"What is going on?"
Black Zetsu, racing through the dense forest, suddenly came to a halt. His eyes widened on his pitch-black face as he stared in shock at the Five-Tails and the Wood Golem charging ahead at breakneck speed.
He had merely gone to Madara's place to check on the progress of the Rinnegan's awakening and the Ten-Tails' shell, which now had a new name.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path hidden within the Dragon Vein had filled him with surging excitement. After a thousand years of planning, only the final step remained.
Yet the sight he encountered on his way back to Konoha left him utterly stunned. In less than a few days, the world had become unfamiliar.
The Seven-Tails flying through the sky seemed to be scattering something.
He narrowed his eyes and watched carefully.
Scale powder?
The drifting fine particles made him dismiss that thought.
Upon closer inspection, they were wheat seeds.
Black Zetsu gazed toward the wooden platform built atop the Wood Golem's head and watched Ashura's smiling face, letting out a meaningful sigh.
Using Tailed Beasts to plow fields—one could say he was the first in the Shinobi World.
A slight doubt stirred within him.
Without awakening the Rinnegan, Indra still could not defeat an Ashura whose thinking was so far ahead of his time.
As Black Zetsu silently watched the Five-Tails plow the fields, he could not help wondering if he had grown old, if his way of thinking could no longer keep up with the times.
"These chakra threads are just right."
Hashirama, multitasking, looked with satisfaction at the blue torrent extending down from the wooden platform, wrapped around Kokuō's neck and linked to the iron plow.
"Of course."
Reto, whose lips had already cracked, replied between ragged breaths.
Right now,