Shindai's group still had about thirty hours before engaging the combined forces of the Sand Ninja and Cloud Ninja at Mount Hakuto.
Members of Shindai's group were checking their equipment, adjusting their conditions, and waiting for the battle to begin.
Meanwhile...
Black Zetsu had already slipped into Konoha.
"Defense is seriously lax. Did everyone go off to fight at Mount Hakuto? Not even a challenge! How utterly boring!"
Using [Kagero no Jutsu], Black Zetsu infiltrated through underground plant roots and water flows, rapidly heading toward Konoha Prison.
Inside one of the prison cells at Konoha's jail,
Setsuna Uchiha sat motionless on the filthy ground, matted hair and emaciated frame revealing bone beneath his skin.
Since he had been locked up here, trapped in this sunless darkness, he had completely lost track of time.
But it had definitely been a long time since someone last came to bring dinner.
Right now, he was starving—his hunger so intense that dizziness clouded his mind.
Setsuna Uchiha's entire body didn't move an inch—he simply had no strength left. He only rolled his eyes slightly toward Black Zetsu. Blurred vision from starvation weakened him further as he rasped, "Finally... you brought food?"
Black Zetsu said, surprised, "Starving like this? Understandable—Konoha's in the middle of war. Who has time to feed prisoners? Lucky I arrived in time. One more day and you'd have starved to death."
Without hesitation, Black Zetsu ripped off one half of White Zetsu's arm and tossed it in front of Setsuna Uchiha. "Eat."
White Zetsu immediately protested, "Hey hey hey! Why don't you rip off *your* arm instead?"
Black Zetsu answered succinctly: "Because I don't want to."
White Zetsu grumbled, "Like I wanna lose my arm either. Anyway… can you ask him what taking a dump feels like? Just curious."
Black Zetsu twitched his mouth and chose to ignore White Zetsu.
With only one arm left, Setsuna Uchiha strained with every ounce of strength, reached out with his right hand, grabbed White Zetsu's severed limb, and began chewing. At first, he ate slowly, but as strength gradually returned, he started eating faster and faster—almost devouring it hungrily.
Within seconds, White Zetsu's arm was devoured. As the last bite disappeared, Setsuna Uchiha felt life surge back into his body—reborn. His vision, once blurry, sharpened as he finally recognized Black Zetsu's face.
Frowning, Setsuna Uchiha stared at the figure's divided face and asked, "Who are you?"
Before Black Zetsu could reply, White Zetsu piped up curiously, "So… how was my arm? Tasty?"
Setsuna Uchiha stiffened in shock: "Your hand… arm?!"
The other half of White Zetsu answered with innocent curiosity: "Yep?"
"Since you looked starved, Black Zetsu ripped off my arm to feed you. See? Now I only have half an arm left."
Seeing White Zetsu's stump of an arm, Setsuna Uchiha immediately felt nauseous. He covered his mouth and dry-heaved.
"Hey, don't throw up! That's such a waste!" White Zetsu complained unhappily.
"You shut up already!"
Black Zetsu completely took control of their shared body, silencing White Zetsu before he could speak recklessly.
After dry-heaving for a while, Setsuna wiped his mouth and asked incredulously, "Are you freaking split-personality or something? Why feed me your arm?"
"Split-personality? You can think of it that way for now," Black Zetsu replied. "I gave you my arm because you looked like you were starving to death."
He actually gave him his own arm to eat just because he looked hungry?
Is this guy out of his mind?!
No, definitely out of his mind. After all, he seems to have split personalities.
Setsuna's eyes darkened as he questioned sternly, "Who exactly are you? You're not a Konoha ninja, right?"
Black Zetsu spoke with immense mystery, "Who I am—you'll find out eventually. Right now, someone wants to meet you. I'm here to help you leave Konoha."
"Meet me? Who wants—"
Before Setsuna could finish speaking, he suddenly passed out.
It was Black Zetsu who knocked him unconscious. He didn't want to play any question-and-answer game with Setsuna. Although the chances were slim, Black Zetsu truly didn't want any more unexpected troubles.
He had already been looked down on by Madara and refused to be treated as worthless again.
Even Black Zetsu had his pride!
Black Zetsu killed a prisoner from another cell and brought the corpse into this one. Then, carrying the unconscious Setsuna, he set the prison ablaze before leaving.
The prison was engulfed in flames.
And the reason Black Zetsu did this was following Madara Uchiha's orders.
Setsuna couldn't just vanish—he needed to be declared dead.
After finishing all this, Black Zetsu left Konoha together with Setsuna.
...
There were still six hours until midnight.
Jiraiya found Minato Namikaze's five-man team taking a break.
Jiraiya said to Minato, "Minato, it's almost time to prepare. You kids will fight alongside the main force later. Rin, as a medical ninja you won't be participating directly in combat; head to the supply station and join the support unit. Remember to act together. This isn't the time for heroics. Got it?"
Shindai immediately promised, "I totally understand! Teamwork is what I value most! If you can work together, why wouldn't you? Not doing so would be foolish."
"Good. I'm taking Minato and heading out first. You guys should be assembling soon too."
"Remember — teamwork above all!"
Minato gave a final warning before leaving with Jiraiya.
Only an hour later, the call for assembly rang out.
Kakashi, serving as the 'team leader,' stood up and said, "Alright, it's time for us to gather too. See you later, Rin."
Rin replied with concern, "Please be careful!"
Shindai, Obito, and Kakashi raised their hands without turning back and waved goodbye.
Shindai's group made their way toward the main assembly point.
Obito exclaimed in amazement, "Wow, there're so many people!"
Faced with the overwhelming sea of people ahead, Shindai felt deeply uneasy.
Kakashi remarked, "Actually, this isn't even that many. The Sand Ninja and Cloud Ninja forces are roughly numbered at over three thousand strong. We might struggle to reach two thousand combined."
Originally, Kakashi had planned to lead Shindai and Obito toward a position near the front center of the crowd since Minato and his team were positioned at the very front. Those powerful ninja would serve as the first wave of attackers.
However, Shindai stubbornly refused.
Didn't those people understand? While Minato's team had nothing to fear, whoever stood in the front would just become cannon fodder!
After strongly arguing his case, Shindai and his teammates positioned themselves at the very back of the crowd.
Kakashi and Obito kept their heads down, feeling deeply ashamed.
The reason was that all the ninja stationed at the back were mere Genin.
Setting aside Kakashi, who had already reached Jonin rank, both Obito and Shindai were already Chunin. At the very least, they should have been stationed somewhere in the middle. Being positioned at the very rear seemed highly inappropriate.
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