Chapter 301: Finding a New Target to Hate
Blue skies, white clouds. Green mountains, clear waters.
Gentle breeze swept through treetops, carrying fresh mountain vegetation scents. Sunlight filtered through leaf gaps, casting dappled shifting light spots across the grass.
Yasushi reclined leisurely on a lounge chair, lazily squinting while watching clouds drift and gather in the sky. Occasionally reaching toward the nearby low table, he'd take a cut fruit piece and slowly chew it—as though bloody storms were merely another world's stories.
Karin and Haku sparred with ninjutsu back and forth not far away. Short blade collision sounds rang ding-ding-dong-dong continuously—crisp and pleasant as music, lulling one to sleep.
Nearby ground suddenly bulged. Zetsu emerged from underground.
"Lord Yasushi, new information from Fire Country."
"The Fire Country daimyo unsurprisingly refuses accepting Konoha Village's fall. He's gathering Konoha Village remnants while massively recruiting wandering shinobi, planning to recapture Konoha Village."
"Hmph, I knew it. Without clearing out Fire Country, Konoha Village won't completely perish."
"Looks like I need making a trip to Fire Country's capital."
"Those decayed daimyo and nobility should also experience national destruction's pain."
Yasushi reclined on the lounge chair, gently swaying his body while casually deciding a great nation's fate with understatement.
Zetsu showed no surprise, continuing his report:
"That fellow called Jigen also has leads."
"I'm having Obito and White Zetsu secretly following him. After finding his hideout, Lord Yasushi can depart to deal with him."
"Me?" Yasushi tilted his head, glancing at Zetsu before curling his lip. "Zetsu, don't get confused. The Sage of Six Paths is your target, not mine."
"I'm too lazy finding trouble with him!"
"Isn't Madara that fellow bored anyway? Just have him go."
"He's an Edo Tensei body anyway—can't die no matter what. Such a powerful thug—why not use him?"
After listening, Zetsu again persuaded:
"Lord Yasushi, won't you truly consider deeper cooperation with me?"
"My Moon's Eye Plan and your Uchiha Revival Plan completely complement each other!"
"I only want Mother freed. Giving you all White Zetsu as meat pigs afterward poses no problem!"
"With Lord Yasushi's help, even if Otsutsuki Hagoromo reappears, he can be defeated, right?"
"Hehe..." Yasushi laughed noncommittally twice before waving dismissively. "These pointless words need not be spoken."
"I'm not a fool like Madara who you can manipulate at will."
"Considering how obedient you've been, I won't hold your little schemes against you. But you'd better not set your sights on me. Otherwise you know my methods."
Zetsu paused before hastily waving:
"Lord Yasushi, you misunderstand! I truly want cooperating with you."
"You're different from Madara. Madara merely serves as my pawn and puppet, while Lord Yasushi possesses qualifications to rule above the shinobi world."
"I know Lord Yasushi also wants the Rinnegan. That's also the core of Lord Yasushi's 'Uchiha Revival Plan.' Only I can help you in this regard."
"Lord Yasushi's current chakra quality has become extremely pure. What you lack is merely the final step."
"As long as Lord Yasushi absorbs the Ten-Tails, becoming its jinchuriki, you'll definitely take that final step—evolving Mangekyō Sharingan into Rinnegan."
"Then you'd use me—possessing Rinnegan and Ten-Tails—as sacrifice to resurrect Kaguya, right?" Yasushi coldly interjected.
"No no no, I don't have such thoughts!" Zetsu hastily waved, frightened. "I chose Madara as sacrifice because I made numerous preparations on Madara's body."
"But on Lord Yasushi's body, I haven't left any contingencies."
"Hehe, I don't believe you for a second!" Yasushi rolled his eyes, fundamentally disbelieving Zetsu's words.
Black Zetsu—such an old schemer—couldn't possibly trust anyone.
Otherwise over so many years, with Black Zetsu's ninjutsu resources and secret intelligence, if he'd devoted effort to training, he'd have long since established powerful forces.
With forces established, anything he did would prove twice as effective with half the effort.
But he'd rather hide in darkness bit by bit seeking opportunities than reveal half a point of his own intelligence.
If not encountering overpowered characters like Naruto and Sasuke, his plan would have ultimately succeeded grandly—manipulating everyone while single-handedly rescuing his mother.
Now Naruto and Sasuke were gone, but Yasushi remained—moreover manipulating Zetsu completely, making him search throughout the shinobi world for the "Kara Organization" left by the Sage of Six Paths.
But even so, Yasushi never underestimated Black Zetsu.
His success completely relied on information asymmetry, not Black Zetsu's stupidity.
He absolutely didn't believe Black Zetsu would truly treat him as comrade or cooperative partner.
Most likely Black Zetsu secretly had his own calculations. Underestimating him meant potentially taking a massive fall like Obito or Madara.
Seeing Yasushi disbelieve, Zetsu began swearing oaths, continuously professing loyalty to Yasushi—nearly tearing out his heart to show Yasushi.
"Enough, enough." Yasushi impatiently waved, interrupting Zetsu's performance. "No need for such acts before me. I don't watch what you say—only what you do."
"Rather than wasting breath here, continue monitoring Jigen's side. Without resolving the Sage of Six Paths, your mother can never be rescued."
After silent moments, Zetsu said nothing more. His body directly sank into the ground, vanishing.
After Zetsu left, Yasushi finally sat up, carefully calculating the next step's plan—how to severely scheme against Madara and Zetsu.
Actually strictly speaking, Zetsu bore no direct relationship with the Uchiha clan's destruction.
That tragedy's main culprits were Konoha Village's Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo. Direct murderers were Obito and Itachi. Madara and Zetsu couldn't even count as indirect murderers.
Precisely for this reason, Zetsu could confidently cooperate with Yasushi.
If Zetsu knew Yasushi had already listed both him and Madara on the enemy list, he probably wouldn't believe anything Yasushi said—long since turning against Yasushi while figuring ways to kill him.
Treating Zetsu and Madara as enemies for Uchiha extermination proved quite absurd. But who told Yasushi to already awaken Mangekyō!
An Uchiha who'd already awakened Mangekyō—his spirit had long since become abnormal. Reasoning with such people proved purely masochistic—no one else to blame.
In Yasushi's twisted thinking pattern, though Madara and Zetsu hadn't directly participated in extermination matters, without their chaotic meddling, how would so many problems appear?
Right, Yasushi was deliberately transferring his hatred!
But so what?
Itachi, Obito and others had already been thoroughly broken. Yasushi needed finding new targets to hate, right?
Not hate Madara and Zetsu—hate himself instead?
Hatred fundamentally represented endless painful hell. Once beginning, it never ended.
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