"Sorry, Madara."
"Even though you, as the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki, might still have a chance of defeating Nagato — perhaps even a high chance if the battle continued — I've simply run out of patience."
From his pitch-black face, a grin of white teeth appeared. Black Zetsu chuckled, his tone almost playful.
"It really wasn't easy getting you to lower your guard, you know?"
"Black Zetsu? Why?"
Madara's eyes widened in disbelief. No matter what Black Zetsu had done, he found that he could no longer move — his body refused to obey him.
It made no sense. With his Six Paths–level regeneration, even being torn in half would mean nothing — a pierced heart should've healed instantly.
"My will... betrayed me?"
Madara couldn't comprehend what was happening.
"I'm sorry, Madara," Black Zetsu said almost kindly. "But I was never your will made flesh. That's only what you believed... or rather, what I made you believe."
He finally revealed the truth buried deep for centuries.
"Madara, you've been deceived," Naruto said coldly. "That thing isn't your 'will' at all. He's the embodiment of the will of Indra — the son of the Sage of Six Paths."
"No," Black Zetsu interrupted, smiling smugly. "You're wrong again, Naruto. I deceived even you."
"I am not Indra's will. I am Black Zetsu — the third son of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra."
"In other words... the brother of the Sage of Six Paths himself."
"Wh–what?" Naruto feigned shock, though his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Just a little more... just a little more and I would've achieved true, eternal peace! My Eye of the Moon Plan!" Madara roared in despair.
His grand design had been halted before it even began.
"Sorry again, Madara," Black Zetsu said, voice dripping with mock sympathy. "I lied to you once more. The Eye of the Moon Plan? It never truly existed."
"As Naruto said, it would have led only to humanity's extinction."
"Everything — all of it — was a fabrication I wove for my mother. Those 'notes from the Sage of Six Paths' you read? I rewrote them myself."
"So... all this time... I was the one being led by the nose?" Madara muttered, realization dawning with horror.
He had thought himself the puppet master, pulling every string.
Only now did he understand — he'd been the puppet all along.
"Damn it... I refuse to accept this...! I won't accept it!!"
Madara's roar shook the air. His body began to expand, ballooning like a grotesque chrysalis.
His form twisted, broke apart, and reshaped — until at last, it settled into that of a vast and terrifying woman.
The Progenitor of Chakra — Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
"What an overwhelming chakra presence..." Nagato's expression darkened as he gazed up at her. "Even stronger than Six Paths Madara."
Stronger, even, than that so-called Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
By rank, Isshiki was technically above Kaguya — his power once greater than hers. But after Kaguya's surprise attack, Isshiki had been forced to offer himself to the Ten-Tails, losing most of his body and surviving only by shrinking and parasitizing others.
Over the millennia, his strength had greatly diminished.
Kaguya, on the other hand, though sealed for a thousand years, had retained nearly the full might she possessed back when she first came to Earth — when her power was only slightly beneath Isshiki's prime.
And when she ate the Chakra Fruit birthed from the Ten-Tails, her strength skyrocketed — surpassing even the weakened Isshiki who survived through the ages.
Even after giving birth to her sons, Hagoromo and Hamura, her chakra remained beyond comparison.
With such might, she could easily crush any lesser Ōtsutsuki — though perhaps she herself never realized it.
At least, that was true in theory.
While Nagato's face was grim, Naruto actually exhaled in relief.
After all, despite Kaguya's unfathomable chakra, she had one fatal weakness.
Naruto pressed his palms together. "Summoning Technique!"
With a puff of smoke, a very confused Sasuke Uchiha appeared beside him.
Naruto patted Sasuke on the shoulder and pointed skyward. "Sasuke — look! Your grandma."
Sasuke: "???"
"Mother... I've missed you so much."
As soon as Kaguya appeared, Black Zetsu transformed into a wisp of shadow and slipped into the sleeve of her kimono.
"I've waited a thousand years for this moment."
"Mother, I saw those people not long ago! I did this, and then that, and then—!"
Once reunited with Kaguya, Black Zetsu chattered endlessly from within her sleeve like an overexcited child clinging to his mother.
Say what you will about him — when it came to filial devotion, Black Zetsu was the most devoted son in shinobi history.
Even Itachi and Hagoromo couldn't compare to this level of dedication.
"So, Naruto," Sasuke muttered warily, staring at the woman in the sky radiating divine power, "this... is our grandmother?"
"That's right. She's the mother of the Sage of Six Paths — the progenitor of chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The source of everything."
"Then... she's our final enemy, isn't she?" Sasuke said, as if reading Naruto's mind.
"Exactly."
"Our last opponent."
"Got it."
Sasuke nodded, switching his weapon from a katana to a spiked club, his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan gleaming.
Around the edges of his pupils shimmered a faint violet hue — the sign of impending evolution into the Rinnegan.
Kaguya listened absentmindedly to Black Zetsu's endless chatter. Her gaze drifted toward Nagato first, and her expression shifted — she sensed a faint trace of Isshiki's chakra within him.
Then her eyes moved to Naruto and Sasuke.
The instant she saw them, her composure shattered.
"Hamura... Hagoromo... my children... I can finally see you again!"
She appeared before Naruto and Sasuke in an instant — so fast that even Nagato couldn't react — and wrapped them both in her arms, tears streaming down her face.
Her tenderness toward them stood in stark contrast to her calm indifference toward Black Zetsu.
One could only imagine what Black Zetsu must've felt at that moment.
Perhaps he was still too caught up in the joy of reuniting with his mother.
Poor guy — the most pitiful filial son in history.
"Grandmother, you've got the wrong people," Naruto said easily, far more relaxed than the wary Sasuke beside him. "We're the descendants of Hagoromo. I'm Asura, and he's Indra."
Even with the Byakugan, Kaguya's eyesight seemed surprisingly poor — both in chakra and appearance, Naruto and Sasuke were clearly nothing like her sons.
Black Zetsu froze. "Wait a second — weren't you supposed to know nothing about all this?!"
Naruto turned and flashed him a mischievous grin, silently mouthing a few words.
"I tricked you."
Then he looked back up at Kaguya with a serene smile.
"We've been waiting for you, Mother."
Black Zetsu: "???"
It was me first...
Kaguya blinked. "Waiting for me? For what purpose?"
Naruto's grin widened. "There's something important we'd like to discuss with you."
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