Watching Itachi enter the inn, the hidden Black Zetsu withdrew his gaze, silently debating whether to make a move.

In order to give Nagato enough power to oppose Nagasawa, Black Zetsu had truly gone all out. He considered the worst-case scenarios and even prepared a backup plan that had a slight chance of success, just in case.

With a fallback in place, he naturally wanted to perfectly execute the Gedo Mazo resurrection plan.

But he had still underestimated Nagasawa. So much time had passed, and not a single Uchiha or Hyuga ninja had left the village on a mission.

Even with all his surveillance, Black Zetsu had no way to instantly capture them, because none of them left Konoha.

It was too abnormal. He could understand the Uchiha, since most worked in the Konoha Police Force. But the Hyuga too?

It was clear, this was Nagasawa’s doing.

Black Zetsu was puzzled, how did Nagasawa know they needed both Uchiha and Hyuga for their plan?

Only he, Obito, and Nagato knew this information. Nagasawa shouldn’t know.

But he did know. So if all other possibilities were ruled out, the only remaining answer must be the truth.

"The intel was leaked by Obito," Black Zetsu’s expression darkened.

That day, he had been hiding in the shadows, but unexpectedly Nagasawa was hiding too. The moment he emerged, he captured Obito immediately and ripped out his Mangekyō Sharingan.

As soon as Obito was caught, Black Zetsu didn’t hesitate, he fled instantly, not even daring to stay in the Land of Water, and escaped straight back to the Land of Rain.

In Black Zetsu’s plans, his own survival always came first. If he died, there would be no one to resurrect his mother, Kaguya. So he didn’t care about Obito being caught, or if Nagasawa had seen him, he just bailed.

Nagasawa was too dangerous. Being within 100 kilometers of him was like standing on the rim of a volcano, one that could erupt at any time.

Actually, Black Zetsu had originally trusted Obito. There were only two people present, Nagasawa and Shisui Uchiha, and neither could forcibly read memories.

And Obito had been thoroughly manipulated, he believed in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, saw himself as the savior of the new world.

How could a savior beg for mercy or reveal secrets? Surely, he’d choose death over betrayal.

Even if the corpse revealed some clues, it would never be as bad as having his living memory read.

But things hadn’t gone the way Black Zetsu expected. Even this level of secret had been exposed. That couldn’t have come from a corpse, it had to be from Obito himself.

"Did Obito betray us?" the ever-cautious Black Zetsu immediately assumed the worst.

By always assuming the worst, he could prepare countermeasures in advance.

That was why, even after a thousand years of failure, he had never exposed himself. Black Zetsu was too cautious.

And now he was in a bind. If it really was the worst-case scenario, things were dire.

First, everything about their side would now be visible to Konoha, visible to Nagasawa, who could prepare in advance.

Second, Nagasawa’s side would gain a new combatant, while their side lost one.

Though he didn’t care much about losing a fighter, Obito knew too much, aside from him and Madara, Obito knew the most.

If Obito had defected, that would be a disaster, their plans, even Madara’s and Akatsuki’s, would be naked to Konoha, exposed completely.

Black Zetsu could only pray this wasn’t the worst-case scenario. Maybe Nagasawa just happened to know a memory-reading jutsu, and that’s how he got the intel.

"Do I make a move or not?" Black Zetsu fell into deep thought.

Itachi was the first Uchiha to leave the village since Obito was captured. If he missed this chance, he might never get another.

But he was sure this was a trap. If Nagasawa was preventing other Uchihas and Hyugas from leaving, why would he allow Itachi to leave?

From his own experience, Black Zetsu knew, Nagasawa was probably hiding nearby, just like he was, waiting quietly for an enemy to attack Itachi.

The problem was, Nagasawa had some unknown stealth ability, Black Zetsu couldn’t sense him at all.

Fortunately, until Black Zetsu acted, Nagasawa wouldn’t be able to sense him either.

In the end, Black Zetsu decided he couldn’t miss this chance. He would find a way to capture Itachi.

However, he wouldn’t do it himself. Ever since Kaguya had created him, he had never relied on brute force. He never exposed himself.

This time was no exception. He wouldn’t attack directly, he’d use a series of interlocking traps.

He knew this situation hid another scheme, so he’d be a fool to step in himself.

When it came to scheming, Black Zetsu believed he was second to none, not even Madara, not even Obito, both of whom he had manipulated like pawns to resurrect his mother.

He was in the dark, Nagasawa in the light. Nagasawa didn’t even know he existed. That gave him the edge.

A sinister smile spread across Black Zetsu’s face.

He laughed at Nagasawa for being clueless, at Uchiha Itachi for being naive. Such an obvious trap, and they expect me to fall for it? Not only will I not fall for it, I’ll eat the bait instead!

Nearby, Nagasawa, who had sensed nothing despite observing, was slightly disappointed.

He had agreed to let Itachi travel partly due to Itachi’s resolve, and partly as bait to lure out Black Zetsu.

But seeing nothing, he decided to treat this like a vacation. He was surprised how developed the outside world had become, there were even ice cream shops now.

Having detected nothing, Nagasawa entered a nearby shop and began happily eating.

Whether Black Zetsu showed up or not, he would protect Itachi until the end. Catching Black Zetsu would be great, if not, it was still a nice trip.

After all, his real body was never around. It always left shadow clones to handle documents while the original trained.

"Achoo!" Somewhere atop an unknown mountain, the real Nagasawa sneezed mid-training. The black-and-white Rasengan in his hand crashed into the mountain, and with a massive boom, a quarter of it vanished.

Lightly jumping out of the crater, Nagasawa scratched his head. Didn’t think I could still sneeze with my body like this.

"Maybe someone ungrateful is badmouthing me," he mused, rubbing his chin.

But his interest was more focused on the Rasengan.

Just now, he had finally succeeded, letting chakra and spirit power coexist without interference, and developing a new Rasengan.

"Who’d have thought retracing the training steps was the key?" Nagasawa mused.

He had known creating new jutsu was hard, cross-world jutsu even more so, but constant failure had still frustrated him.

He had been right on the edge of success for so long, and still it failed. Every time.

For a man who’d always had things go his way, he nearly gave up on the Rasengan to pursue a different path. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Fortunately, he remembered a saying, "Reviewing old knowledge brings new insight."

He suspected the problem might be with himself. Using spirit power and chakra together was new, while the Rasengan was an old jutsu he’d trained in for years, entirely chakra-based.

So he started over, from step one of Rasengan training. But this time, he used both chakra and spirit power together.

That’s when he realized, the previous failures stemmed from a flawed assumption.

Back when he first trained Rasengan, its power was ordinary, it only became strong when chakra flowed in chaotic, multi-directional patterns.

If the flow was too uniform, the Rasengan was just a basic chakra ball, it wouldn’t disrupt an opponent’s chakra on impact.

His failures had been due to trying to force those old chaotic flows onto a dual-system Rasengan.

You couldn’t simply toss two powers together like seasoning. They had to be harmonized.

Regular Rasengan needed chaos because basic chakra lacked destructive power. But spirit power already had a different nature, mixing it randomly with chakra? That was a recipe for explosion.

Realizing this, he refined the jutsu, experimenting over and over to find the best ratio between chakra and spirit power.

He found that spirit power amplifies chakra, but if used equally, chakra becomes unstable. The ideal ratio was 2,1, chakra to spirit power.

More spirit power meant more destructive force, but if it exceeded chakra, it lost control and exploded in his hand.

Only the 2,1 ratio offered stability, control, and decent power.

"What should I name this Rasengan?" Nagasawa pondered.

This one couldn’t have a silly name, many users might use it one day. Something like "Spiral Flash Dance Ultimate Roar Type 1" would get him mocked for life.

He channeled the Rasengan again. A ball of energy, about half a human head in size, spun in his hand. One half black, one half white, clearly divided. Even at high speed, no gray blended in.

"How about... Taiji Rasengan?" he considered, then shook his head.

Taiji had black within white and white within black, representing chaos before yin-yang separation. His was entirely divided. It didn’t suit the name.

Finally, he decided to name it, Death God Rasengan.

"Perfectly badass. Eat a Death God Rasengan, go meet the Death God."

It also aligned with the spiritual system, making it the perfect name.

"Yup, Death God Rasengan it is," Nagasawa nodded with satisfaction. A name with both swagger and depth.

Honestly, his naming was better than Minato’s. If it were Minato, it’d be called something like "Dark Radiance Destruction Rasengan."

Having finished training, Nagasawa checked the time, then used Flying Thunder God to return to Konoha, to his home.

It was dinnertime, but since Nonoyu was home, he didn’t need to cook or eat out.

Later that evening, someone unexpected came to visit.

"Advisor Nagasawa." Fugaku suppressed his restlessness and greeted respectfully.

"What’s the matter, Fugaku?" Nagasawa asked directly.

They weren’t close, but both of Fugaku’s sons were Nagasawa’s students, so there was some connection.

"Sasuke has been studying under you lately. But he’s not doing well. I hope you can check on him."

Nagasawa nodded and quickly went with Fugaku to his house.

There, Sasuke lay in bed, face flushed with heat, sweating heavily, like being stuck in a sauna.

"We had a medic check him. They said it’s not a normal fever. Even with Mystic Palm Technique, nothing worked..." Fugaku added.

"He was fine this afternoon, practicing with a bamboo sword."

Hearing this, and seeing Sasuke’s condition, Nagasawa knew what had happened.

Sasuke had been diligently training in Sun Breathing, but perhaps it just wasn’t suited for him. Not only did he fail to learn it, he suffered backlash.

Nagasawa placed his hand on Sasuke’s head. A green light glowed, and Sasuke’s pained expression eased.

He handled this type of injury fairly often.

Once Sasuke recovered, Nagasawa told Fugaku, "Have him stop his current training and focus on recovery. When he’s better, he can return."

It seemed Sun Breathing wasn’t Sasuke’s path.

Perhaps... it was time to forge him a Moon Breathing style instead.