Chapter 139: Black Zetsu, What the Hell Are You Making Up?
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu are extremely strong when it comes to infiltration and stealth.
But that strength mainly lies in their ability to block perception and disguise themselves.
They cannot physically turn invisible.
So even though Senju Tobirama didn't sense Black Zetsu at first, once his eyes caught him, he naturally noticed.
Facing Tobirama's questioning gaze, Nagato looked toward Shiromo. That gesture alone was enough to show that this was not an order he had given.
"Black Zetsu, what's going on?"
Shiromo didn't say much. He simply walked forward.
Tobirama and the others followed closely behind.
This was no small matter, caution was necessary.
"Strategist, this attempt to revive Mother has failed."
Black Zetsu stood calmly half-buried in the ground. Only after everyone had gathered did he speak to Shiromo in an even tone.
"Mother?!"
Tobirama immediately seized on the key word and stared at Shiromo in shock: "Just who 'is' this thing, exactly?"
The others were equally stunned.
Shiromo had already told them that Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was the Sage of Six Paths' mother.
Then this lump of black stuff couldn't possibly be the Sage of Six Paths himself, right?
"You're just going to tell everyone like that?"
Shiromo was actually curious. Why was Black Zetsu suddenly being so frank?
Before this, Black Zetsu had never revealed this information to anyone.
That included everyone within the Akatsuki, and even Shiromo himself, who had proposed the plan to revive Kaguya.
And now Black Zetsu just said it outright.
And among those present, there was even a reincarnation of Asura's chakra.
"Strategist, you have no emotional reaction. Looks like you already knew. I knew it would be like this."
"That's right. I am Kaguya's will. I have existed for over a thousand years solely to revive Kaguya."
"Under your plan, the people of the ninja world will no longer treat Mother the way Hagoromo and Hamura did."
"I went to see all those movies. They were very moving."
"Don't worry, I didn't sneak in, I used Kakuzu's money to buy tickets. White Zetsu and I even paid for a couple's seat…"
"Hold on," Tobirama cut in.
"Why does this sound like you're delivering your last words?"
"…They 'are' last words. Because this revival attempt failed, I can clearly feel my consciousness dissipating. From now on, the task of reviving Mother will be entrusted to you, Strategist."
After answering, Black Zetsu continued addressing Shiromo.
He talked about how those films made him feel that Shiromo truly understood Mother.
About how he had personally witnessed Mother's worries regarding the arrival of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
About how even Hashirama, Asura's reincarnation, had come to "correctly" understand Mother's existence.
In short, it was an unbroken stream of praise for Shiromo, all meant to steady him and make him continue unwaveringly down the path of reviving Kaguya.
As the saying goes: when a person is about to die, their words tend to be kind.
In truth, even if Black Zetsu wanted to be unkind, it wouldn't help.
He possessed no power whatsoever and had no way to resist this dissipation of consciousness. All he could do was place his hopes on Shiromo.
Of course, aside from pinning everything on Shiromo, Black Zetsu also wanted, if possible, to clear up everyone's misunderstandings about Mother.
And so, Black Zetsu began to tell a story.
When the story ended, Just as everyone was sighing in amazement, thinking that such strange and tragic events had occurred in ancient times, that even the progenitor of chakra had suffered such a miserable past.
Shiromo suddenly dropped a single sentence that sent a chill down Black Zetsu's spine.
"Black Zetsu, this is really you overdoing it."
"W-What? Did I do something wrong?"
In Black Zetsu's normally expressionless eyes, a trace of panic appeared.
He wasn't afraid that Shiromo had seen through some hidden truth.
He was genuinely afraid that he had done something wrong and disrupted some part of Shiromo's plan.
"I think there's something seriously off about it too. You were just making up a story to fool us, weren't you?"
Kushina nodded in agreement.
"What?"
Hearing this, even those who hadn't pinpointed the exact problem immediately grew wary of Black Zetsu.
"See?"
Shiromo spread his hands.
The attitude of the people around them explained everything.
Black Zetsu had indeed added unnecessary embellishments.
"You said at the end that you were expelled and born at the very moment Kaguya was sealed by the Sage of Six Paths and his brother."
"Even if you inherited the will to revive Kaguya, and along with it knew 'some' things about the Sage brothers, how did you know everything that happened 'before' that?"
"And if you knew even the earlier events, then why did you not know the most important thing of all, the existence of the extraterrestrial Ōtsutsuki clan?"
Shiromo's two rhetorical questions made Black Zetsu's scalp go numb.
Indeed, Black Zetsu had completely overlooked this problem.
After seeing Shiromo make films and write scripts so often, he had started to believe he could also cobble together a plausible story, shaping Mother into a loving victim.
But the holes were far too many.
This had originally been one of Shiromo's reasonable speculations regarding Kaguya's backstory, and now it was proven correct.
Unlike the original version where Kaguya was blessed and gave birth to Hagoromo and Hamura, the anime had given her an absurd romantic storyline.
A yuri-loving handmaiden named Aino, and the emperor of the Land of Ancestors.
The latter was especially outrageous, compared to him, even Liu Yanchang looked almost human. (Liu Yanchang father of MC Chenxiang from Lotus Lantern)
What was even more ridiculous was that Kaguya was portrayed as a concubine, one who could even be demanded by people from other countries.
All of this absurdity could be explained with one perfectly reasonable conclusion,
Black Zetsu was right here making up Kaguya fanfiction.
To create an image of Kaguya as a "victim" who "understood love," Black Zetsu, with the confidence of a modern third-rate screenwriter, waved his hand and produced such an outrageous script.
Kushina was able to see through it precisely because she was the only person present with real heterosexual experience.
She could clearly sense that the so-called emperor in the story wasn't even human.
Regardless of how handsome he might have been, even if he were stunning beyond belief, aside from some sugar mommy types, no one would ever want him.
Who was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?
According to Shiromo, she had just decisively killed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and fed him to the Ten-Tails.
And the very next moment she supposedly turned into a lovesick idiot and married a mentally deficient emperor?
That was a complete collapse of character consistency.
So as the only one with heterosexual experience, Kushina immediately spotted the problem in Black Zetsu's story.
It was nowhere near as convincing as the love stories Jiraiya wrote.
If this were published, it would be torn apart by critics.
"So you're telling me you wasted your final moments just to add this unnecessary, completely improvised story?"
Shiromo squatted down, looking at Black Zetsu's head poking out of the ground. It was starting to feel like Black Zetsu's thousand-year plan hadn't gone anywhere not only because he lacked power, but because he also lacked intelligence.
Still, that wasn't entirely Black Zetsu's fault.
After all, Black Zetsu had neither a soul nor a brain.
Who knew what level his intelligence was actually at?
"I'm sorry."
Black Zetsu lowered his head.
Compared to Shiromo, he really was far inferior.
"Forget it. Let me at least let you go in peace. Actually, I already have a Plan B."
Shiromo patted Black Zetsu on the shoulder.
Buzz.
Black Zetsu suddenly twitched violently. His whole body shuddered, then went stiff.
Like a corpse.
(End of this chapter)