Black Zetsu Stirs Up Trouble

Qin Mo's eyes suddenly narrowed!

A peaceful death?

Killed in an instant?

Both eyes dug out cleanly and neatly?

"Were there any signs of fighting at the scene? Any signs of intrusion?" Qin Mo's voice sank a little.

"None!" Xue Tahai answered with absolute certainty. "The bodies of the guards outside the courtyard were cleared away by us afterward.

But inside the courtyard, including the main house, there were no traces of any struggle, and no residual fluctuations from any ninjutsu.

There wasn't even... the slightest trace of an outsider's chakra left behind!

It was as if... as if he had simply been sitting there, and then his eyes vanished into thin air, and he died."

Hozuki Dark Moon also said in a deep voice, "We confirmed it repeatedly. That courtyard itself was an area covered by a high-level barrier.

For an outsider to sneak in without a sound and do all this would be almost impossible!

Unless... it was someone on the inside, and someone extremely familiar with the place.

But all possible insiders just died in the square."

"Buzz!"

A silent thunderclap exploded in Qin Mo's mind!

All the clues linked together wildly at that instant!

Why had Hyuga Tennin suddenly forced through a cruel branch-family system during that relatively peaceful period?

Why had he possessed a forbidden technique as sinister as "Caged Bird," one that completely surpassed the conventional level of curse marks in the shinobi world?

So Black Zetsu had been behind it all!

That conspirator who had lurked deep in the shadows of the shinobi world for a thousand years!

He needed a pawn, one that could accumulate strength for his future rescue of Princess Kaguya and throw the situation into chaos!

Hyuga Tennin, this ambitious and powerful Hyuga clan leader, was undoubtedly an excellent target!

Black Zetsu had found him. Perhaps through guidance, perhaps through a deal, he had handed him the "Caged Bird" curse mark as a tool.

He had used Hyuga Tennin's ambition and thirst for power, making him believe that the branch-family system was a "necessary evil" to consolidate rule and concentrate strength.

The two hit it off at once, each taking what he needed.

Hyuga Tennin obtained the absolute authority he wanted and a sharp tool to control the branch family.

And Black Zetsu successfully turned the Hyuga Clan into a piece on his vast chessboard, a "wedge" that might play a crucial role in the future!

Hyuga Tennin thought he controlled everything. Little did he know, he was nothing more than a puppet in Black Zetsu's hands, one that could be sacrificed at any time!

He had no idea what a terrifying existence the one he had cooperated with truly was!

"Heh..." A cold curve lifted at the corner of Qin Mo's mouth.

If he had not stumbled into killing Hyuga Tennin and then wiped out the Hyuga Main Family along the way, Black Zetsu's scheme might really have succeeded.

And that deputy clan leader, Hyuga Sosuke, was probably another hidden piece Black Zetsu had planted inside the Hyuga Main Family.

After Black Zetsu sensed that the Hyuga Main Family was about to be destroyed, he decisively made his move and took Hyuga Sosuke's Byakugan.

What a persistent ghost, Black Zetsu... The chill in Qin Mo's heart deepened, and at the same time, a powerful vigilance rose within him.

This enemy hiding in the dark was even more troublesome and omnipresent than he had expected.

"Clean it all up. Take away everything of value, including secret-art scrolls, wealth, and supplies." Qin Mo issued his final order. "As for this place... burn it."

Hozuki Dark Moon and Xue Tahai immediately bowed and accepted the order. "As you command, my lord!"

The two swiftly turned and instructed their subordinates to begin clearing the scene.

An hour later, great fires blazed everywhere.

The Hyuga Main Family had only been established for half a year, and now it had met its complete end.

A great fire would thoroughly bury the past of the Hyuga Main Family, and for the time being, it would also cover up the final trace left by that thousand-year conspirator.

But Qin Mo knew that his contest with Black Zetsu had only just begun.

Facts proved Qin Mo had guessed correctly.

On the other side, when Black Zetsu saw Qin Mo leading a massive army to bear down on them, he sensed something was wrong, decisively killed Hyuga Sosuke, and took his eyes.

Although Hyuga Sosuke's Byakugan purity was inferior to Hyuga Tennin's, opening the first stage of the Reincarnation Eye would still be no problem.

By the time Qin Mo had slaughtered the Hyuga Main Family to the last, Black Zetsu had already dug out Hyuga Sosuke's Byakugan and hidden away.

"Uchiha Mo!!!" A roar filled with resentment, rage, and a trace of dread that even Black Zetsu himself was unwilling to admit echoed wildly through the dark cavern, shaking loose stones from the walls.

"You damned jinx! Spoiler! Heretic!"

Black Zetsu's mental fluctuations shook violently as it looked at the two Byakugan hovering above its palm.

They had originally been an important supplement to its plan, but now they had become a humiliating symbol of that plan's collapse.

"It wasn't easy for me to embed the Hyuga piece into the game!

And you... you crushed it so easily! Ruined everything!"

"You disrupted my entire plan! Blocked the road to Mother's return!"

Black Zetsu's "body" twisted violently from extreme fury. "You must die! You must die in the most painful, most despairing way!"

At this moment, deep within the Uchiha Clan Grounds, Qin Mo was sunk into soft brocade bedding, sleeping soundly.

Outside the window, the afterglow of the setting sun plated the room in warm gold and red. The bloody hellfire the Hyuga Main Family had just gone through seemed to belong to another world.

He did not know that a conspirator who had existed for a thousand years had fallen into unprecedented rage because of him and had placed him on a must-kill list.

But even if he knew, he would probably only lazily roll over and comment, "Incompetent rage!"

When the final ray of sunlight sank below the horizon, a burst of clamor and irrepressible excitement came from the direction of the clan grounds' main gate.

"They're back! They're back!"

"And the clan leader of the Hozuki Clan and the clan leader of the Snow Clan are with them!"

"So fast? Could it be..."

Awakened, Qin Mo draped on an outer robe and walked out of the courtyard at an unhurried pace.

"Young Master, you're awake!" Uchiha Feixue immediately appeared beside Qin Mo.

"Mo!" Madara and Izuna walked over at this moment as well.

"Eldest Brother, Second Brother!" Qin Mo nodded slightly.

"Young Master Madara, Young Master Izuna!" Feixue bowed respectfully.

"No need to be so formal!" Madara said mildly.

"Yes!" Feixue replied.

"Let's go take a look together!" Qin Mo led the three of them toward the clan grounds' main gate.

Under the last glow of the sunset, Qin Mo's shadow clone was bringing Uchiha Jin, Uchiha Yan, Hozuki Dark Moon, and Xue Tahai through the main gate of the clan grounds.

The instant Qin Mo dispelled the shadow clone, a massive amount of information surged into Qin Mo's main body.

The bloody purge of the Hyuga Main Family, the bizarre death of Deputy Clan Leader Hyuga Sosuke...

And the clear clues pointing toward that thousand-year conspirator, Black Zetsu...

All the images, sounds, and judgments were transmitted with perfect clarity.

"Hmph. So it really was you, maggot in the gutter, making trouble." Qin Mo sneered inwardly, while his face remained as calm and unruffled as ever.