Seeing Bck Zetsu ask such a serious question, Masashi reminded himself once again to maintain his posure.

  Take the gamble—turn a bicycle into a motorbike.

  If it failed, then Pn B was the only option.

  "Indra's Eye?" Masashi wore an expression that was unmistakably Uchiha. "Isn't that just the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

  "Ridiculous." Bck Zetsu scoffed. "That is merely a desperate attempt by the Uchiha to pensate for their degraded ocur teiques."

  Having spun tales for a thousand years, he was quite adept at delivering thrilling narratives.

  If he lived oh, he would definitely be a web novel legend or a politi.

  "Indra was born with the Sharingan. To use your words, his entire life was in the form of the three-tomoe."

  "His entire life?" Masashi looked at Bck Zetsu. "Not that I doubt you, but even Madara wouldn't know the events of a thousand years ago."

  "It's true. His Sharingan remained stant throughout his life," Bck Zetsu said with satisfa, enjoying the atmosphere of the discussion. "Aren't you pursuing the same level of power?"

  He fixed his gaze on Masashi, studying every minute rea.

  Any Uchiha who uood the Mangekyō Sharingan would naturally have questions about it. After all, the Mangekyō seemed almost like airely differey pared to the inal Sharingan.

  As an exempry Uchiha, Masashi was no exception. He would undoubtedly have his doubts.

  The Sharingan began refleg one's innermost thoughts the moment it was awakehe Mangekyō merely represehe culmination of that process.

  There was a reason Bck Zetsu had spent millennia targeting the Uchiha.

  Words, as, and expressions could deceive him, but the Sharingan could not.

  What's more, it needed a pair of Rinnegan.

  The Uchiha were the perfect pawns—ihe only ones.

  "As expected of the embodiment of the Will of Madara," Masashi admitted generously. "Yes, I've gohrough all the 's records regarding our aor Indra and found nothiioning the Mangekyō Sharingan."

  Bck Zetsu nodded, satisfied that everything rogressing as pnned, when a sudden rumbling interrupted them.

  It was Masashi's shadow e rampaging nearby, causing tinuous explosions.

  He froze.

  "Why is your shadow e still active?"

  "Why would it disappear?" Masashi asked, genuinely puzzled.

  Having been engrossed in the versation, he hadn't paid it much attention.

  He dispelled the shadow e. This time, not only did he receive its memories, but he also felt its fatigue.

  The e had been enjoying itself a little too much...

  "Your chakra reserves seem excessive," Bck Zetsu observed.This endurance was extraordinary.

  He began to feel hopeful.

  The Rinnegan had already beeed. The greatest obstacle to resurreg his mother had been removed. Now, he only o gather the tailed beasts and revive Madara to perform the Infisukuyomi.

  A powerful ally would certainly be helpful.

  Obito's anti Konoha had nearly given him a heart attack, figuratively speaking.

  The ails had been within his grasp... And then, gone.

  But no matter. Masashi, as a backup, seemed eveer.

  "You've made the right choice, but your current approach won't suffice," he said.

  The Eye of Indra could not be replicated. It was merely a proje of Indra's chakra, whio one else ience could possess.

  "No matter how hard you try, you 't overe the chakra gap. You must take a different path." He gnced behind Masashi, where shadows shifted, and several White Zetsu emerged from the darkness like pale ghosts.

  These were the ones who had been battling Masashi's shadow e.

  Turning to look, Masashi saw these former victims of the Infisukuyomi, now soldiers of Kaguya.

  "You hit me pretty hard," said one unusually distinctive White Zetsu, rubbing its shoulder with an almost childlike motion. "If you tell me what it's like to poop, I'll five you."

  "That's easy." Masashi's face remained impassive as he unched into a detailed expnation. "First, the digestive enzymes break down the food into simple molecules. These travel through the iinal wall into the bloodstream. What's left moves through the rge iine, where water is absorbed. The remaining waste products are then pacted and—"

  The White Zetsu had actually leaned forward with i during the expnation.

  "Masashi, don't take it too seriously," Bck Zetsu hastily interjected. "This guy's brain is defective. After all, it was cultivated from Hashirama's cells."

  Hmm? Did you just call Hashirama an idiot? That... actually sounded quite like something Madara would say.

  Ty at this game of theatrics.

  "Is that the Madara's view of the First Hokage?"

  "Hashirama's methods were fwed. Isn't that obvious now?" Bck Zetsu said in a tone of a sage imparting wisdom. "But discussing this now won't help you. You o focus on increasing your power."

  Curious, aren't you? He waited eagerly.

  "Good point. In that case, I won't ask," Masashi said, feigning pliance. "As long as I'm strong enough, nothing else matters."

  Bck Zetsu nearly stumbled.

  Resigned but still sidering this a positive developmeer than dealing with Obito—he signaled for him to follow.

  "e with me," he said, leading Masashi further inside.

  Masashi followed, eager to see what Bck Zetsu had in store.

  Carrying an oil mp, they walked through a long corridor—evidence of battle everywhere from where the shadow e had rampaged.

  Through a smashed wall, light seeped into the passage, revealing a vast space beyond.

  The answer soon became clear.

  When Bck Zetsu led him around a final er, they entered an enormous chamber filled with incubation pods.

  Each pod tained a White Zetsu.

  This was a ing facility for these creatures.

  But Masashi, ued in Hashirama cells, remaiirely unmoved.

  Until he saw a coffin.

  His eyes widened.

  "Yes, this is... Madara's body," Bck Zetsu noted, Masashi's gaze.

  While Masashi's ck of i in the White Zetsu seemed like a case of nnizing their value, his rea to the coffin further firmed his professed admiration for Madara.

  Admiring Madara made things easier.

  "Madara's body ot fall into anyone else's hands. Before his death, he created me, and I hid his body here," he expined seriously before adding, "But seeing as you revere him so much, I let you pay your respects to his remains."

  "Please let me pay my respects!" Masashi excimed dramatically. "A hero like him, denied burial in the 's grounds—I shall never five the Senju!"

  "Calm down, calm down," Bck Zetsu soled him. "Madara himself didn't care much for sualities. What matters is carrying on his will."

  It was thrilled.

  Leaving Madara's body intact had proven to be the right choice after all.

  Under Masashi's expet gaze, two White Zetsu stepped forward and opehe coffin.

  "Huh?" He was slightly surprised.

  When the coffin ened, he found none of the stink he'd expect from a body that had been dead fes.

  Preservation jutsu? No... something more plex.

  "You take a closer look," Bck Zetsu said. "Don't be surprised. Of course, I wouldn't let Madara's body decay—I've taken measures."

  Masashi gave White Zetsu's main body a thoughtful gudying the cellur structure that might expin the preservation.

  Then, suppressing his excitement, he stepped closer.

  Finally, he saw it.

  Ihe coffin y an old man. With just one look, he firmed it.

  This was indeed Madara.

  Before his death, he had grown frail and aged.

  The o-bck hair was now pletely white, and his once-handsome face was full of wrinkles.

  The stro figure of the Uchiha was now lying quietly here.

  Even with su aged and decayed body, there was still a lingering killing i, as if it was trying to break free.

  His lips carried a faint smile—whether it was because he had aplished his pns before his death, or because he was mog this irredeemably miserable world in his eyes, no one could tell.

  Looking at such a Madara, though aware that this man was currently waiting in the Pure Land for his pawns to open the way to his sed life, Masashi still thought... This guy is incredible!

  Even as a corpse, he y differently from others.

  Madara's body was covered in dense sealing teiques to ehat it wouldn't decay. Masashi's trained eye could spot at least three distinct yers of preservation jutsu w in cert.

  He suddenly felt disappointed. How could he proceed with this?

  However, he also felt a bit curious.

  "Is the body just going to be left here?"

  "Of course not," Bck Zetsu replied. "This is simply following Madara's wishes. When I find a better pce, I'll tra. "

  "All right, let's discuss your eyes now."

  "Sure," Masashi took o look at the coffin but refrained from doing anything unnecessary.

  Bck Zetsu observed this, satisfied that Masashi didn't seem to harbor any suspi-worthy iions.

  "You're familiar with Yin-Yang Release, correct?" he asked, his tone shifting to something more analytical.

  "Yes." Finally, getting to the real purpose of this meeting.

  "That's good. It saves us time." Bck Zetsu hen asked again, "To prevent acts, I want to know—what's your dream?"

  "Dream?" Masashi looked at the creature in front of him.

  e to think of it, Bck Zetsu could be sidered one of the only two individuals in the shinobi world who unwaveringly stuck to his own ideals.

  As a vilin, he was certainly qualified.

  Those who kept flip-flopping were just exasperating.

  "Peace." After some thought, he gave Bck Zetsu an ho answer, watg for its rea. "If it weren't for this chaotic world, I wouldn't have bee a ninja."

  "How do you think peace be achieved?"

  "Simple. Everyos a Big Ivan. Whoever causes trouble, we bomb them." Damn, spoke without thinking again.

  "Huh? Big Ivan?" Bck Zetsu was fused. What kind of nonsense is that?

  "Oh... sorry, slipped my tongue..." Masashi said, quickly rec. "What I mean is, peace only be achieved through power."

  "'t it be achieved through love?"

  "I've never seen mere words resolve anything," Masashi said didly.

  Love? Who's going to love strangers anyway?

  You're a vilin; stop borrowing cheesy lines from the hot-blooded protagonist. It's weird.

  "Good!" For once, Bck Zetsu was genuinely pleased. This Uchiha ure.

  Obito ure too, just… a bit too pure.

  "Let's return to your eyes," he said, early sidering how to enhance Masashi's power. "Your Sharingan is very stable right now. However, this stability means that the path to awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan is blocked for you. You'll have to take a different route."

  "That's even possible?" Masashi was skeptical.

  While he had always been wary of the Mangekyō's side effects, he definitely was power. Hearing such a definitive statement from Bck Zetsu annoyed him.

  "The Mangekyō Sharingan is awakened by maximizing spiritual energy, which then is with physical energy to produce it," Bck Zetsu expined seriously.

  He was indeed a historian of sorts, but this theory about the Mangekyō urely his own judgment.

  Masashi often doubting his expnations was starting to get on his nerves.

  Today robably the one day he was telling the plete truth, for once!

  "When you awakened your Sharingan, you focused more on physical energy. I don't know how you mahat, but the gap between your spiritual and physical energy is much smaller than for other Uchihas. Because of this, it's impossible for your spiritual energy to pletely dominate and trigger the Mangekyō."

  "What about the Indra's Eye? Didn't you say during our first meeting that Indra had the Mangekyō? Now you're talking about chakra. I'm not acg you or anything, but your expnations keep ging." Masashi decided to call him out.

  His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied Bck Zetsu's rea. Who knew if he would just start making up stories again.

  Masashi didn't want stories—he wanted results.

  "The part about Indra having the Mangekyō was indeed a lie. But the chakra part is true. Even if you possess Indra's chakra, you 't have the 'Eyes of Indra.' His desdants ck both his spiritual and physical energy," Bck Zetsu expined patiently.

  "But don't lose hope. I already told you—there's another path for you. With your abilities, if you succeed, you'll be strohan any current ninja. Your eyes could bee another form of Indra's Eyes. But don't t on the Rinnegan."

  "What kind of path?" Masashi didn't care about the Rinnegan. His goals weren't that lofty—it was Yin-Yang Release that he was after.

  "Of course, it's Yin-Yang Release," Bck Zetsu replied. "But mastering all seven nature transformations doesn't guarantee you'll master Yin-Yang Release. You must fuse the seven natures into oo create this new power…" He stared at Masashi, his gaze seeming to pierce through him.

  "I'm n to disce you, but the limits of the Yin and Yang natures are determi birth. As an Uchiha, this isn't something you achieve on your own."

  But that is discing!

  "So, there's a solutiht?"

  "Of course. All the White Zetsu here were cultivated using the cells of Hashirama. Their bodies tain his power." Bck Zetsu gestured to the white figures surrounding them.

  "Wait a sed." Masashi quickly interrupted. "Let me be clear—I'm not doing aranspnts."

  Hashirama cell transpnts? That's a trap. I've seen how that story ends too many times.

  "Rex. We won't make you undergo any transpnts," Bck Zetsu assured him, raising assed for his hands in a pg gesture.

  As if I'd even want you to. What if it exposes me ter? Thinking this, he tinued, "Your physical energy has already reached the Uchiha's limit, and your chakra perception is very strong. I'll have the White Zetsu here help you train in Yang chakra. But before that…"

  He sat down on the ground.

  "I'll first tell you the history of Indra, the aor of the Uchiha, and Asura, the aor of the Senju. That way, you'll uand how to use White Zetsu's chakra to train your Yang chakra."

  Aory?

  Masashi sighed and sat down opposite Bck Zetsu.