Chapter 228: Black Mud

"How many times did you use that technique?"

Seeing Sasuke squinting, Link could tell that his eyesight had definitely deteriorated quite a bit.

If he had gone and taken out Danzo, using Ama no Iwato once per eye at least a dozen times, or using Amaterasu that many times in such a short period, he would probably have collapsed right on the spot.

Fortunately, Sasuke's eyes had been maintained beforehand with the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, and he also kept the ultra-effective soldier pills Link had given him close at hand.

"Come here."

Link ordered. Uchiha Sasuke obediently walked over, and Link pressed a hand on him to check his injuries.

Not too bad. Apart from distorted meridians caused by the ultra-effective soldier pills, overuse of his Mangekyō abilities, and general physical exhaustion, there weren't many injuries.

Then there was nothing more to say.

He had just ended the Edo Tensei and also expended a large amount of chakra to cast Delicate Illness Extraction Technique again, causing sweat to break out on his forehead.

After catching his breath a bit, he swallowed a soldier pill and, without pause, cast another Delicate Illness Extraction Technique. Only then did he say, "Let's just stay here for now. You can keep Utakata company."

The moment he saw Sasuke, Link realized why this guy had suddenly acted so strangely the day before. It was probably the Uchiha mindset flaring up again—paying no heed to anything else and sneaking off to kill Danzo on his own, then going rogue. Maybe he had been in contact with Fugaku too much, or maybe he was influenced by Itachi's dying wish?

Whatever the reason, he had messed up Link's plans in one fell swoop. Truly troublesome.

But Link's face showed a subtle hint of relief, likely without him even realizing it.

When Utakata heard that, his smile became a bit stiff, but it quickly returned to normal. The base was huge, anyway.

Originally, it was already housing three of Orochimaru's captured subordinates. One more annoying guy made no difference.

Seeing that Sasuke's vision had returned to normal and his gaze had refocused, he seemed about to say something, when suddenly he noticed the white-haired kid, he froze in place.

"Yes, this is the one who seems to be the Second Hokage." Link said with a smile. "Once he can prove his identity, we can consider asking your father and mother if they want to be reanimated back to this world. Then you'll probably have a lot more work to do—"

Uchiha Sasuke felt like the sound around him was fading away. The thumping of his heartbeat pounded in his ears.

His mind, which had been so clear a moment ago, suddenly turned to mush. He listened in a daze for a while, without taking in a single word. His mouth was dry, and his throat felt glued shut.

"What are you thinking about?" Link patted him on the back and said, "It's still not certain whether the technique is working correctly. If, for instance, the person reanimated turns out not to be the real Second Hokage—"

"That's enough, brat." Senju Tobirama interrupted him coldly. His voice sounded youthful yet carried a strangely old-fashioned air. Glancing at the still-smiling ninja cat, Hina, made him grit his teeth. Expressionless, he said, "Get me some clothes, now!"

"After being reanimated, has even his personality become more childlike due to his body?" Link wondered. In truth, he had already determined that the little kid in front of him truly was the Second Hokage, because you can't fake chakra.

It was identical chakra—though greatly diminished. Even so, the reanimated child version of the Second Hokage was still able to draw upon that chakra. For a three- or four-year-old's body, this was dozens of times stronger than Link himself had been at that age. Incredible.

He could sense it clearly. Utakata, who also had sensory abilities, must have noticed. And there was no need to mention Hina, whose sense perception was even greater.

"I—" Uchiha Sasuke started to speak, his voice trembling a bit.

Noticing the bloodstains on Sasuke's sleeve, Link said, "Go clean up properly in the base and change clothes. Then you can talk with your father and mother."

"Alright." Uchiha Sasuke hurried off.

Link cast a glance at Utakata, who was only wearing a thin robe, then took off his own jacket and tossed it over.

"Yes, it's yours to wear, Lord Second."

His clothes were quite large—he was well-built, so he always bought them in bigger sizes. Even after trimming the hem, the jacket ended up like a robe on child-sized Tobirama. His tiny arms couldn't even stick out of the sleeves. Once he was loosely wrapped in it, Tobirama asked seriously:

"Where did you get that mud you used before?"

Then he explained, "That clay naturally restricts souls and creates a living body using your chakra. Its properties are very unusual. I suspect that even without your Edo Tensei, the clay could serve as a vessel for a soul to exist briefly in the living world."

What a foul-smelling black sludge, Link thought. But he simply said, "It's a product of one of my ninjutsu. However, producing that 'black mud' requires using human souls as sacrifices."

"Black mud?" Tobirama echoed, nodding. "I see." He didn't press the issue of needing sacrifices any further.

When you've delved into so many forbidden techniques, it's impossible not to involve human experimentation. Look at the Edo Tensei itself—very costly in terms of living bodies.

In the manga, Kabuto inherited Orochimaru's research and bragged he had made several "failed experiments." To create something from scratch, it was impossible without sacrificing human lives.

"A lot of the black mud that formed my body just now was wasted. That portion alone would have been enough to reanimate two people."

"How much black mud do you have left?"

Link calculated for a moment. "Probably enough for a bit over three people." He had already used a chunk in earlier experiments; otherwise, he would have enough for one or two more.

He was a bit puzzled about the rules for generating black mud. Come to think of it, just the soul of Gatō alone had yielded enough for six or seven people. It was a shame that the black mud was wasted in the Swamp of the Underworld, he thought regretfully.

"Roughly how much black mud can be produced from a single human soul?" Tobirama followed up. Seeing that Link paused, not answering directly, he sighed inwardly.

This kid's own technique and experiments aren't standardized at all—he's just going by luck. How envious! If he himself could ignore all constraints, snapping his fingers to master all these powerful techniques, he'd love that too!

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Link admitted that he'd never truly studied it carefully. "I did test it once with a single person's soul, and it yielded enough black mud to reanimate six or seven people."

He offered what he knew, then added, "I'll conduct more tests in the next few days."

It did feel odd—despite the other party being a little kid, Link felt as though he were being interrogated by a senior. He straightened his posture a bit and asked more seriously:

"Lord Second, did you know that Sasuke was planning to assassinate Danzo on his own?"

He suspected that Tobirama himself might have encouraged Sasuke to do it. But logically it made no sense—what teacher would want to get his own student killed?

~~~

Patreon(.)com/Bleam

— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!