Chapter 60: The Weight of Two Years
Two years passed in a blur of training, patrols, and the ever-present tension of the shinobi world. Uchiha Raizen was now eighteen, his frame filled out and his presence carrying the weight of his experience as a clan elder. Across from him, Uchiha Madara, now sixteen, had shed the last of his boyish features, his eyes holding a sharper, more hardened edge.
The day had arrived. Representatives of the Senju clan stood within the Uchiha compound, a sight so rare it felt like a historical moment in the making.
"This is the first time members of both clans have met in a conference room without drawing blades," Uchiha Oki, standing beside his student Raizen, whispered under his breath, his voice a mixture of awe and caution.
"The first time? It seems the animosity between our families runs deeper than I realized," Uchiha Raizen replied, his tone thoughtful.
It was more than a simple feud. He knew the truth that simmered beneath the surface of their conflict. They were the descendants of Indra and Asura, two brothers whose rivalry had transcended their own lifetimes, playing out again and again through their bloodlines. This wasn't just a clan dispute; it was a cycle of hatred written into the very fabric of their world, a script orchestrated from the shadows. Sometimes, Uchiha Raizen wondered if the Sage of Six Paths himself, watching from the pure lands, knew how relentlessly his sons were still fighting.
The Senju delegation's leader, Senju Kenma, stepped forward, his posture rigid and formal. "Patriarch Uchiha," he began, addressing Uchiha Tajima who sat at the head of the room. "I have come to retrieve our young patriarch, as per our agreement. The two years are complete."
Uchiha Tajima steepled his fingers, his expression unreadable. "I am aware of the timeline. But the agreement was conditional. Did you fulfill your part? Did you find the one who manipulated us into war?"
Senju Kenma's jaw tightened slightly. "We have… clues. We have identified an operative. He possesses strange and powerful escape techniques. While we located him, we were unable to capture him. All we know is his appearance. He is… a black figure."
A black figure.
The words struck Uchiha Raizen like a physical blow. He stood up abruptly, the legs of his chair scraping against the stone floor. The pieces clicked into place. The black hand behind the scenes was none other than Black Zetsu. This creature, the will of Kaguya given form, was the true architect of this endless conflict. It was a parasitic consciousness that had festered for millennia, and its presence here confirmed Raizen's deepest suspicions.
"Elder Raizen?" Uchiha Tajima's voice cut through the tense silence. "Do you know something of this?"
"Patriarch," Raizen said, turning to address the room. "If you recall, about two and a half years ago, we encountered an intruder near the river. You eliminated him, but I remember his form clearly. He was a black, amorphous being. I believe it is the same entity operating now."
Uchiha Tajima's eyes narrowed as the memory surfaced. The strange, shadowy figure that had seemed to melt into the earth. The incident where Raizen had first displayed his unusual capabilities by creating a massive crater in the ground. It all connected.
"What kind of existence is this thing?" Uchiha Tajima muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Uchiha Raizen slowly sat back down, a grim understanding settling over him. Black Zetsu was a scourge that would continue to plague them. The problem was its elusivity. Neither the Uchiha's visual prowess nor the Senju's sensory skills were suited to tracking a non-corporeal being of pure malice that could move through the earth itself. It would take a specialist, a clan with perception abilities far beyond the norm, to even hope to pin it down.
"Enough of this for now," Uchiha Tajima declared, shifting his focus. "The two years are up. We will honor our word." He gestured to a guard behind him, who vanished in a swift Body Flicker Technique.
Soon, Senju Hashirama was escorted into the room. He appeared healthy, even robust. His spirit seemed unbroken, and he carried himself with the same earnest energy Raizen remembered. To any observer, it seemed the Uchiha had kept their promise of fair treatment.
But as Hashirama entered, Uchiha Raizen's senses, honed by his own experiences with sage energy, flared. There was a distinct, potent energy radiating from the Senju heir. It was a familiar, natural power—the energy of sage chakra.
A cold realization dawned on Raizen. Uchiha Tajima hadn't just imprisoned Hashirama. He had isolated him within the territory of the Libra clan, the branch family obsessed with experimentation and mutation. Had Hashirama, in his isolation, been driven to seek power elsewhere? Had he, by some twisted fate, found his way to the summoning contracts and training of Mount Myōboku or the Shikkotsu Forest?
This changed everything. Hashirama had been a match for Madara before. But now, having mastered Sage Mode without first awakening his Wood Release, his power level was a terrifying unknown. The balance of power between the two legendary rivals had just been violently, and unpredictably, shifted.