I'm Not Naruto, But I Got a Better Bloodline-Chapter 357: Summon Kaguya and Fulfill Your Mission

Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Summon Kaguya and Fulfill Your Mission

Uchiha Madara’s expression was extremely grim.

He had once thought that by becoming the Ten-Tails’ jinchūriki and obtaining the power of the Sage of Six Paths, he should possess combat strength at the "Ōtsutsuki" level.

In fact, he felt that this was more or less the case. At the very least, he felt that at this very moment he had already undergone a transformation.

But with just a single move, he had actually had one of his arms severed?

Even if this was not truly a big deal—having reached this level, he could fully regenerate.

Still, he was not unable to sense the disparity involved. He suddenly realized something.

’Could it be that it was that so-called ’Divine Ascension Stairway’?’

Uchiha Madara thought to himself. At this very moment, his left arm had already recovered.

Staring at the still-calm Kitagawa Gen, his gaze became exceptionally ferocious.

He refused to accept all of this. No matter what, he would not accept it!

"Heh!"

Accompanied by an angry shout, Uchiha Madara charged again. The Truth-Seeking Orbs in his hand transformed into a sage staff and swung viciously toward Kitagawa Gen.

"Oh?"

Kitagawa Gen seemed somewhat surprised, and even his voice carried a trace of amusement.

"I didn’t expect you to still dare to counterattack."

"Die!"

Uchiha Madara madly swung his sage staff, and surging power poured forth!

Yet Kitagawa Gen merely raised his eyebrow calmly. In the next instant, the ninja blade formed from the Truth-Seeking Orbs in his hand once again refracted a golden sheen.

Clang—

In just an instant, amid Uchiha Madara’s astonishment, the sage staff transformed from the Truth-Seeking Orbs was actually broken apart directly!

"This?!"

"You don’t understand the gap between us at all. You only reached this point by borrowing the power of the Ten-Tails."

Kitagawa Gen’s voice still carried a smile, as if he were explaining things to him.

"The Ten-Tails is indeed quite impressive, but do you know this? The Ten-Tails is nothing more than a pet of the Ōtsutsuki, something we use to cultivate the Divine Tree."

"Divine Tree."

Having already become the Ten-Tails’ jinchūriki, Uchiha Madara naturally understood what the Divine Tree was.

After he fused with the Ten-Tails, this concept had already appeared in his mind.

It was just that in his mind, wasn’t the Divine Tree used to launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi?

Then what did this "cultivate" mean?

However, Kitagawa Gen did not answer directly. The golden light on the long blade in his hand suddenly dimmed.

Immediately after, an extreme chakra hurricane that had been condensed to the utmost quietly formed in his hand!

"Damn it."

Seeing this, Uchiha Madara retreated backward once again. He immediately summoned the other Truth-Seeking Orbs to form a defense.

Boom—

However, before his defense was fully constructed, that extreme chakra storm had already blasted out.

Along with the overflowing chakra torrent, Uchiha Madara was sent flying backward once again, and his body plowed a long trench into the ground!

Under the churning of chakra like sharp blades, his body was already torn open, and he looked especially miserable.

If not for the Ten-Tails’ power continuously repairing his body and letting him keep recovering, he would still just look like a corpse now!

"Only to this extent."

However, Uchiha Madara was still exceptionally tough. He quickly climbed up from the ground, and as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, he spoke in a low voice.

"I’m not at my limit yet. I’m still far, far from reaching my limit!"

Along with his roar, his right hand shoved forward quickly. In the next instant, boundless natural energy, together with the Ten-Tails’ power, erupted with a thunderous explosion.

"Sage Art: Yin Release Lightning Dispatch!"

Uchiha Madara indeed had no chance to absorb Senju Hashirama’s sage arts, but the Ten-Tails itself was a massive carrier of natural energy.

After becoming the Ten-Tails’ jinchūriki, he naturally also mastered such power!

"Not bad."

Yet Kitagawa Gen, bathed in that lightning, seemed to be taking a stroll. As he slowly walked toward Uchiha Madara, he smiled calmly.

"I already told that ’Ōtsutsuki Nagato’ long ago that your will is indeed commendable."

"No matter what kind of enemy you face, you all possess extraordinary courage."

"Especially when you have to protect something, you will erupt with unimaginable power, only—"

At this point, Kitagawa Gen paused slightly. In the next instant, the Truth-Seeking Orbs behind him shot out.

Pfft—

Along with a series of dull thuds, the Truth-Seeking Orbs had already transformed into black rods, viciously nailed into the ground!

"You—"

Uchiha Madara’s eyes widened slightly. His Limbo had barely had any effect before it was already restrained?

"Don’t try to fool me with such disgraceful tricks."

Kitagawa Gen was still as calm and unperturbed as ever. He tilted his head slightly and looked off into the distance.

Things seemed a bit troublesome on the Sage of Six Paths’ side, and what amused him somewhat was that the Sage of Six Paths appeared to have forgotten about both him and Uchiha Madara.

Even his Divine Tree clone had not been included by the Sage of Six Paths within the scope of his "discussion."

’But it doesn’t really matter. The battle on the clone’s side is about to end, and things on Naruto’s side are more or less settled as well. Then it’s time for me to wrap things up.’

Thinking this, his gaze once again fell upon Uchiha Madara.

"Don’t you feel curious about something? Your current state is no different from ours—and do you know who the so-called Sage of Six Paths actually is?"

"My current state... the Sage of Six Paths?"

Uchiha Madara did not understand what Kitagawa Gen meant, but he was still searching for an opportunity. He had never considered giving up or compromising.

"The so-called Sage of Six Paths is, in fact, also an Ōtsutsuki."

Kitagawa Gen gave a light smile and calmly stated something that made Uchiha Madara’s heart explode with shock!

In that instant, Uchiha Madara’s mind wavered slightly. He simply could not believe that any of this was real.

His body trembled somewhat as he stared at Kitagawa Gen in stunned disbelief.

"You—what nonsense are you talking about?!"

"Kaguya’s chakra—what are you still waiting for?"

However, Kitagawa Gen did not pay Uchiha Madara any attention. Instead, he turned his head to look in another direction.

In the blink of an eye, a vast suction force suddenly erupted. Black Zetsu was dragged out of the ground by Kitagawa Gen amid a hoarse scream!

"Black Zetsu? Kaguya’s... chakra?!"

Uchiha Madara stared blankly at the scene. All of a sudden, he recalled something that both Uchiha Obito and Nagato had once told him.

’Ōtsutsuki Genshiki once said that Black Zetsu was some kind of Kaguya’s power, and he also mentioned something about ’the truth’—this...’

"Madara!"

Black Zetsu was also dumbfounded. He had been carefully maintaining his distance, waiting for an opportunity all along.

He never expected to be caught at this moment—and worse still, this Ōtsutsuki Genshiki seemed about to say things that should not be said.

"Do you remember the ’truth’ I once spoke of?"

Kitagawa Gen’s chakra stirred slightly, and Black Zetsu’s body immediately stiffened. Even his gaze became somewhat unfocused.

"This ’truth’ is probably not what you wanted to say. However, since you took my things, then trouble yourself to help me do one thing."

"Do one thing?"

Uchiha Madara looked completely bewildered. He had no idea what Kitagawa Gen was talking about, but very quickly, Kitagawa Gen smiled and continued speaking.

"The so-called Divine Tree is an important tool for obtaining a planet’s power. Once that planetary energy is drained, the entire planet—the whole world—will also turn into utter desolation."

"Drain the planet’s energy... utter desolation..."

Uchiha Madara murmured. He covered his abdomen in disbelief. Could the Ten-Tails really be like this?

"How could that be? If that’s really the case..."

"And so, that is how the story of your so-called ’Sage of Six Paths’ came to be."

Kitagawa Gen continued speaking with a smile. At the same time, he had already slowly walked up to Uchiha Madara.

At that instant, his breathing choked. The Ten-Tails within his body—

"Is resisting?! And resisting more and more fiercely?"

"No need to be surprised. I said it before—the Ten-Tails is originally our pet. Fearing me is only natural."

Kitagawa Gen continued smiling, as if he had done something entirely trivial.

"Ōtsutsuki Kaguya extracted the planet’s energy, but the power contained within this planet was far greater than imagined, and some minor changes also occurred in the process."

"She chose to betray the Ōtsutsuki clan, and she also made a choice—to create Divine Tree war machines, to expand her own military strength, so she could fight against the Ōtsutsuki."

"So then, guess—what is her army?"

Uchiha Madara listened to all of this in a daze, while at this moment Black Zetsu spoke with unfocused eyes.

"Humans. Drag all humans into the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and use their bodies combined with the power of the Divine Tree to become an army to resist the Ōtsutsuki."

"!!!"

Uchiha Madara’s breathing hitched. He stared at Black Zetsu in disbelief, then looked at Kitagawa Gen again with a face full of confusion.

After a moment, it seemed he understood something, and he asked in a mixture of anger and humiliation,

"Who are you, exactly? What are you even talking about? And what are those White Zetsu?!"

"I am the third child of the great Rabbit Goddess. White Zetsu are the humans who were transformed by the Infinite Tsukuyomi last time—only, their transformation was not perfect."

"What do you mean by that? And what exactly is your objective?!"

"It was imperfect because it was interrupted. Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura, Mother’s two children, chose betrayal. They sealed Mother away."

Black Zetsu’s eyes were unfocused. His expression was strained and pained, yet he continued speaking.

"And I am the third child, formed by the condensation of Mother’s will. My purpose is to unseal Mother. As for you, you are nothing more than a chess piece I manipulated."

"You—"

Uchiha Madara’s expression grew even uglier. He had never imagined there was so much more behind it all, let alone that the one he had trusted all this time was merely something belonging to someone else.

In that instant, beyond shame and fury, fear also surged within him. He fixed his gaze on Black Zetsu and asked in something close to hysteria, "Then what are the Eye of the Moon Plan and the Infinite Tsukuyomi?!"

"They are the key to releasing Mother. Only by casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi can Mother be freed."

Black Zetsu struggled more and more intensely, yet his words did not stop.

"And for a thousand years, I have been inciting the conflict between Indra and Asura. You are merely one successful chess piece."

"..."

Hearing all of this, Uchiha Madara froze completely.

He had never imagined that the truth would turn out to be like this. In that moment, his heart turned utterly ashen.

He had originally yearned to end the war and usher in peace, yet the very root of the war turned out to be the Sage of Six Paths.

He had thought that Hashirama’s opposition was merely obsession, but in fact, Hashirama was the one who had made the correct choice.

He had believed he could look down upon all beings and turn everyone into his chess pieces—only to find that, in the end, he himself was nothing more than a chess piece as well.

"Very tragic, isn’t it?"

Kitagawa Gen casually flicked his hand, immediately tossing Black Zetsu aside. He calmly looked at Uchiha Madara, whose eyes were devoid of light, and revealed a smile.

"Everything you did was nothing more than something others arranged for you. All of your struggles were merely a link in someone else’s plan, and your pride is even less worth mentioning."

"You—"

Uchiha Madara spoke softly. He still wanted to say something, but at this moment he was already left speechless.

His state of mind had truly been shattered. Even learning the so-called "truth of the world" had not broken him as thoroughly as this.

"So I was nothing but a chess piece all along..."

Uchiha Madara let out a bitter laugh. He suddenly thought of the final passage recorded in the "Hyūga bookmark."

His heart struggled as well—should he summon Kaguya or not?

"Then, enough idle talk."

At this moment, however, Kitagawa Gen stretched lazily before slowly speaking.

"It’s time for you to summon Kaguya, so you can complete your mission."

Elsewhere, Black Zetsu painfully climbed up from the ground. With a shocked expression, he looked toward the distant Kitagawa Gen and Uchiha Madara.

He knew that his mother was about to be summoned—and this was not something he was willing to accept.

’Damn it! Damn it! How did things end up like this?!’

He cursed furiously in his heart. Suddenly, he turned his head toward the Allied Shinobi Forces. After hesitating for a moment, he instantly sank into the ground.

He no longer cared about anything now. He planned to try and plead with his good elder brother.

"That is our mother—do you really want to watch her become a pile of withered bones on someone else’s ’Divine Ascension Stairway’?"