Uchiha Old Thief Has Led Me Astray!

Shusen did not reveal himself right away. Instead, he lurked in the shadows, fishing in troubled waters.

Now that the Hyuga Clan had the Caged Bird, it would be difficult for him to obtain Byakugan. Every extra Sharingan he could stockpile was a good thing.

He had originally planned to trail behind his sister and pick up some scraps, but after she killed that elite jonin, Uchiha Izuna fixated on Mito and went over to tangle with her. The two fought evenly, with neither able to determine a victor anytime soon.

Left with no choice, Shusen headed for another part of the battlefield, specifically picking the eyes from dead Uchiha. It was both safe and unlikely to expose him.

Several dozen minutes passed, and Shusen reaped a considerable harvest. He obtained more than ten Sharingan in total, ranging from three-tomoe to single-tomoe in quality.

"Hashirama still doesn't know senjutsu?"

Before he knew it, Shusen had approached the area where Hashirama and Kaguya Izui were fiercely battling. He saw Kaguya Izui wielding a spinal bone with an overwhelmingly fierce offense. Even Hashirama's Wood Release could not gain an advantage against him.

There was no doubt that if Hashirama knew senjutsu, Kaguya Izui would not be able to act so arrogantly.

"I wonder where Hashirama will learn senjutsu in the future. I really want to mooch off his opportunity..."

At that moment, Shusen saw an Uchiha clansman get struck in the chest by a Senju clansman. He flew backward like a torn sack leaking blood, and Shusen's eyes immediately flashed.

"Another job."

He hurried toward the man, only to be caught in the aftermath of a ninjutsu attack while moving underground.

"Great Fire Annihilation!"

Madara gathered chakra and spat out an enormous fireball. The Senju clansman fighting him instantly flashed backward, while the fireball smashed straight into the ground.

"Boom."

With an earth-shaking blast, the ground exploded apart and raging flames swept outward. A black figure sprang out from within them.

No way, am I really this unlucky?

At that moment, Shusen was utterly speechless.

He had not expected that even after hiding underground, he could still be caught in collateral damage. His luck was truly terrible.

When Madara saw someone leap out of the sea of flames, he thought it was a Senju clansman. But when his gaze landed on the other party's pitch-black body, the six tomoe in his eyes abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

"Black Zetsu!"

He was stunned.

"What? Black Zetsu?"

Those two words successfully set the Uchiha clansmen on edge. Everyone turned to look in unison.

"Black Zetsu, you bastard! You're actually not dead?!"

"Impossible! There's no way you could still be alive!"

The Uchiha clansmen could not believe it. Yesterday, they had personally seen Black Zetsu get blasted into ashes by Fire Release. They had even held a small celebration for it... There was no reason he should be immortal!

"Damn it, could he have escaped yesterday?"

"Living or dead, we should have seen the body. We never found his corpse; we held that celebration too hastily."

A large group of people beat their chests in grief. The facts lay before them, and they had no choice but to accept the terrible news of Black Zetsu's return.

Uchiha Tajima was the most decisive. He sent Ryū flying with a single slash, then fixed both eyes on Shusen and activated his Mangekyo ocular technique, intending to kill him once more.

"Amaterasu!"

"Pfft."

Just before the black flames ignited him, Shusen used the Substitution Technique in time. A rotten wooden stump took the calamity of being burned alive in his place.

"He's over there!"

Uchiha Izuna's sharp eyes instantly found Shusen's position after his substitution, and he pursued without hesitation.

"Kill him!"

"This time, we must completely destroy Black Zetsu!"

"As long as Black Zetsu lives, our Uchiha will never rise again!"

The Uchiha clansmen went berserk. They swarmed forward, all wearing savage expressions as they pursued Black Zetsu like madmen.

On the battlefield, the Uzumaki Clan, Senju Clan, and Kaguya Clan all found the sight strangely familiar, as though yesterday's events were playing out again.

"Uchiha Tajima, get the hell back here!"

Kaguya Izui roared in furious desperation.

However, Uchiha Tajima had already killed himself into a frenzy. Black Zetsu was the only enemy left in his mind.

"Whoever kills Black Zetsu can ask for anything, and I'll give it to them!"

He issued the order fiercely to his clansmen, controlling Susanoo as he charged at the very front. Yasakani Magatama rained down endlessly as though they cost nothing, blasting apart swathes of rock and mountain.

"Uchiha Tajima, you damned bastard!"

Kaguya Izui was overcome with grief and indignation, trembling with rage like a virtuous woman abandoned after being used and discarded.

He recalled Uchiha Tajima's solemn promise last night: that they would fight without restraint on the battlefield and serve as the vanguard. Yet now they had run away even more ridiculously than yesterday.

At this moment, he even suspected that Uchiha Tajima, Butsuma Senju, and Ryū had colluded to put on a show and fool him.

"Kill!"

"Wipe out all the enemy forces!"

The battlefield situation changed in an instant. Butsuma Senju and Ryū reacted swiftly. Rather than pursuing the Uchiha, they joined forces to encircle and annihilate the Kaguya Clan, intending to expand their gains and inflict irreparable damage upon Kaguya Izui.

"I hate this so much!"

"We could have won! That Uchiha old thief has led me astray! I refuse to accept this!"

Kaguya Izui's mentality completely collapsed. He was even more broken than when his children had died, throwing his head back and howling as hot tears streamed down his face.

"Retreat! Everyone, retreat!"

Meanwhile, Shusen was being relentlessly hunted by the Uchiha Clan.

Since his presence had already been exposed, he no longer thought about taking Sharingan. He only wanted to draw their hatred and divide the enemy forces, easing the pressure on his father's side of the battlefield.

He used the Wind Release from Five-Elements Cowardly Escape. A hurricane wrapped around his body, making him light as a swallow and incredibly swift, each step often carrying him several meters.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Hundreds of fireballs bombarded the ground behind him, occasionally mixed with several Yasakani Magatama. He dodged every one of them with the perception of Kagura's Mind's Eye.

"Black Zetsu, if you have the guts, fight me to the death!"

Uchiha Tajima roared. His inability to catch the enemy filled him with frustration.

What makes you think I have the ability to fight a clan leader to the death...? Shusen curled his lips, cowardly with complete sincerity.

"Watch me blow you apart with one arrow!"

Uchiha Tajima could no longer endure it. He drew out the Susanoo Great Bow, used a Yasakani Magatama as an arrow, and fired it at his target.

Though Shusen did not have eyes on the back of his head, Kagura's Mind's Eye allowed him to catch the firing trajectory of the Eight-Foot Arrow. He narrowly dodged aside. With a tremendous boom, a vast stretch of forest beside him was blasted to pieces.

"That's all?"

Shusen was rather disdainful of Uchiha Tajima's aim. To deal with this pursuit, he had even removed the Demon Eye in his right eye and prepared to use two lives to play with the Uchiha Clan. Yet after chasing him for so long, they had not even managed to take one life.

Just as he thought that, Shusen suddenly felt a scorching heat on his back. The next second, black flames ignited across his body.

"Damn it, I raised the flag too early!"

Shusen silently cursed his bad luck, feeling like an old general on an opera stage with flags stuck all over his body.

Being burned by Amaterasu was incredibly painful. His flesh was destroyed inch by inch, while the black flames burned ever fiercer and could not be extinguished.

"It hit!"

"Amaterasu burned him! Let's see where he can run now!"

When the Uchiha clansmen behind him saw Amaterasu take effect, they were instantly overjoyed. Even Uchiha Tajima's lips curved into a satisfied smile.

But the next second, Black Zetsu's figure vanished into thin air, then reappeared unharmed in the distance.