Black Foolish Play

Black Zetsu sized up the strange group before him.

Madara, Obito, and this child who looked like he had been born from Madara and Senju Hashirama!

What the hell was this?

Although I was sealed away and my sense of time had blurred, I could vaguely tell that fifteen or sixteen years had passed in the outside world!

With Naruto and Sasuke's personalities, would they have allowed these three to appear?

What exactly had happened to the shinobi world while I was gone?

"Hm?" Black Zetsu's gaze settled on Chen's right eye.

The Rinnegan...?

Could it be... Naruto and Sasuke had met with some accident, and this guy was a new reincarnation of Indra? But his age didn't quite add up.

At that moment, Madara's cold voice interrupted Black Zetsu's thoughts. "You look quite calm, Black Zetsu."

"Heh." Black Zetsu sneered. "What expression do you expect to see on my face, Madara? Shock, regret, or fear?"

"Unfortunately, I'll have to disappoint you, Madara!"

"I have already failed completely. All my schemes have been exposed, and there is no longer any chance of success!"

"The entire meaning of my existence has been to revive Mother, and now that has become nothing but a fantasy!"

"What is there left for me to care about in a world where Mother cannot be saved?"

As if he had already accepted life and death, Black Zetsu let out a bleak sigh.

Obito said, "Then why were you skulking back there just now, like you were afraid we'd spot you?"

Black Zetsu laughed and cursed, "Obito, you're still as thick-headed as ever!"

Obito frowned. "What did you say?"

"Heh." Black Zetsu smiled. "Think about it. On a long night, you're alone beneath your blankets counting little sheep, when a gang of thugs suddenly knocks down your courtyard wall and shakes you right out of bed. Once you wake up, wouldn't your first reaction be to hide and see what was happening?"

Obito was left speechless for a long while. That actually made sense...

The pleasure Black Zetsu felt from shutting Obito down lasted only a moment before that bleak undertone seeped out of him again.

"Heh, even if you hadn't discovered me today, I couldn't leave this space on my own. I'm useless now. Please seal me back inside the Chibaku Tensei. At least Mother would have some company!"

Seeing Black Zetsu in this state, Madara suddenly lost interest.

It felt as though he had punched a ball of cotton with all his strength.

What was this? He had wanted to settle their old scores properly, but this guy was acting like nothing mattered.

So irritating...

At that moment, Chen, who had been watching from the side, glanced at Madara thoughtfully.

Then he suddenly spoke. "Black Zetsu, aren't you curious why we appeared here, why we summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and why we destroyed the Chibaku Tensei?"

Black Zetsu froze. His thoughts had been cut off for too long, and for a moment, he failed to process it.

That was right... why? Why was that?

"Do you want to know?" Seeing Chen's faint smile and inscrutable expression, Black Zetsu swallowed nervously. "W-why?"

"Because we want to revive your mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki!"

"What?!" Black Zetsu's face lit up instantly, only for deep disbelief to follow. "Revive Mother... b-but why? You should know what kind of existence Mother is, shouldn't you?"

Chen clapped his hands. "I know! I know all too well! If you're asking why, it's because I, Uchiha Chen, am a die-hard admirer of Kaguya Hime!"

Black Zetsu found it even harder to believe. "You admire Mother... r-really?"

Chen declared forcefully, "Of course! Otherwise, where do you think I, someone who isn't a reincarnation of Indra or Ashura, got this Rinnegan?"

"Without deep obsession and the resolve to stake my life on it, could I have awakened this eye?"

Ah! That was right!

Black Zetsu felt it deeply. For the Rinnegan, I watched generation after generation of Indra's reincarnations die, waited a thousand years, and only then finally found Uchiha Madara. This eye absolutely could not be awakened so casually!

Anyone who awakened it had to possess an obsession transcending life and death!

That was powerful proof!

Chen clenched his fists, tears glimmering in his eyes. "Do you know? From the first time I heard of Kaguya Otsutsuki's deeds, I was deeply moved! What kind of woman was she? To end the wars of the human world, she actually risked execution to consume the forbidden fruit!"

"Afterward, she lived every day in the anxiety of a living hell!"

"But those two unfilial sons, Hagoromo and Hamura! They had no idea how terrifying Kaguya's clan was! Nor did they know what terrible consequences their arrival would bring to this land! Compared to those consequences, what did the little evil Kaguya did to humanity even amount to?"

Black Zetsu was as excited as a child. "Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly it! You understand Mother! You really understand Mother!"

Chen grew more and more impassioned, even waving his fists. "Starting here, I will summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path! Then I will hunt down the Tailed Beasts again! Revive the Ten-Tails! Become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki! Activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi! Absorb the Divine Tree! Not for immortality, but solely to bring the great Kaguya into this world once again!"

Obito: He's completely in character now.

Madara: Heh, I think I know what Chen is planning.

"Wonderful, wonderful! Mother's revival has... wait." Black Zetsu's rising excitement abruptly shrank back.

"What about Madara and Obito? Will they obediently cooperate with your plan?"

"Ah." Chen adapted quickly. "Those two have actually both been hit by my Kotoamatsukami."

"Kotoamatsukami? You can use Kotoamatsukami too?"

Summoning Technique!

Boom! Gohōkaku appeared and landed on Chen's shoulder, raising her head proudly as she displayed Shisui's left eye before Black Zetsu.

With Black Zetsu's experience and knowledge, he recognized the unique Mangekyo pattern at a glance. It was Uchiha Shisui's eye!

But Kotoamatsukami was ultimately only a Mangekyo technique. It would be one thing for it to work on an idiot like Obito, but could it really work on Madara...?

To further dispel Black Zetsu's doubts,

Chen raised a hand, partially covering his right eye, and said gravely, "My Rinnegan ability, Great God's Command, can bring a qualitative transformation to ocular techniques. It can elevate Kotoamatsukami, a Mangekyo technique, to the level of a Rinnegan technique. Even Madara can't resist it!"

Black Zetsu looked from side to side. "But Madara and Obito are staring at me with such vicious looks!"

"Of course. They are loyal only to me."

"C-can you prove it... I don't feel very reassured!"

After a moment of silence, Chen turned and gave the two men a meaningful look.

"Obito, Madara... call me Lord Chen!"

Obito was not the sort to spoil the mood. Rather, he had always possessed a performative side.

He could cooperate, and he was willing to cooperate, but...

He waited for Madara's reaction.

He had assumed Madara would never be able to say it.

Yet Madara slowly lowered his arms from his chest, stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and called out, "Lord Chen!"

Obito thought, Madara, how much do you hate Black Zetsu? Is killing him not enough? Do you have to destroy his spirit too?

So he walked over to Madara's side, bowed, and also called out, "Lord Chen!"

Black Zetsu reached a conclusion. Obito was one thing, but how could a proud man like Madara lower himself to call some youngster "Lord"? I absolutely refuse to believe that could happen.

He really came to revive Mother!

Suppressing the stir in his heart, Black Zetsu asked, "Chen, you should know the price of reviving Mother, right?"

A fanatical light surged in Chen's eyes. "I know! It's nothing more than sacrificing my power and body to Lady Kaguya Hime after activating the Infinite Tsukuyomi! From the day I resolved to revive Kaguya, I resolved to offer up everything I have!"

Heaven had taken pity on them!

Mother!

In this world, besides me, there is someone else who understands you and is willing to give everything for you!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Faced with this unexpected good news, Black Zetsu could no longer suppress his soaring joy. He burst into laughter, and as he laughed, tears flooded down his face.

I never thought that after enduring fifteen years in darkness, I would find someone as willing to sacrifice as Chen! Though I think he is foolish! Foolishly adorable! But I cannot compare him to a great idiot like Obito! Because he truly understands Mother!

Had my devoted filial piety toward Mother finally moved the heavens?

"Chen, can you pull the spike out of me first? I want to tell you something from the bottom of my heart!"

"Sure!"

Chen happily stepped forward and pulled out the black rod embedded in the sleeve of Kaguya's severed arm.

Black Zetsu squirmed back into human form.

"..." Chen picked up Kaguya's severed arm, an unreadable glint passing through his eyes.

Then he turned and strode toward the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Black Zetsu followed him.

"Do any Tailed Beasts still have Jinchuriki?"

"Where are Naruto and Sasuke?"

"I'll explain that to you slowly."

Madara and Obito followed as well.

Chen stopped beneath the Demonic Statue and looked up at it, filled with the solemnity of a pilgrimage.

Black Zetsu also stopped, gazing at the statue with gentleness in his eyes.

"Mother, wait a little longer. Before long, Chen and I will bring you back into this world!"

At that moment, Madara silently quickened his pace and stopped behind Black Zetsu.

"Chen, you really do understand me when it comes to killing someone by destroying their spirit!"

He raised his hand and thrust it toward Black Zetsu's back...

Crack!

The instant his arm pierced through, the resentment he had suppressed in his heart burst forth with a single word.

"Ah."