The moment the strange sensation passed through him, Naruto's expression changed.
It lasted only an instant.
A flicker.
A disturbance.
Yet it was enough to make every instinct in his body scream a warning.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Naruto slowly closed his eyes.
Natural energy flowed through him.
The world around him expanded.
Countless chakra signatures filled his senses.
The Five Kage.
The Allied Shinobi Forces.
Nagato.
Konan.
Sasuke.
Hinata.
Killer B.
Obito.
Thousands upon thousands of presences.
Yet hidden among them was something strange.
Something ancient.
Something that felt less like a human and more like a stain on reality itself.
Naruto's eyes snapped open.
Black Zetsu.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the battlefield...
Black Zetsu remained motionless.
His dark body was partially merged with the earth.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
For centuries, he had watched countless heroes rise and fall.
Hashirama.
Madara.
The Sage of Six Paths' descendants.
All of them believed they understood the world.
All of them believed they controlled their own fate.
None of them truly did.
Because from the beginning...
Black Zetsu had been guiding history.
Patiently.
Silently.
Manipulating generation after generation.
Everything for a single purpose.
The revival of his mother.
The true progenitor of chakra.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
"Naruto Uzumaki..."
Black Zetsu whispered.
"You're becoming troublesome."
Far more troublesome than Madara had ever been.
Above ground, the battle resumed.
Obito raised his hand.
Dozens of black receivers shot toward Naruto like spears.
Naruto vanished.
A golden flash streaked across the battlefield.
Boom!
The rods struck empty ground.
The earth exploded.
Before Obito could react, Naruto appeared behind him.
A Rasengan formed instantly.
Obito phased through it.
But Naruto expected that.
The moment the attack passed through Obito's body, Naruto's chakra arm extended from another angle.
Boom!
Obito was forced to warp away.
Reappearing hundreds of meters away.
His eye narrowed.
Naruto had become even harder to predict.
Years ago, he had relied mostly on instinct and overwhelming power.
Now?
Now he combined that power with strategy.
That made him dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Nagato descended beside Naruto.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder.
A sight that would have seemed impossible only months earlier.
Naruto grinned.
"Still keeping up, Senior Brother?"
Nagato laughed softly.
"You're the one who's difficult to keep up with."
Nearby, Konan shook her head.
These two were chatting in the middle of a battlefield.
Some things never changed.
The Raikage clenched his fist.
"Enough waiting."
Lightning exploded around his body.
A brilliant blue aura covered him.
The Fourth Raikage shot forward like a missile.
The speed shocked everyone.
Even Obito's eye widened slightly.
The Raikage's fist crashed forward.
Boom!
The attack passed harmlessly through Obito's body.
But the Raikage wasn't aiming to win.
He was testing.
Gathering information.
Creating openings.
Gaara's sand surged upward immediately afterward.
Golden waves filled the sky.
Ōnoki floated above them.
Particle Style chakra gathered between his palms.
The Mizukage prepared Lava Release.
The Five Kage moved together.
For perhaps the first time in history, their attacks were perfectly synchronized.
The battlefield erupted.
Naruto watched quietly.
His mind remained focused on something else.
That strange feeling.
That hidden presence.
Black Zetsu.
He knew the real danger wasn't Obito.
Obito was merely a pawn.
A powerful pawn.
But still a pawn.
The true enemy had always been the one moving pieces behind the scenes.
And that enemy was still hiding.
Waiting.
Searching for an opportunity.
Naruto's gaze slowly shifted toward the earth beneath them.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You've hidden long enough."
Deep underground.
Black Zetsu froze.
For the first time in centuries...
He felt fear.
A genuine sense of danger.
Impossible.
No one should know.
Not Madara.
Not Obito.
Not Hashirama.
Not even the Sage of Six Paths had fully understood his existence.
Yet somehow...
Naruto was looking directly at him.
As though he could see through centuries of deception.
Black Zetsu's expression darkened.
The situation was deteriorating faster than expected.
Perhaps...
The contingency plan would have to begin sooner.
Far sooner.
Back on the battlefield.
A massive explosion erupted in the distance.
Dust filled the sky.
The Five Kage continued their assault.
Obito remained trapped.
Forced to defend.
Forced to retreat.
Forced to react.
For the first time since the beginning of the war...
He was losing momentum.
Naruto watched everything unfold.
Then he slowly raised his hand.
Golden chakra gathered around his palm.
A new plan was forming.
Not merely to defeat Obito.
Not merely to win the war.
But to expose every shadow hiding behind it.
Even the ones that had manipulated history for a thousand years.
And somewhere deep underground...
Black Zetsu realized that the hunter was no longer chasing Obito.
The hunter was chasing him.
-----------------------------------------
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