"Hehehe..."
"Hahahaha..."
Black Zetsu did not attack right away. Instead, he slowly straightened up, the corners of his mouth curling into an extremely smug, almost gloating smile.
"Oh, you finally recognized me?"
"Uchiha Akira... No, I should call you 'the transmigrator.' That would be more fitting, wouldn't it?"
"Am I right? Little transmigrator~"
Black Zetsu spoke in a light tone, but the mockery in his voice was completely undisguised.
"You!?"
"W-what did you say?"
Akira looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His body stiffened at once, and panic appeared on his face.
"Stop pretending."
Black Zetsu lightly wagged his finger, his smile becoming more playful.
"You think I couldn't see through you? From the day you first transmigrated here, I've been watching you. Things like 'my father once mentioned Nameless,' and 'I want to rewrite the ending'... Those little thoughts of yours are as clear to me as if you had written them on your face."
The moment Black Zetsu said this, Akira's breathing suddenly quickened. His Sharingan spun rapidly, and his voice carried genuine shock and anger.
"Who the hell are you?! How could Black Zetsu possibly know these things?! You... What exactly are you?!"
Uchiha Akira questioned him in panic.
"Hehehe..."
Black Zetsu laughed under his breath. His laughter was cold and pleased, as if he had finally laid out a secret he had hidden for a long time.
"Heh heh... Since you've asked this far, I'll be kind enough to tell you."
Black Zetsu leaned forward slightly, a trace of smugness flashing through his dark eyes.
"I'm a transmigrator too."
"Only... I'm a little luckier than you. I have a system.", Black Zetsu spoke cryptically.
"A system...?"
Akira's face instantly turned pale.
As a transmigrator, the thing he was most familiar with was a system.
Naturally, he knew that some transmigrators were lucky enough to obtain systems.
And clearly, he was not one of them.
If he had a system, he wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state.
"That's right."
"My task is very simple: maintain the normal plot of the ninja world. Those who are supposed to defect must defect, those who are supposed to go to war must go to war, and those who are supposed to die must die. A transmigrator like you who tries to rewrite fate should never have existed in the first place."
Black Zetsu spoke at an unhurried pace.
He raised his hand, dark chakra slowly gathering at his fingertips.
"Madara and Hashirama must break apart. The Battle of the Valley of the End must begin ahead of schedule, and you... must die here."
"Once the mission is complete, the system will give me a reward. As for a trash transmigrator like you without a system..."
"Just obediently become my stepping stone."
Black Zetsu's smile grew more ruthless.
"You!"
Uchiha Akira realized things had gone wrong. He tried to form hand seals, tried to escape, tried to shout out any words of protest.
But Black Zetsu moved faster than he had imagined.
His dark hand had already pierced through Akira's chest and seized his heart.
Pain instantly overwhelmed his entire body.
Akira's eyes widened, and a short, broken sound escaped his throat.
Blood continued to spill from the corner of his mouth, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
He could clearly feel the hand tightening, while his life was rapidly slipping away.
"No... Don't..."
Uchiha Akira's voice had already become hoarse and confused, carrying the sobbing tone of someone facing death.
This was the first time he had ever experienced being on the verge of death.
The feeling immediately filled Uchiha Akira, who had never experienced anything truly dangerous, with unprecedented panic.
"Please... let me go... I won't change anything anymore... I won't change anything... The plot... I won't interfere with the plot anymore... Let me live... Please..."
Uchiha Akira begged in broken phrases.
Black Zetsu did not let go. He merely tilted his head slightly, watching him with interest.
Akira's consciousness began to blur, and incoherent words poured out like a breached dam, "I'm still useful... I can help you... I know what happens later in the original story... I can be your informant... I can deceive Madara... deceive Hashirama... I'll do anything... The system... Can I give you extra missions through the system... Don't kill me... I'm only eleven... I don't want to die yet... Mom... Hikaku... Lord Madara... Save me... Someone save me..."
His fingers weakly gripped Black Zetsu's arm, but he could no longer muster even the slightest strength to resist.
Black Zetsu sneered. "Eleven? You're a transmigrator. If your age in your previous life is included, you're probably over forty..."
Tears mixed with blood ran down Uchiha Akira's face, while the single-tomoe Sharingan in his eye had completely lost its focus.
"Please... Black Zetsu... transmigrator... fellow countryman... Give me a chance... I'll give you all my memories from my previous life... I'll tell you everything... Just let me live... Please..."
Listening to this incoherent begging, the smile on Black Zetsu's face only grew colder.
"So noisy."
Black Zetsu applied a little force.
Akira's body went rigid, and the last light in his eyes disappeared completely.
The memories of his previous life, his obsession with changing fate, and his complicated feelings toward Madara all became silent nothingness at this moment.
Black Zetsu pulled his hand back and looked at the boy's body as it gradually grew cold. He muttered, "Another variable trying to disrupt the plot has been eliminated."
Black Zetsu's figure melted back into the shadows, disappearing deep into the mountains and forests beyond the battlefield.
Just then, a cold, mechanical voice sounded directly in his mind.
[Mission complete: Eliminate the transmigrator variable "Uchiha Akira" that is disrupting the plot.]
[Reward distribution in progress...]
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained: Mount Myoboku Sage Arts (Complete Inheritance).]
Black Zetsu's entire body jolted.
The next second, an enormous amount of information surged into his consciousness like a tide. Mount Myoboku's sensory techniques, the absorption and balancing of natural energy, everything from the basics to advanced stages of Sage Mode, and even secret techniques such as resonating with toad power, Goemon, Toad Confrontation Chant, and others... all were clearly imprinted in his mind.
"Mount Myoboku Sage Arts...!"
Black Zetsu murmured, immense joy bursting from his dark eyes.
He almost laughed aloud, his body trembling slightly from excitement.
"Haha... Hahahaha! The system really didn't lie to me! This is the power that Jiraiya and Naruto had to train desperately to master in the original story... And now it's giving me the complete inheritance directly!"
Black Zetsu raised his head and looked at the night sky, reddened by the fires of war. His smugness almost seemed ready to spill from his chest.
Just as he was immersed in his joy, the system's voice sounded again without warning.
[New mission issued.]
[Mission objective: According to the original plot, continue to manipulate Uchiha Madara and guide him toward his predetermined path of fate.]
[Mission requirements: Do not let Madara develop fatal suspicions. Ensure that he ultimately takes the path related to "Infinite Tsukuyomi."]