So right now, the rabbit was holding the edge of a book with its two front paws.
It had clearly noticed the sudden intrusion of Black Zetsu.
The rabbit did only one thing.
With a smooth swipe of its red paw, a black spatial gap appeared, and its body instantly slid into the rift.
"Wait!"
Seeing that the rabbit was about to flee, Black Zetsu quickly spoke up.
"Mother!"
"々．Kagu——"
But before it could finish, the rabbit accelerated its escape at the sound of Black Zetsu's voice.
"Lady Kaguya!"
Black Zetsu quickly corrected itself. "It's me, Black Zetsu!"
"Your beloved child!"
"..."
"..." Rabbit.
"..." Black Zetsu.
The rabbit twitched slightly, seemingly continuing to move into the opened spatial rift.
"No, wait! This isn't my real form!"
Black Zetsu hurriedly released its disguise.
Bang!
Its form immediately reverted to a black, muddy creature—like a black version of a sliced-up cartoon octopus ball.
This was its true form. Earlier, it had disguised itself as Moonlight Hayate by using White Zetsu's transformation ability, even replicating the chakra signature.
Now that it had returned to its true form, the White Zetsu corpse lay next to it.
"%..."
Only then did the rabbit stop its retreat into the spatial rift.
Because… it recognized that form.
"Wuuu…"
"So it really is Lady Kaguya!"
"It really is Mother——!"
Black Zetsu cried out emotionally.
But just as it finally burst into tears after a thousand years, the rabbit raised a paw—as if gesturing for silence.
"Mother… you can't talk?"
Because it saw the rabbit hop onto the table and use both paws to pick up a pen and write something down.
[Power insufficient.]
[Maintaining this form is already my limit.]
The rabbit carefully wrote the words.
"Ohh…" Black Zetsu nodded.
That was understandable, given the circumstances.
But then, after confirming his mother wasn't going to flee, Black Zetsu saw her pull out some paper and start wiping down the areas it had touched.
???
"Ah… come on…"
Black Zetsu watched in disbelief as the rabbit began wiping off its footprints.
"..." Black Zetsu.
Am I that dirty?
Black Zetsu felt emotionally shattered—like it had just suffered 10,000 points of damage.
After the rabbit finished cleaning, it reopened the spatial gap.
Then it wrote on another sheet of paper:
[Come with me.]
"Okay!" Black Zetsu nodded immediately.
Seeing the rabbit slide into the space gap, Black Zetsu followed without hesitation.
Truthfully, this was a bit of a gamble.
Over the past thousand years, Black Zetsu had manipulated people like Uchiha Madara, Hashirama, and Indra effortlessly, always acting like everything was within its control.
But what if this spatial rift… was actually a trap?
Could it be locked away inside?
Would this be the end?
Yet—
The rabbit poked its head back out of the gap.
"..."
Still, "Oka-san——!" Black Zetsu didn't hesitate and jumped straight in.
As a child who hadn't seen its mother for a thousand years, Black Zetsu couldn't resist its mother's gaze.
"Ah, Mother——!"
When Black Zetsu arrived, it found itself in a new dimension.
The rabbit was gone, replaced by a half-human-sized figure of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
It was the familiar form—one Black Zetsu had known since its creation.
This was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
"This is my dimension—Heavenly Realm of Noble Presence. I can barely maintain this form," said Mini-Kaguya. "But this form is only an imitation."
Sure enough.
Before long, the figure reverted back into the rabbit.
"This…"
"Mother!"
Black Zetsu rushed to speak.
"Seems I can't maintain the form either," the rabbit said, looking at its paw that had returned to its animal state.
"Ah…" Black Zetsu asked cautiously. Now that it had confirmed this was indeed his mother, it was satisfied.
"Has your seal been undone?"
"No," the rabbit replied directly.
"..." Black Zetsu. "Then… this form of yours?"
"Why did you, once sealed, end up like this?"
"..."
"I'm not sure," the rabbit answered.
"I was in pitch-black confinement. Then, when I opened my eyes, I'd become a rabbit."
"I was lying at the entrance to Konoha… and someone picked me up."
The rabbit explained, glancing at its paws.
"Perhaps… this isn't my true self either."
"But a being like you."
A being like Black Zetsu? Then that would mean she was some sort of backup created through Yin-Yang Release?
"I can't confirm whether I'm real or not," the rabbit said.
"I see… then, Mother, please come with me!"
"I'll take you somewhere safe—far away from that Kitahara Kaede!" Black Zetsu said.
"No, Black Zetsu. Don't interfere," the rabbit said (with authority). "To be precise, absolutely don't touch Kitahara Kaede."
"Wha…"
Just hearing that name set Black Zetsu off.
"That guy treats you like a pet!"
"He… in the sm%a$$… group… %@… huh?!"
Black Zetsu suddenly realized—
Was the system censoring it?
"Actually… %3478XV then XX-sensei…"
"..." Black Zetsu.
It found itself completely unable to talk about anything involving the small group chat—it was censored into gibberish, even into what looked like a license plate number.
Fine. It gave up.
At this rate, the entire transmission would probably get blocked.
"Then…" it continued. "That Kitahara Kaede guy is not a good person. He treats you like a pet!"
"And…"
"He even tried to bathe you!"
"..." Rabbit.
"..." Rabbit.
"Well, I am in the form of a rabbit right now," the rabbit said calmly.
"To him, I am no different from a pet."
"You see…"
"Isn't that what pet guides say too?"
The rabbit held up the book that had fallen to the floor earlier.
[Want to bond with your pet? Start with these three steps!]
[1. Spend more time with your pet. Stroke it gently, don't mess with its fur.]
[2. Reward your pet with food or play to build trust.]
[3. Bathe your pet often to affirm the bond between pet and owner.]
"..." Black Zetsu. "This…"
"He just sees me as a pet," the rabbit said. "If you change your mindset, it'll make more sense."
"Ugh…" Well, fine.
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Chapter 100+ on patreon.com/dzeref887