This is truly disheartening...
Black Zetsu could not help feeling a wave of deep melancholy.
If it was just the fact that Emiya Shihara had trusted Asura back in ancient times, that was one thing, but why was he endorsing Senju Hashirama again in this era?
True!
Senju Hashirama had indeed pacified the Warring States Period!
But new wars were bound to break out once Senju Hashirama died!
"Lord Weiyuan."
"You are the smartest person in the history of the Shinobi World..."
"Even though I have spent a long millisecond chasing after the footsteps you left behind, I have never seen anyone who resembles you..."
Black Zetsu's voice was hoarse and gloomy as it let out a faint sigh. "You should clearly understand that the peace Senju Hashirama has brought to this era is only temporary..."
"As long as ninjas exist in this world..."
"As long as greed still lingers in the hearts of ninjas..."
"As long as there is no power above the heads of ninjas capable of suppressing their greed—a power capable of holding back every single ninja's greed—"
"Strifes among ninjas will never cease!"
"No matter how many times Asura's chakra reincarnates, it is useless!"
"When Senju Hashirama dies, the ninjas of this world will once again start new wars for the sake of profit, repeating over and over again the painful and tragic fate they were destined to bear from the day they were born..."
"Lord Weiyuan..."
"Have you forgotten your own conviction?"
"Enduring the pain that the people of the world cannot bear, struggling to save the masses who cannot free themselves from suffering—are you going to just stand by and watch the world endlessly repeat this cycle of painful lives?"
Thinking of how hard it had been to spread the story of Emiya Shihara across the Shinobi World, Black Zetsu interrogated Emiya Shihara like a devout believer, "Have you forgotten the will that Lord Weiyuan once wanted the medical ninjas of future generations to uphold?"
"However..."
Emiya Shihara frowned. As he pondered how to defend himself against Black Zetsu's exhortations and interrogations, he subconsciously came up with someone to take the blame.
"Asura once mentioned to me..."
"Asura was an arrogant fool!"
Black Zetsu quickly stopped Emiya Shihara from reminiscing about Asura's words and continued to persuade him, "If Lord Weiyuan had not believed his rhetoric back then, but instead chosen to kill Asura to completely destroy the Ninjutsu Sect and take back all the chakra scattered by the Sage of Six Paths, a war spanning a thousand years would never have broken out in this world..."
"The ones who brought war to this world..."
"Are all descendants of the Sage of Six Paths and those despicable people of the Ninjutsu Sect!"
"..."
Emiya Shihara fell slightly silent.
This fellow Black Zetsu had grown up quite a bit after living for over a thousand years.
Just looking at Black Zetsu's righteous posture made Emiya Shihara feel a bit dazed, almost as if Black Zetsu were the righteous one here...
How utterly absurd...
How on earth did things turn out this way?
"Heh heh heh heh..."
"Why aren't you answering me?"
Seeing Emiya Shihara remain silent, a gloomy smile appeared on Black Zetsu's face once more, as if it believed this would stimulate Emiya Shihara into a reawakening. "Is it because Lord Weiyuan has realized that he still walked down the wrong path?"
"..."
Emiya Shihara still remained silent.
"..."
Black Zetsu suddenly felt a hint of unease in its heart.
Did I go too far?
Will what I said push Emiya Shihara too hard?
"Black Zetsu."
Emiya Shihara slowly lowered his head, his voice filled with infinite loss and remorse, as if he had completely lost faith in life.
"You and I..."
"Can never succeed."
"..."
Black Zetsu immediately wanted to open its mouth in rebuttal.
"Let me finish."
Emiya Shihara cut off Black Zetsu's attempt to speak, his calm and earnest voice recounting his past: "When I first obtained the power of the Sage of Six Paths, I immediately wanted to take back the chakra scattered by the Sage of Six Paths..."
"However..."
"I studied the corpse of the Sage of Six Paths..."
"Yet I could not figure out a way to completely take back the chakra."
Emiya Shihara's voice remained calm, but it was a calmness tinged with despondency. "Whether it was the Wood Release bestowed upon me by the favor of the God Tree Remnant, or the power of the Sage of Six Paths's Rinnegan, it was impossible to completely retrieve the chakra from those disciples of the Ninjutsu Sect. That is why, when I destroyed the Ninjutsu Sect, I had no choice but to kill them without regard for distinguishing between their good and evil..."
"..."
Black Zetsu's expression became somewhat bizarre.
Because...
This was all its own fault.
It was all because it had failed to teach Emiya Shihara the correct method in advance!
After all, taking back the chakra scattered by the Sage of Six Paths was part of resurrecting Otsutsuki Kaguya, and it hadn't expected Emiya Shihara to make it this far anyway...
"I..."
Black Zetsu immediately wanted to explain.
"Listen to me quietly."
Emiya Shihara interrupted Black Zetsu once again, his voice still carrying a desolately calm composure: "Do you remember the Goddess of the Rabbit Otsutsuki Kaguya whom we worship?"
"..."
Black Zetsu nodded hastily.
After all, the Goddess of the Rabbit Otsutsuki Kaguya was its mother, and its very birth was for the sake of resurrecting the mother sealed away by that rebellious son, the Sage of Six Paths!
"I believed the Goddess of the Rabbit would be able to take back the chakra."
Emiya Shihara's voice remained unruffled as he continued to fabricate his thoughts from back then: "I had heard a piece of forbidden news of unknown veracity from the disciples of the Ninjutsu Sect: the Goddess of the Rabbit is the mother of the Sage of Six Paths, which means she is the grandmother of those two fellows, Asura and Indra..."
"To be honest..."
"Although I was a bit worried..."
"I had no choice but to place my hopes on the Goddess of the Rabbit."
"I could only hope that the Goddess of the Rabbit we worshiped would uphold the principle of fairness in distributing and taking back chakra, making chakra a power to save the world from suffering rather than a power for those Ninjutsu Sect disciples to unscrupulously bully the weak..."
"Therefore, when I obtained the power of the Sage of Six Paths and headed toward the Ninjutsu Sect, I actually had another important purpose: to extract information from Asura about resurrecting the Goddess of the Rabbit..."
"But when I fought Asura, I was persuaded by that fellow and gave up asking about the resurrection of the Goddess of the Rabbit..."
"As for what happened later..."
"You should know it all."
"..."
Black Zetsu was at a loss.
Because it had never expected Emiya Shihara to have wanted to do so much!
To tell the truth...
Emiya Shihara was already outstanding enough!
A trace of genuine emotion was even stirred within Black Zetsu's heart!
Black Zetsu had never imagined that Emiya Shihara had made so many efforts to resurrect Kaguya, and had even genuinely wanted Kaguya to rule the world, going so far as to try and dig up information on Kaguya's resurrection from Asura!
Emiya Shihara...
This guy was simply too formidable!
If Emiya Shihara had known the correct steps on how to resurrect Kaguya, perhaps they could have resurrected Kaguya back in ancient times!
"Actually..."
Black Zetsu's emotions stirred faintly.
"Black Zetsu, let me finish."
Emiya Shihara interrupted Black Zetsu for the third time, continuing to fabricate his thoughts after being resurrected in this era.
"Now..."
"I have been resurrected in this era."
"I have also learned that this world has experienced a painful millennium of the Warring States."
"I realize that I was hot-headed back then, easily believing the promise Asura made to me, letting those people of the Ninjutsu Sect go, and abandoning the hope most likely to change the world."
"However..."
"What is the use of dwelling on this now?"
Emiya Shihara's voice sank completely into despair, as if he no longer held any expectations for the future: "The Sage of Six Paths has been dead for a long time, and Asura and Indra have also been dead for over a thousand years. Only their family in this entire world knows how to resurrect the Goddess of the Rabbit..."
"There are not even historical records in this era..."
"The ninjas of this era view the Sage of Six Paths—who bestowed chakra—as a deity of creation, and treat the stories of ancient times as mere legends..."
"Black Zetsu."
"Our path is cut off."
"We have no way to take back the chakra from the ninjas of this era, nor can we find any news about resurrecting the Goddess of the Rabbit, and I am incapable of killing every single ninja in this era..."
"Other than continuing to believe in Asura's promise..."
"I simply do not know what else I can do."
After saying all this, Emiya Shihara let out a dejected, bitter laugh: "Black Zetsu, I am merely a lucky soul once favored by the God Tree, not some omnipotent being capable of changing the world..."
"I'm sorry..."
"I've let your expectations fall through..."