"As expected of Indra's reincarnation. Even without Indra's chakra inside you anymore, your foundation is truly outstanding."
Looking at Uchiha Madara—who had just been implanted with the Karma—a faint smile finally appeared on Jigen's face.
The synchronization rate was still a little lacking, but once paired with the pair of eyes currently being cultivated within the Ten Tails, this vessel would be flawless.
"Now, feel it well—this power that comes directly from me."
"Ah."
Madara gave a simple reply and closed his eyes.
As his hand clenched tightly, jet-black markings—like a curse seal—began spreading from his arm, crawling rapidly across his body until half of him was covered.
With the emergence of these markings, Madara's aura skyrocketed. In an instant, his chakra broke through the threshold of the Sage of Six Paths realm. He had become a Six Paths-level being!
And more than that—alongside the markings, a long, slanted horn sprouted from one side of his forehead, curving back across his skull.
At the origin of the markings, in the palm of his left hand, there appeared a black-golden, cross-shaped eye.
"This power…"
Madara extended his hand toward the mountain ahead of him, clenching lightly.
In the blink of an eye, the massive mountain was compressed by an overwhelming, irresistible force—vanishing in an instant.
No—not vanishing.
Through Madara's "black eye," he could see clearly: the mountain had not disappeared or been transported elsewhere. It had been compressed into particles so small they were imperceptible to the naked eye.
A mere thought—and the infinitely compressed particles were gone.
"Sukunahikona and Daikokuten… Those are the dōjutsu contained within the Black Eye." Jigen explained evenly.
"Sukunahikona allows you to shrink any non-living object. Daikokuten stores the shrunken object in a separate dimension where time stands still.
Used properly, these techniques should serve you quite well."
"A good Jutsu." Madara nodded in satisfaction.
These abilities didn't look overwhelmingly destructive on the surface, but in the right hands, they could pose terrifying threats.
For battles between the truly strong, everything came down to timing.
Whoever mastered the timing—whoever could seize the opponent's opening—would seize victory.
Madara's own Limbo: Border Jail was already a supreme timing ability. His Limbo clones were invisible and intangible, yet just as strong as himself, and could even swap places with his real body.
Unfortunately, after ascending to the Six Paths level, the concealment of his Limbo clones had weakened considerably.
But the Black Eye's powers were different.
Objects shrunken by Sukunahikona were undetectable—even to the Rinnegan. And with Daikokuten, he could store an arsenal of deadly "weapons" in advance, ready to deploy them instantly in battle and strike with devastating surprise.
Of course, those tricks were secondary. The truly crucial thing was the overwhelming power boost itself.
Madara could feel it vividly: once the Karma was activated, the strength of his chakra had undergone an astronomical amplification. Both in quality and quantity, it rivaled—no, perhaps even surpassed—the chakra of Ōtsutsuki Toneri with his Tenseigan Chakra Mode, and even Six Paths Obito.
Including the body itself!
It was only natural—after all, this was someone who had once descended to Earth together with the Rabbit Goddess. Even just a fraction of his chakra already possessed such overwhelming might.
"Go on."
Jigen's tone was calm. "Don't keep Obito waiting too long."
Uchiha Madara clenched his fist. The black markings across his body faded away, and even the great horn retracted back into him. He glanced once at Jigen, who sat upon the throne, but said nothing—he simply turned and stepped into the warped spatial gate.
Hearing the movement, Sarutobi Hiruzen—who had been waiting behind the gate—lifted his head. With a single look, he noticed the change in Madara.
"So, you've made a deal with our master, Uchiha Madara-sama."
Madara gave a short snort and clenched his fist. "Indeed. He truly holds extraordinary power."
"…Was it worth it?" Hiruzen stared at him intently. "You should understand the price of accepting such power. Was it worth it?!"
Madara let out a low chuckle.
"There's no such thing as worth or not worth. Once you've chosen a path, you just keep walking it. This sorrowful world needs someone to change it. And if I don't do it, then no one else will.
I will change this world. I will bring true, eternal peace to it. If the price of that is my life, then so be it—I'll give my life.
That is my shinobi way—my Uchiha Madara's Nindō, Sarutobi brat!"
With a single step, Madara vanished before Hiruzen's eyes.
From the shadows, Shimura Danzō slowly emerged, wearing the ceremonial robes of the Hokage. Staring at the spot where Madara had disappeared, he spoke in a low voice:
"Back then, when he clashed with the First Hokage, it was over this very ideology. He believed the shinobi world must be ruled through absolute power, while the First Hokage sought balance—peace in exchange for peace.
Looking at things now, it seems he was right, and the First was wrong."**
Hiruzen's expression turned heavy. "He hasn't changed at all, Danzō. His goal, his dream—it has always been the same. To change the entire shinobi world. And we…"
"My resolve has never changed! Don't lump me together with your decay, Hiruzen!" Danzō's tone was cold. "Becoming Hokage, leading Konoha into a greater, grander future—that has always been my dream. That much has never changed.
But you, Hiruzen—you betrayed your own heart long ago!"
"Do you truly believe that Konoha is better now than it was back then? We're bargaining with the tiger for its skin, Danzō!"
"The path to greatness is always cruel. I am the one leading Konoha through it!"
"…You'll regret this, Danzō."
"I am the Hokage, Hiruzen!" Danzō's words were resolute.
"Whether one seeks to become Hokage or to reach the Six Paths, the foundation of all things is a steadfast heart.
And you, Hiruzen—you no longer have the heart to make you strong, the heart to stand firm in this chaotic world. For that reason alone, I will always walk ahead of you, Hiruzen!"
"…I…"
Hiruzen fell into silence.
...
At the Uchiha compound.
After leaving the Memorial Stone, Obito returned to the clan's old grounds, back to his childhood home.
Under the light of the moon, he picked up a broom and began sweeping the empty courtyard. Only after cleaning until every corner was spotless did he finally sit at the entrance of the yard.
When he was young, he would always support his grandmother when they went outside. That old woman, always bent with age, had treated him with the utmost gentleness, giving him all her kindness and love.
He no longer remembered when it began—his grandmother had left him, Rin and Kakashi had disappeared from his side, and the Konoha he once loved most had become the village he hated most.
Outside the house, the late-arriving Uchiha Madara looked at Obito within, his gaze shifting toward the figure of Ōtsutsuki Toneri standing in the courtyard.
Toneri frowned. He felt that something about Madara was different, yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
"Everything will soon come to an end."
Obito spoke softly as he slowly stood up.
"I will bring everything to its conclusion. The history of the shinobi world will be completely rewritten, starting with the name Uchiha Obito—"
"Buzz!!"
A strange fluctuation cut off Obito's swelling declaration. Almost instantly, Obito inside the house, and Madara and Toneri outside, all raised their heads toward the moon glowing brightly in the night sky—their pupils contracted.
...
Between Earth and Moon.
Bathed in the veil of spirit paticles, a golden light flared in the boundless void of space. From it emerged the figures of Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Hikari.
The moon, which once hung high in the heavens, now loomed immense before them. From this distance, Minato and Hikari could see every crater on its surface.
Far behind them, the shinobi world—the planet where they had lived their entire lives—floated, mostly cloaked in a brilliant blue. The sight left both of them astonished and awestruck.
"So this… this is the world we live in?"
Minato murmured as his eyes roamed the lands upon that azure sphere.
That golden expanse—surely the Land of Wind.
The barren, withered stretch—the Land of Earth.
The lush green, dense with vegetation—undoubtedly the Land of Fire.
And beyond that, the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Snow…
Seeing their homeland like this stirred Minato's heart with fierce emotion. But soon he steadied himself, turned to Uchiha Hikari, and bowed his head slightly.
"Forgive me, Uchiha Hikari-sama. I lost myself for a moment."
"No need," Hikari said softly. "Anyone who saw this sight would be shaken." Even with her calm nature, facing the Earth and Moon laid bare before the vast cosmos, she couldn't help but feel deeply stirred.
The shinobi world itself was already so grand, so magnificent. Then within this infinite universe—how many other powerful beings existed? How many extraordinary tales lay waiting?
The two stood in silence, watching—the home where they had once lived, the enormous moon before them, and the endless sea of stars.
"My Bankai has sealed the space around this area. I don't know exactly what state Obito is in now, but if we strike swiftly and together, destroying the moon should not be a problem."
After a long breath, Minato spoke in a low, steady voice to Hikari beside him.
"From here, it depends on you."
"Don't worry."
Hikari gave a slight nod, and in the next instant, her body entered the Perfect Quincy Form.
A colossal single eye floated in the heavens. Within Kirigakure, every Shinigami and Quincy suddenly felt their spiritual power drain, and in the next moment, blood-red light rose up from their bodies, flowing outward.
Eight Thousand Spears!
Spiritual Power Transfer!
An overwhelming torrent of spiritual power surged, channeled through Hikari's dojutsu, and gathered onto Minato.
In his Bankai state, Minato inhaled deeply. With absolute control over the surrounding space confirmed, he slowly raised his palm—aiming directly at the vast moon before him.
"The thousand hands at the edge of the world, the sacred hands that cannot reach the silence, the celestial archer whose light cannot be reflected…"
A deep, solemn chant slowly spilled from Namikaze Minato's mouth. Trembling spiritual power overflowed from him, making the surrounding space wail and quake.
If not for Minato using his Bankai to restrict the space, such a massive surge of spiritual power would have already been detected by others!
"No leakage of spiritual power at all. Good—keep it that way."
While maintaining the flow of spiritual power through Eight Thousand Spears, Uchiha Hikari simultaneously scanned the surrounding space.
With the immense spiritual power pouring into him, Minato's full incantation of Hadō #91 generated an utterly overwhelming reaction. That spiritual pressure—even Hikari, in her Vollständig state, felt its crushing weight pressing down on her.
And to veil such spiritual power, to prevent it from being noticed, and to suppress the catastrophic disturbance it created—in all of Soul Soceity, only Namikaze Minato could accomplish such a feat.
Black clouds pressed down as though about to topple the heavens; in that moment, the entire sky seemed to be blanketed by an immeasurable, vast force.
"Light Bullets… Eightfold Bodies… Ninefold Strands… Heavenly Scripture… Swift Treasure… Grand Wheel, the gray turret…"
The once low, resonant chant grew louder, sharper. With spiritual power surging, countless luminous cones began to manifest around Minato, each one like a meteor piercing the night sky, gathering at his command, poised to unleash.
As they appeared, the world itself seemed lit in their glow—yet twisted and sealed within the restricted space he had woven.
It was like a crystal infinitely compressed, distorted, blooming, sublimating—holding within it countless possibilities.
And then—
It bloomed.
"Hadō Number 91…"
"Senju Kōten Taihō!" (Thousand-Hand Bright Heaven Cannon)
Buzz!!!
The instant the words fell, all the luminous cones shot forth as one, streaking directly toward the vast moon.
Spiritual power erupted—an endless torrent of Senju Kōten Taihō, cascading down like a celestial meteor shower. Each blazing projectile hammered into the moon's surface.
Unimaginable spiritual power exploded in that instant. As every beam struck, the entire moon began to tremble violently!
This was not a disturbance that Minato's Flying Thunder God barriers could conceal—it was a calamity so vast, the entire shinobi world felt its echoes.
In that same moment, every living being in the shinobi world instinctively raised their heads toward the heavens.
"What's going on? What just happened?!"
"The sky—it's in the sky!"
"No way… is that the moon? How could the moon end up like this?!"
Though sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space, the catastrophic upheaval of the moon's collapse was beyond what sound alone could ever describe.
The peace of the night was shattered. Countless people stared skyward in shock, throats dry, swallowing nervously.
And before their eyes—the celestial body that had always hung above the heavens, illuminating the nights of the shinobi world—erupted in a blinding radiance. Cracks spread across its surface.
And then—
It shattered.
The moon shattered.