Jiraiya Is Here

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, the wall was shattered by a fireball.

"Uchiha Sōgetsu, what are you doing?!" Uchiha Fugaku was so frightened that his heart nearly stopped beating. His whole body went numb.

He did not dare imagine what would happen if that stone tablet were damaged. The stubborn elders in the clan would skin him alive before they could vent their anger!

For an instant, he even seemed to see the position of Clan Head drifting farther and farther away.

"Lord Fugaku, there's someone inside the wall!" Sōgetsu cut Fugaku off before he could explode. "This person trespassed into Uchiha territory. He might have been sent by Danzo!"

What?

At the mention of "Danzo," Fugaku reacted as though some trauma had been triggered, his sharp gaze piercing straight through the smoke and dust.

Sure enough, within the smoke-filled wall, he saw a mass of "Chakra."

Meanwhile, Black Zetsu was still utterly bewildered.

How had he been discovered?

As long as he did not want to be found, even sages from the Three Great Sacred Lands might not be able to detect his ability to conceal his presence.

How exactly had this Uchiha brat discovered him?

Unfortunately, before Black Zetsu could reach a conclusion, Fugaku charged forward like a cheetah. His intention was crystal clear: Black Zetsu had to be kept here. He could not be allowed to leave alive. Otherwise, if Danzo and the Third Hokage learned of this, the Uchiha Clan would be finished!

At that moment, Fugaku no longer cared whether the stone tablet would be damaged.

If this "Danzo" spy escaped, the Uchiha would be in danger!

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"

When the Clan Head made a move, it truly was extraordinary.

The same ninjutsu wielded by Fugaku became several times more powerful. A simple B-rank technique was forced into displaying the ferocity of an A-rank technique!

Boom!

The instant the enormous fire dragon appeared, the temperature throughout the chamber surged.

The roaring flame dragon carried horrifying waves of heat as it crashed into the chamber wall with unstoppable force. In an instant, the terrifying explosion kicked up a shockwave visible to the naked eye.

Sōgetsu was shoved back several steps by the blast, the fine hairs on his skin curling under the heat.

Retreat!

Without even a bit of hesitation, Black Zetsu turned into a mass of viscous liquid and slipped into the cracks in the wall.

It was not that he feared Fugaku and Sōgetsu. Though he was not skilled in battle, he had plenty of ways to save his life. What Black Zetsu feared was exposing himself too early and affecting his plans.

But Sōgetsu had no intention of letting him go. He immediately locked onto Black Zetsu's position and hurled a shuriken, while reminding the Clan Head beside him, "Lord Fugaku, he's over there!"

"Ahhh, damn Uchiha brat!" Having been intercepted again, Black Zetsu cursed in fury.

"Don't even think about leaving!" Fury filled Fugaku's face as he stomped down hard.

Bang!

The instant Chakra erupted, the surrounding floor cracked like a spiderweb.

The next moment, Fugaku disappeared on the spot, his body leaving behind a trail of afterimages accompanied by a sound like a sonic boom.

Boom!

Black Zetsu, hiding within the wall, was smashed out by Fugaku's fist.

Aside from his ninjutsu, this Uchiha Clan Head was also exceptionally strong in taijutsu. Before Black Zetsu could react, Fugaku twisted his body in midair, his sharp right leg sweeping out like a whirlwind with bursts of air-splitting noise.

"Konoha: Strong Fist Whirlwind!"

The powerful whip kick slammed directly into Black Zetsu's face.

"Urgh!"

Black Zetsu was instantly sent flying like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the opposite wall of the chamber.

Run!

Black Zetsu immediately turned into a puddle of sludge and repeated his old trick, escaping through a crack in the wall.

"Lord Fugaku, he escaped the chamber!" Sōgetsu sneered inwardly as he continued to remind Fugaku.

Sensing Fugaku gradually closing in from behind, Black Zetsu fled in a sorry state while crazily cursing Sōgetsu in his heart.

If not for that damn brat, how could he have ended up in this situation?

As long as I can get out of the chamber... as long as I get out of the chamber!

Black Zetsu ran for his life, while Fugaku pursued him as though he had gone mad. Chakra seemed free as he hurled one ninjutsu after another.

His approach was simple: if accuracy was not enough, make up for it with firepower!

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

"Fire Style: Violent Storm Dance!"

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"

"Ahhh—"

Black Zetsu screamed as he ran. No matter how skilled he was at dodging, he could not withstand such wide-area Fire Style coverage. His entire body had been ignited.

He had lived for thousands of years. Other than those two unfilial sons, he had never hated anyone this much!

"Uchiha Sōgetsu!!!" Black Zetsu's eyes flashed with frenzied rage and hatred, his teeth nearly shattering from how hard he clenched them. "If I make it back alive, I'll make Madara kill you!"

At last, through Black Zetsu's relentless efforts, he successfully escaped to the surface.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"

Fugaku's voice, filled with extreme fury, came from behind him. The violent Chakra was terrifying.

Fugaku's chest swelled to its limit. As the Chakra gathered in his throat shifted with his hand seals, scorching flames erupted from his mouth, instantly raising a monstrous wave across the open ground.

Boom!!!

Even from dozens of meters away, the immense wave of fire could be felt scorching the air.

Especially in the darkness of night, nearly half the Uchiha Clan saw the raging flames rising from the direction of the shrine, illuminating the night as if it were day.

"Uchiha Fugaku! Uchiha Sōgetsu!" Engulfed by the flames, Black Zetsu revealed a terrifyingly venomous expression. "I'll remember this. We'll settle the score later!"

The blazing inferno ignited everything for dozens of meters ahead, and the ground gradually crystallized under the baking high temperature.

Yet within the burning flames, Black Zetsu's body seemed to melt, sinking little by little into the ground until he finally disappeared.

Fugaku's face darkened to the extreme as he stared fixedly at that area. "He still got away. I've never seen such a strange ninjutsu, and his Chakra was equally strange. He couldn't have been one of Danzo's men. Just who sent him to monitor us?"

"Lord Fugaku, why couldn't he have been one of Danzo's men?" Sōgetsu raised an eyebrow, glanced at Fugaku, and asked.

Fugaku shot him a look and said flatly, "If you were the Third Hokage, would you trust Danzo with someone like that?"

Oh, that made sense. Sōgetsu suddenly understood.

Though Danzo and the Third Hokage appeared to have a close relationship, who knew how they schemed against each other behind the scenes?

"Keep what happened today secret for now. Don't let anyone else know."

Fugaku frowned in thought for a moment. Looking at the distant figures gathering nearby, he turned back and instructed, "If anyone asks, say that I was testing you."

"I understand, Lord Fugaku." Sōgetsu nodded. "Don't worry. I'll keep it secret."

Elsewhere, Black Zetsu, having finally escaped, rested in a tree outside Konoha.

"Damn Uchiha Sōgetsu! He actually made me suffer such a huge loss!"

Black Zetsu gritted his teeth as he cursed. "That bastard could actually detect me. I absolutely cannot let him live. I have to make Madara kill him as soon as possible!"

"Who do you want to kill?"

Suddenly, a voice sounded beside his ear.

Impossible. There's someone here? Black Zetsu froze for a moment, then followed the voice and looked over.

Under the moonlight, a tall, burly figure crouched directly above his head.

Wild white hair cascaded down like a lion's mane. A scroll half a person's height hung at his waist, and the forehead protector on his brow bore the character for "oil."

"Coming back to the village and running into someone I don't recognize right away..."

The man rubbed his chin and stared at Black Zetsu with interest, grinning broadly. "Since we happened to meet, come with me."

Damn it. It was Jiraiya!

Black Zetsu could not help cursing Sōgetsu several hundred more times in his heart.

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