"Grandpa Madara."
At this moment, a childish voice came from behind Madara. Nagato curiously approached and stood beside him, gazing at the moon together with the elder.
Touched deeply, Madara took Nagato's hand and gently led him back to the chair, then began explaining his grand Moon Eye Plan to the boy.
"In the world you'll create, Grandpa Madara, will my parents also come back to life? Can I see my family again and live happily with them forever?"
Nagato murmured, his eyes wide with excitement and hope.
"Yes, Nagato. But to realize this plan, I need your help."
Madara gently ruffled Nagato's red hair, saying meaningfully.
From a realistic perspective, he realized that in his current condition, it would be difficult to complete the Moon Eye Plan.
Gathering the Nine Tails and reviving the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path wasn't hard for Madara—it just required more time. The real challenge lay in the second step.
With his aged body, he could never successfully fuse with the Demonic Statue. He needed to restore himself to his prime youth.
According to Madara's knowledge, there was only one solution—transplanting his Rinnegan into another person. That individual would use their own life force to perform a Ninjutsu called [Samsara: Life Reincarnation], thereby completely restoring him.
There was a catch—the recipient had to meet strict conditions: unwavering loyalty to Madara and an incredibly strong constitution. Ideally, they should possess Sage Transformation to supply enough Chakra to sustain the Rinnegan.
Among those around Madara, only Nagato fit these conditions.
"Grandpa Madara, you defeated Uzumaki Heiyan and avenged my parents. To repay your kindness, Grandpa Madara, I'll do anything you ask," said Nagato, lifting his head and staring directly at Madara with solemn sincerity.
"My good boy," Madara replied with rare satisfaction, patting Nagato's head once more. In his view, although both hailed from the Uzumaki clan, Nagato's potential was extraordinary—his future growth might even surpass that of Uzumaki Heiyan.
As the old man and young boy conversed heart-to-heart, an ink-black eye quietly emerged from the shadows in the corner of the underground chamber.
It was Black Zetsu.
In reality, he had always been there. Over the past year, it was he who had guided Madara to discover the White Zetsu buried deep beneath the earth, deceiving Madara into believing these clones were the result of his Yin and Yang Release techniques.
Throughout this process, Black Zetsu hid himself carefully, evading detection even by Madara's Rinnegan.
Seeing the harmonious scene between the elder and child, Black Zetsu's single eye gleamed with manic joy—an ecstatic delight.
More than a thousand years had passed.
The Moon Eye Plan was finally about to begin.
And his mother—would finally return to life.
Thinking of this, Black Zetsu's eye vanished once more into the wall, disappearing without a trace. He planned to immediately start tracking the whereabouts of the Nine Tails and then reveal them to Madara at just the right moment.
Whether it was Madara Uchiha or Nagato, both were merely means to an end in resurrecting his mother.
Shortly after Black Zetsu departed...
[Zzzzt]
The television mounted on the wall of the hidden room flickered with static for a moment before showing a man wrapped in bandages.
It was Danzo.
He was inside the Fire Daimyo's Mansion, holding a remote video call with Madara.
"Lord Madara, thank goodness you're still alive."
As soon as Danzo appeared and saw Madara, he finally relaxed, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
"What? You wanted me to die?"
Madara cast a careless glance at Danzo and said indifferently.
"No."
Upon hearing this, Danzo quickly bowed his head and explained, "From the footage transmitted back from the Land of Iron, I saw the mushroom cloud caused by the massive explosion. I was extremely worried about your safety. After seeing that you were safe and sound, I became too excited and thus spoke out of turn just now. Anyway—"
He paused here before carefully asking again, "Lord Madara, may I ask about the current situation on the battlefield in the Land of Iron?"
However,
Madara didn't answer this question immediately. Instead, he lightly tapped the armrest of his chair and asked a counter-question:
"What's the situation with Konoha?"
"...Very complicated."
Danzo hesitated slightly but truthfully reported anyway. "The Third Hokage led a group of Konoha ninja in fierce resistance, successfully fending off multiple assaults within a single day. Tens of thousands from the Fire Daimyo's army were killed or wounded, significantly affecting troop morale. Currently, under orders from the Daimyo, the army has withdrawn three kilometers from its encirclement of Konoha and temporarily ceased attacks, awaiting news from the Land of Iron battlefield."
"A bunch of useless trash."
Madara contemptuously commented. Then he looked at Danzo and declared in an overbearing yet cold tone:
"Uzumaki Heiyan is dead. I personally killed him. You can go ahead and announce this news now."
"Yes, I'll get right on it!"
Hearing this, Danzo was delighted—he had finally heard the result he longed for most. Immediately after bowing deeply to Madara, he cut off the video transmission while leaving behind a string of flattery remarks.
Madara remained deep in thought for a moment, then stood up from his seat and walked toward the Elephant Path clone standing nearby.
Over the past day, this clone had been connected to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path through several tubes; most of the damage sustained during the previous battle had already been repaired.
However, after all, it was merely an Elephant Path clone. Once the four shadows of the Outer Path—Edo Tensei technique were depleted, they couldn't be restored within a short period, meaning the strength required to perform the Outer Path—Edo Tensei technique for a second time was insufficient.
Still, as long as the opponent wasn't Uzumaki Heiyan, there wouldn't be any issues.
Madara decided to pay Konoha a visit himself.
He planned to coordinate with the Land of Fire's army from both inside and outside. Taking advantage of the chaos in Konoha, he would seize the Nine-Tails first—a perfect way to kick things off for the Moon Eye Plan.
Moreover, Madara was also quite interested in Konoha's secret library filled with forbidden books, especially those Kinjutsu techniques developed by his greatest rival, Tobirama Senju, during his lifetime. If these forbidden techniques vanished along with Konoha's destruction, it would indeed be regrettable, wouldn't it?
"Nagato, you stay here properly and diligently practice according to what I've taught you, understand?"
Before leaving, Madara instructed Nagato.
Then, he sat back down on his chair and once again transferred his consciousness into the Elephant Path clone.
The very next second.
The young Madara Uchiha suddenly opened his eyes, reached back and yanked out the life-support tubes attached to him, then marched straight toward the exit of the hidden chamber.
However, neither Madara, Nagato, nor Black Zetsu hiding in the shadows noticed this—
Two Parasitic Spores the size of soybeans silently fell from the crevice at the back of the Six Paths stone tablet. They crawled quietly onto the purple lotus throne, climbed upward along the desiccated, towering body of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and finally... entered its interior through the statue's wide-open blood-red maw.
So.
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