At that moment, the masked man spoke.
"My name is Madara Uchiha."
"I have something to tell you."
"And once you understand, I have a question for you."
His tone was flat, observing the four Kage who remained on high alert.
"What do you have to say?!" The Fourth Raikage, though still undergoing treatment, stared grimly at Kanon and the masked man.
"My plan... the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Just as Darui suspected, the Hokage has fled!" The Raikage glanced toward Onoki.
"Yes, it was all Sasuke's fault," Onoki noted dryly.
In a sudden motion, the masked man used Kamui to absorb both Sasuke and Karin into his spatial dimension.
The Raikage pointed at the masked man and barked, "Whatever plans the Akatsuki has, they can't be anything good."
"I don't understand! Hand Sasuke over—"
Crunch.
"Aaaagh!" The Raikage let out a guttural scream as a Chidori Sharp Spear pierced clean through his abdomen. The speed was so immense that no one else had even reacted.
"Disrespectful fools only deserve to make noises like that," Kanon said, still perched on the table with her legs crossed.
The masked man nodded, looking at Kanon with a flicker of satisfaction behind his mask.
"Now, listen well to my explanation. I will decide my next move based on your response."
Onoki cautioned the Raikage, "Calm yourself, Raikage."
However, Kanon's gaze shifted to Kankurō, her expression simmering with fury.
"You bastard..."
Kankurō froze, confused as to why Kanon was glaring at him with such murderous intent.
She had seen it, Sasori's body had been turned into a puppet.
"To treat Sasori-nii like that... I'll kill you right now!" Kanon started to move, but the masked man moved to block her.
"There will be a chance for that later. Let the explanation proceed."
Kanon let out a cold snort and settled back. The masked man turned back to the crowd.
"Now, are you all finally willing to listen?"
After "Madara" finished explaining why he needed to tame Sasuke and the history of the Tailed Beasts, Mifune cut straight to the point: "What exactly is the Eye of the Moon Plan?!"
"I'd like to take my time explaining," the masked man said, moving to sit beside Kanon.
"What are you doing? Get away from me."
"It's just for a moment." Despite Kanon's clear look of disgust, he sat down right next to her.
"He's asking you a question!" Kankurō roared, incensed by the masked man's casual attitude.
Once seated, the masked man made a gesture, the three-tomoe Sharingan spinning in his eye.
"Everything shall become one with me."
"A complete form that unifies all existence."
The room fell into a shocked silence.
"What are you talking about?" Onoki asked, perplexed.
"The Uchiha possess a stone tablet passed down through generations. It still rests beneath Konoha. On it are secrets written by the Sage of the Six Paths. They cannot be deciphered without visual prowess."
"The Sharingan, the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the Rinnegan... the amount one can read increases with each."
"Your story is getting more and more outlandish," Onoki said, his eyes narrowing. "The Sage of the Six Paths?"
"It is a fact. He existed, and he left behind that tablet."
"You're drifting! What does your plan have to do with the Sage?!" the Raikage yelled.
"Do you know why he became a legend? Why he is worshipped as the God of Shinobi? That is where my goal and that man intersect."
Mei Terumī spoke up: "Madara Uchiha, you possess the Mangekyō Sharingan, and there is a Rinnegan within the Akatsuki. You must know everything by now."
"Tell us," Onoki said.
"What a bunch of impolite people," Kanon remarked, her lips curling into a slight smirk.
"Indeed," the masked man agreed. "But the Eye of the Moon Plan must proceed regardless, must it not? He once saved the world from a certain monster."
"A monster?" Gaara asked.
"Gaara, what was sealed inside you was merely a small fragment of that monster. It is the progenitor of all Tailed Beasts, the being with the ultimate chakra."
"The Ten-Tails!"
The Kage looked bewildered at the mention of the name.
"Aren't there only One through Nine Tails?" Temari asked, confused.
"As I said, it is the unification of all Tailed Beasts. Shukaku, the One-Tail of Kazekage Gaara. The flaming cat, Matatabi, the Two-Tails of Yugito Nii. Isobu, the Three-Tails of the former Mizukage, Yagura. Son Gokū, the Four-Tails of Rōshi. Kokuō, the Five-Tails of Han. Saiken, the Six-Tails of the rogue ninja Utakata. Chōmei, the Seven-Tails of Fū. Gyūki, the Eight-Tails of Killer Bee, the Raikage's brother. And the Demon Fox of Konoha, the Nine-Tails, Naruto Uzumaki."
"All the Tailed Beasts from One to Nine are merely fragments of the Ten-Tails' chakra. All were created by the hand of the Sage of the Six Paths."
Kankurō asked grimly, "This conversation is heading in a bad direction. Is that why the Akatsuki is collecting the Tailed Beasts?"
"The Sage of the Six Paths wanted to protect the world from the Ten-Tails. He developed a certain ninjutsu, which is still secretly passed down today: the Jinchūriki sealing system, the Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals."
"Yes, the Sage of the Six Paths was the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails. To suppress it, he sealed it within his own body."
The masked man proceeded to tell the story of how the Sage, on his deathbed, split the Ten-Tails' chakra into nine separate entities.
"You want to gather those nine scattered chakras, all the Tailed Beasts, to gain superhuman power. We know you want that power, but what do you intend to do with it?!" Mifune demanded.
"Revive the Ten-Tails."
"And then, I shall become its Jinchūriki. I will use that power to enhance my visual prowess and trigger a specific jutsu."
Onoki caught the implication. "A specific jutsu? What is it? What are you trying to do?!"
"A large-scale genjutsu projected from my eye onto the moon."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"I will cast a genjutsu over everyone on earth. I will control all people within that illusion. The world will become one, a world without conflict or barriers. Everything unified with me!"
"That is my Eye of the Moon Plan!" the masked man stated coldly.
"Don't give me that! I won't hand the world over to someone like you!" the Raikage roared.
"A hollow peace is nothing but a lie. Peace only has meaning if it is realized in the real world," Gaara rebuked.
"What is the point of living in a world like that? No dreams! Just running away!" Mei Terumī shouted, pointing at the masked man.
"Unifying the world... I believe Danzō said something similar. But yours isn't a unification; it's creating a world that belongs only to you," Onoki said.
"Hahahahaha!" Kanon's laughter rang through the hall.
At that moment, scenes from her past flashed before her eyes. Long ago, she had a dream. In that dream, there was Shisui, Izumi, her clansmen, her parents, and her brother. Even Naruto was there.
Tayuya's care for her was meticulous, and Nagato was the same. Even Jiraiya was in that dream. Team Hana was all alive, everyone gathered in a courtyard filled with flowers. Mikoto was carrying summer watermelon; Kanon and Izumi were sitting in the living room; Jiraiya was writing a book nearby; Fugaku and Shisui were discussing business, while Itachi taught Sasuke and Naruto how to train with shuriken.
Team Hana sat behind her: Jirobo was dozing off, Tayuya was helping Mikoto, while Sakon, Ukon, and Kidomaru were playing rock-paper-scissors.
Such a scene was like a fantasy, still flickering within Kanon's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. A single tear escaped her eye, shimmering with the bonds she had known since childhood and the despair of their destruction.
She stood up, looking at the Five Kage. Her eyes were filled with the longing to be immersed in such a beautiful dream; she, too, craved the Eye of the Moon Plan. No matter what, she wanted to see those people call her name and smile at her again.
In truth, Kanon didn't want to be the architect of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Rather than initiating it, she wished to be the one inside it, living that "heartbreakingly" beautiful dream. Instead of being the "protagonist" of this world, she wanted to be a background character cheering for the hero.
"A plan like that... what's so bad about it?"
"Perhaps only in a dream can those scenes be reclaimed."
"You Kage, who speak only of 'running away'... it is because of you that the world is in its current state. What exactly have you Kage contributed?"
Kanon looked coldly at the four Kage. Beside her, the masked man sneered.
"In truth, you should have realized long ago that there is no hope in this world. Hope is synonymous with giving up. Hope is just a hollow lie. Hand over the remaining Eight and Nine-Tails and cooperate with my plan. Otherwise... there is only war."
"War?" Gaara said grimly.
"Eight-Tails?" A was confused. "What's going on?! Bee was caught by you—" The Raikage's face suddenly went pale.
"The capture of the Eight-Tails failed. He escaped. He is a perfect shinobi as a Jinchūriki; a worthy brother for you," the masked man said.
"Wasn't it just because Sasuke Uchiha was too incompetent?" Kanon rolled her eyes at the masked man.
"True enough..." the masked man shook his head helplessly.
"Agh!" A looked dumbfounded. "That idiot! He used the opportunity to run off and play outside the village! Unforgivable! He'll receive the iron claw of judgment!"
"Naruto Uzumaki will not be handed over to you!" Gaara glared at Kanon and the masked man.
"Neither will I!" The other Kage voiced their agreement.
Kanon stood up, looking down at the four Kage and their guards.
"Then I suppose we have no choice but to go to war."
The masked man nodded. "Yes. Though I have no power, I possess the power of the Tailed Beasts I have collected so far. You have no chance of winning."
"We won't give up hope!" Gaara glared at them.
"Fine." Kanon nodded slightly, looking at everyone below her. She flashed a cold, desperate smile. "Then it's time to make you ants kneel. The Fourth Shinobi World War... I hereby declare it open!"
Kanon's voice was calm, but it held a terrifying killing intent.
"The Fourth Shinobi World War? Against a single Uchiha brat?!" Onoki mocked.
"Then wait and see, you 'strongest' who bear the title of Kage. The next time we meet will likely be on the battlefield. You'll understand then. Five Kage, I look forward to fighting you."
Kanon let out a cold laugh. A vortex of roses appeared before her, while a space-time vortex appeared before the masked man. The two vanished from the hall, leaving behind only the four Kage, their faces etched with grim resolve.
Onoki looked down at the others. "So... what do we do now?"