Chapter 480: Madara's Revenge
Uchiha Madara sat cross-legged in place, his Rinnegan locked unblinkingly on the antique mirror suspended between himself and Black Zetsu's soul form.
Images played across the mirror's surface. Madara's expression grew so dark it seemed water could drip from his face, killing intent emanating from his body making the surrounding air thick and frigid.
Just moments ago, that influx of knowledge about the Pure Land's fundamental rules had also flooded his consciousness. He immediately understood the mirror's purpose—reflecting everything from a soul's life.
Madara had zero interest in reviewing his own past. The first thing he did was reach out without hesitation and pluck the Karma Reflection Mirror belonging to Black Zetsu from beside that half-transparent soul form that had yet to awaken.
What he wanted to see was this filth's life.
The content playing in the mirror perfectly matched the truth the Sage of Six Paths had revealed, yet carried far greater impact from witnessing it firsthand.
He watched Black Zetsu's moment of birth—on that desolate battlefield churning with chakra, at the final instant when mother Kaguya was sealed by her two sons working together, that twisted black liquid coalesced with the most primal malice and obsession.
He watched how Black Zetsu used whispered revelations to plant seeds of fixation on power and isolation in Indra's heart, skillfully driving a wedge between brothers who could have walked forward hand in hand, letting suspicion and opposition take root and grow.
He watched how Black Zetsu found the stone tablet the Uchiha clan had worshipped for generations, tampering with the Sage of Six Paths' true teachings left there, replacing them with sweet poison about the Infinite Tsukuyomi and "salvation."
He watched how this thing exploited its eternal life, lurking in history's shadows with patience, observing, then intervening in different ways with identical malice whenever each generation's Indra and Ashura reincarnations appeared, guiding them, pushing them toward inevitable opposition and slaughter.
Only each cycle ended with the Indra reincarnation's defeat or tragedy, accumulating deeper resentment for the next cycle.
Then the images jumped to the era of "Uchiha Madara."
He watched that earth-shaking decisive battle at the Valley of the End... In one corner of the scene, far from the battlefield in the shadows, a black mass crouched quietly, silently appreciating this generation's pinnacle clash between Indra and Ashura's power, and... Uchiha Madara's defeat and death.
Then all the way until his death from old age. This thing had possessed one of the White Zetsu, masquerading as if he himself had created it.
Hearing about something and seeing it with your own eyes were ultimately different experiences.
Madara watched his former self in the mirror—once proud yet confused, like a fool being led by the nose, placing complete trust in Black Zetsu, viewing it as his only "kindred spirit" and "will." The fury and humiliation in his chest churned like magma.
He clenched his teeth, his breathing becoming heavy and rapid beyond control, each breath suppressing the impulse to destroy everything.
Standing beside him, Uchiha Izuna felt equally furious, though his focus differed slightly.
His gaze locked onto those earlier scenes of manipulation and guidance. Watching how Black Zetsu orchestrated history, making the Senju and Uchiha clans sink into endless cycles of bloody warfare and hatred generation after generation... and the source of it all was that a thousand years ago, the Senju and Uchiha... were originally descendants of a pair of actual brothers?
This realization filled Izuna with intense absurdity and resistance.
The deep-rooted enmity toward the Senju clan and painful battlefield memories made him struggle to accept this notion of shared ancestry, his brow furrowing tightly.
"You brat! Don't even think about finishing me off!!"
At that moment, a shrill shriek filled with dying-struggle terror suddenly rang out!
Black Zetsu's soul form had finally awakened.
Its consciousness remained stuck at its final living moment—locked in place by Rasengan: Solar Core, that instant before annihilation when it tried to escape but lacked the power. Therefore, its first reaction upon waking was still maintaining that posture of attempted flight.
Then it saw its surroundings clearly, and directly ahead, those eyes like an abyss gazing at it—the Rinnegan containing towering fury.
"Ma... Madara-sama?!"
Black Zetsu's voice instantly changed pitch, shifting from viciousness to panicked disbelief. "Why... why are you here... Gyahhh—!!!"
Its question hadn't finished when indescribable agony striking directly at the soul's depths completely engulfed it in the next instant!
A blade formed from chakra—a Susanoo sword—thrust up from the ground without warning, piercing that black soul form with perfect precision, lifting it like an insect pinned to a specimen board, suspending it midair!
The pain of a torn soul was so clear. Black Zetsu released a soundless scream, that liquid-like body convulsing violently.
"Madara-sama... why...?"
It endured the excruciating pain, still trying to play the role of that loyal will-construct, its voice full of grievance and confusion, as if it couldn't understand why it was receiving such treatment.
Then, like all awakening souls, information about being "dead," "within the Pure Land," and the Karma Reflection Mirror's rules flooded Black Zetsu's consciousness like a tide.
Its body... no, its entire soul began trembling violently beyond control.
It understood.
Understood why Madara was here.
Understood why Madara looked at it with such eyes.
Understood... what that mirror suspended nearby, which had likely already played all its crimes, meant.
All disguises lost meaning before truth and overwhelming power in an instant.
Uchiha Madara slowly rose, looking at Black Zetsu pinned in the air, convulsing continuously from fear and agony. His voice was ice-cold and piercing, each word seeming ground out from between his teeth.
"Black Zetsu... you filthy, despicable pollution."
"You stole my ideals, altered the path I chose. Your lies were interesting. They successfully deceived my eyes, fooled my mind... and trampled on Uchiha Madara's pride."
In Madara's Rinnegan, the purple ripples slowly rotated, containing both furious flames and a cold that could freeze everything.
"So, as repayment..."
Uchiha Madara pulled his lips into a smile devoid of warmth, cruel and terrible.
"I'll let you properly experience what it means in this eternal land... to experience conscious eternity."
---
***
80+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces