"Is that... Uchiha Itachi?"
As Itachi leaped out of Susanoo, he stopped concealing his presence, and Black Zetsu sensed him.
Watching the tiny speck in the sky grow steadily larger, Black Zetsu laughed instead of getting angry.
"Well, well, well. You want to take down Asura's main body directly? How laughable."
Yet just as Black Zetsu was about to teach the presumptuous Itachi a lesson, his consciousness suddenly blurred.
A fierce pain surged through his heart, even though he did not have a heart in the strict sense.
Cursed seal markings resembling three tomoe instantly lit up on his black skin, spreading continuously until they enveloped his body.
"Aaaaah!"
Cries of agony came from Black Zetsu and Asura at the same time.
Even the barrage of punches pummeling Sasuke stopped.
A flicker of surprise crossed Itachi's eyes. He had not expected Orochimaru's methods to work so well.
Black Zetsu buried himself underground.
He clutched his neck in pain. It was burning hot, a violent surge of natural energy rampaging through it.
For someone whose body consisted primarily of Yin Release chakra, this was unbearably painful.
"When exactly did..."
Black Zetsu searched through his recent memories, finally stopping at the time he had possessed Kabuto.
"Damn you, Orochimaru..."
Black Zetsu writhed, trying to forcibly suppress the rampaging chakra inside him, but he could not resolve it anytime soon.
A hoarse voice came from his neck.
"Hiss... Black Zetsu, I never expected your resistance to natural chakra to be so poor. I miscalculated that part."
A rather ugly snake covered in white scales, with flowing black hair, crawled out of the cursed seal.
"Orochimaru?!"
Black Zetsu glared at the newly emerged Orochimaru, feeling as though the sky had come crashing down.
"Oh, the esteemed younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths,