Chapter 143: Judgment! Heavenly Punishment! Black Zetsu’s Terror!
The moment Obito gritted his teeth and uttered the word “retreat,” he could only desperately suppress the frustration in his heart, glaring unwillingly at Uchiha Ikeizumi before directly swiping his palm in front of himself, his body being drawn into the Kamui other dimension.
“What a weird ability…”
Watching that so-called “Uchiha Madara” disappear, Juzo Biwa couldn’t help but click his tongue: “Is this the dojutsu related to time and space? It’s really a cheating ability.”
“Ah! He left so quickly? Why didn’t he notify me?” Vortex-faced White Zetsu, seeing Obito disappear, immediately distanced himself from Kijiro and directly dismissed the giant Wooden Golem.
Suddenly, Vortex-faced White Zetsu carelessly stepped on a round tree branch, staggering comically as if unsteady, in a posture like it was about to fall at any moment.
After an “oh no” exclamation from its mouth, just as the last bit was about to touch the ground, it suddenly stabilized its body.
It straightened up again, its feet gradually merging into the ground beneath, and said to Kijiro in a mischievous tone: “You didn’t fall for it, I thought you’d sneak attack!”
“Next time I see you, I definitely have to see if a cat defecating looks different from a human defecating. I have plenty of experience peeping on Lord Madara defecating!”
With that, Vortex-faced White Zetsu gave Kijiro no chance to act, its entire body merging into the ground.
“Uchiha Ikeizumi.”
The lone Zetsu deeply glanced at Uchiha Ikeizumi, a thick wariness flashing deep in its eyes: “Next time we meet, it will be when we’ve planned to kill you. You’re in the light, we’re in the dark, you’ll never know when we’ll strike.”
“In this Ninja World, sometimes knowing too much isn’t a good thing. Sometimes sharing what you know with others is even a case of not dying if you don’t court death.”
“Then…”
Just as Zetsu’s body merged into the ground, leaving only half its head exposed, about to completely disappear, Uchiha Ikeizumi’s left eye suddenly met its gaze.
Zetsu was suddenly startled, shocked to see Uchiha Ikeizumi’s left eye overflowing with another streak of glaring scarlet blood!
The eerie Mangekyo Sharingan in his pupil was slightly rotating!
“Judgment.”
Zetsu’s pupils suddenly contracted, the shape of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s Mangekyo Sharingan slowly reflecting deep in its eyes. The scene before it suddenly veiled in a layer of scarlet blood color.
The entire world seemed enveloped in crimson, and as its gaze shifted upward, even the moon overhead turned into a Mangekyo Sharingan.
Abruptly!
Scenes of memories spanning over a thousand years flashed rapidly through its mind like a lantern show, and they weren’t Zetsu’s memories, but those of the people it had harmed!
Countless people, after being persecuted by its sins, their despair, grief, struggle, hatred, rage… and other negative emotions poured entirely into Zetsu’s consciousness in an instant.
Even for a special non-human entity like it, one that had survived in the Ninja World for a full thousand years, its brain and consciousness still exploded as if bombed at that moment.
And amplified a hundredfold!
As if six hundred billion explosive tags were exploding endlessly in its mind.
The never-before-felt bone-piercing, heart-drilling pain stunned Zetsu instantly.
This was its consciousness, its soul under attack!
This was judgment from absolute justice!
“Hiss aaaah!!!” The indescribable tearing pain made Zetsu’s hands burst out from underground, quickly clutching its head. Its fingers, under frantic force, even pierced the skin, directly embedding into its brain, its black-and-white face contorting in extreme agony.
The physical pain, mental torment, negative emotions, and personal experiences of those it had persecuted replayed endlessly in Zetsu’s mind, making it “personally experience” them, truly feeling their despair.
Moreover, the deeper the sins, the longer the dojutsu’s effect lasts, up to several weeks.
Like Zetsu… or rather “Black Zetsu,” such an old schemer of the Ninja World.
It would definitely endure the full terrifying torment lasting weeks.
Back then, Shimura Danzo, after taking one of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s Judgment eyes, was in such agony he lost control of his bowels, without the slightest ability to resist.
Of course, Black Zetsu had no corresponding excretory organs, so incontinence wasn’t an option. But the agony it displayed was dozens of times that of Shimura Danzo!
Over a thousand years, what evil deeds Black Zetsu had done, how many families it directly or indirectly shattered, leading to deaths… probably even it couldn’t remember clearly.
And the pain Black Zetsu once inflicted on others, at this moment, it bore all by itself!
“This is…”
Juzo Biwa watched this eerie scene in shock; in his bystander’s view—Uchiha Ikeizumi merely glared with those scarlet eyes at that bizarrely shaped Pitcher Plant, and it instantly lost its fighting ability.
This was a suspected Wood Style user from Akatsuki! Very likely one of the core members.
Yet before Uchiha Ikeizumi’s eerie eyes, it seemed so frail and powerless?
“This is the Judgment eye from hell.” Uchiha Ikeizumi didn’t wipe the blood slowly flowing down his face, his tone extremely cold: “Before those who have never committed sins, it’s useless. Even using it hundreds of times won’t produce any ‘judgment’ effect on those who have never done evil.”
“But for villains like you, it’s hell’s judgment on your evil deeds. As long as you have consciousness, as long as you have a soul, even if you’re not a living being, you’ll be judged by me.”
In endless painful despair, Black Zetsu, with its last shred of clarity, no longer dared to expose its head outside.
It exhausted its final clear consciousness to hurriedly sink into the ground, its desperate fleeing posture utterly wretched.
However, Black Zetsu didn’t notice that just before it fully sank underground, Uchiha Ikeizumi’s right eye suddenly crawled with several glaring bloodshot veins.
A streak of scarlet blood also slowly flowed from the right eye.
“Heavenly Punishment.”
The Heavenly Punishment Fire from hell would imprint a deep mark at a random spot on the villain’s soul. Unless Uchiha Ikeizumi actively removes the mark, the Heavenly Punishment Fire will follow the target to the ends of the earth, until burning their body to ashes and casting their soul into Pure Land Hell!
Even if the soul is already in Pure Land Hell, the Heavenly Punishment Fire will cling tightly to the target. Even in hell, it will suffer endless burning punishment from the Heavenly Punishment Fire!
……
“Damn it, how did he know? And why did that bastard Jiraiya show up right then! If he’d given me just a little more time, I definitely could’ve figured out how to thoroughly kill that Uchiha Ikeizumi!”
Having fled far away, Obito broke down, his face ashen; this was his second time fleeing very wretchedly from Uchiha Ikeizumi.
Each time without gaining any advantage over him!
Back then, even against Teacher Minato, at the start he’d taken full advantage of Teacher Minato.
Only later did Teacher Minato suddenly discover a flaw in his Kamui ability.
“Ah! He escaped.” A voice with a strange tone rang from beside Obito.
Followed by Vortex-faced White Zetsu’s somewhat comical complaint: “Why didn’t you two remind me? I only realized to run after seeing you run. If I’d been left alone there, wouldn’t I have been scared shitless!”
“Ah! Forgot I don’t have that function…” Obito watched this guy suddenly squat dejectedly on the ground, as if unable to defecate was deeply frustrating.
Obito’s mouth twitched slightly.
Before dying, Uchiha Madara left him three very special “Zetsu”: one claiming to be Uchiha Madara’s separated will; the other two were rather strange White Zetsu.
One of these White Zetsu was the Vortex-faced White Zetsu before him, with a distinct personality; the other was an Aloe-like White Zetsu, also quirky but not talkative.
Back when Obito was gravely injured, these two special White Zetsu had cared for him.
But that Aloe-like White Zetsu had already fused with Black Zetsu.
Obito didn’t bother chit-chatting with Vortex-faced White Zetsu about “shit, piss, and farts.”
He frowned and suddenly asked: “What about the other one?”
Vortex-faced White Zetsu was stunned, looking around: “It should have run too, after all, it told you to run!”
As they stared at each other, a black-and-white figure suddenly emerged from the ground.
Seeing this, Obito’s frown relaxed, but before he could speak, a sudden scream stunned him.
“Aaaah!!!” Black Zetsu, emerging from the ground, clutched its head, rolling and wailing on the ground, its fingers from excessive force having clawed its entire head to shreds.
“I aaaah I got hit by Mangekyo…” Black Zetsu squeezed out this sentence amid its shrill screams.
Obito was shocked.
This was Uchiha Ikeizumi’s Mangekyo ability? This was the dojutsu he’d nearly fallen to before?
Watching Black Zetsu in such unbearable agony, nearly losing mobility, cold sweat beaded on Obito’s forehead.
“No, doesn’t this body of yours lack pain sensation? Could this be pain originating from the soul?!”
Obito felt even more chills.
He himself had been implanted with White Zetsu cells; physical pain and injury meant little to him. Even being split by blades or burned by flames was just a bit painful to Obito, nothing more.
But this soul-attacking eerie Mangekyo dojutsu…
It countered his special constitution too much.
Nearby, Vortex-faced White Zetsu tried to help Black Zetsu up, but just as it was about to touch Black Zetsu’s other white half, a sudden heart palpitation made it instinctively pull back.
And at that instant.
Black Zetsu’s left arm suddenly erupted in terrifying flames; the flames appearing from nowhere wildly burned its left arm, making the already wailing Black Zetsu bulge its eyes wide, its round yellow eyeballs nearly popping from their sockets.
“It’s burning my soul aaaah!!!” Black Zetsu’s scream, deformed by painful despair, horrified Obito: “This eerie dojutsu will kill me! Quick aaaah! Quick… save me aaaah!!!”
Save? How? Suck half its body directly into Kamui Space—would that work?
But if these eerie flames were sucked into Kamui Space, would his soul be burned by them?
Obito hesitated.
In this brief hesitation, the Heavenly Punishment Fire had already covered Black Zetsu’s entire arm and shoulder, its extreme agony making Vortex-faced White Zetsu hurriedly retreat several steps.
“If you have soul-splitting ability, immediately separate the left half soul from the right half soul completely. This is how Shimura Danzo avoided this ability; at least it won’t let the flames cover the entire body.”
A slightly immature cold voice suddenly sounded, making Obito and Vortex-faced White Zetsu immediately turn their gazes.
They saw a short Anbu Ninja wearing an Anbu mask, somehow squatting on a nearby tree.
The other continued: “You can choose not to trust me, but this is the only way to save him.”
Obito deeply eyed the person and shouted to Black Zetsu: “Quickly detach from this body!”
As soon as the words fell.
From the black-and-white body, the black side rapidly receded like tidewater; Black Zetsu directly detached from this White Zetsu body, turning into a puddle of strange viscous black substance, still with a pair of eyes and a mouth.
After Black Zetsu detached, the Aloe-like special White Zetsu rolled madly on the ground. The Heavenly Punishment Fire on its left arm had already engulfed most of its body.
“Huff… huff…”
Black Zetsu now stared wide with its round yellow eyes, panting heavily, shocked at the flame-bathed Aloe-shaped White Zetsu.
The next second.
Endless despair and pain in its brain consciousness swallowed most of Black Zetsu’s mind again, making it roll madly on the ground, emitting the same shrill screams as the Aloe-like White Zetsu.
“Why is it still like this?!” Seeing Black Zetsu, now a puddle, still in this miserable state, Obito abruptly looked at the Anbu Ninja squatting on the tree and demanded.
The immature-voiced Anbu Ninja said: “At least the flames that could burn its soul to ashes didn’t reach it, right?”
“Uchiha Ikeizumi’s left eye ability should make one feel ultimate pain; this was clearly shown on Danzo.”
“His right eye releases a kind of eerie flame that, once attached, can never be shaken off unless you split your soul.”
Here, the Anbu Ninja looked at the puddle-form Black Zetsu.
He paused, then continued: “Looks like this body has two souls; Uchiha Ikeizumi’s flame marked the white soul. After separating, the eerie flames weren’t carried to the black soul side. At least, my suggestion kept it alive, didn’t it?”
“As for why the left eye ability wasn’t nullified, I don’t know. After all, my intel is just analysis from when Uchiha Ikeizumi used Mangekyo on Danzo.”
“Speaking of which, you lot are unusually weird. Weird enough to not seem human.” The Anbu Ninja stared at Black Zetsu: “It seems more like a special Summoned Beast.”
Beneath Obito’s mask, his brows furrowed; he felt this immature-voiced Anbu kid had an aloof arrogance.
This feeling irked him.
However… he could probably confirm Black Zetsu wouldn’t be burned to death; the one dying was that Aloe-like White Zetsu. Its screams had stopped, the eerie flames burning its entire body to not even ashes, as if erased from existence.
Obito’s eyes turned sinister.
The Aloe-like bizarre White Zetsu had once cared for him; watching it burn to death in agony without feeling a thing was impossible.
After heavily exhaling, Obito regained his expressionless face and looked up at the Anbu Ninja on the tree ahead.
His hoarse tone carried a hint of world-weariness: “What’s your goal? Uchiha Clan junior.”
Now it was Uchiha Itachi’s turn to be stunned on the tree.
He jumped down, walking toward Obito while asking: “How did you know I’m a Uchiha Clan ninja?”
“Heh!” Amid Black Zetsu’s pained screams, Obito crossed his arms with a cold laugh: “I know Konoha like the back of my hand; among Anbu Ninjas, only one is the youngest—the only Uchiha Clan ninja in Anbu, Uchiha Itachi.”
“I know your kind of kid well; you wouldn’t help for no reason, state your goal. Better say it before I feel like killing you, or you won’t go back tonight.”
Uchiha Itachi was silent for half a second, then directly removed his Anbu mask, revealing a slightly immature face.
But this immature face forced an adult’s maturity, appearing especially discordant.
Uchiha Itachi said: “I can tell you really want to deal with Uchiha Ikeizumi. Or rather… kill him. You may know Konoha well enough, but you don’t know Uchiha Ikeizumi as deeply as I do. Perhaps in some aspects, we can cooperate.”
“Oh?”
Obito interested: “Let’s hear it?”
Uchiha Itachi coldly: “For example—cooperate to eliminate Uchiha Ikeizumi. Or—cooperate to eliminate the Uchiha Clan.”
Obito: “???”
……
Meanwhile.
“Jiraiya Sage has arrived! Everyone stop, outside Konoha isn’t for you to rampage!” The belated Jiraiya descended from the sky, landing steadily on the ground, immediately shouting at the top of his lungs.
However, the scene before him, though devastated and clearly from a fierce ninjutsu battle earlier,
lacked the expected intense fight; the scene was so calm it was baffling.
Only two people and one cat entered Jiraiya’s view.
Uchiha Ikeizumi, Juzo Biwa, Kijiro.
This stunned Jiraiya: “How is it you guys?”
“Ended long ago, meow.” Kijiro, shrunk to normal size, eyed with fatigue. Seemingly, enlarging that much rapidly drained stamina and chakra.
Kijiro rolled its eyes at Jiraiya, harshly retorting: “Is this your resolve to change the Ninja World? You who can’t even arrive on time, also want to find some so-called savior? Also want to mold the savior into what you desire?!”
Jiraiya: “…”
He hadn’t even spoken yet, and this Ninja Cat was dissing him again? And it saw him so unfavorably—did he have no affinity with cats?
But as one of the Sannin, he couldn’t bicker with a cat.
Jiraiya could only keep a straight face, then asked Uchiha Ikeizumi: “Ikeizumi, I saw a Wooden Golem from afar, and here all the trees’ roots are exposed? Who just used Wood Style?”
Before getting an answer from Uchiha Ikeizumi, Jiraiya’s peripheral vision caught neighboring Juzo Biwa suddenly looking at Uchiha Ikeizumi.
What was this guy looking at Uchiha Ikeizumi for?
Hm?
Wait!
Jiraiya’s eyes widened, staring dumbfounded at Uchiha Ikeizumi, exclaiming: “You used Wood Style?”
“Not just him.” Juzo Biwa patted the dust off himself with lingering fear, saying: “Two other bizarrely shaped guys also used Wood Style ninjutsu.”
With that, Juzo Biwa couldn’t hold back inwardly complaining: “Where did Konoha’s bloodlines go? Feels like everyone in the Ninja World can use legendary Wood Style—like it’s wholesale, even free.”
Jiraiya: “…”
He read much shocking info from Juzo Biwa’s words.
—Uchiha Ikeizumi really could use Wood Style.
—Just now, Ikeizumi fought at least two enemy ninjas from outside the village, and those two could also use Wood Style.
Jiraiya’s heart sank slightly.
Wood Style…
This was the First Hokage’s bloodline limit that suppressed the Ninja World; after the First Hokage passed, the Senju Clan had no new Wood Style ninjas.
Old man said Orochimaru researched Wood Style with one success case, but that case was hidden by the old man.
Wait!
Could this relate to Orochimaru?
At the mention of Orochimaru, Jiraiya seemed triggered, urgently asking: “Ikeizumi, was it Orochimaru you encountered? Or his subordinate? Or… his disciple?!”
Uchiha Ikeizumi indifferently: “Your grandstudent.”
“Ah???”
Jiraiya was stunned.
Didn’t react.
……
……
