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In Madara's palm, Black Zetsu dissolved into wisps of black mist.
He withdrew his hand, placing it over the Black Cursed Seal on the back of his neck… The power there hadn't increased or decreased at all. It had no connection to Black Zetsu's life or death!
"Hmm… Heh. Hahahaha! As expected, it was just fearmongering…"
Madara laughed, a full, deep sound of satisfaction. His sheer nerve had won him the gamble and eliminated a major hidden threat in one move.
He clenched his fist tightly. "So, like this… I no longer need to constantly watch my own back!!!"
Though Black Zetsu was gone, the consciousness of Asura did not reappear to lecture him again.
He felt a flicker of surprise but didn't dwell on it.
The Moon's Eye Plan was his scripture, his doctrine!
He wouldn't allow a few stray words from Asura to shake his resolve!
"Keh… Kehehe… Whether the Infinite Tsukuyomi is the path to salvation or the road to ruin, how can you know without seeing it with your own eyes? I am done having others dictate my path!!!"
Even if his willful persistence might lead to an unfavorable outcome… he would persist to the very end!!!
This man was simply too arrogant.
And as for the most puzzling part of Asura's account—the "questionable stone tablet"—Madara's subconscious, in its profound arrogance, had already crafted its own 'explanation'!
—'Asura said it himself. He's just chakra reincarnating. His consciousness has been asleep for a thousand years. Even if he woke up by some fluke now, his knowledge and understanding are stuck a millennium in the past. So, I'll take his words as a reference. Nothing more. No need to let them shake my conviction!'
Yes. Beneath this man's arrogance hid a fragile, glass heart.
He could not accept that the ambition he had pursued for decades was nothing but a farce. He could use and manipulate others, but he could not bear the thought of being used and manipulated himself.
Madara looked at his palm again. A powerful premonition settled in his gut—his fateful entanglement with Naruto was only just beginning.
He had witnessed, with his own eyes, Naruto growing to the point of resisting him on instinct alone.
Hmph. He understood perfectly well that in the current landscape, he wasn't without enemies. Having witnessed Sasuke's power firsthand, he knew that with internal strife and external threats, a single misstep at any moment could lead to his downfall.
"Should I… perhaps… prepare for 'failure'? What if, during a fight with Sasuke, I'm pushed to the brink, and Naruto's consciousness seizes that moment to rise? If I haven't prepared for that possibility, the consequences could be…"
"No…!!"
Madara's fist clenched once more, with crushing force!!
"Second-guessing myself… is that the style of Uchiha Madara?! Just like with Itachi back then!!! If Naruto grows stronger, then I simply have to become stronger still! Would I, Uchiha Madara, be so pathetic as to carve out an escape route for myself before I've even begun to act!!!"
This man was, in the end, too unyielding. Even knowing he was at a disadvantage, he refused to concede. A precious trait. A fatal flaw.
Arrogance. Fragility. Unbending will… Just as Asura said, Madara was utterly bewitched by them!!!
He cast one final glance… at the earth where his brother was sealed.
"Wait for me. I will prove I am right."
Madara turned and vanished into the night wind. Twenty-one days until that monumental battle. This man decided he would pour his entire being into it.
…
At dawn, the evacuated Konoha refugees were properly settled within Sunagakure.
The Konoha ninja anxiously awaited the return of Tsunade and Shikaku, but the messenger hawks sent out had vanished without a trace.
As time stretched on, their unease grew.
"Could it be… something has happened to the Hokage-sama?"
"Don't say such things! The Hokage is Konoha's strongest shinobi! She possesses powerful medical ninjutsu and is accompanied by Shikaku-sama, the sharpest mind in the entire shinobi world! How could anything happen?! They must have been delayed on the road! That has to be it!!!"
Conversations like this played out repeatedly in Sunagakure's Konoha settlement zone.
Might Guy awoke. Trapped in that valley, the moment the meteor descended, he had been ready to activate the Eight Gates to block it… but he had fallen into Itachi's Tsukuyomi.
Of course… Guy himself didn't know the details.
But he at least remembered the face of the one who cast the genjutsu. From his description, a sketch was made.
Kurenai Yūhi gasped. "It's Uchiha Itachi!!!"
"Uchiha… Itachi?" Guy's eyes flashed with confusion.
Kurenai said, "Have you forgotten? Just last year! Itachi, then still a member of the Akatsuki, appeared in the village with his partner! We even briefly clashed with them!!!"
"Ah…!" Might Guy slammed the table as he stood up. "Ah…! I remember now! It is Itachi! It's just… back then, to avoid falling under his Sharingan genjutsu, I deliberately avoided looking at his face! That's why I didn't remember his features!"
Asuma remarked, "That's purely because you're terrible at remembering people's faces."
Might Guy retorted with utter seriousness, "How could that be?! I even remember the accomplice who infiltrated the village with Itachi! He was a Kusagakure ninja named… Kanbari!!!"
Kurenai and Asuma exchanged a look… If not for the immense tragedy that had befallen Konoha, draining them of any capacity for dopamine, they probably would have laughed out loud.
Guy, realizing belatedly, nodded. "Right. If it was Itachi, then him making me fall into a genjutsu without me noticing… that makes sense."
Kurenai wondered aloud, "But… was it Itachi who cast the Four Red Yang Formation and saved everyone?"
Asuma mused, "From what I know, the Four Red Yang Formation requires four Kage-level shinobi. Itachi alone wouldn't be enough. Itachi being one of them… maybe that's plausible. But… who were the other three?"
It wasn't the Konoha ninja's fault. In that moment of terror, everyone's minds had gone numb with fear. They had no mental bandwidth left to process the outside world.
By the time they came to their senses, they were already saved. And their saviors didn't seem to want Konoha's gratitude, having slipped away silently. All they left behind was endless room for speculation.
…
Night fell once more. Wind and sand whispered through the silent hours.
A boy clad in the Kazekage's cloak leaned against a railing, staring intently at the moon overhead.
After learning of Konoha's destruction and the entire ordeal of the fleeing refugees, he had avoided the others, coming here alone to lose himself in thought.
His hands gripped the railing tightly.
"Naruto… why would fate treat someone as honest and kind as you so unjustly?"
Shuffle… rustle…
A subtle sound came from the shadows of the sandstone building.
Gaara's eyes shifted slightly toward it.
"Come out."
Tap… A few seconds later, a girl with pink hair stepped out from the swirling sand.
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