"Feel free to guess how many are left~" Yakumo said with a cheerful smile, looking at Obito. "But killing you all before these eyes run out is also perfectly doable."
"Such arrogance!"
Madara retorted haughtily, the Six Paths Staff once again materializing in his right hand. "Before that, I can kill everyone in Konoha."
"May I ask one question?" Yakumo interrupted Uchiha Madara. "I'd like to know, since you've already collected all the Tailed Beasts, why are you still after the Eight-Tails?"
*Snap!*
A thread in Uchiha Madara's mind seemed to snap.
That's right, why was he so fixated on capturing the real Eight-Tails?
He had already used Orochimaru's cloned Eight-Tails chakra as a substitute to make the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path become the Ten-Tails. He was now the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki!
Why was he still obsessed with the real Eight-Tails?
Was his brain malfunctioning?
That was a reason Uchiha Madara would absolutely never acknowledge.
In his view, this was clearly him wanting to demonstrate his power. He was now akin to a god. This was his... gift to ordinary people. Yes, a gift.
"I originally wanted to interact with you all as an ordinary person. Since you've laid things bare, I suppose I'll have to move to the next step."
As he finished speaking, Madara's figure began to rise higher and higher into the air.
"Haah... looks like you've done something pretty stupid." Obito said with an odd look toward Yakumo. Then space distorted with Kamui ripples and Obito slowly vanished.
At that moment, Obito glanced toward Kakashi.
He hesitated, as though he wanted to say something... but in the next instant, he disappeared completely.
Uchiha Madara, flying high up, saw Obito vanish but paid it no mind. In his eyes, within the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi, one person more or less made no difference.
"God Tree!"
With a wave of his staff, a sapling appeared behind Madara.
The sapling descended from the sky, quickly reaching the ground where it took root and began to grow.
One breath later, the tree was over ten meters tall.
Two breaths later, its size doubled.
In less than a minute, a God Tree hundreds of meters tall stood before everyone. At its center was a giant flower bud.
"Gai, let's attack this tree together!"
Kakashi keenly sensed the extraordinariness of the God Tree. Without another word he formed the hand seals for Raikiri and charged straight toward it.
"Eight Gates: Gate of Death, Open!"
Trusting Kakashi completely, Maito Gai opened the Gate of Death without hesitation.
Uchiha Madara simply watched the two of them attack the God Tree... and he smiled.
"Can mere grains of dust hope to destroy the God Tree?"
The God Tree was not a person. As the origin of chakra, a special tree cultivated by the Otsutsuki clan to extract it, the God Tree possessed immense regenerative power and formidable defense.
"Yagai!"
"Raikiri!"
Kakashi and Gai's attacks landed on the God Tree simultaneously, but what happened next disappointed them both.
The God Tree stood firm. Aside from some superficial scuffing on its bark, not even a significant wound appeared.
"It's useless. Apart from Senjutsu, no attack can harm the God Tree," Madara said with a sigh. Then his right hand grasped the horn protruding from his forehead and forcefully snapped it off.
*Crack!*
His Six Paths horn was broken off, revealing a smooth, pale forehead.
"Infinite Tsukuyomi... activate!"
A Rinne-Sharingan eye appeared on Madara's forehead. As this eye opened, the flower bud of the God Tree instantly transformed into a giant Rinne-Sharingan eye.
The moon in the sky, the Divine Tree on the ground, and Madara's eye between them—all three powers resonated together.
Instantly, the sun in the sky receded. The moon radiated a silvery-white brilliance, eclipsing the sun's light. To the terror of all, the Rinne-Sharingan eye upon the moon was identical to the one on Uchiha Madara's forehead.
As the ocular power blossomed, the entire world was bathed in its influence. One by one, the eyes of ordinary people morphed into the shape of the Rinnegan.
"Gai, be careful!"
Before Kakashi could finish his warning, he felt himself losing control of his body. He saw the look of alarm in Maito Gai's eyes, and in the next moment, Kakashi lost consciousness.
The God Tree began to lower its branches.
One by one, those under the control of the Infinite Tsukuyomi were ensnared by the branches, wrapped up like dumplings, and hoisted aloft.
One, two...
The entire shinobi world fell into an eerie silence. Only Uchiha Madara in the sky watched coldly, observing the people cocooned by the God Tree.
His wish fulfilled, Madara slowly descended from the sky, landing on the Hokage Rock of Konoha.
Looking down upon the village he had founded together with Hashirama, a complex, indescribable feeling welled up in Madara's heart. He wasn't sure what he was feeling now.
He felt a sense of loneliness.
Gazing at the stone-carved visage, that familiar face, Madara unceremoniously stepped on it with his foot.
"You always said my plan was wrong. And now, I've achieved eternal peace through the Infinite Tsukuyomi. There will be no more conflict in the shinobi world, Hashirama. Do you still think I was wrong?"
"Madara-sama, there is one woman who remains unaffected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi!" Black Zetsu quietly appeared behind Uchiha Madara. Glancing at his own right hand, a strange smile flickered across his face.
Madara paid Zetsu no mind. From beginning to end, he believed Black Zetsu was his own creation. He didn't believe Black Zetsu would deceive him. Even his own resurrection had been orchestrated by Zetsu—why would Madara suspect him?
"Who is it? Could it be Hashirama's granddaughter?"
"Not her. It's that woman who used Izanagi to resurrect Maito Gai. She's coming!" Black Zetsu pointed towards Yakumo's direction and then hid behind Uchiha Madara.
"How timid!"
Uchiha Madara felt somewhat speechless at Black Zetsu's behavior. No matter what, he was still his creation — how could he be afraid of an ordinary little girl?
The fact that this girl could isolate herself from the influence of Infinite Tsukuyomi did make Madara slightly curious.
Just a tiny bit.
Only that much.
His Rinne-Sharingan scrutinized Yakumo carefully, and finally, he couldn't help but frown. "Your bloodline shows no anomalies. Why can you ignore the genjutsu of the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
From the very beginning, Uchiha Madara had been an extreme bloodline supremacist.
In his eyes, the only people who mattered were initially the Uchiha clan, and later, Senju Hashirama.
"Perhaps my talent for genjutsu is just exceptionally high."
"In my view, all genjutsu target the mind, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi is no exception," Yakumo said calmly as she stood before Uchiha Madara.
"Speaking of which, the experience I have with Tsukuyomi is thanks to Obito!"
"The last time he used a limited Tsukuyomi on me, I happened to glimpse a little bit of the doorway to Infinite Tsukuyomi."
Madara internally: *That black-hearted brat again! Don't let me see you!*