Chapter 330: The Rift, Dense Clouds
"Hm!?"
Third Mizukage Bailan was taken aback as Uchiha Ci—whom he believed he had firmly trapped—suddenly made an unexpected move.
"There's at least three hundred meters between us."
"A clenched fist is only about ten centimeters long. Add in the reach of the arm, and even then, it's just seventy centimeters at most. Swinging a fist from this distance? Useless. At best, it stirs the air a little. Even if his taijutsu is strong enough to brawl with tailed beasts at close range…"
"But…"
"At this distance, such a feeble punch—how could it possibly reach me?"
With that thought, a mocking smile tugged at the corners of Bailan's lips.
Thanks to the relentless spread of intel by Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure, he was well aware of Uchiha Ci's newly displayed taijutsu skills—formidable enough to fight on the level of tailed beasts.
The crucial detail was—
In his battle against the Jinchūriki of the Four-Tails and Eight-Tails, every one of Uchiha Ci's final attacks was made at close range. Meaning that in this state, he had a glaring weakness—
His arms weren't long enough.
But then—
Bailan's face stiffened in an instant.
"Wait—what is that!?"
In front of him, Uchiha Ci twisted his waist and slammed his foot into the ground, launching a punch forward.
From his fist erupted a sonic boom, blasting upward into the air, distorting even the atmosphere itself!
Then—
A burst of light suddenly ignited from in front of him.
It surged across the vast icy plain, sweeping through the blinding haze, spanning the entire 300 meters—until it blazed right in front of the forty-meter-tall wooden colossus.
And then—
BOOM!!!
The shockwave from his punch exploded out from the beam of light!
The roaring beam burst like the petals of a mandala flower, flaring outward with a deafening blast!
Sea water, whipped into a cyclone by the punch's fierce wind, surged into spinning blades of liquid; the pitch-dark night was lit up by the dazzling aurora; everything was drowned in blinding white!
The ice beneath Uchiha Ci's feet instantly shattered—
Under this purely physical attack, on par with the Daytime Tiger, the sea water evaporated in an instant. The vast ice plain split clean in two. Nearly a hundred reinforced ice walls—strengthened by spore techniques—wavered and burst apart. Even the forest growing atop the ice plain was obliterated down to the last twig!
On the other side—
The mighty punch crossed the 300-meter gap, slamming into Bailan's head. His mouth was blown open, teeth bared to the roots, face pulled back by the sheer force.
SSSSHHHHHHHH!!
The wooden colossus beneath him groaned and screeched in agony, nearly collapsing under the pressure!
Bailan barely managed to cling to the Buddha statue's halo behind the giant. The 300-meter distance had been the absolute limit of the technique—any closer, and he'd have been pulverized on the spot!
Even so, he struggled desperately just to endure until the punch wind passed.
Suddenly!
A savage flash of lightning ripped through the darkness!
An eighteen-meter-long lightning greatsword, wielded by a fierce silhouette, came swinging down—crashing into the wooden giant's head and shattering the Buddha's halo into fragments!
No one could even tell what had happened in that brief instant.
The abrupt drop in altitude triggered an instinctive urge in Bailan to grab onto something—
The next thing he knew—
He was clutching a solid arm—one that was locked tightly around his throat!
He raised his head in bewilderment—
And saw—
A pair of blood-red eyes, with three jet-black tomoe swirling around a vertical slit pupil radiating overwhelming authority!
"Genjutsu—Sharingan!"
On reflex, Bailan activated the spores in his palm and called out in panic:
"White Zetsu!"
Once caught in the Sharingan's illusion, only outside help could free the victim.
But Uchiha Ci, already aware of the layer of 'Zetsu' wrapped around Bailan, would never give him that chance.
The moment a white tendril began to sprout from the Third Mizukage's shoulder—
Uchiha Ci's right hand—etched with white Sage markings—grabbed it and yanked violently!
The force was so overwhelming it nearly ripped Bailan in half.
And from within him, a white-faced creature with a spiraling mask-like visage was forcibly extracted!
"How is this possible!?"
Before Zetsu's shrill shriek could even finish—
Uchiha Ci's eyes locked onto the spiral void on the creature's face—what looked like an "eye."
His Sharingan flared once again.
Veins of bloodshot red rapidly spread from the center, staining the whites of his eyes—
"Sage Art: Sharingan – White Light Eye!"
Upon a floating chunk of ice on the sea—
Uchiha Ci stood, frowning slightly at the two unconscious bodies at his feet.
One was the Third Mizukage, with a mane of ashen-white hair and ornamental beads atop his head.
The other was the pale, white creature with a vortex-shaped face—
Bailan and Zetsu Tobi.
Moments earlier, after beating both of them into unconsciousness, Uchiha Ci used the Sharingan to forcibly read their memories.
Tobi's mind was chaotic and incoherent—there was little of value. Uchiha Ci had no choice but to erase the last part of his memory—everything involving Ci's appearance—using genjutsu.
But from Bailan's mind, he extracted something that even surprised him—
First:
The encounter with the Kirigakure fleet had genuinely been a chance event.
Second:
Bailan was indeed what Ci had suspected all along—
A puppet leader installed by Uchiha Madara to manipulate the Land of Water from the shadows. This mission's true purpose had been to feed the Three-Tails Jinchūriki to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to prolong Madara's life.
It was only due to the unexpected encounter with Ci that a confrontation was forced—to prevent intel from leaking.
And finally—
He found one particularly strange memory—
About a month and a half ago,
Uchiha Madara had intended to kill Bailan. But after returning from a brief outing, he suddenly gave up on the idea.
Connecting the dots—
Uchiha Ci drew in a sharp breath.
That date—
Coincided exactly with the day he was ambushed by Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki!
In other words, even back then—perhaps even earlier—Madara had already set his sights on him.
And Bailan's continued survival was no coincidence.
Based on Ci's understanding of the original timeline—
The Third Mizukage should already have been long dead by now.
His death should've occurred just before, or at the start of, the Third Great Ninja War—
During the battle at Ryokaku Reef between Iwagakure and Kirigakure, under extreme conditions of internal conflict and enemy assault.
After his death, the Kirigakure elder Genshi governed for a period, until three years after the Kannabi Bridge incident, when Yagura, the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, rose to become the Fourth Mizukage.
But now, even though the Ryokaku Reef battle had already concluded, the man who should've died was still alive—
Because Kirigakure's war situation had been altered due to Ci's previous interventions!
Iwagakure's ambush had failed, and the war had dragged into a stalemate. Inside Kirigakure, thanks to intel from Aburame Ryoma, there had been time to respond. The three rival factions that should have fallen into civil war instead united—if only temporarily—to fight the external threat together.
The internal strife that should've torn Kirigakure apart never occurred. Yagura, Hōzuki Mangetsu—none of them launched a coup.
Bailan survived.
And this battle allowed Bailan to realize that unity within Kirigakure was possible after all.
A united Kirigakure was clearly not part of Madara's plan.
Which was why, a month and a half ago, right after the Ryokaku Reef conflict, Madara grew suspicious of Bailan's intentions and decided to eliminate him.
But because of Uchiha Ci's interference—he escaped death again.
At this thought,
Uchiha Ci sucked in a breath through his teeth.
And from there, he drew a conclusion so absurd, it chilled him—
The reason Madara had spared Bailan again—
The reason this man had cheated death for a third time—
Was because of him—
Madara wanted Uchiha Ci
To become the executor of the Eye of the Moon Plan!
"Uchiha Madara… noticed me from the very beginning!"
As that realization settled in, Uchiha Ci's face twisted into a grimace.
"And just like how he orchestrated the tragedy where Kakashi killed Rin in front of Obito—he wants to stage a similar nightmare for me."
"Bailan is part of that carefully laid plan to drag me into darkness!"
"That's why he was allowed to live."
"But now—"
"I've met Bailan ahead of schedule… and I've learned everything from him!"
At that moment, a sudden flash of insight hit him.
"Wait…"
"If I hadn't encountered Bailan here…"
"No, with White Zetsu's mayfly technique, Madara will definitely know I crossed paths with him—but he won't know that I've learned everything… that I know the truth behind the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"With that gap in information—I can buy myself a little more time!"
After a moment of silent reflection, Uchiha Ci's gaze fell once more on Bailan's unconscious form. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
"And perhaps…"
"This is a chance."
"A chance… to kill Uchiha Madara!"
With that final whisper—
Uchiha Ci took a deep breath, then formed a string of hand seals.
He used a technique he'd learned from that record Orochimaru gave him—"Experimental Records and Methods for Suppressing the Heaven Curse Mark—
Cursed Seal Possession Technique!
The jutsu completed, Uchiha Ci crouched down and pressed his left palm to Bailan's neck.
A crescent-shaped, nearly invisible white curse mark—
Was quietly branded upon the Third Mizukage's throat.