Uchiha Ran's heart tightened when he heard those words. If not for the fact that he was a transmigrator who had watched Naruto, he might truly have been fooled by Black Zetsu's nonsense.
It was simply too perfect.
From childhood experiences to the ambitions and desires buried deep in one's heart, Black Zetsu could recount everything flawlessly. At times, it even felt as though it understood you better than you understood yourself—not just your life, but your psychology as well.
"…."
Uchiha Ran's expression remained calm. He neither agreed nor denied it, merely staring straight at Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu carefully observed his face, screaming inwardly in excitement.
Too similar—far too similar! This expression is exactly the same as the one Uchiha Madara had the first time I met him!
"I don't know where you learned all this," Ran said calmly, turning away, "but what you said is incomplete. I can't trust you."
With that, he prepared to leave.
Black Zetsu's voice drifted over from behind him.
"What a pity. Your ideology is clearly to end the chaos of this ninja world, yet your future is destined to be empty behind you."
The instant those words fell, the previously calm wilderness plunged into a suffocating silence.
Then—
A violent surge of chakra erupted outward.
Uchiha Ran slammed his right hand onto the ground.
Deep-blue chains burst from the earth like serpents, whipping and twisting as they shot toward Black Zetsu.
At first, Black Zetsu thought it was an ordinary offensive ninjutsu. Its lips curled slightly as it sneered inwardly.
As expected—an idiot. Just a little smarter than that fool Uchiha Madara.
But the moment it clearly saw the chains, its expression changed completely.
"Th-this is—Adamantine Sealing Chains?!"
It had personally witnessed Kushina use this technique to restrain the Nine-Tails during the Nine-Tails Incident. The sealing power contained within it was so dense that even Black Zetsu had been deeply wary back then.
And now, those chains were aimed directly at it.
Panic surged through Black Zetsu. Without hesitation, it dove straight into the ground, trying to evade the technique.
But how could Uchiha Ran not anticipate this?
He closed his eyes and used chakra perception to guide the chains. The deep-blue chains smashed through soil and rock, twisting underground as they chased Black Zetsu relentlessly.
Black Zetsu was terrified.
It couldn't be sealed here—absolutely not.
Its mission was unfinished. Its mother had yet to be rescued. The chakra fruit formed from the entire ninja world had not yet been offered to her.
It could not fall. It could not fail. It could not end here.
Suddenly, it sensed a White Zetsu nearby.
Joy flashed across its face.
In an instant, it darted toward that presence.
The White Zetsu lurking underground was completely stunned.
"Huh? What's wrong with Black Zetsu? Why can't I move—"
Black Zetsu swept past it. That pitch-black mass extended an arm, leaving behind a trace of its aura on the White Zetsu before vanishing in a flash.
The White Zetsu stared blankly at its retreating figure.
"…Strange. What's it doing?"
Before it could finish speaking, a chain pierced straight through its chest.
"AAAAHHH! It hurts—it hurts!"
The Adamantine Sealing Chains showed no mercy. The chain impaling its chest morphed into a triangular hook, digging deeply into its body.
White Zetsu desperately grabbed at the chains, trying to pull them free. Instead, the chains tightened, their glow deepening.
A burning sensation erupted from its palms.
"AAAAHHH—!"
More chains followed, binding its limbs one after another. Wherever the chains touched, searing pain spread instantly.
Uchiha Ran snorted coldly and yanked upward.
Clang—clang!
The chains collided as they dragged the captured target up from beneath the earth, breaking through the soil.
When Ran saw what he had caught, his expression froze—and he immediately understood.
Black Zetsu had deliberately left its aura on the White Zetsu, using it as a decoy. Underground, without vision, the Adamantine Sealing Chains could only lock onto residual chakra signatures.
White Zetsu was howling hysterically.
"AAAAHHH! It hurts! Let me go! I don't want to die yet! I haven't even experienced what it's like to poop! I don't want to die!"
The piercing screams grated on Ran's nerves.
He was just about to destroy it outright when a thought crossed his mind.
His hand seals changed.
The chains shifted their configuration, tightly binding White Zetsu into a cocoon before Ran casually tossing it away.
In the next instant, White Zetsu vanished—thrown directly into the system space.
System:
"??? Hey! Why are you dumping everything on me? My space isn't a junk yard!"
"Oh, thanks," Ran replied indifferently.
Ignoring the system's protests, his consciousness returned fully to reality. He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the distance.
Letting Black Zetsu escape this time was certainly a mistake—but it wasn't without gain.
At the very least, he had confirmed one thing.
Black Zetsu, which was immune to ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, did have a weakness.
Sealing techniques.
More precisely, Black Zetsu feared being sealed—because sealing meant losing the chance to rescue its mother.
In its heart, its own existence was worth far less than freeing its mother from the moon.
That was why it hadn't dared to gamble on whether the sealing would work—and chose to flee instead.
At the coastal border of the Land of Fire, Black Zetsu's figure reappeared.
Its expression was still unsettled, and deep within its eyes lurked a trace of resentment.
It had underestimated Uchiha Ran.
It had treated him as another Uchiha Madara—and overestimated itself, believing that its words alone could sway the convictions of an ambitious man.
"Uchiha Ran… you are impressive. Far smarter than Uchiha Madara," Black Zetsu muttered coldly.
"But as long as the Tailed Beasts exist within the major ninja villages, you will never unify this world."
"To achieve true unification, you must gather all the Tailed Beasts into Konoha."
"And the moment you do, the Eye of the Moon Plan will begin."
"No one—not even you, Uchiha Ran—can stop the grand plan I have prepared for thousands of years!"
Whether he was speaking to others or convincing himself, even Black Zetsu couldn't tell.
Mother is still suffering on the moon.
I must never forget.
I will free her, restore her freedom, and allow her to once again become the progenitor of chakra in this world.
Nearby, a White Zetsu quietly poked its head out of the ground, listening to Black Zetsu's monologue without saying a word.
---
Hidden Mist Village
It was still that remote place, still the same group of people gathered together.
Their faces were filled with shame, embarrassment, and deep dissatisfaction as they listened to the news brought back by the Hidden Mist envoy.
They wanted to denounce Uchiha Ran—
But before they could speak, they noticed that Genshi had fallen into deep contemplation.
Beside him, the future Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī, was doing the same.
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