"You bastard…" Black Zetsu's pupil-less eyes flickered with an expression of extreme ferocity.
It could not comprehend how Senju Tobirama — a mere mortal who was not even on its list of concerns — could suddenly awaken an Uchiha bloodline, and with it that troublesome dōjutsu…
In an instant, Black Zetsu, which had been concealed for a thousand years, found its long-hidden foundation torn wide open by Tobirama, who could peer through past and present; Tobirama's account blasted Kaguya's resurrection plan into shreds.
Hidden beneath the earth, Black Zetsu's despair swelled wildly, multiplying at geometric speed as Tobirama's words unfolded.
The Uchiha clan truly was a thorny bunch!
No matter how many schemes it had devised, it had never expected that a Mangekyō Sharingan would awaken with an eye technique capable of tracing history itself!
Now, choked by Tobirama, Black Zetsu's hopelessness only fueled its murderous intent.
The situation had already become clear…
If Senju Tobirama did not die, then Hashirama and Uchiha Madara — the two who had learned the secret of Indra and Asura — could never be driven into opposition…
Kaguya's resurrection plan was edging toward a dead end!
Yet at this very moment, the nearly defeated Black Zetsu still found one possible sliver of hope—
Uchiha Izunai!
From its subterranean hiding place, having gathered all the intelligence it could, Black Zetsu had discovered this woman: Uchiha Izunai, who was obsessively enamored with Senju Tobirama…
Especially notable was her dōjutsu—she possessed the intensely brainwashing Izanami.
If Tobirama could be killed, then there would still be hope!
In Black Zetsu's view, Uchiha Izunai was actually, compared to Uchiha Madara, the optimal candidate to carry out the Moon Eye Plan.
First, her dōjutsu was already superior; Izunai's Izanami could gather a large number of shinobi who would accept Infinite Tsukuyomi…
And her standing was excellent.
As Madara's sister and a woman who had married into the Senju, she would scarcely be subject to the direct control of those two powerful shinobi…
She could make arrangements in private; with her intelligence, she could do so without detection.
Most crucially, after a millennium of observing the Uchiha, Black Zetsu believed Izunai had an outstanding potential for turning dark!
Emotionally extreme, capable of carrying out orders, intelligent, and combat-capable.
As long as Izunai were driven to despair…
Black Zetsu was certain it would receive a pleasant surprise—even if it had already been destroyed…
How to make Izunai despair?
Simple: make Senju Tobirama die!
It didn't even have to be immediate death; if Tobirama could die before Uchiha Izunai, and die painfully…
Black Zetsu was certain Izunai would want to resurrect Tobirama!
At that point, knowing the existence of the Rinnegan, Izunai would be even more likely to pursue that path.
A Uchiha who sought to resurrect the one she loved would be terrifying… Izunai's enamored gaze toward Tobirama already gave Black Zetsu the answer.
'I dying means nothing at all! As long as I can wound Tobirama, using the Kaguya power hidden in my body to make this bastard suffer unbearably so he can't die peacefully nor be easily revived…'
'That will settle everything!'
Black Zetsu trembled with excitement as it finally cleared this mental hurdle.
What had seemed like a dead end had, in fact, become a path of escape!
At that moment Black Zetsu awakened and drove every scrap of Six Paths power within its body — the very secret that had allowed it, in the original spacetime, to pierce the Sage-form body of Uchiha Madara and to manipulate the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Obito.
It had only one chance to strike.
But that single chance could grant it, in some measure, Six-Paths-level power!
Right then, the ever-vigilant Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izunai both cried out in unison: "Careful, Tobirama!"
"Let go of him—something's wrong!"
Through their Mangekyō Sharingan vision, Black Zetsu's strange—if not remarkable—Yin-Yang escape-body suddenly erupted with a terrifying force.
The amount wasn't huge, but its density far exceeded any chakra Izunai and Madara had ever seen; it was even far more compact than the power of the Mangekyō itself.
"Tobirama! Don't touch that thing directly! Its chakra is extremely irregular; it's condensing into some kind of jutsu!" Izunai broke into a sweat. From Tobirama's previous account, it was clear that this high-level chakra Black Zetsu carried could only be a remnant of Kaguya or the Six Paths Sage…
"Senju Tobirama! Even you cannot escape the onslaught of Six Paths power… I admit it — I did not expect that a momentary lapse on my part would let my thousand-year plot fall into such a situation!" Black Zetsu exploded in fury. Its formerly humanoid form shattered into a mass of black spikes and drove itself toward Tobirama from every direction: "My arrogance blinded me! That small shinobi world actually produced someone like you! But you will die with me!"
As the Six Paths power detonated, the countless black spikes of Black Zetsu took on, at their tips, a barely perceptible taint of ashen gray.
Tobirama's sharp eyes caught the sight immediately.
'Is that the All-Killing Ash Bones? It actually has that capability… Well, of course — it's a Yin-Yang escape created by Kaguya. Sasuke from another time-space did say it once ambushed Uchiha Madara successfully…'
Tobirama's mind raced. In fact, more than that, in his own time and space, Black Zetsu had also provided Obito with a similar effect to Indra's chakra.
This Yin-Yang escape construct had its peculiarities.
'But it's useless...' Tobirama snorted coldly. He didn't even attempt to dodge; he simply waited silently for Black Zetsu to rush him.
Black Zetsu rejoiced inwardly.
Although this strike, bearing a power similar to All-Killing Ash Bones, was several tiers below the original, at this distance it would easily pierce Susanoo.
If even a single filament of the All-Killing Ash Bones touched Tobirama's body, the shattering power would spread uncontrollably.
Even if Tobirama had countermeasures and did not die on the spot, he would begin a countdown to death…
Black Zetsu did not want Tobirama to die immediately.
To make Izunai suffer more, it wanted to watch Tobirama be tortured — to deepen the extremity and the demonic turn in her heart…
Countless spikes thrust down toward Tobirama's body with brutal force.
"No!" Izunai screamed, her voice breaking as she tried to rush toward Tobirama.
At the same time, the young Hashirama and Uchiha Madara both cast Body Flicker in an attempt to reach him.
But just as they moved to support him, a dazzling stream of light suddenly wrapped itself around Black Zetsu's body, freezing the spikes it had formed mere centimeters from Tobirama's skin, leaving them utterly immobile.
The light's source was none other than the Ame no Iwato Tobirama had planted in advance, before even meeting Izunai, as a safeguard.
As a cautious man, Tobirama would never allow such a shield—capable of repelling anything—to be activated only at the last moment. He kept it always ready to trigger at a thought…
Not only that, but he had also prepared the automatic release of Izanagi through a sealing formula.
To kill Tobirama, one would need to break through layer after layer.
"How is this possible?! What did you do?"
Twisted and monstrous in form, Black Zetsu let out a voice filled with both fury and terror: "What jutsu is this? How can you resist the power of the Six Paths?!"
"Six Paths power? What do you truly know of it? Lift your head and look at the sky—feel the vastness of the cosmos, the infinity of time and space! In this sea of stars, what are Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Kaguya but specks of dust?"
Tobirama clenched his hand, and the hedgehog-like mass of Black Zetsu was instantly compressed by an invisible force, crushed into a solid black sphere.
"You think I don't know what's on your mind?"
Tobirama laughed, his scarlet eyes sharper than the deadly edge of the All-Killing Ash Bones. "You're thinking that if you can wound me, if you can make me die—or at least die early—"
"—then Izunai, seeing my suffering, would be driven to crave the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails' power. That way, Infinite Tsukuyomi would once again gain its perfect vessel!"
Black Zetsu's body and spirit trembled violently.
He knew. He had seen through it all!
It could not comprehend how this man—merely an ignorant native of the shinobi world—could give it the same crushing sense of oppression as facing an opponent on the level of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
Pure powerlessness!
Whether in strength or in strategy…
Even in his understanding of the Uchiha clan—despite Black Zetsu's millennia of observation—Tobirama still surpassed it!