Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 159 Assimilation, rebirth

In a secluded cave in a certain part of the Land of Grass.

On the stone bed, Li Yao, who had originally died at the hands of Onoki's Dust Release, appeared, lying naked on it.

The lower half of his body, below the neck, had turned into a white body like a White Zetsu, while the other half was his original body, making him look like a yellow and white patchwork.

A white tube emerged from the mouth of a giant statue not far away, inserted into half of its white flesh, stabilizing its body.

The slight rise and fall of his chest proved that Li Yao was still alive.

But the person did not wake up.

Two White Zetsu squatted beside the stone bed. The White Zetsu with the swirling face, who called himself Afei, occasionally teased the half-white, half-yellow strip-shaped object with his hand, and asked curiously, "Is this where the urge to defecate comes from? But he's been lying here for a year, why hasn't he felt the urge yet? I want to see what it looks like when the urge suddenly bursts..."

Afei continued his incessant chatter, studying Li Yao's urge to defecate, while Bai Jue remained focused on sensing the fusion of cells within Li Yao's body.

"Has this brat's body not been assimilated yet?"

Suddenly, in the silent secret room, Uchiha Madara's deep, magnetic voice came.

Without a second thought, Afei replied, "No, this brat hasn't needed to poop yet, Lord Madara."

White Zetsu retorted, "Idiot Afei, Lord Madara wasn't asking about the need to defecate."

After making his comment, White Zetsu stood up and turned around, saying, "Not yet. His chakra has a strong sense of self, and forcibly assimilating it will most likely cause him to collapse and die."

"Is that so?" Madara Uchiha said calmly, "It seems he's just an ordinary person."

"Should we deal with this brat?" White Zetsu asked.

"Let's see what he can do." With that, Madara released the Gedo Mazo from its control over half of the White Zetsu cells in Li Yao's body.

In an instant, the white apocalypse cells began to erode the cells of the other half of Li Yao's body.

Li Yao now only has two possible outcomes.

Either die.

Alternatively, one can release their chakra's self-protective instincts, merge with the chakra on the White Zetsu cells, and assimilate their physical body and White Zetsu cells.

Only in this way can Li Yao survive.

Bai Jue and A Fei looked at Li Yao on the bed. The white flesh was eroding and spreading to the other half of his body, but there were no signs of assimilation yet.

"Looks like it can only become fertilizer!"

Seeing this, Bai Jue shook his head slightly. He had originally thought that Li Yao would be the special one, but it turned out that he was just an ordinary person.

Back when Li Yao fought the Five Kage, at the last moment, White Zetsu used his ability to envelop Li Yao's body and quickly dive underground to escape the disaster.

He also happened to lose half of his physical body and could only survive by relying on the White Zetsu Wood Release cells created by the Gedo Mazo.

At first, White Zetsu thought that Li Yao had a large amount of Wood Release chakra, so his body should also have Wood Release cells that could fuse with White Zetsu cells.

As it turned out... after being rescued, it was discovered that Li Yao could only condense Wood Release chakra; his body cells were still those of an ordinary person, not Wood Release cells.

Because Li Yao's physical cells are not Wood Release cells, he simply cannot withstand the erosion of White Zetsu's Wood Release cells.

Without the control of White Zetsu and Madara, Li Yao would have long since become nourishment for the Gedo Mazo.

Li Yao, in this way, is actually of little value.

If Madara hadn't been so interested in Li Yao's chakra state, which was full of strong self-awareness, Li Yao would never be alive today.

Madara tried it; his genjutsu could control the Third Mizukage, but it didn't work on Li Yao.

Faced with Li Yao's chakra state, which was practically immune to genjutsu, Madara was very curious and wanted to see if he could actually invade Li Yao's chakra.

For the past year, he has been controlling the White Zetsu cells to keep Li Yao's body alive while slowing down the erosion of his body cells, hoping to use a long period of time to let Li Yao's cells adapt to the White Zetsu cells and thus assimilate them.

Once Li Yao's physical cells assimilate the White Zetsu cells, his chakra can invade Li Yao's chakra through assimilation.

Unfortunately, a year has passed, and because the chakra possesses a strong sense of self, Li Yao's physical cells have consistently refused to fuse and assimilate with the White Zetsu cells.

Ban knew that waiting any longer would not produce the result he wanted.

So let Li Yao choose between death and survival assimilation.

At this moment, the White Zetsu cells within Li Yao's body were gradually eroding him, and the number of cells belonging to Li Yao was decreasing, as was his chakra.

To die or to live!

With Li Yao's consciousness falling into a deep sleep and only his instincts remaining, his consciousness and instincts chose to survive, to live, and to be fused and assimilated by the White Zetsu cells.

"Huh... Assimilation has begun!!"

The White Zetsu, who was originally preparing to reclaim the White Zetsu cells from Li Yao's body, suddenly looked into Li Yao's eyes, where the skin, which was about to turn completely white, began to turn yellowish-white.

Li Yao's body actually began to assimilate with the White Zetsu cells at the last moment, and at a very fast speed.

"what!"

Afei exclaimed in surprise, watching as the long, thin object in his hand began to merge yellow and white. His face lit up with excitement; though he had no eyebrows, he was thrilled and shouted, "Is this little brat about to poop? Ah, should I catch it with my hand or my foot?"

Ah Fei tilted his head in thought.

"Shut up, Afei, you're blocking Madara's view." Bai Zetsu pulled Afei away from his inexplicable excitement.

Sitting on the brown stone throne, Madara Uchiha looked up and sensed the chakra containing his own will that had invaded Li Yao's chakra through the fusion of White Zetsu cells and Li Yao's cells. He smiled slightly, feeling a little pleased.

Madara Uchiha felt that he had conquered Li Yao.

The fact that Li Yao's cells ultimately accepted assimilation and chose to have their chakra invaded by him is proof of this.

It had been a long time since Ban had felt this sense of conquest.

Li Yao once again made Ban experience this sense of conquest.

In return for pleasing him, he would spare Li Yao's life and use him as a pawn in his future plans.

"Too fast!"

Bai Jue suddenly had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

The rate at which Bai Jue cells fused and assimilated Li Yao cells was too fast.

It's like... it's not that the white blood cells assimilate the Li Yao cells, but rather that the Li Yao cells assimilate and engulf the white blood cells.

"Fortunately, the chakra of the Gedo Mazo has already merged into Li Yao's chakra."

Only when he sensed the chakra fluctuations of the Gedo Mazo within the chakra of Li Yao's assimilated cells did White Zetsu feel relieved.

Then it occurred to me that Li Yao was, after all, the first ninja who could condense Wood Release chakra without Wood Release cells, so it was understandable that he was special.

In any case, as long as the Gedo Mazo's chakra is integrated into Li Yao's chakra, his body will be under Madara's... and his control.

Bai Jue thought to himself.

As the White Zetsu cells assimilated Li Yao's cells, Li Yao's chakra gradually increased, and the soul consciousness fused within the chakra also began to revive.

soon.

About ten minutes later.

After assimilation was complete, Li Yao's physical body returned to its previous state, with no distinction between yellow and white. His skin was even more delicate than before, and his face became a bit rounder.

At this moment, Li Yaocai finally looked like a boy who was about to turn fifteen.

With his body fully recovered, Li Yao, who was lying in bed, finally slowly opened his eyes.

(End of this chapter)