On the third day of the defensive battle, Uchiha Yoru, who was commanding the Tiger Unit, suddenly felt his heart skip.
His intuition told him—
Uchiha Obito's destined death had been brought forward.
Following that instinctive warning, Yoru's spiritual perception locked onto a trembling causal line.
It was one he knew extremely well and had always paid close attention to.
He did not even need to trace the line to know that the person on the other end was Uchiha Obito.
The special training mission before the war had established a causal relationship between them.
At the time, Yoru had deliberately taught Obito genuine skills.
The value of what he taught far exceeded the mission reward Clan Head Fugaku had issued, creating the reality that Obito owed him a significant karmic debt.
Of course, Yoru's motive had never been pure.
He had simply wanted to use that causal debt to offset the price of scheming Obito to his death.
Later, after Uchiha Yoru formed his Golden Core through the power of causality, causal lines became the best tool for monitoring Obito.
That was precisely why Yoru had been able to ignore him without worry.
Now, seeing Obito's causal line fluctuate abnormally, Yoru immediately understood.
The critical turning point in Obito's fate had arrived.
But that shouldn't have happened yet.
Uchiha Obito should currently have been waiting in the Konoha army camp behind Surge Mountain.
How had he suddenly reached such a critical moment?
Yoru immediately summoned Uchiha Kazushi.
"Go back to the main camp and confirm whether Uchiha Obito is still there."
"If he really is gone, find out why he left."
Uchiha Kazushi was responsible for intelligence and did not directly command the battle.
He immediately accepted the order and returned to the rear to investigate.
Before long, he brought back the information.
Uchiha Obito was missing.
And not only him.
The entire squad, including Hatake Kakashi, had disappeared.
Kazushi's expression was grave.
"According to headquarters' orders, every member of Team Hatake is under sixteen."
"They were assigned to the counterattack reserve and should have remained inside camp on standby."
"But I found a record of them leaving at the camp entrance."
"The mission order they received was fake!"
Uchiha Yoru nodded.
He already knew what had happened.
And he knew who was responsible.
It could only be Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara.
This was far earlier than the Battle of Kannabi Bridge in the original history.
Even the location had shifted from the northern Land of Grass to the southern Land of Fire.
That was perfectly normal.
Uchiha Yoru's current influence was simply too enormous.
His effect on the shinobi world was equally immense.
He was like the statue standing at the center of a fountain.
Even the most casual movement from him could raise enormous waves throughout the pond that was the shinobi world.
Simply because he had treated Nagato through Konan, the entire course of the war had changed drastically.
The center of the conflict had already shifted away from the region surrounding the Land of Rain.
With such enormous changes, Uchiha Madara, the director behind Uchiha Obito's fake death, would naturally react.
Advancing the plan was entirely reasonable.
…
The Tiger Unit's very first battle had been a mountain defensive battle.
By now, they had already refined this kind of warfare to perfection.
Relying on the exceptionally long range of their specialized Fire Release, the battle was almost completely one-sided.
The Tiger Unit could attack the Sunagakure shinobi however they wished.
Meanwhile, no matter how desperately the Suna shinobi fought, they could not even reach the Tiger Unit.
Especially under Uchiha Yoru's personal command—
The Tiger Unit's firepower network could only be described as perfect.
Even when Sunagakure's three Kage-level shinobi launched surprise assaults, Yoru could command the Tiger Unit to drive them back through saturation attacks alone.
There was no need for him to act personally.
Furthermore, the Tiger Unit's ninjutsu had exceptional endurance.
The defensive battle had already continued into the second day, yet the intensity of their Fire Release showed no sign of weakening.
Ironically, the far more numerous Sunagakure forces had become exhausted instead.
They lacked an orderly and rational rotation system.
That was why Uchiha Yoru had become so relaxed.
And only because he was relaxed enough did he notice the intuitive warning and detect the change in Obito's causal line.
Since Uchiha Madara had moved—
It was time for Yoru to act as well.
This operation had two targets.
Uchiha Obito had to die.
That was the minimum objective.
Uchiha Madara also had to die.
And then, if possible, Yoru intended to seize his soul and make the old ancestor work for him.
That would be the ending this ancestor deserved.
Of course, achieving the final objective would not be easy.
The current Uchiha Madara was still Indra's vessel.
His soul had an extremely close connection with the Sage of Six Paths.
Yoru might not necessarily be able to seize it.
So he had already decided—
If Uchiha Madara's soul entered the Pure Land, Yoru would completely destroy every trace of information remaining in Madara's body.
He would make Madara's resurrection as difficult as possible.
Either Uchiha Madara would never revive—
Or the Sage of Six Paths himself would have to personally intervene, just like when he summoned the deceased Five Kage, and personally oversee Uchiha Madara's resurrection.
In any case—
Yoru intended to completely destroy Black Zetsu's thousand-year-old plan.
He would force Black Zetsu into a dead end.
That was how he would protect his own core asset—
The Uchiha clan.
The thought of sending Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara on their way together made Uchiha Yoru unable to suppress his excitement.
He transferred full command authority to Uchiha Shigenobu.
Then summoned Kazushi again.
Yoru said,
"Go find the Fourth Hokage."
"Tell him this—"
"The Tiger Unit has already shown its might."
"The Snake Unit can't just stand on the sidelines and watch, can it?"
Uchiha Shigenobu and Uchiha Kazushi were delighted.
"Clan Head, are we launching the full counterattack?"
Yoru nodded.
"I think it's about time."
"But the final decision still belongs to the Fourth Hokage."
"From here on, just follow the Hokage's orders."
"Clan Head, you won't be commanding us anymore?"
"Mm."
"I have something I need to handle alone."
"You'll have to fight the rest of this battle yourselves."
"Yes!"
After giving his instructions, Uchiha Yoru immediately returned to his tent.
He deliberately removed his gray-blue coat.
Then he put on a dark-blue, round high-collared shirt.
It was a characteristic outfit of the Uchiha clan.
The Uchiha crest was displayed prominently on both his chest and back.
With this clothing—
His identity as an Uchiha would be emphasized as strongly as possible.
Seeing her human servant change clothes, Miwa Masayo immediately understood what he intended to do.
The calico cat bounced over to his side.
"Yoru, take me with you, meow."
"I want to see Uchiha Madara too."
Yoru looked at the little cat.
Then nodded.
"All right."
"Dealing with Obito won't matter much."
"But when we face Uchiha Madara, you need to be careful."
"I know, meow."
"Uchiha Madara is special."
"And he possesses countless secret techniques."
"His final burst before death could be extremely dangerous."
Miwa Masayo impatiently patted Yoru's ear with her paw.
"Yoru, you've told me this so many times, meow."
"I can already recite it by heart, meow."
Uchiha Yoru nodded in satisfaction.
He said nothing more.
He left the Konoha camp behind Surge Mountain, rose into the air, and shot straight into the sky.
…
On the very first night of the Surge Mountain defensive battle, several jōnin assault squads—including Minato Namikaze's team—along with dozens of sabotage squads had infiltrated the Sunagakure rear lines.
They began the kind of raiding warfare shinobi were most familiar with.
They fought fierce battles against Sunagakure's suppression forces.
But inside Suna-occupied territory, the Konoha shinobi were at an absolute disadvantage.
Most of the time, they were really playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek, trying to drain Sunagakure's strength as much as possible.
Among these teams operating behind Suna lines—
Was Team Hatake.
Originally, they should never have been assigned such a dangerous mission.
But Black Zetsu was capable of altering even the Uchiha Stone Tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths.
Modifying and forging orders from Konoha headquarters was nothing difficult to him.
Such a purely forged order could have been exposed easily if the squad leader had simply confirmed it once.
They would immediately have discovered that someone had tampered with the instructions.
But Hatake Kakashi was obsessively devoted to missions.
Even after receiving a suspicious order—
He did not verify it at all.
He simply led the squad out.
In a massive battle involving more than fifty thousand shinobi between both sides, no one would notice the disappearance of a single three-person squad.
And so—
Without anyone realizing it, Team Hatake walked directly into Black Zetsu's trap.
At this moment, Hatake Kakashi and his team were fleeing.
More than three hundred Sunagakure shinobi were pursuing and encircling them.
They were being chased so relentlessly that they could only run wherever an opening appeared.
The Konoha shinobi being hunted were not limited to one squad.
The jōnin leading the Konoha group was a shinobi from the Nara clan.
He could not understand how their movements had been discovered when they had been so well concealed.
More importantly—
Even after several tactical deceptions that sent the Sunagakure shinobi running in circles, the enemy still managed to locate them almost immediately afterward.
The Nara jōnin knew that this was extremely abnormal.
Either someone was monitoring them nearby—
Or there was a traitor among the Konoha shinobi.
But the enormous difference in numbers left the Konoha side at a complete disadvantage.
He had no opportunity to carefully think through the problem.
So the Nara jōnin made a decision.
"Scatter and retreat!"
"The enemy cannot track all of us!"
Everyone quickly obeyed.
The teams split apart and fled in different directions.
Some squads were surrounded by Suna shinobi and quickly died in battle.
But most managed to escape.
Only Hatake Kakashi's squad—
From beginning to end, they never entered a direct battle.
And yet they could never shake the pursuing Sunagakure forces.
The Suna shinobi failed to notice something strange.
Comrades who had been injured—or even killed—during previous battles had somehow recovered perfectly and rejoined the encirclement.
Under the influence of these revived "shinobi," the Sunagakure forces never lost track of the Konoha squad.
Yet they also never quite caught them.
Hatake Kakashi likewise failed to notice that they were being herded along a completely unfamiliar route.
They were moving toward an area clearly far away from the battlefield.
Eventually, they were trapped near the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire.
With pursuers surrounding them from every direction, they had no choice but to hide inside a concealed cave they had "luckily" discovered.
Even more "luckily," the Sunagakure shinobi failed to find the cave.
Instead—
They launched large-scale Earth Release ninjutsu.
The cave collapsed.
Team Kakashi immediately rushed toward the exit.
But Rin, whose strength was slightly weaker, suffered an injury to her leg.
She was about to die beneath the collapsing rocks.
At the critical moment—
Uchiha Obito awakened the Sharingan.
And not merely a basic awakening.
He directly opened a two-tomoe Sharingan.
For the first time, he displayed his strange talent.
The Sharingan's awakening granted Obito extraordinary dynamic vision.
Even his chakra reserves received a considerable boost.
The suddenly strengthened Uchiha Obito successfully rescued Rin.
But just like in the original history—
Half his body was crushed beneath the collapsing rock.
And specifically—
It was the right half.
An injury that would not kill him immediately.
When Uchiha Yoru arrived, what he saw was an incomparably familiar scene.
Kakashi looked completely lost.
Rin was crying helplessly, not knowing how to treat Obito.
And Uchiha Obito, on the verge of death, was giving his final words.
The scene was so identical to Yoru's memories that he felt no sadness whatsoever.
Only cold calculation.
[Such precisely calibrated "fatal injuries."]
[If this wasn't deliberately arranged, I'll eat Obito myself.]
[So where is Black Zetsu?]
[Found you.]
[Finally.]
Uchiha Yoru had never expected Black Zetsu to be hiding inside a tree less than fifty meters away.
Black Zetsu truly deserved to be called Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's third son.
This hidden manipulator who had lurked throughout the history of the shinobi world possessed an extraordinarily high level of existence.
Even after forming his Golden Core—
Uchiha Yoru still could not directly sense Black Zetsu.
That creature's body seemed capable of devouring every method of perception Yoru used.
Like a black hole, it hid within nature itself.
Completely undetectable.
But at this special moment, Yoru could be certain Black Zetsu was nearby.
Otherwise, he would have no way to protect Obito in time.
An unexpected accident could easily kill Obito outright.
And at such close range—
Yoru could saturate the surrounding environment with his perception and force everything nearby to reflect his spiritual power.
That allowed him to reveal Black Zetsu indirectly through contrast.
When everything else reflected his spiritual power—
The one existence that reflected absolutely nothing became exceptionally obvious.
That could only be Black Zetsu.
Under normal circumstances, Uchiha Yoru could not find him.
Fortunately—
Black Zetsu also could not detect Yoru when Yoru deliberately concealed himself.
Now that Yoru circulated natural energy throughout his body using his Golden Core, he could absorb and gather everything from the surrounding natural environment.
At the same time—
He could merge himself into all things.
This was especially effective when merging into the earth.
The natural concealment provided by the thick soil made him completely invisible to Black Zetsu.
He could even quietly bypass White Zetsu using the Mayfly Technique.
Once he was sufficiently close—
Uchiha Yoru moved with the gentlest possible motion.
Around Black Zetsu, he created an extremely weak barrier.
The barrier had only one function.
Whenever Black Zetsu moved—
A tiny trace of natural energy would attach itself to him.
That would become a signal Uchiha Yoru could track.
Once everything was prepared, Yoru quietly retreated into the distance.
Only then did he cancel his concealed state and approach openly with Miwa Masayo.
Uchiha Yoru's appearance immediately alerted the Sunagakure shinobi.
Then they realized that he was clearly an important figure from the Uchiha clan.
They were overjoyed.
They immediately launched an attack.
By contrast, the White Zetsu in disguise received Black Zetsu's warning.
Without hesitation, they retreated.
They shed their disguises and used the Mayfly Technique to sink underground.
But not every White Zetsu managed to escape.
The calico cat sitting on Uchiha Yoru's shoulder suddenly vanished.
When she reappeared—
She had already caught two White Zetsu.
Miwa Masayo wove white flames into bands and tightly bound the two creatures.
The intense heat scorched them until they screamed repeatedly.
Yet they could not utter a single complete sentence.
Their performance left Miwa Masayo deeply disappointed.
"After abandoning their disguise personalities, they can't even speak properly."
"These are the lowest-grade White Zetsu, meow."
She looked up at Uchiha Yoru.
"Yoru!"
Yoru nodded.
"Don't worry."
"Whether it's the Sunagakure shinobi or the White Zetsu—"
"None of them will escape."
He completely ignored the Sunagakure shinobi charging toward him.
His hands gently came together.
Then he softly shouted,
"Fire!"
The moment that word left his mouth—
Chakra erupted like a tsunami.
The Suna shinobi and the three Konoha shinobi stared in shock.
Before any flames were even released—
The Sunagakure shinobi rushing toward Uchiha Yoru already felt a wave of heat blast into their faces.
In an instant—
Their mouths dried.
Their hair and eyebrows withered.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!
Uchiha Yoru puffed out his cheeks.
Endless flames erupted from his mouth.
A sea of fire spread across the sky like a towering wall of flame, sweeping over every enemy in the surrounding area.
The charging Sunagakure shinobi were the first to be hit.
They were simply too close.
There was no time to react.
They turned into flying ash inside the raging flames.
The Suna shinobi farther away stared at the inferno filling their entire field of vision.
The rolling heat struck their faces.
Their shock was beyond description.
Sunagakure had fought Konoha far too many times.
They were extremely familiar with Fire Release ninjutsu.
Naturally, they had many different methods for countering it.
But every method and ninjutsu designed to deal with normal Fire Release—
Was utterly meaningless against this natural-disaster-like inferno.
It would be like throwing a cup of water into a blazing forest fire.
The Sunagakure shinobi simply gave up resisting.
They murmured,
"Using a technique like this against us…"
"Isn't that far too extravagant?"
The sea of flames rolled past.
The forest became a blazing hell.
Rocks turned red-hot and softened.
Human bodies became ash.
Even the White Zetsu hidden beneath the earth could not withstand such terrifying heat.
They screamed in agony one after another.
Their instincts drove them to burrow deeper underground.
But Uchiha Yoru's Fire Release had been aimed specifically at them.
The damage suffered by the Sunagakure shinobi was merely collateral.
The White Zetsu being deliberately targeted had no time to flee deeper.
Their bodies ignited under the overwhelming heat.
In agony—
They transformed into burning trees.
Inside the airless underground environment, the White Zetsu were practically roasted into charcoal.
Even Black Zetsu—
Whose body could ignore ninjutsu attacks almost like a Truth-Seeking Ball—
Was now staring in utter disbelief.
This was not the first time he had witnessed Fire Release this powerful.
But in the past thousand years—
He had only seen it twice.
The last time—
Was after Uchiha Madara fused Izuna's Sharingan and awakened the Eternal Mangekyō.
Black Zetsu's mind descended into complete confusion.
Countless chaotic thoughts surfaced at once.
[What is going on?]
[How can another Uchiha shinobi be this powerful?]
[Could Uchiha Yoru also be Indra's vessel?]
[No.]
[Impossible.]
[There is only one portion of Indra's soul.]
[Uchiha Madara is still alive.]
[Uchiha Yoru cannot be Indra.]
[This level of Fire Release has already reached the absolute limit of shinobi.]
[Even Uchiha Madara only reached this level after transplanting Izuna's eyes.]
[And Madara was already over thirty years old at the time.]
[Uchiha Yoru isn't even twenty yet.]
[Damn it…]
[Did I choose the wrong person?]
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