Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Madara hears that Jigen’s estate contains relics and records from the Sage of Six Paths’ era, and orders a surviving ninja to lead him to the underground Vault.
• They dig their way inside, where Madara finds a stone tablet resembling the one from the Uchiha District.
• The tablet claims Kaguya had a third son, Ōtsutsuki Hagetsu, who remained loyal to her and controlled the White Zetsu. Madara reads the inscription with his Mangekyō Sharingan and is shaken by what it implies.
• Madara tests whether he can create a White Zetsu himself, but fails. He concludes that Black Zetsu was not his own creation and that his assumptions about the White Zetsu were wrong.
• Believing Ōtsutsuki Hagetsu has deceived him, Madara vanishes to confront him.
• After Madara leaves, An emerges from another dimension and secretly removes the tablet’s claims about Hagetsu and the White Zetsu, intending to confuse Madara when he returns.

Character developments and interactions

• Madara shifts from confident curiosity to anger and doubt as the tablet challenges his understanding of Black Zetsu and his own abilities. He takes his frustration out on the imagined Hagetsu.
• An reveals himself as the author and manipulator behind the tablet’s misleading additions. He enjoys provoking Madara and plans to exploit the confusion.
• The surviving ninja flatters and serves Madara, hoping to benefit from his authority. When Madara suddenly leaves, the ninja considers using his reputation for personal gain.
• Madara and the ninja have an unequal, tense relationship: the ninja is eager to please but becomes increasingly afraid of Madara’s growing anger.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and misinformation: An shapes Madara’s beliefs through selectively altered historical records.
• The instability of truth: The tablet presents genuine history alongside deliberate fabrication, making it difficult for Madara to know what to trust.
• Pride and vulnerability: Madara’s confidence is unsettled when evidence challenges his belief that he created or controlled the Zetsu.
• Power and self-interest: The ninja’s loyalty is opportunistic, while An treats the consequences of his deception as entertainment.

Plot points

• Zetsu arrives at Otogakure badly injured and begs An for help. Madara has turned against him after meeting Jigen, who apparently revealed the truth about the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
• An reasons that Madara likely abandoned the Moon Eye Plan because he learned what it was really meant to accomplish. Zetsu fears Madara will warn Nagato or otherwise disrupt his plans.
• An dismisses Zetsu’s worries, pointing out that Obito remains a dependable fallback. Zetsu then asks An to use his control over Madara’s Impure World Reincarnation to send him back to the Underworld.
• An refuses to discard such a powerful asset and notes that someone else could summon Madara again anyway. Instead, he offers to control Madara directly if Zetsu lures him to Otogakure.
• Zetsu brings Madara that night. As Madara approaches, he angrily calls for “Ōtsutsuki Hagetsu,” and An eagerly goes out to meet him.

Character developments and interactions

• An mocks Zetsu’s predicament but uses it to secure a chance to control Madara. He presents Obito as a loyal, obedient tool and treats both men as assets.
• Zetsu is frightened that Madara will expose his plans and threaten his position in Akatsuki. He flatters and pleads with An, then eagerly agrees to lure Madara.
• Madara has apparently learned the truth about the Infinite Tsukuyomi from Jigen and now regards Zetsu as a deceiver. Though still bound by An’s modified reanimation jutsu, he is furious and confrontational.
• The exchange highlights An’s cynical control over both Zetsu and Obito, while Zetsu relies on An despite their supposed partnership.

Significant themes

• Deception and revelation: Madara’s discovery of the plan’s true purpose has overturned his allegiance.
• Control and manipulation: An seeks to turn Madara into another controlled “dog,” while Zetsu tries to preserve his own scheme.
• Loyalty as utility: The characters value allies chiefly for how useful and obedient they are.

Key plot points

• An immobilizes the reincarnated Madara with the Impure World Reincarnation formula and forces him to kneel, mocking him for being dead and blaming Tobirama for inventing the jutsu.
• Black Zetsu appears, and Madara realizes An and Zetsu are working together. An reveals that Zetsu manipulated Madara by altering the stone tablet: the Moon Eye Plan was never a path to peace, but a scheme to resurrect Kaguya.
• Zetsu explains that Madara was easy to exploit because he remained fixed on his convictions. In the intended course of events, Madara would cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, then be used as a sacrifice for Kaguya’s return.
• An further devastates Madara by reminding him that obtaining the Rinnegan—the key to Zetsu’s plan—led him to cause Hashirama’s death. Madara recognizes that his justifications were false and that his obsession made him kill the person closest to understanding him.

Character developments

• Madara shifts from furious defiance to shock, grief, and crushing regret. His belief that he had sacrificed everything for peace collapses, and he accepts responsibility for being manipulated and for Hashirama’s death.
• An remains taunting and provocative, deliberately directing Madara’s anger and pressing the truth until his convictions break.
• Black Zetsu reveals his longstanding manipulation of Madara and openly scorns the Uchiha’s tendency to cling to obsessions.

Character interactions

• An restrains Madara and mocks his inability to control his own body, first turning his anger toward Tobirama and then toward Zetsu.
• Madara confronts Zetsu over the deception; Zetsu confirms that Madara’s dream of peace was merely a tool in his plan.
• An intensifies Madara’s anguish by connecting the Rinnegan and Hashirama’s death to Zetsu’s scheme.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and false ideals: A noble-sounding dream can be engineered to serve another’s purpose.
• Obsession and self-deception: Madara’s certainty prevented him from questioning the plan or changing course.
• Regret and responsibility: Once the deception is exposed, Madara can no longer hide behind his old explanations for killing Hashirama.

Madara was overwhelmed by remorse until Izuna was resurrected and confronted him about making peace with the Senju Clan. An told Izuna that Madara could have allied with other clans and challenged him to guess why Madara chose Hashirama.

• Madara broke down in grief over betraying Hashirama and apologized to him.
• Izuna was revived through Impure World Reincarnation and reunited with Madara.
• Madara angrily demanded that An explain why he had revived Izuna.
• An told Izuna that the Uchiha and Senju had made peace and founded Konoha together.
• Izuna accused Madara of forgetting the Uchiha's hatred, while Madara explained that joining Hashirama had been necessary to end the wars.
• An told Izuna that Madara could have allied with other clans and asked him to figure out why Madara had chosen Hashirama.

An provoked Izuna by claiming Madara had prioritized reconciling with Hashirama over his clan, and Madara explained how their peace plans had failed. Madara gave up defending his past and told Izuna they should rest in the Underworld, exhausted and disillusioned.

• An immobilized Madara again and taunted Izuna with claims that Madara had wanted to reconcile with Hashirama more than he cared about his clan’s losses.
• Madara explained that he had sought to unite the ninja world, but Hashirama opposed conquering the villages that formed after Konoha.
• Izuna accused the Senju, especially Tobirama, of deceiving Madara and insisted the promised peace had never arrived.
• Madara admitted that the village system had expanded the scale of wars and caused more deaths.
• Madara stopped arguing, said he and Izuna should rest forever in the Underworld, and sank into exhaustion.

An revealed that Izuna and Madara were dead and provoked Izuna by telling him Senju Hashirama had killed Madara. After An disclosed that the Uchiha Clan had been wiped out, Madara could not answer Izuna’s desperate plea about his promise to protect the clan.

• Izuna realized his cracked hands and strange existence meant he was dead.
• An told Izuna that Senju Hashirama had killed Madara, and Izuna angrily confronted his brother about Hashirama and their failed reconciliation.
• Madara admitted he had betrayed Hashirama first but insisted that he had not truly died and warned Izuna that An was trying to divide them.
• An showed Izuna his Mangekyō Sharingan, winning Izuna’s trust, then revealed that the Uchiha Clan had been wiped out.
• Izuna seized Madara’s arm and asked whether the clan’s destruction was true, but Madara lowered his head without answering, and Izuna staggered back in despair.

An forced Madara to confront the Uchiha he had failed to protect and apologize for the clan’s destruction. Madara accepted blame before the summoned Uchiha, who waited for An to decide whether to forgive him.

• An taunted Madara about the Uchiha Clan’s annihilation, deepening Izuna’s disappointment in his brother.
• Madara collapsed and admitted that his obsession had made him fail Izuna and the Uchiha.
• An summoned the Uchiha’s Edo Tensei Army and introduced Madara and Izuna to the risen clansmen.
• The Uchiha thanked Izuna for his sacrifices, and An demanded that Madara apologize to them for abandoning the clan and causing its destruction.
• Madara prostrated himself and confessed his failures, while the Uchiha looked to An to determine whether he should be forgiven.

An persuaded Izuna to make Madara atone by serving the Uchiha Clan and explained his plan to revive the clan through resurrection and cloning. Izuna agreed to help obtain the Rinnegan but rejected mixing Uchiha blood with Senju cells.

• An asked Izuna whether Madara should be forgiven, then argued that Madara should atone by serving the clan.
• Izuna agreed that Madara should fight for the Uchiha Clan and ordered him to abandon his dream of peace in the Ninja World.
• An told Izuna that he planned to use the Rinnegan’s Rebirth Technique and cloning technology to revive and rebuild the clan.
• Izuna questioned whether clones could replace the dead and offered to help Madara seize the Rinnegan.
• An proposed adding other clans’ bloodlines to Uchiha embryos, but Izuna angrily forbade mixing their blood with the Senju Clan’s.