Chapter 71: Madara and Black Zetsu
Two hours later, the wedding between Senju Kenji and the Daimyo's daughter—which Masahiko found incredibly boring—finally ended. The entire village was filled with laughter and joy.
"Tobirama, you did a great job hosting!" Masahiko found Tobirama and gave him a look that said, "I'm (You) So (Just) Proud (Wait) Of (For) You (It)."
Tobirama shook his head with a bitter smile, feeling that his Great-Uncle now held a grudge against him forever.
"Great-Uncle... thank you for the compliment." After hesitating for a long time, Tobirama could only reply with this.
Masahiko nodded and scanned the area. Hashirama was still talking with the Daimyo. Since Masahiko wasn't fond of the Daimyo, he didn't go over.
The newlyweds were awkwardly "introducing themselves" to each other. Masahiko shook his head with a smile. Arranged marriages in the Naruto world...
He had wanted to go over and tell them to hurry up and give birth to Tsunade... but then he realized that would be too weird, even for someone with skin as thick as his.
Looking around at the surrounding villagers and ninjas, he heard all sorts of discussions.
"After this marriage alliance, Konoha will definitely get better and better..." This was the uncle type.
"With Lord Hashirama here, how could Konoha be anything but good..." This was the fangirl type.
"We can't rely on Lord Hashirama's protection forever!" This was the rational type.
"Hashirama's reputation in the village really is high..." Masahiko murmured. Then, he heard a discussion that was somewhat off-topic.
Two girls were discussing how many more years Hashirama could protect the village as Hokage. One said 30 years, another said 50 years, then 100 years...
Then, the discussion turned into, "Lord Hashirama will definitely live longer than Elder Masahiko!"
Masahiko's face darkened. Then he heard the other girl whisper, "Do you know how old Elder Masahiko is? I heard from my grandfather that Elder Masahiko looked exactly like this when he was a child."
"Then Lord Hashirama will definitely live longer than Elder Masahiko too!"
Masahiko shook his head with a wry smile. 'Sorry to disappoint you...' Even if the outcome of the Valley of the End changed, Hashirama couldn't possibly outlive him.
"Speaking of which, am I already an old geezer in the eyes of the village youth?"
"This old geezer won't get involved in young people's business anymore. Time to go back and train. The Valley of the End isn't far off..."
Inside Konoha, the scene was peaceful, everyone cheering for this prosperous era. Outside Konoha, however, a storm was brewing.
Kazama Valley... or rather, hundreds of meters below the Kazama Plains, had been transformed into a massive underground dwelling.
At this moment, in one of the rooms, two people—or rather, one person and one thing—were staring at each other.
One of them was Uchiha Madara, who had left Konoha to train alone.
After a long silence, Uchiha Madara spoke slowly. "You're saying... you are the manifestation of my will?"
Waking up to find a pitch-black, not-quite-human thing opposite him claiming to be his will... how could Madara believe that?
"That is correct..." Black Zetsu replied slowly, though he felt helpless inside.
According to the original plan, he had intended to wait for the decisive battle between Madara and Hashirama to steal Hashirama's cells, secretly help Madara awaken the Rinnegan and master Yin-Yang Release, and then, on Madara's deathbed, have Madara use Yin-Yang Release to "create" him. That way, he would have Madara's complete trust, making Kaguya's resurrection much easier...
But... plans never keep up with changes. The appearance of Uzumaki Masahiko had disrupted his plan.
Black Zetsu had originally thought that Masahiko would lose most of his strength due to old age, even if he didn't die during the battle between Madara and Hashirama, and thus wouldn't be able to affect the final outcome. Unexpectedly, when Black Zetsu habitually monitored Konoha two years ago, he discovered that Masahiko had mastered Yin-Yang Release. That was when he realized something was wrong.
Seeing the decisive battle approaching and Masahiko showing no signs of aging, Black Zetsu had no choice but to hastily reveal himself and appear before Madara. If he didn't intervene, he feared Madara might die at the Valley of the End... and then he might have to wait centuries for another chance to revive Kaguya.
"Do you take me for a fool?" Madara was silent for a while before squeezing out this sentence. After saying it, Masahiko's old face somehow floated into his mind, smiling and saying, "Aren't you a fool?" Years of being teased by Masahiko had probably made Madara a bit schizophrenic...
So, Madara clenched his fist, looking like he was about to strike.
"Lord Madara, don't be hasty..." Black Zetsu interrupted quickly. Although he always believed he could manipulate the entire ninja world, Black Zetsu was very self-aware regarding his own combat strength.
After that, Black Zetsu recounted in detail several major events in Madara's life, so vividly it was as if he had experienced them personally.
Madara's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. 'Someone has been monitoring me?'
However, when Black Zetsu recounted the details of Madara's third battle with Masahiko, Madara looked confused.
"It couldn't be surveillance... During my last battle with the old man, only Hashirama was present. Surveillance that none of the three of us could detect is impossible. Besides, although I hate to admit it, that old man's sensory abilities... And this guy, he infiltrated my dwelling without me noticing. Could he really be a manifestation of my will?"
At this time, Madara couldn't have imagined that the Black Zetsu in front of him had been inside his body for a long time...
After pondering for a long time, Madara looked up at Black Zetsu's "believe it or not" expression and nodded slowly. "I'll believe you for now..."
Black Zetsu breathed a sigh of relief. '"For now"? Troublesome... Luckily, he doesn't know I tampered with the Uchiha Stone Tablet he read. Even if he has doubts, the plan can proceed smoothly.'
After catching his breath, Black Zetsu spoke. "According to your thoughts, do you intend to fight Senju Hashirama next year?"
"You even know that?" Uchiha Madara frowned slightly, then nodded slowly. "That's right!"
"Aren't you afraid of being interrupted by Uzumaki Masahiko?" Black Zetsu continued.
Uchiha Madara snorted coldly. "That old man? He's almost 80... As he is now, he probably can't even take one strike from me. Even at his peak, it would just be a matter of a few more strikes!"
Black Zetsu was speechless...
"Forget it," Black Zetsu sighed inwardly. He had wanted to tell Madara about Masahiko's current condition but feared Madara would become suspicious. "I'll have to think of a way myself. It would be best to lure Uzumaki Masahiko away... Use White Zetsu? Madara might get suspicious, but I can't worry about that for now."
"Also, that man, Uzumaki Masahiko... he probably has some secrets..."
"Lord Madara, I wish you success."
Black Zetsu said slowly, and the deep underground returned to silence.
Meanwhile, Masahiko, who had just arrived at the Konoha Training Ground, felt a chill down his spine.
"Er, is Tobirama badmouthing me? Or is it that damn Daimyo..."
"Whatever. I need to train as soon as possible. The Valley of the End is approaching. I'm over seventy, yet I'm actually nervous. Nothing will go wrong, right...?"
Thinking of this, Masahiko frowned. "Black Zetsu... will probably pull something, but I really don't have any way to deal with him."
"Screw it. I'll deal with whatever comes my way!"
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