Two Is Too Many

Just as Katsuki was sighing deeply, in the field in front of the house, Nagato was fighting Yahiko and Konan alone. The three of them exchanged blows, their movements swift and agile, making for a truly spectacular fight!

"······"

Katsuki glanced at them for a couple of seconds before losing interest. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan were all quite skilled; however, all three were clearly Ninjutsu- type rather than Taijutsu- type. Their Taijutsu was solid, but that was about it—mediocre, without any obvious weaknesses, but also nothing particularly outstanding...

"Just like me now, I have nothing outstanding about me!"

She gave a bitter laugh, and if she had a mirror, she could see the self-mockery in her eyes and brows. Her bitterness lingered in her eyes and brows. Katsuki scratched her head, feeling somewhat dejected.

The hardest thing for a person is to understand themselves.

"Mediocrity, mediocrity, mediocrity. After all that practice, you end up being mediocre. It's really unexpected!"

The time spent recuperating is always particularly difficult. He can't train as hard as he used to. He can only sit and savor the memories and every battle he has experienced. However, the more he analyzes, the more painful the conclusion becomes. He is really too mediocre now. He seems to know a lot, but apart from his perception ability, he really has no highlights.

With his sensory abilities, Mind's Eye of the Kagura is a unique ability of the Uzumaki Clan. If he were to focus on being a sensory ninja, he could definitely make a name for himself in the sensory unit.

Unfortunately, while Katsuki didn't share Yahiko's ambition to conquer the world, living an ordinary life wasn't what he sought either.

"This dawdling isn't acceptable."

The mutterings faded into the cacophony of the rain. Katsuki's brows furrowed, her eyes narrowed to slits as she gazed at the greyish-black sky. Suddenly, a streak of silver lightning flashed through the clouds, and in an instant, it was as if the sky had been ripped apart!

Thunder rumbled, and the rain intensified!

The oil lamps burned quietly, their tiny flames no bigger than soybeans. A series of oil lamps were nailed to the wall, illuminating the long stone corridor.

Soft footsteps echoed in the corridor, the steady airflow suddenly became disordered, the lights flickered, and a large patch of dark shadows danced along with them, casting a hideous image on the corridor ceiling like a demon.

White Zetsu walked over, all alone, and pushed open the door to the room at the end of the corridor.

"Lord Madara?"

The room was huge and empty, with lights flickering on the east and west walls, barely illuminating the excessively large space. On the north side was a large, square stone chair, where an elderly man with white hair sat, leaning back as if asleep.

The soft call was amplified many times over in the room; the space was so vast that the echoes lingered.

"What's the matter?"

The old man, with his white hair and beard, slowly opened his eyes, revealing two points of scarlet light that were captivating.

"Something has happened on Nagato's side again. A boy from the Uzumaki Clan has been hanging out with Nagato and the others. I'm worried something might go wrong, so I came to report this," White Zetsu said softly.

······

After a while without hearing any sound, White Zetsu glanced up and saw the old man on the stone chair with his burning red eyes like two balls of flame, which frightened him so much that he lowered his head again.

"Uzumaki again? If I remember correctly, didn't the Mist Ninja destroy Uzushio Village several years ago? Where did these whirlpools come from? Are they cockroaches that can't be eradicated?"

"I don't know, this boy from the Uzumaki Clan was fished out of the river," White Zetsu replied in a low voice.

"Drowned out of the river?"

The old man's voice suddenly rose several octaves, and a look of doubt appeared on his aged face.

If he hadn't created these things himself and known they wouldn't deceive him, given his temper, he would have burned this nonsense to ashes long ago. However, pulling an Uzumaki Clan boy out of the river is just too absurd.

"It was indeed pulled out of the river, and it was initially covered in a layer of charcoal. We have collected fragments of the charcoal; it should be human flesh, charred by lightning!"

"Struck by lightning?"

The old man was stunned for a moment. Was this something that wasn't absurd enough? It was getting more and more outrageous.

Wait a minute... If it had been struck by lightning and pulled out of the river, and replaced by those cockroaches from the Uzumaki Clan, it might actually have survived. The old man's body was old, but his mind was not. A series of thoughts quickly turned in his mind, and he pieced together the general situation from the fragmented and disordered information.

"He survived being struck by lightning? That brat from the Uzumaki Clan is incredibly resilient!" the old man exclaimed. "Konoha and Sand Village have been fighting quite fiercely lately. This little guy must be a Konoha ninja. If he's not a member of the Uzumaki Clan who's been scattered elsewhere, then he's probably one of Konoha's lucky ones who were brought out from Uzushio Village!"

"However, Uzumaki... Uzumaki... such a troublesome name." The old man leaned back against the straight back of the stone chair, supporting his thin, bony body. He felt a headache coming on. Things hadn't been going well lately. His plan had already been finalized, but he was currently lacking a good puppet. Unfortunately, none of the Uchiha in this generation could satisfy him.

Fortunately, he still had a way to maintain his vitality. Even though Mito was dead, he was still stubbornly alive. Madara Uchiha was still alive in this world. As long as he was alive, he could wait for the right opportunity and create one.

Behind the stone chair was a huge, menacing shadow.

"Two whirlpools are too many, far too many. One is enough for me. Any more... will only cause trouble, cough cough!"

A soft sigh echoed in the room. Ban coughed twice, his wide robes fluttering like butterflies. His thin body was so thin that he was practically a clothes hanger. Although he was alive, he was extremely weak.

White Zetsu understood.

"Understood, we will handle it cleanly and ensure that Nagato does not notice anything."

A strange smile appeared on White Zetsu's face. Madara glanced at him coldly, his eyelids slowly closing, and his thin, bony chest rising and falling slightly, proving that the old man had not yet become a cold corpse.

I slowly backed away, until I reached the wall. I stretched out my hand and placed it against the wall, and instantly, like a fish in water, I silently merged into the thick rock strata.

Too much is trouble, so remove the excess, and the trouble will be gone.

What a simple and clear order! It's just killing someone! This is much more interesting than keeping an eye on a brat for so long. After being cooped up for so long, I can finally have some fun. The only downside is that there's only one target, and there are so many of them, so it looks like there will be a lot of fighting over it!

Despite his wandering thoughts, he didn't slow down at all. He followed the path he had taken back down the lower rock layers. It was safer to go underground. As long as he was careful not to run into the Stone Ninja's earth rats, he wouldn't be noticed.