At the edge of the deep pit, gravel tumbled down.
The smoke and dust had not yet dissipated, but at the bottom of the pit, Madara—who had once looked down upon the Shinobi World and just ascended to the Six Paths form—was now deeply embedded like a broken doll, his aura so weak it was almost imperceptible.
At the edge of this suffocating battlefield, a mass of viscous, pitch-black matter, Black Zetsu, was writhing violently.
The stormy waves within its heart almost broke through its non-human form.
Just moments ago, when Madara easily saw through its trick of controlling Konan and pointed out the flaw in its breakthrough of the Truth-Seeking Orb's defense, Black Zetsu felt an unprecedented despair.
A thousand years of planning seemed on the verge of total failure!
It knew well that in front of an Madara who possessed the complete Six Paths Power and maintained high vigilance against it, the "unsealing" ritual—which required it to personally plunge into the opponent's heart—was simply a fantasy.
Madara's wariness made it impossible for it to move an inch, and the hope of reviving its mother, Kaguya, seemed completely severed.
However, it never dreamed that the mysterious "The Collector," Takuno, would possess strength so terrifyingly inconceivable!
Ignoring the annihilation rules of the Truth-Seeking Orbs, creating Truth-Seeking Orbs out of thin air, and overwhelming Madara—who had fused with the God Tree and possessed an immortal body—to the point where he had no power to fight back, and was even unable to move due to excessive injuries...
All of this exceeded the limits of Black Zetsu's understanding of the Shinobi World's power system.
The power displayed by Takuno was simply like a natural disaster, a rule-defying existence it had never encountered in its thousand years of lurking.
But Black Zetsu had no time for astonishment now, because this was a godsend opportunity!
Takuno's violent attack, while shattering Madara's Six Paths form, had also unexpectedly created a unique opportunity for it!
An Madara, severely injured with blurred consciousness, whose defenses and vigilance had been completely scattered by Takuno's destructive power, was lying right there!
Was this not the most perfect vessel and timing it had waited a thousand years for?
"Heh... Hehehe..."
A low, twisted laugh emerged from Black Zetsu's viscous body, filled with the relief of surviving a disaster and the madness of a thousand-year wish about to be fulfilled.
"Madara... you've ended up like this after all! Your power, your body, your everything, will become the sacrifice for Mother's return!"
It hesitated no longer.
While Takuno's all-surpassing figure still lingered in the center of the battlefield, Black Zetsu silently flowed rapidly along the ground.
It skillfully avoided the rubble and debris on the battlefield, using the massive smoke and energy aftershocks caused by Takuno's attack as cover, targeting the dying Madara in the deep pit.
Black Zetsu's pitch-black form was like a venomous snake, sliding precisely toward the position of Madara's heart.
"Mother... the moment you've been waiting for... has finally arrived!"
With a thousand years of accumulated resentment and fanatical expectation, Black Zetsu's pitch-black liquid transformed into a cold hand, stabbing with absolute determination into Madara's defenseless chest!
Madara was deep in the bottom of the cold rubble pit, every inch of his bones seemingly shattered, every weak breath accompanied by a tearing pain.
Takuno's overwhelming and terrifying power had not only destroyed his body but also completely crushed everything he was proud of.
When that cold, viscous sensation penetrated his shattered chest without resistance and stabbed into the heart that once carried infinite ambitions, Madara felt it clearly.
It was Black Zetsu.
But at this moment, there wasn't a single thought of shock, anger, or resistance in his heart; not even a ripple was stirred.
The Collector... that being, used only a battle so brief it was humiliating.
To completely trample into the dust the Eye of the Moon Plan he had spent his life's blood meticulously planning for decades, along with Madara's pride, beliefs, and even the meaning of his existence.
What peak of the Shinobi World, what Six Paths Power, what eternal peace of the Infinite Tsukuyomi...
In the face of that absolute power that transcended the rules of the Shinobi World, it all seemed so laughable, so small, so...
Insignificant.
He was like a clown.
A clown who thought he controlled the entire situation and stood high above, only to have all disguises ruthlessly torn away in the face of true power, exposing all his fragility and stupidity.
He manipulated Nagato and Obito, fused with the Ten-Tails, ascended to the Six Paths, and even launched the Infinite Tsukuyomi...
All these grand "great undertakings" instantly turned into bubbles and laughingstocks under a few casual punches from Takuno.
Rather than continuing to stay in this world as a complete failure and clown.
It was better to just die like this.
The piercing pain in his heart now carried a strange sense of liberation.
Madara struggled to turn his eyes, focusing on the writhing pitch-black mass before him, his voice hoarse, carrying blood foam and a broken breath:
"I... though I don't know what your ultimate goal... is..."
Every word Madara spat out seemed to exhaust his strength.
"But... I think... you will fail... You cannot defeat The Collector."
Black Zetsu's movements paused imperceptibly.
Madara's words were like a cold thorn, stabbing into the fear it felt due to the terrifying power Takuno had displayed.
That "Collector"!
Even now, Black Zetsu could not understand how the other party had reached that level of power, completely exceeding the limits of its knowledge of the Shinobi World.
The Collector's existence itself was the greatest threat and unknown variable to its thousand-year plan.
However, a thousand years of obsession and the ecstasy of imminent success overwhelmed this trace of fear.
Black Zetsu's hand, formed from viscous liquid, suddenly tightened, stabbing deeper into Madara's heart while letting out a cold laugh:
"Heh heh heh... Fail? Madara, you underestimate me too much! And you underestimate the existence I am about to revive!
Don't worry, the one I'm reviving is the Ancestor of chakra, the strongest existence in this world!
Sage of Six Paths? He died long ago! No one, no one can defeat my mother, Kaguya!"
"Ancestor of chakra... Ōtsutsuki... Kaguya..." A flash of realization crossed Madara's eyes, as if a corner of the mist had been pulled away.
So that's it... Was this the ultimate goal Black Zetsu had been painstakingly pursuing while lurking by his side?
Using him, using Obito, using the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails, everything was ultimately for the revival of this legendary Ancestor of chakra.
Through the massive opening of the deep pit he had smashed, he looked out at the eerie and silent sky shrouded in the blood-colored moonlight of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
He did not refute Black Zetsu's arrogant declaration again, nor did he have the strength to say anything more.
But before his consciousness completely sank into darkness, a thought was etched into his fading mind:
'Ancestor of chakra... Kaguya... Perhaps...'
Madara's vision began to blur, and Takuno's all-surpassing figure flashed through his mind.
'...is also... no match for that Collector...'
This thought brought a strange sense of liberation, as well as the ultimate mockery of Black Zetsu's ambition.
Immediately after, Madara's gaze completely unfocused, and all his consciousness, pride, resentment, and schemes returned to eternal silence the moment Black Zetsu completely pierced his heart.
Just then, his body was controlled by an inexplicable force and floated toward the sky, quickly passing through the opening of the deep pit and arriving in mid-air.
Under the horrified gazes of Hashirama and Tobirama, and in the calm eyes of Takuno, who seemed to have anticipated everything.
Madara's body, suspended in mid-air, began a violent transformation.
As Black Zetsu had declared, once this process began, it was irreversible.
Countless visible torrents of extremely pure chakra, as if drawn by the most primitive attraction, were frantically extracted from the bodies of the countless Shinobi wrapped in white giant cocoons by the God Tree's roots in the ruins of the battlefield below.
This chakra, containing the vast life energy of all living beings in the Shinobi World, turned into ribbons of milky-white light, vying to pour into Madara's tattered shell.
Madara's body was like a skin bag forcibly filled with an excessive amount of gas, rapidly expanding, twisting, and deforming at a visible rate.
His sharp profile, which originally belonged to Madara, rapidly blurred and dissolved under the wash of this surging energy.
"Heh... Hehehe..."
Black Zetsu, attached to the surface of Madara's expanding body, let out a low, twisted laugh, filled with the madness and liberation of a thousand-year plan finally realized.
"It's done! It's finally done! Mother... welcome your return!
This ritual, which gathers all the chakra in the Shinobi World, this return guided by the bloodline of the Ancestor, is absolutely irreversible!
No one, no existence can stop it! Hahaha!"
Its laughter echoed across the deathly silent battlefield, carrying a bone-chilling certainty.
Madara's body had expanded into a massive, irregular ball of flesh, the forms of his features and limbs completely gone, leaving only a writhing aggregate of chakra emitting terrifying energy fluctuations.
All characteristics belonging to "Uchiha Madara," whether appearance, aura, or will, were completely erased and overwritten in this indescribable expansion process.
Hashirama clenched his fists, his face filled with unbelievable grief and anger.
Only Takuno remained suspended in the high sky not far away, his strange pupils calmly watching everything happening below.
There was no surprise or panic on his face, only a nearly indifferent posture of an observer.
As if this ultimate transformation, enough to subvert the entire Shinobi World, was merely a "recorded experimental phenomenon" in his long collecting career.
He tilted his head slightly, as if waiting for something, or perhaps just confirming that the ritual was proceeding as perfectly as he had expected.
"Finally, it's come to this step."
After confirming the completion, Takuno looked at the still-expanding ball of flesh with some emotion.
Upon hearing Takuno's sigh, Black Zetsu's laughter suddenly stopped, and it stared at Takuno with wide eyes.
"What do you mean, what exactly are you trying to do?!"
"Heh," Takuno let out a contemptuous sneer. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly penetrated the battlefield entangled by the God Tree's roots and the humming of surging energy.
"You don't really think I'm just a bystander without my own purpose, do you?"
These sudden words were like an ice pick stabbing into Black Zetsu's boiling ecstasy.
Black Zetsu's pitch-black body, composed of will, suddenly stiffened, and an extremely bad premonition instantly seized it.
It "looked" at Takuno in disbelief.
Takuno was suspended in mid-air, the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan in his left eye and the blue Tenseigan in his right eye flickering with deep and dangerous light.
He looked down at the mutating Madara and the suspicious Black Zetsu, speaking again in a flat tone but with the cruelty of controlling everything:
"Just as Obito manipulated Nagato, Madara manipulated Obito, and you manipulated Madara... and you," Takuno's gaze locked onto Black Zetsu, as if piercing through its thousand years of disguise.
"Are under my control. I have been waiting for this scene for a long time."
"Impossible!!!" Black Zetsu's will instantly verged on collapse, letting out a soul-piercing shriek and roar.
"You couldn't possibly know all this! My plan to revive Mother is flawless! You couldn't possibly have insight over a thousand years! And Mother is invincible! Even if your power is strange, you can never change this! Kaguya's descent is a predestined fate!"
Black Zetsu's roar was filled with desperate madness and unbelievable fear.
Takuno's words completely overturned its thousand-year understanding and layout, slamming it from the clouds of imminent success into the abyss.
If the other party also knew about its thousand-year layout, then who exactly was The Collector?
Even just thinking about it, Black Zetsu felt an inexplicable fear.
Takuno did not continue to pay attention to Black Zetsu's desperate murmurs and collapsing shrieks.
His gaze pierced through Madara's mutating body, as if staring at something deeper and more essential.
The source of chakra, the core of the God Tree, or the power of the fruit about to take shape.
He raised his hands and formed the first seal.
The moment the seal was formed, the terrifying pressure on him—enough to crush Madara and make the entire battlefield tremble—suddenly receded like a tide!
Unfortunately, there was no longer anyone of the same level on the battlefield who could keenly perceive such a change.
Although Hashirama and Tobirama were in reanimated bodies, their perception was like a firefly to the bright moon in front of Takuno; the levels were too far apart to even touch that instantly dropped power level.
If there were, they would be horrified to find that the chakra fluctuations leaked by Takuno in that instant had plummeted by at least two major realms, falling from the clouds overlooking all living beings into the mortal world.
However, this "weakness" lasted only for a moment.
Takuno did not pause at all and formed the second seal with his hands.
As the seal was completed, the light of the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan in his left eye and the dazzling blue Tenseigan in his right eye suddenly went out!
As if covered by an invisible curtain, those two ultimate ocular powers—symbols of the peak power of the Shinobi World capable of rewriting rules—disappeared without a trace in an instant!
At this moment, Takuno's eyes became like those of the most ordinary mortal, with no more divine light flowing within them.
Only that calm, water-like gaze still watched ahead.
Then, Takuno formed the third seal once more, which was also the final one.
"Reverse Chimera Technique!"