Chapter 475: Brothers
The Sage of Six Paths finally finished explaining everything.
From Kaguya Otsutsuki's sealing, to his two sons' sad dispute spanning a thousand years due to ideological differences. From that malicious existence lurking in history's deepest shadows—Black Zetsu—how it wove deceptions spanning eras, tampering with the stone tablet, distorting prophecies.
To this generation, where the living world's chakra reincarnation vessels—Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Satsuki—broke fate's shackles. Not only achieving reconciliation, but joining hands to root out the conspiracy's mastermind, thoroughly annihilating Black Zetsu and fundamentally shattering the final possibility of Kaguya Otsutsuki's resurrection.
The truth was cold and cruel.
The so-called "Infinite Tsukuyomi" that would bring eternal peace was nothing but an elaborately disguised sacrificial ritual, with the purpose of transforming the entire planet's humanity into an unknowing, unfeeling White Zetsu army.
The so-called "embodiment of Uchiha Madara's will" Black Zetsu was actually the third child that Kaguya Otsutsuki bore with resentment and obsession before being sealed!
All its guidance, all its "revelations," were solely to lead Indra's reincarnation vessels toward destruction's cliff, ultimately becoming the perfect sacrifice and vessel for resurrecting its mother.
...Everything about himself had been negated.
Uchiha Madara's body began trembling violently beyond control. Those Rinnegan's light completely dimmed at this moment, emptily reflecting no scene whatsoever.
Violent and chaotic chakra leaked uncontrollably through every pore around his body, like a dying giant beast's final gasps, mixing towering fury with bone-chilling... desolation.
His lifelong pursuit of world-saving ideals had from the very beginning been built upon the most despicable lies.
He had prided himself on penetrating worldly affairs, seeing through Hashirama's "hypocritical" Will of Fire. Yet it turned out the greatest hypocrisy had long been embedded in his own eyeballs, engraved in the depths of his own thinking, becoming the underlying logic driving all his actions!
Ideals were castles in the air, collapsing with a thunderous crash.
Wisdom was being made a fool, becoming a laughingstock.
Those sacrifices made for this, the loneliness endured, the bonds severed... All the heavy prices instantly depreciated, light as dust, becoming foolish footnotes to aiding evil.
That heart-wrenching break with Hashirama, the long hibernation after feigning death and escaping, those days and nights alone in dark caves planning the future... All of this, now looking back, was like an utterly absurd puppet show controlled by invisible strings.
If even the foundational meaning constructed by the existence called "Uchiha Madara" was a false product, then who exactly was "I"? What value did this life full of obsession, battle, and scheming have?
Having lost that world-saving mission, the current Uchiha Madara was like having all his bones extracted in an instant, drowning in the pitch-black, ice-cold nihilistic vortex formed after the collapse of his self-existence's meaning, unable to struggle free.
Unprecedented fatigue and self-loathing swept over him. Even for someone as proud as Uchiha Madara, at this moment, deep in his consciousness, a shameful thought actually passed through.
Perhaps letting this just-revived consciousness sink once more into eternal, unknowing, unfeeling death's darkness was the best way to escape this suffocating reality.
"Brother! Where are your eyes looking?! Look at me!"
But an urgent, clear voice forcefully dragged Uchiha Madara's nearly drowning consciousness back to reality.
Uchiha Izuna had rushed before him, both hands forcefully gripping Madara's slightly trembling arms. He looked up, and in those black eyes somewhat similar to Madara's, there wasn't excessive shock about the shocking deception, only pure and profound worry about his brother's current state.
After all, for someone like him who had long passed away, it was more like a distant and bizarre story.
"..."
Madara's gaze passively fell on Izuna's face. That young, vital face written full of concern perfectly overlapped with the brother in his memory who had devoted everything to the clan.
But in just an instant, enormous shame and self-contempt made him awkwardly avert his gaze.
He had no face to meet Izuna.
He had longed to make Izuna's sacrifice more valuable as a "savior" elder brother, to let his brother feel proud of his achievements even in the Pure Land.
But now... what was he? A clown manipulated by the mastermind behind the scenes, nearly dragging the world into the abyss? Failing his brother's entrustment, defiling the Uchiha's pride.
"The deceived past cannot be changed." Izuna spoke once more. He forcefully shook Madara's arms, forcing his brother to refocus. "But who are you seeing now? It's me, Uchiha Izuna. A real brother standing right before you!"
"Even if the whole world is lies, even if history has been tampered with beyond recognition, the bloodline flowing between us, the battles we experienced together, your protection of me, my trust in you... These memories, these emotions—could Black Zetsu also fabricate these as fakes?!"
Izuna's words lacked flowery rhetoric, yet struck the still-not-completely-shattered foundation in Madara's deepest heart.
"...Izuna... I'm sorry..."
Madara's voice was hoarse and dry, so low it was almost inaudible.
"Brother never needs to apologize to me!"
Izuna immediately interrupted him, his tone decisive. "In the past, now, and in the future too! To me, no matter if brother is clan head, rogue ninja, or something else... Brother will always be the brother I trust most, willing to follow!"
These words finally made Uchiha Madara extremely slowly nod his head.
He looked at Izuna again, trying to move the corners of his mouth into an expression to comfort his brother.
But that smile was stiff, mixed with undispersed pain, uglier than crying.
Hashirama nearby, watching Madara finally pulled back from that heart-wrenching edge of collapse, having some response, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
At the same time, warm emotions also surged to his heart—he could feel happy for Madara. In this strange world after death, at least his most important brother had returned to his side.
"Brother has always been the brother I trust most"... What wonderful words.
Feeling emotional, Hashirama instinctively, with a bit of unconscious envy and a subtle hope of "could my own brother also...", quietly cast his gaze toward Senju Tobirama standing beside him, who from start to finish had furrowed brows, appearing to calmly analyze the situation.
"What?"
Then what he got was Tobirama not even turning his head, carrying a trace of impatience at being disturbed.
"...Nothing."
Hashirama's shoulders slightly slumped. He could only silently sigh in his heart, dejectedly turning back.
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