It was a silent night.
A cool breeze drifted in through the window.
Emiya Shihara did not feel a shred of chill, for his reanimated body left his senses no different from those of a dead man, though he still closed the window just like a living person.
Perhaps...
Only in this way could one truly feel alive?
This house had been arranged with the help of Senju Tobirama.
Though Emiya Shihara had no need for a room to rest in, he did require a quiet environment. His excuse to Senju Tobirama was that he needed to study the Medical Ninjutsu of this era.
Naturally.
There was an ANBU Shinobi stationed around the house.
This ANBU Shinobi was not here to keep Emiya Shihara under surveillance, but rather to protect him and to wait for any requests Emiya Shihara might have for Konoha.
In truth, Senju Tobirama believed that a single thought of his was enough to control Emiya Shihara's body; he simply felt a need to maintain a modicum of respect toward Emiya Shihara, hoping that Emiya Shihara would not view the Reanimation Technique as an act of manipulation against him.
"Do not stay up late. Get some rest early," Emiya Shihara said as he closed the window, speaking to the ANBU Shinobi hidden beneath the windowsill. "Just bring me a map of the Shinobi World tomorrow morning..."
"......"
The ANBU Shinobi hesitated for a moment.
Yet, remembering the orders Senju Tobirama had given him, the ANBU Shinobi used the Body Flicker Technique and withdrew, heading toward the Hokage's office to report Emiya Shihara's request.
"......"
Emiya Shihara's mood settled into tranquility.
"I clearly only left it a single path..."
Emiya Shihara idly trimmed the lampwick, his mind casually muttering about Black Zetsu. "Why hasn't my ally come to see me yet?"
Black Zetsu...
Why hasn't it come looking for him yet?
If Black Zetsu's intellect had been tempered over a thousand years of trials, it surely would have figured out that his former ally was its only choice.
Surely...
Black Zetsu couldn't still be as simple and gullible as it was over a thousand years ago, could it?
The candlelight flickered.
A pitch-black shadow appeared on the wall.
A dark entity quietly emerged from the ground.
Just as Emiya Shihara was beginning to worry that Black Zetsu's intellect hadn't grown at all over all these years, Black Zetsu's figure appeared silently behind him.
"It's been a long time... Lord Weiyuan."
Black Zetsu's eerie voice sounded right beside Emiya Shihara's ear.
Lord Weiyuan.
This was a particularly intimate and respectful form of address.
Generally, this title was only used by the Slug that Emiya Shihara had raised since childhood, but Black Zetsu considered their relationship to be extremely close and occasionally used it as well.
Although in its heart Black Zetsu always regarded Emiya Shihara as nothing more than a pawn, it only dared to think such things inwardly and would never dare to expose them to his face.
After all, the gap in strength between them was immense.
Black Zetsu could only deceive and use Emiya Shihara; they had once been cooperating partners, not a superior and subordinate, and calling him Lord Weiyuan was merely an affectionate and respectful title.
"This voice..."
Emiya Shihara stiffened in disbelief. He seemed unable to process the voice he was hearing, causing his fingers, which had been toying with the lampwick, to suddenly freeze.
"It's me."
Black Zetsu's voice drifted somewhat elusively, and its figure sank back into the earth. "If you still remember me—someone who shared your dream, only to be ultimately betrayed by Lord Weiyuan..."
"I'm sorry..."
A trace of guilt surfaced on Emiya Shihara's face.
Just as Weiyuan involuntarily lowered his head to express his apology, he saw Black Zetsu burst out from the ground right in front of him, truly standing before him.
"Didn't expect this, did you, Lord Weiyuan?"
Black Zetsu watched Emiya Shihara, whose face bore a mixture of shame and shock, and its anxiety gradually subsided, replaced by a self-satisfied smile.
"I never expected that, after living through this long and lonely stretch of time in solitude, I would still have the chance to see Lord Weiyuan from over a thousand years ago..."
"Indeed..."
Emiya Shihara gazed at Black Zetsu standing before him.
The present Black Zetsu was somewhat different from a thousand years ago; its physique was a bit taller than in that era, making its silhouette resemble an adult's even more.
"You've grown taller too... Black Zetsu."
A tender smile suddenly bloomed on Emiya Shihara's face, much like the countless times he had praised Black Zetsu and the Slug in years past.
"......"
The smile on Black Zetsu's face froze.
Hearing Emiya Shihara's praise, Black Zetsu's intended impulse to interrogate him stalled, leaving it momentarily at a loss for words.
This guy...
Why is he still acting like this!
Black Zetsu had already prepared its most vicious words, intending to forge them into the hardest of fists and ruthlessly beat Emiya Shihara awake!
Yet its fist hit nothing but cotton before it could even strike.
However, before Black Zetsu could pierce Emiya Shihara's kind heart, Emiya Shihara already seemed to have taken the initiative to hurt himself, a look of sadness surfacing on his reanimated face.
His hand resumed toying with the lampwick on the table, stretching out a finger to deliberately disturb the swaying candle shadows right through the flame.
"How wonderful..."
"After more than a thousand years..."
"I actually still have the chance to see my old companion."
"The Ninjutsu Sect of this era..."
"No, now they call themselves shinobi..."
Emiya Shihara's words sounded somewhat cheerful, yet his face held an indescribable sorrow, letting Black Zetsu clearly sense that he was suppressing grief and pain.
"Black Zetsu..."
"The shinobi of this era are truly geniuses."
"They actually managed to use the corpse specimens I left behind for future generations to resurrect me, a dead man from over a thousand years ago."
"Lord Weiyuan is angry, aren't you?"
Black Zetsu let out a cold laugh, unceremoniously joining Emiya Shihara in mocking this shinobi world of a millennium later. "Is this the worst era yet?"
"Is that so?"
Emiya Shihara raised his head, speaking with a trace of self-derision. "The shinobi of this era tell me this is the best era they have had in a thousand years..."
"Splendid!"
"To the descendants of the despicable..."
"This truly is the best era in a thousand years!"
An eerie expression settled over Black Zetsu's face as it mocked the ancestors of the shinobi of this era. "Those despicable beings who obtained Chakra—driven by greed for power and interest, they used the power of Chakra to wage war after war, creating a Warring States Period that has lasted for a thousand years..."
"Even though I spent these past thousand years spreading Lord Weiyuan's stories, letting the shinobi know that a great ideal once existed in the ancient era, and that the power of Chakra was meant to save the suffering world, the shinobi still fought endlessly using the power of Chakra..."
Naturally.
Black Zetsu kept its own role in instigating the wars a tightly guarded secret.
"Lord Weiyuan."
A bizarre smile curled the corners of Black Zetsu's mouth. Sensing that the atmosphere was just right, it decided right then and there to ask the question it had held in its heart for over a thousand years.
"Having witnessed the endless fighting among the shinobi..."
"Having heard of the Warring States period of a thousand years of chaos..."
Watching the expression on Weiyuan's face grow increasingly grim, Black Zetsu felt a gradual surge of exhilaration. It decided to deliver its fatal blow.
"Now, Lord Weiyuan..."
"Do you regret believing Asura's foolish words back then?"
"......"
Emiya Shihara fell silent under Black Zetsu's interrogation.
In Black Zetsu's eyes, this silence was precisely a state of being speechless, and the smile at the corner of its mouth grew even brighter, tempting it to say a bit more and press its advantage!
"Perhaps..."
Emiya Shihara spoke up abruptly.
"Everything remains to be seen."
Emiya Shihara's voice sounded somewhat ethereal and hollow, as if unable to find a target, as he recounted the past. "I remember Asura promising me that he would quell the conflicts brought by Chakra, that he would protect the weak from being oppressed by the strong, and that he would make Chakra a power to save the world from suffering—a promise he would not break even if his life were to end..."
"I had already..."
"Assumed this world was absurd beyond any cure."
"Yet today I met the current generation's reincarnation bearing Asura's Chakra. This generation's reincarnation of Asura's Chakra is named Senju Hashirama, who happens to also be a descendant of Asura."
"I vaguely recall that the surname Senju was one I gave him when I first met Asura, helping him choose a surname for his descendants."
"The name Senju implies that people unite and gather together to reach out their hands, and the power of Senju can quell all future disasters that bring suffering to the world..."
Emiya Shihara brought up the story he had heard about Senju Hashirama, appearing to hold him in high regard. "I heard about Senju Hashirama; he united many people around him, put an end to a millennium of war, and brought the chaotic Warring States Period to a close..."
"......"
The eerie smile on Black Zetsu's face froze in place.
Wait...
You still believe in Asura?
Why are you still so simple and foolish!
No...
You've already been fooled once by this!
How can you still trust Asura and his descendants?
No...
Don't fall for their tricks anymore!
They're all lying to you!
Can't you just fall for my tricks and mine alone, honestly?!
(Will there be an issue with the protagonist's name? Generally it's either Emiya or Weiyuan—only these two forms of address are used for the protagonist. If everyone feels it's a bit confusing, I'll change it to a single name later. Wait... why am I seeing someone calling him a mongrel dog...)