Black Zetsu: Well done, Hagoromo!

Before the battle erupted.

"Th-this... this..."

"How is this possible...?"

Black Zetsu stared at Uchiha Mo standing before Team 8 below, momentarily dazed...

"Ind... Indra?!"

Uchiha Mo stood tall and straight, his exquisite features sculpted to perfection and his proportions exceptionally flawless. But that was not what shocked Black Zetsu.

That distinctive hairstyle, those jet-black eyes, those sharp brows, those handsome features... even the purple eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes was identical to that man's!

"What exactly is this...?"

Over the past thousand years, Black Zetsu had seen individuals who looked remarkably alike, but he had never seen anyone resemble Indra to such an extent.

If Uchiha Mo changed into a white robe adorned with magatama, Black Zetsu dared say that, without using chakra, even Hagoromo would not notice anything amiss!

"A coincidence? Or does that dead bastard Hagoromo have some scheme again...?"

As a seasoned conspirator, Black Zetsu absolutely did not believe a coincidence of this magnitude could exist!

With that thought in mind, Black Zetsu turned his attention back beneath the cliff.

"Screech—!"

Lightning pierced through Kakuzu's body...

Uchiha Mo raised his foot, savage blood-colored flames suddenly gathering beneath it as he stomped toward Kakuzu's lower back...

"I'll give you one last chance. Leave, or die."

"Here!"

"Scarlet Scorch: Scattered Fire Needles!"

"Screech—!"

"Scarlet Scorch: Chidori!"

"..."

"Uchiha Mo..."

Black Zetsu's gaze went blank, his entire body stiffening.

"There can be no mistake. That ultimate mastery over techniques, as effortless as moving one's fingers, is a talent unique to Indra, the inventor of ninjutsu!"

"And this fellow... his personality is also quite similar to Indra's. His entire being harbors a deep darkness!"

Black Zetsu narrowed his two orange-yellow eyes, his gaze firmly fixed on Uchiha Mo below.

"Uchiha Mo... he must have some kind of connection to Indra..."

"But... Madara is still alive!"

Black Zetsu could not make sense of it no matter how he thought about it. But as his gaze fell upon Uchiha Mo's face, a bold idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Indra's chakra had reincarnated, but his soul was still in the Pure Land!

"Could it be...?"

"No, I can't jump to conclusions! At most, he merely looks somewhat alike, his personality is somewhat alike, his talent..."

Black Zetsu could not continue halfway through his sentence. At that moment, Uchiha Mo below suddenly covered his eyes, and the aura around his body became chaotic.

Immediately afterward, a cold, sinister aura spread through the area!

Black Zetsu's body trembled and suddenly froze. Then the yellow mouth on his face curved to an exaggerated degree, nearly spanning half his face.

"Hehe~ Hehehehehe! What familiar ocular power! Hagoromo, in the end, you still couldn't let go of your own descendants!"

Over the past thousand years, Black Zetsu had only been this excited when Madara Uchiha awakened the Rinnegan and when Indra was won over.

In the current ninja world, many people did not know that Uchiha ocular power actually differed from person to person. The greatest difference lay between the reincarnations of Indra's chakra and ordinary Uchiha.

As everyone knew, when a Mangekyo user transplanted the Mangekyo of a close relative, their ocular powers could merge to grant them a pair of Eternal Mangekyo. However, this outcome was not guaranteed.

(Book of Arrays—the confirmed method is transplantation.)

Throughout the Uchiha's long history, it was not as though no one had attempted it. Only an extremely small number had succeeded, while reincarnations of Indra's chakra would certainly awaken the Eternal Mangekyo as long as they met the requirements.

Moreover, Indra himself and the reincarnations of Indra's chakra possessed vastly different ocular powers.

Indra did not need to awaken the so-called Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. With just the three-tomoe Sharingan, he could activate a complete-body Susanoo and push the Sharingan's ocular power to its absolute limit!

And Black Zetsu was currently the only person in the ninja world who understood this distinction.

Over the past thousand years, in order to create a pair of Rinnegan and initiate the Eye of the Moon Plan, Black Zetsu had encountered countless reincarnations of Indra's chakra and had become incomparably sensitive to their aura! He even believed himself to be more familiar with it than the Sage of Six Paths himself.

As the ocular power of Indra's chakra reincarnations increased, their chakra aura would grow increasingly cold and sinister. Moreover, this sinister aura and their Sharingan ocular power at the same stage were several degrees stronger than those of ordinary Uchiha.

Most people would mistake it for talent, but Black Zetsu could easily distinguish the difference.

But Uchiha Mo... the darkness he displayed and the intensity of his ocular power surpassed even Madara Uchiha when he had first awakened his three-tomoe Sharingan!

When Black Zetsu sensed that aura, he even felt that the owner of those ocular powers would not need the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to bring the Sharingan's power to its fullest extent!

This was absolutely not something coincidence could explain!

It truly was not a coincidence. No matter how hard Black Zetsu racked his brain, he could never have guessed that Uchiha Mo possessed a cheat that helped purify his ocular power and Yin Release strength, while he had also been forcibly suppressing the urge for his Sharingan to evolve.

Watching Uchiha Mo's figure gradually vanish beyond the horizon, Black Zetsu finally could not hold back any longer. For the first time in his life, he abandoned concealment and burst into loud laughter, though his strange tone made it sound somewhat comical.

"Hagoromo! I don't know what purpose you had in sending Indra back to the ninja world, but in the end, this will surely become my aid!"

As he spoke, Black Zetsu's body slowly sank into the ground.

"Since Indra has returned, Madara's body is no longer worthy of Mother. How exciting... What will happen if Indra's reincarnation obtains his own chakra? And if he obtains Ashura's chakra as well..."

"Hehehe..."

Accompanied by a sinister chuckle, Black Zetsu completely merged into the earth, leaving only a single sentence to slowly scatter in the wind...

"Indra, wait for me... I was far too immature back then, but now, I will definitely make you the sharpest sword in the plan! Serve me once more..."

Elsewhere, Uchiha Mo, who had set out on the road back to the Hidden Leaf, had no idea that he had already caught the attention of the greatest mastermind in the world of Naruto.

He moved forward calmly while slowly condensing chakra to recover his strength. The braid behind his head swayed back and forth, lightly slapping against his back.

Only upon seeing this did Kurenai Yuhi suddenly realize that Uchiha Mo's hairstyle seemed rather different from the style favored by most members of the Uchiha Clan or residents of the Hidden Leaf.

She asked curiously, "Mo, who gave you that hairstyle? It actually suits you quite well."

Hearing this, Mo turned and glanced at Kurenai Yuhi, then lowered his head slightly to look at the small braid before his temple.

"Hairstyle..."