Chapter 314: Master

The man braced both hands against the ground, struggling to push himself upright.

He had the face of someone in his thirties.

His features had fully matured, the lines of his face hard and weathered by years of hardship.

His build, his appearance…

They were nothing like the clumsy little brat in Kaede’s memories who spent all day grinning like an idiot.

And yet…

That messy brown hair.

The upward curve of his eyebrows, the shape of his nose, even that familiar jawline.

The resemblance was unmistakable.

‘Nawaki?’

‘How could it be him?!’

For a moment, Kaede wondered if severe chakra exhaustion had finally made him hallucinate.

The man breathed heavily as he looked at Kaede standing only a few steps away.

His cracked lips moved.

With every bit of strength he had left, he forced out a single word.

“Master…”

The voice was faint.

But to Kaede, it crashed into his ears like a tidal wave.

‘It really is this brat!’

He stared at the mature man’s face before him.

Ever since learning in reality that Nawaki’s status had changed from “confirmed dead” to “missing,” Kaede had imagined the possibility that Nawaki might still be alive.

He had even considered that the two of them might meet again one day.

But never like this.

The logic made no sense.

There had been nothing in the original story about Black Zetsu saving Nawaki.

At that point in history, Kaede hadn’t even arrived in this world yet. Everything in the Shinobi World should still have followed its original course.

Could this somehow be an effect of the simulator?

No. That didn’t fit either.

If Nawaki had awakened memories from a simulation, then with his personality, he would rather die than stand beside Black Zetsu and attack Konoha.

More importantly, after two simulations, Kaede had already confirmed that aside from a few of the female leads, no one else in reality awakened those memories.

And there was one final, undeniable problem.

During their fight, Nawaki had known Kaede’s taijutsu habits inside and out.

That instinctive understanding of how to respond to his techniques could only come from years of familiarity.

Countless questions tangled together in Kaede’s head.

But he quickly cut off the chaotic train of thought.

Whatever had happened in between could wait.

Nawaki was alive.

That was enough.

The most important thing now was treating his injuries.

Kaede started toward him.

At the same time, deep beneath the battlefield, Black Zetsu’s face twisted hideously after hearing that word.

‘Master?’

‘Why?!’

It cursed furiously inside its mind.

Why had Nawaki turned against it at the most critical moment?

His memories had been suppressed for years without the slightest disturbance. How could a single meeting have restored them?

Black Zetsu couldn’t understand it.

But there was no longer any time to search for an answer.

If Nawaki defected, the Rinnegan was lost.

Without those eyes, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path couldn’t be activated.

Its plan to resurrect its mother would be delayed indefinitely yet again.

Would it have to wait another few decades and cultivate an entirely new pawn?

How many more years of preparation would that take?!

Despair and vicious resolve flickered through Black Zetsu’s eyes.

‘At the very least, I have to take the Rinnegan!’

It activated its final contingency.

Black Zetsu silently dissolved into a mass of pitch-black fluid.

Hidden beneath the rocky ground, it moved like a bodiless snake toward Nawaki’s back at terrifying speed.

Its target was clear.

Kaede had just discovered that Nawaki had returned from the dead. His emotions had to be at their most unstable.

This should be the moment his guard was weakest.

If Black Zetsu could burst out and forcibly possess Nawaki’s body…

Even if doing so drained the last of Nawaki’s life force and caused his body to collapse, preserving the Rinnegan would give Black Zetsu another chance to begin again.

The black fluid raced beneath the ground.

The distance vanished rapidly.

Nawaki’s completely unguarded back was right there.

Black Zetsu suddenly accelerated.

It burst through the surface and spread into a twisted black net in midair, lunging straight for Nawaki.

Just before it could touch him, Kaede stopped walking.

The eyes that had been shaken by the reunion instantly locked onto Black Zetsu.

Yes, discovering Nawaki alive had thrown his emotions into turmoil.

But how could Kaede possibly forget Black Zetsu’s favorite trick?

He remembered all too clearly what had happened to Obito and Madara.

The reason he had approached so slowly was because he had deliberately been showing an opening.

“There you are.”

Kaede’s hands formed seals.

A triangular sealing array lit up in midair, appearing directly in Black Zetsu’s path.

Black Zetsu had launched itself too quickly to stop.

It slammed headfirst into the glowing formation.

“What is this?!”

A terrified shriek tore from Black Zetsu.

Kaede’s voice was ice-cold.

“Seal.”

The triangular array rapidly contracted.

Powerful sealing force crushed inward from every direction, shrinking tighter and tighter until Black Zetsu could no longer move inside it.

No matter how violently its body writhed, it couldn’t pierce the thin membrane of light.

Even its ability to sink back underground had been completely cut off.

“You didn’t actually think I’d forgotten about you, did you?”

Kaede looked at Black Zetsu without a trace of warmth in his voice.

“From the moment you let go of me, I’ve been waiting for you to come out.”

Only after dealing with the greatest hidden threat did Kaede finally allow his tense nerves to loosen slightly.

He hurried the rest of the way to Nawaki and crouched beside him, quickly examining his condition.

It wasn’t good.

The burden of the Rinnegan, combined with the extreme exhaustion from battle, had pushed his body far beyond its limits.

Fortunately, it wasn’t beyond saving.

“It’s not too serious. Your sister can heal you.”

Nawaki froze.

“Sis…ter?”

Kaede didn’t explain.

He simply nodded and reached out a hand.

“Yes. Stop talking. Let’s go.”

He needed to get Nawaki in front of Tsunade as quickly as possible.

Kaede pulled one of Nawaki’s arms over his shoulder and steadily helped him to his feet.

At the same time, with Black Zetsu completely sealed and Nawaki no longer resisting, the distant battlefield underwent a dramatic change.

The seven Tailed Beasts that had been rampaging across the battlefield suddenly froze, as though the core command controlling them had been ripped away.

The purple ripples in their eyes gradually faded, replaced by confusion.

The battlefield, which had been filled with deafening battle cries only moments earlier, seemed to have been abruptly paused.

The allied shinobi stopped their techniques one after another and stared uncertainly at the motionless Tailed Beasts.

Tsunade watched the change.

She knew Kaede had won.

She turned and looked through the darkness and the lingering smoke toward his position.

Two figures stood there, supporting one another beneath the moonlight.

‘Who is that?’

Tsunade focused on the man beside Kaede.

His face was dirty and bloodied, and his tall frame was not much smaller than Kaede’s.

Then she saw his profile clearly.

Her expression froze completely.