The just-emerged Madara heard those words and felt a surge of anger.
He had gritted his teeth through intense pain to come up with this sneak-attack method—so how had someone seen through it so easily?
This was the benefit of having the Allied Shinobi Forces present: pooling their wisdom, overlapping fields of vision so there were no blind spots anywhere, patching up any loopholes before they could be exploited.
Sure enough, Shigeo just turned his head, stretched out a finger, and casually pinched apart the wooden clamp that had emerged on Madara's forehead!
The two of them clashed once again; heaven and earth changed color, the world itself seemed to tremble!
This side of the battlefield was a duel between true top-tier experts, but it was obvious that after dozens of exchanges, Madara was completely outclassed. He simply was not Shigeo's opponent.
The holes all over Madara's body were like fountains of blood, spurting out in thin columns.
Shigeo's otherworldly space transfer, combined with the floating black rods and the morphing black Truth-Seeking Orbs, made him horribly difficult to deal with. There was simply no way to guard against everything.
Hidden under Madara's clothes, Black Zetsu knew that White Zetsu was already dead. At this very moment, seeing his plan on the verge of collapse, he grew anxious. His gaze flicked to the Divine Tree that had yet to fully mature, then back to Shigeo, and he spoke urgently:
"Absorb the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree's power will let you win!"
Madara looked shocked when he heard that.
"Why? Weren't we going to activate Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Tsukuyomi)? If I absorb the Divine Tree, how is it supposed to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
Up in the sky, a full moon had already risen, illuminating the land below.
If not for Shigeo, their plan would have succeeded by now.
Only by absorbing the chakra of the world's shinobi could the Divine Tree grow rapidly; but right now, the roots of the Divine Tree had been destroyed. Its growth had stalled, and on top of that, it had become incredibly hard to grab those shinobi who had received Shigeo's Bunshō Ishiki Kagami (Sentence Awareness Mirrors).
From that perspective, the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan was already a failure.
But a failure was just a failure—Black Zetsu's true goal had always been reviving Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and Infinite Tsukuyomi was nothing more than a way to fatten his "mother" with more nourishment.
Since Infinite Tsukuyomi had failed, he could only take a desperate gamble.
After all, this was his only chance; he had no intention of waiting another thousand or ten thousand years.
"Absorb the Divine Tree. As long as you defeat Shigeo, you can create another Divine Tree seed afterward. Our plan can still be realized. This world can still become exactly the world you imagined!"
Black Zetsu continued to brainwash Madara.
Madara's face was full of doubt as he lifted his head to look at Shigeo.
Yes—right now, his greatest obstacle was indeed that man. Since the moment they started fighting, Shigeo had been beating him back again and again without even using his full strength.
So, if he wanted to realize his dream, he had no choice but to push his chakra to another level and see what happened.
With that thought, the blood-riddled Madara stopped hesitating.
He spun around, charged forward, and arrived beside the Divine Tree that had only grown halfway to its full height. He threw his arms around the trunk and began to absorb it.
"What the hell, what's going on?" Jiraiya yelled again in shock.
Shigeo frowned and shouted loudly,
"Madara, you're the dumbest, most foolish guy in this world. You've been tricked by Black Zetsu!"
Madara turned back in surprise, memories rolling and tumbling through his mind.
While continuing to absorb the Divine Tree, he stared at Shigeo.
The guy actually wasn't rushing over to stop him—what was going on?
"Don't listen to him, he's just afraid of your power rising even further. Keep going, keep going!"
Black Zetsu's face was full of excitement.
Shigeo went on,
"Do you really think the contents of that stone tablet in the Uchiha sacred grounds are all true? In reality, Black Zetsu tampered with all of it. From beginning to end, you've been deceived."
"Nonsense! With how smart he is, how could I possibly fool him? Besides, I'm completely loyal to Madara-sama. Everything he's done has been for peace in the ninja world.
You hypocrites, with your proper faces and fine words—everything you do is really for your own interests and power, using others as tools.
Madara is working toward a great undertaking. He planned all of this so he could create a harmonious and beautiful world.
We won't fail, because we represent the true justice of heaven and earth!"
As he shouted at the top of his lungs, Black Zetsu kept piling flattery onto Madara.
Madara felt a surge of inspiration at those words.
Yes, everything he'd done was for peace in the ninja world. This world needed Infinite Tsukuyomi; only Infinite Tsukuyomi could save humanity.
Thinking that, he threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"Whoever stands in my way will die. Shigeo, for the sake of world peace, I will kill you!"
Shigeo could only feel helpless.
"How did it end up like this…?"
"You really won't give up until you're staring at the Yellow River…" he muttered.
The next second, Madara hugged the Divine Tree even tighter and started gnawing at it again.
The Divine Tree had originally wanted to merge into the Gedō Mazō (Outer Path Demonic Statue) anyway—now that its jinchūriki was being so cooperative, why would it resist?
With a sudden surge, the branches and tendrils of the Divine Tree turned into streams of chakra and rushed into Madara's body.
Inside Shigeo's body, the little Ten-Tails was stunned.
It had been raised by Shigeo after being formed from the fused Kyūbi (Nine-Tails), and even it hadn't known that a Divine Tree of the same "species" had this kind of function.
One branch after another bored into Madara's body.
He felt his entire being swelling to the point of bursting and screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing across the battlefield:
"I am the righteous savior!"
"Pff!"
Right at that moment, Black Zetsu made his move from behind Madara.
He thrust one hand straight into Madara's heart and said,
"You're wrong, Madara. You're not the savior…"
"What are you doing? You're my will—how can you strike from behind?!"
Madara asked in disbelief, his mind full of question marks.
Shigeo shook his head slightly.
"What did I say? You got scammed."
Black Zetsu spoke calmly,
"Heh, I was never your will. I'm Kaguya's will. Everything I've done has been for Kaguya's revival.
Saving the world? Peace? The future? All of that is nonsense.
All I want is for my mother to be resurrected…"
Hearing all of this, Madara's eyes went wide. No matter what, he couldn't accept that he had been used by something like this.
His gaze shifted, turning toward Shigeo floating in midair.
That man had known everything; he had even warned him. But he hadn't believed it—
And now he was finished.
Sure enough, tremendous chakra was flooding into his body from all directions.
It was the chakra of the Divine Tree itself. The relentless influx of chakra made his whole body feel unbearable, and with the wound in his heart and Black Zetsu taking control, he had no way to escape.
The immense chakra quickly burned through Madara's body, and he howled in agony.
On Shigeo's side, Jiraiya exclaimed in awe,
"That chakra quantity is insane—seems even greater than the Jūbi (Ten-Tails)! If this keeps up, we're in trouble!"
As he spoke, Madara's entire body swelled.
A white substance surged over him and swallowed him up. His eyes were wide, staring in disbelief at everything that was happening. There was only one thought left in his mind:
He really had been tricked.
And he'd been tricked miserably.
He had become the laughingstock of the ninja world.
This pathetic, miserable state of his was being seen by everyone.
He was no longer the high-and-mighty "Madara-sama."
He was nothing but a fool with abysmal judgment.
(End of Chapter)
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