On the outside.
Kakashi and the others were sent flying backward. Beneath them, immense torrents of chakra surfaced, all of it being violently extracted by the God Tree.
Watching the massive convergence of energy, Black Zetsu let out a sinister, grating laugh.
But even more twisted than his laughter was Madara's state right beside Kanon. He was curled into a ball, screaming. This old man, whose dreams, convictions, and entire purpose had just been utterly pulverized, was unleashing a cry of absolute agony.
Madara clutched his head, slamming it repeatedly against the ground. The sheer psychological drop from believing he was the savior of the world to realizing he was nothing more than a disposable pawn made him wish for death.
"I failed... I failed... I failed... I failed..." After a piercing shriek, Madara's body trembled violently. His lips quivered as he muttered like a man possessed. "I failed... I failed... I failed completely!!!"
"I'm sorry... Kanon-chan... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Blood vessels snapped inside Madara's Rinnegan, causing trails of blood to stream down his face.
The overwhelming eruption of raw chakra blasted Sakura and the others away once more. The physical pressure of the chakra was so dense it had practically materialized, leaving Sakura and Kakashi utterly horrified.
"Where is this massive amount of chakra coming from?!"
Sasuke provided the grim answer: "It must be taken from the people caught inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi..."
"But why isn't Kanon affected?!" Naruto yelled.
"Because she isn't wrapped up by the God Tree!" Sasuke shouted back.
Watching the chakra continuously condense in the distance, Naruto bellowed, "If this keeps up, we're done for, Sasuke! This chakra is even more powerful than the Ten-Tails! If we're gonna beat this thing, we have to wake Kanon up!"
"We stop it before it can move!" Sasuke roared.
Channeling a Chidori Sharp Spear from his left hand, Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto. "Go, Naruto!"
"Right! We take it down while it's still expanding!" Naruto raised his Truth-Seeking Balls and charged straight toward Black Zetsu. With a flicker of Body Flicker Jutsu, Sasuke materialized right in front of him.
However, from within the collapsing, grotesque mass of flesh before Black Zetsu, two long strands of white hair whipped out, binding Naruto and Sasuke tightly.
"Two moths flying straight into the flame. I might as well drain your chakra while I'm at it," Black Zetsu stated impassively.
Sakura lunged forward, desperate to save them, but Kakashi firmly held her back. "Wait, Sakura!"
"But…!"
"Rushing in blindly will achieve nothing!" Kakashi barked.
On the other side, Naruto and Sasuke were already completely pinned by the white hair.
"Damn it... I can't move... Sasuke, if we don't defeat this thing and stop the extraction, everyone's chakra will be sucked dry! They're going to die!" Naruto yelled frantically.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, his expression contorted in pain.
Controlling Obito's body, Black Zetsu spoke with cold indifference. "Rest assured, they will not die. Kaguya once cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi on humanity long ago, keeping them alive and preserved."
"She did it to produce Kaguya's personal army."
"Produce? What do you mean?!" Sasuke demanded.
Black Zetsu's body began to liquefy into a dark sludge, melting downward, yet his voice echoed with vivid clarity.
"You seem to be far more dull-witted than Itachi and Kanon. Do you honestly think ordinary humans can be used for warfare?"
"They are being processed into White Zetsu. The ultimate fate of those trapped within the Infinite Tsukuyomi is to become White Zetsu themselves. Over a vast span of time, their bodies slowly mutate."
Hearing Black Zetsu's revelation, Naruto was utterly horrified. "You mean... everyone's gonna turn into those white monsters?!"
At those words, even Madara froze in place. "Black Zetsu... what are you talking about? The Infinite Tsukuyomi is an Uchiha jutsu meant to bring eternal peace to the shinobi world, is it not?! Why would..."
"And what is the basis for your claims?" Black Zetsu turned his gaze toward the distant Madara.
"The Sage of Six Paths recorded it on the stone monument! It was written right there—"
"Madara. I have lived for far, far longer than you. I had a wealth of time to locate the stone monument left behind by Hagoromo... and revise it."
"Revise it...?" The horrifying truth was beginning to dawn on Madara, filling his face with absolute terror.
"The Infinite Tsukuyomi was never a jutsu designed to grant humanity a peaceful dreamworld. It exists solely to pool every individual's chakra into one place, inflating it into something unimaginably massive..."
"Why... why would you do this?!"
"And you danced perfectly to my tune to make it happen. Driven entirely under my—no, under Kaguya's will."
Hearing this, Madara stumbled, collapsing entirely to the ground. "I... I actually brought about such a nightmare..."
"Just as you used Obito as your pawn, you yourself were nothing more than a piece on the board. Over tens of thousands of nights, the chakra that had scattered into ordinary humans has finally gathered back to me today under the guidance of the infinite moonlight, breaking a humiliating seal of many years to become whole once more."
"Awaken, Progenitor of Chakra, Almighty God! The tale of resurrection concludes here!"
The sky gradually began to shift back to its previous state. From within the collapsing mass of flesh, a woman of celestial beauty materialized.
Indeed, after a millennium of waiting, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had finally returned to the living world.
She possessed deathly pale skin and long, blue-white hair that trailed past her feet. Kaguya had no eyebrows, her features delicate and strikingly beautiful, with two horns protruding from her head and elongated fingernails. She wore a white robe adorned with black Rinnegan-like magatama patterns. Her eyes were the Byakugan, while a singular Rinne Sharingan gleamed upon her forehead.
In the records of the Sage of Six Paths, Kaguya, having consumed the Chakra Fruit, possessed a truly immortal body that could regenerate from any injury. She could absorb any and all ninjutsu. To defeat her, there was no other way but sealing.
Staring at the arrival of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Naruto was completely stunned. "This... this is what the First Hokage was talking about..."
"Kaguya Ōtsutsuki..."
Sasuke stared blankly at her. The worst-case scenario they had desperately wanted to avoid had ultimately come to pass.
Sensing the Yin and Yang powers residing within Sasuke and Naruto's hands, Kaguya effortlessly flung the two of them away with a single motion. Immediately following her strike, a barrage of her hair spiked out like needles, piercing toward them. Sasuke rapidly deflected the onslaught with his Chidori, igniting his blade as he engaged Kaguya in a high-stakes clash.
On the other side of the battlefield.
"Hashirama... Kanon... where exactly did I go wrong..." Madara knelt on the ground, questioning himself over and over.
His convictions had completely shattered the moment Black Zetsu finished speaking. His childhood dreams flashed before his eyes like a passing lantern, dissolving into nothingness. In an instant, he seemed to have aged decades. Kneeling on the dirt like a broken, defeated old man, his body shook violently.
It was at this exact moment that a slender, delicate hand gently caressed Madara's cheek.
Madara stiffened. He snapped his head up, his gaze locking directly with Kanon's Mangekyō Rinnegan. In that instant, it felt like the passing of the torch from the old era to the new.
Madara was spellbound. Kanon's hair drifted softly in the wind, shimmering with a starlight luster, while her crimson Uchiha trench coat beautifully accentuated her breathtaking, ethereal form. At this moment, Kanon exuded an otherworldly aura that did not seem to belong to the mortal realm, as if the wind catching her coat might carry her away to ascension.
Yet, she merely looked down at Madara with a gentle, tender gaze, using her slender fingers to wipe away the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes.
Kanon smiled, her voice soft and soothing. "Madara-jiichan, why are you crying so bitterly?"
Hearing her voice, Madara suddenly reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"I... I... I'm sorry... Kanon."
"I failed..."
"Our dream... is over... The final path we chose was wrong..."
Listening to his despair, Kanon rested her chin in her hands, watching him with an earnest, attentive expression. Seeing the legendary Madara stripped of his usual tyranny and pride, reduced to such a broken state, she could only shake her head with a helpless sigh.
She knelt down, pulling a handkerchief from her Flower Realm space, and gently dabbed away the remaining tears from his eyes.
"Madara-jiichan..." she murmured softly. "Are you saying that because the Infinite Tsukuyomi was a trap, we were both fooled by Black Zetsu?"
"Yes..." Madara lowered his head, utterly unable to look her in the eye.
As Kanon slowly rose to her feet, her gaze drifting toward the distant Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Madara felt a surge of confusion. Why was she so calm? If the Infinite Tsukuyomi was a lie, wasn't their dream dead? Why did it seem as though this didn't disrupt her true purpose at all?
As Madara reeled in confusion, Kanon finally spoke.
"Madara-jiichan, the Infinite Tsukuyomi was merely a stepping stone toward my true dream."
"And like I've said before..."
"A person's dream will never end!"
"Just like our dream, it is far from over!"
At those words, Madara's pupils dilated in sheer shock.
Kanon extended her hand to Madara, offering him a brilliantly sweet, radiant smile as she spoke softly: "Come, Madara-jiichan. For the sake of our dream, let us fight once more! For the peaceful future we both yearn for!"
Listening to her words, Madara's Rinnegan trembled violently. Two fresh lines of tears spilled down his face, but this time, a feral grin broke across his features.
"You're nothing but a fifteen-year-old brat from our Uchiha clan... Stop acting like you're the adult here!"
Madara placed his hand firmly into Kanon's grasp. Kanon pulled him back up to his feet. In this hour of absolute despair, the two remnants of the Uchiha clan reignited their unyielding conviction side by side.
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]