"Hahaha, what a thrill!"
Madara and Nagato had exchanged hundreds more blows, each one ending in a draw.
Madara possessed many Six Paths-level secret techniques and an endless array of methods, but no matter how powerful the technique, Nagato simply countered with a single Almighty Push.
No matter your countless tricks, He stood unmoved, breaking them all with a single move.
"Nagato, your strength is something I have never seen in my life. Even Hashirama and I, in our prime, were no match for you," Madara offered a rare compliment. Where he had once regarded Nagato as nothing more than a puppet, he now acknowledged his power.
"I, Madara Uchiha, acknowledge you as the strongest."
"The strongest?" Nagato shook his head. "No, I am not worthy."
"Having never witnessed the Grandpa's power, you have no idea what true, ultimate strength is."
A rare look of shame crossed Nagato's face. He recalled the power the Uzumaki Clan Elder had finally displayed after the battle with Isshiki.
"Perhaps my talent is too dull. That strongest Taijutsu Ultimate Technique of the Uzumaki Clan, which the Grandpa showed then, I still haven't learnt it. I don't even have a clue."
"That is the truly strongest power!"
'The strongest ultimate technique of the Uzumaki clan? Isn't that just the Reaper Death Seal?'
Hearing this, Madara searched his memories for information on the Uzumaki clan. 'The Reaper Death Seal is a bit troublesome, but it's not something to be praised so highly, right?'
'Was Uzumaki Clan hiding it's strongest techniques, if yes then why didn't they use it during their annihilation?'
'Taijutsu? Ultimate Technique?'
'Does the Uzumaki clan even have something like that?' Madara felt confused, completely unaware of who Nagato was talking about.
"Forget it. Whatever it is doesn't matter anyway. They're dead." Madara shook his head, dismissing the strange thoughts that had surfaced.
"Nagato, let's continue fighting. This time, I will- urgh!"
Madara suddenly froze, violently spitting out a mouthful of blood. He stared in disbelief at his own chest. Where his heart should have been, there was now a large hole, with a pitch-black hand thrust into it.
Someone had snuck up beside him and pierced his heart without him noticing. And this person was his most trusted Incarnation of Will.
"Black Zetsu?!"
A certain dark figure wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. A very deep heart-to-heart.
"Sorry about this, Madara."
"As the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, you could defeat Nagato. There's a high probability you'd win if you kept fighting, but I don't want to wait any longer."
Black Zetsu's face split into a conspicuous grin, revealing a row of white teeth that were good enough to make him brand ambassador of toothpaste company. "I finally found my opportunity. It wasn't easy getting you to let your guard down."
"Black Zetsu? Why?" Madara (Six Paths) widened his eyes in shock. He couldn't tell what technique Black Zetsu had used, but he found himself unable to control his own body.
Otherwise, given Madara's ability to recover even after half his body was blown away, a mere heart-piercing wound would have healed in an instant.
"My own will has betrayed me?" Madara couldn't understand Black Zetsu's true purpose.
"Sorry, Madara. I'm not the embodiment of your will. That's just what you believed, or rather, what I made you believe." Black Zetsu finally revealed the secret he'd buried in his heart with giddiness.
"Madara, you've been deceived," Naruto spoke up. "This punk isn't the embodiment of your will. He's the son of the Sage of Six Paths, the embodiment of Indra's will."
"No, I'm not the embodiment of Indra's will either. I've deceived you too, Naruto." Black Zetsu's face twisted into a smug grin. "I am Black Zetsu, the third son of Kaguya, the Progenitor of Chakra."
"In other words, the Sage of Six Paths is my brother."
"W-what? How is that possible?!" Naruto feigned shock.
"We were so close to achieving permanent peace, so close to realizing it. My Eye of the Moon Plan!" Madara screamed in defiance.
The Eye of the Moon Plan had been stopped before it could even begin.
"Sorry, Madara. I deceived you on that too. There never was an Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Just as Naruto said, the Eye of the Moon Plan would only lead to humanity's extinction."
"I fabricated all of it for Mother. What you saw weren't notes left behind by the Sage of Six Paths, they were tampered with."
"So I have been led around by the nose by something like you this whole time?" Madara (Six Paths) finally understood. He thought he controlled the game, the master player. In reality, he was just a piece in someone else's hand. He was the one deceived most brutally of all.
"Damn it, I won't accept this! I absolutely refuse!" As Madara screamed, his body swelled rapidly like a balloon, then broke apart and reformed, reshaping itself into a colossal woman.
That was the Progenitor of Chakra, Kaguya.
"Such a massive chakra shift." Nagato stared at the opponent with a grave expression. "Even stronger than Madara (Six Paths)."
In fact, she was more powerful than Isshiki.
According to the lore, Isshiki Otsutsuki's rank was higher than Kaguya's, and his power was greater. However, after Kaguya ambushed him and offered him to the Ten-Tails, he was eaten, losing more than half his body. He narrowly survived only by shrinking and parasitizing.
Although he clung to existence for a thousand years, his power weakened considerably.
Kaguya was different. Although she had also been sealed for a thousand years, she already possessed power nearly equal to Isshiki at his peak.
Thus, Kaguya, who first arrived in the Shinobi World a thousand years ago, was stronger than the surviving Isshiki.
More importantly, after offering part of Isshiki to the Ten-Tails, the beast absorbed the power of the Shinobi World and condensed it into the Chakra Fruit, which Kaguya ate.
After consuming the fruit, Kaguya's strength increased greatly. In every aspect, she far surpassed Isshiki when he first arrived on Earth, and she was overwhelmingly more powerful than the Isshiki who had survived for a thousand years.
Even after giving birth to the two brothers, Hamura and Hagoromo, and her power weakening, she was still not comparable to an ordinary Otsutsuki.
With her abilities, she might not be able to sweep through all Otsutsuki's, but dealing with the pursuers dispatched was well within her capability.
However, she herself was not aware of it.
Of course, all of this was based on theory of Naruto's understanding of her power scaling.
Unlike Nagato, Naruto felt relieved upon seeing Kaguya. Although Kaguya possessed the highest chakra level of anyone present, she had a fatal weakness.
Naruto clapped his hands together forcefully. "Summoning Technique!"
Sasuke appeared, looking completely bewildered.
Naruto patted Sasuke and pointed at Kaguya in the sky. "Sasuke, come look at our grandma."
Sasuke stared in utter confusion.
"Mother, I've missed you so much." As Kaguya manifested, Black Zetsu transformed into a shadow and slipped into her sleeve.
"I've waited a thousand years for this moment."
"Mother, I met those people not long ago."
"First this happened... then this.... and finally that...."
The moment he saw Kaguya, Black Zetsu chattered away from inside her sleeve, like a baby cuddling in its mother's arms.
Setting aside personal perspectives, Black Zetsu was undoubtedly the most devoted son in the Shinobi World, far better than the likes of Itachi or Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
"So... Naruto, this woman is our grandmother?" Sasuke eyed Kaguya suspiciously. She floated in the sky, her body radiating overwhelming chakra.
"That's right. She's the Sage of Six Paths' mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, and the source of everything."
"Then is she our final enemy?" Sasuke asked, anticipating Naruto's thoughts.
"That's right."
"She's our final opponent."
"Understood." Sasuke nodded. He quietly swapped his tachi for a spiked club and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
This Mangekyo was no longer ordinary, a faint purple glow surrounded the pupils, signaling it was on the verge of evolving into the Rinnegan.
As Kaguya listened to Black Zetsu, her gaze swept over Nagato. She jolted, sensing a trace of Isshiki's aura on him. Then, her eyes fell on Naruto and Sasuke.
The moment she saw them, her composure broke.
"Hamura, Hagoromo, my children, I've finally found you again." Kaguya instantly appeared before Naruto and Sasuke. Her speed startled even Nagato.
Kaguya wrapped one arm around Sasuke and the other around Naruto, tears streaming down her face. Her expression stood in stark contrast to the calm demeanor she had shown Black Zetsu.
Who knew what went through Black Zetsu's heart at that moment.
Perhaps he was still immersed in reuniting with his mother.
How pitiful, such a loyal son.
"Grandma, you've mistaken us." Compared to Sasuke's vigilance, Naruto was relaxed. He spoke openly. "We're the children of Hagoromo. I'm Ashura, and he's Indra."
Truth be told, even with the Byakugan, Kaguya's eyesight was poor. In both chakra and appearance, Sasuke and Naruto differed vastly from Hamura and Hagoromo.
"Wait, how do you know about this?" Black Zetsu interrupted.
Hearing this, Naruto turned and gave him a mischievous grin, mouthing a few words. "I lied to you," Naruto said.
He then turned back to Kaguya. "We've been waiting for you."
Black Zetsu froze in speechless outrage.
'I'm the one who came first.'
"Waiting for me? What do you want?"
"We have something we'd like to discuss with you."
"What is it, my children?" Kaguya gazed gently at Sasuke and Naruto, her voice soft.
It was unclear whether she truly believed Naruto's words and saw them as her grandsons, or if she still viewed them as Hamura and Hagoromo.
Either way, one could only wonder about the psychological damage this was causing Black Zetsu.
"Please stop using the Infinite Tsukuyomi and stop turning humans into White Zetsu. Can you do that?" If possible, Naruto wanted to resolve this peacefully.
Kaguya turned humans into White Zetsu to create weapons against the Otsutsuki.
But could beings of White Zetsu's caliber, even if produced by the thousands, truly pose a threat to the Otsutsuki clan?
Except for rare mutants like Tobi, ordinary White Zetsu were only Chunin-level. A shinobi of Madara's caliber, or even a Kage from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, could eliminate a horde of them with a single move.
Were the Otsutsuki too powerful or too weak in Kaguya's mind?
If they were strong, she believed a massive army of White Zetsu could handle them. If they were weak, she feared their arrival immensely.
Naruto couldn't follow her logic.
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