"What exactly has happened to this world?"
Just as Ōtsutsuki Isshiki left, Black Zetsu quietly appeared on the outskirts of Konoha.
He stared at the village, now transformed beyond recognition, and felt the nearly faded yet still lingering aura in the air. His expression turned extremely ugly.
He truly felt that his understanding of this world had become far too shallow.
Five years ago, even from Kirigakure, he had sensed that terrifying eruption of power.
The moment that power burst out, he understood one thing clearly. That chakra fluctuation had already surpassed the limits of ordinary mortals. It had very likely reached the level of the Ōtsutsuki!
Because of that, Black Zetsu had not dared show himself lightly.
He had not even dared approach the battlefield.
But even though he did not dare come, his mind had always remained fixed on this place. He had never forgotten his mission.
So he began making preparations.
First, he allowed Obito to satisfy his own desires in Kirigakure. Then, during a political struggle deliberately manufactured by others, Obito failed.
Yes.
Obito's failure had been deliberately arranged by Black Zetsu.
Kirigakure no longer had anything like the Byakugan. Under normal circumstances, there was no way they could have discovered the problem.
Even though that mysterious person's earlier actions had invisibly guided the Mist shinobi toward the worst possible conclusion, they still held the Mizukage in their hands. There was no need to fear exposure.
After all, from beginning to end, they had never personally appeared.
Obito's exposure and failure forced them to return to the center of the shinobi world instead of continuing to wander in the Land of Water as before.
And after returning, Black Zetsu obtained even more astonishing news.
Konoha's Fifth Hokage had fought a mysterious enemy and nearly destroyed everything around Konoha!
That information caught Black Zetsu completely off guard.
In his view, the two people who had fought should have been Ōtsutsuki.
What was Senju Hikaru?
He was merely a descendant of Asura. Worse, he was a descendant separated by countless generations, with bloodline power diluted beyond recognition.
"Could that brat have undergone atavism?"
Bloodline reversion was not impossible.
But should such bloodlines not belong to Indra and Asura's reincarnations?
With this question in mind, Black Zetsu continuously investigated every bit of information he could find. Slowly, he discovered that Senju Hikaru's absurdity had already surpassed imagination.
According to all kinds of rumors spreading through the shinobi world, this man no longer seemed to belong to the category of human at all.
The exaggerations surrounding him were even more terrifying than those surrounding Senju Hashirama back then.
If this had been in the past, Black Zetsu might have simply laughed in disdain and ignored it.
But he had already sensed that the place where the power erupted was Konoha's direction.
That made it impossible for him not to pay attention.
As for Senju Hikaru beginning to move against the various small countries of the shinobi world, even including the Land of Rain, Black Zetsu did not care.
To his mother—and to those Ōtsutsuki—such matters were nothing more than trivialities.
The shinobi world could develop however it pleased.
After all, this world was only a garden.
Compared to a garden that could be grasped at any time and had nowhere to run, a bug in the garden suddenly turning into a terrifying beast was far more worthy of attention.
"Could this brat's bloodline have reverted even further, even reaching the level of the Ōtsutsuki?"
The thought had only just appeared in Black Zetsu's mind when he froze, then sneered at his own wild imagination.
But the more he thought about it, the colder his heart became.
After all, he had heard that Senju Hikaru had awakened a pair of eyes that resembled the Tenseigan.
How much of a variable could such eyes create?
He truly could not imagine it.
Nor did he dare.
Could those eyes have caused a complete improvement in every aspect of that man, even causing his bloodline to grow?
If that was true, then this brat was far too terrifying.
Black Zetsu could not confirm his thoughts.
But he knew that if he wanted to determine the truth, he had to personally inspect the battlefield.
Still, his naturally cautious nature prevented him from taking risks lightly.
Especially after noticing that the trees around Konoha were all created with Wood Release, he truly feared they might all be surveillance methods.
After all, in the Land of Rain, Nagato used rainwater for detection. Who knew whether Konoha had something similar?
After a long period of waiting, Black Zetsu finally could not endure it anymore.
After repeated probing, he finally stepped into this area today.
Looking at everything before him, sensing the chakra aura that had almost faded but was still extremely clear to him, he could basically confirm it.
This had been a battle between Ōtsutsuki.
No ordinary human could possess chakra like this.
No ordinary human could possess power like this.
He could completely confirm that one of them was Senju Hikaru.
But aside from Hikaru, who was the other person?
"Could it be the one controlling the Tailed Beasts?"
Black Zetsu silently pondered.
In his view, those two were the most likely.
As for an outsider Ōtsutsuki, he truly did not think it was possible.
At least, he had not yet considered that possibility.
Even so, he had already become somewhat numb.
He was even beginning to seriously doubt this world.
He truly could not understand Senju Hikaru's situation.
It felt as if an ant had suddenly transformed into an incomparably terrifying beast.
And even the owner of the garden might be killed by this beast.
Such an enormous and extreme contrast truly gave him a headache.
More importantly, he now felt an enormous sense of crisis.
This crisis came from Senju Hikaru.
It was a sense of danger even that previous Nine-Tails Jinchūriki had never given him.
Because that Nine-Tails Jinchūriki had been subordinate to an Ōtsutsuki, and that Ōtsutsuki knew of his mother's existence.
Even if he did not know too much, he would still be wary of his mother.
At least many things would not be done rashly.
But Senju Hikaru was different.
Ignorance bred fearlessness.
Clearly, Senju Hikaru was in exactly that state.
This man might not fear his mother at all.
After all, he might not even know much about the Ōtsutsuki.
The most important problem was that this man truly had the power to be fearless!
After all, he had just killed a member of the Ōtsutsuki.
With such ability, what did he have to fear?
Black Zetsu sighed deeply.
He did not dare remain here any longer.
His body silently sank into the ground.
As he descended, he continued thinking.
Just as the top of his head was about to disappear beneath the earth, he made his decision.
"The plan must be accelerated.
"In this situation, only Mother can deal with him!"
…
"Is this guy leaving the Land of Fire?"
Inside the Hokage's office, Hikaru's gaze locked onto the space fissure before him, a black-hole-like tear in space.
On the other side of the black hole was another scene entirely.
It was a forest.
In that lush, green forest, nothing unusual could be seen.
But Hikaru's radiant blue eyes pierced through the woods, watching the monk who was walking quickly.
This was an application of Hikaru's spatial ability.
Over the past five years, Hikaru had never stopped training his own powers.
Especially with the system's assistance, his control over his various abilities had become extremely high and extremely refined.
He had discovered that the "spatial manipulation" granted to him by the Tenseigan was truly spatial manipulation in the broadest sense.
To a certain extent, he could freely control space.
To put it bluntly, if this technique was used properly, it had infinite possibilities.
However, he did not dare use it recklessly.
A technique this powerful naturally had terrifying restrictions.
More accurately, this technique followed the principle of equivalent exchange.
The larger the scale and the greater the intensity of its use, the more chakra he naturally had to pay.
Normally, Hikaru's chakra reserves were so vast that the consumption of almost any technique was acceptable.
Unfortunately, this was Hikaru's dōjutsu.
Most of its burden came from his Jōgan.
Although Hikaru's Jōgan had reached the second stage, he still could not use this ability without limit.
In the end, he was not one of those Ōtsutsuki.
His eyes were not like the Mangekyō Sharingan, which went blind the more they were used.
But the consumption and recovery of eye power still did not balance well.
Hikaru had discovered this problem long ago, but there was no solution for it.
The recovery of Jōgan chakra was determined by one's constitution.
Although it had some relationship with ordinary chakra, that relationship was not very large.
Hikaru's constitution was decent, but constitution ultimately stemmed from bloodline.
And on that point, Hikaru truly had no solution for the moment.
He could not use his spatial ability without limit like Ōtsutsuki Urashiki.
Although Urashiki's spatial ability had been constructed through Kekkei Mōra, Hikaru did not believe that power had no restrictions.
It was just that the consumption caused by that power was insignificant in front of Urashiki's physical quality and recovery ability.
Hikaru had no way to compare with that.
So when he used this power, he did so carefully and cautiously.
But no matter what, Hikaru could still use it within limits.
He could also rely on it to accomplish many things he wanted to do.
Like now.
What Hikaru was doing now was using his spatial manipulation ability to monitor and observe a person.
Not long ago, the Nine-Tails inside him had suddenly told him that he had sensed an extremely intense malice!
The Nine-Tails, now at an advanced level and in a semi-fused state with several other Tailed Beasts, had sensory ability even stronger than Hikaru's.
Perhaps because he had reached the advanced level, he no longer slept as much as before.
Inside Hikaru's body, he was practically a radar.
Although he often complained that Hikaru kept throwing him out at night because of human reproduction activities, his dependence and closeness toward Hikaru had not diminished at all.
Now that his strength had increased, he had begun voluntarily acting as Hikaru's radar.
With his abnormal sensory ability, Hikaru truly saved a great deal of effort.
He could also discover many things he would normally never detect.
For example, this time, Hikaru had not noticed anything at all.
But the little Nine-Tails had clearly sensed everything.
After receiving this information, Hikaru naturally took it seriously.
Extreme malice was truly rare.
But someone carrying such malice would never be simple.
Following the little Nine-Tails' words, Hikaru found the target.
And he indeed discovered that this target was far from simple.
Especially when Hikaru observed him through the Jōgan, he clearly found that the chakra inside this person's body had an enormous problem.
That powerful and vast chakra almost instantly made Hikaru determine that it came from the Ōtsutsuki!
However, this man's body was completely damaged.
It looked as if he had suffered inhuman torment.
Or rather, his body had been tortured into this state by his own chakra!
Hikaru truly could not understand this.
He had never seen a shinobi whose body had been ruined by his own chakra.
Besides that, Hikaru also noticed that this man's body seemed filled with traces of decay.
It was as if time had mercilessly corroded him.
Yet this person was still alive and well.
That was truly unbelievable to Hikaru.
"Especially those markings on his body…
"They are far too strange."
With the help of the Jōgan, Hikaru easily noticed that this man's power seemed to come entirely from the strange markings on his body.
Especially his hand.
That was the main source of his chakra!
This strange and eerie situation made Hikaru frown deeply.
Especially because this person gave Hikaru an extremely dangerous feeling.
"Is this guy an Ōtsutsuki?
"Why does he feel so ambiguous?"
Hikaru rubbed his chin.
He was deeply puzzled.
But there was nothing strange about being puzzled.
The shinobi world was vast.
Hikaru had long grown used to not understanding many things.
Especially when aliens were involved, it entered his blind spot entirely.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki had died too cleanly.
Hikaru had no chance, and could not possibly have had a chance, to extract information from his mouth.
As for Ōtsutsuki Hamura, that guy had hidden himself again.
Hikaru also could not meet Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Thus, he truly knew very little.
However, with this man's appearance, Hikaru had new thoughts.
He did not need to care whether this man was truly Ōtsutsuki.
He could find him, then solve his questions at the source.
"Especially since he is now leaving the Land of Fire.
"That gives me great convenience…"
…
"Starting soon? Isn't that too rushed?"
In the Land of Rain, Nagato looked at Obito and Black Zetsu in confusion.
He had not expected to receive such news.
The plan they were discussing was naturally the Tailed Beast capture plan.
Obito had already mentioned advancing the plan earlier.
Nagato had also secretly informed Hikaru, precisely so Hikaru could prepare in advance.
He just had not expected this self-proclaimed Uchiha Madara to be much more impatient than he had imagined.
How long had it been?
He was already making another demand.
And this time, he was even more aggressive.
He was directly demanding that the operation begin.
Nagato truly did not know what had stimulated this person.
Some things could be urgent, but there still had to be limits.
Although Nagato and this man were not of the same mind, there were still opinions he had to raise.
Of course, what he was thinking about most was how to pass this information to Hikaru.
After this self-proclaimed Uchiha Madara came to the Land of Rain, Nagato no longer had as much freedom.
Although he could still rely on Konoha's ANBU intelligence network established in the Land of Rain to transmit necessary information, doing so was nowhere near as direct and stable as reporting to Hikaru face-to-face.
But since he wanted to continue staying in this organization, he could only do this.
"I admit this is rushed, but everything is necessary."
Obito looked at Nagato and gave a light answer.
In truth, saying this was the same as saying nothing.
Because he himself did not actually know why Black Zetsu wanted to begin the mission early.
But he trusted Black Zetsu.
After all, in his eyes, Black Zetsu had helped him too much.
This man could temporarily be trusted.
At least until Obito's true plan and thoughts were fully exposed.
Black Zetsu had indeed given Obito a great deal of help.
In Obito's view, without Black Zetsu, there was no way he could have accomplished so much in the Land of Water.
Yes.
That was exactly what Obito believed.
And that belief had been carefully nurtured by Black Zetsu.
It was true that Black Zetsu had helped Obito seize the initiative in that cruel political struggle.
The two of them had also worked together to plunge Kirigakure into darkness.
But Obito had no idea that his exposure had actually been arranged by Black Zetsu!
Such methods were nothing difficult for Black Zetsu.
If someone who had lived for a thousand years could not handle a "novice" like Obito, then he truly would have lived all those years for nothing.
Sure enough, Obito did not resist at all.
Black Zetsu had him completely under control.
He believed almost everything Black Zetsu said.
So when Black Zetsu made certain requests, Obito had no intention of opposing them.
Yes.
Beginning the mission early was what Black Zetsu wanted.
Not what Obito wanted.
But Obito still chose to believe Black Zetsu.
Although he was also puzzled as to why Black Zetsu wanted this, he did not reject it.
After all, in his view, this was not a big problem.
Over the past five years, he had grown considerably.
Especially because Black Zetsu had given him special Yin–Yang Release training.
Now, he could also use Yin–Yang Release.
Although his mastery was still not very refined, with this technique, he believed that in the shinobi world, as long as he did not encounter the person controlling the Nine-Tails, he would fear no one!
Even if he did encounter that person, he might not necessarily be afraid.
The power of Yin–Yang Release was not something ordinary people could imagine.
So taking action now did not worry him.
With his ability, he believed he could resolve many problems!
"Even if I meet Namikaze Minato and Senju Hikaru again, I absolutely won't lose.
"In fact, I'm looking forward to meeting you."
With this thought, Obito decisively agreed with Black Zetsu.
And deep down, he also longed to create a new world as soon as possible.
He had long since lost hope in this despairing world.
Every additional day he remained here was pain.
Rather than continue like this, it was better to act sooner and achieve his goal sooner.
"Is that so? Although I still object, the shinobi world truly does need to change."
Seeing that he could not extract much information, Nagato simply nodded in agreement.
He had not forgotten what role he needed to play right now.
Cooperating properly with this performance and playing his assigned role well was the most important thing.
"Good. Although there are many things I cannot explain conveniently, you only need to know that we are doing the right thing."
Obito was very satisfied with Nagato's attitude.
He nodded seriously, then slowly said:
"Our goal has always been to overthrow this cruel and despairing world. That has never changed.
"For peace.
"For the shinobi world.
"We must all work hard.
"When we create a world that belongs to us, you will understand how wonderful that will be."
"Mm. I believe that."
Nagato nodded calmly.
The Rinnegan in his eyes glowed faintly, and then he nodded with incomparable seriousness.
"I have always looked forward to defeating that damned Konoha Hokage, the man who holds the power to destroy the world.
"I have always looked forward to a world filled with peace, a world where Yahiko exists.
"That beautiful world, that peaceful world…
"That is the world we pursue!"
At this point, Nagato paused slightly.
He looked extremely devout.
But in his heart, he was filled with disdain.
He had already seen that kind of world.
Although it was only a simple prototype, even that prototype had brought peace and prosperity to the Land of Rain.
It had also brought back the friend he had dreamed of seeing again.
A living, breathing friend.
Not a false illusion built by genjutsu!
Since he already had all of that, why would he still look forward to something fake?
Nagato was not stupid.
Ever since Yahiko was revived, he had remained very clear-headed.
He knew what he wanted.
He knew what he pursued.
Under such circumstances, how could he possibly care about Obito?
…
Hikaru was not yet aware that Obito had advanced the operation.
Perhaps Nagato had already passed the information to ANBU, but Hikaru's attention was not on that right now.
For several consecutive days, Hikaru's gaze remained fixed on the man suspected of being Ōtsutsuki.
He had been waiting for that man to leave the Land of Fire!
Actually, by now, Hikaru had some guesses about him.
He had not forgotten the Karma he had learned about from Ōtsutsuki Urashiki years ago.
That strange unknown technique, which he suspected and guessed was set up to revive Ōtsutsuki.
Now, after seeing this man, Hikaru had even more guesses.
This man's body was in terrible condition, yet the vast chakra inside him continued to circulate.
If it was helping him, that would be one thing.
But this chakra was further damaging his bodily functions.
This situation, which violated common sense, forced Hikaru to grow suspicious.
After all, only chakra that did not belong to oneself would cause such a result!
"If my thinking is right, then this person is someone marked by Karma.
"This chakra does not belong to him, so naturally it is damaging him.
"But the caster clearly does not intend to let him die.
"Otherwise, with his body this broken, he should have died long ago.
"However, if Karma really is a technique for reviving Ōtsutsuki, why is this man's body like this?
"His bloodline does not seem to have changed at all, and this level of physical strength is absurdly low.
"What exactly happened?"
After observing for so many days, Hikaru had naturally gathered enough information.
He truly could not understand this man's condition.
After thinking about it, Hikaru felt there were only two possible answers.
The first was that Karma was not as powerful as he imagined.
After all, he did not have complete information on this technique. Many details could only be filled in through conjecture.
So even if his guess was wrong, it would not be strange.
The second possibility was somewhat absurd.
Something had gone wrong with Karma.
Or rather, something had gone wrong with this monk's body!
Every technique had a chance of failure.
After all, whether a technique succeeded depended on many external conditions.
If this person marked with Karma had not met the standard from the beginning, or if his body was simply unsuitable for Karma, then the probability of his body developing problems was extremely high.
The reason he had not died might be because the power inside Karma had saved him.
Even if that power was constantly harming his body, it was also possible that this power was destroying him while repairing him at the same time.
In such a tragic cycle, this man could be described as pitiful to the extreme.
He was practically the definition of being unable to live or die.
"But if that's really the case, and his body still hasn't grown after so much destruction and repair, just how bad is this guy's talent?"
Hikaru was startled by his own thoughts.
If it was really that bad, then developing into this state seemed reasonable.
Gently shaking his head, Hikaru stopped thinking about this man's condition.
Gathering intelligence was a shinobi's duty.
But now, Hikaru preferred making this person speak out some information himself.
After all, he had long since decided to meet this man.
As an Ōtsutsuki in such a condition, Hikaru could not help suspecting whether this man was the one Kaguya had defeated!
"So understanding the truth and clarifying the real situation is absolutely the most important thing."
Hikaru muttered silently.
Then he slowly stood up.
Blue light flashed continuously in his eyes.
The next moment, a pitch-black spatial rift suddenly appeared before him.
After casually creating a shadow clone, Hikaru's main body stepped directly into the rift.
The next second, he appeared in a forest!
The monk had already left the Land of Fire.
He had entered the Land of Rivers.
The Land of Rivers was a buffer country between Konoha and Sunagakure.
Although Konoha held some interests there, Konoha had long shifted its focus toward developing obedient small countries.
They had not yet acted on the Land of Rivers, so this place could not be considered Konoha's sphere of influence.
Hikaru had absolutely no psychological burden about making a move here!
"Hmm?"
What surprised Hikaru was that he had only just arrived here.
He was still several kilometers away from the monk.
Yet he had already sensed an extremely terrifying aura locking onto him.
That chakra was so powerful it felt suffocating.
He had no doubt that the one locking onto him was the suspected Ōtsutsuki!
"He's this sensitive?"
Hikaru was genuinely surprised.
But since he had been discovered, he no longer bothered hiding.
Blue light flickered in his eyes, and he began walking slowly in the monk's direction.
He would not rashly use spatial power.
After all, he had already guessed that this man was an Ōtsutsuki.
If they were really going to compete in spatial ability, Hikaru did not think he could outplay them.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki had truly been weak in battle, but when he relied on his Rinnegan and Yomotsu Hirasaka, he had still made Hikaru feel extremely helpless.
Hikaru did not want to step out of a spatial doorway only to be ambushed.
That would be terrible.
He did not walk quickly.
It took him roughly five minutes to reach the monk.
At this moment, the monk stood beside a tree.
He looked incomparably calm and incomparably arrogant.
He quietly watched Hikaru approach.
Finally, he sighed softly.
"It seems I have been discovered.
"But I am curious.
"How did you discover me?"
"Is discovering you difficult?"
Hikaru gently shook his head.
Then he slowly asked:
"You came onto my territory.
"If I did nothing, wouldn't that be the strange thing?"
"You are still the same as before, Kaguya."
The monk's expression became even colder and more indifferent.
The chakra inside him surged wildly at that moment.
"No matter what you are like now, never forget this.
"You have always been my guardian.
"And…"
At this point, the monk paused slightly.
Then a mocking smile appeared on his face.
"You were sealed by your own two sons.
"You had to descend through some unknown chakra method.
"You cannot even restore your true body.
"And even like this, you dare appear before me again.
"Are you sure you haven't gone mad?"
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