Chapter 230: Black Zetsu, Dead
Jigen leisurely watched Uchiha Madara's movements. Suddenly, his brows furrowed slightly, his gaze locking on the captured Black Zetsu clone.
From this pitch-black fellow, he could sense a faintly familiar aura.
However, he made no move and did not question it, simply standing quietly at the side, watching Madara.
After binding the Black Zetsu clone with Wood Release, Madara yanked him up and pulled him in front of him.
"You dare deceive me?"
He interrogated the clone.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Madara…"
The Black Zetsu clone cast a fearful glance at Jigen.
This man gave him a terrifying feeling, though he couldn't say exactly why.
Without another word, Madara once again used an interrogation technique to pry into the clone's thoughts and memories.
As expected, he found nothing.
"It seems I'll have to find your true body to uncover the truth."
Since there was no relevant information in the clone's head, the secret could only be hidden within the real Black Zetsu.
"The main body has already been sealed away in another space…" the clone reminded him.
"Who is he?"
Jigen finally spoke.
Madara glanced at him. "More importantly, how will you prove everything you've claimed?"
Their eyes met, and Jigen could tell Madara didn't trust him.
Still, he didn't explain further. Instead, he placed his hand on the Black Zetsu clone. "I can sense the aura of that woman, Kaguya, from you."
"So, you're one of the puppets she created using 'Kāma.'"
As he spoke, an overwhelming surge of chakra erupted.
Instantly, countless black, particle-like substances emerged from the clone's body.
These particles formed into a DNA double-helix structure, which Jigen steadily pulled out until they sketched an unusual image in midair.
In the image appeared a woman in a long white robe, with massive rabbit-like ears.
Not only did she have the Byakugan of the Hyūga clan, but her robes also bore strange tomoe patterns.
Madara immediately recognized them as the same tomoe design unique to the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. There was an inexplicable sense that this was somehow connected to the Uchiha as well.
He silently continued watching.
The image in Jigen's palm began to change.
The woman was locked in a fierce battle against two men.
The men's clothing was similar to hers, and they also bore tomoe patterns. To Madara's surprise, one of them had the Rinnegan—and on his forehead, a single, standalone eye shaped like a Sharingan.
The other man wielded the Byakugan.
The two looked strikingly alike, and Madara immediately thought of what he had learned before—Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and her two sons: the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, and his younger brother, Ōtsutsuki Hamura.
Madara's gaze darkened further.
He kept silent, continuing to watch.
The scene shifted again.
After an intense battle, the woman in the image was sealed away.
The technique looked very familiar to Madara—it was the Chibaku Tensei.
But it was far beyond the ordinary version.
The man suspected to be the Sage of Six Paths used it to seal the woman, and in doing so, created the massive moon.
Madara instinctively looked up at the sky.
Something else came to mind.
Back at the Uchiha clan's Naka Shrine, he had read the contents of the stone tablet.
The Infinite Tsukuyomi—cast with the Rinne Sharingan—required the moon's light to activate.
Now, in this vision, the moon contained the sealed Kaguya.
If these visions were real…
Wouldn't using the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the moon mean breaking her seal and reviving her?
Madara's intellect was razor-sharp.
In an instant, he pieced everything together.
Even so, without absolute confirmation, he held his tongue despite the growing fury in his heart.
He then saw the sealed Kaguya, in her final moments before complete imprisonment, quietly leave behind a pitch-black creature.
It slipped away into the ground like a slick eel while the two men were distracted, disappearing without a trace.
The vision ended there.
Jigen stared coldly at the clone. "So it's true—you are the spawn of that damned woman, Kaguya."
"Hmph… although Kaguya didn't fully imprint 'Kāma' on you, that was because she lacked the power at the time. The situation was urgent, and time was short."
"But that's also a good thing—at least she couldn't revive right then and there."
"No wonder I've searched for her for so many years without finding her. Turns out she was sealed away by her own two sons. Hmph, fitting retribution for her!"
"If you don't mind, I'm going to kill him."
Jigen looked to Madara as he spoke.
To him, the creation of his mortal enemy—whether clone or otherwise—had to die.
Madara, though still lacking the full truth, was no fool.
The evidence was too blatant to deny.
Realizing he had been deceived for so many years, manipulated by Black Zetsu, even believing him to be the manifestation of his own will—
Madara felt utterly humiliated.
Without a shred of pity or hesitation, he handed the clone over to Jigen.
And with one swift motion, Jigen obliterated the Black Zetsu clone completely.
The sight made Madara regard him with renewed wariness and respect.
The clone might not have been strong, but it was a product of Yin–Yang Release.
Such a strange, neither-living-nor-dead thing was notoriously hard to kill.
Yet with a single casual strike, Jigen reduced it to nothing, not even ashes.
If nothing else, this man's Yin–Yang Release was formidable.
"From today on, we're in a cooperative relationship—"
"Until the 'Kāma' in your body is fully thawed, hm…?"
Before Jigen could finish, he suddenly sensed something amiss, frowning as he looked at Madara's body.
"So you've finally noticed."
Madara muttered to himself.
"You… are not among the living?"
Only now did Jigen realize this, and his brows knit tightly.
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