Naka Shrine.
The former secret gathering place of the Uchiha clan was now overrun with weeds.
Passing through the collapsed red torii gate, Gensou arrived at the shrine's main hall, which was empty.
The Uchiha shinobi who had come with him were making the most of their time, cleaning the long-unattended Uchiha cemetery and expressing their emotions before the graves of their family members.
Meanwhile, the other person involved, Itachi, was on his way.
Gensou wasn't in a hurry.
He entered the hall and glanced to his right.
Counting from the far right, the seventh tatami mat.
Gensou reached out and pushed, revealing a hidden passageway leading downwards.
This basement was the true secret meeting place of Naka Shrine.
Within it, the stone tablet written by the Sage of the Six Paths was kept.
Gensou entered the basement and stood before the Uchiha stone tablet, where Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama had once stood, surveying it.
The characters on the stone tablet were obscure and difficult to understand.
It seemed as though some mysterious force was obstructing the words, and only the Sharingan could unveil the true meaning behind the inscriptions.
After a futile attempt, Gensou decided not to force it and formed a hand seal.
With a "poof," a white smoke rose beside him.
A clone, wearing the Uchiha blue kimono and a white spiral mask, appeared.
Without a word, the clone's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan activated, the black tomoe spinning within the blood-red pupils as he gazed at the Uchiha stone tablet.
The Sage of the Six Paths had originally left this stone tablet to guide future reincarnations of Indra, hoping they wouldn't follow the old path and encouraging them to believe in love.
However, after Black Zetsu discovered the stone tablet, he altered much of its content.
What Gensou saw now was the altered version of the stone tablet.
The content revealed varied based on the power of the eye—from the basic Sharingan to the Mangekyō Sharingan, and then to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Normally, the Mangekyō Sharingan in Gensou's clone could at most read what Itachi could—information such as the origin of the Uchiha's Sharingan, how to awaken it, how to evolve it to Mangekyō, and how to evolve further to the Eternal Mangekyō.
It wouldn't be enough to reach the level of Uchiha Madara's Eternal Mangekyō.
However, to Gensou's surprise, he found that he could read the entire content of the stone tablet, just as Madara once had.
"Senju and Uchiha, two opposing forces acting upon each other, creating all things."
The so-called "all things" referred to everything.
'That's where Madara got the idea that led him down a completely different path. And now, it's trying to sway me?'
On the surface, Gensou was reading attentively, but inwardly, he couldn't help but sneer.
The reason he could see this content wasn't because Shisui's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan had somehow reached the level of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Just as Black Zetsu had once altered the stone tablet's content.
Now, the requirements for deciphering the stone tablet had been lowered by the same force.
'Judging from this, Black Zetsu is considering me as a potential candidate for his "Mother Revival Plan"? Could it be because during my battle with Itachi, both Obito and Black Zetsu were observing and got interested?'
To be fair, with Gensou's current power, if he were to take over the Eye of the Moon Plan, his success rate would indeed be higher than that of Obito.
After witnessing Gensou's displayed power a year ago, although Black Zetsu hadn't replaced Obito, his usual practice of casting a wide net and having backup plans had led to some small measures behind the scenes.
For instance, with the Uchiha stone tablet now.
'Seems like Black Zetsu anticipated that I would come here. I wonder if he's actually present right now.'
Gensou discreetly scanned the surroundings, and after finding nothing, he continued reading the remaining content of the stone tablet—the final step in all the scheming.
Infinite Tsukuyomi!
The altered stone tablet by Black Zetsu detailed the steps to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi, such as collecting the nine tailed beasts, becoming the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, and casting Infinite Tsukuyomi upon the moon.
Once completed, everyone in the world would fall into a deep slumber, forever dreaming of a life in which they were the protagonist, a happy and fulfilling dream.
The Shinobi World would be free of war, killing, pain, and despair.
True peace would finally be achieved!
'This is how Madara got deceived.'
Gensou snickered in his heart.
On the surface, though, he wore an intrigued expression, his tone filled with surprise and excitement:
"Interesting."
With his progress in the Kekkei Sōmō (Bloodline Network) stalling due to a lack of chakra, Gensou had considered all possible solutions and found only one.
Though the planet was large, the chakra it could truly bear was limited.
Only by completely absorbing the power of the God Tree had Kaguya managed to achieve her ascension and obtain the Bloodline Network.
After inheriting Kaguya's chakra, sealing his own mother, and separating the God Tree, Hagoromo himself had also become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, reaching the level of the Bloodline Network.
In essence, Hagoromo had to strip Kaguya's power and augment himself to complete the Bloodline Network and reach the pinnacle of the Sage of the Six Paths' power.
From this, it was clear that the total amount of chakra on this planet was only enough to satisfy one or two wielders of the Bloodline Network at most.
No matter how Gensou sought other means to increase his chakra reserves, it simply wouldn't be enough.
It would be better to aim directly, capture the nine tailed beasts—the greatest chakra sources on this planet—and achieve the Ten-Tails.
Of course, he had no real interest in becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki or releasing Kaguya.
Gensou's objective was clear.
To gather enough chakra to advance to the level of the Kekkei Sōmō!
The Ten-Tails, and even the chakra collected under Infinite Tsukuyomi from the entire shinobi world, was what he needed.
For this, Gensou didn't mind playing along for now.
After all, key components like the Rinnegan and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path were not yet in his possession.
If he wanted to take advantage of the situation, he'd need to leave a good impression, wouldn't he?
At this moment, having finished deciphering the stone tablet, Gensou did not leave immediately but focused on the part about "Infinite Tsukuyomi" for a long time.
"A world where everyone dreams while I alone remain awake—bringing peace to the shinobi world and ensuring no interruptions to my training. To be honest, it's not a bad choice."
After some time, Gensou finally spoke, his tone half genuine, half in jest.
It was at that moment.
A shadowy figure rose slowly from a dark corner of the basement.
As a creation of the Sage, separated from White Zetsu, Black Zetsu could easily remain undetected by anyone below the level of a Six Paths user if he wished to hide.
Noticing Gensou standing before the stone tablet for so long.
The corners of Black Zetsu's mouth curved upward.
Another prey had taken the bait.
(End of Chapter)
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