Madara stood proudly atop the ruins of the battlefield, his cold gaze sweeping over the powerful members of the Allied Forces who had lost their ability to fight.
Minato lay on the ground heavily injured, Ōnoki was at his last breath, and Hashirama was firmly restrained by pitch-black stakes.
Naruto had fallen into a deep coma due to the extraction of his Nine-Tails chakra; although his life was not in danger, it seemed he would not wake up anytime soon.
Furthermore, even if he did wake up, without the Nine-Tails, he wouldn't be able to cause much of a stir.
At this moment, there was no one left to block his path to ultimate power.
His gaze locked onto the Ten-Tails, which was as massive as a mountain range.
Having lost the control of Nagato or Obito, this violent ancestor of the Tailed Beasts appeared unusually quiet now, even carrying a hint of chaotic confusion, showing no intention to attack the approaching Madara.
This was exactly the perfect opportunity Madara had waited decades for.
Without the slightest hesitation, Madara's hands quickly formed that ancient and forbidden seal.
"Six Paths Ten-Tails Coffin Seal!"
In an instant, an irresistible suction force erupted from Madara's body.
The terrifying beast, hundreds of meters tall, seemed to melt under an invisible force; its massive body instantly lost its solid form and turned into a surging, turbulent torrent.
This torrent, accompanied by a deafening roar of energy, frantically surged into Madara's body, completely swallowing him.
"After all that back and forth, it still came to this step?" Takuno watched this scene without surprise.
He had already mastered the Eight Gates long ago, so he naturally knew how terrifying the power of this Taijutsu was when fully unleashed.
Moreover, this was the result of Might Guy's physical constitution not being up to standard; his body simply couldn't withstand the power of the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
No matter how strong Might Guy was, he was still just a normal human, and the human body has its limits.
It could be said that for Might Guy to train his Taijutsu to this level and maintain the Eight Inner Gates Formation for a period of time, his talent for Taijutsu was already exceptionally good.
In other words, what Might Guy lacked was likely the body of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
But then again, if one truly had an Ōtsutsuki constitution, would they even need to follow the path of Taijutsu?
On the other side, Black Zetsu also watched this scene with a hint of excitement in his eyes. He hadn't expected things to take such a turn; Madara had finally succeeded in becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
This undoubtedly returned everything to the optimal path. Black Zetsu cackled.
And perhaps Madara as the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki would be even stronger than Obito, but for him, Madara was undoubtedly easier to deal with.
After all, even now, Madara still believed that Zetsu was a part of himself.
In that case, no matter how strong Madara became, Zetsu would have the chance to get close and deliver a fatal blow!
However, before completing all that, he also needed a useful body.
Black Zetsu's gaze fell upon Obito on the ground in the distance. Although the latter had lost the power of the Ten-Tails, his body had at least undergone a transformation once, so he shouldn't die in the short term.
Furthermore, Madara's other Rinnegan was still on him. Now was the perfect time to retrieve it and give it to Madara to make his power complete.
On the other side.
The process of Madara becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki was breathtakingly fast.
When Nagato became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, the Ten-Tails had self-cannibalized to turn into a giant egg;
When Obito merged with the Ten-Tails, it also formed a Six Paths egg to gestate power.
But Madara was different!
His understanding of the Six Paths Power, his control over the Ten-Tails, and his own powerful foundation as the reincarnation of Indra allowed the fusion process to be compressed to the extreme.
There was no egg gestation period, no long energy conversion—only pure and efficient devouring and fusion!
Almost at the exact moment the Ten-Tails' energy torrent vanished, a strange phenomenon suddenly occurred in the sky!
A blinding white light suddenly flared up, and in the center of the light, a figure slowly emerged.
He wore pure white Sage of Six Paths Robes, which fluttered even without wind, making a snapping sound.
The Six Paths Crescent Staff gripped tightly in his hand radiated an ancient and majestic aura.
Nine pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orbs floated silently behind him like satellites, rotating slowly and emitting heart-palpitating waves of destruction.
His appearance was exactly the same as when he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki in the original story: pale skin and wild, unrestrained spiky long hair.
On his forehead was a crimson Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan that had not yet opened.
Six Paths Madara had descended!
He hovered high in the air, a pressure that transcended the mortal realm permeating around him.
The sheer magnitude of this power made the heavily injured Minato feel suffocated, drove the dying Ōnoki to complete despair, and caused the eyes of the pinned Hashirama to fill with unprecedented solemnity.
The air seemed to freeze, and even time appeared to come to a standstill.
"Heh..."
The corner of Madara's mouth curled into a cold arc as his Rinnegan swept across the messy battlefield below.
It finally settled on Obito in the distance, who was slumped on the ground after losing the Ten-Tails' power but had not yet died due to his physical transformation, and on the Rinnegan in Obito's eye socket that belonged to him.
His voice rang clearly in the depths of every survivor's soul:
"The struggles of ants end here. Feel true despair, and then... welcome the dawn of a new world."
At this time.
Black Zetsu, controlling Obito's broken body like a marionette, arrived at Six Paths Madara's side.
It carefully removed the Rinnegan shimmering with an eerie purple light from Obito and respectfully handed it to Madara.
"Lord Madara, your eye." Black Zetsu's voice carried uncontrollable excitement.
Six Paths Madara turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on the Rinnegan he had once bestowed upon Nagato and which had eventually been briefly held by Obito.
The corner of his mouth curled into an arc of total control as he raised his hand and took it quite naturally.
Without any hesitation, he precisely pressed the Rinnegan back into his left eye socket.
In an instant, an even deeper and more vast fluctuation of chakra exploded outward with Madara as the center!
With both Rinnegan in place, the nine Truth-Seeking Orbs hovering around Madara seemed to receive a summons; their rotation speed suddenly increased, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure.
Witnessing the birth of this complete form of power, Black Zetsu's voice became even more humble, yet it couldn't hide the fanaticism within.
"Lord Madara, congratulations on reclaiming your full power! Now, there is only one last step left."
Six Paths Madara naturally knew what Black Zetsu was referring to.
The smile of total control on his face widened. His gaze pierced through the despairing Allied Forces below, through the shattered earth, and cast directly toward the blood-colored moon hanging in the sky, which appeared massive under the reflection of the strange white light.
"Ah, the last step."
Madara's low voice carried an unquestionable decisiveness.
"Let this illusory struggle come to a halt, and bring true peace and order to this decadent world."
Before his voice had even faded, Six Paths Madara's figure had already turned into a streak of pure white light.
Without needing any leverage, defying the common laws of physics, he sped toward that giant blood moon high in the heavens—the symbol of the final plan—at a speed beyond perception!
Soon, Six Paths Madara arrived high in the sky, beneath the moon.
He pulled aside his forehead protector, revealing the slit of that closed Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan.
"According to what is recorded on that stone tablet, when one who possesses the power of the Rinnegan approaches the moon's surface..."
"To realize the infinite dream, the eye that reflects the moon shall open."
At this very moment, the slit on Six Paths Madara's forehead finally opened, revealing that blood-colored Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan.
The moment this eye appeared, a series of concentric circles seemed to also appear upon that red moon, and on these concentric circles, nine tomoe appeared.
Its appearance was so similar to the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan on Six Paths Madara's forehead at this time!
"Illuminate the world! Infinite Tsukuyomi!"
Six Paths Madara, now feeling his connection as the moon and realizing the records on the stone tablet were true, smiled even more broadly.
"Now, become one!"
Then, the blood-colored Rinnegan on Six Paths Madara's forehead opened even wider, as if it were about to burst forth...
Then, a blinding light erupted from this blood moon.
This light was not a warm and gentle sunlight, but a pale radiance that felt cold, as if it could pierce the soul.
It ignored distance and obstacles, pouring down instantly to cover the entire Shinobi World continent, and even every corner of the ocean.
Under the illumination of this ultimate Genjutsu light named 'Infinite Tsukuyomi', the world seemed to have its pause button pressed.
Whether it was in the desert battlefield filled with smoke and corpses, or in the quiet and peaceful villages far to the rear;
Whether it was civilians fleeing, or creatures hiding underground;
Whether it was the surviving Shinobi of the Allied Forces, or those infiltrators who had long since been replaced by White Zetsu...
Everyone's eyes, at the same time, turned into concentric circles identical to the pattern on the blood moon—the form of the Rinnegan.
However, in these 'Rinnegan', there was no spirit, only a hollow void of confusion.
Their consciousness seemed to be extracted instantly, their bodies stiffening in place like puppets controlled by invisible threads, their faces left with only dull and frozen expressions.
The entire world fell into an eerie, deathly silence, with only that blood moon radiating its strange light hanging high in the sky, becoming the only 'living' existence in this silent tableau.
In this battlefield completely ruled by light, there were only two types of exceptions.
Edo Tensei bodies like Hashirama and Tobirama.
Their bodies, composed of Edo Tensei paper and chakra, were not affected by this light that acted upon the spirits of the living.
They watched in shock as the living Allied Forces around them instantly fell into a stupor, and as the blood moon hung high, realizing that Madara's crazy plan had already succeeded.
The other was The Collector; he still sat on that throne at the edge of the battlefield, his posture composed.
The light that was enough to make the whole world sink, upon touching his surroundings, seemed to encounter an invisible barrier and quietly dissipated, failing to leave the slightest trace on him.
His deep Six-Tomoe Rinnegan calmly watched everything happening, like a transcendent observer recording this historic and disastrous moment.
Beside him was Might Guy, whom he had just pulled back from the brink of death with Yang Release Power; still in a coma, Guy also did not escape the path of being swallowed by the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
At this time, Takuno looked in one direction—the position where Minato was. The latter seemed to cast his gaze toward him just before his consciousness was completely submerged.
"Mm, rest easy. Just treat it as having a good sleep; when you wake up, everything will be over." After thinking for a moment, Takuno's voice also fell into Minato's ear.
However, Minato no longer had time to give any response; in the next moment, his consciousness was completely swallowed by the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
On the other side, Black Zetsu looked at The Collector over there with some shock.
"To think that even the Infinite Tsukuyomi has no effect on him? Just who is he?!"
Madara hovered beneath the blood moon, the crimson Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan on his forehead fully open, reflecting the blood moon in the sky.
He looked down at the world below, which had fallen into an eternal illusory dream, an almost frenzied smile of satisfaction appearing on his face.
Black Zetsu clung to his feet like a shadow, letting out a low and excited hiss.
The desert battlefield had now truly turned into a silent realm of nightmares.
"This light can even penetrate shadows; trying to hide is useless. Next..."
Six Paths Madara clapped his hands together.
"God: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
Countless gnarled roots of giant trees suddenly stabbed out from the cracked soil, tearing through the rock layers like awakening ancient beasts.
A towering divine tree with a diameter exceeding a mountain range rose from the ground, its main trunk piercing straight toward the blood moon, its canopy spreading across the sky like a cloud that blotted out the sun.
And an even more terrifying change followed closely: with the divine tree as the source, countless branch trunks spread like a plague to the end of the horizon—mountains, rivers, ruins, towns...
Every inch of the Shinobi World's land trembled as the same giant trees sprouted out.
In an instant, the entire world turned into a writhing wooden purgatory.
The new branches did not stop growing; they were like living tentacles, precisely coiling toward all living beings deprived of their consciousness by the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Slumped Shinobi, ordinary civilians, and even beasts in the forest.
The moment the branches wrapped around them, they secreted a thick, resin-like substance, wrapping the prey layer by layer.
The branches coiled rapidly, forming airtight pale cocoons that completely solidified the human silhouettes within, like hanging mummies.
The branches that completed the wrapping then contracted, pulling countless 'cocoons' high into the air, eventually hanging densely on the divine tree and all its branches.
Swaying slightly with the night wind, it looked like an eerie forest filled with fruits of death.
Watching all this, the smile on Six Paths Madara's face became increasingly rampant.
"Alright, the evil chakra has vanished, and the world of dreams has begun!"
Finally, the light of the Infinite Tsukuyomi faded, but on the earth, there were almost no moving creatures left; all that remained were those shells hanging high on the divine tree.
At this moment, Madara looked at Hashirama and said:
"Hashirama, I have just severed the cycle of causality in this world, completely stripping away sorrow, pain, and emptiness from people."
Hashirama looked at the desolate scene around him and roared:
"Madara, is this your plan? Is this what you consider a perfect world? It's simply... utter nonsense!"