Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Yugito Nii took the sealing scroll from her waist, unrolled it, and spread it on the ground.

The scroll was long, stretching from her feet all the way to Uchiha Taiga's. The paper was densely covered with runes and curse marks.

She took two steps back, yielding the space to Uchiha Taiga, while keeping her hand pressed against the edge of the scroll to prevent the wind from blowing it away.

Uchiha Taiga crouched down, his hands forming hand signs so rapidly they became a blur. A cluster of pale blue chakra gathered in his palm, transforming into a thread as thin as a hair that extended from his fingertips and pierced into White Zetsu's body.

The half-smiling expression on White Zetsu's half-face finally changed. His mouth twitched, his eyes widened, and a muffled, indistinct sound escaped his throat.

Immediately after, White Zetsu's body began to contort. Starting from his limbs, he deformed bit by bit, as if being kneaded by an invisible hand.

The chakra thread pulled out of White Zetsu's body and sank into the sealing scroll. The runes on the scroll lit up, emitting a faint blue glow.

A piercing, ear-splitting scream tore from White Zetsu's half-mouth, as if he were enduring immense agony.

His body twisted even more violently, from his limbs to his torso, and then to his head, crumpling like a wadded piece of paper.

Yugito Nii stood to the side, her hand resting on her ninja blade, watching White Zetsu vigilantly.

Tsunade and Shizune had retreated several meters away. Shizune covered her ears, while Tsunade furrowed her brows, her gaze darting back and forth between White Zetsu and the sealing scroll.

Pulled by the chakra thread, White Zetsu's body was sucked into the scroll bit by bit.

First his legs, then his torso, followed by his arms and shoulders, and finally his head.

His mouth was still wide open, his screams still echoing, but the sound grew fainter and more distant, as if echoing from the depths of a profound abyss.

When the last strand of his hair was drawn into the scroll, White Zetsu's body vanished completely. The runes on the sealing scroll flared brightly for a moment before dimming, returning to their original state.

Uchiha Taiga released his fingers. The chakra thread snapped and dissipated into the air.

He leaned back and plopped down onto the ground, raising a hand to wipe imaginary sweat from his forehead.

"That was close. Separating these two and sealing them individually is no easy feat. They were fused together far too ingeniously; it really takes some skill to pull this off."

Yugito Nii looked down at the sealing scroll. The runes had settled, but a faint luster could still be seen flowing across the paper.

She then looked up at Black Zetsu, who remained in the clearing.

"What are we going to do with him?" she asked.

By now, Black Zetsu had reverted to his original form.

Stripped of White Zetsu's half, he looked like a pitch-black dwarf, standing less than a meter tall. He had slender limbs, a scrawny torso, and lacked facial features.

More accurately, he lacked normal facial features; his eyes and mouth were merely pale, hollow voids set into an otherwise smooth, featureless face.

His body appeared even darker under the moonlight, resembling a polished piece of obsidian. His hands and feet trembled slightly, as if he were struggling to adapt to a body no longer attached to White Zetsu.

Uchiha Taiga stood up, dusted the dirt off his pants, and walked over to Black Zetsu. He crouched down, tilting his head as he studied the creature.

"Alright, time to deal with you."

Black Zetsu's body trembled even more violently. He spoke urgently, his voice hoarse and shrill.

"I... Everything I said earlier was true! I know many of the ninja world's deepest secrets, and I can do a lot for you. Don't seal me! I can be your tool, your eyes and ears, your—"

"Yeah, I know," Uchiha Taiga interrupted, nodding with a casual tone.

"That's exactly why I'm choosing a different method to seal you."

Black Zetsu's voice cut off abruptly, his body stiffening.

Uchiha Taiga said no more. He formed hand signs once again and pressed his hands onto the sealing scroll.

With a poof, a puff of white smoke erupted from the scroll. As the smoke cleared, a glass jar appeared on the parchment.

The jar was only half the size of a palm, cylindrical and transparent. Its smooth surface gleamed faintly in the moonlight.

It looked like glass, but it felt warm to the touch and possessed a hard texture, resembling some kind of special crystal.

Yugito Nii stepped closer, looking down at the jar with a slight frown.

"Is this something you made back in the village?"

By the village, she meant Kumogakure.

She remembered that during that time, aside from fishing and training, Uchiha Taiga would occasionally lock himself in his room, tinkering with things she couldn't understand.

Sometimes explosions would echo from his room, and other times strangely colored smoke would billow out. She had assumed he was developing new ninjutsu, only to learn later that the things he tinkered with were quite peculiar.

Just like the transparent jar before them.

Uchiha Taiga nodded, picking up the jar and weighing it in his hand.

The jar was incredibly light, almost weightless, but the luster on its surface rippled under the moonlight, as if something were flowing inside.

This object was actually a chakra crystal he had created using Yin-Yang Style while researching ninja tools.

Its function was highly singular: it could seal a single jutsu inside. It lacked universal applicability, and the crafting process was extremely tedious. To him, it was a useless trinket—of little value but too much effort to just throw away—so he had tossed it aside after making it and never used it again.

Now, it was the perfect vessel to seal Black Zetsu.

He placed the jar on the ground and formed hand signs once more.

This time, the hand signs were far more complex. His fingers flew at an even greater speed, and the chakra gathering in his palm was much denser.

Pale blue chakra extended from his fingertips, transforming into a thread even thinner and brighter than before, piercing straight into Black Zetsu's body.

Black Zetsu's body jolted violently. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across his face, and a black, smoke-like substance seeped from the fissures, flowing outward along the chakra thread.

Black Zetsu didn't scream, but his body trembled intensely. His limbs flailed in the air, as if he were struggling, or perhaps begging for mercy.

However, the sealing process would not halt for his pleas. His body began to contort. Starting from his feet, he shrank bit by bit, drawn into the chakra thread and flowing along it into the glass jar.

Yugito Nii watched the scene unfold, her fingers lightly tapping against her ninja blade.

Tsunade stood in the distance, her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze complex.

Shizune hid behind Tsunade, peeking out with one eye, watching timidly.

Black Zetsu's body grew smaller and smaller. He shrank from a dwarf to the size of a doll, then to the size of a small ball, and finally dissolved into a wisp of black smoke that slipped along the chakra thread and into the glass jar.

The black smoke swirled inside the jar before finally solidifying into a tiny black humanoid figure.

The figure huddled at the bottom of the jar, its limbs curled up like an infant stuffed into a container that was far too small.

Uchiha Taiga picked up the jar and screwed on the lid. The lid was made of the same material, its surface engraved with sealing runes.

He held the jar up to his eye level and gave it a shake. The tiny black figure inside bumped against the glass walls a few times before shrinking back down to the bottom.

"You just stay in there for now. We'll have a nice, long chat about a few things later."

With that, he tied the jar to his waist, securing a thin string around the groove of the jar's neck with a dead knot. He patted it to ensure it wouldn't fall off.

Having finished all this, he turned around and looked at Tsunade.

Tsunade stood a few steps away. The moonlight illuminated her face; she was still pale, but her eyes had regained their clarity.

Her hemophobia had eased significantly during the recent lull. At the very least, she could now look directly at the bloodstains on the ground without trembling.

"Princess Tsunade, it looks like you're going to report this matter to Konoha."

Tsunade nodded without hesitation.

"Of course."

Uchiha Taiga chuckled softly. There was no mockery or dissatisfaction in his laugh, only the calm acceptance of someone who saw right through the situation.

"Makes sense. After all, this concerns Uchiha Madara. A legendary ninja returning from the dead—that news is well worth the trip. I won't keep you."

He turned around and lifted his chin in Yugito Nii's direction.

"Let's go."

Yugito Nii reattached the sealing scroll to her waist, dusted off her clothes, and followed behind Uchiha Taiga.

The two walked one after the other toward the forest. Their silhouettes were stretched long by the moonlight as they navigated through the battle-ravaged trees and craters, eventually disappearing into the shadows of the woods.

Tsunade stood rooted to the spot, staring in the direction they had vanished, remaining silent for a long time.

Shizune walked up to Tsunade's side and asked softly, "Lady Tsunade, are we... going back to Konoha?"

Tsunade took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Let's go!"

She turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Shizune followed behind her. The two walked one after the other, crossing the devastated battlefield before disappearing into the night.