After an hour, Ryuu had finished the book multiple times and still found nothing that could improve Madara's Hashirama cells.
"Madara, wake up. I need another book, I can't find anything useful on this one."
Madara didn't respond.
"Did you hear me? I need another boo-"
"Quiet." Ryuu dropped his head depressingly.
Madara opened one eye to see what happened, as he had gone silent suddenly.
Both of his eyes widened, stunned by the memory of his friend being depressed.
"Hashi- No, Ryuu, get up and stop being so depressed all of a sudden, it's not a good habit."
He grabbed his scythe and stood up, and walked back to his secret library.
Ryuu crawled and followed him.
"Madara, does black Zetsu have to follow me all the time? I don't trust him."
"I made black Zetsu from my will, saying you don't trust him could also be implied into saying you don't trust me."
Ryuu frowned.
'I wonder if this will be a good time to expose black Zetsu.
No, I haven't earned enough trust from Madara for him to believe me, I'll have to stall for a while.'
Sigh.
"You spoke of how you know my plans and the Rinnegan.
Tell me, how did you find out my plans?"
"Like I said the day we met, I did my research," Ryuu replied.
"I also know the flaw in your brilliant plan."
Madara raised an eyebrow, interested to hear what his flaw was.
Ryuu smirked.
"The thing is with you is that you don't trust me enough to believe me, however, when I feel that you trust me enough, I will tell you."
Madara scoffed and opened the entrance.
"My plan has been organized for decades before you were born and I've seen no flaws, to me you sound like a babbling child who seeks attention and so he says whatever he can to get it."
Ryuu gritted his teeth.
"These are the last books that I have that mention Hashirama cells, don't bother wasting your energy on trying to get more information, you'll be wasting your energy and you'll need that for the training I have planned for you."
Madara slowly walked back to his chair, with Black Zetsu following him closely.
"Madara-sama, the boy clings onto his perspective of a peaceful life. Perhaps we need to show him his flaw instead of waiting for him to claim your plan has a flaw." Black Zetsu suggested.
"Update me on Kumogakure and Konoha." He nodded.
"One of the White Zetsu clones is on their way back from Konoha.
They've done their work."
From the ground, a creature with a white head with light green hair and yellow eyes popped up.
"I did it and I made sure to be seen doing it, I'm sure Konoha's chief of the police force, Fugaku of the wicked eye, had seen me as I attacked those villagers pretending to be from Kumo.
He should be on his way back to the village."
Madara smirked.
"Then let the games begin, now all we need to do is finish the next part of the plan and that will break the boys will."
He said before closing his eyes and sleeping again.
Obito slowly woke up.
"Ryuu? Where are you?" He looked around and saw Ryuu was missing from his bed and the floor had a blood trail.
He struggled to get up and fell off his bed.
"You know, you should be careful or else you could damage yourself." A high-pitched voice spoke from beneath him.
Three white Zetsu's came from underneath.
"Who the hell are you guys? And where's Ryuu?"
"Oh relax, your friend is getting a different type of task from Madara-sama himself, you, on the other hand, need to focus on getting better."
The other one said.
He sounded like multiple voices speaking at once while gurgling water.
(It was the best description I could give lol)
"I want to see Ryuu." Obito tried to get up but failed again.
"Argh!" He grunted in pain.
"Give your friend some time and he'll come back to us, he's still here."
The White Zetsu helped him up.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, Ichika was searching for a way to get stronger, so she went to Ryuu's old friend, Orochimaru.
She knocked on his lab's door but no one responded, his door creaked as it opened by itself.
"Helloo…
Is anyone there?" She asked as she walked in.
'This place is cold and creepy.'
She said to herself.
"You must be Ichika, Tsunade's niece, and Ryuu's friend."
She felt as if her heart skipped a beat as she followed the voice into the cold and metal lab, Orochimaru was behind a blue curtain experimenting.
"It's a shame what happened to him, he was quite an interesting boy, unlike many, I could never figure out what was going on in his mind…"
Ichika raised an eyebrow, she was curious to hear what Orochimaru had to say.
"However, by the look in your eyes, I can already tell what you came here for."
He switched off the light and once he opened the curtain and switched on the light; the room was empty.
"Are you trying to intimidate me? I should let you know I'm not as weak as I look."
"Of course not… I learned a long time ago not to try and intimidate a Senju."
He spoke from behind her.
'Once I saw him, I couldn't believe my eyes, his body and face were so pale, and his eyes…' Ichika quickly composed herself with a quick breath.
"I want to become stronger and I want you to help me do it."
"Hmph." A small smirk appeared on Orochimaru's face.
"What makes you think I will grant you this offer and why not speak to Tsunade or any other great shinobi? I'm sure you could find someone." Ichika shook her head.
"First of all, my aunt isn't in the village anymore and I don't want anyone else to teach me."
Orochimaru nodded.
"Prove your worth, tell me why should I teach you?"
Ichika remembered something Ryuu told her as she escorted him to his lab.
-----------------
2 years ago…
-----------------
Ichika was escorting Ryuu to Orochimaru's lab, he had come from a mission and needed some equipment which he left in Orochimaru's lab.
"When dealing with Orochimaru, you have to be careful what you say and what you do, he's very observant and knows how to read and manipulate people if he wants to.
For example, if you want something from him you must remember, that Orochimaru likes valuable things, not just any valuable things like jewelry or all that crap but instead, he likes stuff that will push his experiments further, like a blood sample from someone with a rare kekkei Genkai or maybe a discovery of species that contain a rare form of chakra or whatever."
They stopped walking.
"He sounds like a creep," Ichika said.
Ryuu smiled.
"He's not, he's just misunderstood that's all, oh and remember, whatever you want to show him if you want to you can also create some sort of challenge for him, he likes those." She nodded.
"Come on, I'm sure he'll be pleased to meet you, he is your aunt's teammate after all." Ryuu started walking again.
"Hmm?"
Ryuu looked back and noticed Ichika's hesitancy.
"Look, if you don't want to come in, you can wait outside, I'll be back in a minute. I'm just grabbing some equipment I left inside.
Perhaps it's for the best, after all, he doesn't like it when I bring people into his lab, he may be doing some secret experiments, you know."
Ryuu smiled and left.
-----------
'That smile…' Ichika sighed.
"So? What do you offer?" Orochimaru asked, snapping her back to reality.
"This." Ichika came prepared.
She brought a scroll and unsealed a sample of blood.
"Who's is this?" Orochimaru asked as he inspected the blood sample.
"These are Lord First's cells."
"Lord Firsts cells? And what could you be doing with blood cells from your great grandfather?"
"The Senju have been secretly keeping these to experiment and test if anyone else had similar vitality and if they did, they'd be tested for wood release."
He nodded.
Orochimaru took the blood samples and kept them stored.
"Fine, come back tomorrow."
"No."
Orochimaru tilted his head in confusion.
"No?" Ichika nodded.
"I want to become stronger starting today, I won't take no for an answer."
Sigh Orochimaru sighed.
'You Senju never do.'
He said to himself as he remembered how Tsunade used to be when she was young.
"Fine."
She smiled excitedly.
Meanwhile, Ryuu had finished reading all the books Madara gave him, so he joined Obito. He was being held up as he learned to walk and move in his new body.
They used the wall for support.
Ryuu was learning how to walk again.
"Madara won't allow me to access those other books and he keeps being so vague in his answers when I ask him."
Ryuu was being held up by a Zetsu clone with a swirl on his face.
He could barely make a step.
"At least try, you can do it!"
"Shut up, you're annoying."
He coldly replied.
"I'm just trying to help." White Zetsu replied.
"Go help Obito, I'll be fine on my own." Ryuu pushed him off.
He wobbled a little, but held himself on the wall and started again.
"Well, break a leg.
You're already started on the right foot."
Ryuu clenched his fist.
"Hey." Ryuu called White Zetsu.
White Zetsu turned around.
"Oh, I see you've finally come to your senses." Ryuu rolled his eyes.
"Where are my things?"
"Your things?" Ryuu nodded.
"The things I died with.
My weapons, clothes, and all the other stuff." The White Zetsu shrugged.
"How should I know?"
Sigh. "You're so useless, just leave."
'Luckily, I still have some other option.'
Ryuu's eyes spun around and formed his Mangekyou pattern, opening a portal and letting Ash and Smoke out.
Ryuu folded his fist and made a walking stick.
Blood came from his eyes, and he started panting.
'That's right, I can't heal myself using Phoenix Flame anymore, I'll be going blind now when I use my eyes.' Sigh.
Ryuu continued trying to use his walking stick to walk.
"You're never going to heal by yourself."
Obito said.
"But I'll only get worse when I'm with these guys." Obito frowned.
"I'll be fine, trust me."
Ryuu continued trying to walk.