Chapter 183: I Detest Unnecessary Slaughter
The dense forest blocked the Sand ninja's line of sight, but skilled sensory ninja could still monitor chakra fluctuations within the forest, especially the intimately familiar presence of the Kazekage.
But—
Just like that, very suddenly.
The Kazekage's chakra fluctuation sank to the bottom of the pond like a weighted turtle, showing absolutely no sign of rebounding. The sensory ninja weren't unfamiliar with this situation. Only when someone suddenly died would their chakra fluctuation disappear so abruptly, so precipitously.
The problem was this wasn't just some insignificant person among Sunagakure's ten thousand ninja. This was the Fourth Kazekage, who stood above all Sand ninja, commanding those ten thousand warriors.
Their expressions turned dazed, as if they'd seen a ghost. They looked at each other, you looking at me, me looking at you. No one wanted to speak, no one dared to speak. This thunderbolt from a clear sky left them terrified and shattered.
But they didn't need to announce this terrible news, because Uchiha Tatsuhata emerged from the artificial forest at an unhurried pace, carrying the Fourth Kazekage's severed head, appearing within the sight of numerous Sand ninja.
"That is..."
"How is this possible? The Kazekage actually..."
"The Kazekage is dead?!"
The Sand ninja's spirits suffered an extremely powerful shock. Though most of them had experienced the Third Kazekage's disappearance, disappearance didn't necessarily equate to death. But now they witnessed with their own eyes their Fourth Kazekage's severed head.
That head, still dripping blood from the neck, was so difficult to accept. The Sand ninja couldn't accept this terrible, awful reality. They even refused to accept it.
"This isn't real! Damned bastard, I'll kill you!"
"Kill him!"
"Go to hell!"
Led by the Fourth Kazekage's Shadow Guard, numerous Sand ninja rushed toward Uchiha Tatsuhata like madmen. But the next second, what drove the Sand ninja into even greater fury was replica Rasa emerging from behind Uchiha Tatsuhata.
Magnetic Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral.
The surging gold dust tsunami met the charging Sand ninja head-on. This vast, magnificent attack came so unexpectedly, and facing this attack from the Kazekage—powerful enough to suppress the One-Tail Shukaku—their resistance and struggles proved utterly useless.
The Sand ninja vanished into the gold dust. Only blood and white bones flew up, but in the blink of an eye were completely engulfed by the rolling gold dust.
Just at this moment—
Chiyo's shrill voice echoed across the battlefield. "Retreat! Everyone below jonin rank, retreat immediately!"
She also didn't want to believe that Rasa had been killed so easily, but this blood-soaked reality wouldn't distort according to her or their wishes.
The tragic sight of Rasa's Shadow Guard being swallowed by rolling gold dust completely awakened her, once again forcing herself to accept this cruel, merciless reality.
Her expression was resolute, blood sliding from the corner of her mouth—crimson drops from her bitten tongue and lips. She controlled the unease and faint despair in her heart, speaking word by word. "All jonin, advance and engage together. Everyone below jonin rank, withdraw and retreat. Notify all other jonin in the village to rush here for support as quickly as possible. Today has become a life-or-death crisis for our Sunagakure!"
Fourth Kazekage Rasa was dead, the Shukaku pot containing the sealed One-Tail Shukaku had been stolen, and after experiencing the Third Shinobi World War, the village suffered from lack of successors, its vitality not yet recovered. How could they deal with this terrifying enemy wearing a tiger-head mask under such circumstances?
Chiyo's heart held no confidence whatsoever.
But as Sunagakure's advisor elder, she had to stand up now after Fourth Kazekage Rasa's death, support Sunagakure's foundation, and exhaust every effort to pursue the village's slim chance of survival.
Uchiha Tatsuhata smiled as he watched these panicked, struggling Sand ninja before him, his mouth beneath the mask curling high.
Just like this!
He would sweep away the so-called five great ninja villages one by one, grasp all nine Tailed Beasts in his hands, and finally execute the Moon's Eye Plan, using Infinite Tsukuyomi to create a truly beautiful world—
Hmm?
Uchiha Tatsuhata's smile suddenly froze. His attention was captured by a pair of Sand ninja who were obviously brothers. The two men's faces were almost carved from the same mold. The brothers' loud conversation also reached his ears.
"Brother, you fall back. You're skilled in Wind Release—find a position in the rear and use ninjutsu."
"Nonsense! What kind of older brother hides behind his younger brother?"
"I'm skilled in Earth Release Hardening Technique. I should naturally be at the front. Brother, don't be stubborn. Hurry and fall back—the gold dust is almost here!"
The two brothers, both jonin, argued over who should advance first to meet the enemy. The older brother wanted to protect the younger, the younger also wanted to protect the older. The brothers argued endlessly in this desperate situation, neither able to convince the other.
Uchiha Tatsuhata froze. The smile beneath his mask gradually dissolved.
His heart felt like it had been heavily punched in that instant. Indescribable emotions filled his heart, making it momentarily hard to breathe. His younger brother Uchiha Torajiro's face and voice suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Simultaneously, replica Rasa, who'd been manipulating gold dust to slaughter on all sides, also instantly froze as if someone had pressed pause. The surging gold dust lost control and fell to the ground.
The Sand ninja were all stunned.
What was happening? Had the masked man run out of chakra? Or had something else occurred?
Under Chiyo's command, the Sand ninja didn't charge recklessly. They didn't gamble on the possibility that the masked man had truly made an error. Instead, they seized this opening to organize into a more dispersed formation. Dense formations against gold dust technique were simply deliberately sending people to their deaths.
However—
They didn't encounter Uchiha Tatsuhata's even more ferocious attack after building up power. Replica Rasa manipulated gold sand to break the seals on replica Shimura Danzo and all the other replicas.
Then Uchiha Tatsuhata recalled all the replicas. He swept a glance over the Sand ninja standing in strict formation, threw the Fourth Kazekage's severed head to the ground where it rolled like a ball, and he himself turned and disappeared into the forest.
The originally clamorous battlefield instantly became quiet, leaving only the howling wind echoing in the ears of all the surviving Sand ninja.
To them, this wind sounded exactly like a funeral dirge!
In the desert approximately twenty kilometers northeast of Sunagakure, Uchiha Tatsuhata's figure emerged from underground. He released the Mayfly Technique and returned to walking on the surface.
Several seconds later—
Zetsu, who resembled a Venus flytrap, also emerged from underground, following closely behind Uchiha Tatsuhata.
White Zetsu chattered incessantly. "Tatsuhata, why did you suddenly stop? You'd already killed the Fourth Kazekage. No one in Sunagakure is your match anymore. Why not continue copying the chakra of those Sand jonin?"
He didn't understand why Uchiha Tatsuhata would suddenly retreat when he could freely harvest spoils of war.
Similarly—
Black Zetsu also didn't understand, which was why White Zetsu had impatiently asked.
Uchiha Tatsuhata continued forward without looking back, speaking coldly. "Copying the chakra of so many small fry is completely meaningless. Only copying the chakra of top-tier powerhouses as much as possible can bring my Toyoakitsushihime ocular technique to its fullest potential."
White Zetsu rolled his eyes and continued chattering. "Even if you look down on their chakra, you could still weaken the Sand ninja as much as possible. When executing the Moon's Eye Plan later, there'd be much less resistance."
Uchiha Tatsuhata suddenly stopped, turning to stare coldly at Zetsu, who nearly collided with him. "Don't get confused. My purpose in executing the Moon's Eye Plan is to bring a truly permanent beautiful world to the shinobi world. For this, I'll eliminate all obstacles in my path. But those Sand ninja aren't yet qualified to become my obstacles. Killing them holds no meaning for me."
"And I... detest this kind of meaningless slaughter!"
The final sentence was almost spoken word by word through clenched teeth.
This was also his original intention.
He'd slaughtered Shimura Danzo and the Cloud ninja to avenge his younger brother Uchiha Torajiro while also strengthening his ocular technique Toyoakitsushihime. But with continuous killing, he'd gradually lost sight of his original intention, beginning to slaughter wantonly and recklessly.
Until seeing that pair of mutually protective brothers, he suddenly awakened from this endless murderous desire and began seriously contemplating what exactly he wanted to accomplish.
What he needed to do wasn't exterminate all ninja from the five great ninja villages. Not all ninja deserved death. To complete the Moon's Eye Plan and build an eternally beautiful world within genjutsu, he wouldn't stint on or fear killing, but the premise was that such killing was necessary.
And now—
After slaying the Fourth Kazekage, continuing to massively slaughter Sand ninja was completely unnecessary and meaningless.
White Zetsu looked at Uchiha Tatsuhata somewhat dumbfounded. This answer was rather incomprehensible to him. Shouldn't the Uchiha clan all be lunatics who walked from one extreme to another?
In contrast, Black Zetsu, who'd earnestly studied humans and ninja for over a thousand years, already understood Uchiha Tatsuhata's situation. Essentially, his conscience remained intact. He hadn't completely and thoroughly walked toward the extreme mentality of completing the Moon's Eye Plan at any cost.
He still held the naive hope that the Moon's Eye Plan could be completed by sacrificing only a few people.
Fortunately, this wasn't a bad thing.
Because Uchiha Tatsuhata's ocular technique Toyoakitsushihime was indeed formidable. Even though it hadn't grown to its limit, he'd already managed to single-handedly suppress an entire ninja village—even if the one being suppressed was currently the weakest of the five great villages.
But Fourth Kazekage Rasa's death was sufficient to show just how formidable Uchiha Tatsuhata's ocular technique truly was.
Black Zetsu spoke up in agreement. "What you're saying isn't wrong, Tatsuhata. Those small fry are indeed dispensable to you. Whether dead or alive, they won't hinder the Moon's Eye Plan's execution."
Uchiha Tatsuhata's expression beneath the mask eased slightly. "Exactly. My ocular technique requires the chakra of top-tier experts. As long as I can copy sufficient expert chakra, advancing the Moon's Eye Plan presents no difficulty whatsoever."
This statement was somewhat exaggerated, but strictly speaking, there really weren't major issues with it.
Black Zetsu thought for a moment and asked, "Tatsuhata, what do you plan to do next? The One-Tail is already in hand. Do you plan to continue hunting the remaining Tailed Beasts?"
He and Uchiha Madara's jointly formulated Moon's Eye Plan had already been overturned—more accurately, almost all details had been deleted, leaving only the main framework. So he didn't know how Uchiha Tatsuhata planned to execute and advance the Moon's Eye Plan next.
Hearing this, Uchiha Tatsuhata pondered for over ten seconds before speaking. "Next, I plan to meet with Nagato. The Rinnegan is an indispensable component of the Moon's Eye Plan. I need to verify Nagato's abilities, to see whether he can currently complete Tailed Beast extraction and sealing!"
"If he can't, then even if I continue hunting Tailed Beasts now, it won't be useful. But if he can do it, then I can consider the problem of hunting the remaining Tailed Beasts."
Black Zetsu nodded after listening. That made sense.
Indeed, if the scattered Tailed Beasts couldn't currently be sealed back into the Ten-Tails' shell, then there was no need to rush continuing to hunt Tailed Beasts. After all, ninja tools like the Shukaku pot capable of sealing Tailed Beasts could be counted on one hand throughout the entire shinobi world.
Hidden Cloud Village's Benihisago, Hidden Mist Village's Kōhaku no Jōhei, Sunagakure's Shukaku pot, and Iwagakure's Bashōsen... Each of these ninja tools could at most seal only one Tailed Beast simultaneously.
So if Tailed Beasts or jinchuriki were truly captured, how to handle them was also a major problem that couldn't be ignored.
"Going to find Nagato now presents no problems. It's just how do you plan to negotiate with Nagato, Tatsuhata? Do you truly not plan to use Uchiha Madara's name?"
"No need."
Uchiha Tatsuhata shook his head. "Moreover, wanting to impersonate Uchiha Madara now is somewhat late. I'd guess Konoha should be able to confirm my identity before long. Or perhaps they've actually already guessed."
Black Zetsu didn't deny this.
Uchiha Tatsuhata's actions seeking revenge for Uchiha Torajiro did indeed seem excessively conspicuous. Konoha Village wasn't lacking in intelligent people who could deduce the truth from scattered clues.
"Then how do you plan to convince Nagato to join forces with you?"
"What's difficult about that?"
Uchiha Tatsuhata gazed toward the northeast direction where Amegakure was located, murmuring. "We've both lost the most important people to us. We both clearly understand how terrible this world is. So we're both destined to be unable to resist the future of building an eternally beautiful world within genjutsu!"
Black Zetsu looked thoughtful.
He didn't continue discussing Nagato's matter, instead asking, "Tatsuhata, what about the Nine-Tails jinchuriki? A jinchuriki's pregnancy is extremely rare. If we miss this opportunity, there may not be a second chance."
"Didn't I already say? There's still time. Have the White Zetsu watch her first."
Voice and figure gradually disappeared together into the endless sandstorm.
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