Nagato's eyes widened as his chakra surged.
The underground giant chamber trembled, and with a guttural breath, Deva Path unleashed a massive Shinra Tensei, far stronger than before.
The wave of gravitational force erupted outward, twisting metal and shattering the broken walls of the tower.
At the same time, the Animal Path released a storm of summons, beasts of grotesque scale filling the chamber, the Asura Path opened fire with weaponized limbs and chakra cannons.
Konan joined the assault, her Yang paper wings scattering into countless blades. "Paper Storm: Dance of Heaven!" she shouted, filling the air with a blizzard of razor-sharp paper infused with explosive tags.
The explosion illuminated the room, yet when the smoke cleared, the intruder still stood unharmed.
Akira extended one hand.
The halos behind him rotated faster, and a crushing wave of gravity burst outward, bending the air itself.
Every attack collapsed under the invisible pressure, beasts, paper, chakra, all flattened into nothing.
'What are his eyes?' Nagato grimaced inwardly, the veins around his Rinnegan pulsing.
Until now, he had believed himself the peak of ocular power, yet this man's sight radiated something far beyond it. 'That light… It's not weaker than mine. It might be stronger.'
But he knew seconds were passing, and that "Madara" should be near. He only needed to hold this monster off a little longer.
Akira advanced through the ruins, the light of the Tenseigan flickering across the steel debris. His gaze locked on Nagato's fragile, red-haired body tethered to the Gedo Mazō by black rods. "So you're the source," he said quietly. "You stole from gods, and chained their remains like cattle."
He raised his hand, and the storm outside roared in unison with his chakra.
The surrounding material groaned as its metal foundations warped, pulled upward by his will.
Within seconds, he molded them into a colossal golem of golden alloy, its body glowing from the heat of condensed Yang Release.
The creature swung its massive arm, crushing the remaining summons and slamming through the defensive barrier.
At the same time, two instantaneous blinding forms of energy crossed the air, one golden, one silver, his Golden Wheel and Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, tearing through the chamber.
The shockwave was deafening. The entire tower collapsed inward, and when the light faded, all six Paths of Pain were gone, reduced to fragments, their receivers scattered like ash.
Preta Path kept Nagato's real body and Konan safe from the blast before it also evaporated.
Akira landed amid the wreckage, stepping over the smoking ground.
His glowing eyes fixed on Nagato's frail frame and the woman who shielded him. "You are not worthy of those eyes," he said, voice calm, almost sorrowful.
However, just as he extended his hand toward them to finish, space distorted beside him.
A spiraling vortex formed, and two figures stepped out—Obito and Dual Zetsu.
Obito's mask turned sharply toward the devastation. "What the hell—?" He didn't hesitate.
His left eye glowed, and in one seamless motion, he unleashed Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance. A torrent of flame surged forward, amplified by a long-range Kamui warp that opened a path through Akira's gravitational field.
The flames roared through, consuming everything in their path—
But Akira simply lifted his hand. A black sphere expanded before him, smooth and perfect, radiating power from all chakra natures fused into one.
The fire struck it head-on and vanished, absorbed completely.
The Truth-Seeking Orbs shimmered in the air between them, untouched.
Akira looked at Obito without emotion. "Another pretender," he said quietly. "How many of you parasites feed on the legacy of gods?"
The vortex of Kamui still flickered behind Obito, the chamber burned and cracked, and the Gedo Mazō's eyes opened slightly in the background, its ancient roar beginning to rise.
The real confrontation had just begun.
Meanwhile, Black Zetsu's mood darkened to its deepest shade. He recognized that power instantly. The Tenseigan — a dojutsu equal in stature to the Rinnegan, inherited by Hamura himself from their mother.
What unsettled him even more was that this wasn't an artificial imitation or transplanted set of eyes like Nagato's.
This was probably an organic Tenseigan, fully awakened and naturally compatible with its user. That explained the overwhelming gap in power.
Nagato was outclassed. Even Obito, despite having just reclaimed his left Kamui eye from Kakashi, would likely fare no better, even if they joined.
After all, he was still only 13 years old. Black Zetsu knew it the moment he saw that cyan light cutting through space.
He wanted to shout, to warn Obito to retreat—to take Nagato and the Gedo Statue into the Kamui dimension before it was too late.
But Obito was already acting on the same thought. His newly restored left eye glowed, space distorting as he extended his long-range Kamui toward Nagato and the statue, aiming to pull them both into safety.
Akira, however, seemed to understand the nature of the technique almost instantly.
In the same heartbeat, he moved—his body a streak of blinding cyan light—closing the distance faster than Kamui could lock on. A surge of telekinetic force from his Tenseigan followed, dragging Nagato toward him instead of away.
Obito's long-range warp collapsed mid-activation. Realizing it was too late, he used his right eye instead, teleporting himself and Dual Zetsu directly toward Nagato's location.
The tower's remains groaned and cracked as they appeared amid the wreckage.
Akira now stood right before Nagato and Konan, both still tethered to the Gedo Mazō, its chains pulsing behind them.
Obito and Dual Zetsu materialized nearby a split second earlier, the air still shimmering from Kamui's distortion—just as Akira turned his glowing eyes toward them.
The chamber fell silent.
Black Zetsu realized in that instant that they were completely powerless.
There was no winning this fight. He had to make a decision immediately.
Grinding his teeth, he acted. His inky body extended across the debris-strewn floor as he performed a set of complex seals. The ground darkened beneath him, and an ominous coffin began to rise from the earth.
Edo Tensei.
He had summoned Madara.
Zetsu understood the magnitude of what he faced. That intruder wasn't a mere shinobi—he was one of Hamura's descendants from the Moon, still in possession of the original Giant Tenseigan that Hamura himself had created.
Black Zetsu had always feared them. His long-term plan had been to first revive his mother in an imperfect form—without the chakra still sealed away on the Moon—and only later travel there with her to reclaim it.
The lunar branch had always been a threat, one he preferred to handle indirectly. But now, one of them had come to Earth. That changed everything.
He had no choice but to pivot and abandon his previous strategy entirely.
When Madara emerged, Zetsu would tell him that he had secretly learned Edo Tensei after his death—just as a precaution against the world's growing dangers, to ensure their plans could still be fulfilled.
That explanation would sound reasonable enough, keep suspicion away from his true nature.
In truth, however, Zetsu had known of Edo Tensei long before Tobirama had even conceived it. It was one of the many hidden safeguards he had planted across generations.
Madara's remains, the coffin, and the human sacrifice had been prepared long ago—waiting only for the right moment.
He knew the cost. Summoning Madara would expose everything to Nagato. The moment Madara appeared, Nagato would realize that his life had been a lie.
So before the resurrection began, Black Zetsu made another move. His body liquefied and lunged forward, merging with Nagato in a blur of motion.
The red-haired young man never expected it—his focus was fixed entirely on the intruder.
Zetsu's hand pierced his chest, black tendrils wrapping around his head and ripping both Rinnegan from their sockets.
The moment he held them, his tone turned cold, almost reverent.
"In the end, only Madara matters," he thought. "He alone can bring her back."
"Everything else doesn't matter."
The coffin cracked open behind him, light spilling out into the wrecked tower.
To resurrect Kaguya, one condition had always been absolute: someone had to awaken the Rinnegan, use it to access the Gedo Statue, gather all the tailed beasts within it, and then cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi upon the world to draw in the collective chakra of all living beings. That was the foundation of Black Zetsu's thousand-year design.
Every move he had ever made led toward that single outcome.
He had fueled the rivalry between the Senju and the Uchiha, ensuring each generation grew stronger through conflict.
The Uchiha, bound by their curse of hatred, were especially useful—each tragedy pushing them closer to the awakening of new eyes, new power.
It was he who had carved and altered the Uchiha stone tablet, twisting its message to point toward the Infinite Tsukuyomi as the final path.
"Human conflict can only end if all people share one dream — a single reality without pain."
That single line became the core of the lie.
Black Zetsu had twisted the Sage's warning into a promise, turning Hagoromo's cautionary words into what sounded like divine instruction.
He made Madara believe the Infinite Tsukuyomi was the Sage's final gift to humanity — a path to universal peace through illusion — when in truth, it was a warning against repeating Kaguya's sin.
Madara thought he was carrying out the Sage's will, but every step only dragged him closer to reviving the very being Hagoromo had sealed away.
Originally, the stone had said:
"Balance power with love, or ruin will follow."
But after Zetsu's quiet edits, what Madara saw was:
"Peace is impossible through reality — only illusion can end suffering."
"A person could use the Moon reflection and Infinite Tsukuyomi to cast a dream across the entire world."
And that single shift — from warning to temptation — would change the fate of the world.
When Madara later absorbed the Ten Tails and awakened the Rinne Sharingan, he would probably think that he had become what the Sage once was — the final savior of mankind.
Whereas in actuality, Madara would become the vessel for the same ancient being that Hagoromo once fought.
When the time came, and he was pressured against the whole world, Madara would then instinctively also fuse with the God Tree, and Zetsu would betray him then, using that very moment to bring his Kaguya, his mother, forth, once more.
All they ever needed was enough chakra to awaken her completely.
Black Zetsu was her will incarnate, and her body—still sealed and fused within that God Tree itself —was always waiting to return.
So, Madara Uchiha, the most fitting vessel in history, was at the center of most of his setups.