Far from the battlefield, Spiral Zetsu emerged from a rock using the Mayfly Technique, then leaned against the stone and watched the show unfold.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path versus the so-called Demigod of the Shinobi World.
That wasn't the kind of spectacle you got to see every day.
Then suddenly—
A sharp whistle of air split above his head.
Uchiha Suigiku had closed in from Spiral Zetsu's blind spot without him noticing. He vaulted over the boulder and slashed downward with his short blade in one brutal strike.
He thought he had him.
But then—
He saw Spiral Zetsu already looking up at him.
Three tomoe Sharingan.
Watching him.
And in that instant, Suigiku understood something instinctively—
Spiral Zetsu had seen him coming the whole time.
That ease.
That calm.
That complete lack of urgency.
The gap between them was enormous.
And as their eyes met, Suigiku felt it—
Disdain.
Maybe contempt for his strength.
Maybe contempt for him.
Maybe both.
Spiral Zetsu simply tilted his head and let the blade pass by his mask, then leapt forward.
Suigiku kicked off the rock and chased after him.
One slash after another.
Fast. Ruthless. Precise.
But no matter how quickly he swung—
He couldn't even graze the hem of Spiral Zetsu's cloak.
Behind them was another cliff.
Spiral Zetsu jumped off without hesitation.
Danzo saw Suigiku follow him down and immediately gave chase.
At the bottom of the cliff, Spiral Zetsu kept running.
Suigiku pursued relentlessly.
Danzo glanced back once toward the battle around the Demonic Statue.
His eyes narrowed.
So that was it.
Spiral Zetsu clearly feared him.
He didn't want Danzo and Hanzo joining forces against Nagato, so he was deliberately luring him away.
Danzo thought, Fine by me…
After several minutes of pursuit, and after dropping down a series of stepped cliff ledges, Danzo finally caught up again.
Suigiku and Spiral Zetsu had stopped.
Both were standing perfectly still.
Suigiku was using genjutsu.
Uchiha Gogo's Mangekyō had never shown much talent in illusion arts.
But genjutsu…
That was Suigiku's specialty.
Danzo watched Spiral Zetsu standing frozen in place and thought to himself:
As expected… only the Sharingan can truly counter the Sharingan.
Seeing his illusion take hold, Suigiku exploded into motion.
His short blade thrust straight toward Spiral Zetsu's mask.
Danzo's pupils contracted sharply.
Here it comes.
The Mangekyō ability.
And then—
A black point suddenly appeared beneath Suigiku's feet.
It expanded instantly—
Spreading into a dark, pitch-black patch of corrupted ground.
Abyssal Collapse.
As soon as Suigiku stepped on it, he would be crushed into paste.
One of Uchiha Gogo's Mangekyō abilities—
Mangekyō: Island of Miasmic Collapse.
But Suigiku had already prepared for that possibility.
Not only did he not pull back—
He pushed harder with his rear leg.
His entire body launched forward.
He avoided the black zone…
And would now reach Spiral Zetsu's mask even faster.
Spiral Zetsu's movements abruptly sharpened.
He raised one hand, caught Suigiku by the wrist—
And violently hurled him down toward the ground.
Toward the black collapse zone.
Suigiku's eyes widened in shock.
Why was Spiral Zetsu's taijutsu this terrifying?
Even the strongest taijutsu users in Konoha shouldn't have been this ridiculous.
But he didn't despair.
He wasn't fighting alone.
Danzo-sama was here.
If Danzo attacked from the side with a Wind Release—
He'd be saved.
Spiral Zetsu, meanwhile, was still throwing Suigiku down while keeping one eye on Danzo.
He guarded against the left.
The right.
The rear.
But what he never expected—
Was Danzo attacking from the one angle no sane person would choose.
The front.
That bastard.
Danzo had appeared directly ahead—
Using Suigiku's falling body as a stepping stone.
Just moments earlier, Suigiku had thrown himself forward to avoid the Island of Miasmic Collapse.
But Danzo had instantly turned him into a tool.
He stepped directly on Suigiku's back—
Using that momentum to vault forward and bypass the black zone himself.
A frontal assault.
An attack so shamelessly practical that it caught both Spiral Zetsu and Suigiku off guard.
Suigiku had already considered the possibility that Danzo wouldn't save him.
He could even accept being sacrificed if it meant Danzo striking Spiral Zetsu from behind.
That, at least, was Root.
That was "for Konoha."
But he had never imagined—
That Danzo wouldn't just abandon him…
He would use him.
Literally.
Danzo's foot slammed into Suigiku's back.
Suigiku's waist bent downward first, his body folding like a helpless shrimp.
Then his abdomen touched the black collapse zone.
And in that final instant—
Only cold despair remained.
Danzo-sama always said that for the sake of Konoha, everyone should be prepared to sacrifice themselves.
Wave after wave of Root operatives had died under that doctrine.
Because Danzo himself, supposedly, had the same resolve.
Suigiku had watched many others die for Danzo.
But when that person became him—
All he felt…
Was cold.
In the next moment—
Uchiha Suigiku collapsed into a puddle of mangled flesh.
Using Suigiku as a springboard, Danzo's Vacuum Blade also struck true.
Wind Release chakra sharpened the kunai into a slicing blade.
It pierced Spiral Zetsu's throat cleanly.
The spiral mask shell—
The flesh underneath—
His throat—
His neck—
Everything was skewered.
Danzo immediately followed up, lunging forward with three clawed fingers aimed straight at Spiral Zetsu's eye.
His eyes gleamed with triumph.
A perfect tactic had to account for everything.
Especially surprise.
Who would ever expect…
That your ally was part of the attack vector?
Teammates could be tactical assets too.
Then—
Smack.
Danzo's fingers stopped dead.
Only five centimeters from the mask.
Spiral Zetsu's had caught his wrist.
Danzo froze.
What?
How was he still moving?
The Vacuum Blade had pierced his throat completely.
His neck was practically severed.
Only a thin strip of flesh on either side still connected it.
And Vacuum Blade wasn't some tiny puncture.
It was a broad, lethal slash.
Even White Zetsu creations made from Wood Release cells would die from that.
But Spiral Zetsu…
Spiral Zetsu was gripping Danzo's wrist firmly.
And instead of immediately dealing with him—
He turned his head and glanced upward toward the cliff.
Someone was coming.
In the next instant, Spiral Zetsu gripped Danzo with one hand, stepped on the fleshy remains of Suigiku with one foot—
And all three—
Man, corpse-mud, and attacker—
Vanished.
Several dozen seconds later…
Another Spiral Zetsu slowly walked out.
He looked around the base of the cliff in confusion.
Inside the spiral mask, two voices murmured back and forth.
"What was that? Did I just see you?"
"See me? More like you saw yourself."
"There are deep footprints in the ground. Someone fought here just now."
"The rain hasn't washed the traces away yet. So yeah… someone definitely did."
"That's so weird. I really feel like I saw you."
"Which means I saw myself."
"Forget it. Let's go watch Nagato first."
"This is the most important lesson in his growth. We need to properly evaluate how he handles it."
Spiral Zetsu turned to leave.
Then—
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu rose from the ground like a grotesque pitcher plant.
White Zetsu blurted out immediately:
"Uchiha Madara-sama was killed by Konoha's Fox!"
Black Zetsu added more calmly:
"Don't get so worked up. Madara-sama never planned to live much longer anyway."
"The Demonic Statue and the Rinnegan have already been entrusted to Nagato."
"All we need to do now is ensure Nagato keeps growing."
"What?!" Spiral Zetsu grabbed both sides of the Zetsu shell and yanked so hard he nearly tore it apart.
"Why so suddenly?!"
"Wasn't Madara-sama waiting for us to report back on Nagato's development?!"
Black Zetsu replied coldly:
"Fox has roughly half of Hashirama Senju's strength."
"And Madara-sama had already passed the Demonic Statue on to Nagato."
"Without the Statue's support, without that external life force—"
"Losing to Fox wasn't exactly shocking."
"What matters now is Nagato."
"And the sealing of all nine tailed beasts."
He paused.
Then his tone sharpened.
"But one thing is certain."
"We need a way to deal with Fox."
"That ANBU… is far too dangerous."