Chapter 248: A Clever Way to Identify Black Zetsu
"Everyone, line up and move forward one by one! Keep a two-meter distance! Have your chakra paper ready!"
On the training ground, Cloud ninja organized the testing in an orderly manner.
"Why do we have to do a chakra paper test? Are they treating us like kids?"
"Better than attacking us, right? It's just inputting a bit of chakra. Whatever."
"So nostalgic. I haven't seen this thing in years."
The restless murmurs in the line gradually died down. Most people obediently queued up, testing their chakra natures one by one.
"Name, age, origin?"
"Hasegai, 38, local from the Land of Lightning."
Actually, long before they arrived at the training ground, the Cloud had already registered everyone's basic information. Asking again before the test was just for verification to prevent impersonation.
"You may begin. Input non-attribute chakra."
The local named Hasegai held the chakra paper and slowly channeled his chakra. The paper became damp.
Someone behind him jeered, "Old man! Still single-attribute at your age?"
Hasegai flushed with embarrassment and anger. "Shut up!"
The registrar looked at the sensory ninja flanking the station. After receiving confirmation that there was no foul play, he said to Hasegai:
"Single Water attribute. Done. Follow the guide over there."
Those who finished were separated into a designated area. Simple and clear.
As time passed, more and more people completed the test.
"Fire and Wind dual attributes."
"Single Earth attribute."
"Lightning and Water dual attributes."
For most mercenary ninja, their natural talent usually included only one or two chakra natures. Lacking training experience and theoretical knowledge, they basically had no ability to develop more nature transformations.
After all the mercenaries were tested, only one possessed three chakra natures. The rest were single or dual.
Based on Dana's theoretical knowledge, the result of the chakra paper couldn't be faked. As long as the user honestly input their own non-attribute chakra, the paper would honestly reveal the result.
The sensory ninja flanking the registration point were there to ensure the subjects didn't tamper with the process.
It's hard to directly probe what's going on inside someone's body from the outside, but once you expel chakra, a sensory ninja can always judge if you're outputting raw, non-attribute chakra.
It's like saying it's hard to know what's in your stomach, but once you vomit it out, a glance tells all.
And according to Dana's knowledge, Black Zetsu possessed seven chakra natures.
Namely: Water, Fire, Lightning, Wind, Earth, Yin, and Yang.
This was why Black Zetsu's priority level was so high.
He had one more nature than Madara Uchiha did before acquiring Hashirama Cells.
Why could he use Wood Release? Why could he possess and forcefully control Six Paths Obito? Why could he backstab Six Paths Madara to death with one strike?
Black Zetsu was an extremely special existence, even more so than Hagoromo and Hamura.
The brothers Hagoromo and Hamura were hybrids born from the cosmic Otsutsuki Clan and the natives of the ninja world. Black Zetsu, however, was a fail-safe created by Kaguya Otsutsuki in an emergency just before she was sealed, after she had consumed the Chakra Fruit. At birth, he was just a pool of black liquid created by the ultimate Yin-Yang Release, directly imbued with a soul and a "body."
When he was "born," he wasn't even a normal life form; just a blob of black goo.
Since Kaguya, who was sealed by the Sage of Six Paths and his brother, created Black Zetsu as her hope for escape, she naturally endowed him with abilities capable of threatening Six Paths-level powerhouses.
In Dana's understanding, Black Zetsu was an "Admin Privilege Dog"—his combat power might not be high, but his system permissions were ridiculously high.
Dana even suspected that without Six Paths-level authority, Black Zetsu couldn't be killed. after all, in the end, Black Zetsu was merely sealed away alongside Kaguya.
But being unkillable didn't mean he couldn't be dealt with. The net cast yesterday and tightened today had a specific target.
Excluding Yin and Yang attributes (which paper usually doesn't show), the chakra paper could detect five basic natures.
In a basket of rotten fish and shrimp composed of mercenaries and samurai, could a big shot with all five basic natures appear?
Even if there really was one, so what? They'd be dealt with all the same.
Soon, the samurai began testing.
The results for the samurai were even more pathetic. They were almost uniformly single-attribute, with extremely low development levels—basically whatever they were born with.
If they had good talent, they wouldn't have chosen to be samurai in a place called the Ninja World. Some had never even tested their chakra natures before, because most samurai training only required having chakra, not using its nature.
From this point on, Dana pushed his "Pulse" Vision to the absolute limit. Not just covering the entire capital, but focusing intensely on this training ground, not missing a single movement.
"Single Earth attribute."
"Single Water attribute."
"Water and Earth dual attributes."
A samurai exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? I'm actually dual-attribute? If I had known earlier, I would have tried to become a ninja, even in a small village..."
A figure walked up to the testing table.
"Name, age, origin?"
This person was relatively chubby among the samurai, wearing a helmet slightly askew, as if he had been grabbed suddenly while on duty. He spoke in a raspy voice: "Kurihara Sae, 28, local."
The registrar said, "Take out the chakra paper given to you earlier and input chakra."
The man took out a strip of paper. Under the registrar's eyes, the paper split in two.
Wind nature.
The man turned to leave, but the registrar stopped him.
"Come back. Do it again."
"Didn't I just do it?"
"Come back. Do it again." The registrar simply repeated the instruction.
Surrounding Cloud ninja began to subtly close in, and many Special Strategy Division members turned their gazes this way.
On the wooden platform, Dana received the signal via Communication Snail. He turned to look behind him, and a shorter ninja nodded.
Dana secretly issued an order through the snail.
"Don't get too close. Just surround him."
The man hesitated for a moment, but eventually turned back to the table. The registrar handed him another strip of chakra paper.
"Input non-attribute chakra."
The man said with a dark face, "So troublesome."
The paper in his hand split again. He placed the remaining pieces on the table and said, "Is that good enough now?"
BOOM!
The next instant, the sound of the air exploding erupted in the training ground. An object moved at extreme speed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
A powerful arm punched through the man's chest from behind.
However, no blood flowed from the massive wound.
Dana raised his arm, lifting Black Zetsu (disguised as the samurai) to eye level.
The man struggled frantically with both hands, but he couldn't escape the fate of hanging on Dana's arm like a kebab.
"Looks like... BINGO."