Chapter 309: An Unfortunate Fate Part 2

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 309: An Unfortunate Fate Part 2

"The Rinnensharingan…" Madara repeated.

"That's right. An evolution of the most powerful eyes, their ultimate form… even fit for a God," Zetsu proclaimed.

"A God…" Madara was starting to truly feel like one now.

All of the chakra that had been taken away from him was now returning in troves, and it felt much more refined and potent than before.

No, it wasn't just what was taken away, but much more… he could feel an immense amount of chakra entering his body and fusing with him.

His new eyes were now able to see everything around him, and with a degree of detail that he never even knew existed.

The bodies of the fish-like man and the blonde young man at his side were starting to break apart and disintegrate. Their chakra had been consumed and filtered through the trunk of the tree, only to eventually travel to Madara.

"Noo! Stop!" Obito woke up just in time to realize that the same thing was happening to him.

His single Sharingan found Madara and Zetsu, and he continued to scream at them to stop this.

It was too late to stop what was happening. Something had been triggered the moment Madara awoke his new eyes, and it would not stop until the process was completed.

Obito lasted a long minute until his body became too decayed for him to continue his ranting… and just like that, the man who had been orchestrating and directing the Akatsuki organization from the shadows… died alone. His body broke apart and disappeared into dust particles.

There would be no burial, and no one would miss him.

With three of the last four members of Akatsuki dead, the organization could be considered officially destroyed.

Zetsu watched all of this happen without a shred of emotion on his face.

"They have served their purpose… they should be honored. Their deaths will be your Apotheosis!"

At that point, Madara should have noticed that Zetsu was not looking at him as he said these words, and instead, he was looking toward the Moon.

But Madara was too distracted by the overwhelming amount of information that his eyes were feeding his mind.

After the death of the three humans, the tree also began to decay… the roots turned dark grey, and large cracks appeared over their surface like it was turning into stone.

Finally, the wood from the tree that had been holding him prisoner started to release its hold.

The tree was dying while he was filled with life. He had never felt so powerful before, not even at his peak during his previous life.

Despite all the refinements that it had gone through, Madara could more or less tell the sources of all that energy.

A large amount of it had come from the two Bijuus that had been held inside the demon statue connected to the tree.

Some of it had been inside the tree itself. The seeds had been passively collecting chakra so they could one day fulfill their function.

Madara now understood it all. This was the Tree of Life...an otherworldly artifact that had been brought to this planet a very long time ago.

The purpose of the tree was to collect energy from the planet itself and create a single fruit that contained the condensed and purified combination of all the chakra in the world.

Whoever ate this fruit would gain powers akin to a God.

A frown appeared on Madara's face. Something must have gone wrong at some point, because this tree that had been keeping him prisoner for an entire year was no longer attempting to create the fruit. Its purpose had been shifted… forcibly changed to do something else.

Madara's senses extended to cover everything in his surroundings. But something else caught his attention.

His eyes moved toward the celestial body in the sky.

"There is… something there… it's calling for me…" It was too far away to tell what it was.

Madara moved his hand up and opened his palm as if he were trying to grab this massive and distant object. Legends said that it was the Sage of the Six Paths who created the Moon.

"Maybe I can use my eyes to… to see what… what?!"

Madara felt something hit his back, followed by an intense painful sensation.

When he looked down, he saw a black hand poking from his chest.

"Z-Zetsu…" How could he have missed when Zetsu moved behind him? Was he distracted by these new sensations?... No, he knew that was not the case.

This had been a trap from the beginning.

"My apologies, Lord Madara. As I said before, some sacrifices are necessary so we can achieve victory in the end."

"You…" He had been used. His senses had been clouded from the moment the tree had changed its behavior.

It was not a coincidence that his chakra was being returned while all the other humans had been drained to death.

Zetsu moved closer so their bodies were now touching.

Madara could not move one inch, it was like he had become paralyzed as when he was inside the tree.

"I wish I could explain more, but we are out of time," Zetsu said.

"You…" Madara could barely speak. But even during his last moments, he wanted to understand… more than anything else.

"You are my will… I made you, so, how…" How could Zetsu betray him?

"That was your own foolish conclusion… I was never your will. I was Hers! I only live to serve the Goddess." Zetsu's body began to morph and fuse into Madara's flesh.

"Goddess?..." Madara said.

"Your body and mine will now be used to free the Goddess from her prison, and to give her spirit a vessel to inhabit," Zetsu said. This may not have been the original plan, but he had been forced to improvise when Naruto began consuming all the Bijuus.

Zetsu's black mass covered Madara completely.

"A… ve…ssel…" Madara said his last words, and they were filled with frustration and anger. In the end, all his ploys had been for naught. He was defeated and used to serve as a vessel for some Goddess he had never heard about.

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