Chapter 272: Resurrection of Memory
Ryosuke had reached an agreement with Kaguya, but beneath the surface, the confrontation between Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara showed no sign of stopping.
"Black Zetsu... what are you trying to do?!"
Gnashing his teeth, Uchiha Madara, now smashed into the earth, was livid with fury. Once again, this Black Zetsu had appeared to stir chaos.
How could a creature created with Hashirama Senju's cells and forged from his own will attempt to devour its master?
"Madara, you're just a pawn! Give up your resistance!"
Black Zetsu's voice, equally strained, cut through the air. He, too, was growing frustrated. Why had this carefully nurtured pawn suddenly veered out of control?
Each believed himself the master. Each sought dominance over the other.
"Pawn?"
Madara sneered, his grin arrogant and venomous. "You? You're nothing but a humanoid entity born of my will!"
As he spoke, subtle senjutsu chakra coursed through his body and surged into the black staff.
He sensed it—he couldn't deny it—but he refused to accept the truth.
The power from the sacred tree was no longer under his full control. Yet, through sheer force of will, he managed to extract a fragment of its strength and fuse it with natural energy to form sage chakra.
The two wills within his body clashed violently—water and fire—devouring each other in a silent struggle.
But even the most resolute will... can be broken.
"Enough."
A commanding female voice echoed through both minds.
Instantly, Madara felt the eye on his forehead—the nine-magatama Rinnegan—close shut. The immortality once gifted by the sacred tree began to dissipate.
As that divine energy withdrew, Madara felt his autonomy return. The overwhelming power faded, and he was once again grounded in the Six Paths realm.
Gathering the remaining sage chakra, he poured it into the black staff, aiming to nail Black Zetsu permanently.
"I said, stop."
In the blink of an eye, both were teleported above ground, their bodies light as air. The black staff, embedded in Zetsu's body, was severed mid-shaft.
"You..."
Madara looked at the figure before him with cold fury.
His immense power was gone. He had reverted to his original form—his immortality stripped away.
Ryosuke met his gaze calmly. "By now, I believe you've realized the truth, haven't you, Senior?"
There was no mockery in his tone.
Still, every word pierced Madara's pride like a blade. Through the lens of the Tenseigan, Ryosuke could see the storm brewing within him.
This moment had shaken the proud warrior to his core.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Madara turned abruptly to Black Zetsu, who was already pulling the broken staff from his body.
Black Zetsu, now aware of the agreement between his mother and Ryosuke, no longer needed to hide.
"You're so clever, and yet still wary of me, a 'creation of your will.' You haven't figured it out?"
He glared coldly, his form still recovering.
"Madara, I've existed far longer than you. You know what that means."
"I used you, just as you used Obito and Nagato."
"And my goal... was to resurrect the sacred tree—or rather, the consciousness hidden within it. That woman."
Madara's face twisted. In a moment of clarity, everything clicked.
Why had the sacred tree's power slipped from his control?
Why had a voice always whispered to him, urging him toward transformation?
It wasn't his blood guiding his evolution.
It was the tree. It was her.
The sacred tree had never belonged to him. It was merely using him as a vessel.
Just as Black Zetsu had once used Nagato.
He, Madara, had once designed such a plan himself.
Now he had fallen victim to the same trick.
Truth revealed... did not mean truth accepted.
"Then... the stone tablet?"
Madara's voice trembled.
"I've existed far longer than you think," Black Zetsu said with scorn. "In the last thousand years, I've searched every corner of this planet."
"The stone tablet was just a tool—something I left behind to guide you."
"I've watched your life unfold from beginning to end. From the day you were born. From the moment you met Hashirama. Even through your defeat."
"I was always there. You just never noticed."
"When you created White Zetsu from Hashirama's cells, I stepped out from the shadows and joined them. I wanted to play a more active role. So I stood beside you."
"You..."
Madara's tone softened, his expression blank. He closed his eyes halfway, no longer focused on Zetsu.
His gaze lifted toward the sky—toward the blood-red moon.
There, through the Rinnegan, he saw her.
Kaguya.
Ryosuke stood nearby, watching the scene quietly.
Even someone as proud as Uchiha Madara—who had marched unwaveringly toward his dream—had been revealed as a puppet. Obito, Nagato, and now him.
Ryosuke clenched his fists.
What about himself?
His Observation Haki trembled in response to the emotional storm within. He felt... sympathy.
Another soul played by fate's cruel hands.
The unease buried deep in his heart began to rise, thoughts colliding in a storm of suppressed emotion.
Without thinking, Ryosuke donned the smiling mask he hadn't worn in ages.
A storm of memories burst forth—scenes from birth to death, flashing in rapid succession. In mere seconds, everything was reorganized, processed by his now super-optimized mind.
And then—
Fragments.
Fragments that hadn't been there before. Subtle differences. Details he had subconsciously ignored.
In a world where chakra could store thought and soul...
There were hidden threads.
Dark lines left behind by the Sage of Six Paths.
He was supposed to be the guardian of all this—and the one to leave behind the means to reseal Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
But this time, when Ryosuke's arrival altered the course of the original timeline—when the sacred tree was planted and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's consciousness revived—he never showed up.
Why…?
As "new" memories surged one after another, a glint sparked in Ryosuke's eyes. His attention drifted away from those around him, as if fixed on something far beyond their reach…
…
Uchiha Madara, who had been blankly staring at the moon from the ground, suddenly rose into the air.
With a twisted expression, he soared toward the blood moon, desperation in every movement—as if unable to accept that his fate had been manipulated all along.
As he broke free from the planet's atmosphere, the Truth-Seeking Orbs surrounding him instantly merged, encasing him entirely, shielding him from the void of space.
Upon entering the moon's gravitational range, the orbs dispersed and reformed into a single, massive Truth-Seeking Orb.
This moon was man-made—its structure nothing like the one Ryosuke once knew. Here, every environmental condition for human survival existed.
Madara charged forward without hesitation, the enormous orb containing the full force of his might. As if determined to destroy both the moon and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki sealed within it, he swung his scepter, launching the Truth-Seeking Orb at full power.
But just before the orb could make contact, a beam of deep yellow light burst from the moon, piercing through the colossal orb—and through Madara himself—at a terrifying speed.
Even someone with Madara's honed combat instincts couldn't react in time.
In a single instant… everything was obliterated.
Stripped of power by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and lacking true immortality, Madara was silenced beneath the beam's might. The massive orb shattered into cinders.
Yet his body did not disintegrate with it. Instead, it plummeted toward the moon like a meteor.
Another faint light emerged—guiding his falling body to land gently on the lunar surface.
There, on the desolate moon, stood a figure. He resembled Ryosuke, yet bore distinct traits of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
His eyes were shut—blind, seemingly. But for him, vision was no hindrance.
Bathed in that faint glow, Madara's cooling body drifted toward the mysterious man. Without effort, the man extracted Madara's Rinnegan—and even the Ten Tails was smoothly transferred away.
Then, he opened his eyes. Around him appeared a Truth-Seeking Orb and a scepter—symbols of one who had stepped into the Six Paths realm.
As for the sacred tree…
This man understood its value. Rather than absorb it, he sealed it away.
Suddenly, the moon echoed with mighty roars. A massive, golden reincarnation eye ascended into the sky and hovered behind the man.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
As the glowing Rinnegan illuminated him, his appearance became fully visible to Ryosuke.
"That eye… not bad."
Ryosuke lowered his gaze, turning to Madara, who still looked dazedly toward the sky.
"Kaguya Ōtsutsuki has the same qualities you just showed. Even if you destroy the moon, you can't kill her."
"At least… not with your current strength."
It seemed that, along with the resurgence of memories, Ryosuke had begun to sense the future—his mind weaving foresight through the threads of recollection.
I really do have a lot of secrets…
"Hello!"
A crisp female voice rang out in Ryosuke's mind, her tone brimming with annoyance.
"Relax," Ryosuke replied casually, "I'm always generous to my allies."
"As long as you keep your promise, I'll protect you—always."
"Even if Madara someday gains the power to kill you, I'll be your shield."
"And if you want to learn to fight… I can teach you."
"Hmph!"
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki scoffed in his mind. "No need!"
Madara, who had been silently gathering his strength, suddenly froze. Then, hearing Ryosuke's words, he turned to face the younger man.
A bitter smile crept onto his lips. "Trying to peer into my heart again? Then tell me… what part do I play in this story you've written for me?"
Just moments ago, he truly had considered dying along with the moon.
The feeling of being a pawn—of dancing to fate's whims—was unbearable for someone as proud as Uchiha Madara.
"The Hyuga clan's young master is nothing like you," said a cold voice.
Ryosuke stayed silent, letting Black Zetsu speak in his stead.
"He climbed every step on his own, without the Ten Tails or the Divine Tree. That's why the gap between you is so vast."
"I warned you long ago—don't provoke him."
Madara blinked in surprise. "So… he really is my descendant? Not some ancient monster like you, Black Zetsu?"
There was skepticism in his tone.
Even with Black Zetsu's careful manipulation, the path had been arduous. So how had this white-haired youth grown so powerful?
Yes, his talent was remarkable—he could replicate techniques mid-battle, whether Kekkei Genkai or clan skills—but still, given his age, it defied belief.
"In truth… cultivating strength is like constructing a building," Ryosuke said, meeting Madara's gaze.
"You and Hashirama-senpai spent decades building seventeen floors."
"But I stood on the sidelines, watching you both. I studied your blueprints. I didn't need decades to build those same seventeen floors."
"If one is clever enough, they can recreate those floors quickly—and even spot flaws the pioneers missed, allowing them to build an eighteenth or nineteenth floor."
He smiled faintly. "I simply reached your level in a short time… and surpassed it."
"Now… maybe it's my turn to lay the foundations."
At this point, there was little left in the shinobi world that could teach Ryosuke anything—aside from a few secrets buried in Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's mind.
If he could not open a gate in time and space—a path to a new world—he would remain stagnant.
Without enough experience to fill the progress bar in his mind, his body would stop evolving.
But before that…
"There's someone I've overlooked… It's about time I dealt with him."
"I nearly forgot he existed."
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]