Chương 17: Ten Feet.

'Why is there a White Zetsu here!?' Several ideas and conspiracy theories passed through Haruto's mind at that moment.

'Did the future Otsutsuki's team up with Black Zetsu of the past to kill me?'

'No! That can't be the case! I only ever want to live out a peaceful life in the future and never get involved with anything troublesome!'

'But why exactly did a White Zetsu show up here?' Haruto was deathly afraid. He clenched the kunai in his hands and held his breath inadvertently, counting down the seconds before White Zetsu would finally realise that he was under the bed and kill him.

'Is black zetsu here too?'

'No… he isn't merged with this White Zetsu… both his feet are white…'

"Tobi! We have to help him!" Hashirama pleaded softly as Tobirama looked on at Haruto's plight impassively.

"And how do you propose we do that? It's not like we can make the boy a sudden genius in combat…" Tobirama snorted. But Hashirama didn't relent.

"Surely you have a way…" Tobirama frowned.

"You do… right?" Hashirama pleaded once again, "The boy's a simple member of the village just doing his best… you're not going to let him down are you?" Tobirama's frown only further deepened until he finally sighed, "I do have a way… but I'm not sure if it'll work…"

"Great!!" Hashirama shouted as everyone collectively heaved a sigh of relief since they didn't want Haruto to die, unknowingly, Haruto had become a slightly important member in their hearts, either because he was simply their only way to interact with the world of the living or because he was simply silly and lovable.

"Hey! I didn't say I was a hundred percent certain it would work. And no matter what we do… it all depends on the boy's own intelligence."

Haruto under the bed was as still as a crouching tiger. His muscles tightened under his clothes and his grip around his kunai strengthened. He looked at the footsteps getting closer to the bed, carrying a faint earthy smell with them that was reminiscent of wet mud and felt a fear he hadn't felt in both his lives combined. All of a sudden, Haruto's eyes widened, something had just rushed into his mind, unasked, unknown but certain.

His mouth opened to gasp but his hands were quicker, slapping onto it to prevent any sound from escaping. Not even a slight gasp escaped his lips after that. Before he could do anything else however, the legs producing those silent, light footsteps had already reached by his bed side. Haruto didn't have time to think. As soon as White Zetsu raised his hands to attack 'the Haruto on the bed', Haruto performed a forceful kick from underneath the bed.

A sickening crunch resounded as Haruto kicked White Zetsu's legs, swiping them from underneath him and causing him to stumble forwards, slipping and falling face down to the floor with a rough thud. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. That was when Haruto did something strange. He brought his fingers together.

'It worked!' Haruto was overjoyed. But then he immediately calmed himself, 'No! Not yet! The only good enemy is a dead enemy!' White Zetsu was already recovering! It turned its head and with its yellow eyes spotted Haruto under the bed and appeared confused for a second before it realised something and looked up above.

"Oh! Zetsu was fooled!" White Zetsu exclaimed. Haruto's eyes immediately scanned the White Zetsu from head to toe and mentally sighed in relief.

'Thank the Dark God! This one isn't the main White Zetsu… it's only a clone!' White Zetsu on the other end was already getting up. He had a big toothy smile on his face as he pushed himself up, ready to attack Haruto.

"You won't escape now!" White Zetsu snarled. Laying down under the bed in an uncomfortable position, Haruto threw his kunai to attack the White Zetsu's head and prayed for the best. The Dark God had helped him once, and Haruto hoped he would be helped again this dark night. Unfortunately for him, the White Zetsu simply tilted its head slightly and harmlessly let the kunai pass by its head without any chance of being hit.

"Hahaha, nice throw, but you're going down!" Haruto trembled with fear. He looked at White Zetsu and pushed himself deeper under the bed, hoping to put some distance between them.

"Hahahaha you really think that'll save you?" White Zetsu laughed.

"I've got no beef with you… but it seems the big boss wants you dead… you've got no choice but to die." Zetsu finally said and bent forward, placing one hand on the bed and using the other to grab Haruto by his clothes and drag him out. Haruto struggled fiercely. He bit White Zetsu's hand until he tasted a weird bark-like flavour and scratched at his limbs like he was aiming to go to Valhalla.

Yet, Haruto's flailing and death throes did nothing to stop White Zetsu who finally pulled out the young Haruto who was trembling like a newborn fawn. Haruto who was on the verge of giving up was so afraid that he was unable to meet White Zetsu's gaze, causing White Zetsu to break out into laughter.

"Would you look at that… so… any last words?" Haruto who was frozen stiff at that moment looked right into White Zetsu's eyes and finally- -smiled.

"Huh? A smile? You sure are a brave one to face certain death with a smile."

"Call an ambulance." Haruto said calmly, causing White Zetsu to frown.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave your dead body in your room after I'm done with you. I'm not waiting for a cart to come by."

"But not for me!!!" Haruto completed with a shout! White Zetsu frowned, but before he could ask what Haruto meant by that, there was a soft puchi from the back of his head that caused his eyes to go wide. White Zetsu struggled to turn around in his final moments, doing so with all the energy left in its plant-based body before spotting something remarkably shocking behind it. Behind White Zetsu was another Haruto. An identical, almost exact replica of Haruto.

"Shadow… Clone…" White Zetsu mumbled with shock before collapsing on the floor and passing out, forever. There was a kunai, the one Haruto had thrown earlier, stuck in the back of his head with his green hair. Its body rotted rather quickly, growing a tree bark-like outer shell before it solidified. Haruto quickly pushed himself up from underneath the bed and away from White Zetsu's now dead body before looking at the clone that he had just created.

"Thank you…"

"No need to thank me… I'm you. Thank the dark god for giving you this wonderful opportunity. He was the one that blessed you with the supreme knowledge and experience of the Shadow Clone jutsu. Even Tobirama who invented the jutsu would be groveling in front of the Dark God because of the skill with which the Dark God uses the jutsu."

"Yes… I must set up a shrine for the Dark God and thank him properly." Haruto already had a fervent look in his eyes, as if he could already see the Dark God's shrine in his house.

"What are we going to do with the body?" Haruto's clone asked. Haruto frowned for a second.

"It'd be bad if I handed it to the village… Danzo would get it and then all hell could break loose."

"So what? Are you going to blow him up?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth…" Haruto said softly. He turned over his pocket where he'd placed all the ten explosive tags he'd gotten before sighing.

'Thank the Dark Lord I bought ten… at least there'll be no chance of any traces of the White Zetsu left.' Haruto plastered all the explosive tags all over White Zetsu using the natural adhesive on them before sparing one last glance at his room.

'It was good while it lasted… I will miss you my dear room.' With a flicker of his chakra that passed through his fingers and into the Explosive Tag, it ignited as Haruto quickly rushed away, measuring exactly ten feet, which in this case was just outside the room before he stopped.

'Gotta make it look believable.'

'Wait a second… won't ten tags be way more than ten feet-' BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!