Kazuyama Gekkō was dead serious—he wanted to live. Only by surviving could he enjoy life. He'd gone through so much just to gain Chōmei. Flight, invisibility—he was practically perfect now. He couldn't lose everything just like that.
"Yugito and I are on the same side. As fellow Jinchūriki, we're both targets of Madara Uchiha."
"And those Rinnegan eyes you saw on Nagato? They aren't his—they belong to Madara."
"My goal in coming to Amegakure this time is Yahiko, Konan, and the others—not Nagato. With Madara's eyes, he's already part of the enemy."
At his words, Yugito, Chōmei, and Matatabi all nodded. They had decent impressions of Yahiko and the rest. But Nagato? They'd all felt something was off. Now, it seemed their instincts had been right.
"What are you planning to do?"
"They always act together. You can't just split them up, can you?"
Matatabi voiced the question on everyone's mind, while Chōmei waited quietly for an answer.
"I'll find a way to separate them. I haven't revealed much about my abilities yet."
"But that damn title—Konoha's Ghost—is a problem. I can't use my Transparent Escape Technique or Flying Thunder God Technique with that hanging over me."
"Yugito already exposed the Mouse Hairball in front of Konan. That means you're out for any follow-up operations, and your appearance makes it easy to identify you."
Kazuyama had made up his mind. He needed to separate Yahiko and Nagato as soon as possible. Nagato's presence made him uneasy—those eyes always brought up dark thoughts.
"Even if I can't use Transparent Escape or Flying Thunder God, I still have Crystal Release and other techniques. That's more than enough to deal with them. They're not at their peak yet."
"I've taken down Kage-level opponents before. These guys won't be a problem."
Suddenly, Kazuyama froze in place within the communication platform.
"Kazuyama? Hey, Kazuyama?"
Chōmei was the first to notice something was wrong and immediately called out. Matatabi and Yugito also sensed that something was off.
"What's going on? Is he frozen?"
"Did he lose connection?"
Chōmei shook his head.
"If he lost connection, he'd have vanished."
"But he's still here, so the link's intact."
As they tried to figure out what was happening, Kazuyama suddenly moved again—but his face looked grim.
Seeing his expression, all three asked at once:
"What happened?"
"Where did you go just now?"
Kazuyama didn't respond. His mind was racing.
Just moments ago, he had attempted to use a curse technique—specifically the "draw a circle, curse you" kind—targeting Madara.
But halfway through casting it, he got a system notification:
[Ding! Target of curse detected as deceased. Please select a new target or this opportunity will be wasted.]
Dead? Madara Uchiha is dead?
Kazuyama was stunned.
How could he be dead? Wasn't it too early? From what he knew, that old bastard still had a few years left. Why now?
Wait—if Madara was dead, did that mean his successor had already taken over?
Who was it? Obito? No way. Obito would only be a kid right now. Then who?
Unbeknownst to him, while he was deep in thought...
Two figures were already on the move, tracking Yahiko and the others.
"What are you going to do?"
Black Zetsu's hoarse voice broke the silence. He was curious about Muren Uchiha's plan.
Muren didn't reply. He simply drew a kunai.
Ahead of him, Yahiko's group was en route to their assigned mission.
"Nagato, what's wrong?"
"You've been down ever since we left the village."
Yahiko called out while running, concerned. Nagato had been silent the whole time, his mood dark.
It wasn't until Yahiko spoke that Nagato finally responded:
"Yahiko, I think we should keep our distance from that man. He's a Konoha shinobi, after all."
"And our relationship with Konoha is... complicated."
Yahiko frowned slightly. He wasn't the only one—Konan and the others had similar feelings.
Sure, Kazuyama had helped them—saved them, even helped establish their group. But he was still from Konoha. That mattered.
"Yahiko, I can't explain it. I just feel something's off about him."
Nagato couldn't shake the bad feeling he got from Kazuyama. His instincts screamed danger.
Before Yahiko could answer, a sharp whistle cut through the air.
"Watch out! Asaha!"
His warning came too late. A kunai suddenly struck one of their teammates, Asaha, directly in the chest. He didn't even have time to react before the blade sank deep, blood gushing from the wound.
"Enemy attack! Stay alert!"
"Asaha!"
Yahiko's eyes turned blood-red with rage. He grabbed Asaha by the shoulders and dragged him aside.
Asaha's face was twisted with pain and regret, blood still pouring from his mouth.
"Damn it! Who did this?!"
Just as Yahiko shouted, more shuriken appeared out of nowhere. He rolled instinctively, but one still sliced his arm.
The sting made his heart jolt. He'd been on full alert—yet he hadn't even seen where the shuriken had come from.
"Nagato!"
Nagato heard the call. The Rinnegan in his eyes gleamed as he tried to trace the trajectory of the shuriken with his vision.
But it was no use. The projectiles seemed to have materialized from thin air.
"Where are they?!"
He scanned the area with all his might, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't locate the attacker.
A kilometer away, perched on a treetop, Muren Uchiha twirled a shuriken between his fingers, a smirk tugging at his lips.
"So this is who he picked? Pretty mediocre."
"I barely used any ocular power, and they still can't handle it?"
Black Zetsu remained silent, but once again, he was shaken.
He was in awe of Muren's eyes. Even though it wasn't the first time he'd seen them in action, their sheer power in combat was terrifying.
With a single flick, he'd taken a life. And his enemies still couldn't even locate him...
...
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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