Black Zetsu's Turn of Fortune

Three bucket-sized holes appeared on the front of the Salamander's body.

A massive, vat-sized crater appeared on the giant Salamander's back.

This was the result of the coin exploding and tumbling the instant it made impact.

The splashing toxic blood of the Salamander corroded seven or eight of the Land of Rain ninjas.

It wasn't until Doshin ordered the giant Salamander again that he realized the beast beneath his feet was no longer responding.

The summoning beast vomited blood, its eyes unfocused and its limbs twitching; it looked like it was on the verge of death.

"What kind of ninjutsu has such immense power?"

As a veteran elite Jonin of the Land of Rain, Salamander Doshin was well-traveled and knowledgeable. But he had truly never seen a Lightning Style technique that crackled with such sparks and lightning!

The Railgun didn't look like much, but when it struck a large summoning beast, it left a small hole in the front and a crater of flying flesh and blood in the back.

"Everyone, retreat!" Having lost his summoning beast, Salamander Doshin painfully abandoned the dying creature.

The agonizing Salamander let out a sound like the wailing of a child.

As the Rain ninjas retreated, they used the giant Salamander as the center to set up a "Ninja Beast Self-Destruct Trap" that dispersed poison.

This insidious and cunning tactic almost made the Uchiha ninjas pay a price.

Fortunately, Uchiha Yashiro was a cautious man.

He stopped the others and used long-range Fire Style to burn the corpse of the giant Salamander first.

If not for Yashiro's vigilance, this area of nearly one kilometer would likely have been covered in toxins, with every inch of soil soaked through by the creature.

With the delay caused by the Salamander's poison, the remaining Land of Rain ninjas were able to withdraw from the town more smoothly.

However, their every move had long since been seen clearly by Misaka Sister 0007, who was following them underground.

007 was a very distinctive Misaka Sister.

She almost never smiled in her daily life and often maintained a cool, aloof demeanor.

Fucheng had given her the nickname "Agent Sister" because of her designation, 007.

This time, 007 had not participated in the weakened Railgun attack earlier.

She had conserved her chakra and spent the whole time lurking underground, intending to track this group of Rain ninjas.

Once she found their hideout, she would call Mikoto to give them a "big one."

As the Misaka Sister tracked the Rain ninjas, 0007 was herself being tailed by a peculiar enemy.

[Black and White]

The fashionable appearance of the two-toned pitcher plant made the little black figure, fused with a White Zetsu, very easy to identify.

Ever since the war in Konoha began, Kaguya's youngest son, who had been lurking in the village, suddenly realized that his reconnaissance there had lost its purpose.

Danzo, the Uchiha, and the Konoha ninjas had all fled to the Land of Rain.

Annoyed by the loss of his White Zetsu, Black Zetsu had spent three frantic days searching Konoha.

Finding no clues, he had sullenly made his way to the Land of Rain.

Here, Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara had long since established reconnaissance points.

The Rinnegan had been transplanted by Madara into the body of a child named Nagato.

In Black Zetsu's mind, Uchiha Madara's current importance might not even outweigh that of these eyes.

To monitor the Land of Rain and protect Nagato, who held the Rinnegan, there were over twenty White Zetsu individuals stationed here.

And Black Zetsu, that devoted son of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, had finally escaped his miserable state of being a lone wolf in the Land of Rain.

"It really is uncomfortable not having a few White Zetsu as subordinates."

That feeling that "there are always treacherous people trying to harm Zetsu" lingered in his mind like a maggot in the bone.

Just then, Black Zetsu spotted Misaka Sister 007 behind Salamander Doshin.

"Something's not right. What the hell is this thing?"

Black Zetsu peered left and right, repeatedly sensing the Misaka Sister.

No matter how he probed, he felt that this was just a special, transformed White Zetsu.

But why did this special White Zetsu lack the scent of the Spore Technique, and why did it lack that weird, "human yet not human" feeling typical of White Zetsu?

A flash of inspiration struck Black Zetsu's mind.

It was as if someone had patted his head. "Damn it! Could this be the White Zetsu I lost?"

He pointed at the "suspected White Zetsu" in the distance and issued an order toward the southern part of the town.

"Go notify the ten White Zetsu nearby. The other three, follow me closely—there is a strange creature lurking underground."

With this command, the four White Zetsu beside Black Zetsu began to bustle about in an orderly fashion, as if they had been programmed.

A White Zetsu hurried toward the south.

Three White Zetsu flanked the area, tracking Misaka Sister 007.

Black Zetsu's commotion caused Mikoto, who had not previously detected him, to sense something abnormal.

Agent Sister 007 simultaneously began feeding back to Mikoto:

"Abnormal underground vibrations near 007."

Following the vibration zone, Mikoto activated full-power electromagnetic wave reconnaissance.

There were four White Zetsu moving rapidly in different directions!

Conversely, the Black Zetsu and White Zetsu fusion, which remained stationary, temporarily escaped Mikoto's dynamic detection!

Surprised and delighted, Mikoto acted as if she had discovered a treasure, "Brother Fucheng, it seems more White Zetsu have appeared—four in total!"

Uchiha Fucheng's eyes lit up, "They came at the right time; they've delivered themselves to our doorstep."

Fucheng instructed Mikoto, "Continue scouting the surrounding area; Black Zetsu might still be lurking, or there could be other vassal forces of Uchiha Madara."

Mikoto and several Misaka Sisters, along with four Uchiha Jonin, went together to capture the White Zetsu that had fled south.

Meanwhile, Fucheng himself took Uchiha Wubo, Uchiha Kaen, and Uchiha Zanghu to track the remnants of the Amegakure forces.

The intense battles of these past few days had allowed over a dozen Uchiha Chunin to successfully awaken their Three-Tomoe.

Uchiha Kaen, Uchiha Wubo, and Uchiha Zanghu were the standouts among them.

Needless to say, Kaen had previously been a trusted guard by Fugaku's side.

Ever since Kaen was promoted to Jonin, he had been transferred by Fugaku to Fucheng's side.

He was tasked with serving as a member of the Uchiha Clan Head's personal guard.

In Uchiha Fucheng's view:

Uchiha Kaen, including his brothers, could be considered loyalists of the Clan Head's lineage, similar to "born-and-bred" retainers.

As for Uchiha Zanghu, he was even more interesting.

This square-faced, small-eyed Uchiha ninja was a rare example of a burly ninja within the Uchiha clan.

His appearance, physique, and temperament were vastly different from the typical handsome and beautiful style of the Uchiha.

Not only was he highly skilled in taijutsu, but he also possessed "innate divine strength"!

He wielded a massive, pure-metal nunchaku with such force that it whistled through the air.

He could also summon a "Water Monkey" summoning beast capable of spitting acid.

This made Uchiha Fucheng somewhat suspicious of whether this young man, Zanghu, had Sarutobi family genes among his older relatives.

This new-generation Uchiha ninja named "Zanghu" was the pioneer of the current trend in the Uchiha clan of naming children after animals.

Following the popularity of his name, Zanghu, many Uchiha parents began giving their children animal names.

People like Uchiha Zhanying, Uchiha Kun, Uchiha Li, and Uchiha Itachi.

These individuals might all have been following this "Zanghu-style" animal naming convention...