Yagura's emotional state on the way here had been wildly erratic—so much so that Isobu easily picked up on it.
A simple question was all it took for Isobu to realize the truth. The two figures before them were the so-called "agents" of Uchiha Madara—the very ones Yagura had warned both him and Shiken about.
Isobu:Hah… so they're real after all.
Yagura:You thought I was lying?
Isobu:Half and half. You pull stunts all the time, and honestly, I didn't want to accept that you might actually be telling the truth this time. I would've preferred it if you were just messing with us.
Yagura:I wish I had been.
Isobu:Well, you know what to do. This agent's not on Madara's level. He couldn't even beat Mangetsu. But still… don't get careless.
Yagura gave a nod of acknowledgment to Isobu's concern.
As for Obito, he clearly hadn't come to Kirigakure with Yagura as his primary target.
The fact that Mangetsu had forced him into this situation already proved that Obito lacked the strength—or arrogance—to attempt taking control of a Kage right now.
Besides, Isobu had been safely sealed inside Yagura this whole time. There was no chance Obito could have manipulated Rin into her tragic fate. In this version of events, he had no reason to harbor the same grudge against Kirigakure.
Shaking off the hatred in Obito's eyes, Yagura focused on how to deal with both Obito and Zetsu.
Obito had appeared far earlier than expected—too early, in fact.
Yagura had assumed he still had time. Time before Obito launched the Nine-Tails attack on Konoha. Time before he killed the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
But Black Zetsu? He needed to die now.
...
Black and White Zetsu both looked up and locked eyes with the Mizukage, whose glare radiated murderous intent.
"Hey," Zetsu muttered nervously, "this… this doesn't look good."
Most of Obito's mask had been shattered in the clash, revealing half of his disfigured face.
Zetsu was currently feeding him chakra and helping him recover. With Hashirama's cells at work, the injuries Obito had inflicted upon himself with his own Fire Release were healing rapidly.
Obito's voice was low and wary. "Who is that?"
He could tell—this newcomer wasn't just anyone.
"That's the Mizukage," Zetsu said, cold sweat pouring down. Even he was afraid.
He might call Kaguya "Mother," and while that wasn't incorrect, the truth was… he himself was pathetically weak. No combat ability whatsoever.
His Wood Release? That came from White Zetsu. Black Zetsu merely piggybacked on the body.
Worried that Obito might've suffered brain damage from the fight and was losing awareness, Zetsu clarified again,
"Just like Konoha's Hokage—he's the strongest shinobi in the village."
Obito wasn't that out of it yet. At the mention of "Mizukage," his expression darkened noticeably.
He had already been forced into a corner by one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—just a swordsman! And now, this Mizukage had completely stripped him of his intangibility from Kamui.
From that earlier blow alone, Obito could already tell—Yagura was far stronger than Hozuki Mangetsu. A whole tier above.
And now, the question was: how the hell was he supposed to escape?
...
While Obito was still recovering—
Yagura quietly formed hand signs. Without a word, he sealed off every possible underground escape route Zetsu might take.
Once the setup was complete, he launched the first strike—seizing full control of the battlefield.
Obito and Zetsu couldn't even track his movement.
Only Obito's Sharingan managed to see Yagura's afterimage—but his body couldn't keep up.
Yagura's first strike was aimed directly at Obito.
He moved like a phantom, appearing between the two of them in an instant. One swing of his blade—clean and decisive—sliced through the white Wood Release tendrils connecting Zetsu to Obito.
Obito's expression twisted. It was the first time he had ever faced a true Kage-level opponent. He had never imagined their strength could be so overwhelming.
His Sharingan allowed him to barely dodge the fatal strike, but the sheer speed and relentless precision left him no room to breathe.
A crackle of lightning echoed through the air.
Yagura suddenly blinked behind him—bent low—and swept his leg in a vicious arc. His whip kick shattered Obito's already mangled leg and launched him through the air!
One arm already gone, now a leg too.
Half his body left intact—just a torso and a head. It was like being thrown back to the worst moment of his life.
The only difference? At least now he still had half a face.
No time to think. No time to despair.
Yagura's Coral Palm Technique activated the moment Obito hit the ground. Coral began to grow rapidly over his lower half.
Mangetsu had deliberately modeled his fighting style after Yagura—interweaving taijutsu and ninjutsu to maintain a relentless offensive rhythm.
And as Mangetsu's teacher, Yagura's rhythm was even faster.
Obito felt it instantly.
Struggling, he warped the coral off his legs into the Kamui dimension and barely managed to dodge the follow-up attack.
Then—bam!—a brutal punch crashed into his face.
He went flying again, smashing into the dirt.
Crack…
His mask shattered completely, exposing his entire face to the open air.
Blood poured from the corners of his mouth.
In panic, he raised a hand to cover the disfigured side of his face.
Arms crossed, Mangetsu scoffed,
"Ohhh… now that's why you wear the mask. Yeah, if I looked like that, I wouldn't go out either."
Yagura didn't bother with mockery. He didn't even see the point in speaking to Obito.
Some things were better handled with fists.
And he delivered several more, each one a statement of contempt.
Obito, now missing an arm and a leg, his face exposed and disheveled, lay in complete ruin.
For now… that was enough.
...
Meanwhile, Black and White Zetsu watched from the sidelines, horrified.
They were completely outmatched.
There was no way they could win.
A thought began to bubble up inside Black Zetsu—should he abandon Obito and escape while he still could?
At least Obito was drawing all the attention. Zetsu, at worst, was just the backup.
Sure, if Obito died, Madara's plan would collapse. Madara would never be revived. And the plan Zetsu had spent so many years preparing would crumble into nothing.
But if he died? Then his mother, Kaguya, would never be resurrected.
His gaze darkened, landing on Mangetsu.
It's all his fault!
He had underestimated him.
If he'd warned Obito earlier, they might not be in this mess!
The mental scale tipped.
Obito was still alive. Yagura hadn't killed him yet.
Zetsu had a small window. He had to act now.
Escape.
...
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Flames roared toward Yagura, but—
"Water Mirror Technique!"
Yagura's mirrored surface perfectly duplicated the jutsu.
Landing and pivoting smoothly, Yagura suddenly turned and bolted—straight for Zetsu.
Zetsu's cowardly instincts kicked in. A spike of panic hit his heart just in time.
Trees erupted from the ground—Wood Release—blocking Yagura's approach.
But—
"Water Mirror Technique!"
Yagura used the copied fire dragon to incinerate the wooden wall.
The thunderous momentum behind his next strike tore through the blaze like lightning through paper.
His blade cleaved straight through Black and White Zetsu's fused form.
"You thought you could run?" Yagura's eyes narrowed.
Zetsu staggered, stunned. He hadn't even seen it coming.
Why was Yagura attacking him all of a sudden?
Obito wasn't dead yet—so why switch targets?
Still… this was just a White Zetsu body. His real self could simply switch hosts. There were still a hundred thousand bodies underground.
No big deal.
Or so he thought.
Yagura's gaze hadn't left him.
His hands formed signs. The earth beneath their feet—spanning a hundred meters—began to tremble.
Zetsu's eyes went wide.
What… what was happening?
Yagura raised both arms.
"Water Style: Phantom Water Domain!"
That chakra… it was monstrous.
He… he was trying to completely destroy him?!
"Filthy human!"
The worst-case scenario was happening.
Zetsu's disguise—his very existence—had been seen through?
He panicked, abandoning the White Zetsu body and slipping into the ground.
But instead of solid earth—he was surrounded by liquid.
What?! A trap?!
...
"Where do you think you're going?"
Yagura's fist clenched tight.
He closed the opening Zetsu had used to slip into the water prison.
Both arms lifted high.
From the ground, a massive cube of water rose—at least 100 cubic meters—towering high above the battlefield.
Black Zetsu, now in his true form—just a disgusting glob of black mud—scrambled within the cube, slamming against the walls in every direction.
But no matter where he struck, the water was harder than steel.
The situation had turned worse than he could have imagined.
He… he was going to die?
Since the day of his birth, Black Zetsu had looked down on humanity with scorn.
This world was supposed to be Kaguya's cradle. These humans—mere nutrients for her revival.
He had waited, schemed, manipulated Madara as a pawn in his centuries-long plan.
And now, he was going to die at the hands of a mere human?
He looked up, fury burning in his eyes.
Yagura stared back, expression cold.
"With those beady little eyes showing all that emotion? You've worked hard, haven't you… Black Zetsu."
The name hit like a hammer.
He knows… my name?
He knows who I am?!
He was supposed to be the all-knowing puppet master, the secret hand guiding the Shinobi World.
He had even altered the Uchiha Stone Tablet.
But now—Yagura stood above him, knowledge flowing from a higher dimension.
"Of course I know," Yagura said.
Zetsu couldn't speak inside the water prison, but his desperate gaze screamed the questions he couldn't ask.
Yagura clenched his fists again.
The cube shrank by half in an instant.
That grotesque lump of black slime twisted and compressed under the crushing pressure.
"Kaguya gave birth to you… but by the time she did, she didn't have the strength to give her final child any power."
Zetsu wasn't strong.
He had merely survived in the shadows, like an insect. Like that wretched old worm.
...
In the original Fourth Great Ninja War, Black Zetsu had once been sliced clean in half by Chojuro. However, Chojuro hadn't understood Black Zetsu's true nature and failed to finish him off, allowing him to burrow underground and escape.
Later, during the final battle, Black Zetsu tried to steal Obito's Rinnegan, but Obito was protected by reanimated Hokage and Kakashi.
It was only by clinging to Obito that Black Zetsu managed to avoid being killed by the reanimated Minato and Kakashi.
A powerless son of Kaguya... was something that could have been destroyed long ago.
...
Back in the shrinking prison, Black Zetsu's body twisted grotesquely under the pressure, but his mind was clear enough to register what Yagura had said.
He... he knows Mother's name!
How?
How could a human know something even the foolish Uchiha Madara didn't?
Mangetsu stepped forward, listening to Yagura's words with a strange look.
But he didn't ask questions. Yagura always had his own sources of information—and his own judgment.
Looking down at the massive hollow that had been torn into the ground, Mangetsu admitted,
"I'm a little shocked you went this far, Yagura. Is this black slime that dangerous?"
Yagura gave a curt nod.
"Think of him like the hidden final boss in a video game."
He answered casually, explaining:
"That half-crippled guy you saw? Just a small boss. A fool who got scammed and kept helping the people who betrayed him."
So that Uchiha had already escaped during the chaos... Yagura knew.
Mangetsu blinked, understanding dawning.
"No wonder you left the Uchiha alone and came to kill this thing first."
Yagura continued compressing the prison.
"Exactly."
...
KONG!!
A shockwave of chakra exploded outward, flattening the nearby grass and trees!
Mangetsu nearly lost his footing. He looked up with a grave expression.
The Phantom Water Domain had compressed to less than ten cubic meters.
At such extreme pressure, few materials in the world could withstand the force.
Black Zetsu's pitiful form didn't even have time to scream—one instant he was there, the next, crushed into oblivion.
Gone.
Silence.
Yagura lifted the shrunken prison high into the air.
With one final motion, he crushed it utterly.
BOOM—!!!!
Water erupted into the sky like a colossal explosion.
The deafening roar drowned out the entire village, completely overwhelming even the fireworks that Mist had launched earlier that night for their festival.
"Ow—ow!!"
Mangetsu quickly covered his ears but was still left slightly deafened.
"You could've warned me you were gonna pull a stunt like that!"
There was no doubt about it—Black Zetsu was dead.
Yagura exhaled slowly, relief evident on his face. He turned and grinned at Mangetsu, the man who had helped make this victory possible.
"My bad, my responsibility. You want it counted as a commendation... or a reward? Tonight, it's your choice~"
His tone was teasing but warm.
Mangetsu tugged awkwardly at his earlobe, still dazed by the sudden windfall.
"Wait... seriously?"
Had he fallen under some kind of genjutsu from that Uchiha?
No, right? Right?!
"Yeah. Thanks to you holding them off, I was able to get rid of one of our biggest threats."
Yagura's smile was genuine.
"One night good enough? Or maybe three? A week? You wanna play Super Mario or Thunder Fighter?"
Oh... he meant video games.
Mangetsu sagged, relieved he wasn't trapped in some dream or illusion.
...
"Lord Mizukage! Mangetsu!!"
"We're here!"
Zabuza and the others from Kirigakure rushed over.
Yagura waved at them, signaling that everything was under control.
Facing Obito without falling to the same fate as before, and even killing Black Zetsu—tonight had been a decisive victory.
As Zabuza and Mei came over, Mei's sharp gaze caught on Mangetsu's strangely dazed expression.
"What's wrong with Mangetsu?" she asked.
Yagura shrugged casually.
"The enemy was pretty dangerous. He went off alone and almost got himself killed. I gave him a good scolding."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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