The Kaguya clan's ambush ended in a blood-soaked mess. Under the fierce morale of the Amamiya forces, their attackers were cut down to the last man.
Raizen stood among the corpses, eyes cold, voice steady as he issued orders.
"Clean the field. Count our dead and the lost supplies. Move fast."
The air still smelled of iron and smoke. As the others worked, Raizen sat on the side of a battered carriage, his brow furrowed.
How the hell did the Kaguya know we'd be here? And at this exact hour?
The road through Aoyama Gorge branched out in every direction—no one should've known which route his unit would take. The thought dug under his skin like a kunai. Either luck, or a leak. And Raizen didn't believe in luck.
As the wind stirred the treeline, a dark presence flickered in his senses. His chakra perception sharpened instinctively—there, far off, perched on a thick branch. Someone was watching.
The shadow's eyes gleamed faintly, narrowing at the sight of the Kaguya corpses. Rage flickered in them.
"Tch. Useless trash. They couldn't even wound the Amamiya properly."
Raizen didn't look up. His lips barely moved.
Finally showing yourself, huh?
That malignant aura—it had haunted him ever since he'd crossed paths with Hashirama and Madara. Whoever it was had been watching from the dark, waiting, judging. Even when he'd tapped into Sage Mode, he could only glimpse traces of that presence—like smoke slipping through fingers.
Now it was close. Too close.
Raizen's hand brushed the seal on his kunai pouch. A Flying Thunder God-marked blade shimmered into his grip.
The weapon flashed through the air, slicing across the treeline.
"!?"
The shadow—Black Zetsu—barely had time to react. He turned his gaze upward, startled, as the kunai screamed toward him like a bolt of silver death.
Raizen's chakra flared, his body vanishing in a burst of light. A barrier formed between his palms—pure white, crackling with destructive energy.
He noticed me!
Zetsu's body sank instantly into the bark, fleeing into the ground just as the barrier detonated. The explosion of white light consumed the forest around them—leaves, stone, and air vaporized in silence.
When the glow faded, Raizen stood motionless, scanning the ruined trees.
"Missed, huh?"
He didn't need confirmation. He already knew who that shadow was. The way it slipped through trees, how its chakra clung to the soil like oil—only one being fit that description.
Kaguya's child.
The crawling whisper of the Sage's era.
Black Zetsu.
Raizen exhaled slowly. So it's true. You're still meddling, even now.
According to legend, Zetsu could merge with earth and bodies alike. Perfect for manipulation and assassination. If that's true, it explained everything—why Amamiya Gen had died so strangely, why nothing about that "accident" had added up.
Gen-sama didn't die by chance. Someone moved him like a puppet.
Raizen's gaze hardened. And now you're watching me too.
Zetsu might not be powerful by raw measure, but his patience and cunning made him more dangerous than any battlefield brute. He was a whisperer of tragedies, twisting history from the shadows.
Still, there was something almost...predictable about him. If Zetsu was watching Madara and Hashirama, then Raizen's interference was a threat to his grand script. No wonder the creature wanted him dead.
A rustle. The earth nearby warped. Two eyes—white and hateful—opened beneath the dirt.
"Damn brat… you almost erased me."
Zetsu's voice was cold, rippling with venom. His form rippled briefly before sinking back into the ground, vanishing like an oil stain in water.
Raizen's chakra sense caught the last trace before it disappeared. His eyes narrowed.
You can hide, but not forever.
He stood still for a moment, breathing in the silence. Then, faintly, he muttered to himself, "It'd be nice to have Naruto's sensory mode right about now."
A humorless chuckle slipped out. "But no, I get Sage Mode v1. Limited edition."
Bootsteps approached. Amamiya scouts ran up, tense and battle-ready.
"Patriarch! We thought another attack—"
Raizen waved them off. "False alarm. Keep cleaning up. We move by sunset."
They nodded and scattered.
By the time the sun fell behind the ridge, the clan's losses were tallied—eight supply carts destroyed, twenty-one dead. The ambush had hit hard at first, but the Amamiya countered with brutal precision.
Raizen watched them bury their fallen. Pride burned quietly beneath the fatigue in his eyes.
They've grown stronger. Faster. Smarter. We're not prey anymore.
He turned toward the horizon, where the forest swallowed the dying light.
But with Zetsu in the shadows, the next war's not going to be easy.
The convoy rolled onward through the bloodstained earth, toward whatever awaited them next.