As Uchiha Kei reflected, he also found himself wondering about Black Zetsu's current situation. According to Kurama's sense of good and evil, Black Zetsu was still hiding beneath the Hidden Leaf Village, though no longer in the Uchiha sector. Who knew what that creature was plotting now?
In truth, Black Zetsu wanted to curse someone out.
The chaos in the Leaf? Of course Black Zetsu knew all about it from the other White Zetsus he had planted. But what really threw him off was Tobi's completely incomprehensible move—he was utterly shaken.
Right now, Black Zetsu was having a full-blown pupil earthquake. The entire Zetsu was not okay.
The White Zetsu he had possessed could sense his agitation and asked curiously, "Black Zetsu, Black Zetsu, what's wrong? Why are you so agitated? Tobi just took a Leaf shinobi, why are you freaking out?"
"..." Black Zetsu really didn't want to talk to this idiot. He even considered killing the White Zetsu on the spot.
"Just" took a Leaf shinobi?
That shinobi was none other than the disciple of the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze!
And Minato? He had already surpassed the Second Hokage as a master of space-time ninjutsu. During the ambush by the Hidden Mist, when Minato's squad was attacked, White Zetsu had been nearby, watching.
Tobi had just kidnapped a space-time prodigy like that—this was bound to be a disaster.
Black Zetsu knew how reckless Tobi could be and figured he must have taken Obito Uchiha straight to Madara Uchiha.
Sure, Obito was one of the potential successors Madara had in mind, and yes, there was a plan to "educate" (i.e., brainwash) them. But it wasn't time yet!
Everything had to wait for the Third Great Ninja War. Before that, they needed to stay in hiding. Madara's body was deteriorating—though he could still destroy any current Kage in a fight.
But that would be a final burst of power. After that, he'd die. The Moon's Eye Plan, prepared for so many years, would stall at a critical point due to the lack of a successor.
So the last thing they needed was trouble. Even Black Zetsu's plan to steal a Mangekyō Sharingan had been Madara's order. As for killing Uchiha Kei, that was just to remove a threat to the plan.
Everything they did was to save "Mother."
And yet, what the hell was Tobi doing with this chaos?
This was practically blowing their cover!
If Minato had placed a Flying Thunder God marker on Obito, he could teleport right to Madara the moment Tobi brought Obito there. Even if Minato couldn't beat Madara, he could still get Obito out.
That would mean Madara was exposed, forcing him to decide whether to run or fight.
Given his pride, Madara—who had hidden for so long for the sake of the Moon's Eye Plan—was already simmering with suppressed rage. His old eyes still held a lion's fire.
If someone came knocking, he would fight like the hellish Asura of the shinobi world, even if it meant death and the failure of his life's dream.
Because that man... was Madara Uchiha!
Of course, Black Zetsu didn't rule out the fact that Madara had probably been brainwashed—after all, he fully believed Black Zetsu was his own will incarnate and would carry out the Moon's Eye Plan even after his death.
Black Zetsu just wanted to say: I didn't ask for this level of trust.
But it didn't matter. Reality wasn't going to change because of Black Zetsu's feelings. Now, thanks to Tobi's ridiculous stunt, he had kidnapped Obito and used Mayfly Jutsu to escape.
And the worst part? As an enhanced White Zetsu, Tobi had attached himself to another White Zetsu body and used Mayfly Jutsu at a speed even Black Zetsu couldn't catch.
He was utterly screwed.
Completely screwed.
He knew Tobi loved chaos but had never imagined he'd go this far. The guy was a walking disaster, and this time he'd done something truly insane.
Now betrayed, Black Zetsu was panicking and trying to figure out what to do next.
Staying in the Hidden Leaf was no longer viable. No one knew what might happen next. The only priority now was returning to Madara's side to keep things from spiraling further out of control.
If necessary, he'd grab Madara's legacy and offerings and run.
But before that, he figured he might as well kill Uchiha Kei.
Just a minor character. According to intel, Uchiha Kei rarely left home and was protected only by some Uchiha guards stationed outside, along with a defensive barrier.
Normally, this would make an assassination quite troublesome—you'd have to get past the guards, break the barrier, and then deal with him.
Worse, this was a residential area of the Hidden Leaf, heavily patrolled by shinobi. Even the thugs from the Hidden Cloud couldn't manage something like this.
Remember, during the Second Great Ninja War, Kushina Uzumaki had only been kidnapped because the Leaf's main forces were away, and she had lived on the village's outskirts.
Sure, there were people in the shinobi world capable of doing it—but if you had that level of skill, it'd be more efficient to assassinate Lord Third or attack the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Kushina Uzumaki. The rewards would be better.
So yes, Uchiha Kei lived about as safely as one could.
But for Black Zetsu, it was a different story. He could ignore barriers and sneak in from underground. Security didn't matter. At most, he might get spotted while passing through the barrier—but if he killed Uchiha Kei quickly and used Mayfly Jutsu to flee, no problem.
And so, Black Zetsu made his move.
At that moment, Kurama's warning reached Uchiha Kei.
Kei was caught off guard. He'd been plotting with others about how to take down Black Zetsu—only for Black Zetsu to strike first.
Worse, Minato was already en route to rescue Obito, which made Kei wonder if the whole thing had been a ploy to lure Minato away.
Plans never survive contact with reality. And Kei felt insulted.
Just then, Black Zetsu emerged from the wall behind him—appearing in the classic black-and-white Zetsu form—and reached for Kei's back.
But Kei whipped around, his Sharingan open, activating the Enhanced Intestinal Flavor Jutsu.
Normally, Zetsus don't even *have* intestines. The original jutsu wouldn't work. But this enhanced version *forced* the target to grow intestines—and simulated a variety of disgusting substances inside them.
Kei had once made up this attack on the fly to scare Kurama, and now, he'd realized it fully.
Black Zetsu froze. Then his face contorted, and he let out a screech. The White Zetsu he was possessing screamed too. A sensory link they weren't supposed to have suddenly activated.
The sensation was so extreme, neither could maintain form—Black Zetsu melted into a puddle of sludge, and White Zetsu collapsed.
Before Kei could land a follow-up, Black Zetsu vanished into the floor. Kei had Kurama track him, but Black Zetsu was already fleeing underground at high speed. Only Minato could catch him—and he was chasing Tobi and Obito.
No one could stop Black Zetsu now.
It annoyed Kei. The system-given jutsu had *obliterated* Black Zetsu—but the bastard survived and escaped, just as expected.
No one had ever expected to *capture* Black Zetsu. As a Yin-Yang Release entity, he was pure cheat code. Without late-Hokage-era or Boruto-level hacks, capturing him was nearly impossible.
Still, the good news was: this experience probably traumatized Black Zetsu.
That weirdly abstract system jutsu had simple activation, devastating effects, and even worked on Yin-Yang Release creatures. With no way to counter it, Black Zetsu's cowardly instincts would keep him far away from Kei for life.
So in a way, crisis averted.
That said, Kei still had no idea why Black Zetsu wanted to kill him, nor whether Obito's abduction was a ploy by Black Zetsu and Madara. He was left full of questions.
Sometimes, when coincidences pile up, it creates fertile ground for conspiracy theories—and it becomes impossible not to imagine the worst.