"What did you say?"
The question erupted from Madara's lips with the explosive force of someone whose entire worldview had just been challenged by impossible revelations. Throughout his long existence, spanning decades of warfare and cosmic transformation, no being had ever dared to address him with such blatant contempt.
Fury blazed through his enhanced consciousness as he directed his gaze downward toward the darkness that was gathering around his heart with obvious malevolent purpose.
His pupils contracted to pinpoints as understanding began to dawn with horrifying clarity.
"You were created by my will! You are the manifestation of my deepest desires! You should act according to my wishes and mine alone!"
His voice carried the absolute authority of someone accustomed to commanding cosmic forces, but for the first time since achieving divine status, that authority seemed to carry no weight.
"Hahahaha!"
The laugh that emerged from Black Zetsu was dark and sinister beyond description, as if the entity had just heard the most amusing joke in the history of the universe. The sound carried undertones of malice that had been brewing for far longer than any mortal could comprehend.
At this moment, the Limbo clones that had been engaging Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke in desperate combat suddenly ceased their assault entirely. Their ethereal forms simply stopped moving, leaving the three defenders stunned by this unexpected development.
Then they heard that terrible laughter echoing across the battlefield, its source unmistakably connected to the cosmic drama unfolding before them.
All three shinobis turned their attention toward Madara's position, and Sasuke's enhanced Rinnegan immediately detected something that sent chills through his consciousness.
"Madara's chakra signature is changing," he announced, his voice carrying the clinical precision that marked his approach to analyzing impossible situations.
At this moment, Madara discovered with growing horror that his enhanced body could no longer respond to his conscious commands. Despite possessing power that rivaled the gods themselves, despite having absorbed the accumulated chakra of an entire planet, he found himself completely immobilized.
"Why is this happening!?"
Madara's voice cracked with disbelief as he stared down at the dark substance that had surrounded his heart like some cosmic parasite. His analytical mind raced through every possibility, every technique or trap that might explain his current predicament.
He couldn't understand how Black Zetsu alone could render him completely helpless when his current capabilities exceeded even those of the Sage of Six Paths.
But what puzzled Madara even more than his physical paralysis was the fundamental impossibility of what was occurring. Black Zetsu had been created by his own will, born from his deepest desires and shaped by his determination to achieve perfect peace.
Why would such an entity betray the very person who had given it existence?
As if the dark creature possessed the ability to read every thought flowing through Madara's consciousness, Black Zetsu's laughter resumed with even greater intensity.
"What a pathetic fool! I told you before—you are exactly the same as Obito proved to be."
The words carried implications that challenged everything Madara thought he understood about his own carefully orchestrated plans.
"You are both nothing more than pawns created to achieve my objectives!"
"Are there conflicts developing among our enemies?"
Sasuke's tactical mind immediately began analyzing the conversation between Black Zetsu and Madara, his enhanced perception cataloguing every detail that might provide strategic advantages.
This seemed like an excellent opportunity for them to launch a decisive assault while their primary opponent was distracted by betrayal within his own ranks.
He glanced toward Naruto and Minato to coordinate their response, but something in their expressions made him pause. Both shinobis were displaying reactions that went beyond simple tactical opportunism—they looked genuinely disturbed by what they were witnessing.
"He actually claims to have been manipulating Madara all along?"
The Nine-Tails' voice emerged from within Minato's consciousness, carrying incredulous tones that reflected the fox's own shock at these revelations. Even an ancient entity that had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations found the scope of this deception difficult to comprehend.
At this moment, Black Zetsu seemed to raise his voice deliberately, as if making an announcement specifically intended for Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke to hear clearly.
"My will serves only Kaguya-sama!"
"Kaguya?"
The name struck all three defenders like physical blows, their expressions shifting dramatically as the implications began to register in their enhanced awareness.
"Kaguya... isn't that the Sage's mother?" Naruto asked, his voice carrying the confusion of someone whose understanding of ancient history was being rewritten in real time.
Sasuke's features took on grim seriousness as he processed the connections that were beginning to emerge from this cosmic revelation.
"What exactly is happening here?"
Minato's face trembled with recognition as pieces of a vast puzzle began clicking into place within his analytical mind. He raised his eyes to stare directly at Black Zetsu, his voice carrying the shock of someone whose deepest suspicions had just been confirmed in the most horrifying way possible.
"The contents of the stone tablet that the Uchiha clan has preserved and passed down through generations... they were altered by you!?"
The question emerged from years of investigation and analysis that had begun when Orochimaru was captured during the early stages of their conflict. Minato had learned from the Sannin that there was an individual within the Akatsuki organization whose origins remained completely mysterious, someone about whom no intelligence could be gathered despite extensive investigation.
That person had been Black Zetsu.
The doubts that had been gnawing at Minato's consciousness throughout their entire conflict had never found satisfactory answers through conventional analysis. But if Black Zetsu's claims were true, if this entity had indeed been manipulating events from the shadows across potentially centuries...
Then everything finally made sense.
"Haha! You deduced the truth so quickly, Namikaze Minato. I really should offer you praise for such analytical brilliance."
Black Zetsu's response carried no hesitation or attempt at deception, as if the entity found genuine amusement in finally revealing the scope of its long-concealed machinations.
"Then your ultimate purpose should be—"
Before Minato could complete his question, the darkness that had been gathering around Madara's heart suddenly began spreading across his entire enhanced form with terrifying speed.
"AHHHHH!"
Madara's scream tore across the battlefield with volume and intensity that made the very air seem to vibrate in sympathy. The sound was beyond anything that should have emerged from a divine being—it carried the agony of someone whose fundamental existence was being rewritten against their will.
"What's happening!?"
Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke all reacted with shock as the ground beneath their feet began experiencing violent seismic activity that threatened their ability to maintain stable footing.
BOOM!
The earth trembled with such intensity that cracks began spreading outward from Madara's position like a spider web of destruction extending for miles in every direction. Then, with the ancient Uchiha serving as the epicenter, the very ground began to disintegrate.
Brilliant azure chakra beams erupted from the fractured earth, each one carrying energy signatures that belonged to the realm of cosmic phenomena rather than conventional ninjutsu.
All of these chakra streams were converging on Madara's position with obvious purpose and supernatural coordination.
His enhanced form began swelling at a rate that was visible to normal perception, his body expanding as if trying to contain forces that exceeded its physical limitations.
"What is this technique supposed to accomplish?"
All three defenders immediately moved to safer positions, but Sasuke continued observing the chakra streams with expressions of growing alarm.
"He's attempting to resurrect Kaguya!"
Minato's voice carried the heavy certainty of someone whose analytical mind had processed the available evidence and reached a conclusion that challenged every assumption about what they were facing.
"There's such an enormous amount of chakra stored within the earth itself."
Naruto stared at Madara's gradually expanding form with enhanced perception that could detect the true scope of the energy being channeled. This chakra signature was no longer limited to the Ten-Tails power he had sensed previously—it encompassed something far more vast and ancient.
Just as Madara's body reached the apparent limits of its expansion, Black Zetsu emerged from beneath his feet with fluid grace, separating entirely from the host form that had served its purposes.
The entity stood behind Madara's swelling figure, observing the chakra that continued emerging from the ground with expressions that mixed satisfaction with analytical assessment.
"The Nine-Tails' chakra has not been fully recovered yet," Black Zetsu murmured, his voice carrying the clinical precision of someone calculating complex variables. "The chakra stored in the earth alone will not be sufficient to achieve my mother's complete resurrection."
His attention shifted to focus on the scattered energy signatures that remained beyond his immediate control.
"It appears that additional chakra sources will need to be recovered before the process can reach completion."
Black Zetsu's gaze settled on Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke with obvious predatory intent. Before Kaguya could be fully resurrected and assume control of the situation, he remained a relatively minor threat compared to any of the three enhanced shinobis arrayed against him.
But since he had chosen to reveal his true agenda at this crucial moment, he clearly possessed alternative methods for achieving his objectives.
As his hands moved through seal formations with practiced efficiency, Madara's body began expanding at an even more dramatic rate.
BANG!
In a single instant, Madara's enhanced form simply exploded like a balloon subjected to pressure beyond its capacity to contain.
"He actually detonated the Ten-Tails' chakra?"
Naruto's voice carried profound shock as he processed what had just occurred. They had never anticipated that Madara—who had seemed virtually invincible in their previous encounters—would meet his end through such methods.
The ancient Uchiha's body had exploded with tremendous force, but there was no blood mist or scattered flesh visible in the aftermath. Only extremely concentrated chakra remained, energy so pure and powerful that it began dissipating into the atmosphere the moment it was freed from physical constraints.
"What is he hoping to accomplish?"
Sasuke continued observing Black Zetsu with tactical awareness, trying to understand the entity's strategic objectives. Now that Madara had been eliminated, the creature's individual capabilities posed no meaningful threat to any of them.
How could he possibly hope to resurrect Kaguya after destroying the very vessel that had been intended to facilitate her return?
"Something is fundamentally wrong with this situation!"
Minato's enhanced perception was working frantically to analyze the developing crisis, and his awareness detected the truth even before Naruto's senses registered what was occurring.
The high-concentration chakra dispersing through the atmosphere was rapidly gathering toward a specific location in the sky above them.
Without deliberate manipulation, such coordinated energy movement would never occur naturally.
"This is catastrophic!"
Even though he understood that chakra was accumulating in the air above them, Minato found himself completely helpless to prevent the process. Chakra in its pure energy form could be absorbed or redirected, but it couldn't be physically grasped or contained through conventional means.
Unable to interfere with the chakra flow occurring throughout the atmosphere, Minato attempted to capture Black Zetsu as the source of this cosmic manipulation.
However, when he turned his attention toward the entity's last known position, he discovered that it had simply vanished without leaving any detectable trace.
Minato's enhanced perception spread outward across the entire battlefield, but he couldn't locate even the faintest signature of Black Zetsu's spiritual presence.
He quickly turned toward Sasuke and Naruto for assistance, but both shinobis were staring upward at the sky with expressions of growing horror.
"That..."
Naruto's voice carried the stunned recognition of someone witnessing the impossible made manifest.
Buzz!
Minato raised his own eyes toward the chakra accumulation point that his enhanced senses had detected, and what he observed sent ice through his consciousness.
At the location where energy had been gathering with supernatural coordination, the accumulated power was beginning to emit a strange luminescence that pulsed with its own internal rhythm.
The light gradually intensified and condensed, its color deepening as the energy reached critical mass and began taking on a more definite form.
What finally emerged was a colossal blood-red eye hanging in the sky like a malevolent moon, its surface marked with the distinctive circular patterns of the Rinnegan and the nine magatama distributed across each ring of symbols.
This was unmistakably the same organ that had manifested on Madara's forehead—the Rinne Sharingan that possessed the power to cast the ultimate genjutsu across the entire planet.
As the cosmic eye achieved complete formation, Black Zetsu emerged from the ground at some distant location, his form materializing with the satisfaction of someone whose centuries-long plan had finally reached its culmination.
He looked up at the terrible sight hanging in the heavens above them, and his sinister laughter echoed across the battlefield one final time.
"Infinite Tsukuyomi... ACTIVATE!"