For many years, Black Zetsu had been plotting in the shadows.
Everything he did was for a single purpose—to one day rescue his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
But what happened in the end?
After the sudden rise of the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, all of his plans had been thrown into chaos. He had even been forced to revive Uchiha Madara, who possessed the Rinnegan.
And now—
The Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, had become even more outrageous.
Instead of breaking through to the Six Paths level on Earth, he had done the exact opposite and achieved it on the Moon.
To Black Zetsu, it felt utterly unbearable.
More importantly, there was something he simply couldn't understand.
Why hadn't his two foolish brothers stepped in to suppress the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren?
Not long ago, Black Zetsu had secretly used a forbidden technique to communicate with his sealed mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
From that brief exchange, he had learned a few useful things.
For example—
Once someone reached the level of the Sage of Six Paths, they were almost impossible to kill.
Just like his mother.
Such beings could not truly die.
They could only be sealed.
Because of that, even after reviving Uchiha Madara, Black Zetsu had remained extremely cautious, afraid of drawing the attention of the two brothers.
But now…
What should he do?
This Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, was simply a monster.
After an unknown amount of time passed, the blue radiance in the sky gradually faded.
White Zetsu and Uchiha Obito stared at the disappearing light, their expressions filled with shock.
"The shinobi world is becoming more and more interesting…"
At that moment, however, a rare trace of restless battle intent appeared in Uchiha Madara's eyes.
"I'm looking forward to fighting the Fifth Hokage."
As those words left his mouth—
A domineering aura spread from Madara's body, proud and absolute.
To be honest, even someone as arrogant as Uchiha Madara had to admit that the current shinobi world belonged to Uchiha Ren.
But… so what?
During the Warring States era, the world had belonged to him and Senju Hashirama.
When two powerful forces meet head-on, the braver one prevails.
As a genius born above the rest, Madara wanted to witness it for himself—
When the ultimate forces of two different eras collided,
which would prove superior?
"The real battle has only just begun."
His expression turned cold.
"Let's go."
"We continue the plan. In some time, we'll present the Fifth Hokage with a little gift."
"Yes, Lord Madara."
"Yes, Lord Madara."
Black Zetsu, White Zetsu, and Uchiha Obito all nodded one after another.
Buzz—
A ripple of space appeared.
The four figures vanished instantly.
—
Still no reaction?
On the Moon, Uchiha Ren sensed the completely quiet Earth and shook his head with mild disappointment.
With a thought, he withdrew his Six Paths power.
The blue waves of energy gradually faded.
In the next moment, the Moon returned to its usual calm.
"Wow… it was so beautiful…"
Watching the brilliant blue light disappear from the sky, Hinata Hyūga clasped her hands in front of her chest and let out a soft exclamation.
"Alright. It's time to return to Earth."
Whoosh!
A sharp sound of air splitting echoed.
Uchiha Ren appeared beside Hinata in an instant. He lifted her effortlessly and shot toward Earth.
As for Toneri, the captive—
He was wrapped in a strand of Six Paths power and carried along as well.
—
At the same time.
Inside a hidden space.
Terrifying Six Paths power surged violently through the void.
At the center of the space sat two figures cross-legged in meditation.
Both had horns on their heads and wore long white robes marked with six black magatama across the chest.
"Brother, you really are patient."
Ōtsutsuki Hamura rose slowly from his seat, his expression grave.
"This Uchiha Ren… he's growing far too quickly."
"And aren't you enduring just the same?"
The Sage of Six Paths suddenly opened his eyes.
His voice was cold.
"My arrangements in the shinobi world have already been completely disrupted…"
"This Uchiha Ren is an anomaly."
In truth, the Sage of Six Paths felt a trace of anger within his heart.
Originally, the shinobi world had been developing steadily according to his plans.
But the appearance of Uchiha Ren had shattered everything.
If he weren't worried about alerting the main family of the Ōtsutsuki clan, he would have already taken action himself and crushed Ren with overwhelming force.
Thinking about it now, even he felt somewhat annoyed.
When Uchiha Ren had first begun to rise, he had noticed him.
But he hadn't taken it seriously.
By the time he considered eliminating him—
Ren had already grown strong.
Unless the Sage of Six Paths unleashed his full power, there was no guarantee he could suppress him.
And doing that carried too great a risk.
So even if he was furious, he had no choice but to continue enduring.
"Hmph."
Ōtsutsuki Hamura's eyes turned cold as he snorted.
"If the Moon's Ōtsutsuki clan hadn't slipped out of my control, I would never have allowed him to wipe them out."
At that moment, killing intent flickered openly in Hamura's heart.
After all—
Even beating a dog required respect for its owner.
By destroying the Moon's Ōtsutsuki clan, Uchiha Ren had effectively slapped him in the face.
"Let's continue to observe."
The Sage of Six Paths calmed his anger and returned to his composed expression.
"If my senses are correct, the main family of the Ōtsutsuki clan should have already discovered Earth."
"What?!"
Hamura's expression changed drastically.
Shock flashed through his eyes.
"Then let our foolish third brother and the Fifth Hokage deal with the main family of the Ōtsutsuki clan."
The Sage of Six Paths let out a cold smile.
His gaze was utterly indifferent.
"When those two sides exhaust each other…"
"That will be the moment for us to step in and clean up the battlefield."
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