Madara's Legacy

"Shisui Uchiha, these are the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and the remains of Madara."

Deep within one of Uchiha Madara's secret bases, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu accompanied Shisui to take over everything left behind by the legendary shinobi.

"You, the avatar of Uchiha Madara, don't seem to hold much respect for him, do you?" Shisui looked at Black Zetsu with an amused expression.

Uchiha Madara had been dead for three days, yet his corpse remained slumped on a stone chair; Black Zetsu hadn't even bothered to lay him to rest.

"Old man Madara is finally dead! No one can boss us around anymore—shouldn't we be happy?" It was the White Zetsu half that spoke; lacking much of a brain, White Zetsu often blurted out its most honest thoughts.

Shisui, however, paid no mind to this, his gaze remaining fixed on Black Zetsu.

Unexpectedly, his left eye failed to detect a single shred of plunderable bloodline within Black Zetsu.

It seemed that Black Zetsu, who considered himself the third son of Kaguya Otsutsuki, was in essence nothing more than a manifestation of her will.

Black Zetsu: "..."

Black Zetsu knew that the gaze Shisui held upon him was a silent demand for an answer.

In Black Zetsu's eyes, Uchiha Shisui was merely a tool to advance the Eye of the Moon plan, and he hadn't paid him much heed—only to have his own secrets nearly exposed by a moment of carelessness.

"I..." Just as Black Zetsu racked his brain for an excuse and prepared to explain, Shisui cut him off.

"I don't care what you intend to do; I am simply following the plan to push all of this forward." Shisui spoke indifferently, shifting his gaze away from Black Zetsu and onto Madara's remains.

Now was not the time to show his hand to Black Zetsu.

Damnable Uchiha Shisui, once Mother is resurrected... Black Zetsu possessed no advantages other than a lifespan synchronized with Kaguya Otsutsuki. His own weak offensive capabilities posed no threat to Shisui, and acting tough would only make him a laughingstock, so Black Zetsu could only bury his resentment deep within.

[Target detected for plundering: Uchiha Madara (Deceased), Indra Bloodline development 90%, Asura Bloodline development 50%]

[As the target is deceased, the bloodline plundered by Eye Technique: Yamata will be significantly diminished]

The system's notification informed Shisui that if he "consumed" Uchiha Madara's remains, his Indra Bloodline would ascend to a higher level, and he might even acquire the Asura Bloodline, thereby meeting the conditions to comprehend the power of Samsara of Heavenly Life and awaken the Rinnegan.

Yet, an inexplicable sensation warned Shisui against plundering the bloodline from Uchiha Madara's body.

Furthermore, even his left eye showed no intense craving for the remains, which was highly abnormal.

At Shisui's level of strength, he trusted his instinctive intuition above all else.

Dealing with everything Uchiha Madara had left behind, Shisui dared not be the least bit careless.

"Earth Style." Under Shisui's control, the soil from the ground rose automatically, forming a stone sarcophagus around Uchiha Madara's remains—a final gesture of dignity for a man who had been a titan of his era.

Having finished handling the aftermath of Uchiha Madara, Shisui turned his gaze toward the most massive figure within the base.

"So this is the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path..." Having lived two lives, this was Shisui's first time facing the gargantuan entity head-on.

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was, in essence, the husk of the Ten-Tails after its chakra had been extracted; it appeared as a colossal humanoid figure with nine eyes.

Because the statue had yet to absorb the chakra of any Tailed Beasts, all nine of its eyes remained shut.

The statue was the color and texture of withered wood, with ten pillar-like protrusions on its back—the severed tails of the Ten-Tails. Once the statue collected the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts, those ten protrusions would sprout into ten tails.

Although the statue was merely a husk and carried no chakra of its own, its body contained the immense life force of the Ten-Tails.

An evil, violent aura pressed down upon everyone present, and even Shisui, with his superior strength, felt extreme discomfort.

"To be able to exert such intense pressure on me, even with my current level of Indra Bloodline development... it is truly worthy of being the husk of the Ten-Tails." At this moment, Shisui set aside the arrogance that had crept in following his recent surge in power; he realized there was still a vast gap between his current strength and the pinnacle of this world.

[Target detected for plundering: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, total life force of the Ten-Tails]

[Warning to Host: Using Eye Technique: Yamata on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path will consume an immeasurable amount of chakra and ocular power. Please choose carefully]

Shisui understood the system's warning.

Previously, using Yamata to devour that pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had forced him to exhaust his left eye's ocular power, requiring the reagents developed by Orochimaru to barely complete the plunder.

Now, facing the entire life force of the Ten-Tails, Shisui couldn't even imagine how much chakra and ocular power would be required to complete the consumption.

However, these difficulties did not dampen his craving for this power.

"If I could control this power..." Shisui's Sharingan stared fixedly at the statue before him, his left Mangekyō flickering with an enchanting light; no one knew what he was thinking.

"Shisui-kun, the first step of our plan is to capture the nine Tailed Beasts and seal their chakra into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to activate the Ten-Tails."

Having been brought to heel by Shisui, Black Zetsu's tone had become much more respectful.

"In this process, you will need a powerful assistant, and before Madara passed away, he had already found a helper for you."

Listening to everything Black Zetsu said, Shisui's expression remained unchanged, making his thoughts impossible to guess.

"And then?" Shisui asked indifferently.

"He... his name is Nagato Uzumaki, and he inherited Madara's Rinnegan. However, Nagato himself does not know this truth; he believes he is the god of this world, dreaming of becoming a savior. Heh heh heh."

Black Zetsu, who had orchestrated the tragedy of the Akatsuki, held Nagato in no regard at all.

In its view, Nagato's intellect was far, far inferior to Shisui's.

"Understood. I will arrange for Shimura Danzō to handle the task of recruiting Nagato."

As the saying went, leave professional matters to the professionals. When it came to manipulating hearts and playing political schemes, there was no one Shisui knew who was more adept than Danzō.

Danzō: "???"

"Danzō? Is that the guy who has been plotting against the Kaguya Clan lately?" Black Zetsu, who excelled in intelligence gathering, was naturally aware of everything that had happened in Kirigakure.

"Ugh..."

When Black Zetsu mentioned the Kaguya Clan, Shisui's gaze locked onto him with sudden intensity. The cold, despairing chakra radiating from his Mangekyō Sharingan pinned Black Zetsu in place, leaving him feeling deeply uneasy.

"The more secrets a person knows, the faster they tend to die. And you are not an essential link in the Eye of the Moon Plan."

Shisui's words were not fully spelled out, but anyone could sense the killing intent woven between them.

"I, I understand, Shisui-kun." Black Zetsu was genuinely afraid that Shisui might kill him on a whim, for if that happened, there would truly be no hope for the resurrection of his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki.