Chapter Eleven: It Seems There Is Only One Path Left
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Emiya Shihara…
Will you regret your naïveté and foolishness?
In this world, Black Zetsu rarely communicated with anyone. The person it had spoken with most was Emiya Shihara.
It had always wanted to mock him.
That thought had remained in Black Zetsu’s mind for a long time.
Black Zetsu had always regarded Emiya Shihara as one of its pawns, only to be betrayed and discarded by him on the eve of a major breakthrough in its plans. The feeling was rather unpleasant.
Black Zetsu had looked at the crystal coffin kept by the Senju clan more than once.
The last time had been two years earlier, when it had secretly infiltrated Tobirama Senju’s hidden chamber and stood arrogantly before the crystal coffin, mocking Emiya Shihara’s naïveté and stupidity.
But now…
Emiya Shihara had truly come back to life.
Black Zetsu truly had the chance to mock him to his face.
It even had the opportunity to put this pawn back into play—a pawn that was the only one capable of carrying its plan to success!
And yet, at this moment, Black Zetsu did not dare indulge in a momentary triumph. It needed to think carefully about its choice.
Because it had another pawn.
Madara Uchiha.
A brand-new pawn.
This pawn was advancing step by step according to its plan.
Although Madara Uchiha had taken only his first step and the future remained unclear, Black Zetsu already possessed a mature plan for making use of him.
As for Emiya Shihara…
Emiya Shihara was a fully developed specimen.
Back then, Black Zetsu had needed to do nothing at all. It had barely even guided him, yet Emiya Shihara had taken care of everything himself in his effort to destroy Ninshu.
Of course…
There was also the possibility that this era was different.
Black Zetsu did not know what state Emiya Shihara was in after his resurrection.
The remains of the Sage of Six Paths were no longer available for him to study in this era. All that remained were the reincarnations of Asura’s chakra and Indra’s chakra…
But perhaps…
That was not really a problem.
Emiya Shihara’s true strength had never been his power.
What truly made Emiya Shihara formidable was his extraordinarily gifted mind, along with the techniques of human experimentation he had developed in pursuit of advances in human medicine.
Black Zetsu had once witnessed firsthand the miracles Emiya Shihara had created by using the Sage of Six Paths’ corpse. It simply could not imagine that a genius like Emiya Shihara, armed with the theories Black Zetsu had provided, would be unable to solve the experimental problems involved in creating the Rinnegan.
The only trouble was…
Black Zetsu had lived for more than a thousand years. Would Emiya Shihara still believe it?
A monster that had survived for over a thousand years could not possibly have an ordinary identity.
Uh…
He probably would.
Black Zetsu only needed to come up with a convincing explanation.
For example, it could claim to be the will of the Divine Tree. That explanation did not seem very different from claiming to be Kaguya’s will…
To tell the truth?
Perhaps it did not matter.
Emiya Shihara already knew that Kaguya existed.
Most people from that era had known of Kaguya’s existence. They revered her as the Rabbit Goddess, the woman who served the Divine Tree.
When Black Zetsu had deceived Emiya Shihara, it had told him that chakra was not a power ordinary people could control, and that it had to fall into the hands of the right person lest it bring disaster upon the world.
Who was the right person?
Naturally, it was Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Rabbit Goddess worshiped by humanity. Only the Rabbit Goddess had the right to decide who should possess chakra.
Wait…
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Had Black Zetsu actually told him all that?
Black Zetsu desperately searched its memories of every conversation it had once shared with Emiya Shihara. It seemed that it really had mentioned its desire to resurrect the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya, because Emiya Shihara had gained power from the remains of the Divine Tree and had also worshiped both the tree and Kaguya, the goddess who served it…
It…
It seemed to have said far too much back then!
Black Zetsu could only uneasily recall the secrets it had never revealed to Emiya Shihara. Apparently, all that remained were its true identity and the method for resurrecting Kaguya…
A true resurrection of Kaguya would certainly require someone to sacrifice themselves and serve as the vessel for her rebirth. That secret could never be allowed to escape.
Fortunately…
Black Zetsu had kept that secret.
Yet precisely because it had kept that secret—because it had not told Emiya Shihara about any of the steps involved—its plan, which had nearly succeeded, had gone astray and ended in failure…
Still…
It had already revealed its desire to resurrect Kaguya.
“…”
Black Zetsu felt almost as though it were sweating.
That was not a reaction a creature like it should have been capable of displaying.
A thousand years ago, it had been too young and naïve. In front of Emiya Shihara, it had exposed so many of its thoughts. Fortunately, Emiya Shihara had also worshiped the Divine Tree and had simply believed it…
Truly…
It had been young, ignorant, and arrogant in those days…
How had it been so innocent back then?
It had actually laid bare so many of its thoughts before its own pawn!
After enduring the passage of countless years, Black Zetsu had begun to experience the sort of embarrassment humans felt upon reaching adulthood—shame and regret over the foolish things they had done in their youth.
At this point…
Did it even have a choice?
Regardless of what Emiya Shihara thought…
Regardless of how many doubts he had about Black Zetsu’s identity…
It…
It seemed it had no choice but to choose him.
Black Zetsu suddenly realized the predicament before it. Since Emiya Shihara knew far too many secrets, Black Zetsu could only choose him as its pawn!
If the resurrected Emiya Shihara exposed the secrets of the ancient era—or even revealed Black Zetsu’s existence—then Madara Uchiha would probably become unusable as well…
Unless…
Black Zetsu hid forever!
Yet Emiya Shihara would certainly reveal the secrets of the ancient era to the people of this age. Black Zetsu had no idea how long it would have to remain in hiding before it could finally emerge.
Actually, Emiya Shihara would do just fine…
After all, this pawn was remarkably capable.
Back then, when Black Zetsu had sunk into despair, believing that its plan to resurrect its mother would remain shrouded in darkness forever, Emiya Shihara had appeared like a sudden ray of light, illuminating the life Black Zetsu had thought would never brighten again.
“Wait…”
“Could this merely be my imagination?”
“I should go take a look at Emiya Shihara’s crystal coffin first…”
Black Zetsu’s form slipped silently into the earth, heading without a sound toward Tobirama Senju’s secret storeroom. It happened to know the location.
Soon, Black Zetsu arrived at the hidden chamber.
When it saw the shattered crystals scattered across the floor, it realized that the destruction had occurred only recently. No one had yet cleaned up the debris, and the broken edges were so fresh that they had not even gathered dust.
The half-corpse that had lain inside the crystal coffin…
Had vanished without a trace.
Black Zetsu immediately concluded that the Emiya Shihara it had seen had truly been resurrected. It also realized that his resurrection must have been connected to Tobirama Senju.
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That man, Tobirama Senju…
He had actually used half a corpse to resurrect Emiya Shihara…
He intended to use Emiya Shihara to heal Hashirama Senju’s grievous wounds!
Black Zetsu thought of the battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. It thought of Hashirama’s severe injuries and unconscious state, and immediately deduced Tobirama’s purpose.
That man…
He had truly found the right person!
During this battle, Hashirama Senju had been so badly wounded. In the entire thousand-year history of the shinobi world, if there was anyone besides the Sage of Six Paths who could save him…
It was probably Emiya Shihara.
“No…”
“Something seems a little wrong…”
“After his resurrection, is Emiya Shihara helping to save Hashirama Senju?”
Black Zetsu instinctively began to focus on Emiya Shihara’s situation. It recalled the conversation it had overheard between Emiya Shihara and Tobirama Senju.
Suddenly, a thought arose that terrified even Black Zetsu itself. The thought continued to spread through its mind.
“Hashirama Senju is the reincarnation of Asura’s chakra…”
“Hashirama Senju ended the wars and brought the thousand-year Warring States Era to an end. At the very least, he created a shinobi world that appeared peaceful on the surface…”
“That man, Emiya Shihara…”
“He must be able to sense that Hashirama Senju is the reincarnation carrying Asura’s chakra. And yet he is willing to help heal him…”
“No…”
“That fool, Emiya Shihara…”
“He can’t still believe Asura’s foolish words at a time like this, can he?”
This terrifying thought surfaced in Black Zetsu’s mind. It could no longer remain still. Its form sped through the earth beneath the ground.
At that moment…
Black Zetsu was unbearably anxious!
If Emiya Shihara still believed that fool Asura, how many secrets would he reveal to the shinobi of this age?
Black Zetsu had to find him as quickly as possible…
It had to learn what he was thinking!
If Emiya Shihara had not yet revealed any secrets, Black Zetsu had to find a way to persuade him to return to the plan they had once shared!
As for killing Emiya Shihara to keep everything secret…
That thought flashed through Black Zetsu’s mind and vanished at once.
Black Zetsu suspected that even if it found an opportunity to frame Emiya Shihara from the shadows and provoke a conflict between him and the shinobi of this age…
Come to think of it…
How much power did the resurrected Emiya Shihara still possess?
Although Emiya Shihara appeared not to have the Rinnegan, his own strength was still formidable. And what if, while Black Zetsu was plotting against him, Emiya Shihara—completely unaware of everything—carelessly revealed all of Black Zetsu’s secrets?
Besides…
Black Zetsu truly did not want to do that.
Compared with the troublesome and difficult new pawn that Madara Uchiha would become in the future, the pawn that had once come so close to success—Emiya Shihara—was simply too useful.
This was the easiest path.
After truly witnessing Emiya Shihara’s resurrection, no matter how many thoughts arose in Black Zetsu’s mind, all of them ultimately gave way, willingly or unwillingly, to a single idea.
Persuade Emiya Shihara…
To stand on its side.
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