That day, a rather unusual pair appeared on the streets of Konoha.
One was a young woman standing two meters and sixty centimeters tall, with a pair of horns on her head.
The other was a slender, jet-black figure — almost like a humanoid shadow with an oddly graceful silhouette.
Naturally, these two were Yamato and Black Zetsu.
Ever since that day, the notorious schemer Black Zetsu had somehow hit it off with the straightforward and energetic Yamato.
The two often hung out together, chatting away and sharing stories from their respective worlds.
"I'm telling you, aside from Dad, every Uchiha is a total tsundere! Especially Madara — he's the worst!"
"Actually, you don't need to exclude your teacher. He's not much better. Like, he clearly adores me as his student, but he never says it out loud!"
"...Isn't it possible your dad just never thought that way?"
"Can we even keep being friends if you talk like that?"
"Sorry, sorry! Forget I said anything!"
Somehow, this centuries-old relic was genuinely enjoying himself playing around with a woman barely in her twenties.
As they laughed and chatted, Yamato wasn't watching where she was going — and accidentally bumped into someone.
Of course, with Yamato's build, she was perfectly fine. But the poor guy she'd run into? He landed square on his butt.
A blond-haired man with spiky hair rushed over, crouching down to help him up.
"Sasuke! You okay?"
Sasuke brushed Naruto's hand away and stood up with practiced elegance, patting the dust off his clothes.
"I'm fine."
Then he looked up — and froze, eyes widening slightly.
Because Yamato was tall. In the world of shinobi, most people had fairly normal heights.Sasuke, standing at about 1.8 meters, wasn't short at all.
Yet somehow, he'd just run headfirst into Yamato's abdomen.
(Think back to the scene of Ace and Yamato standing face-to-face — Ace was over 1.8 meters himself.)
And that wasn't all. Sasuke's physique was far superior to the average person, yet when he hit her, it felt like crashing into a mountain.
Naruto, standing beside him, looked up in awe.
"Whoa, she's tall! Who is she? How come I've never seen her before?"
Sasuke, however, was staring at the horns atop Yamato's head. Combined with her white hair, the thought struck him — Could she be an Ōtsutsuki?
Luckily, he recognized Black Zetsu standing next to her. Otherwise, he might've already drawn his sword.
Yamato scratched her head awkwardly and offered a quick apology. Sure, Sasuke had been daydreaming and wasn't paying attention either — but since he was the one who fell, she figured she owed him that much.
However, Sasuke's cool demeanor immediately took over again. Ignoring her apology, he turned instead to Black Zetsu.
"Black Zetsu. Who is this person?"
Black Zetsu wasn't having it. If Madara had spoken to him like that, fine — but Sasuke? The "junior among juniors" of the Uchiha? Not a chance.
Completely ignoring Sasuke, he turned to Yamato and said,
"Yamato, this is Uchiha Sasuke. The youngest of the Uchiha line these days."
"Uchiha? Then that means he's from the same clan as my teacher?"
Sasuke raised a brow.
"Teacher? Who's your teacher?"
"Of course, it's Uchiha Kaito!"
"Kaito-sama is your teacher!?"
Sasuke's eyes widened, and for a brief moment, he couldn't hide the flicker of jealousy in his heart.
Years ago, he too had wanted to study under Kaito. He'd even knelt and begged. But to this day, he hadn't been accepted.
Now his master was Madara — undoubtedly powerful, but compared to Kaito... the gap was enormous.
Hearing that Yamato was Kaito's disciple hit him hard, leaving him speechless for a moment.
Yamato looked at him curiously, while Black Zetsu tugged at her sleeve, signaling her to leave.
But Sasuke suddenly barked,
"Stop!"
Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What the heck, Sasuke? What's wrong with you now?"
Sasuke lifted his head slowly. His eyes turned blood-red — Sharingan activated.
The three tomoe spun calmly in his gaze.
Black Zetsu rolled his eyes inwardly.
Figures. Typical Uchiha — that hereditary tendency toward random fits of madness really never skips a generation.
Yamato tilted her head, fascinated by the red eyes, and leaned closer.
"Eh? Your eyes look really different from my teacher's. His Rinnegan had twelve tomoe in total!"
That line hit Sasuke like another gut punch.
Among the surviving Uchiha, he was the only one still stuck with plain three-tomoe Sharingan.
Back in the day, that alone would've marked him as an elite of the clan, capable of crushing most opponents with ease.
But now? Times had changed.
Even setting aside the "bug" that was Kaito, look at his peers — Madara, Obito… everyone had a Mangekyō!
Even Uchiha Kakashi had one!
Though Sasuke's hunger for power had mellowed somewhat, that didn't mean he'd stopped striving to improve.
He stepped in front of Yamato, eyes serious.
"Fight me. I want to see how strong a disciple personally recognized by Kaito-sama really is!"
Those words — recognized by Kaito-sama — struck right at Yamato's heart, making her beam with delight.
Black Zetsu had been about to intervene, but seeing that expression, he sighed and gave up.
"Yamato, you idiot… Why do you have to go and pick a fight with an Uchiha for fun?"
What worried her more was that Sasuke was on the receiving end. She knew Yamato's power all too well — and feared Sasuke might end up flattened before he even realized what hit him.
Yamato grinned, hefting a massive spiked club onto her shoulder.
"Alright! I accept your challenge! I've always wanted to see how strong my teacher's clansmen are."
Sasuke nodded slightly, scanning their surroundings.
"This place isn't suitable for a fight. Come with me."
"Sure, I was thinking the same thing!"
Without another word, Sasuke turned and walked off, Yamato following close behind.
Black Zetsu and Naruto stood there staring at each other.
Naruto swallowed nervously.
"Uh… should we follow them?"
"Of course we should. What if something happens?"
"Yeah, you're right. Sasuke looked serious — I'm worried he might go overboard."
"Idiot! You should be worried Yamato doesn't accidentally kill him!"
"That lady's name is Yamato? Huh, same name as Captain Yamato… Wait, hold up — did you just say she's strong?"
"No kidding. Did you forget she's my father's disciple?"
"Uh, about that — who exactly is your father? Don't tell me it's Kaito-senpai?"
"Who else?"
Naruto stumbled backward in shock, nearly falling flat on his face.
He stared wide-eyed at Black Zetsu, completely dumbfounded.
"Idiot," Black Zetsu muttered before sinking into the ground like liquid ink, vanishing in the direction Yamato and Sasuke had gone.
Naruto snapped out of it and shouted,
"Hey! Wait for me!"
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