Boom.
With a deafening crash, the stone wall detonated, a rolling wave of fire blasting outwards.
"Uchiha Sogetsu, what are you doing?!" Fugaku almost had a heart attack on the spot.
If that stone tablet broke, those stubborn old fossils on the clan council would tear him limb from limb and drink his blood. In the instant the wall shattered, he could practically see his position as clan head waving goodbye.
"Lord Fugaku, there's someone in the wall!"
Sogetsu cut in before Fugaku could explode, jabbing a finger at the smoking hole. "Whoever it is broke into the Uchiha's restricted area. They might be one of Danzo's spies!"
"What?"
The moment he heard the name "Danzo," Fugaku seemed to suffer a PTSD flashback. His gaze snapped through the smoke like a blade.
Sure enough, within the swirling dust he saw a blob of chakra clinging to the stone.
Black Zetsu was still stunned.
How did he find me?
If he didn't want to be found, even the Sage-level beasts from the three Great Sanctuaries wouldn't necessarily sense him, and now some Uchiha brat had sniffed him out?
Just when he was still trying to work out how, Fugaku launched himself forward like a hunting leopard. His objective was crystal clear: Kill first, ask questions never.
If this thing escaped and it really was Danzo's spy, and the Third and Danzo both learned the Uchiha had been hiding such information… the clan was finished.
Tablet? What tablet?
Compared to that, the clan's survival mattered far more.
"Fire Style: Majestic Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Clan Head-sama in motion was, unsurprisingly, built different.
The same technique, when used by Fugaku, swelled in power; a plain B-rank suddenly had the flavor of an A-rank disaster.
Boom.
The temperature in the chamber soared in an instant.
A roaring fire dragon tore through the air, wrapped in blistering heat as it smashed into the wall. The impact shook the entire room; a shockwave rippled out, strong enough that Sogetsu had to throw up an arm and brace. Fine hairs on his skin curled up in the hot wind.
Retreat.
Black Zetsu didn't hesitate. His body turned to thick, tar-like sludge and slipped into the network of cracks in the stone.
He wasn't afraid of Fugaku or Sogetsu per se; he had more than enough ways to save his own hide. What he feared was being exposed too early and throwing his entire long-term plan off track.
But Sogetsu had no intention of letting him go.
He tracked the thing's chakra through Spirit Vision, then whipped a spread of shuriken after it, calling out as he did, "Over there, Lord Fugaku!"
"Damn you, Uchiha brat!"
Black Zetsu swore in raw frustration as his escape path was cut off yet again.
"Don't even think about leaving alive!"
Fugaku snarled, stomping down hard.
Bang.
Chakra erupted from beneath his feet and cracked the floor in a spiderweb pattern.
In the next instant, he vanished from where he'd been standing, his sprint so fast it left afterimages and a sound like a small sonic boom behind him.
Boom!
Mid-wall, the slithering shape of Black Zetsu was forcibly punched free, blown out into the air like a chunk of tar shot from a cannon.
The Uchiha clan head was not just a walking artillery platform, it turned out—his taijutsu was equally brutal. Before Black Zetsu could adjust, Fugaku twisted in mid-air; his right leg cut through the air like a spinning guillotine, a sharp whistle trailing behind it.
"Leaf Style: Strong Whirlwind!"
The powerful roundhouse kick connected squarely with Black Zetsu's "face."
"Guh!"
He rocketed away like a fired shell, smashing into the opposite wall and cratering it.
Run.
Black Zetsu liquefied again, pouring into the cracks of the stone; the old trick was all he had left.
"Lord Fugaku, he's out of the chamber!" Sogetsu said helpfully, a quiet smile in his heart.
Sensing Fugaku bearing down on him from behind, Black Zetsu fled in a blind panic.
If not for this damned kid, he never would've ended up like this!
Just a little further. Just get out of the chamber. Once he reached open ground—
Just a little further. Just a little—
Behind him, Fugaku chased like a madman, dumping chakra into ninjutsu like it was free and just spamming everything he had at range.
If your aim isn't precise enough, just crank the area of effect.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Violent Wind Dance!"
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Singing Technique!"
"Aaaargh!"
Black Zetsu howled as he ran. No matter how good his footwork was, there was only so much you could do under a continuous carpet-bombing of large-area Fire Style. His whole body was literally on fire.
In the thousands of years he'd lived, only those two unfilial brats had ever made him this angry.
Until today.
"Uchiha Sogetsu!!!" he shrieked, eyes blazing with murderous hate. "If I make it out of here, I'm going to have Madara kill you!"
At last, by sheer stubbornness, he managed to break through to the surface.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Fugaku's voice rang out behind him, ragged with fury, his chakra surging like a storm.
His chest swelled; his throat thrummed with compressed chakra. With a final seal, a tidal wave of super-heated flame poured from his mouth, roaring across the ground like a blazing sea.
BOOOOM!!!
Even from dozens of meters away, you could feel the scorching heat rolling off the wave of fire.
In the dead of night, half the Uchiha district saw the sky above Naka Shrine erupt into a blazing inferno, daylight suddenly carved into the darkness.
"Uchiha Fugaku! Uchiha Sogetsu!"
Engulfed by fire, Black Zetsu glared into the flames with crazed hatred.
"I'll remember this. We'll settle it later!"
The firestorm incinerated everything in front of them for tens of meters. The earth baked and glassed over under the heat.
Inside that wall of flame, Black Zetsu's body sagged and drooped like melting tar before slowly seeping down into the charred ground and vanishing entirely.
Fugaku's face was as dark as the night, his eyes locked on the scorched zone.
"He still slipped away…" he muttered. "Never seen a ninjutsu like that, or chakra that strange. This guy can't be one of Danzo's. Who sent him to watch us?"
"Why not Danzo?" Sogetsu asked, arching a brow.
Fugaku shot him a sidelong glance. "If you were the Third Hokage, would you hand someone like that over to Danzo to play with?"
…Fair point.
Sogetsu nodded inwardly.
On the surface, the Third and Danzo looked like lifelong comrades. Behind the scenes, they were probably keeping score with each other every day.
"For now, we keep this quiet," Fugaku said after a moment's thought, frowning as he noticed clan members gathering in the distance. "If anyone asks, tell them I was… testing you."
"Understood, Lord Fugaku." Sogetsu nodded. "I'll keep my mouth shut."
Elsewhere, a thoroughly scorched Black Zetsu sprawled on a tree branch outside Konoha, trying to recover.
"Damn that Uchiha Sogetsu, making me suffer like this," he hissed through clenched teeth. "If he can sense me even when I'm hiding like that, we absolutely cannot leave him alive. I have to get Madara to kill him as soon as possible—"
"Kill who?"
A voice murmured suddenly right beside his ear.
Impossible. Someone's here? Black Zetsu froze, then slowly turned toward the sound.
Under the moonlight, a tall, broad-shouldered figure was crouched on the branch above his head.
Wild white hair hung around the man's face like a lion's mane. A giant scroll rested across his back, and the metal plate on his forehead protector bore a single kanji: "Oil."
"Just got back to the village and already running into strangers…"
The man rubbed his chin, eyeing Black Zetsu with naked curiosity. Then he grinned.
"Since we've met, how about you come along with me for a bit?"
Shit. It's Jiraiya.
Black Zetsu silently added a few hundred more curses for Uchiha Sogetsu to the ever-growing list in his heart.
AUTHOR'S NOTE — BONUS & EARLY ACCESS
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