Chapter 71: Eye of the Moon, Heart of Man
The Eye of the Moon Plan was the ultimate conclusion reached by Uchiha Madara after deciphering the ancient stone tablet hidden within the Uchiha Clan's ancestral home beneath the Nanga Shrine. It was said to be the final peace plan entrusted to mankind by the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Yet Madara understood all too well that this vision of a world bound within illusion stood in fatal contradiction to the Sage's true will that humanity should live in reality and find connection through their spirits.
Once, chakra had symbolized the bond between people. It was the medium that allowed minds to meet and hearts to resonate. But somewhere along the way, chakra had become the language of violence, fear, and war. Madara didn't know when or why that change occurred only that the world had never known true peace since the Sage's time.
Every peace had been founded on the will of one powerful individual. Whenever the strongest decided upon peace, the world rested; when that power vanished, chaos returned. War and betrayal would inevitably follow.
In that endless cycle of blood and despair, Madara finally understood the hidden meaning of the stone tablet's message.
You're desperate too, aren't you, Sage of Six Paths?
You saw the same thing I did the inevitability of failure. You must have known the clans would devour one another until the bond of chakra itself was severed.
Because mutual understanding does not create peace. It is only understanding, nothing more.
He and Hashirama had understood one another perfectly yet that understanding had not saved them. Bound by the hatred of clan and village, they fought until one of them fell. Hashirama, the man who once swore to protect him, was forced to kill the one person who bore him no hatred at all.
From that moment, Madara grasped the truth. Understanding alone could never prevent conflict. People's priorities would always differ; their loves, their dreams, their loyalties all would clash.
To Madara, Hashirama had been the most important thing in his world. He had believed that, as long as they stood together, they could overcome anything. But for Hashirama, it was never about him it was about Konoha. The village he loved, the dream he built, outweighed even their bond.
When Madara read the tablet's prophecy again, it resonated deeply. For the first time, the words felt alive echoing his own pain, his own disillusionment.
It was as if two souls separated by centuries finally recognized one another.
There was no other solution. War and hatred would endure eternally. Death and terror would always hang over the world. And now, another had risen to carry that same despair forward Aizen Sosuke.
Aizen would tear the earth apart and erase nations for his so called "trial." Madara hadn't intended to reveal his plan so early to this naïve successor before him, but he had no choice.
He no longer had the strength or time to stand against Aizen himself. Even if he and Hashirama had once been the mightiest shinobi in existence, his frail body could not contend with that cold, calculating monster in his prime.
He was left with only one option: to entrust everything to this foolish youth who reminded him of his own past self.
"A quarter of the world's population will die? Even the most optimistic estimate is one in twenty? That's his first trial? Aizen Sosuke wants to destroy the world!"
Madara smirked coldly, his voice laced with bitter mockery.
"Heh. That man is a pure seeker of truth. He'd sacrifice the entire world just to find an answer."
His tone was calm, but his words made Uchiha Kagami tremble.
"And he has a plan to rebuild the world afterward," Madara continued. "Do you want to hear it? Even if every living being dies, Aizen has devised a way to recreate humanity to start over as many times as he wishes. Morality, ethics… none of that matters to him."
Kagami's eyes widened, the color draining from his face.
"As long as he gathers enough cells and genetic material, he can produce clones artificial humans to repopulate the world. He'd let them live out new lives according to his design, recreating civilization from nothing. Tell me, do you think he'd hesitate to do such a thing?"
Madara leaned forward, his gaze sharp and unyielding.
"Absolutely not. He'd do it easily because Aizen Sosuke is a demon who values neither life nor peace. The only thing he cherishes is his own pursuit of knowledge."
He let out a weary sigh, his voice softening with the weight of resignation.
"I'm too old now, far too weak to stop that monster. But you… even though you've failed in the past, I still believe you have a chance. Stay by his side. Watch him. Wait for the moment when his guard falters. Then end it all."
Uchiha Kagami's trembling hands clenched tightly. His blood red eyes glowed faintly under the dim light as he whispered, almost to himself,
"…End everything?"
Uchiha Kagami suddenly raised his head, staring at Uchiha Madara in disbelief. The elder's expression had softened slightly, but that only deepened Kagami's unease.
Yes, Aizen Sosuke's plan was horrifying but in Kagami's eyes, the man before him was far more terrifying.
The Eye of the Moon Project… it was a plan to cast an illusion over all humanity, to force the entire world into a shared dream from which none could awaken. To live an eternity inside a lie. Was that really peace?
Aizen might kill a quarter of the population but Madara would condemn everyone to illusion, ending the world in one silent breath.
"Send the Uchiha's chakra to the moon, hypnotize the entire ninja world, and force everyone to live in a false paradise. Is that your idea of peace?" Kagami demanded, his voice trembling with anger.
Madara's eyes narrowed. Then he laughed a deep, humorless laugh that echoed across the mountainside.
"Haha… isn't it wonderful? No more war. No more suffering. Everyone living in their perfect world. I'm giving them kindness, not cruelty."
"Kindness?" Kagami's voice rose, filled with disbelief. "You call that kindness? You're worse than Aizen! At least he's honest about his madness!"
Madara sat on the log, looking down upon him, smiling with that same godlike arrogance. The sight made Kagami's blood boil.
"Can you really call it happiness," he shouted, "if everyone's trapped in a dream?! Can a frozen, lifeless world be called peace?! If that's your ideal, I'd rather side with Aizen and see this world destroyed than live in your illusion!"
Madara's smile vanished. His expression hardened, his tone rising with fury.
"Then tell me, can you find a better way?"
His voice thundered across the clearing.
"Can you solve the chaos of this world any other way? The Moon Eye won't last forever. Even I learned from Aizen; when the time comes, the illusion will fade, and humanity can reshape the world again!"
"There must be a better way!" Kagami's voice cracked with desperation. "There has to be something something that doesn't rely on deception!"
Madara snorted, his expression twisting into a cruel smile.
"I don't think you died at twenty five, Kagami. I think you died at fifteen because that's how naïve your words sound."
To Madara, there was nothing wrong with a peaceful illusion. What harm was there in giving people eternal happiness? He wouldn't leave them trapped forever. He had already refined the Moon Eye Plan.
When someone within the illusion reached true self awareness when they sincerely longed for a better life they would awaken, face reality, and rebuild the world anew.
That was the process of rebirth.
Everyone would carry the beauty of their dream world as inspiration to move forward in reality. The Eye of the Moon would restart the world in perfect order, and he, Uchiha Madara, would fulfill his duty as the god of the new era.
The wicked, the faithless, the weak would remain asleep forever. The courageous and the pure hearted would awaken and inherit the new dawn. There was no need to understand others; it was enough that every soul sought happiness.
And since he had chosen the plan himself, how could it possibly be wrong?
If there was fault, it lay not in him, but in the world.
In the ignorant masses who refused to imagine peace.
And above all, in Aizen Sosuke, the man whose existence forced his hand and shattered the fragile timeline of perfection he had envisioned.
If not for Aizen, the Moon Eye Plan would already have been complete. If not for that man, he might have found a true successor by now, someone capable of bringing the world its ultimate peace.
But now? All he had was a foolish boy before him, arguing philosophy in a graveyard beneath a dying sky.
"People only learn the value of peace after they've lost it," Madara said coldly. "The Eye of the Moon merely completes that cycle: gain and loss. That's what drives humanity forward."
He leaned back, his Sharingan glinting faintly in the dark.
"Even Aizen… I bear him no hatred. When the Moon Eye is complete, he too will witness the peace I create. He's a seeker of truth once he sees the result, he'll accept his defeat."
Then Madara's gaze fell back to Kagami, who stood frozen, fists clenched.
"And you," Madara continued, voice sharp as steel, "you call our plans evil, yet you have nothing to replace them. Aizen and I may walk different paths, but at least we walk. You, on the other hand, do nothing but oppose what you don't understand."
His smirk returned cold, mocking, triumphant.
"A fool who's grown in strength but not in wisdom. You talk of ideals, yet have none of your own."
He chuckled darkly, watching Kagami's trembling form with disdain.
"Pathetic. Fortunately for me… you're not worth the effort to hate."
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