"I'm Black Zetsu."
Black Zetsu spat out the words smugly, its voice low and eerie, like a judgment from hell.
As soon as it finished speaking, it took control of Nagato's body.
In that instant, familiar hand seals formed one after another, bringing with them a suffocating pressure.
Nagato's pupils shook violently. He gasped, "You're... trying to use the Samsara Heavenly Life Technique?"
"To revive... Uchiha Madara?!"
Black Zetsu didn't answer. It only sneered as if victory were already assured, continuing to force Nagato's chakra to flow.
His hands seemed no longer under his own control, steadily completing the technique that could bring the dead back to life.
"Konan... run..." Nagato's voice was strained. He tried to break free, but to no avail.
"NO!!!" Konan finally broke down, screaming in anguish. Her eyes were bloodshot as she struggled to rush toward Nagato, only to be flung away by an invisible shadow.
The next instant—
Black Zetsu's expression abruptly changed. Uchiha Yoru appeared right in front of him.
Uchiha Yoru extended a hand, his palm gleaming coldly as he slowly pressed it toward Nagato's chest, trying to sever Black Zetsu's control over him completely.
"You... You actually dare come back?"
Black Zetsu didn't flee or fight back. Instead, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and a strange, crafty glint flashed in his eyes.
"Heh heh... Just what I wanted."
Just as Uchiha Yoru was about to strike—
Black Zetsu frowned, sensing an abnormal ripple in space behind him.
"Kamui!!!"
A deep shout rang out without warning.
Space twisted, and a figure wearing a tiger-striped mask abruptly appeared, reaching out to touch Uchiha Yoru's shoulder.
At that moment, Uchiha Obito's pupils widened slightly, uncontrollable delight rising in his eyes.
"Got you!!!"
Space began to pull and twist Uchiha Yoru's body, as if he were about to be sucked into Obito's dimension.
But just then—
Uchiha Yoru flicked his right hand, and a Kunai sliced through the air, passing through Obito's body without warning!
"Huh?"
At the same time, Uchiha Yoru's figure turned into a flash of ink-black light, scattering through the air and vanishing.
"How is that possible—!"
Uchiha Obito froze in place, unable to process what had just happened. Then he suddenly realized something:
That technique... He'd seen it before.
"This... This is..."
The next second, his vision abruptly went dark. He sensed a searing surge of chakra above his head, as if the sun had begun burning right on top of him!
It was Uchiha Yoru!
At some point, he had appeared in midair, a dazzling blue vortex of chakra gathered in his right palm.
"Rasengan!!"
This wasn't an ordinary Rasengan. It was infused with Asura Chakra, plunging down like a meteor—
BOOM!!!
The enormous chakra sphere slammed into Uchiha Obito's back. The entire ground shook violently, and a ring of explosive shockwaves surged through the air in every direction!
Uchiha Obito couldn't switch to intangibility in time!
"Gaaahhh—!!!"
He let out a scream of pain. His body flew dozens of meters like a rag doll, gouging a long trench in the ground as blood mist sprayed everywhere!
That was only because Uchiha Obito managed to activate his intangibility at the last moment. Otherwise, he would have been reduced to dust.
Black Zetsu saw what happened from a distance, and its expression finally changed.
"Damn it... The plan's going to be thrown into disarray."
It cursed under its breath and immediately reacted.
Its body softened like black mud and split apart. One part flowed across the ground like water, coiling around Nagato's limp body and dragging him toward a corner far from the battlefield.
"You never learn, do you?"
Uchiha Yoru's lips curled into a cold smile as he looked at the battered Uchiha Obito, his eyes full of contempt.
Obito's mask shattered once more, its fragments scattering as blood and scorch marks mingled beneath them. His body had been torn apart by the giant Rasengan, leaving him covered in wounds. Cracks ran across his exposed muscles, and blood poured from them.
The White Zetsu fused with him was nearly destroyed as well. Half his body had been completely dissolved, and milky white fluid mixed with scarlet liquid dripped to the ground, leaving a horrifying trail.
Uchiha Obito gasped for breath, a rare look of terror in his eyes.
Could this man really have gotten even stronger since the Night of Clan Extermination?
More terrifying still, that Flying Thunder God Technique he hated so much... Uchiha Yoru could even use its second stage?!
Only a few months had passed since the Night of Clan Extermination, yet this man's growth was practically inhuman.
Uchiha Obito's body instinctively recoiled from the man before him. Even when he raised his eyes, his gaze couldn't help but dart away.
He didn't know what "PTSD" meant, but if he did, he might have realized that his symptoms were exactly like it.
"Uchiha Yoru..."
He murmured the name and spat out a mouthful of blood, red streaking down from the corner of his mouth. He forced a mocking smile and spoke through the blood: "You..."
Before he could finish, Uchiha Yoru's body suddenly rippled. A Susanoo skeleton took shape, and a chilling katana formed between its bony fingers, slashing toward him without warning!
"Hmph, that kind of trick—won't work on me..."
Before he could finish, Obito's pupils contracted.
Because there wasn't just one blade in front of him. There were more than twenty.
Each Susanoo looked as if it had been copied out of thin air. They stood in a row, their killing intent so dense that even the air seemed frozen.
His smile froze on his face.
Ten minutes later.
Uchiha Obito knelt on one knee, covered in blood.
Uchiha Yoru gripped his throat with one hand and held him high in the air, his gaze cold as frost.
"Kakashi's Chidori," he said indifferently, as if stating a simple fact, "will always be a little faster than yours."
"Just like back then, you could never—save Rin."
With that, he tightened his fingers.
"Crack—"
The sound of bones shifting rang out clearly in the silence.
Uchiha Obito's pupils contracted violently, his breathing gradually fading as he slowly lost consciousness.
"Thud—"
Uchiha Yoru released him. Uchiha Obito's lifeless body fell to the ground like a tattered puppet, hitting it with a dull thump.
His corpse lay sprawled on the ground, eyes wide open, anger and resentment frozen on his face. He died with his eyes open.
But the countless unjustly slain souls of the Uchiha Clan harbored even greater resentment!
Uchiha Yoru slowly looked away and turned toward another figure in the shadows.
It was Black Zetsu, still controlling Nagato's body, standing amid the darkness. It seemed to sense death's gaze, and its body gave a subtle shudder.
Uchiha Yoru's lips slowly curved into a chilling smile. His eyes gleamed like blades, and his voice was low, yet brimming with killing intent:
"Now... it's your turn."
Before you continue