Chapter 4
Lord Pot Shadow Doesn’t Mind Carrying a Few More Blames
Late at night in the orphanage, when Uzumaki Menma opened his eyes again, he had already returned from his mental world to reality.
Feeling the chakra continuously flowing through his chakra pathways, Menma felt his whole body overflowing with strength.
Even with the natural vitality of the Uzumaki clan, it had taken him three years to accumulate enough chakra to create the Little Nine-Tails. But now that the Little Nine-Tails had been born, his chakra would no longer be endlessly absorbed by that bottomless pit.
In fact, he could now ask the Little Nine-Tails for chakra.
“Little Nine, give me some chakra.” Menma communicated with her in his mind.
“I’ll give you enough for one Tailed Beast Bomb. I don’t have much left myself.” The Little Nine-Tails reluctantly shared a portion of her limited chakra with him.
For a normal tailed beast, the chakra required for a single Tailed Beast Bomb was barely worth mentioning.
But for the current Little Nine-Tails, it was nearly half of her total chakra.
Even so, that amount of chakra already exceeded the total reserves of most elite jonin.
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Menma quickly formed several hand seals.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke appeared, and a shadow clone of Menma stood beside the bed.
After exchanging a glance and a nod with the clone, Menma carefully climbed out of bed while the clone took his place under the blanket.
He then walked to the window and opened it.
However, he did not immediately jump outside.
Instead, using the Little Nine-Tails’ chakra, he activated Malice Sensing.
The Little Nine-Tails from the Limited Tsukuyomi World had also been regarded as the embodiment of hatred, resentment, and betrayal. Her ability to sense good and evil was extraordinarily sharp.
Having inherited her chakra, Menma was also highly proficient in this ability.
It was known that during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kurama could sense malicious chakra across the entire battlefield.
Therefore, the question was:
How far was the range of Malice Sensing?
“Found you!”
Without wasting another moment, Menma detected malicious chakra hidden inside a tree less than ten meters from the orphanage.
A White Zetsu was monitoring the orphanage.
Not wanting to disturb the children or his adoptive mother, Yakushi Nono, Menma climbed out the window and quietly closed it behind him.
Then he instantly flashed forward.
Purple lightning chakra gathered around his right hand, forming a technique similar to a chakra scalpel.
This was one of the many jutsu he had developed in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
To escape that world, Menma had captured jinchūriki from various nations and collected countless secret techniques and ninjutsu. His knowledge of ninja arts was incredibly extensive.
Crackle—Crackle—
Purple lightning hissed softly around his hand.
Menma thrust forward.
His hand pierced straight through the massive tree.
“AAAAAH!”
A scream erupted from inside the trunk.
Pulling his arm back, Menma dragged out a completely white humanoid figure.
The White Zetsu’s pale face was filled with terror.
He couldn’t understand why the child he had monitored for over two years had suddenly discovered him.
Nor could he understand how that child possessed such a terrifying jutsu.
White Zetsu’s combat ability was weak.
After being pierced through the body, he died instantly, leaving only a white corpse.
“What a shame. I don’t have any storage scrolls.”
Menma hoisted the corpse onto his shoulder and sped toward Konoha.
Leaping through the trees with one hand carrying the body, he formed seals with the other and cast a Transformation Jutsu.
He returned to the appearance he had in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
Short black hair framed a handsome face hidden behind a white fox mask with three eyes.
He wore a black robe with a white fur collar, while red bandages wrapped around his arms and legs. Fingerless sleeves covered his hands.
The dark color scheme contrasted sharply with Naruto’s bright orange outfit.
“Menma, what is this thing?”
The Little Nine-Tails peeked her head out from the white fur collar on his shoulder.
Looking at the white creature he was carrying, she instinctively felt disgust.
She had never seen anything like it in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
“A White Zetsu. A tragic victim from the era of the God Tree, drained of both life force and chakra.”
As he spoke, Menma reached the outskirts of the village.
His Malice Sensing soon discovered another White Zetsu hiding inside a tree.
This one seemed to be watching the village gates.
“Looks like Black Zetsu invested quite a few White Zetsu in Konoha.”
Menma recalled that after Uchiha Madara’s death, the corrupted Obito had likely begun keeping watch on Konoha.
Aside from the Hyūga clan compound, protected by countless Byakugan users, there were probably many White Zetsu hidden throughout the village.
Especially around the Uchiha district.
While thinking about this, Menma arrived in front of the tree.
A chakra blade swept through it.
The tree split in half.
So did the White Zetsu hiding inside.
Taking the corpse with him, Menma continued onward.
He needed to clean up the White Zetsu lurking around the orphanage.
Otherwise, carrying out his future plans while being constantly monitored would be extremely inconvenient.
However, he couldn’t alert Obito or Black Zetsu.
That meant he needed someone else to take the blame.
The nighttime Konoha village was peaceful and quiet.
Menma exited a ninja tool shop and jumped onto a rooftop.
From there, he gazed toward the Hokage Rock and took in the entire village at night.
The White Zetsu corpses were gone.
In their place were several storage scrolls.
He had also “borrowed” quite a few ninja tools from the store.
The total value was probably about equal to one Asuma bounty.
“I wonder if that was Tenten’s family shop.”
The location seemed strangely familiar.
“Whatever. I’ll pay them back when I get the chance.”
No need to dwell on such minor matters.
Menma turned his attention toward Hokage Rock.
“If I remember correctly, the Root headquarters should be underneath Hokage Rock.”
He sprang forward, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
“I need to develop the Nine-Faced Suvaha as soon as possible.”
Menma missed the flying ability granted by Heavenly Maiden, one of the Nine Faces.
The Nine-Faced Suvaha was a summoning technique developed from Nine-Tails chakra.
All nine summons were foxes.
And only with the assistance of the Little Nine-Tails could he recreate them.
Moving swiftly through Konoha, Menma relied on his incredible mobility and Malice Sensing to avoid ninja with keen perception abilities.
Along the route between Hokage Rock and the orphanage, he eliminated two more White Zetsu.
However, he did not kill every White Zetsu he found.
He only cleared out those along that specific path.
After all…
Lord Pot Shadow probably wouldn’t mind taking a few extra blames.
By the time Obito and Black Zetsu noticed anything unusual, Menma would likely already be living on his own.
After finishing his work, Menma realized he was hungry.
So he decided to find something to eat.
Landing in a small alley, he transformed into an ordinary black-haired teenager.
Then he stepped out and entered Ichiraku Ramen.
“Hey, did you hear? The war might finally be ending.”
“Yeah. Envoys from Kumogakure arrived yesterday. The Third Hokage personally hosted a banquet for them. Looks like this war is finally coming to an end.”
Two ninja chatted while slurping their ramen.
“Envoys from Kumogakure?”
Menma sat down nearby.
Right.
This was Year 54 of Konoha.
The war between Konoha and Kumogakure was also ending this year.
To be continued…
