Hearing this, Madara wore a strange expression. He stared at Hashirama and said, "Hashirama, you're the one standing in the way of everyone's happiness!"
Hashirama was taken aback.
"Look!" Madara pointed at the cocoons atop the God Tree. "Now, Shinobi across the entire world have stopped fighting."
"I have turned hell into heaven!"
"Hashirama, you failed to bring change to the Shinobi World. You failed, but now, I have succeeded!"
"In the beginning, our goals were the same, and we took action together. Even wet-behind-the-ears children were forced onto the battlefield, so we decided to change this Shinobi World."
"So we established Shinobi villages, but that didn't bring true peace at all. People are still unable to face each other with sincerity and without reservation."
"Fear, suspicion, hatred—these things just keep repeating."
"My proposals were crushed, and the Shinobi World developed according to your ideals."
"But what was the result? The fighting between Shinobi still hasn't stopped. Not only has it not stopped, but because Shinobi villages were established, military power increased, and battles escalated into great wars. The scale continues to expand, and the number of casualties keeps rising!"
"The First Shinobi World War..."
"The Second Shinobi World War..."
"The Third Shinobi World War..."
"The fighting never ceased; this is the Shinobi World you created!"
Madara laughed loudly.
"Now, everyone is dreaming their own happy dreams within the God Tree. They are all in their own ideal worlds."
Tobirama said resentfully, "This is the ideal world you speak of? It's nothing more than making people have hallucinations!"
"Hahaha!" Madara replied with a laugh. "In the long history of Shinobi, I have removed conflict as a savior."
Madara spread his hands, looked at the scene before him, and said, "You should understand by now. It's all over!"
While he was saying all this, Black Zetsu, controlling Obito's body, slowly approached him and was already behind his back.
Just then, Obito, controlled by Black Zetsu, suddenly raised his hand and stabbed toward Madara's heart.
Both Hashirama and Tobirama noticed this scene and couldn't help but widen their eyes in surprise. What was happening now?
However, Obito's hand did not pierce Madara's heart as it had in the original story. Instead, his hand was caught by Madara and could not move forward an inch.
Six Paths Madara looked at Obito with interest, or more accurately, at Black Zetsu.
"Black Zetsu, you've... underestimated me a bit too much!"
Black Zetsu, his arm caught, was also shocked and shrieked, "You've been guarding against me this whole time?!"
Madara's deep Rinnegan looked down coldly at the black shadow struggling in his grip, his lips curling into a mocking arc.
"Guarding? No, I haven't 'always' been guarding against you. After all, you pretended to be a creation of my will, and you played that 'loyalty' quite well."
His voice was like ice. "But the flaw, or rather my suspicion, appeared when you controlled Konan."
Madara's Rinnegan narrowed slightly, his sharp gaze seemingly piercing through Black Zetsu's disguise.
"When Nagato used the Truth-Seeking Orbs to form an absolute defense, you were actually able to instantly break through that barrier—one that even I couldn't easily interfere with—and directly control her.
At that time, I felt something was off. Even as a bystander, I had no way to break the isolation and defensive nature of the Truth-Seeking Orbs, yet you did it!"
The strength in his arm suddenly increased, gripping Black Zetsu tighter as if he wanted to crush him.
"Now, I have completely become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and fully mastered the power and mysteries of the Truth-Seeking Orbs.
This realization makes me even more certain that the ability you displayed back then was definitely not something a 'clone of my will' could possess!
How could you, a mere 'subordinate consciousness,' ignore the rules of a barrier that even my main body was helpless against, entering as if it were unoccupied territory?"
Madara's voice suddenly rose, filled with the rage of being fooled:
"This ability that surpasses the main body is the biggest point of suspicion! It proves only one thing.
You, Black Zetsu, are not a part of me at all!
You are nothing but a despicable thief who has been parasitizing the shadows and wearing a disguise for a thousand years, just to steal my achievements at this moment!"
"And now," a terrifying killing intent and the characteristic purple glow of the Rinnegan erupted from Madara's eyes, locking onto the twisting and struggling Black Zetsu in his hand.
"This suspicion has undoubtedly become reality! Your purpose was to seize this power that belongs to me at the peak moment when I merged with the Ten-Tails and activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi! Speak! Who exactly are you?"
"Hehe, so that's how it is," Black Zetsu chuckled.
He had hesitated when he acted back then; as a clone of Madara's will, he absolutely shouldn't have done anything out of character.
But the situation was urgent at the time, as it concerned his mother, and he couldn't continue to watch coldly from the sidelines.
Thus, he revealed a fatal flaw.
At this moment, the Black Zetsu on Obito's body slowly turned into liquid and broke free from Six Paths Madara's restraint.
"Hmph!"
Six Paths Madara snorted coldly. Looking at Black Zetsu, who had turned into a puddle of liquid, even after becoming Six Paths, he still couldn't see clearly what the other party truly was.
Keeping him around might have some research value.
Now he still had one thing to do. Six Paths Madara's gaze turned toward Hashirama, then slowly moved to the figure he had been watching from the beginning until now.
The Collector, Takuno!
Takuno looked at the changes below, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes as well.
Clearly, this scene of Six Paths Madara turning the tables on Black Zetsu was also beyond his expectations; according to his thoughts...
At this point, Black Zetsu should have already pierced Six Paths Madara's heart, and then Kaguya should have entered the resurrection process.
At this moment, he felt Madara's gaze and was also stunned for a second, after which his lips curled up.
"As expected of Uchiha Madara. After becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and gaining control over all that power, do you want to start making a move against me?"
Six Paths Madara's Rinnegan were firmly locked onto Takuno.
Although the other party's aura was still shrouded in mist, making it difficult to fully gauge his depth, Madara no longer had any doubts in his heart.
He felt the vast power surging within him, enough to warp reality, with nine pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orbs floating slowly behind him like loyal guards.
Beneath his feet was an endless sea of cocoons surrendering to the God Tree, and above his head was the blood-colored moon reflecting the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"Collector..." Madara's low voice echoed across the silent battlefield, carrying a hint of scrutiny but filled even more with unquestionable, absolute confidence.
"Even now, you are still like an impenetrable mystery. This mysteriousness once made Nagato feel awe and once made me wary."
He slightly raised his hand, feeling the power to control everything flowing through his fingertips.
The branches of the God Tree writhed silently under the moonlight; the entire world seemed to have become an extension of his will.
Hashirama's roars and rebukes had been cast aside; they were nothing more than a loser's pointless argument over illusion and reality.
"However," Madara's lips curled into a cold arc, his Rinnegan flashing with a light that looked down upon all things.
"Now, I am already standing at the true pinnacle of this world.
Whether it's that Nagato who luckily stole the Ten-Tails' power, or the Six Paths Obito who had an 'unexpected surprise'...
...their possibilities have been terminated, and they have been trampled underfoot."
His gaze swept over Takuno's calm and unruffled Fox Mask; that otherworldly posture had once been unfathomable.
However, in Madara's current perception, this mystery had already lost its weight.
"If even the current me cannot truly perceive your limits, then that proves exactly one thing..."
Madara's voice suddenly rose, carrying a near-fanatical certainty.
"And that is that you are not to be feared at all! Or rather, your existence itself simply cannot shake the great work I have achieved at this moment!"
He slowly took a step forward, and an invisible pressure spread out like something physical, making the God Tree beneath his feet seem to tremble.
"My plan crossed the boundaries of life and death, utilized countless pawns, and endured a long wait..."
"All these arrangements, all these sacrifices, were for the sake of reaching this perfect state at this moment."
"To create that eternal 'dream country' without conflict."
Madara's Rinnegan erupted with soul-stirring light, piercing straight toward Takuno.
"If at this very moment, in this realm of 'godhood' created by my own hands, there still exists something that can threaten me or subvert my plan..."
"...then wouldn't all this painstaking effort be a complete joke?!"
"Collector, your existence itself is the greatest irony to the ultimate success of the 'Infinite Tsukuyomi'."
"So, no matter what you are hiding, no matter what you are... there is only one ending for you."
As his words fell, the nine Truth-Seeking Orbs behind Madara suddenly lit up, emitting devastating energy fluctuations, aimed directly at the final mysterious bystander.
Atop the God Tree, under the blood moon, Six Paths Madara finally issued an unquestionable declaration of war against this final puzzle.
"Has it finally come to this?" Takuno stood up from his throne for the first time in a long while, stretching as if no one else were there.
Just then, the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan in his left eye suddenly flashed, followed by an invisible repulsive force erupting from around him.
In the next moment, four sources of vibration appeared on the ground, accompanied by dull roars and rising dust, as if invisible giant hammers had slammed down hard.
Hashirama and Tobirama's pupils shrank; they could clearly feel the impact of that immense force.
Yet their vision couldn't catch any sign of a physical object falling, only the giant pits that appeared out of thin air.
"What is that?!"
Tobirama's brow furrowed, his senses fully open yet still finding everything a blur.
Hashirama's expression was grave. "Such strange power... invisible and intangible?"
Floating in mid-air, Madara's brow was tightly knit.
This was precisely the secret technique unique to his Rinnegan, Limbo: Border Jail!
Now that he finally had his own complete eyes, he could use four invisible shadow clones.
They were launching a probing attack with speed and power beyond perception.
He hadn't expected their first use to end up like this.
At this moment, Takuno, floating in mid-air, let out a clear sneer:
"Heh."
This light laugh was exceptionally jarring in the silent ruins of the battlefield.
Takuno slightly turned his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the void, accurately "looking" toward the direction of the four sources of vibration, before finally landing back on Madara with undisguised mockery:
"Uchiha Madara, you don't actually think..."
He paused, the light of his Six-Tomoe Rinnegan seeming to grow a bit stronger.
"...that this Rinnegan Dōjutsu trick of yours could truly hide from everyone's eyes and everyone's perception, do you?"
His gaze pointedly focused on the pair of Rinnegan that Madara had just reclaimed, which originally belonged to Nagato.
At this moment, his own eyes were also exposed for the first time without any cover to everyone's gaze.
Six Paths Madara, as well as the unable-to-move Hashirama and Tobirama, all saw Takuno's eyes!
The left eye: a Six-Tomoe Rinnegan!
The right eye: an eye emitting a blue glow like the ocean. Even if they didn't recognize it, they could feel that it was absolutely an eye no less powerful than the Rinnegan!
Six Paths Madara floated beneath the blood moon, emitting a pressure that reigned supreme over the world.
However, the world-defying confidence on his face froze the moment Takuno revealed his dual pupils, turning into unbelievable shock.
Those eyes!
That Rinnegan, which he thought belonged only to himself as a symbol of supreme power, actually appeared on someone else!
What made his soul tremble even more was that the Rinnegan in Takuno's left eye was completely different from his own.
On those purple concentric circles, six pitch-black tomoe rotated slowly like living things, emitting a profound and ancient aura.
This was definitely not the form of the Rinnegan he knew!
Six tomoe? What did this represent? Was it a more ancient bloodline? Or some unknown, even more terrifying Dōjutsu variant?
And that right eye... that ice-blue pupil, like a frozen abyss, yet also seeming to contain endless stars—its form was something Madara had never even heard of!
No such Dōjutsu had ever been recorded in the history of the Shinobi World!
What abilities did it have? Insight? Foresight? Or some terrifying power capable of subverting the rules of reality?
"Impossible..."
Waves of unprecedented shock surged within Madara's heart. He had just merged with the Ten-Tails, awakened the Rinnegan, and activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, believing he already stood at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World as an undisputed "god."
Yet the "Collector" before him was like a towering iceberg that had suddenly risen from the ground, obscuring all of his glory.
He had already been wary because Takuno could easily resurrect Hatake Sakumo, and now that wariness instantly swelled into a massive sense of crisis.
Furthermore, Limbo: Border Jail had actually been instantly countered by the opponent!
One must know that those four shadow clones, which possessed most of his main body's power, were one of his most powerful invisible killing moves at this moment.
They were enough to instantly suppress or even kill any known opponent.
But just now, they hadn't even managed to touch the corner of Takuno's clothes before being instantly struck down and dispersed by an invisible repulsive force!
In an instant!
Just a single instant! Takuno might not have even used his full strength!