Ryou, Nagato, and Konan were brought down from above by Madara's Wood Clone.
Ryou stayed by Madara's side, obediently standing as if being punished.
Madara slowly opened his eyes, revealing eyes that looked like ripples.
He looked at Ryou and then had White Zetsu summon a White Zetsu clones to place in front of Ryou.
"Use your forbidden jutsu to heal me!"
Ryou looked at Madara's current state and thought—
Better not. Ryou didn't even dare to meet Madara's Rinnegan eyes.
Ryou grabbed the White Zetsu clones and used its life to restore Madara to his former peak state.
After Madara recovered, he stood up directly and looked at the damaged body of the Gedo Statue.
He glanced at Ryou.
Ryou quickly shook his head: "Ancestor, that won't work. My forbidden jutsu only works on people!"
Madara nodded and no longer made things difficult for Ryou. Long black rods extended from the Gedo Statue's body and pierced into Madara's back.
At this moment, Madara looked just like Nagato did when he was fed upon by the Gedo Statue before.
With it being so large, can Madara endure it? Ryou watched from the side with some fear.
Madara supplied his Chakra to the Gedo Statue, allowing it to perform self-repair.
However, the repair was very slow; it would require Tailed Beast Chakra to repair quickly.
Madara looked gloomily at the top of the cave, as if he could see the sky outside.
"What on earth was that?"
"A... deity from above Takamagahara?"
Madara considered himself extremely knowledgeable about the Ninja World, but all his knowledge of ancient secrets came from the Uchiha stone tablet.
For example, when the power of the Uchiha and Senju are combined, the fusion of Yin and Yang can obtain All things in creation.
Beyond that, Madara knew nothing.
If it wasn't the Sage of Six Paths, it wasn't a god.
Madara could only use human logic to speculate about the existence high in the heavens.
Konan and Nagato had the same thought, believing it was divine punishment.
Only Ryou and Black Zetsu knew the truth behind it.
Black Zetsu had been active in the Ninja World since a thousand years ago; it was Kaguya's will and had inherited part of her memories.
Black Zetsu knew very well how powerful Ōtsutsuki Hamura's Tenseigan was.
The Tenseigan is the ultimate evolved form of the Byakugan, possessing the power of world destruction and creation.
In terms of destructive power, when comparing the Rinnegan and the Tenseigan, the Tenseigan is still superior!
After all, the Tenseigan can be traced back to the main house of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
While the Rinnegan is merely the power of the Divine Tree.
However, Black Zetsu didn't know the current state of Hamura's lineage on the moon, as it couldn't exactly go there.
The only thing it knew for sure was that only the Tenseigan could perform that attack from outside the world just now.
In comparison, Ryou knew much more.
After all, he had read the original work.
Ryou guessed that the orbital strike just now was the Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion released by the Giant Tenseigan.
Did the Giant Tenseigan really have the power to destroy the Ninja World?
Yes!
In the original work, the members of the Ōtsutsuki branch family used the Giant Tenseigan to insta-kill the main family in one move.
After Toneri stole Hanabi's Byakugan, he successfully awakened the Tenseigan, and then a single Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion directly split the moon.
The Giant Tenseigan on the moon was formed by the fusion of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's Byakugan and possessed the power to move the moon; its destructive power must be the same as Toneri's Tenseigan.
It might even exceed it.
Currently, only Ryou knew best what the enemy in the sky was! Madara and the others were all in the dark.
Ryou lied through his teeth: "Ancestor, you must have committed too many sins in this life, provoking the anger of god. That's why god sent down divine punishment to discipline you."
Madara stared at Ryou and actually believed this explanation.
Looking back on his life, Madara found that he really hadn't done much good.
Could it be that he really had committed too many sins and provoked punishment from the heavens?
"In your opinion, what should be done?" Madara asked Ryou.
Everyone looked at Ryou.
Ryou said: "Ancestor, once you're targeted by god, this life is over. I think you should just commit seppuku for god!"
Madara looked at Ryou coldly: "And I suppose before I die, I should let you inherit all my family property?"
Ryou nodded subconsciously: "That works too. Pass the Rinnegan, Gedo Statue, and Hashirama's power to me. I'll execute the Eye of the Moon Plan and inherit your legacy!"
"Lightning Release!"
Madara released Lightning Release to shock Ryou.
Konan and Nagato moved further away.
If it really was divine punishment, they felt the probability of it being for Ryou was much higher than for Madara. Why didn't god just strike this animal dead?
Madara didn't believe this was divine punishment!
But Madara couldn't just ignore an attack from the sky like that. Before figuring out the origin of this power, Madara would no longer treat the Ninja World as his private fish pond.
The waters of the Ninja World were very deep; even someone like Madara was starting to lose his grip!
So what should be done next?
Madara couldn't go to the surface at will, and the Gedo Statue also needed his Chakra to repair.
Madara looked at Ryou and the others. His finger, like a blade, sliced across his own chest, cutting out a chunk of flesh the size of a bowl and giving it to Ryou.
"Take it!"
Ryou quickly and joyfully took it, having Candy take out a sealing scroll to seal the chunk of flesh Madara gave him.
This wasn't just Hashirama cells; it also contained Madara's cells.
If Ryou performed Chimera Technique to fuse it, he might become a second Madara, and by then, he would completely become Madara's legal and bloodline heir.
As for his will?
Whoever wanted to inherit it could! He only wanted the Gedo Statue and the Rinnegan.
"Ancestor, rest assured. From now on, just enjoy your life down here in the underground! Leave all the Tailed Beasts to me; I guarantee I'll catch them all."
Madara nodded and then reminded him: "Hashirama's cells are not that easy to endure. Be careful not to burst and die."
If Hashirama's cells were so easy to transplant, Konoha's Wood Release experiments wouldn't have had only Yamato succeed.
That was a 1 in 60 success rate, and Yamato was an accident among accidents. Even Orochimaru didn't believe anyone could endure the power of Hashirama cells.
Hashirama's cells possess powerful vitality and aggressiveness.
If an ordinary person integrated them, their life would be sucked dry by Hashirama's cells, and if it got serious enough to go out of control, they would turn into a tree.
Just like Danzo; he didn't control Hashirama's cells well, and his arm turned into a large tree.
To use an analogy, Hashirama's cells are like a mini Divine Tree. Once integrated into a human body, they will absorb Chakra. If the host cannot supply it, they will be sucked to death.
Furthermore, fusing two different types of cells together is a major scientific challenge.
There is the chemical induction method, using chemical reagents to destroy the molecular layer structure of the cell surface, allowing two cells to come into close contact and eventually fuse into a binucleated cell.
There are also physical induction methods and biological induction methods.
But what about Madara's induction method?
He had none!
Madara didn't understand science at all. He wasn't at all meticulous about cytology when fusing Hashirama cells; he simply placed Hashirama's flesh into his own chest, fusing them in such a simple and crude way.
Did he think cell fusion was just 1+1=2?
That placing someone else's cells in your own body would allow them to fuse?
Madara used a refinement-based logic to fuse Hashirama cells.
The fact that he could fuse Hashirama's cells was entirely due to his uniqueness.
First, Hashirama was the reincarnation of Asura, and Madara was the reincarnation of Indra. They represented Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang are naturally attracted to each other.
The Uchiha Sharingan could balance Hashirama's cells.
In the original work, the reason Danzo's Hashirama cells went out of control was that using Izanagi caused the Sharingan to close, resulting in an imbalance of Yin and Yang.
Second, Madara had a massive amount of Chakra to provide for Hashirama cells to devour.
Third was the long period of cellular endurance. Madara didn't get Wood Release as soon as he stuffed Hashirama's flesh into his chest; he had a very long period of adaptation.
Maybe 10 years, maybe 20 years!
Madara's idea was to let Hashirama's cells survive in his body, where they would fight with Madara's own cells.
After fighting for a long time, when the two groups of cells could no longer fight, they fused. It was a very primitive idea that completely ignored the rejection between cells.
He relied on powerful life force to endure it!
Fourth was the ethereal providence. Black Zetsu had planned for a thousand years; this was a thousand-year destiny.
Hashirama cells are like cancer cells, possessing infinite proliferation, invasion, and metastasis capabilities.
They are basically very difficult to fuse. Even Hashirama's clansmen from the Senju Clan found it equally difficult to fuse Hashirama's cells.
However, the derivative of Hashirama's cells, White Zetsu cells, are not nearly as erosive. They fuse easily and are adaptable to everyone.
But White Zetsu cells are castrated and don't have the powerful offensive power of Hashirama cells.