Inside the enormous hollow tree where Nagato was hiding.
Nagato panted heavily, relying on his last remaining willpower to resist the tar-like black creature covering the left half of his body.
Despite his desperate efforts to stop himself from forming hand seals, he was still forced forward by Black Zetsu's control, completing the hand seals for Rinne Rebirth.
Looking at Tobi standing before him and the figure lying inside the coffin on the ground, Nagato's face turned deathly pale.
"This is… Uchiha Madara? You bastards have been lying to me all along!"
Hearing this, Tobi grinned and pulled out a spiral-patterned mask from behind, placing it over his face. At the same time, a red glow Nagato knew all too well lit up within Tobi's dark eye sockets.
Seeing the stunned look on Nagato's face, Tobi burst into laughter and removed the mask.
"You can't blame us for that. Who told you to be so stupid? You believed everything we said."
Nagato stared at Tobi, then looked up at the soul spiraling in the air. Gritting his teeth, he shouted:
"Damn you! I'll never let you succeed! Even if Uchiha Madara is revived, so what? I'd rather die than let your plan succeed!"
As he spoke, he tried to use his uncontrolled right hand to destroy his own Rinnegan.
But at that moment, a cold, icy voice rang out:
"Who gave you permission to touch my eyes?"
The instant he heard those words, Nagato felt as though he had been struck by lightning—not metaphorically, but literally. His entire body was wracked with pain, as if it no longer belonged to him.
The pain was especially intense around his eyes. The Rinnegan in his sockets began to writhe violently, like blazing flames, as if eager to leap out of his eye sockets at any moment.
Feeling the turmoil in his eyes, Nagato already knew the answer in his heart, yet he still asked unwillingly:
"You're saying… these are your eyes?"
Madara looked at Nagato with a trace of pity.
"You've been using these eyes for so long. Did you never notice something was wrong? If these were truly your own eyes, how could they have burdened you to this extent?"
Though he had already suspected it, hearing those words still left Nagato unable to believe it. The Rinnegan that had been with him for as long as he could remember—were not his own?
This was even harder for him to accept than watching Yahiko die before his eyes.
Seeing Nagato's expression of utter disbelief, Black Zetsu let out a strange, cackling laugh.
"How pitiful. Let me tell you the whole truth. Thirty-five years ago, the Land of Whirlpools was targeted in a joint extermination by the four great ninja villages. That failed genocide was orchestrated by us—for your sake.
"That night, we stole a child from among the Uzumaki clan. That child was meant to temporarily inherit these eyes, in the hope that he would one day use them to revive the already-aged Lord Madara.
"Thus allowing Lord Madara to return to the shinobi world in his prime, and fulfill our Eye of the Moon Plan."
Nagato's entire body trembled as he listened, disbelief filling his voice as he spoke:
"So, the fact that I lived in the Land of Rain and experienced everything I did... was it all your arrangement?"
Black Zetsu, still clinging to Nagato's body and savoring the gradual fading of his life force, answered with a twisted laugh:
"Exactly. Just as you said. Being born in the Land of Rain was arranged by us. Since you won't live much longer anyway, I'll let you die knowing the truth.
"Not only was your birth arranged by us—everything you experienced was also planned step by step by me.
"Your survival on the battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War, your chance to live and become Jiraiya's student, even your negotiations with Hanzō afterward—every single thing was part of my arrangement."
Hearing the earlier parts, Nagato was still barely able to keep his composure. But when it came to Yahiko's death, he could no longer hold it in. He roared in fury:
"Bastards! What was the point of everything you did?! What do human lives mean to you?!"
Madara looked at him indifferently and said:
"If you hadn't witnessed all this—if you hadn't experienced such darkness—how could you have wholeheartedly accepted the Eye of the Moon Plan and prepared for my revival?"
At that, Madara suddenly raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting. Someone troublesome has arrived. I've been waiting for this day for a long time. Well then, I've said everything that needed to be said. It's time for me to reclaim my eyes.
"It's been a long time since I last experienced the sensation of those eyes. I'm rather looking forward to using them to fight that person."
With that, Madara ignored Nagato's struggles and decisively gouged out Nagato's Rinnegan.
Nagato's body had already been weakened to the extreme from long-term use of the Rinnegan, and he had been forcibly made to cast the immensely taxing Rinne Rebirth under Black Zetsu's control. Already on the brink of death, he now had both eyes ripped out alive.
The physical agony combined with the devastating mental shock was more than Nagato could endure. He spat out a mouthful of blood and died on the spot.
Madara skillfully placed the Rinnegan into his own empty eye sockets. Under the influence of chakra, the optic nerves quickly connected, and Madara—who had long been submerged in darkness—finally sensed the colorful world once again.
Taking in everything before him, along with the birdsong and fragrance of flowers outside, Madara no longer suppressed his excitement and burst into unrestrained laughter:
"This vibrant world, and the endless power surging within my body—everything is simply wonderful. Black Zetsu, and you too, Tobi, you've done well.
"Next, let me prepare a small gift for our guest who has come all this way."
As he spoke, Madara casually raised his hand and said softly toward the distance:
"Let me see whether you've made any progress. If you haven't improved at all, I'll be very disappointed."
The moment his words fell, a massive shockwave erupted from Madara's palm. Terrifying repulsive force tore up the earth, sending soil flying, and even the towering trees around him were uprooted completely.
Clearly, this was the Chō Shinra Tensei that the Deva Path had not been able to use earlier.
Standing atop the Grass Long Sword, Kusanagi Blade, Hoshiyomi suddenly felt his hair stand on end. Sensing the terrifying chakra wave rushing toward him, he broke into a smile and sharply ascended on the flying sword.
At the same time, Hoshiyomi swiftly drew the Mikazuki Munechika at his waist and unleashed a massive blue-green sword wave toward the incoming Chō Shinra Tensei.
This slash was Hoshiyomi's full power at present. Even so, he wasn't certain whether his sword energy could truly withstand Madara's Chō Shinra Tensei.
The enormous blue-green sword wave collided with the sweeping Chō Shinra Tensei, and the two forces entered a brief stalemate. After holding out for a moment, the sword wave finally split the Super Shinra Tensei apart.
However, after cutting through it, the blue-green sword energy also shattered and dissipated.
Seeing this from afar, Madara lifted his head in excitement and murmured softly:
"As expected, you've grown stronger. Interesting… truly interesting."
...
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