I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 698 The secret to shedding one's shell lies in preparing a shell for oneself.

"Ninja Technique! Four Elephants Seal!"

"Ninjutsu! Bagua seal!"

Minato reacted extremely quickly. The instant the Nine-Tails returned to Kushina's body, he instantly formed hand seals, and a complex sealing technique appeared, constantly crawling and reassembling on Kushina's lower abdomen.

The Nine-Tails' chakra struggled instinctively, and Kushina's face showed pain. Tatsuma's method of stuffing the Nine-Tails into her body was too brutal. The pain she was experiencing now was much more intense than when she inherited the Nine-Tails from Mito Uzumaki.

Kushina's gratitude towards Tatsuma was genuine, after all, he had saved her and her husband. But her hatred for Tatsuma was also genuine. Even without the influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra, Kushina now regarded Tatsuma as her most hated enemy.

Tatsuma shrugged, not thinking there was anything wrong with his approach. After all, if the pain were quantified, the sum of the pain from both methods would be roughly the same.

Since they're about the same, it's better to have a short, sharp pain than a long, drawn-out one. Besides, the Kushina of today isn't the "weak" Kushina of ten years ago. Enduring this little bit of pain is no problem for her at all.

"Minato, I'll leave this to you. I have some things to take care of."

Tatsuma turned and left. At that moment, Black Zetsu had just reached the edge of the village. The village was filled with Tatsuma's Flying Thunder God Techniques. In just a thought, his body turned into a silver light.

"pia~"

Black Zetsu, with an indomitable spirit, crashed into the sealing barrier, but unlike his usual smooth passage in and out of Konoha, he was like a handful of spilled rice paste, stuck to the wall and slowly sliding down.

"How is that possible?"

Hei Jue refused to believe it and rushed towards the sealing barrier again, but the result was the same. He was like a lump of mud, unable to be propped up and could only slowly flow to the ground.

Behind him, Tatsuma suddenly appeared, his hands forming hand seals. He then gently touched his forehead, casting a ninjutsu on his soul, before speaking to Black Zetsu:

"If you use a little more force, it might break."

Suddenly, a voice, though rarely heard, rang out in Black Zetsu's ears. He turned his head in alarm and, upon seeing Tatsuma, immediately burrowed into the ground without a word.

"Splash~"

Chenma didn't want to continue playing hide-and-seek. Several chains with spikes and barbs emerged from his body, piercing the ground. He then pulled them out, revealing a black creature that looked like both a solid and a liquid hanging from the chains.

"How could you possibly find me when you shouldn't have been able to?!"

The Vajra Locket inherently possesses sealing power, and Black Zetsu was unable to shake it off in a short time. Suddenly, two eyes and a mouth emerged from the pitch-black body, shouting in terror at Tatsuma.

"Do you know how long I've waited for this day? Eight years. From the moment you first attacked Konoha, I've been looking forward to the day I could catch you."

Unfortunately for you, that day is today.

Tatsuma pulled the chains closer and stared directly at Black Zetsu. If his guess was correct, it was Black Zetsu who had caused Kushina and the Nine-Tails to go berserk eight years ago.

Furthermore, Tatsuma felt that he was unlikely to make a mistake, because apart from Black Zetsu, no one could deceive the entire Hidden Leaf Village's perception and reconnaissance methods to launch a mental attack on Kushina.

Upon hearing Tatsuma's words, Black Zetsu was stunned for a moment, then became even more terrified.

Because what he had always relied on was his ability to remain hidden, but he never expected that the Sage of Six Paths wouldn't find him, Indra and Ashura wouldn't see through him, but Sakamoto Tatsuma...

This person, who should have had no connection with their family, saw through him, and not just today, but eight years ago.

Eight years is a very short time for Black Zetsu, who has lived for a thousand years; it's practically negligible. But how old is Tatsuma? 24? He's been thinking about him for a third of the time?

Furthermore, how exactly did Tatsuma discover and confirm this? He didn't even show up during Tatsuma's fight with Madara. Theoretically, today should be their first meeting, but why does Sakamoto Tatsuma look like he's already seen right through him?

It's an act! It must be an act, right?!

Seeing that Black Zetsu, with only two eyes and a mouth, could express such a wealth of emotions, Tatsuma smiled and said, "Are you still clinging to hope, Kaguya's child?"

Black Zetsu is a half-finished product, a half-finished Yin-Yang Release technique, carrying Kaguya's last will. Therefore, he has many flaws, such as having a sense of touch but being unable to feel hot or cold.

But at this moment, he finally understood what it felt like to be cold.

The moment his secret, which he had kept hidden for a thousand years, was revealed, Black Zetsu was terrified. And once the panic became excessive, he would become stressed and act as if he were angry.

"Bastard! Die!"

Black Zetsu broke free from the seal of the Vajra Lock, but instead of fleeing again, he transformed into a giant net and shrouded Tatsuma, while simultaneously unleashing his talent—a mental attack.

"The Second Hokage was truly a great inventor of ninjutsu."

Tatsuma sighed inwardly, realizing that under the isolation of the Soul Imprisonment Technique, Black Zetsu's mental attacks were completely unable to reach Tatsuma's will.

Black Zetsu knew that attacking was useless, so he tried to bypass the control of his brain and directly control Tatsuma's body, but he couldn't move Tatsuma's body. A layer of chakra seemed to separate him from Tatsuma.

All his power, when applied to what resembled the Three-Tails' chakra, had no effect whatsoever.

"Splash~"

The clanking of chains sounded again, this time binding Black Zetsu and Tatsuma together. Black Zetsu roared, "Don't think you can seal me like this! The methods used to seal tailed beasts won't work on me!"

"Indeed, your method of escaping the seal seems to be more skillful than mine, the caster. In that respect, you are quite powerful."

As Chenma spoke, he clapped his hands, and a strange chakra completely enveloped Black Zetsu. Black Zetsu inexplicably felt himself getting thinner.

"What do you want to do?!"

A few seconds later, Black Zetsu finally reacted and struggled frantically, but his body was constantly shrinking, or rather, being peeled away, and his body was constantly turning into chakra.

"Damn it!"

Black Zetsu opened its mouth and spat out a swarm of spores that landed on Tatsuma. It absorbed Tatsuma's chakra and the chakra that Black Zetsu had broken down into, instantly transforming into a white monster, while its Wood Release continued to grow.

Meanwhile, Black Zetsu took the opportunity to merge into a tree and use the Mayfly Technique to travel among the trees. Finally, he found a large tree native to Konoha, whose roots had spread beyond the village. The sealing barrier had not severed these roots.

Using his body, which had been reduced to the size of an egg by Tatsuma, Black Zetsu successfully passed through the barrier via the tree roots. Tatsuma tore the White Zetsu off his body, stared at the place where Black Zetsu had gone, and then looked away.

Black Zetsu is no longer useful. After today, he will take some time to modify the sealing barrier, and Black Zetsu will no longer be able to enter Konoha. The reason why Black Zetsu was difficult to guard against before was because of the unknown.

Now that Tatsuma fully understands Black Zetsu's structure, it's not difficult for him to implement targeted defenses.

"Ding~ Special talents [Creation] (Sage of Six Paths Limited Edition) +10%, [Genesis] (Sage of Six Paths Limited Edition) +10%, Pick up?"

"Another Yin-Yang Escape technique? Nothing new, but I'll pick it up."

Rubbing his temples and processing the knowledge in his mind, Tatsuma turned to look in the direction of Minato and the others, his brows furrowed.

"Is sealing the Nine-Tails really that difficult? It's still not resolved?"

(End of this chapter)