Meanwhile, high above, Akira's thoughts churned with frustration.
Rage burned quietly behind his calm expression.
When he awakened his personal Tenseigan atop the ancestral Giant Tenseigan's power, he already had control over; he had believed himself untouchable on Earth, certain he could erase every obstacle there with ease and fix all the hidden variables he planned easily.
That optimistic confidence now felt almost childish, however.
Not only had he failed to reclaim the Gedo Statue and the troublesome Rinnegan that had stolen it in the first place, but he had also been wounded and forced to retreat like this.
Still, it wasn't hopeless. He had learned much about his greatest enemy, the true Rinnegan holder, and the full range of that power's abilities this time.
In truth, Akira had never "fought" anyone truly seriously before, let alone a monster and crafty veteran like Madara Uchiha, and a true wielder of the Earth's Rinnegan.
His only clashes had been brief bouts with the few surviving elders of his clan or harmless spars with his wife, the only other younger generation of their clan, during his youth.
Therefore, this was the first real battle of his life, against an opponent perhaps no weaker than him, and it had taught him more than any decade of isolation ever could.
He realized now how unpredictable the Rinnegan was, far more versatile and deceptive than his own Tenseigan's straightforward dominance.
It wasn't inferior at all, perhaps even more dangerous in skilled hands.
His opponent's vitality also stood out; his essence felt different, like a hybrid infused with another great power, not far from Akira's own, not just an ordinary Uchiha.
There was no shame in being pushed back by such a warrior. Next time, he would be ready.
He needed this "humbling," he even felt now. He needed to experience the earthlings' "insidiousness" and Hagoromo's side of power heritage.
He now also knew that he would need a sharper strategy, for the next time, better combat tactics, and a mind trained for warfare, not divine isolation.
Charging head-on against an equal, especially one with the battle experience of a Warring States legend, was pointless, he understood.
Striking from the shadows, waiting for weakness, letting Earth's chaos turn his enemies against each other, that was the way wiser path.
Time was his ally; he wasn't hurrying anywhere really.
Akira also knew his Giant Tenseigan's energy was finite.
Maintaining this link, all the way down to Earth, drained his reserves faster than expected, while his opponent, though lacking such a vessel, could likely escape at will through that spatial technique his ally possessed.
It wasn't worth wasting any more power here, no matter from which angle you looked at it.
"Perhaps if I finally manage to locate the Hyūga's inferior knock-off of our Giant Tenseigan, here on Earth, in the future, I could use it instead for stuff like his, or even link it with my clan's vessel on the Moon to reduce energy loss during transmission..." Akira thought.
It might serve as an intermediate step, a way to refine his power further before his next descent.
Either way, he would plan better, wait for the perfect moment, and when it came, he would kill the Rinnegan user, reclaim those stolen eyes unworthy of any earthling, and recover his Gedo Statue.
This temporary defeat would be nothing more than preparation for the inevitable return.
***
Meanwhile, across the barren wasteland that had once been Amegakure and its surroundings, Madara stood motionless, gazing into the sky.
Outwardly calm, but inside, his mind churned like a storm.
Countless thoughts collided in his head.
Something was wrong, something missing from the worldview he had built since reading the Uchiha Stone Tablet.
It had revealed its message clearly to him back then, when he read it with the highest form any Uchiha's Sharingan could attain.
"The Sage had sealed away the Ten Tails, as the Moon, to stop the chaos. But people still fight. The Infinite Tsukuyomi will finish what the Sage started, but couldn't finish, an eternal dream of peace."
"But how could there be people on the Moon then?" Madara thought, his eyes narrowing. "The Sage himself sealed the statue there—he couldn't have been unaware of them. And that man… how could one of them possess such power, and even claim to be its guardian?"
The contradiction gnawed at him.
If the Moon dwellers were protectors of the Gedo Statue, why had the tablet said nothing?
Why had the Sage's message been so one-sided—urging the Rinnegan's summoning as salvation, yet leaving out that others existed to guard it from exactly that?
It made no sense.
Madara's earlier conviction had always been relatively straightforward, but now, that logic, powering his resolve for decades, wavered more and more.
If another bloodline, powerful enough to rival his own, existed beyond Earth… if they too were descendants of the Sage's lineage, why had the truth been hidden?
The Byakugan was supposed to be a pale reflection of the Sharingan, not something that could evolve into this.
Yet what he faced had equaled, perhaps even surpassed, the Rinnegan itself.
Madara's eyes narrowed. "Then either the Stone Tablet was incomplete," he murmured, "or someone wanted me to see only part of the truth."
The thought unsettled him more than he expected.
He had always believed he stood at the pinnacle of understanding, but now, for the first time, he felt the edges of a greater world pressing in—a world his knowledge had not yet touched.
Perhaps it was time, he realized, to broaden his gaze beyond that singular stone writing or even the Earth itself.
Meanwhile, Black Zetsu also watched Madara's distant, thoughtful stare and felt a deep unease creep through him.
"Damn it," he thought bitterly. "That fool just had to start talking. If he'd even mentioned Hamura by name, I'd be finished. I also underestimated Madara's mind previously; he's probably already reexamining the tablet and connecting the pieces."
He could tell exactly what was happening. Madara was beginning to question everything: the contradictions, the missing details, the inconsistencies Zetsu had buried over centuries.
And that made him dangerous.
The more he thought, the closer he came to breaking free of Zetsu's influence entirely.
"But I had no choice," Zetsu thought, his tone edged with frustration. "Reviving him was the only way to counter that intruder. Now everything's unraveling faster than ever planned."
He sank deeper into Madara's shadow, considering his options.
He had always known this risk might come; that was why he had prepared several contingencies, big and small, from the start.
After all, nothing in history had ever gone exactly as planned.
Madara's intellect partially made him the ideal vessel, yet also the most dangerous one once doubt began to grow.
"He's confused for now," Zetsu thought grimly, watching Madara's distant stare. "But it's only a matter of time, perhaps, before he pieces everything together and traces it all back to me."
"And once he does, it's over. I'll have to disappear before that happens, and activate the real Plan B, if it comes to it."
Yet, even he hesitated at the thought.
The Edo Tensei he'd used, originally a failsafe in case Nagato's role collapsed, and it failed to revive Madara, had never been his true backup.
It was merely another safeguard, a single layer of assurance within this larger "new Indra" plan architecture itself.
But he had prepared another path from the very beginning, a far riskier one.
That risk was why it had always remained his true "Plan B," reserved only for the last resort, even if it meant waiting another thousand years without his mother before daring to use it.
One whose consequences even he couldn't predict, and one that might not bring Kaguya back exactly like he desired.
Still, there was no choice.
The situation had gone far beyond his control.
For now, he stayed quiet, pretending loyalty, watching Madara's gaze fixed on the sky.
But inside, he was already preparing to vanish, before that gaze finally turned on him.