Chapter 181 - 181
"Hehehe, as expected of a reserve member of the Organization." A small, shadowy figure with beady eyes slowly rose from the ground. "I hid so deeply, yet you still discovered me."
To be entirely precise, it was Black Zetsu.
The other half, White Zetsu, was nowhere to be seen. The longer Naruto looked at the figure, the more he resembled the culprit silhouette from conan anime. Well, if he narrowed his eyes a bit. Maybe Black Zetsu was born to be a villain.
"Zetsu-senpai, I told you before, you can't hide from my senses." Naruto wasn't surprised by Black Zetsu's appearance, his expression remained completely calm. "And you seem a bit different than usual. Hmm... where's your other half?"
Naruto was referring to White Zetsu.
Black Zetsu explained, "He and I are different individuals. Although we are both Zetsu, we are not the same entity."
'Naruto, his ki is very strange.'
Inside the Seal Space, Goku spoke up unexpectedly. He pinched his chin, frowning in deep concentration.
'It's not exactly evil, but it's not good either. So weird. This is the first time I've seen ki like this.'
Although Black Zetsu was the mastermind behind the entire shinobi world's tragic plot, all his talent points were invested in escape and stealth, his direct combat ability was only average. Furthermore, aside from sowing discord, he never really engaged in indiscriminate slaughter. His goal was singular: to save his mother.
Unlike a certain unfilial son, he was the number one filial son in the ninja world.
Judged purely by his ultimate objective, he wasn't necessarily a villain.
But to say he had committed no evil? That wasn't right either, Black Zetsu had plenty of blood on his hands, atleast indirectly.
It could only be said that his underlying nature wasn't purely malicious.
This was one fundamental difference between the two worlds. In the Dragon Ball verse, good and evil were clear-cut. The three main antagonists of the Z Era, Frieza, Cell, and Kid Buu, were pure evil. Unless they died and were reincarnated, there was no chance of redemption, even Vegeta went straight to hell after he died.
Naruto's world was different. No matter how many atrocities an antagonist committed, as long as they explained their tragic backstory, it could be used to whitewash them. After all, for some reason Naruto couldn't understand, in his past life he knew there were many people who were fans of Obito and Itachi.
Even a character like Danzo, who served as the darkness of Konoha and existed specifically to take the blame, had people defending him. Nothing was impossible here.
If Danzo had been designed to be a bit more handsome, he undoubtedly would have been another highly popular character.
'Sensei, you'll encounter more ki like this in the future.' Previously, Goku couldn't perceive the outside world in detail. But now, as Naruto's power grew, Goku could sense external information to a certain extent.
'The two worlds we are in are completely different.'
'Is that so?' Goku looked enlightened. 'Hahaha, I don't really understand this stuff. But I'm quite curious about this world too, I want to learn more about it.'
You wouldn't want to understand this world. Deception, betrayal, lies. On the surface, it preached passion and bonds, but underneath, it was all about devouring people alive.
No matter how hard ordinary people strived, they could not surpass bloodline determinism.
In a way, the bitter phrase Neji once said, 'Destiny cannot be changed, it is determined from birth', was actually correct.
"Zetsu-senpai, what is your purpose in coming to meet me?" Naruto continued. "I remember the leader hasn't announced any new activities recently, right? Is there some message?"
Black Zetsu shook his head. "I'm not here because of Pain."
"Then state your purpose!" Naruto's voice immediately sharpened, his gaze piercing at Black Zetsu.
Even that brief eye contact made Black Zetsu's pause.
This Nine-Tails Brat's eyes... are so sinister.
It felt even more terrifying than facing Indra back in the day.
"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. May I call you that?" Black Zetsu suddenly felt a pang of regret about his earlier decision. But too many unexpected things had happened lately, and Obito was truly unreliable. He could only steel himself and press on. "You should know that the Nine-Tails inside you is the leader of the Tailed Beasts, correct?"
"But do you know why creatures like the Tailed Beasts even exist?"
"Tailed beasts are born from the resentment of humans combined with natural energy." Naruto calmly stated the currently accepted explanation for their origin.
The ninja who coveted the power of the Tailed Beasts wouldn't write down the actual facts in their history books.
They had to vilify and stigmatize the beasts first, so they could stand on the moral high ground and capture them under justified reasons.
After all, that was how politics had always been done.
As for the Tailed Beasts explaining things, or the jinchuriki who knew the truth explaining...
Who would believe a monster?
After being betrayed too many times, the Tailed Beasts simply stopped explaining over the centuries.
It was useless anyway.
"No, that's incorrect. Tailed beasts merely absorb the various emotions generated by humans." Black Zetsu shook his head. "This is due to the unique nature of their bodies, which absorb these free-floating spiritual energies. Even without active absorption, these spiritual energies naturally attach themselves to the surface of a Tailed Beast's body."
"And because resentment is the strongest and most frequent human emotion, wherever there's injustice, resentment is born, wherever there's war, hatred is born, for millennia, humans have waged war incessantly. This world has been perpetually saturated with these negative spiritual energies. So, it simply appears as if Tailed Beasts are incarnations of human resentment."
"But they were not created for that reason."
In other words, Tailed Beasts are products of Yin-Yang Release. The chakra within them doesn't appear out of thin air, they continuously absorb the scattered Yin and Yang chakra in the world. The concept of Yin Release is very broad, encompassing spiritual energy, which in turn includes complex emotions.
Furthermore, Tailed Beasts can naturally grow by absorbing this energy. In the ancient past, the newly born Tailed Beasts were just cute little things. After a thousand years, each had grown to a monstrous size.
"Tailed beasts weren't nurtured by nature, they were created artificially."
Seeing that Naruto was gradually getting drawn in by his words, Black Zetsu threw out several more philosophical questions.
"So, do you know who created the Nine Tailed Beasts? And what his purpose was in creating them?"
"Do you know what vital mission the Tailed Beasts carry on their shoulders?"
Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Zetsu-senpai, what do you mean? You're not going to say you know, are you?"
"Let me tell you a story. After hearing it, you'll probably understand." Black Zetsu's tone became immensely aged, as if lost in some distant memory. "Thousands of years ago, when the world was young, the Sage of Six Paths distributed chakra to humans. To safeguard the ninja world, he created the Nine Tailed Beasts."
Why does this sound so familiar?
It seems like the exact same script I used to persuade Nagato. You're using my own tricks against me Zetsu?
"Do you know the true mission of a jinchuriki? Do you wish to obtain the grand legacy of the Sage of Six Paths?"
Naruto hesitated on how to answer this question, though Black Zetsu interpreted this hesitation as being utterly stunned by his revelation.
'Is Black Zetsu really trying to trick me right now?'
As Black Zetsu continued his narration, his ancient voice carried an temptation.
"Do you want to know the truth of this world? Do you want to understand the meaning of life?"
"Do you want to truly live?"
"Nope, not interested." Naruto's reply was perfectly decisive.
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