Obito looked up.
"What is it?"
"Uchiha Ren."
Black Zetsu spoke.
"The Uchiha bloodline has continued for a thousand years, its power steadily diluted. By this generation, awakening even the Mangekyō Sharingan is difficult, let alone the Rinnegan."
"Yet Ren awakened the Rinnegan out of nowhere."
"He didn't transplant Hashirama cells, use Nagato's Rinnegan, or spend decades nurturing it."
"This change is anything but normal."
Obito narrowed his eyes.
"What do you suspect?"
Black Zetsu did not answer immediately.
He recalled the ocular power that had erupted when Ren awakened his Rinnegan, and the sight of twelve Rinnegan appearing at once.
"I suspect the Sage of Six Paths had a hand in this."
Obito's expression shifted slightly.
Black Zetsu continued:
"Ren's bloodline may have reverted to its ancestral form, but that alone cannot explain why he completed his transformation in just over ten days, much less why he possesses such immense Rinnegan power."
"The more plausible explanation is that the Sage of Six Paths secretly intervened in the living world."
Obito stared at Black Zetsu.
"The Sage of Six Paths is dead."
"His physical body is indeed dead."
Black Zetsu spoke quietly.
"But his chakra still circulates throughout the shinobi world. As long as that chakra exists, the power he left behind will never truly disappear."
"The fact that Indra and Asura can reincarnate again and again proves that the essence of a life does not vanish completely when the body dies."
"Ren may have received the Sage of Six Paths' power."
Obito's fingers slowly tightened.
"What would happen if Madara knew about this?"
Black Zetsu's voice grew grave.
"Madara must never find out."
Obito looked at him.
"Why?"
"Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi plan is based on the stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths."
"He believes what