Naruto: The Rise of Kurama

Chapter 95 95: Black Zetsu

Madara's hand stopped an inch from her forehead.

His head turned, Rinne-Sharingan fixing on a point behind him. Kushina felt it too- a presence emerging from the earth, dark chakra rising through the God Tree's roots.

"Ah," Madara said. "There you are."

Black Zetsu erupted from the ground, arm already extended toward Madara's back. The creature moved with desperate speed, its form stretching and distorting as it reached for the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.

Madara caught him by the throat without looking.

"Did you think I didn't know?" His voice held cold amusement. "Did you think I was your puppet, Zetsu? That I couldn't sense your intentions from the moment I achieved this form?"

Black Zetsu writhed in his grip, yellow eyes wide with fear.

"You don't understand," Zetsu rasped. "Mother needs-"

"Your mother is dead." Madara's fingers tightened. "Her fate was sealed since I absorbed the Ten-Tails. Everything you've done, every plan you've set in motion, and every shinobi you've manipulated- all of it was pointless."

"She's not dead! She's waiting, sealed in the moon, and when I-"

"When you hijacked my body and used my power to free her. Yes, I know." Madara smiled. "I've known since Orochimaru restored me."

Black Zetsu stopped struggling. His eyes narrowed.

"Then why did you let me live?"

"Because you were useful. Your manipulations brought the tailed beasts together. You did exactly what I needed you to do." Madara lifted the creature until they were face to face. "But your usefulness has ended, and your mother's power has not."

His hand plunged into Black Zetsu's chest.

The creature screamed- a sound that seemed to come from somewhere far deeper than his small body. Kushina felt the God Tree shudder around her, felt the red sky flicker as reality itself shifted.

Madara was absorbing him. Drawing the essence of Black Zetsu into himself, along with whatever connection the creature held to his sealed mother.

Kushina. Kurama's voice was urgent. The chakra he's taking- it's not just Zetsu's.

She could feel it too. A presence at the edge of her senses, vast and terrible, stirring in response to what Madara was doing. It reminded her of the Ten-Tails, but older and more alien.

Black Zetsu's form dissolved, flowing into Madara's body. His screams faded into silence.

Then Madara began to change.

His skin, already pale, turned white as bone. His hair lengthened, flowing past his shoulders. Two horns sprouted from his forehead- sharp spikes that jutted upward, replacing the curved protrusions from before. His chakra pressure, already overwhelming, doubled, then tripled, pressing against Kushina's consciousness and threatening to snuff it out entirely.

He absorbed Kaguya's connection, Kurama said. Whatever piece of her was anchored to Black Zetsu- he took it for himself.

Madara examined his transformed hands with detached curiosity.

"Interesting," he said. "The chakra integrates more smoothly than I expected." He turned to look at Kushina, and his attention alone nearly drove her back into unconsciousness. "I should thank you, Uzumaki. If you hadn't pushed me to act quickly, I might have let Zetsu make his move before I was ready to counter it."

Kushina tried to rise. Her body refused.

"Don't bother." Madara waved a hand, and roots erupted from the ground around her, pinning her in place without touching her. A cage of pale wood, holding her still for whatever came next. "You've served your purpose. The Nine-Tails' chakra will join the others soon enough, and then-"

Yellow light flashed.

Minato appeared behind Madara, kunai driving toward his spine. It was a desperate attack- Kushina could see the exhaustion in his movements. But he moved anyway, because that was who Minato was. He would fight until he couldn't anymore.

Madara didn't turn. A Truth-Seeking Ball intercepted the kunai, and another caught Minato across the chest before he could teleport away. The Hokage hit the ground hard and didn't get up.

"Persistent," Madara observed. "But persistence isn't enough. Not against what I've become."

He walked toward Minato's prone form, Truth-Seeking Balls orbiting his shoulders.

Kushina, Kurama said. I've been absorbing his chakra throughout this fight. Every time he uses the Ten-Tails' power, fragments bleed off into the air. I've been collecting them.

Is it enough?

No. But it's more than we had.

She watched Madara kneel beside Minato, watched his hand reach toward the Hokage's forehead. The same gesture he'd made toward her moments ago. The dream, waiting to swallow another victim.

There has to be something, she said. Some weakness, some opening-

There isn't. He's stronger than us, faster than us, and he knows everything we're capable of. Kurama paused. Unless we change what we're capable of.

What do you mean?

The seal, Kushina. Let it go.

She didn't understand at first. The seal was what bound them together, what allowed her to use his power while keeping him contained. Without it-

You'd be free, she realized. Completely free. You could manifest outside my body.

I could do more than that. The chakra I've absorbed- it's not enough to match him while I'm bound to you. But if I were free to reshape myself, to use that power without filtering it through a human body...

You'd transform.

Maybe. I don't know what I'd become. The tailed beast chakra I've taken might merge with my own in ways I can't predict. His mental voice was steady, but she could feel the uncertainty beneath it. It's a risk. For both of us.

Madara's hand was inches from Minato's forehead.

Do it, she said.

Kushina-

I trust you. Now do it.

She felt him reach for the seal- the complex array of fūinjutsu that had bound them together since she was eight years old. The lock that had kept him contained, kept him from overwhelming her, and kept their partnership balanced.

And she let it go.

The seal shattered.

Golden light exploded outward from Kushina's body, bright enough to make Madara turn, bright enough to burn through the red sky. She felt Kurama tear free from her with the release of a breath held for years.

He didn't emerge as the Nine-Tails.

The chakra he'd absorbed throughout the battle- fragments of the Ten-Tails, the power of his siblings'- merged with his own as he manifested. His form shifted and changed. Orange fur turned white, traced with crimson markings. Nine tails spread behind him, burning with a light that hadn't existed before.

When the transformation completed, the creature that stood between Kushina and Madara was no longer the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The Heavenly Demon Fox had been born.

Madara rose slowly, his enhanced eyes fixed on the being before him.

"Interesting," he said again, but this time there was a note of genuine surprise in his voice. "Very interesting."