Madara looked at Hoshiyomi and struggled to open his mouth, but at this point he could no longer utter a single word.
As the devastation of God: Nativity of a World of Trees spread, the battlefield was turned upside down. The ground trembled violently, and the human cocoons wrapped in the Divine Tree's branches began to emit a glow of chakra.
From the cracked earth, chakra so dense it was nearly tangible continuously erupted. Together with the chakra extracted from the human cocoons, it flowed into Madara's body like all rivers returning to the sea.
With such an enormous amount of chakra suddenly pouring into him, Madara's body began to swell rapidly, like an inflating balloon.
Meanwhile, the liquid form of Black Zetsu continued to spread across every part of Madara's expanding body.
Seeing that his mother's revival was now inevitable, Black Zetsu no longer paid attention to the dying Madara and instead turned his gaze toward Hoshiyomi, who was watching coldly from the side:
"Gekko Hoshiyomi, you truly are a terrifying individual. Even someone like me, who has lived for so long, could never truly see through you. Every scheme I carefully arranged was dismantled by you one by one. But now… everything is finally coming to an end."
Hoshiyomi looked at the self-satisfied Black Zetsu and nodded in agreement:
"You're right. Everything is about to end."
Black Zetsu's expression changed at those words. Seeing Hoshiyomi's calm, unconcerned demeanor, he subconsciously asked:
"You knew about Mother from the very beginning?"
Hoshiyomi looked at Black Zetsu and spoke slowly, word by word:
"If that weren't the case, how could you have seized control of Madara's body so easily?"
Black Zetsu felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He carefully scrutinized Hoshiyomi from head to toe and exclaimed:
"That's impossible. You're clearly not one of those people."
Black Zetsu's will was Kaguya's will, and so he naturally knew of the Ōtsutsuki clan. Hearing Hoshiyomi speak this way, he instinctively assumed Hoshiyomi was a member of the Ōtsutsuki.
Hoshiyomi naturally understood whom Black Zetsu meant. Thinking of Kinshiki, Momoshiki, and Isshiki, Hoshiyomi sneered inwardly.
They had only been able to act so arrogantly because they encountered weakened versions of Naruto and Sasuke. According to Kimimaro from another world, their true strength was actually far inferior to that of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Hoshiyomi truly couldn't understand why Kaguya had feared them so much.
Confident that he could easily deal with those people after resolving Kaguya's matter, Hoshiyomi said disdainfully:
"Of course I'm not one of them. I'm letting Kaguya revive because I intend to solve the problem at its very root."
Black Zetsu understood what Hoshiyomi meant, but he didn't take it seriously at all. To him, those words were nothing more than fantasy.
Re-seal Mother, and then face those people alone? How could that possibly happen?
Black Zetsu had once thought he couldn't see through Hoshiyomi. Now, he felt he finally understood—Gekko Hoshiyomi was a madman. Such delusions could only exist because he didn't yet comprehend Mother's power, nor the terror of those people:
"You arrogant fool! You actually think you can oppose Mother with your own strength alone?"
Just as Black Zetsu spoke, two voices suddenly rang out from the distance:
"Who said he'd be alone?"
As the words fell, Naruto and Sasuke rushed over at high speed. It was obvious they had already met the Sage of Six Paths.
Naruto had entered Six Paths Mode, and Sasuke's right eye had transformed into a six-tomoe Rinnegan.
"And we're here too. Ōtsutsuki Kaguya will be sealed by our own hands."
Seeing Naruto and Sasuke in their current states, Black Zetsu immediately understood that the Sage of Six Paths must have secretly intervened. His expression darkened. He stopped paying attention to the two of them and instead accelerated Kaguya's resurrection.
With Black Zetsu's efforts, the massive black sphere gradually shrank, taking the shape of a woman. As the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan on her forehead opened once more, the black liquid covering her body rapidly receded, revealing Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's original appearance.
Kaguya opened a pair of pure, flawless Byakugan. There was a trace of confusion in her eyes, yet the sacred, goddess-like presence radiating from her spread without restraint.
Her delicate features carried no hint of aggression, but the overwhelming aura emanating from her made one tremble with fear at a single glance. If the Allied Shinobi Forces were still conscious, vast numbers of them would likely have fallen to their knees.
Unfortunately for her, the shinobi world now contained only three people—Naruto, Sasuke, and Hoshiyomi. No one remained who would be intimidated by Kaguya's presence.
Kaguya lowered her gaze to the last three humans in this world. When she looked at Sasuke and Naruto, an unmistakable look of reminiscence appeared in her eyes:
"You are Hagoromo's descendants."
As she spoke, Kaguya turned her head toward Hoshiyomi, clear confusion visible in her gaze:
"You are neither a descendant of Hagoromo nor of Hamura. Could it be that even pests in the garden can grow to such a level?"
Being called a pest by Kaguya, Hoshiyomi was naturally displeased. He looked at her and spoke directly:
"Watch your wording, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. To this shinobi world, you are the true pest."
Hearing Hoshiyomi's words, Kaguya frowned in displeasure. Never before had anyone dared to speak to her in such a tone. Sensing the chakra within Hoshiyomi, she snorted coldly:
"You dare talk back to me while using the chakra I created."
As she spoke, Kaguya's long hair behind her began to move without wind, whipping forward like venomous snakes, as though it intended to strangle Hoshiyomi on the spot.
Hoshiyomi drew Mikazuki Munechika and, with just a few swift slashes, easily severed Kaguya's onrushing hair. He then swung his blade backhandedly, sending a sword wave infused with senjutsu chakra toward her.
Kaguya's Byakugan sharpened. She could tell that the sword wave was not composed of ordinary chakra—what it contained in greater measure was natural energy.
At the thought of natural energy, she recalled Hagoromo and Hamura sealing her away using that very power, which further soured her mood.
Raising her hand, she unleashed Eighty Gods Vacuum Fist. The enormous phantom fists collided with Hoshiyomi's sword wave, barely managing to cancel it out.
Kaguya's full attention was now fixed on Hoshiyomi. She glared at him with barely concealed resentment:
"That detestable power again… You are not only a thief, but also a bandit who seeks to harm his master!"
Hoshiyomi, of course, felt nothing but disdain for Kaguya's logic. Having known the plot and personally mastered Natural Energy, he understood the truth perfectly.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was nothing more than an alien laborer sent from another world. The chakra born from the Divine Tree's fruit was the true foreign substance—natural energy was the most fundamental power of the shinobi world itself.
The Divine Tree, at its core, was merely a converter of natural energy. It endlessly absorbed the world's natural energy, refined it, and transformed it into chakra fruit.
Thus, Kaguya calling this chakra-dominated shinobi world her "back garden" while labeling Hoshiyomi—a user of natural energy—as a robber was nothing but blatant hypocrisy.