anything Masashi had ever witnessed.

  As a creation of Kaguya's Yin-Yang Release, Bck Zetsu o rely on attag himself to a host to exert power. His own strength wasn't formidable, nor could he train and bee stronger. But in terms of chakra trol, he was unparalleled on this earth.

  He vividly showed Masashi the epitome of perfect chakra trol, and application at every stage, expanding his horizons and reshaping his uanding of perfe.

  At this level, it was beyond mastery—it was divine, representing the pinnacle of teique.

  In Masashi's previous uanding, this capability was attainable only by those with advanced Sage powers. But Bck Zetsu, using his chakra, disproved this: "Don't bme your body if you 't use chakra properly. The limitation isn't in your flesh, but in your uanding."

  He pletely relinquished trol of half his body, letting Bck Zetsu take over.

  Even though he surrendered trol, he didn't lose e with his body. He could perceive everything happening with crystal crity, feeling each subtle shift and flow of chakra through his system.

  White Zetsu's chakra owerful in quality. Aside from Indra's and Asura's chakra, it was among the stro. Moreover, it possessed a corrosive property that could erode inferior chakras, eating through them like acid through paper.

  This property mirrored the way Asura's chakra influenced his reinations, though Asura's chakra operated gently and subtly, like water wearing away stone. In trast, White Zetsu's chakra, as a heavily degraded version, was crude and aggressive, more like a hammer than a chisel.

  Under Bck Zetsu's expert manipution and with Masashi's own high-quality chakra, White Zetsu's chakra was easily extracted, disassembled, and assimited.

  In a duel between shinobi, this would meaher party couldn't even put up a fight.

  Masashi seized this rare opportunity, meticulously memorizing every detail and greedily abs its "nourishment."

  After a long time, the White Zetsu e before him began losing vitality. As a e, it had enhanced physical activity pared to normal humans, but its power ultimately came from a fragment of Hashirama's flesh.

  After yers of trol and dilution, the power of a single White Zetsu e was limited.

  Under Bck Zetsu's divine-level manipution, its chakra couldn't asashi; instead, it was utterly dominated, broken down and reformed like a master's hands.

  Eventually, the White Zetsu e on the ground stopped moving, lifeless.

  Bck Zetsu also ceased his as, reverting to liquid form aag from Masashi, reassembling into human shape.

  Masashi raised his left hand, flexing it experimentally.

  "How was it?" Bck Zetsu asked.

  "A fasating experience," Masashi replied, looking at the immobile White Zetsu e. He curiously poked it.

  No respos body had stiffened.

  "Is it dead?" Masashi frowned. "Am I turning into some sort of vampirister?"

  "It's merely lost its activity temporarily. It'll recover unless its chakra is pletely drained," Bck Zetsu expined. "Think of it as deep hibernation."

  "Good to know." Masashi gave Bck Zetsu a thumbs-up. "You're incredible! Didn't Obito learn this from you?"

  "I taught him how to better utilize his Mangekyō abilities," Bck Zetsu chuckled. "He's different from you. His body is severely damaged, so he o mahe overly strong Yang chakra within him."

  "That makes sense…" Masashi nodded in uanding.

  No wonder he could trol the ails with just one gnce while being on par with me otherwise. Luckily, my genjutsu might not be great, but my anti-genjutsu skills are solid.

  "I'll teach you as well, but not now," Bck Zetsu dahe bait. "Your ocur power isn't strong enough yet."

  "Didn't you say I couldn't awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?" Masashi reminded him sharply. "Might as well teach me everything. Retly, I defeated the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki. Who knows when it'll respawn? I have no other ambitions—I just want a tailed beast as my summon."

  "Hmm?!" Bck Zetsu's eyes widened. "You killed the Eight-Tails?"

  "The jinchūriki, not the beast itself," Masashi corrected. "I couldn't possibly kill the beast. If I could, would I o reseal the ails?"

  "Then it doesn't matter," Bck Zetsu said. Masashi is even more suitable as a pawn. His strength grows faster than expected. His Mangekyō might be amazing... but it will be hard to awaken it...

  The current Akatsuki wasn't ready for openly colleg the tailed beasts. Secretly seg one was feasible, but rge-scale hunting would backfire.

  Nagato wasn't strong enough yet to fully wield the Rinnegan.

  In that case, eliminating the jinchūriki was a better move.

  Bck Zetsu had been monit the jinchūriki for a while. The Eight-Tails' jinchūriki was formidable; if allowed to grow, he would bee a major threat.

  Masashi had to be made into a true pawn.

  For that, his ocur and physical energy had to be elevated to Mangekyō Sharingan levels. Bck Zetsu had all the "materials" needed.

  This way, the stoablet would vince him, as it did Madara, that the Eye of the Moon Pn was the only path to peace.

  Masashi cked the plexity of Madara's life story but genuinely desired peace. His Sharingan already reflected this truth.

  Bck Zetsu summoned a new White Zetsu e, instrug it to carry away the immobilized ohen had another lie down in its pce.

  "One by one, until you reach your limit," he said to Masashi.

  A queue of White Zetsu es lined up, staring bnkly at the Uchiha.

  "This feels like a Fraein experiment…" Masashi muttered.

  "Who's Fraein?" asked the White Zetsu e lying down. "Hurry up, will you?"

  Looking down at it, Masashi realized these es had some sciousness. He had thought only the main body had indepe will.

  With a swift chop, he plunged his hand into its chest, attempting to replicate the sensations from Bck Zetsu's earlier guidance.

  After so many days, I've finally pleted the opening song for HSU!

  If you want to listen to it, head over to my P@treon page. The song is avaible for all members, including free ones!