Over the years, aside from the few incidents Watanabe Ichiro had stirred up, Black Zetsu himself had behaved. If the system hadn't shown his location, Ichiro would have thought he had secretly gone off and died.
Black Zetsu had kept an incredibly low profile. The system showed him running all over the Shinobi World, doing who knew what.
After Konoha was founded, Black Zetsu had hovered nearby a few times, but had never investigated any further.
Over the past few months, however, Watanabe Ichiro had noticed Black Zetsu becoming increasingly active around Konoha. He suspected Black Zetsu was about to make a move.
What was Black Zetsu planning?
His ultimate goal was to rescue his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki. To free Kaguya from her seal on the moon, he needed to collect two things: the Rinnegan and the tailed beasts.
Ohhh. Watanabe Ichiro suddenly understood why Black Zetsu had spent the past few years running around the Shinobi World. He had probably been keeping track of the tailed beasts' locations so he could find helpers to capture them later. Now, though, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had captured all the tailed beasts together, and Tobirama Senju had found a way to seal them.
The tailed beast collection was complete. Black Zetsu was now hovering around Konoha to find a way to get some Uchiha to evolve their eyes into the Rinnegan.
But doesn't the Rinnegan require the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan? Why isn't he looking for Madara Uchiha?
Watanabe Ichiro thought it over and understood. Madara was still in a furious rage, chasing the leads Watanabe Ichiro had his clone in Konoha release as bait. His head was probably full of nothing but killing right now. Black Zetsu might have followed him a few times, found no opening whatsoever, and returned to Konoha to think of another approach.
If I were Black Zetsu, the devoted son out to rescue his mother, what would I do?
I'd do everything possible to get Madara Uchiha to awaken the Rinnegan.
I could bait him with promises of resurrecting Uchiha Izuna.
Then what I need to do now is sneak into the Uchiha District and tamper with the stone tablet passed down by the Uchiha ancestors, using it to mislead Madara!
Hmm... but Black Zetsu might have altered it already.
Watanabe Ichiro didn't currently have the eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, so he couldn't tell whether the inscription in the Uchiha District had been altered. But he was certain Black Zetsu had never entered the Uchiha District since his arrival in this world.
So if he lay in wait here, his chances of catching a freshly unearthed Black Zetsu were pretty good.
What's more, suppose there was someone with both Uchiha and Senju blood, who had awakened his eyes at just four years old, had a tragic past, possessed outstanding abilities yet was shunned by his clan, and was brooding but easily manipulated.
What a perfect Rinnegan candidate!
Watanabe Ichiro didn't believe Black Zetsu could resist.
So now, Watanabe Ichiro needed to display the conflict between himself and his clan, along with his talent and psychological weaknesses, to lure Black Zetsu into recruiting him.
"Hey, Ichiro! Come here."
Watanabe Ichiro extricated himself from the girls surrounding him, soothing every one of them with his gentle tone. He was a master at keeping everyone happy, an indiscriminate dispenser of warmth.
After confirming through the system that Black Zetsu had followed him, he deliberately headed toward a less frequented part of the Uchiha District.
As expected, along a secluded roadside, Uchiha A slowly emerged from the shade of a tree and called out to stop him.
Though his tone was unfriendly, his attitude was still reasonably civil.
"Do you need something, senior?" Watanabe Ichiro walked over obediently.
Uchiha A was three years older than Watanabe Ichiro and slightly above him in seniority, so calling him "senior" was appropriate.
"You're quite popular with the ladies, huh?"
He sidled closer with a show of familiarity, fishing for information rather bluntly. A trace of nervousness lurked in his voice.
"Any of them you like? I think Uchiha Tsuki's pretty nice. What... do you think of her?"
Watanabe Ichiro recalled the girl. Right, an eleven-year-old little girl with very pretty almond-shaped eyes. She barely understood romance yet. Although she had given him chocolate too, she had probably just been following the crowd.
Eleven? You're heading for prison, buddy.
He muttered inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged as he answered flatly.
"Poor combat aptitude. Her looks are her only redeeming quality."
"Phew... huh?"
Uchiha A let out a long breath of relief, only to become wary again immediately.
"If we're judging by looks alone, she could..."
She could make a fine candidate for a marriage alliance, Watanabe Ichiro thought.
She could be a girlfriend to fool around with, Uchiha A thought.
"Could, my ass! No, she couldn't!" Uchiha A cut him off outright.
"Why not?"
"You're scum! I won't let you steal Tsuki! You... duel me!"
"Count me in on that duel!"
"Huh?" Watanabe Ichiro couldn't follow his train of thought. Turning his head, he saw Uchiha B, Uchiha C, and Uchiha D, all equally outraged.
"You've gone too far! How dare you treat my goddess like that!"
What did I do to your goddess? I haven't done anything!
"You're utterly shameless!"
"Absolutely despicable!"
Watanabe Ichiro's reaction was: Are you guys okay?
Though this dispute had come out of nowhere and the conflict seemed childish and petty, when he thought about it, they had practiced taijutsu and ninjutsu every day since they were old enough to understand anything. They hadn't had a single day of compulsory schooling, so being simple-minded was hardly surprising. Come to think of it, Naruto really did have a lot of one-track minds.
"A duel?"
Watanabe Ichiro glanced around and shook his head.
"I don't want to bully the weak."
"You!"
Four ordinary Uchiha with mediocre talent and no cheats posed no challenge whatsoever to Watanabe Ichiro.
On the Uchiha clan's training ground, Watanabe Ichiro easily fought three of them at once.
"Weak punches. Your fundamentals aren't up to standard."
Watanabe Ichiro caught Uchiha A's fist with one hand, then turned sideways and swept his leg as though he had eyes in the back of his head, tripping Uchiha B as he tried to ambush him from behind.
"Your center of gravity is too high. Your stance is unstable."
Then, with a casual swing, he flung Uchiha A toward Uchiha C, who had a Great Fireball Technique ready in his mouth.
"Your teammate is in my hands. How do you dare use an area-of-effect 'lethal' ninjutsu?"
Uchiha C swallowed back his Great Fireball Technique and reached out to catch Uchiha A as he hurtled toward him.
"Hmm? That was well timed."
Ichiro dodged with the Body Flicker Technique, and three kunai swept through the spot where he had stood.
Uchiha B had seized the instant after Ichiro threw Uchiha A, when his previous exertion had ended but his next had yet to begin, and used the Uchiha's classic throwing technique.
The three looked eager to keep going, apparently getting carried away by the fight.
Watanabe Ichiro sighed inwardly, fending them off while silently complaining. The cannon fodder in this world act too much like normal people. I'm showing off while fighting you, so where are your taunts? Where's the classic face-slapping scene?
Why aren't you talking trash while you fight? Come on, say your lines!
Seeing that they really had no desire to speak, Watanabe Ichiro secretly activated Coincidence.
He spent fate points to fulfill his wish: "Have these three mock me by bringing up my background, and use every means available to seriously injure me."
The fate points were paid, and the wish came true.
As the three listened to Watanabe Ichiro's pointers, their expressions grew increasingly ugly, until he slammed Uchiha A to the ground once again.
Uchiha A glared viciously at Ichiro, the two tomoe in his eyes glowing an ominous red.
"Stop lecturing us! Who do you think you are? You're nothing but... a mongrel!"
"Why... would you say that?"
Watanabe Ichiro's face went blank. He actually failed to dodge as Uchiha B ambushed him from the side, punching him square in the chest.
He grunted and retreated with the Body Flicker Technique.
"Senior? Why?"
He looked up, his face pale and filled with bewilderment.
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