He had become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and possessed the God Tree's power, yet he had always regarded himself as the "master" and "user" of that power, and the God Tree as a "tool."
He had never considered—or had disdained to consider—achieving a deeper fusion with the source of this Chakra.
The God Tree itself, as the origin of Chakra, contained mysteries and potential that perhaps... perhaps still held a sliver of hope?
Was this call the God Tree's instinctive pull on its "Jinchuriki" as it neared destruction?
Or had it sensed Madara's despair and actively extended a branch of "symbiosis"?
There was no time to hesitate!
Minamoto Takuya's terrifying, almost tangible pressure still shrouded the entire battlefield, and he could deliver the final blow at any moment.
This was the only, and final, struggle in a hopeless situation!
"Heh... hehehe..."
Madara let out a low, crazed laugh, the last trace of loneliness in his eyes replaced by all-or-nothing resolve.
He no longer resisted that call. Instead, he willingly opened up his broken body and his mind on the verge of collapse.
He no longer tried to "control" it, but chose to "merge" with it.
Using the last of his strength, he suddenly lunged toward the God Tree Core!
The instant they touched, there was no earth-shattering explosion, only a strange silence, as if two things had blended seamlessly together.
The flowing glow of the God Tree swiftly coiled around Madara's body, pouring wildly in through his shattered wounds.
Madara's body trembled violently, and he let out inhuman howls of pain, but even more than that, there was an indescribable, strange sensation, as if he had returned to the womb.
His shattered bones began to forcibly knit together and reshape under the God Tree's life energy. His dried-up Chakra rapidly filled