Chapter 323 — Summon Kaguya. Fulfill Your Destiny.
Uchiha Madara's expression had grown increasingly grim.
He had imagined that once he became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and obtained the Sage of Six Paths' power, he would naturally reach Ōtsutsuki-level combat strength.
And in theory… he had.
At least, he felt transformed—
reborn in both power and form.
But the reality?
He had been disarmed—literally—by a single strike.
A severed arm wasn't a problem at this level; it regrew within moments.
But the sheer difference between them… he felt it in his bones.
A terrifying realization crawled into his mind:
"…Is this what they call the 'Path to Godhood' difference?"
His left arm fully regenerated, Madara glared at the still-serene Gen (Genshiki).
He refused to accept it.
He couldn't accept it.
"—Haaah!"
With a furious roar, Madara charged again.
The Truth-Seeking Orbs behind him shifted, one reshaping into a black staff.
Madara swung it downward with murderous force.
"Oh?"
Gen looked mildly surprised—
amused, even.
"You actually still have the guts to fight back?"
"Die!"
Madara attacked like a raging storm.
But before the blow even fully descended—
CLANG!
Gen raised his blade, and the golden edge flashed.
Madara watched, stunned, as his Truth-Seeking Staff shattered in an instant.
"This—?!"
"You really don't understand the gap between us," Gen said calmly, as if explaining a lesson.
"You only reached this point by borrowing the Ten-Tails.
The Ten-Tails is strong, sure…
but did you know?"
Gen's smile sharpened.
"The Ten-Tails is nothing more than an Ōtsutsuki's pet—
a creature we cultivate into a God Tree."
"God Tree…"
Madara had indeed learned about it the moment he fused with the Ten-Tails.
But in his mind, the God Tree was merely the source of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Cultivated?
What did that even mean?
He had no time to ponder—
"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
The golden blade dimmed.
A violent chakra vortex spiraled into existence in Gen's hand—
dense, compressed, lethal.
"Tch—!"
Madara retreated, summoning Truth-Seeking Orbs for defense.
But he wasn't fast enough.
BOOOOM!!
The compressed hurricane detonated, swallowing everything in its path.
Madara was hurled like a ragdoll across the battlefield, his body plowing a deep trench into the earth.
By the time he stopped, his flesh was torn open everywhere—
shredded by microscopic chakra blades.
If not for the Ten-Tails' regeneration, he'd have been reduced to a corpse long ago.
"Hah… hah…"
Madara staggered back to his feet, wiping blood from his chin.
"This… this isn't my limit.
Not even close!"
He thrust his hand forward—
nature energy and Ten-Tails chakra fused, roaring like thunder.
"Sage Art—Yin Release: Lightning Judgment!"
A sea of black lightning engulfed Gen.
But Gen simply walked through it, hair fluttering in the storm.
He smiled.
"I told that 'Ōtsutsuki Nagato' once:
Your determination truly is admirable.
No matter the enemy, you humans always muster
a courage that defies reason.
Especially when protecting something precious."
He paused.
Then—
SHNK.
A Truth-Seeking Orb behind Gen shot forward, transforming mid-flight—
into a black rod.
It stabbed into the ground beside Madara,
followed by another—
and another—
until six of them surrounded him.
Madara froze.
Even Limbo had failed to intervene.
"You—!"
Gen's voice hardened.
"Don't insult me with such pathetic tricks."
---
Gen remained as calm as drifting clouds, tilting his head toward the distant horizon.
The Sage of Six Paths seemed to be dealing with… complications.
What amused Gen, however, was that the Sage appeared to have completely forgotten about him—and Uchiha Madara, for that matter.
He hadn't even acknowledged Gen's God Tree clone.
As though it wasn't even worth entering the discussion.
"But it doesn't matter," Gen murmured softly.
"My clone will finish its battle soon. Naruto's side too.
Time for me to wrap things up."
His eyes slowly returned to Madara.
"Tell me, Madara—aren't you curious?
Your current form is identical to ours.
And do you even know who the so-called Sage of Six Paths truly is?"
"My… current form?
The Six Paths Sage?"
Madara frowned. He didn't understand.
But he never once considered surrender. He was still desperately looking for a path to win.
"The man you call the Sage of Six Paths," Gen said with a faint smile,
"is also an Ōtsutsuki."
Madara froze.
For a moment, his mind blanked—
as if someone had struck him directly in the soul.
His body trembled.
"You… you're talking nonsense!"
But Gen didn't bother to respond.
Instead, his eyes drifted to another point on the battlefield.
"Kaguya's chakra.
Are you done hiding?"
A colossal suction force erupted.
From deep beneath the earth, Black Zetsu was violently ripped out with a shriek.
"Black Zetsu?! Kaguya's… chakra!?"
Madara stared, stunned.
Suddenly, he recalled something Obito and Nagato had once told him:
Ōtsutsuki Genshiki once said Black Zetsu was born from Kaguya's power…
and that it knew the 'truth.'
"Madara!"
Black Zetsu panicked.
He had been keeping a safe distance, waiting for an opening—
Only to be dragged out like a weed.
And what was worse…
Ōtsutsuki Genshiki seemed ready to expose everything.
"You remember what I said about the 'truth,' don't you?" Gen said gently.
A pulse of chakra flowed from his fingers.
Black Zetsu's body stiffened—
his eyes losing focus.
"This 'truth' isn't exactly what you think.
But since you took something from me, I'd like you to do one thing in return."
"One… thing?"
Madara was completely lost.
Gen simply chuckled.
"The God Tree is a tool—designed to drain a planet's energy.
Once that energy is emptied, the planet dies.
Silent. Lifeless."
"Draining a planet… Lifeless…"
Madara whispered the words, hand reflexively clutching his abdomen.
Was this what the Ten-Tails truly was?
"How… how is that possible? If that were true—"
"And so," Gen cut in, smiling,
"the story of your 'Six Paths Sage' was born."
He walked forward—
step by step—
until he stood directly before Madara.
In that instant, Madara's breath hitched.
The Ten-Tails inside him—
—was resisting.
Resisting harder with every heartbeat.
"Surprised?" Gen asked lightly.
"I told you—
the Ten-Tails is just our pet.
Of course it fears me."
Madara stood frozen.
Gen continued, voice calm and almost instructional:
"Kaguya extracted this planet's energy.
But this world held far more power than anticipated.
And… something unexpected happened.
She chose to betray the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
To fight them, she created a plan:
a biological army built from the God Tree—
to strengthen herself and oppose her kin."
Gen's eyes narrowed.
"Tell me, Madara…
What do you suppose her 'soldiers' were meant to be?"
Madara couldn't answer.
But Black Zetsu did—his voice hollow, compelled.
"Humans…
Turning all humans into an army through Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Using their bodies… fused with the God Tree…
to become weapons against the Ōtsutsuki."
"—!!!"
Madara's breath caught.
He stared at Black Zetsu.
Then slowly turned back to Gen.
And something inside him snapped.
"You… what are you?
What are you saying?
And those White Zetsu—what are they?!"
"The White Zetsu were humans—transformed during the last Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But their metamorphosis was incomplete."
"Incomplete…? Why!?"
"Because it was interrupted."
Black Zetsu's voice trembled.
"Hagoromo and Hamura—Mother's two sons—betrayed her.
They sealed her away.
I was created from Mother's will…
Her final child.
My mission…
is to free her."
Madara stumbled back a step—
no longer the imposing Ten-Tails jinchūriki,
but a man whose entire worldview had just collapsed.
"You… you mean—
everything I did… every plan…
was all because of you?"
"Yes," Black Zetsu whispered.
"For a thousand years, I nurtured Indra and Ashura's feud.
You're merely the most successful pawn."
Madara stood hollow-eyed.
His dream of ending war.
His belief in Infinite Tsukuyomi.
His trust in Zetsu.
His hatred for Hashirama.
—all of it—
A lie.
He had dreamed of ending war, but war itself came from Hagoromo.
He believed Hashirama betrayed him, but Hashirama had been right.
He thought he controlled the world like pieces on a board—
Yet he himself had been the most disposable piece of all.
"How pathetic…"
Gen dropped Black Zetsu casually to the side like discarded trash.
He looked at Madara with a smile that wasn't cruel—
just brutally honest.
"Everything you've done was arranged by others.
Your struggles were merely part of someone else's script.
And your pride—
is meaningless."
Madara opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
His spirit… had cracked.
More than when he first learned the truth of the world.
More than when Hashirama defeated him.
This—
This was true collapse.
"So I was always… a pawn."
Madara laughed weakly.
A broken, bitter laugh.
He recalled the final words of the "Hyūga Relic."
Suddenly—
He understood.
"Now then," Gen said, stretching lazily.
"Enough chatting."
He pointed at Madara.
"It's time for you to summon Kaguya.
Only then can you complete the mission Fate handed you."
Not far away, Black Zetsu rose shakily from the ground.
He stared in horror at Gen—
at Madara—
at the future rushing toward them.
"Damn it… damn it all…
How did it come to this…?!"
He trembled.
Then turned—
eyes darting toward the distant Allied Shinobi Forces.
After a moment of hesitation—
He sank into the earth like a shadow.
He had only one option left.
He would seek help from the one being he absolutely did not want to ask—
His elder brother.
"Mother…
He'll turn you into just another stepping stone for his 'Path to Godhood.'
I can't let that happen…"