"Excellent. Everything is proceeding just as I planned."
Hearing from Zetsu that the plan had succeeded and that Obito had awakened the Mangekyō, Madara nodded in satisfaction.
As for Rin's corpse having mysteriously vanished, he paid it no mind.
It didn't matter—his objective had already been achieved.
Just as Madara had predicted, Obito returned, stumbling in like a broken man. His face was vacant, his spirit hollow, as if his very heart had been stolen away. He looked more like a corpse than the boy he once was.
"Obito, you needn't drown in grief."
"In my long life, I have witnessed far too many partings, too many betrayals. Even brothers who once fought side by side, who trusted each other as family, will one day bare their fangs for the smallest of reasons—striking from the shadows, stabbing each other in the back without hesitation."
"The longer one lives, the clearer the truth becomes: reality itself is nothing but disappointment, pain, and emptiness."
Madara let out a bitter laugh at his own words.
He wasn't just mocking Obito—he was mocking himself.
But Obito simply sat there in silence, slack and lifeless, not even registering his words.
"For a certain reason, I was able to uncover manuscripts left behind by the Sage of Six Paths. Within them was written a way to bring true happiness to all."
"To abandon this ugly reality and escape into a dream where only beauty exists."
"In that dream, anything is possible. Even those who are already dead can be brought back."
At the mention of the dead returning to life, Obito stirred slightly.
The world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi… a world of eternal dreams where all desires are fulfilled. No more war. No more hunger. No more pain. A perfect utopia where everyone is born into bliss.
"A world with only victors. A world with only love. A world with only peace," Madara concluded, before adding with quiet resolve:
"That is the world I wish to create."
As Madara spoke, his words dripped with seduction, slowly worming their way into Obito's heart. The boy's once-vacant eyes began to harden with conviction, as if clinging to one desperate resolution.
"Rin… I will create a world where only Rin exists!"
"Yes. In the world of dreams, everything will be exactly as you wish."
"Madara, tell me how to create that world."
"Good. Then look into my eyes, Obito."
The elder Madara pulled Obito into a genjutsu space and revealed the truth of the "Eye of the Moon Plan."
But while the plan sounded perfect, it was nothing more than a hidden scheme of human eradication. Even without the Ōtsutsuki, even with the God Tree feeding infinite chakra, the result was inevitable: decades later, humanity would wither away—either transformed into White Zetsu or succumbing to old age.
No creature could escape aging. No being could escape death. Such was the law of nature.
Yet, no matter how obvious the flaws, Obito didn't see through them.
His wisdom stat—just like every Obito across every world—was barely a "2."
With his will now secured, Madara began his final act. He ripped free the tubes that connected his body to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Deprived of its sustaining chakra, his life force began to fade. Slumping back against the stone bench, he managed to rasp out:
"Until the day I am resurrected, Obito… you… are Uchiha Madara."
Obito left—carrying Madara's will, carrying the dream of the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Within the cavern, only the elder Madara remained.
He leaned against the cold stone wall, closed his eyes, and quietly waited for death.
This, too, was something he had prepared himself for long ago.
But then—
A surge of familiar chakra jolted him awake. His lone eye shot open.
At some point, a black figure had appeared before him. His face froze in shock as he pointed a trembling finger.
"Y-You… you are—"
The figure's voice was calm, almost mocking:
"Decades of wasted effort, and all you managed was to cultivate a single pair of Rinnegan. Nothing more. Looking back now… it's almost laughable."
"You truly were nothing more than a tool, used from beginning to end."
The tone was mocking, yes—but also self-derisive. The sound of someone ridiculing himself.
And indeed, the voice was identical to Madara's own.
The shadow stepped forward into the light.
"You… who are you? Why do you bear my face?" Madara asked in disbelief, his expression twisted with shock.
"I am… Uchiha Madara."
The man before him had the exact appearance of Madara in his prime. But his arms and legs were black, his hair pure white. He wore the Sage of Six Paths' white robe, nine Truth-Seeking Orbs floated in a halo at his back, and in his left hand rested the Shakujo staff of the Rikudo.
The Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki—Six Paths Madara?
No. The chakra radiating from this Madara was even greater, far surpassing that of the Sage of Six Paths himself.
"Madara? You dare call yourself Madara? I am Uchiha Madara… cough! cough!" The elder's body convulsed with violent coughs, weakened beyond recognition.
"Without the God Tree's support, you've grown this fragile?"
"How pathetic. Was I truly this pitiful in the past?"
"You are not even worthy of speaking to me. Let us… converse another way."
The elder Madara suddenly felt his throat seized tight by invisible force, strangling the breath from his lungs. He gagged, struggled, and then with a sickening crack, his neck snapped. His body went limp.
The Six Paths Madara calmly raised his hand. A nearby White Zetsu pod fell from the God Tree like a rotten fruit.
Placing one hand on the ground, he intoned:
"Impure World Reincarnation."
Dust and leaves swirled, enveloping the Zetsu's body as it sank into the earth. A moment later, a figure rose up from below.
It was Madara himself—summoned back by Edo Tensei.
But not the frail, withered elder.
No, this was Madara in his prime—at the peak of his power.
"You bastard!"
The newly revived Edo Madara instantly broke free of the Edo Tensei's bindings and lunged at his other self, intent on striking him down.
"Still as reckless as ever… my other self."
The Six Paths Madara merely tapped the ground lightly with his staff.
A wall of unseen force erupted before Edo Madara, halting him in his tracks. The overwhelming pressure bore down, freezing his body in place.
Such was the absolute gap in power—Edo Madara could not move a single muscle.
Of course, who else would know Madara's weaknesses better than Madara himself?
No one knew Uchiha Madara more intimately than Uchiha Madara.
"Now then, are you ready to listen to me calmly?"
Edo Madara blinked. At this moment, even his body was no longer his own—only his eyes could move.
"Listen carefully. I have come from the future."
"I crossed time itself to reach this world… for one reason only: to tell you the truth."
"The tablet you read was a lie. The Eye of the Moon Plan you believed in—also a lie. Even the so-called 'incarnation of your will'—Black Zetsu—was a lie."
"This entire scheme was laid as a trap for Uchiha Madara."
"Black Zetsu's true identity is the will of the Progenitor of Chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. He is her third child."
"His real purpose was to use Uchiha Madara as a pawn to gather the Tailed Beasts and resurrect his mother, sealed on the moon by the Sage of Six Paths—Ōtsutsuki Kaguya herself!"
"Everything you saw. Everything you experienced. Every single thing… was a lie."
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