Madara, You've Been Played!

Natsu Yuu's sudden appearance truly gave Madara a fright.

Without any warning, any technique, or even the slightest fluctuation of Chakra, he had appeared out of thin air inside the shrine's secret chamber.

This was far more covert—and far more dangerous—than the Flying Thunder God Technique!

If the other man wished, could he simply teleport directly behind him?

Was this the power of a so-called Sage?

It truly was astounding!

Madara could not help but feel his blood boil. He desperately wanted to dance with such a powerful opponent! Even if he lost, it would still be satisfying.

However.

Because of Hashirama's warning, he restrained himself and did not rashly attack Natsu Yuu.

Fortunately, Hashirama had introduced him beforehand, giving Madara at least some mental preparation.

Otherwise.

He might have immediately swung a Susanoo Katana at Natsu Yuu.

"Yes."

Natsu Yuu answered casually.

He was also glad Madara had not attacked him.

If Madara had been so eager to dance, he could only have teleported away to evade or flee.

There was no danger, but it would have hurt his image!

Fortunately, Hashirama had come through and successfully suppressed Madara's impulse.

As for Sharingan Genjutsu, Natsu Yuu had no fear of it at all. The system could help him block all mental interference.

"Why did you trespass into the forbidden grounds of my clan?"

Madara was extremely cautious, his body tense with vigilance. He could not possibly trust a stranger so easily.

Even if the other party seemed to be a true Sage, and had even managed to fool Hashirama completely.

He was not so easy to deceive!

"Didn't you want to see me?"

"You overheard my conversation with Hashirama?" Madara was startled again. He had not noticed anything at all?

"Does that matter?"

"What exactly do you want?"

Madara hated this feeling of being on the back foot. If it came down to it, he was ready to test the other party with force.

Perfect timing to experience the power of the legendary supreme Dojutsu, the Rinnegan!

"What do I want? Shouldn't I be asking what you want?"

"Talking in riddles. Is this how you fooled Hashirama?"

Natsu Yuu smiled faintly. Too lazy to waste words, he went straight to the point.

"Fooled him? Do you think you could obtain the Rinnegan you desire just by fooling him? Or achieve the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"

"You!!!"

"You can decipher the encrypted text on the stone tablet too?"

Madara's expression changed when his ultimate goal was exposed in a single breath. He felt as though the other man had seen him completely naked.

His wariness and sense of threat toward Natsu Yuu instantly reached their peak.

"Does that matter? Or do you think my Rinnegan are fake? That I cannot see through this stone tablet at all?"

Natsu Yuu could not truly wield the Rinnegan yet, so naturally he could not decipher the tablet's encrypted text.

But did he need to decipher it?

As for the tablet's text, which Black Zetsu had already altered, he could guess what it said with his ass. There was no need to read it at all.

Madara took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation and wariness in his heart.

Since the other party knew his plans and goals, he had to treat him with caution.

"That's right. My goal is to carry out the Moon Eye Plan and bring permanent peace to the entire Ninja World!"

"Then what makes you so certain that the so-called Infinite Tsukuyomi can truly bring permanent peace?"

"This is a stone tablet passed down through generations of the Uchiha clan. It is the sole truth left behind by our ancestors. Even mediocre people without an Eternal Mangekyo cannot decipher all of its encrypted text."

Madara spoke plainly.

The fact that it had been passed down by the Uchiha clan, combined with the extremely demanding ocular power required to decipher it, formed the basis of the tablet's credibility.

If he did not trust the words of his own ancestors, was he supposed to trust the lies of a stranger like you?

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching for the author instead. It may simply have been renamed!

Natsu Yuu walked over to the stone tablet and sat on it in an utterly casual, flippant manner.

Madara's brows furrowed as his anger surged.

He was not someone who angered easily, nor was he afraid of crude provocation from an enemy.

But this was, after all, the Forbidden Stone Tablet left behind by the Uchiha Clan's ancestors, recording the truth that led to genuine peace. How could it be desecrated like this?

Before Madara could flare up, Natsu Yuu's next words shook him once more.

"What the tablet says is not wrong. By merging the powers of the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan, it is indeed possible to obtain All Creation—what you call the [Rinnegan]!"

Madara's breathing hitched, and his heart burned with renewed fervor.

Although the tablet's records pointed out the path, Madara had never possessed proof, so he had not been entirely certain.

It was like finding an entry in your family genealogy where an ancestor told you he had buried ten thousand taels of gold somewhere to bless his descendants. No matter how realistic it sounded, as long as you had not actually dug up that gold, there would always be a trace of doubt and unreality in your heart.

That was why Madara had prepared two plans.

On one hand, he intended to capture the Nine-Tails and use its power to defeat Hashirama, thereby unifying the ninja world.

On the other hand, he had also prepared to fake his death and leave the battlefield, allowing him to secretly study Hashirama Cells and merge them into himself to evolve the [Rinnegan].

In the future timeline, Madara had been forced to choose the second path only after losing to Hashirama in the [Battle of the Valley of the End].

If he could defeat Hashirama, why would Madara need to hide away and conduct research?

Wouldn't it be far better to seize all of Konoha's talent and have them accelerate the research for him?

Therefore, if he could now confirm in advance that merging Hashirama's cells would grant him the [Rinnegan] and lead to the [Infinite Tsukuyomi], why would he still need to defect from Konoha? Why would he need to capture the Nine-Tails?

However, Natsu Yuu's next words shattered Madara's joy.

"Unfortunately, the latter half of the tablet, the part concerning the [Infinite Tsukuyomi], is false."

"What did you say?!!"

Madara's brows knitted tightly as he hurriedly pressed for an answer.

"The [Infinite Tsukuyomi] can be achieved, and it can indeed briefly trap everyone in the world within a beautiful illusion. But before long, everyone wrapped by the Divine Tree will turn into White Zetsu and die completely."

"To put it bluntly, this is not the truth that brings eternal peace to the world. It is a killing move that ends the world!"

Natsu Yuu had no time to speak in riddles with Madara. He had always hated people who talked in riddles most of all.

He only wanted to complete the main quest as quickly as possible and unify the Seven Parallel Ninja Worlds.

But with Madara's personality, there was no way to convince him without dropping something truly explosive and brutal.

"Impossible!"

"You're lying!"

Madara flew into a rage, unable to believe it.

It felt like spending ages solving a difficult math problem, only for the teacher to suddenly mark it with a huge red X and declare that everything you wrote was wrong and made no damn sense!

Naturally, it was unbearably painful and infuriating.

"Do you know who left this stone tablet behind?"

"An ancestor of the Uchiha Clan."

"More specifically?"

"I don't know..."

"It was left by the [Sage of Six Paths], Hagoromo Otsutsuki, for the descendants of his son Indra's line—the Uchiha Clan."

"Left by the [Sage of Six Paths]? Then shouldn't it be even more trustworthy?"

"Have you ever considered this? If the [Infinite Tsukuyomi] could truly bring peace to the world, why didn't the [Sage of Six Paths] use it himself? You don't actually think he lacked the power to cast the [Infinite Tsukuyomi], do you?"

"Gasp..."

Madara froze. He truly had never considered it from that angle.

Ever since obtaining the [Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan] and fully deciphering the tablet's hidden text, he had subconsciously believed its records.

He had only assumed that the ninja of earlier generations lacked the luck and strength to evolve the [Rinnegan], making it difficult to realize the [Moon Eye Plan]...

But now that Natsu Yuu had pointed it out, Madara also sensed that something was wrong.

If it could be recorded on the tablet, that meant someone had achieved the [Infinite Tsukuyomi]. Whether that person had been the [Sage of Six Paths] or not, if the [Infinite Tsukuyomi] had already been achieved, then shouldn't the world have remained at peace ever since?

Why would the Uchiha descendants need to achieve it again?

Wasn't that a contradiction?