The swirl mask on Obito's face trembled slightly.
It wasn't just fear; it was a mixture of absurdity and the intense fury of being played for a fool.
Directly ahead, a man clad in dark red plated armor was casually rolling his wrists.
The crisp sound of joints popping echoed through the deathly silent cave, each crack feeling like a footstep on a raw nerve.
Madara Uchiha.
The name itself carried absolute weight.
He was the nightmare of the shinobi world, a synonym for dominance.
And now, this beast known as a 'legend' had broken free from the reins of death.
Obito backed away silently. The Kamui dimension in his right eye was already primed, ready to pull him out of reality at any moment.
But he didn't flee immediately. The scattered pieces of the puzzle in his mind were colliding and merging frantically.
The intelligence from Konoha—Kaguya Otsutsuki's appearance.
Black Zetsu's bizarre behavior and total loss of contact.
And now this... Madara Uchiha, who thought he was in control of everything yet grumbled about his Reanimated body.
Once the chain of logic was locked, the absurd truth was ready to emerge.
If Black Zetsu truly was Madara's will, why hadn't he guided Nagato to perform the Rinne Rebirth?
Why would he willingly lurk in Konoha to resurrect Kaguya?
And why did he vanish completely after Kaguya's resurrection?
Unless the premise itself was wrong.
Black Zetsu was never Madara's will.
"Madara."
Obito's voice came through the mask. "Are you really certain that Black Zetsu is your will?"
Madara, who was about to form hand signs to summon a meteorite to test his body's output, paused.
He looked up, a hint of contempt in his eyes as if he were looking at a fool.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Madara sneered. His chakra suddenly surged, and the blue ribs of Susanoo materialized instantly, shielding him. "He is a product of my Yin-Yang Style, my only extension in this world."
"Is that so?"
Seeing Madara's nearly arrogant confidence, the sense of absurdity in Obito's heart reached its peak.
He wanted to laugh.
He wanted to mock this invincible Asura loudly, and mock himself, who had spent half his life running around like a clown for the sake of the illusory Eye of the Moon.
"There's a woman in Konoha right now."
Obito spoke rapidly, feeling a sense of catharsis. "She calls herself Kaguya Otsutsuki. According to Konoha's intel, the Black Zetsu who has been lurking by our side calls that woman... Mother."
Boom!
Tangible killing intent erupted from Madara, and the hard rock walls around them were instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
"Kaguya? Mother?"
Madara's expression darkened, his gray Reanimated eyes locking onto Obito. "Are you trying to tell me that I, Madara Uchiha, was deceived by my own creation?"
"He wasn't your creation."
Obito backed away again, half his body already phasing out.
He looked at Madara as if looking into a mirror.
What the mirror reflected was another poor soul toyed with by fate.
"Black Zetsu has been Kaguya Otsutsuki's will from the start. He modified the Uchiha stone tablet, manipulated Indra's descendants, and stirred up a thousand years of conflict."
"Madara, you thought you were the player."
Obito's figure had already begun to vanish into the Kamui vortex, leaving only one eye to coldly watch the former 'god.'
"Actually, you're just like me."
"You're nothing more than a pawn deceived by Black Zetsu to facilitate his mother's resurrection!"
"Madara, you were played by Black Zetsu!"
Voom—
The spatial vortex closed, and Obito's presence was completely erased from the cave.
Silence returned.
"A pawn...?"
Madara whispered the word, the corner of his mouth curling into a look of extreme disdain.
"Absurd."
"The person capable of utilizing Madara Uchiha has yet to be born."
He turned and walked toward the cave entrance, his steps firm and powerful.
But as he passed the stone table, his steps came to a sudden halt.
His gaze fell upon a remnant of an intelligence scroll left on the corner of the table.
It was a report Obito had left behind regarding Konoha's recent activities.
Madara reached out, his fingertips touching the scroll.
Swish.
The scroll unfurled. A blurry photograph entered his sight.
It was a shot taken from an extreme distance at the risk of the photographer's life.
In the photo, a woman with white clothes, long hair, and horns on her head floated above Konoha.
And from her wide sleeve, a mass of pitch-black substance peeked out.
Madara's pupils shrank suddenly.
Was that an Otsutsuki?
And Black Zetsu...
Black Zetsu had never looked at him with that kind of gaze—it was an expression of filial devotion and obedience toward a creator and mother.
But when facing him, Madara Uchiha, although Black Zetsu was respectful, there was always a hidden trace of contempt in the depths of his eyes.
The gates of memory collapsed at this moment.
Madara remembered the Valley of the End, and the ecstasy of awakening the Rinnegan on the verge of death.
He remembered the moment he 'created' Black Zetsu through Yin-Yang Style in front of the Gedo Statue.
It was too smooth.
Everything had been far too smooth.
It was as if someone had meticulously paved the road, just waiting for him, the self-righteous protagonist, to step onto it.
Was the so-called 'All Things in Nature' and 'Two Opposing Forces' a scam from beginning to end?
"He modified the stone tablet..."
Madara's fingers suddenly tightened, turning the scroll into powder in his palm.
If the tablet was tampered with, if Infinite Tsukuyomi was never a technique to save the Uchiha or the world, then what were his decades of planning for?
What were the years he spent lingering underground, relying on the Gedo Statue for life support?
What were the bonds he personally severed for his ideals?
A joke?
"Obito..."
Madara looked up. Within his gray eyes, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun frantically, emitting a heart-chilling cold light.
"If you are lying to me, I will make you regret ever coming into this world."
"But if..."
Madara didn't finish the sentence.
Such a hypothesis was itself a form of torture to his dignity.
He took a step forward and his figure vanished.
Boom!
In the next second, the entire mountaintop was blown open from the inside by an incredibly tyrannical force.
Rocks flew and dust blotted out the sun.
A dark red figure shot into the sky.
Madara closed his eyes and crossed his arms. His immense sensory ability spread out like a tsunami, instantly covering the entire shinobi world.
He was searching, searching for the answer that could either confirm everything or overturn it.
...
Above the Land of Rain, dark clouds gathered.
Madara Uchiha descended rapidly from the sky, the characteristic gray fragments of the Reanimation Jutsu peeling off and regenerating at the edges of his cheeks.
His dark red plated armor made a dull clanking sound in the wind.
He looked down at the village below, which resembled an industrial jungle of steel. His gaze pierced through the heavy rain, striking directly at the tallest tower.
"Is Nagato here?"
Originally, his plan was to charge straight into Konoha and drag out that 'filial son' named Black Zetsu.
But the information Obito brought changed his mind.
Kaguya Otsutsuki.
The woman who only existed in myths had been resurrected.
Madara raised his hand, looking at this cracked, reanimated body.
Although he possessed infinite chakra and an immortal body, it was still a corpse.
Using such an ugly, false form to face the progenitor of chakra would be far too disrespectful and far too weak.
He needed power.
Real power that originally belonged to him.
'To control the Ten-Tails and possess the strength to oppose that woman, I must have a real body.'
A cold curve appeared on Madara's lips.
That Uzumaki named Nagato, the 'vessel' who had kept his eyes safe for decades—it was time to return them.
"Though the plan has been moved forward and the process is a bit distorted."
Madara took a step forward. His body plummeted like a meteorite, tearing through the curtain of rain.
"The result will not change."
...
Hidden Rain Village tower, top-floor secret room.
Oppressive low growls echoed in the room. Nagato suddenly clutched his eyes, his body convulsing violently.
"Argh...!!"
Agony.
An indescribable agony erupted from the depths of his eye sockets, drilling into his brain along the optic nerves like red-hot iron hooks.
It wasn't just pain; there was a heart-palpitating burning sensation—the eyes had 'come alive.' They were resonating, cheering, and frantically trying to tear themselves from his sockets to fly toward a presence that was approaching.
"Nagato! What's wrong?"
Konan, who had been guarding him, changed expression. Her paper sheets fluttered as she tried to step forward to check on him.
"Don't come closer!"
Nagato gasped for air. Cold sweat mixed with tears from the pain slid down his face.
He struggled to lift his head. Those originally eerie, divine Rinnegan were now trembling uncontrollably, the purple ripples as turbulent as boiling water.
He felt it.
That chakra.
That unfamiliar yet domineering chakra.
"He's here..."
Nagato's voice was hoarse, carrying an unmistakable tremor. "He's here..."
"Who?" Konan looked around warily, her paper shuriken ready.
"The true owner of these eyes."
Just as Nagato finished speaking.
BOOM!!!
An earth-shattering explosion shattered the peace of the Hidden Rain Village.
The entire tower shook violently, as if a magnitude 12 earthquake had struck.
Thick reinforced concrete walls split instantly, and countless debris and dust flooded into the secret room.
An incredibly tyrannical chakra, filled with an aura of destruction, suddenly erupted, compressing the air until it shrieked.
"This chakra..."
Konan's face turned pale instantly, her body stiffening instinctively.
As a founder of the Akatsuki, she had seen countless powerful figures.
Tailed Beasts, Kage-level shinobi, and even that masked man calling himself 'Madara.'
But never had anyone's chakra been like this unknown person—simply releasing the aura was enough to make one feel despair.
The rain stopped.
It didn't stop naturally; rather, the soaring blue chakra had forcibly dispersed the dark clouds.
In the gap of the collapsed tower, the dust cleared, revealing a long-haired man in dark red battle armor.
He stood with his arms crossed, his gray eyes filled with a coldness that looked down upon the world.
Madara Uchiha.
He ignored the flying debris and the piercing alarms around him. His gaze bypassed the ready-to-fight Konan and fell directly on Nagato.
Or rather, it fell on Nagato's eyes.
It was the look a hunter gave to long-lost prey.
"Nagato."
Madara Uchiha's voice was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
"You have kept me waiting too long."