Chapter 433: Black Zetsu
The border of the Land of Rain, a desolate hilly region.
Within this lifeless landscape, an inhuman existence utterly incompatible with its surroundings was flowing across the ground in liquid form with terrifying speed.
Fleeing desperately toward the border of the Land of Rain—or more precisely, away from the Hidden Rain Village, away from that ocean where a fate-deciding battle had just concluded.
It had no fixed form, appearing more like a pool of thick black sludge forcibly given will and mobility.
The main body writhed constantly, its surface forming a twisted mouth composed of simple lines and a pair of dark yellow eyes.
This was Black Zetsu, who had slipped away early from the Rain Village battlefield and decisively abandoned all its pawns upon seeing the situation turn unfavorable.
At this moment, Black Zetsu's inner state stood in stark contrast to its silent, stealthy appearance—it was boiling with violent emotions that threatened to incinerate even itself!
Bastard... damn it... curse this all—!!
Soundless roars reverberated madly through its chaotic consciousness core.
There was no specific target for its curses, or rather, it was cursing fate itself, cursing the heavens!
Why?!
Why toy with it like this?!
A thousand years of waiting! A thousand years of forbearance! A thousand years of meticulous planning and covert manipulation! It had been like a spider lurking in the crevices of history, tirelessly weaving a vast web spanning eons of time, waiting for the final moment to close the net and welcome Mother's return!
Finally, this generation had produced Uchiha Madara—so brilliantly talented that he'd successfully fused Asura's power and awakened the Rinnegan in his twilight years! An Indra reincarnation who achieved what none had in a millennium! This was the most crucial step in the plan!
It had guided Madara... step by step. The moment to begin collecting the Tailed Beasts had been so close, the activation of Infinite Tsukuyomi within reach, the recovery of Mother's scattered chakra almost complete, the perfect vessel for Mother's resurrection nearly prepared...
Why?! Why had everything shattered so thoroughly, so utterly without warning?!
That damned, inexplicable Ember organization! That leader wearing a fox mask, calling himself "Menma," whose strength was absurdly overwhelming!
How could he know so many secrets?!
Especially that "Menma"—no, now it knew, he was Uzumaki Naruto! This generation's Asura chakra reincarnation!
Why?! Why did this generation's Asura reincarnation know those top secrets about Mother, about the Otsutsuki Clan, about the truth of the Moon's Eye Plan—secrets that even Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama didn't know?!
Black Zetsu's heart brimmed with grief, fury, and unwillingness. It felt as though its thousand years of effort were like a sandcastle carefully built over countless days and nights, easily and completely destroyed by a single careless kick from a passing child, leaving not even the slightest possibility of recovery!
A thousand years!
It had endured loneliness, witnessed generation after generation of humans experiencing birth, aging, sickness, and death, love and hate, sowing discord between Indra and Asura reincarnations like manipulating chess pieces. Each failure meant another cycle of decades of waiting and renewed planning...
Why couldn't any of the Indra reincarnations ever defeat Asura?!
This resentment had almost become its nightmare.
The plan had failed completely. Forget resurrecting Mother Kaguya—now it couldn't even resurrect the important pawn Uchiha Madara.
Obito was dead, Nagato finished, the Akatsuki organization existed in name only, not a single Tailed Beast captured... Its life's work, destroyed in an instant!
"But..."
Within that pool of black liquid, its eyes flickered with cold, twisted calculating light.
At this point... there were no other options.
All its pawns, both overt and covert, were essentially gone. That Uzumaki Naruto, this generation's Asura reincarnation, possessed ridiculously overwhelming strength and knew far too much. With him present, it had absolutely no chance of implementing the Moon's Eye Plan.
But so what if he's powerful... so what if he knows so much!
Black Zetsu thought bitterly.
After all, Uzumaki Naruto... no matter how strong, no matter how much he knew, was ultimately still human. Flesh and blood, subject to aging, fatigue, and death.
Even the Sage of Six Paths—that demigod child of Mother, possessing Otsutsuki bloodline and divine power—hadn't he ultimately been claimed by his lifespan, turning to dust in history?
Humans have their limits.
But Black Zetsu, as a consciousness construct created by Kaguya through Yin-Yang Release, possessed infinite lifespan! It could wait! Time was the one thing it had in abundance!
After all... it had already waited a thousand years...
What difference would waiting another cycle make!
Wait until Uzumaki Naruto's generation passed, wait until his power weakened with time or succession complications arose, wait until new Indra and Asura reincarnations appeared, wait until new hatred and conflict bred in this world...
Then, Black Zetsu would emerge once again from history's shadows, just as it had for the past millennium, resuming its manipulation, scheming, and guidance.
Wait for the next generation... and the one after that...
I will definitely find an opportunity to resurrect Mother!
"Found you."
But suddenly, a voice appeared, driving straight into Black Zetsu's consciousness core that had been boiling with rage and calculation.
"Can't let you escape."
Swoosh—!
Less than three meters ahead of Black Zetsu, a pitch-black rift tore open without warning—Yomotsu Hirasaka!
Immediately after, a figure stepped out from that abyss-like portal.
Uzumaki Naruto appeared just like that—abruptly yet inevitably—blocking Black Zetsu's desperate flight path and sealing off all escape routes.
His gaze fell calmly on the black liquid ahead that had frozen in extreme shock, even beginning to "boil" slightly.
"You bastard!!!"
"Can't let you pull any more tricks."
Naruto looked at the shock and unwillingness on Black Zetsu's face and spoke slowly. "Through manipulating hearts and sowing discord, exploiting tragedy and obsession... treating the entire world as a chessboard, countless people's fates as chess pieces, pushing everything step by step to this point..."
"From a certain perspective, you're truly terrifying."
As his words fell, Naruto raised his right hand, palm upward.
Pure white light silently manifested and condensed.
Rasengan: Solar Core.
Black Zetsu's eyes locked onto that white sphere. "Wait... wait a moment!!!"
Black Zetsu's voice suddenly became shrill and urgent, filled with unprecedented panic and pleading.
"We can negotiate! You know, don't you?! In a few decades! Mother's kin—the true Otsutsuki Clan—will arrive on this planet!"
It desperately threw out what it considered its weightiest bargaining chip.
"Help me resurrect Mother! With Mother's power, plus yours! We can completely resist those Otsutsuki! I can help convince Mother! We can cooperate! Rule this world, even..."
"That won't be necessary."
Naruto cleanly interrupted Black Zetsu's tempting, survival-driven proposal.
"What you've done for a thousand years boils down to sowing discord, inciting hatred, creating and exploiting war and tragedy, doesn't it?"
"And I... hate war most of all."
Hated those meaningless sacrifices, those hatreds twisted by conspiracy, those wars ignited by selfish desires.
"However..." Naruto's tone suddenly shifted. "I am a bit curious."
"A creation of Yin-Yang Release... do you have a soul?"
Black Zetsu was stunned by this abrupt question.
"If you do."
"You might... see Kaguya very soon."
"!!?"
Black Zetsu's thoughts froze for an instant, but there was no time for further contemplation or reaction.
Because the Rasengan: Solar Core floating in Naruto's palm had already been gently pushed forward.
At a constant, unavoidable speed, calmly, directly... it drifted toward that frozen pool of black liquid.
"Damn it all—!! Bastard—!!!"
Black Zetsu released its final roar, filled with unwillingness and venom!
"You're nothing but a part of the ninja history I created! A coincidentally born brat who got lucky—!! Don't think... don't think you can eliminate me so easily—!!!"
It cursed frantically, attempting a final struggle.
However, all resistance appeared so pale and powerless before absolute strength.
The white sphere lightly, soundlessly... touched the edge of that black liquid pool.
The instant of contact—Black Zetsu's body composed of Yin-Yang Release, which had existed for a thousand years, along with the malicious consciousness it carried, was completely enveloped by the extreme heat and energy of 15 million degrees Celsius.
Black Zetsu had no time to feel any pain. Its final maintained form remained twisted, cursing, filled with unwillingness.
Then—it vanished.
Naruto slowly lowered his hand, the light in his palm completely fading. He stood quietly in place, the golden pupil patterns of his Star Eye gradually calming, returning to ordinary azure blue.
His perception swept meticulously across dozens of miles in all directions—every inch of earth, every wisp of air, every fluctuation of chakra.
No longer was there that cold, viscous, malice-filled presence.
No longer was there that phantom hiding in history's shadows, orchestrating countless tragedies.
"Finally..."
Naruto released a long, deep breath, invisible burdens slowly exhaled along with it.
In the distant sky, dark clouds gathered low again, but the oppressive chakra battle storm from the Rain Village direction had completely subsided.
Obito executed, Black Zetsu annihilated, Nagato persuaded, the Moon's Eye Plan's core conspirators and executors uprooted completely...
"...It's over."
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