From Black Zetsu's perspective, the fact that Uchiha Yoru had managed to reach such extraordinary strength through his own efforts meant that his potential undoubtedly surpassed Uchiha Madara's.
Black Zetsu couldn't help thinking—
If he borrowed Uchiha Yoru's power instead of relying on the already-decrepit Uchiha Madara, wouldn't he have a better chance of rescuing his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?
The more carefully he considered it, the more feasible the idea seemed.
Uchiha Yoru was this powerful.
He must have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He had also become the clan head of the Uchiha clan.
That meant he had almost certainly seen the stone tablet and gained a basic understanding of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Black Zetsu understood the Uchiha clan extremely well.
In his eyes, every Uchiha was an idealist.
And every Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan was an utterly hopeless idealist.
Once they learned of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, they would inevitably be attracted to this method of "solving every problem once and for all."
That would make them extremely easy targets for Black Zetsu to persuade.
[If Madara's plan fails this time, I can simply replace him with Uchiha Yoru.]
[Let Yoru use the Rinnegan and carry out the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.]
While Black Zetsu's thoughts ran wild, Uchiha Yoru voluntarily ended his Fire Release.
With a casual wave of his hand, not only did all the flames disappear—
Even the scorching heat suddenly vanished.
If not for the smoking tree trunks and the charred earth, it would have seemed as though the enormous fire had never happened.
Uchiha Yoru turned his palm upward.
The blackened ground split apart.
One after another, half-charred White Zetsu flew out from underground.
They looked like carbonized tree trunks, but they were actually still alive.
As long as they were planted in suitable soil and watered, they could slowly recover.
If a living root of the Divine Tree could be found and attached to them, their recovery would be even faster and more complete.
Of course, Uchiha Yoru possessed an even simpler method for healing White Zetsu.
Wood Release chakra.
As long as he supplied enough Wood Release chakra containing the laws of the Divine Tree, the White Zetsu could even recover completely in the blink of an eye.
After handing the charred White Zetsu over to Miwa Masayo, Uchiha Yoru raised his hand again.
The enormous boulder exploded apart with a deafening boom.
Hatake Kakashi and his teammates were revealed.
Uchiha Obito's eyes were already hazy.
When he saw Uchiha Yoru, he softly called out,
"Big Brother Yoru…"
Uchiha Yoru took what looked like a slow step, yet instantly arrived in front of Obito.
He smiled.
"You're finally willing to call me Big Brother Yoru at a time like this?"
"Unfortunately, it's already too late."
"You should be calling me Clan Head."
Obito was amused.
But immediately afterward, he coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
Rin cried out in panic and tried to stop the bleeding, only to realize she had no idea what she could do.
Uchiha Yoru pressed a hand against Obito's chest.
He used chakra to stabilize him until his breathing gradually calmed.
Obito asked,
"Clan Head…"
"Can I still survive?"
Uchiha Yoru shook his head.
"Half your body is already gone."
"Even if Tsunade-hime were here, you would only have the faintest chance of being saved."
"She isn't here."
"You're definitely going to die."
"If there's anything you want to say, say it quickly."
Obito continued,
"Clan Head…"
"Please take my teammates away from the battlefield."
"You can definitely do that, right?"
Yoru nodded.
"Obito."
"If this is your final request, I agree."
Kakashi immediately jumped up.
"No!"
"Our mission still hasn't—"
Uchiha Yoru glanced sideways at Kakashi.
The boy instantly froze in place.
Yoru sneered.
"What bullshit mission?"
"Before the battle began, the principle established by the Fourth Hokage was that shinobi under sixteen were forbidden from taking part in behind-enemy-lines missions."
"So what kind of mission did you receive that brought you all the way here?"
Those two sentences immediately drained all color from Kakashi's face.
His entire spirit seemed to collapse.
Yoru sneered again.
"You accepted a mission without verifying it."
"You led your squad straight into a death trap."
"Everything you did afterward to protect them was merely trying to compensate for that first mistake."
Obito hurriedly said,
"Don't blame Captain."
"He already…"
Before he could finish, his face twisted violently in pain.
Large beads of sweat poured down his face, carving muddy streaks across his skin.
Until now, Obito had been able to speak and think calmly because Rin had given him painkillers.
But as his wounds continued bleeding heavily, the concentration of the medicine in his body had fallen so low that it could no longer suppress the pain.
Rin immediately pulled out another dose of painkiller.
Uchiha Yoru stopped her.
"Don't waste it."
"Look at Obito's body."
"He's lost so much blood that even his veins have collapsed."
"Forget giving him medicine orally."
"At this point, you can't even inject it."
"I'll send Obito on his way."
"Don't let him continue suffering."
Without waiting for anyone else's reaction, Uchiha Yoru flipped his hand.
A kunai appeared in his palm.
Four characters were engraved upon it—
"Dao Follows Nature."
"Uchiha Obito."
"Today, the clan head of the Uchiha clan is personally sending you on your way."
"You should be proud."
In the next instant—
The Dao Follows Nature kunai sank into Obito's heart.
Uchiha Yoru's voice was gentle and warm.
His movement was natural and smooth.
There was not the slightest trace of killing intent.
Until the kunai pierced Obito's heart, neither Rin nor Kakashi even realized what had happened.
Not just the two of them—
Even Black Zetsu, hidden nearby, failed to react in time.
Obito's heart had already been pierced.
The fatal blow made Uchiha Obito's body jerk violently as if struck by lightning.
But he had already been on the verge of death.
He simply no longer had the strength to struggle.
More importantly, at the same moment Yoru stabbed into Obito's heart, he deliberately used genjutsu to block Obito's sense of pain.
Obito was finally freed from the agony tormenting him.
The sudden disappearance of pain created an intense sense of comfort by contrast.
His expression relaxed.
There was even a faint trace of relief in his eyes and brows.
As death approached, his brain instinctively released its final surge of dopamine and adrenaline.
The dopamine made Obito feel happy.
The adrenaline gave his collapsing body one last trace of strength.
Uchiha Obito looked at Uchiha Yoru.
"Thank you…"
"Big Brother Yoru."
Then he tilted his head and looked toward his two teammates.
A smile appeared on his face.
"Rin…"
"Kakashi…"
"I was really happy to be your teammate…"
Before he could finish speaking—
The light vanished from Obito's Sharingan.
His pupils dilated.
His breathing stopped.
He died.
Uchiha Yoru's right hand remained firmly wrapped around the kunai until he watched Obito breathe his final breath.
Only after confirming Obito's death completely did he release the weapon and slowly stand.
He lowered his head, looking almost as though he were silently mourning.
Then he softly said,
"Rest in peace, Obito."
But inside Uchiha Yoru's mind—
[Damn it.]
[I finally managed to send this guy Obito off in a perfectly reasonable way.]
[Uchiha Obito is dead.]
[Uchiha Madara has lost his replacement.]
[Black Zetsu's mind should be in chaos now.]
[He won't have the spare attention to notice the barrier I planted.]
[Huh?]
[Why does this suddenly feel so damn satisfying?]
[Black Zetsu spent all this time playing tricks, trying to fake Obito's death and turn a "dead man" into Uchiha Madara's replacement.]
[And all I did was go along with the flow and lightly send out one kunai.]
[That finished Obito off, turned Black Zetsu's efforts into ashes, and shattered Uchiha Madara's plan.]
[Three birds with one stone.]
[No wonder it feels so good!]
[Heh.]
[Since I've already gone this far, I might as well finish the job completely.]
[Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara won't get Uchiha Obito alive.]
[And they won't get his corpse either!]
Uchiha Yoru suddenly asked,
"Uchiha Obito is a hero."
"He should be buried beneath the Memorial Stone."
"Can you bring his body back?"
Hatake Kakashi's face was deathly pale.
But he still gritted his teeth and shook his head.
"We're surrounded by Sunagakure shinobi."
"I can't do it."
Yoru nodded.
"Making you carry back an intact corpse would indeed be too difficult."
"Then you should at least be able to bring his ashes back safely, right?"
Hatake Kakashi took a deep breath.
"I'll do everything I can."
Yoru nodded again.
Then he waved his hand.
A sheet of golden flame fell over Obito's corpse and immediately spread.
It was Scorch Release flame.
As it burned the body, there was no charring or peeling.
There was no gruesome process of flesh splitting apart to expose bone.
Scorch Release simply removed every trace of moisture from the corpse.
And Uchiha Yoru's Scorch Release was far stronger than Pakura's.
The speed at which it evaporated moisture was pushed to the extreme.
Under Yoru's control, the corpse retained its appearance throughout the entire cremation process.
Even the expression on Obito's face remained unchanged.
By the time the golden flames disappeared—
Uchiha Obito's body seemed to have undergone no change at all.
His clothes remained.
His hair remained.
It looked as though the flames had merely burned away the blood that had spilled from his body.
"Ah!"
Seeing the lifelike Obito still wearing a faint smile, Rin couldn't help crying out.
Her voice caused a slight vibration in the air.
The moment that vibration touched Obito's corpse—
The seemingly intact body suddenly collapsed.
It became a pile of pale ash.
"Ahhh—!"
Rin's startled cry turned into a scream.
But that scream actually snapped Kakashi back to awareness.
His mind regained clarity.
Kakashi had already figured it out.
Obito's death was his responsibility.
He had failed to properly verify the mission.
He had carelessly trusted a mission document of unknown origin and led his entire squad straight into a death trap.
Only after the clan head of the Uchiha personally came to rescue them had they escaped a situation that should have killed all three of them.
But Uchiha Obito had still died.
And he had died directly in front of the Uchiha clan head who came to save them.
Unexpectedly, this clan head had been extremely magnanimous.
He was allowing Kakashi to bring Obito's ashes home.
That was both a test—
And a way for him to step down with dignity.
Hatake Kakashi could not refuse.
He made up his mind.
Even if it cost him his life—
He would safely deliver Obito's ashes back to Konoha.
Otherwise, he would be even worse than the father he had once despised.
Hatake Kakashi took out a metal box.
Handful by handful, he gathered Obito's ashes into it.
After sealing the box, he tied it firmly against his chest.
He bowed to Uchiha Yoru.
Then he pulled the sobbing Rin away and departed.
After they left—
Uchiha Yoru left as well.
He stormed angrily in the direction of South Gate Stone Bridge.
From the look of him, it seemed as though he intended to slaughter his way through the battlefield to vent his fury.
Once everyone was gone, the battlefield fell silent again.
A long time passed.
Only then did Black Zetsu quietly emerge from the shadows.
He walked to the place where Obito had died and been reduced to ashes.
He inspected the area carefully.
Not a single detail escaped him.
Only after confirming that absolutely no trace of Obito's flesh or blood remained did he helplessly sigh.
"What was Uchiha Yoru thinking?"
"Why would he personally kill Obito?"
"And he even burned Obito's corpse into ashes."
"How am I supposed to explain this to Uchiha Madara now?"
"Ah…"
"I'm going to get cursed at again."
"He might even beat me."
"This really is…"
"Such a headache."
Black Zetsu muttered continuously as he merged back into the shadows.
Through some indescribable shadowy layer of the world, he rapidly traveled north.
His mind was filled with chaotic thoughts.
Because of that—
He failed to notice the faint trace of natural energy radiating from his body.
High in the sky—
Uchiha Yoru followed that strand of natural energy that originated from himself.
He remained far behind Black Zetsu.
In truth, the Uchiha Yoru who had gone toward South Gate Stone Bridge was merely a Wood Clone.
His real body had never left from beginning to end.
He had been waiting the entire time for Black Zetsu to appear.
Whether as clan head of the Uchiha—
Or as the strongest being in the shinobi world—
Uchiha Yoru did not want Uchiha Madara to die and then resurrect at full strength.
Much less become Six Paths Madara.
It wasn't because Yoru feared that he couldn't defeat Madara.
Rather—
Madara's strength was so overwhelming that he could too easily cause catastrophic destruction throughout the shinobi world and Konoha.
In Uchiha Yoru's eyes—
The Uchiha clan belonged to him.
Konoha belonged to him.
Even the flowers and grass of the shinobi world belonged to him.
Wouldn't he feel heartbroken if Uchiha Madara destroyed them?
After all—
It was precisely to protect his property, and also to preserve his cultivation time, that Uchiha Yoru had refused to violently unify the shinobi world.
His strength had already surpassed Senju Hashirama.
He truly possessed enough power to forcibly destroy all Five Great Shinobi Villages.
But then what?
Who would govern such an enormous shinobi world afterward?
If he recklessly destroyed the existing shinobi-village order, the world would inevitably fall into chaos.
It might even regress to something resembling the Warring States Period.
Human nature was to form groups.
People formed groups to protect themselves—
And to bully others.
If gathering into large shinobi villages meant being destroyed by Uchiha Yoru, people would naturally reorganize into smaller units like clans and secret organizations.
Countless shinobi clans would spring up across the entire world.
Secret shinobi organizations that had once been suppressed by the major villages would grow like weeds after a forest had been cut down.
Uchiha Yoru did not have that much time or energy.
And no matter how many times he swept away those enemies, new ones would quickly appear.
Chaos would become the dominant state of the shinobi world.
Heaven only knew how much would be lost.
And all of those losses—
Would be Uchiha Yoru's losses!
So he would rather wait longer.
Wait for Konoha to develop under Orochimaru's leadership.
Wait for the village to accumulate enough shinobi.
If Konoha's total shinobi population eventually reached half—or even two-thirds—of all shinobi in the world—
Then Uchiha Yoru could act without hesitation.
He could happily lead Konoha's shinobi to sweep across every shinobi village in the world, seize control of the entire shinobi world, and achieve its first true unification.
At that point—
He could place an Uchiha Hokage at the top.
On the surface, Konoha and the Land of Fire would rule the entire shinobi world.
Meanwhile, Yoru himself would secretly control every aspect of the world through the Uchiha clan and the even more concealed Divine Court Conference.
The shinobi world would fall into his pocket with the least possible damage.
Once he truly controlled the shinobi world—
Uchiha Yoru could organize manpower to explore it and develop all kinds of resources useful for immortal cultivation.
Everything would contribute to his great path of cultivation.
If resources became abundant enough—
He could even spread cultivation methods and attract more geniuses to walk his path.
Those geniuses could then continuously provide him with inspiration.
Flying high in the sky, Uchiha Yoru imagined his dream becoming reality.
Every day, he could enjoy endless delicacies and rare treasures of heaven and earth.
When he was in the mood—
He could focus completely on cultivation and contemplate the Great Dao.
When the urge struck—
He could travel.
Visit the Northern Sea in the morning and Cangwu by sunset.
Just imagining that life felt wonderful.
Oh, right.
He could also casually watch some future-generation Hokage work themselves into tears every day—
While he and Miwa Masayo relaxed without a care.
With the Hokage's suffering as contrast—
His own life would feel even more comfortable.
Therefore—
Uchiha Yoru could not tolerate an extraordinarily destructive person like Uchiha Madara.
If left uncontrolled, Madara could destroy half the shinobi world.
That was all Yoru's property!
Right now, Uchiha Madara was at the lowest point of his strength.
As long as Yoru found him—
He could eliminate him easily.
There would be no enormous destruction to the shinobi world.
As for the other extremely destructive force—
Nagato—
Although his strength had not yet reached its peak, he controlled the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, a weapon capable of overturning the entire board.
That required caution.
He had to proceed gradually.
After dealing with Uchiha Madara, Yoru could obtain concrete intelligence on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Then he could gather intelligence on Nagato himself through Konan.
Only by combining both sets of information could he formulate a specific plan targeting Nagato.
Just like with Uchiha Madara—
He would try to take him down at the smallest possible cost.
Drifting through the high sky, Uchiha Yoru followed Black Zetsu all the way north.
They headed toward the border region where the Land of Grass, Land of Rain, and Land of Fire met.
…
At the same time—
After two days and three nights of infiltration operations, Minato Namikaze's squad finally reached South Gate Stone Bridge.
The most critical battle of this campaign began.
Uchiha Fugaku truly did not hold back.
The moment the battle began—
He activated the second stage of Susanoo.
The crimson upper-body giant directly endured the attacks of several hundred Sunagakure shinobi.
It merely raised one arm to protect its head and steadily advanced.
With Susanoo handling the frontal pressure—
Aburame Shibi could safely control his kikaichū.
The insects attacked and harassed the Sunagakure shinobi, disrupting their formation.
The instant the enemy formation fell into disorder—
Squad leader Minato Namikaze seized the opportunity.
He rushed directly into the Sunagakure ranks and began a slaughter.
At this point, Minato Namikaze still did not know the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He had not yet earned the title of the fastest shinobi in the world.
But his speed already far exceeded ordinary shinobi reaction times.
After charging into the Sunagakure formation, he could easily circle behind the Suna shinobi.
He calmly chose his targets—
Then drove his kunai into their lower backs.
The kidneys were among the most vulnerable vital points in the human body.
An injury there would not kill instantly.
But it could produce terrifying pain.
Even a shinobi, after being stabbed in the lower back, would immediately collapse to the ground and lose all ability to resist.
Then Minato would finish them by cutting their throat.
In only a few minutes—
Minato Namikaze had picked out every jōnin from among several hundred Suna shinobi.
One by one—
He stabbed them in the kidneys and slit their throats.
Sunagakure's command structure collapsed.
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