Chapter 229: Come, Be My Vessel
The chakra aura tracking from far behind was so strong it was suffocating.
Even someone as powerful as Uchiha Madara couldn't help but feel deep wariness toward it at this moment.
He didn't choose to evade, instead remaining where he was, waiting as if nothing were wrong.
In barely ten seconds, Madara spotted the source.
The other came speeding toward him like a fired shell, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
"So you're the one who killed Mifune?"
Jigen, upon seeing Madara waiting there, immediately demanded an answer.
"Mifune? Is that his name?"
"Yes, I did it," Madara replied, sizing up the man before him.
The other's chakra was so strong it was hard to believe.
However, Madara saw at a glance that this man's body was already on the verge of collapse.
That aura of death leaking from head to toe could not be concealed.
"Indeed, a fine body," Jigen remarked.
"Since you obtained the Kāma from Mifune, come be my vessel. You're far stronger than that guy."
He didn't attack, but instead extended an invitation.
"Kāma?"
Madara's eyes narrowed.
He didn't know what a Kāma was, but the man's words revealed something important.
It seemed that the person he had just used as a sacrifice for the Impure World Reincarnation had some special thing on him—
And by accident, Madara had taken it?
It didn't sound like a good thing.
Without showing it, Madara immediately began probing his own body.
But after scanning it once, he found nothing.
"Look at your palm," Jigen said, jerking his chin toward him.
Hearing this, Madara curiously raised his hand. His left palm was empty—
But in his right palm, a diamond-shaped mark had appeared.
Madara was certain this mark had not been there before.
Instinctively, he channeled a bit of chakra into it, and immediately sensed the overwhelming chakra sealed within.
But it was sealed—he couldn't use it.
What's more, Madara could clearly tell that this chakra was identical to the bald man's before him—
No difference whatsoever, and equally formidable.
"I don't know who you are, and I'm not interested in being your vessel. If you don't want to die, don't bother me," Madara said, intending to play it cool and make the other back off.
He poured a torrent of his own chakra into the diamond mark, intending to shatter it—whether seal, curse mark, or whatever—
And then show his strength, intimidating the enemy without a fight.
But to his shock, the instant his chakra invaded the mark, a counterattack surged back—far, far greater than his own power.
Madara's entire body trembled; his head rang as if struck by lightning hundreds of times over.
"How is that possible?!"
He stared at the diamond mark, now even clearer than before.
His power couldn't even move this tiny seal?
He finally realized how serious the situation was.
Jigen said casually, "It's useless. Once my Kāma is engraved, the only thing you can do is wait—wait for it to fully thaw. Removing it is impossible."
Madara's expression instantly darkened.
Fixing Jigen with a cold glare, he demanded, "So, who exactly are you?"
"My real name is Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
"Ōtsutsuki… Isshiki?"
Madara paused, the name sounding familiar.
He thought for a moment and quickly remembered—Uchiha Dali had told him before about the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya—the woman Dali claimed was the Sage of Six Paths' mother.
He'd also said that Black Zetsu had deceived him because Black Zetsu was actually Kaguya's third son, aiming to resurrect the sealed Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
At the time, Madara hadn't believed him.
Nor had he found such memories in the head of a Black Zetsu clone.
So he had only kept it in mind without much concern.
Now, he had met another man surnamed Ōtsutsuki.
"What's your relationship with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?" Madara asked coldly, maintaining composure.
He assumed Isshiki and Kaguya were of the same clan, perhaps allies—and in that, he wasn't wrong.
But what he didn't know was that the two were now mortal enemies.
Sure enough, at Madara's question, an extreme surge of chakra erupted from Jigen.
In a flash, he appeared in front of Madara and clamped a hand around his throat.
He moved so fast that Madara didn't even see the attack.
Madara's face showed shock and disbelief.
Only now did he realize just how vast the gap between them truly was.
"Kaguya? How do you know that name?" Jigen asked, biting off each word.
"You answer my question first!" Madara shot back, unyielding even while restrained.
Jigen suddenly released him.
"That woman is the one I must kill," he said.
"I founded Kara to cultivate a new Ten Tails, to make the Divine Tree bloom and bear fruit once more…"
Without the slightest concealment, Jigen laid out his goal and backstory in full.
Just like with Mifune, he intended to recruit Madara to accelerate his plan.
In his mind, Madara was already his vessel.
That was why he held nothing back.
But after hearing him out, Madara's face had grown dark to the extreme.
He asked in a low voice, "So the Ōtsutsuki clan truly exists? And so do the Divine Tree and chakra fruit? Ōtsutsuki Kaguya is real?"
"What?" Jigen looked at him strangely.
At that moment, Madara suddenly struck downward.
With a loud boom, a Black Zetsu clone that had been hiding underground and spying on their conversation was caught by Madara using Wood Release.
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