Chapter 402: Chapter 402: If I’ve done something wrong, let the Sage of Six Paths punish me
Kurama ignored Naruto’s dumbfounded look and turned straight to Madara. "Now it’s your turn to answer my question."
Madara stroked his chin. "An interesting story... if it’s true."
"You don’t believe me?" Kurama tilted his head.
"Whether I believe it or not doesn’t matter. Our existence has nothing to do with the... what did you call it... manga?" Madara sounded unsure. "We’re two separate things."
Madara continued, looking at Kurama. "We’re real. Our choices have nothing to do with that manga you mentioned. It’s just a coincidence... that it recorded our story. You could even call it a kind of history book."
Yes, it recorded a story that had already ended, but their story was still going.
So no matter what that so-called manga showed, it had nothing to do with Madara. At most, he just found it amusing.
"But I’ll accept your answer. Now it’s my turn." Madara’s lips curled. "You really can stop me from casting Infinite Tsukuyomi, but whether you do or not won’t make any difference. Because inside me, besides Black Zetsu, there’s also that rat."
"Orochimaru?" Kurama narrowed his eyes.
"I think that’s his name." Madara said casually. "That rat used Black Zetsu’s presence to sneak into the Ten Tails’ body. And he’d already gotten Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke’s blood. Using their blood, he recreated something similar to a Sage of Six Paths body."
"Of course, it’s not easy to recreate a Sage’s body, so... that rat set his sights on Black Zetsu." Madara went on. "With their blood, plus Black Zetsu’s unique nature, it can hold a portion of Kaguya’s consciousness. Add in the Ten Tails inside me, and this eye on my forehead..."
As he spoke, Madara reached up, snapped off the long bone horn covering his forehead, and revealed a thin vertical seam. Under Kurama’s tense gaze, it slowly opened, showing a blood-red eye.
Six tomoe, that crimson hue, and a familiar circular pattern—without a doubt, this was Kaguya’s third eye, the Rinne Sharingan.
"When the Ten Tails reached its final stage and I absorbed it, this eye appeared." Madara tossed aside the broken horn and pointed at the eye on his forehead. "With this power, that rat has already made contact with the moon. Kaguya’s resurrection has already begun, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it."
A body grown from Naruto and Sasuke’s blood,
plus Black Zetsu’s special nature,
plus the fully-evolved Ten Tails,
and Kaguya’s Rinne Sharingan—
all the conditions for Kaguya’s revival were complete.
But... there was still one problem.
Kurama looked at Madara darkly. "If you revive Kaguya inside your body, you’ll still die."
"Who said that?" Madara showed a mysterious smile.
Uh—
Before the words had even faded, black chakra suddenly poured out from Madara’s body. Like a liquid, it spread over him, slowly swallowing him up.
Madara’s face stiffened, his eyes widening on their own. Chakra erupted from inside him, swelling his body like an over-inflated balloon.
Fighting through the discomfort, Madara rolled his eyes toward his back, his voice ice-cold. "Black Zetsu... you should know, I hate it when someone stands behind me..."
As those words fell, the black liquid flowing over Madara suddenly revealed two yellow glowing points, like eyes staring straight at him. Then came Black Zetsu’s voice: "Sorry, Madara-sama. If I appeared from somewhere else, you might have resisted on instinct."
Black Zetsu had long known that Madara’s back was his weak spot.
"You..." Madara’s voice was full of irritation.
But what could he do? As Black Zetsu let out a strange laugh, Madara’s face was completely covered by the black chakra fluid, and his whole body turned into a perfectly round black sphere.
It all happened far too quickly. By the time the others realized what was going on, Madara had already been swallowed completely. Sasuke, with his faster reflexes, barely had time to use Amenotejikara to get in close and slash at the black sphere. But the blade struck with a metallic "clang," like a kitchen knife hitting stone.
Sasuke stepped back, drawing in a sharp breath. "Is this a truth-seeking orb? It’s this hard?"
"That’s Black Zetsu’s body," Kurama landed beside Sasuke. "I’m not sure why, but Black Zetsu shares the same immortality as Kaguya."
Naruto landed nearby too. "So... we failed again?"
"You’re using that ’again’ a little too well," Kurama muttered without thinking. "Get ready to face Kaguya."
With that, Kurama sighed. He hadn’t expected they’d end up fighting Kaguya after all...
Luckily, the Ten-Tails hadn’t reached the God Tree stage yet, one Rinnegan was still with Sasuke, and Infinite Tsukuyomi hadn’t been activated. Kaguya would be weaker than in the original timeline, not stronger.
With the three of them at their current strength, taking on a Kaguya with no real battle experience wouldn’t be a problem.
The main thing was just to find an opening for Naruto and Sasuke to use that jutsu—just touching Kaguya would be enough, nothing too hard.
As those thoughts flashed through his mind, the black sphere before them began to move, pulsing slowly like a beating heart. With each tremor, it shrank, until it finally took on the shape of a human.
The black fluid slowly faded away, revealing the human form underneath.
A white robe traced with black patterns, white hair longer than her height... well, everyone knew what Kaguya looked like.
"So this is Kaguya?" Naruto stared at the woman before him, blurting out without thinking, "She’s beautiful."
"She is called the Rabbit Goddess, after all, with a face of unmatched beauty," Kurama sighed, then his tone shifted. "And I’ll make sure to tell Hinata exactly what you just said."
Sasuke paused for a moment, then smirked. "I’m ready to see blood flow."
Naruto: "..."
You still have the mood to joke at a time like this?
Kurama chuckled, turned to face Kaguya, and opened his mouth to say something—only for his smile to freeze the next second. He stared blankly at Kaguya’s face... at the marks on it.
Yes, marks—purple ones, like eye shadow, running from her eyelids down to the sides of her nose.
This... looked a little too familiar.
Kurama was stunned. "Hey, hey, hey... isn’t this a bit too much?"
He had already thought highly of Orochimaru, even considering for a long time why Orochimaru would help Black Zetsu. He had also briefly wondered if Orochimaru might set his sights on Kaguya, but dismissed the thought in less than a second.
Kaguya was Kaguya—how could she possibly be controlled and reincarnated by Orochimaru? What kind of ridiculous joke was that? It was almost funny.
But now, seeing this scene, Kurama couldn’t laugh at all.
As if to confirm Kurama’s suspicion, under the gaze of the two men and one fox, Kaguya opened her eyes—pure, flawless Byakugan, a face of otherworldly beauty, and with the Rinne Sharingan on her forehead, she looked like a painting brought to life.
Then, excitement flashed in Kaguya’s eyes. She laughed out loud like a child who had just gotten a new toy, completely ignoring her image.
Alright, that confirmed it.
Orochimaru plus Kaguya...
Kurama fell silent.
If I made a mistake, let the old Sage of Six Paths punish me.
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