Chapter 425: The Power of All Creation

Chapter 425: Chapter 425: The Power of All Creation

Gazing at the Tenseigan in Hyuga Kagami’s eyes, brilliant as the stars themselves, Itachi’s expression grew solemn.

Shisui patted Itachi on the shoulder. "That is Senpai’s Tenseigan—a powerful dōjutsu that stands above the Byakugan and rivals the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths!"

Itachi nodded lightly. "As expected of Kagami-senpai!"

During the previous battle in Amegakure, Itachi had arrived one step too late and had missed the scene of Hyuga Kagami battling Nagato. As a result, his understanding of Kagami’s true strength was still rather limited.

Shisui, however, was different.

He had witnessed Hyuga Kagami enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode several times and knew perfectly well that Kagami’s strength stood at the very pinnacle of Konoha.

Hyuga Kagami paid no attention to either Shisui or Itachi. Instead, he focused entirely on examining the stone tablet before him.

Under his Tenseigan, brilliant as a field of stars, the contents engraved upon the tablet were deciphered little by little.

Judging from the subtle differences between the traces left by the inscriptions throughout the tablet, Hyuga Kagami discovered that its contents could roughly be divided into four sections.

These four sections seemed to correspond precisely to the four stages of the Sage of Six Paths’ Yin Release lineage of ocular powers—the Sharingan, Mangekyō Sharingan, Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, and Rinnegan.

The section corresponding to the Sharingan contained very little information.

It merely recounted the story of Kaguya ōtsutsuki, who consumed the Chakra Fruit, single-handedly brought an end to the chaotic age, unified the shinobi world, and eventually gave birth to two sons.

This portion could essentially be regarded as a mythological tale.

Although it contained quite a bit of information, it held little practical significance for Uchiha clan members who possessed only the three-tomoe Sharingan.

The section corresponding to the Mangekyō Sharingan contained somewhat more.

It mentioned the story of the Sage of Six Paths subduing the rampaging Ten-Tails. It also explicitly stated that the Uchiha clan were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, as well as describing the Sage’s concerns regarding the Uchiha clan’s future.

From the wording, one could vaguely tell that the Sage of Six Paths held a rather pessimistic view of the Uchiha clan’s future.

From this, it was evident that the Uchiha clan’s inherent arrogance and sense of superiority probably stemmed not only from the tremendous power granted by their Sharingan Kekkei Genkai, but also partly from the contents of this section of the stone tablet.

After all, upon learning that they were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, the founder of Ninshū, just about anyone would find it difficult not to feel a little full of themselves.

The third section, corresponding to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, contained very little.

It mentioned only a single point, which could be summarized in many characters:

’Yin and Yang become one, giving rise to all creation.’

The meaning of this section was quite simple. Only by combining the Uchiha clan’s Yin Release with the Senju clan’s Yang Release, unifying Yin and Yang, could one obtain the power of All Creation—in other words, the power of the Rinnegan that represented the power of the Sage of Six Paths.

This was both the method of obtaining the Rinnegan and the means the Sage of Six Paths had left behind for the Uchiha clan to save themselves.

Madara Uchiha had clearly understood this point.

That was why, during his battle with the First Hokage at the Valley of the End, he secretly obtained a piece of the First Hokage’s flesh. By transplanting the First Hokage’s cells into his own body, he acquired the Yang Release power possessed by the First Hokage.

In the end, he fulfilled the tablet’s maxim of ’Yin and Yang become one’ and obtained the Rinnegan, which represented the Power of All Creation.

The fourth and final section, corresponding to the Rinnegan, mentioned the sealing of Kaguya ōtsutsuki, as well as the Sage of Six Paths’ concerns regarding the ōtsutsuki clan.

After reading the entire thing, Hyuga Kagami felt that this stone tablet could almost be regarded as the last testament the Sage of Six Paths had left for the lineage of ōtsutsuki Indra.

It not only explained the origins of the Uchiha clan, but also mentioned crucial information concerning the Chakra Fruit, the Ten-Tails, Yin Release, Yang Release, the method of evolving the Rinnegan, and finally, the sealing of Kaguya ōtsutsuki.

Of course, this was after Hyuga Kagami had stripped away all the information related to the Eye of the Moon.

Black Zetsu had very cleverly inserted the Eye of the Moon Plan into the stone tablet.

By tampering with the section corresponding to the Mangekyō Sharingan, he used the Sage of Six Paths’ concerns about the Uchiha clan’s future as a means of introducing the Eye of the Moon Plan.

Then, within the section corresponding to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, he added the steps required to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan and attributed the entire plan to the Sage of Six Paths himself.

The Sage of Six Paths’ original message on the stone tablet was that he hoped the Uchiha would come to understand that the union of Yin Release and Yang Release—and reconciliation between the Uchiha and Senju—was the true path to saving the Uchiha clan and obtaining the Power of All Creation.

But Black Zetsu had deliberately blurred this concept, twisting the Sage of Six Paths’ original intentions. He replaced reconciliation between the Uchiha and Senju with the Eye of the Moon Plan, presenting it as the method the Sage of Six Paths had left behind for the Uchiha clan to save themselves.

At the time, Madara Uchiha had only just obtained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan following the death of his younger brother, Izuna Uchiha, and his emotions were still in turmoil. Thus, after reading this portion of the tablet, the first seeds of an idea were planted in his heart.

Later, he fell out with the First Hokage and attempted to lead the Uchiha clan away from Konoha, only to meet resistance from the entire clan. In the end, he had no choice but to leave the village alone and in disgrace.

During this period, his heart was filled with betrayal and pain, and the seed buried within him rapidly took root.

He began plotting the Eye of the Moon Plan, embarking upon his own path toward the salvation of the Uchiha.

And the first step of that plan was to obtain the Power of All Creation.

That was what ultimately led to the Battle of the Valley of the End.

This could clearly be seen from several details surrounding the battle. Madara had delayed the activation of the forbidden technique Izanagi, choosing not to revive himself immediately during the battle and continue fighting the First Hokage. Instead, he chose to fake his death and escape.

Moreover, during the battle, he had secretly obtained a piece of the First Hokage’s flesh.

All of this made it obvious that the battle had been premeditated on Madara’s part. It was not simply a clash born from ideological differences with the First Hokage or a momentary struggle driven by pride.

Withdrawing his gaze from the stone tablet, a question suddenly arose in Hyuga Kagami’s mind.

Black Zetsu possessed neither the Rinnegan nor the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, yet not only could he decipher the contents of the stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths, he had even managed to alter it without anyone noticing.

Even Madara, who possessed the Rinnegan, and Hyuga Kagami, who possessed the Tenseigan, were unable to distinguish the traces of his alterations.

That inevitably raised a rather puzzling question.

"Could it be that when Kaguya created Black Zetsu, she also infused him with a portion of chakra at the Kekkei Mōra level?"

Hyuga Kagami couldn’t help but arrive at this conjecture.

After all, even with his Tenseigan, he was incapable of altering the stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths without leaving any traces.

Therefore, in his view, the fact that Black Zetsu had been capable of doing so meant that, nine times out of ten, he had relied upon a portion of Kaguya’s power that she had left within his body.

In truth, this sort of method was nothing particularly unusual.

Take the current Naruto, for example. Within his body, there should presently exist four distinct sources of chakra—the Nine-Tails, the Fourth Hokage, Kushina, and ōtsutsuki Asura.

And in the original timeline, Itachi had even placed a ninja crow containing the ocular power of his Mangekyō Sharingan inside Naruto’s body.

"I wonder how much of Kaguya’s power Black Zetsu still has left inside him. A thousand years have already passed, so there probably isn’t much remaining, right? Still, I can’t afford to let my guard down. That sneak attack he pulled on Madara was pretty damn vicious!"