Emiya Shihara...
Will you regret your own naive foolishness?
In this world, Black Zetsu rarely communicated with others, and the person it communicated with the most was Emiya Shihara.
Mocking Emiya Shihara.
This thought had been constantly running through Black Zetsu's mind.
Black Zetsu had always regarded Emiya Shihara as its pawn, yet on the eve of its plan making significant progress, it was betrayed and discarded by Emiya Shihara. That feeling was not particularly pleasant.
Black Zetsu had looked at the crystal coffin kept by the Senju clan more than once.
The last time was two years ago, when Black Zetsu stealthily sneaked into Senju Tobirama's secret chamber and proudly stood before the crystal coffin housed by the Senju clan, mocking Emiya Shihara's naive foolishness.
Now...
Emiya Shihara had truly been resurrected.
It finally had the chance to mock him in person.
It was even an opportunity to reactivate this pawn—the only pawn capable of leading its plan to success!
However, Black Zetsu dared not indulge in a moment of hasty satisfaction this time; it needed to carefully weigh its choices.
Because it had a new pawn.
Uchiha Madara.
This was a brand-new pawn.
This pawn was walking step by step according to its plan.
Although this pawn, Uchiha Madara, had only taken its first step and the prospects were not yet entirely clear, it already had a mature strategy regarding how to utilize Uchiha Madara.
As for Emiya Shihara...
Emiya Shihara was a mature classic.
Back then, it did not need to do anything at all, not even guide him properly, yet Emiya Shihara went ahead and settled everything himself just to destroy the Ninjutsu Sect.
Of course...
Exceptions in this era could not be ruled out.
It had no idea what state the resurrected Emiya Shihara was in.
This era no longer had the remains of the Sage of Six Paths for him to study; there were only the Chakra reincarnates of Asura and Indra left...
It seemed...
This was not much of a problem either.
Emiya Shihara's true strength did not lie in sheer power.
Emiya Shihara's true strength lay in his genius mind, in the human experimentation techniques derived from his research into the advancement of human medicine.
Having once witnessed with its own eyes what kind of miracles Emiya Shihara had created using the corpse of the Sage of Six Paths, Black Zetsu genuinely found it hard to imagine that a genius like Emiya Shihara, armed with the theories it provided, could fail to resolve the experimental problems surrounding the birth of the Rinnegan.
The only trouble was...
Having lived for thousands of years, would Emiya Shihara still trust it? The identity of a monster that had lived for a millennia certainly could not be simple or ordinary.
Uhm...
Probably so.
As long as it fabricated a reasonable excuse.
For instance, claiming to be the will of the God Tree—such a pitch did not seem all that different from Kaguya's will...
To be honest?
Did it even matter?
Because Emiya Shihara knew of Kaguya's existence.
Most people from that era knew of Kaguya's existence, revering her as the Goddess of the Rabbit who served the God Tree.
When it deceived Emiya Shihara back then, it lied by claiming that Chakra was not a power ordinary people could master, and that it must fall into the right hands to avoid bringing disaster upon the world.
Who were the right hands?
Naturally, it was the Goddess of the Rabbit, Otsutsuki Kaguya, whom humanity worshipped. Only the Goddess of the Rabbit could decide the rightful owner of Chakra.
Wait...
Did it really blurt all of that out?
Black Zetsu racked its brain, recalling every little detail of its interactions with Emiya Shihara. It seemed it really had mentioned the idea of resurrecting the Goddess of the Rabbit, Kaguya, to Emiya Shihara, because Emiya Shihara had gained power from the God Tree Remnant and also believed in the God Tree and the Goddess of the Rabbit Kaguya who served it...
It...
Seemed to have said way too much back then!
Black Zetsu could only anxiously recall the secrets it had never leaked to Emiya Shihara in those days. It seemed the only things left unsaid were its true identity and the methods for resurrecting Kaguya...
Because truly resurrecting Kaguya inevitably required someone to sacrifice themselves and act as a resurrection vessel—that secret could not be leaked under any circumstances.
Fortunately...
It had guarded that secret.
Yet it was precisely because it guarded that secret, withholding even the individual steps from Emiya Shihara, that the plan—which was on the verge of success—went off course and failed...
However...
It had already leaked the notion that it wanted to resurrect Kaguya.
"......"
Black Zetsu felt a sudden urge to sweat.
This was not a reaction that a creature like it should have.
It had been too young and naive a millennium ago, actually exposing so many thoughts in front of Emiya Shihara. Fortunately, Emiya Shihara also believed in the God Tree and trusted it unconditionally...
Truly...
How young, ignorant, and reckless it had been back then...
Why had its past self been so naive?
To think it had so candidly revealed its mind to its own pawn!
After enduring the passage of long ages, Black Zetsu experienced something akin to the awkwardness of human adulthood, feeling embarrassed and regretful over the actions of its youth.
At this point...
Did it even have a choice?
Regardless of what Emiya Shihara's thoughts might be...
Regardless of how confused Emiya Shihara was about its identity...
It...
Seemed forced to choose him.
Black Zetsu abruptly realized the predicament it faced: because Emiya Shihara knew far too many secrets, it had no choice but to select Emiya Shihara as its pawn once again!
If the resurrected Emiya Shihara were to leak the secrets of the ancient era, or even expose its own existence, the pawn Uchiha Madara would probably become unusable as well...
Unless...
It hid away forever!
Yet Emiya Shihara would undoubtedly leak the ancient secrets to the present era, and it had no idea when or where the hiding would ever end.
Actually, Emiya Shihara would do just fine...
After all, Emiya Shihara was a remarkably capable pawn.
Back then, when it had fallen into despair, believing that the plan to resurrect its mother would never see the light of day, Emiya Shihara had appeared out of nowhere like a blazing comet, illuminating the life Black Zetsu had thought would remain perpetually dim.
"Wait..."
"Perhaps I'm just imagining things?"
"Let's go check on Emiya Shihara's crystal coffin first..."
Black Zetsu's figure quietly sank into the ground, silently making its way toward Senju Tobirama's secret storage chamber, since it happened to know the location.
Soon enough.
Black Zetsu arrived at the secret room.
When Black Zetsu saw the shattered crystals littering the floor of the room—and judging by how recently the crystals had broken, they had not yet been cleaned up, with the jagged edges still completely free of dust—
The half-corpse inside the crystal coffin...
Naturally vanished without a trace.
Black Zetsu immediately concluded that the Emiya Shihara it had seen was truly resurrected, and even deduced that his resurrection was certainly tied to Senju Tobirama.
That fellow Senju Tobirama...
Actually used a half-corpse to resurrect Emiya Shihara...
That fellow wanted to use Emiya Shihara to heal the heavily injured Senju Hashirama!
Black Zetsu thought of the great battle between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, and recalled Senju Hashirama's critical injuries and unconscious state; it had already guessed Senju Tobirama's objective!
That fellow...
Really found the right person!
In this massive battle, Senju Hashirama had been injured so severely that if anyone across the entire thousand-year history of the Shinobi World could save Senju Hashirama...
Aside from the Sage of Six Paths...
It was probably only Emiya Shihara.
"No..."
"Something feels a bit off..."
"Emiya Shihara is helping save Senju Hashirama right after being resurrected?"
Black Zetsu subconsciously turned its attention to Emiya Shihara's situation, recalling the conversation between Emiya Shihara and Senju Tobirama that it had eavesdropped on.
A thought suddenly popped into Black Zetsu's mind, one that filled even itself with sheer terror, and this thought continued to expand within its head.
"Senju Hashirama is the reincarnation of Asura's Chakra..."
"Senju Hashirama quelled the wars and pacified the Warring States Period that had lasted for a thousand years, at least recreating a Shinobi World that looked peaceful on the surface..."
"That fellow Emiya Shihara..."
"He will definitely be able to sense that Senju Hashirama is the reincarnation bearing Asura's Chakra, yet he is willing to help treat Senju Hashirama..."
"No..."
"That idiot Emiya Shihara..."
"Don't tell me he still believes Asura's foolish nonsense at a time like this?"
This terrifying thought surfaced in Black Zetsu's mind, and it could no longer stay still a single second longer, its figure darting swiftly underground.
At this moment...
Black Zetsu felt an unmatched sense of anxiety!
If Emiya Shihara still believed in that fool Asura, how many secrets would he leak to the ninja of this era!
It had to find him as soon as possible...
It had to learn his intentions as soon as possible!
If Emiya Shihara had not yet had the chance to leak the secrets, it had to find a way to persuade him to return to their original plan!
As for killing Emiya Shihara to keep the secret...
Such a thought flashed and vanished in Black Zetsu's mind.
Black Zetsu doubted whether it even had the opportunity to secretly frame Emiya Shihara and instigate conflict between him and the ninja of this era...
Besides...
How much power did the resurrected Emiya Shihara still possess?
Although Emiya Shihara's condition looked as though he lacked the Rinnegan, his own personal power was formidable. What would happen if, while it was busy scheming in the shadows, he recklessly and unknowingly leaked its secrets?
Moreover...
Black Zetsu really didn't want to.
Compared to the troublesome and thorny new pawn Uchiha Madara, Emiya Shihara—the pawn that had once nearly succeeded—was simply too useful.
This was the easiest path.
Upon truly witnessing Emiya Shihara's resurrection, no matter what thoughts brewed in Black Zetsu's mind, in the end, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, it was left with only a single notion.
Persuade Emiya Shihara... to stand on its side.
Weiyuan: a max-level veteran character close to graduation, knowing the strategies for many dungeons, who could ruin the game at any moment...
Uchiha Madara: a newly created rookie alt account, without even basic starter gear prepared...
These were Black Zetsu's options.