Wood Release's Secret

Even after finding the location of Black Zetsu, Araki took no action. He was aware that if he did move to grab hold of him right now, the Black Zetsu would simply phase through the ground and escape.

The fact which infuriated Araki, even more, was that he had met up with Uchiha Madara 4 year ago. He had seen that man use Wood Clone, yet he never considered the possibility that Uchiha Madara had messed up with his grandfather's body.

If he had known this, he wouldn't have cared about anything and just killed Madara then and there! Consequences be damned!

And certainly enough, he was planning on killing Uchiha Madara if he was still alive. However, before that, he wanted to catch that damnable Black Zetsu.

Araki didn't know, but whenever he thought of Black Zetsu, he would be filled with dissatisfaction. He always felt like this thing wasn't even supposed to exist in the world.

Just as he turned around and returned to the Senju Clan Manor while holding Kushina's hand. From the corner of his eyes, he stared at the tree where the Black Zetsu was seemingly hiding.

He could see it there. Lying on the ground, looking at him with those sinister golden eyes. Those sinister eyes weren't staring at himself, they were focusing on Kushina.

Araki really felt like extracting those eyes and feeding them to some dog. Who did this thing think he was staring at?!

He was smart enough to figure out that this thing wasn't staring at Kushina because of her Uzumaki Lineage. Many Uzumaki Clan members were living in the world, why would this thing focus on Kushina, though? There was only a single answer.

Kurama… It was Kurama who was probably this thing's target.

Araki had no idea why Kurama was the target, but he didn't care at this moment. He would get those answers once he grabs hold of this Black Zetsu.

Around this time, even the Black Zetsu had no idea that another Araki was sneaking towards him.

He was meticulous while moving and seemed to make sure he was quiet.

After he felt that he was close enough, Araki made a hand-seal, and the earth below them rumbled strongly.

Black Zetsu was immediately surprised and was about to phase through the ground when suddenly, he felt that its body couldn't phase through the ground.

Just as it was about to run away in some other direction, the tree near its position changed shape and grabbed the Black Zetsu with a massive hand-like structure!

Even the Black Zetsu felt that it was being held by this large hand made of wood.

"Greetings, Black Zetsu. How has Uchiha Madara been since that time?" Araki icily said while coming forward to greet this damnable thing.

"Senju Araki!" The Black Zetsu's round golden eyes stared at him with a hint of hate, "What is the meaning of this? Do you want me to spread the information about the remaining Uzumaki Clan Members?!"

"Go ahead and do so. This threat doesn't work on me anymore. Firstly, I want to see whether you can escape right now or not.�� Araki said before a seal on his left hand glowed, and he went forward, "You won't be leaving this place now."

"Hmph… Do you think a seal like that would work on me?" Black Zetsu stared at Araki in contempt.

However, Araki's wood clone didn't stop. He continued to move forward, and suddenly, the Black Zetsu faintly recognised the seal.

His eyes widened as he shouted, "This… This is the seal for trapping shadows!"

"That's right. I have understood your true nature. You aren't a living thing, you are a shadow. A shadow which has been given form by some strange power." Araki seemed rather proud as he didn't stop his movements while speaking.

This was something the Uzumaki Clan Members in the Senju Clan Manor had invented on Araki's demand.

"You have, indeed understood my true nature. But… You made one more mistake." Black Zetsu said before it suddenly started to merge with the Wooden hand which held it firmly.

Merging with Mokuton? This was absurd! This was the first time Araki had seen something like this happening.

He had a great belief in his Mokuton. He thought that with it, he could suppress Black Zetsu for some time. But he never expected that this Black Zetsu would merge with the tree holding him.

After having merged with the wood, Black Zetsu let out a strange laugh, "You don't even understand the true nature of your Wood Release. Not even Senju Hashirama understood that. Why do you think that the Wood Release can suppress the Bijuu and almost all type of chakra while no other chakra can?"

This question really did shook Araki. Although he knew that Black Zetsu was making fun of his ignorance, he didn't take those to heart. What mattered was that there was a chance that he was telling the truth at this moment.

True nature of his wood?

Indeed, why could his Wood Element suppress any chakra? Was it because it had formed from the strange balance between two elements? This wasn't right… He had heard that Ohnoki and the Second Tsuchikage had created Jinton: Dust Release with the combination of three elements. However, there had never been any reports or even rumours of Jinton suppressing a Bijuu's chakra.

Why could the Wood Release suppress the chaotic Bijuu's chakra?

It was at this moment that the Black Zetsu realised that Araki had fallen into deep thought. He internally cursed himself for blabbing right now. Maybe he should have just remained quiet.

The Black Zetsu now decided to leave. Araki didn't spare him a glance, not like he could prevent him from leaving. It was better to plan his next move.

With that, the Wood Clone dispersed as well.

When Araki inside the Mansion received the set of memories of this Wood Clone, he furrowed his brows. It seems that there were more mysteries related to his Wood Release than he imagined.

However, he decided to think of it on some other day.

Right now, he had another thing he must do.

He sent his consciousness inside Kushina's seal. There, he saw the large fox, seemingly sleeping at the moment.

Surrounding the large fox was a massive forest which Araki had created in these 4 years.

Araki noticed that upon his arrival, Kurama's ears perked up a little. However, seeing that Kurama had still not woken up to greet him, Araki understood that Kurama was just faking his sleep.

"Looks like you are sleep, Kurama. And here I was thinking of letting you have your chance at revenge. At a guy named Uchiha Madara…" The grin on his face widened when Kurama immediately raised his eyes with an excited yet an angry look in his red eyes.

"Mind repeating your words?" Kurama said, not at all sure whether he should believe Araki's words or not. This was far too much…

Araki merely smiled in response at Kurama's question.