"Sanada Kazama!"
At that moment, Black Zetsu also spotted Kazama.
After all, Black Zetsu's sensory abilities were just as sharp as Kazama's.
"A member of Akatsuki showing up in a bandit's treasure cave? Interesting. Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Before Kazama's words even settled, he'd already flashed behind Black Zetsu.
Kazama knew his current strength wasn't enough to kill Black Zetsu for good.
But since they'd crossed paths here, he was going to make Black Zetsu suffer a bit.
After all, this guy was the mastermind behind the Fourth Great Ninja War.
With a single punch, Kazama pierced straight through Black Zetsu's chest.
It looked like an ordinary punch, but it carried the full force of his Strange Fire power.
And not just one—all twelve types of Strange Fire.
"Kid! I don't have a heart. That move's useless against me, haha!"
Even with his chest pierced, Black Zetsu didn't care one bit.
"I know. That's why I'm going to burn you to ashes!"
"What?!"
Right then, the twelve Strange Fires instantly engulfed Black Zetsu's entire body.
In a flash, Black Zetsu became a walking inferno, reduced to nothing.
"You're nowhere near strong enough to kill me!"
But then, Black Zetsu emerged from the ground again, wrapping Kazama's body completely.
"Kid, I'll be taking your body now. Spirit Fusion!"
Black Zetsu tried to use his trump card to control Kazama.
Too bad he underestimated Kazama's power.
Forget the indestructible Volcanic Stone Flame coating Kazama's body.
The twelve Strange Fires inside Kazama were more than Black Zetsu could handle.
"It's not working?!"
Black Zetsu was shocked. Even though he'd wrapped Kazama's body, he still couldn't take control.
"Nine Dragon Thunder Flame!"
While Black Zetsu reeled in shock, nine dragons of thunder and fire burst out from Kazama's body.
Terrified, Black Zetsu quickly let go of Kazama.
But even then, he couldn't escape the onslaught of the nine thunder-flame dragons.
"I can't kill you, but I can sure make you regret crossing me!"
With a cold smirk, Kazama watched as the nine dragons relentlessly attacked Black Zetsu.
"Kazama, you bastard! You'll pay for this!"
Hearing Black Zetsu's curses echo from below, Kazama knew he'd escaped underground.
Black Zetsu's body could endlessly tear and repair itself, so without the Power of the Six Paths, killing him was impossible.
Kazama had known this all along, so his goal was just to scare Black Zetsu off.
That way, he could safely move the treasure in the cave.
Still, Kazama was curious about why Black Zetsu was here in the first place.
He walked over to the bandit leader.
After questioning him, Kazama learned the bandits were acting under Black Zetsu's orders.
They'd been told to kidnap the Fire Country's princess to extort a massive ransom, funding Akatsuki's operations.
"Too bad all this gold and treasure's going to Oto ninja village now, haha!"
With that, Kazama used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transport all the gold and treasure back to Oto.
Meanwhile, after escaping, Black Zetsu immediately contacted Pain, asking him to help take down Kazama.
But when Pain and Black Zetsu returned to the cave, Kazama was long gone.
"Damn it! That little punk got away!"
Black Zetsu cursed under his breath.
"Let's just grab the gold and treasure from the cave before anything else goes wrong."
"Don't worry! There's so much here, no ordinary person could even dream of moving it all."
Black Zetsu led Pain to the treasure's hiding spot.
"What the hell happened here?!"
The gold and treasure, which had been perfectly fine before, were now completely gone.
Black Zetsu and Pain could only stare at each other in disbelief.