Black Zetsu was completely bewildered now.
Of course, after the bewilderment came a sense of shock.
Because in his view, everything in the ninja world as it existed today had clearly been caused by him.
The hatred between Indra and Asura, the war between the Uchiha and the Senju—every single bit of it had been pushed forward by him. He was the one behind the scenes!
Although he also deeply despised those two "good big brothers" of his, since it was precisely those two bastards who had sealed away their mother.
But still—everything that was happening now was his doing!
It was him!
All of this was the result of his efforts to save his mother, so how had it now become the achievement of his "good big brothers" instead?
"Is something wrong with your brain?"
Uchiha Madara also wore a thoroughly strange expression. He had no idea whether Senju Tobirama's brain had short-circuited.
Even more unbelievable was that Senju Hashirama was actually so calm, as if he tacitly accepted the words of his "despicable and shameless younger brother."
This left Uchiha Madara completely baffled, and at the same time unable to suppress his curiosity. Could there really be some hidden truth behind all this?
Meanwhile, Naruto, Sasuke, and Namikaze Minato all looked equally confused. They truly knew nothing about these matters.
At most, they had only heard Kitagawa Gen mention something about the Sage of Six Paths favoring the ancestors of the Uchiha. Beyond that, they were completely in the dark.
Now that they suddenly heard such explosive information, they too wore strange expressions and could not help but look toward Senju Tobirama.
"Hmph. That's why I say you're an incurable idiot—you don't understand the Sage of Six Paths' painstaking intentions at all."
Senju Tobirama snorted coldly and spoke to Uchiha Madara with undisguised disdain. He was feeling absolutely exhilarated right now.
He had always detested Uchiha Madara, and now that he had this opportunity to press the advantage right in his face, there was no way he would let it slip.
Of course, he also needed to cover up the change that Kitagawa Gen had created—namely, the notion that the Sage of Six Paths favored Indra even more. That was something he absolutely could not accept!
"Truly unbelievable. You could actually be this stupid. With so many things having happened already, have you really still not understood the Sage of Six Paths' painstaking intentions?"
"Hmph. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Uchiha Madara was extremely displeased, yet for the moment he did not know what to say. Senju Tobirama, however, did not let him off, speaking with a face full of mockery.
"I'll ask you this: if the Sage of Six Paths wanted to stop this thousand-year war from breaking out, did he really have no way to do so?"
"Stop it? The conflict between Indra and Asura?"
"That's right. I don't know what the origin of the war was, but if he wanted to stop it, given the Sage of Six Paths' great power, would that really have been difficult?"
"Would it really have been difficult?"
Uchiha Madara froze, because he realized that if the Sage of Six Paths truly wanted to stop it, it probably would not have been difficult at all.
After all, the Sage of Six Paths had once defeated an Ōtsutsuki together with his brother, and Madara himself had personally experienced just how powerful an Ōtsutsuki could be.
To be able to defeat such a madman was more than enough to prove the Sage of Six Paths' strength!
But then the question arose—why didn't he stop all of this?
"Hiss—"
Not only Uchiha Madara, but Black Zetsu also sensed that something was wrong.
He had always believed that his "good big brother," burdened by guilt over the so-called "choice of Ninshū," had refrained from intervening.
After all, he himself had been secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes. But thinking about it carefully, if he truly wanted to stop it, there definitely would have been no problem!
'It's just… why didn't he do so? Could there really be some hidden truth behind this?'
Black Zetsu began to panic. Over a thousand years of planning, he had never encountered any real problems, which had gradually caused him to lower his guard.
But now that he thought back on it, he found it unbelievable. Was there really something else going on here?
"What you're saying is that this is the result the Sage of Six Paths actually wanted?"
Uchiha Madara frowned deeply. He still found it hard to believe.
"Hashirama, do you also believe this kind of nonsense?"
"Madara, it's not that I want to believe it, but—"
Senju Hashirama was still somewhat unwilling to "defame" the Sage of Six Paths. However, after experiencing so much, even he could not help but believe it.
Glancing at his younger brother, who looked eager to act, Senju Hashirama decisively chose to continue speaking. He could not allow his younger brother to act recklessly!
"The facts are exactly as they are, and his purpose in doing this was, in essence, also for the survival of the entire ninja world."
"For the ninja world? By allowing brothers to turn against each other? By allowing this thousand-year war to continue?"
Uchiha Madara wore a face full of disbelief, but Senju Hashirama nodded seriously.
"That's right. Although it's hard to believe, this is the truth. Let me ask you: who do you think is the ninja world's greatest enemy right now?"
"The ninja world's greatest enemy…"
Uchiha Madara raised an eyebrow and immediately realized something.
"Ōtsutsuki Genshiki?"
"Not only Ōtsutsuki Genshiki. Don't forget how many Ōtsutsuki have come to the ninja world over these years—he's just the most terrifying one."
"Hmph. That so-called 'Divine Ascension Stairway' really is cold-blooded and cruel to the extreme. Then according to what you mean—"
"That's right. The Sage of Six Paths laid out this thousand-year war, in fact, precisely for this moment!"
Senju Hashirama took a deep breath and continued speaking with utmost seriousness.
"The thousand-year war was probably meant to let the entire ninja world be continuously tempered—whether in the use of chakra, or in combat skills, and also—"
"The tempering of will!"
Uchiha Madara seemed to understand a bit. He clenched his fist and murmured in a low voice.
"When ordinary people see ninja, they almost never even think of challenging them—the gap is too great. And when we face the Ōtsutsuki, it's much the same. But…"
"This thousand-year war has already taught us ninja not to fear powerful enemies!"
Senju Hashirama naturally took over the thread. He sighed and continued.
"Especially when our homeland is threatened, the conviction forged by that thousand-year blood war runs deeper, the will becomes firmer, and we will fight even more desperately!"
"The enemy is certainly terrifying, but if we don't even have the courage to face the enemy, or the conviction to fight…"
Uchiha Madara took a deep breath, and his gaze also grew somewhat dazed.
"Then this world doesn't even need to struggle—it would have been finished long ago!"
With only a few short sentences, everyone present had already fallen into silence.
Senju Tobirama was somewhat displeased, because his chance to bash Uchiha Madara was gone!
And Sasuke, Naruto, and Namikaze Minato seemed not to have come back to their senses yet. It was as if they had never imagined that the Sage of Six Paths was actually like this.
This seemed a bit too terrifying, didn't it?
All the legends they had heard said that the Sage of Six Paths "pitied all living beings," that he devoted himself to the ninja world, passed on chakra, and so on.
But now it seemed…
"Even so, it's still 'pitying all living beings'—wanting to find a way for the countless living beings of the ninja world to survive. It's just that the method is not quite the same!"
Namikaze Minato could not help rubbing his brow. Under the rhetoric of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara, the image of the Sage of Six Paths had already changed.
As for what this Sage of Six Paths had done—forget being called virtuous and venerable; at the very least, his crimes were too numerous to record.
Allowing the ninja world to fight and kill for over a thousand years, burying an unknown number of lives just to pile them up for a future?
How utterly cold-blooded was this? How chillingly cruel?!
"Hiss… is this the true Sage of Six Paths?"
Only now did Sasuke and Naruto finally come back to themselves. They could not help exchanging a glance, yet neither of them could say a single word.
'So this was Hagoromo's objective?!'
Black Zetsu truly could not hold it together anymore. If all of this was true, then what exactly had he done?
'Did I damn well become Hagoromo's accomplice?!'
Thinking back on all these years, he had diligently stirred up the descendants of Indra and Asura in order to rescue his mother.
He had caused their hatred to stack higher and higher, driven them to fight ceaselessly, and even allowed this conflict to continue for a thousand years.
And in the end—
Turning around, everything he had done was actually helping his "good big brother"?
And not just any big brother, but the one he hated most—the very one who had sealed away their mother?
Black Zetsu found this outcome impossible to accept. Things were not supposed to turn out like this!
'Could it be that he always knew I was there, and was merely using me—using me to plunge the entire ninja world into chaos so he could achieve his goal?'
At this thought, Black Zetsu's fists had already gone rock hard.
Recalling his "good big brother's" arrangements, another idea even surfaced in his mind.
That the "Infinite Tsukuyomi" he had engineered was also something his "good big brother" had permitted!
'Hiss! Was he planning to use Mother to deal with those Ōtsutsuki?'
Black Zetsu sucked in a sharp breath. The thought was abrupt, yet when considered carefully, it seemed to have no flaws at all.
Although the ninja world had been tempered, although its combat power had continued to rise, and had even produced a terrifying existence like Kitagawa Gen—
If it truly came down to dealing with the Ōtsutsuki, perhaps only the Ōtsutsuki themselves could do so. Then as for his mother—
'What a vicious calculation. You truly never intended to let Mother live!'
When he thought of Ōtsutsuki Genshiki going on a killing rampage, and of that utterly cold-blooded "Divine Ascension Stairway," Black Zetsu clenched his teeth tight.
'Keep dreaming. I will protect my mother no matter what—I will…'
'I won't let a cold-blooded bastard like you succeed!'
'I absolutely will not let Mother leave the seal! Absolutely not!'
Black Zetsu was screaming silently, while Uchiha Madara seemed to come back to his senses at this very moment.
"If all of this is true…"
Carefully savoring everything the Sage of Six Paths had done, even he could not help letting out a sigh.
"Then the Sage of Six Paths was far too extreme!"
Extreme—that was the only word Uchiha Madara could think of. Yet he also had to acknowledge one thing.
When matters truly reached that point, the life and death of individuals became irrelevant; the survival of the ninja world was what mattered most.
Following this logic, the thousand-year war was inevitable, and Senju Hashirama's founding of the ninja villages and expansion of the scale of war were also inevitable.
Because all of it was meant to temper the ninja world, for the sake of its future!
Still, this also stirred a sense of resentment within him, because the peace he yearned for seemed somewhat difficult to attain.
"But that's not quite right. As long as those Ōtsutsuki are dealt with, everything still has a chance—especially that Infinite Tsukuyomi."
At this thought, Uchiha Madara abruptly raised his head and stared intently at the five people before him.
In his gaze, there was a faint trace of something different.
"Since this is what the Sage of Six Paths wants, then I'll satisfy him properly. But before that—"
"I want to see whether you are even qualified!"
The moment his words fell, his massive Susanoo had already launched an attack.
"Idiot. I knew you'd do this."
Senju Tobirama spoke with disdain. He seemed to have expected this long ago, and the same was true of Senju Hashirama.
After all, both Madara and he had been waiting for this battle for a very long time.
And outside Konoha, as the six "Hokage" began to clash, Kitagawa Gen had already quietly appeared in the sky above.
His eyes were tightly closed as he silently sensed his surroundings. In the next instant, he abruptly opened them.
"Not bad—you've got some tricks. In the past I really wouldn't have had much of a solution, but now…"
His eyes emitted a dazzling radiance, and within his vision, space itself had become a transparent passage.
One node after another appeared before him, and beyond these bizarre and intricate nodes lay a deep, extremely well-hidden space.
Within that space, a monster was crouched low to the ground. The enormous Rinnegan in its eyes had already revealed its identity.
"I've finally found you—the Ten-Tails that belongs to Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
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