Seeing Black Zetsu imprint his spiritual energy onto the contract, Naruto smiled with quiet satisfaction.
"Then let's begin," Naruto said. "First—tell Madara the truth. The real purpose behind the Eye of the Moon Plan."
With everything already exposed, Black Zetsu had no choice but to speak.
"The Eye of the Moon Plan was something Madara learned from the Uchiha stone tablet. And yes—I guided him toward it, because the tablet's contents were written by me."
Black Zetsu paused.
"Or more accurately… the original message left by Hagoromo was modified by me."
"The parts that should have been accessible were sealed away by my hands, specifically to guide Madara toward activating the Eye of the Moon Plan."
The moment these words fell, a suffocating killing intent erupted from Madara.
Naruto shot him a warning glance.
Madara gritted his teeth but forced himself to stop.
"So," Madara growled, voice trembling with fury, "you were never my will… I was nothing but a pawn."
He let out a hollow laugh.
"Hahahahaha… ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous…"
His shoulders shook violently—a lifetime of conviction collapsing at once.
"Madara…"
Hashirama looked at him with a rare softness, a trace of sympathy.
Naruto gestured for Black Zetsu to continue.
"The stone tablet was originally a message from Hagoromo to Indra and Ashura. That old man…"
The bitterness in Black Zetsu's tone deepened.
He thought of Hagoromo's affection for his two sons—the same affection he had never received from his mother.
Hagoromo had sealed Kaguya. Yet he devoted himself to his sons.
For a moment, the thousand-year-old shadow entity sounded genuinely sorrowful.
Piece by piece, he began to reveal the truth.
"For the past thousand years, I have been waiting for an Uchiha who could awaken the Rinnegan. To awaken it, one must possess the chakra of both Indra and Ashura."
"Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara were the reincarnations of Ashura and Indra. All previous reincarnations failed. Only Madara succeeded."
"So I appeared by Madara's side and guided him to execute the Eye of the Moon Plan."
Black Zetsu raised his head slightly.
"The current reincarnations of Indra and Ashura are Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."
"The true objective of the Eye of the Moon Plan was to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi from the moon. Once it activates, the caster will be replaced by Mother."
"That so-called 'world of eternal peace' was something I fabricated to deceive everyone. Ultimately, every person ensnared by the Infinite Tsukuyomi would be converted into White Zetsu."
"When I was born, I inherited part of Mother's memories. With a massive White Zetsu army, Mother's power would surpass anything in this world."
He continued calmly, though his words chilled everyone present.
"If Mother returns, she will reclaim all chakra across the shinobi world. At that point, neither Hagoromo nor Hamura—those two traitors—will be able to oppose her."
The idea of reclaiming all chakra made everyone tremble.
Individually, shinobi were limited.
But if the chakra of the entire world were gathered into one being…
That power could obliterate everything.
It would elevate Kaguya to an unimaginable level—but at the cost of the entire shinobi world.
Black Zetsu even recounted the fractured relationship between Kaguya and the Sage of Six Paths. To the shinobi world, Hagoromo was a savior. But in Black Zetsu's eyes, Hagoromo was simply the son who betrayed his mother.
By the time he finished, the battlefield was silent.
The scale of information was overwhelming.
Black Zetsu's knowledge of the Ōtsutsuki was limited—Naruto realized he would have to learn the truth from Kaguya herself.
No one had expected that chakra's origins were so ancient… or that all the great conflicts of the shinobi world stemmed from a family tragedy.
The Senju, the Uchiha, the Uzumaki—all of them descended from Hagoromo.
No wonder their talent was extraordinary.
Madara finally spoke, voice hollow.
"So the Infinite Tsukuyomi world was never real? Permanent peace… can't exist? In the end, I still failed?"
Naruto shook his head gently.
"Madara… peace isn't built on illusions or Genjutsu. It's built by our own hands."
"There is no such thing as eternal peace. But we can create a peace that continues—one generation at a time."
He stepped forward.
"If you want to know what peace looks like… go and see the people living under my rule. Their lives will answer you better than any illusion ever could."
Naruto was confident. Compared to the past, the quality of life across the nations had improved dramatically. People no longer lived under the constant shadow of war. Productivity had risen, resources were abundant, and life was finally stable.
Even the Land of Wind—once desolate and harsh—had begun environmental restoration. Its citizens now enjoyed living conditions they had never dared to imagine. Other countries followed the same path, gradually transforming under Naruto's guidance.
Ninjutsu was no longer solely a weapon. It had become a tool for research, development, agriculture, medicine, and national defense. Combined with advancing technology, chakra was now fueling an era of rapid progress. Under Naruto's leadership, the shinobi world was flourishing like never before.
Just then—
Naruto suddenly felt a surge of spiritual energy pierce into his mind.
A figure materialized within his inner consciousness.
It was a face identical to the one Naruto remembered from legends and visions—
The Sage of Six Paths.
"We finally meet, Sage of Six Paths," Naruto said calmly. "In a sense… you're also my ancestor."
Hagoromo's eyes softened as he regarded him.
"Child, I have been watching you—the soul from another world."
Naruto stiffened.
What?!
This was his deepest secret—one he had never revealed to anyone.
He stared at Hagoromo warily, muscles tensed.
"There is no need for fear," Hagoromo said gently. "In essence, you are my child. Naruto is you, and you are Naruto. Long ago, at great cost, I used prophecy to glimpse the future. I saw that you would bring peace to this world… though the path would be perilous, and even fatal."
"Prophecy is not foresight," he continued. "It provides fragments—insights, not answers. To obtain that glimpse, I had to peer into the truth of this world, and the price was my remaining life. But I saw a future where you lead the shinobi world into prosperity."
"After sealing Mother, I also learned—unexpectedly—of her origins… from beyond the heavens."
As Hagoromo spoke, puzzle pieces began to fall into place within Naruto's mind.
The Sage had used a forbidden technique that consumed his lifespan—that was why he died so quickly, while beings like Kaguya and Black Zetsu could persist for millennia.
From Hagoromo's words, "beyond the heavens" meant the greater universe.
Outside their world existed—
Eldritch gods capable of traversing dimensions.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan, who planted God Trees across countless worlds.
The Shinigami of the realm governing life and death.
Countless unknown beings drifting through the cosmos.
The universe was vast, ancient, and boundless.
Under Hagoromo's arrangement, Indra and Ashura had continued reincarnating over generations. Each life added to their accumulated power, strengthening the world's future defenders.
But Hagoromo himself… had paid the final price.
His soul was cursed and severed from the cycle, unable to reincarnate—able only to exist as a lingering consciousness.
Naruto finally understood the mystery that had bothered him for years.
Why had a godlike figure like the Sage of Six Paths died so young?
The truth was simple: he had sacrificed everything.
Meanwhile, his younger brother—Ōtsutsuki Hamura—had left the Earth entirely, traveling into the void in search of a way to protect their world from the Ōtsutsuki threat that would inevitably come.
Because sooner or later, the Ōtsutsuki would descend upon the shinobi world again.
The God Tree fruit here was extraordinary.
And Isshiki's identity was far from ordinary.
Kaguya, unwilling to become a sacrifice, ambushed Isshiki. Hagoromo had known of Isshiki's existence as well, but as a wandering soul, he could not intervene physically.
Even the Edo Tensei—the Reanimation Jutsu created by Senju Tobirama—had been subtly guided by Hagoromo from behind the scenes. The world needed such a technique. It was one of his contingency plans—enabling him to intervene should disaster ever strike again.
Through the Sage's explanations, Naruto understood far more than before.
And with that understanding came a profound respect.
This old man had carried burdens no one else ever could.
And now, Naruto finally realized the true weight of the legacy left in his hands.