Black Zetsu, Can You Lie?

Inside Konoha Village.

Shirou Emiya did not care about anyone watching him.

Shirou Emiya had long expected Tobirama Senju's covert surveillance. Given Tobirama Senju's character, he could never pass up any opportunity to make Konoha stronger.

Yet over a thousand years ago, Shirou Emiya had placed himself in an exceedingly subtle position, making everyone believe that he was genuinely harmless while forcing Tobirama Senju to resort to roundabout methods to make Konoha find a way to earn his favor.

Everyone would believe only one thing...

Shirou Emiya wanted this world to have a better future.

Even though Black Zetsu always sought to overturn the Shinobi World, it was not worried that Shirou Emiya would harm it. It was only worried that Shirou Emiya would ignore it.

Likewise.

That was also what made Black Zetsu most troublesome.

Black Zetsu dearly wished that Shirou Emiya would become a little worse, abandon his so-called noble morality, and devote himself wholeheartedly to the dark undertaking of reviving Kaguya.

Unfortunately...

When Black Zetsu quietly arrived in Konoha, it found Shirou Emiya reviewing and summarizing the medical records from his work healing and saving people at Konoha Hospital, which gave it an even greater headache.

Those ordinary people could die for all it cared...

Why did Shirou Emiya have to waste his energy saving them?

"You're back?"

When Shirou Emiya saw Black Zetsu take the initiative to reveal itself, his brush did not pause as he greeted it, saying, "Black Zetsu, wait a moment. Let me finish writing these first..."

"..."

Black Zetsu could only wait helplessly.

Only after Shirou Emiya set down his brush could it speak to persuade him. "Wei Yuan, what we need to do is a far greater cause..."

"Those things do not conflict."

Shirou Emiya carefully rolled up the scroll and explained earnestly, "These little matters will not take up much of my time anyway. I will continue doing them in the future as well..."

"Speaking of which..."

"How is that Madara Uchiha doing?"

Shirou Emiya had long known that Black Zetsu would surely bring up Madara Uchiha, so he simply laid it out directly. "I heard some news about him in this village of Konoha. His reputation in the village is not very good. Many people are afraid of him..."

"Madara Uchiha is just like his ancestor, Indra."

Black Zetsu immediately took up the subject and introduced their future pawn. "Madara Uchiha has always believed that only power can bring rule and stability. Someone who favors such authoritarian methods is naturally unpopular among the weak, and often inspires fear."

"Right."

Only after introducing Madara Uchiha did Black Zetsu continue, "Madara Uchiha wishes to see you now, because he wants to obtain some information from you..."

"What information?"

"How to awaken the Rinnegan."

As Black Zetsu said this, its voice became somewhat sinister. "A Stone Tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths for the descendants of his eldest son, Indra..."

While silently cursing the Sage of Six Paths in its heart, Black Zetsu still had to continue deceiving Shirou Emiya in the Sage of Six Paths' name. "The Sage of Six Paths foresaw that the path of the Ninja Sect might not be wholly correct. On the Stone Tablet, he showed Indra's descendants a path to awaken the Rinnegan. He presumably hoped that after the Ninja Sect's order collapsed, Indra's descendants could use power to rebuild the shinobi order..."

"Of course..."

A trace of hatred entered Black Zetsu's words, and it practically gritted its teeth as it said, "At the very end of the Stone Tablet, he left behind a method to revive Mother Kaguya..."

"Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths believed that if neither Ashura's nor Indra's path could bring peace to the shinobi world, then the world would ultimately still need Goddess Kaguya of the Rabbit."

Of course.

This was Black Zetsu's lie.

The Stone Tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths had never been meant to revive Kaguya. On the contrary, it warned the power-worshipping Uchiha Clan, Indra's descendants, to beware of Kaguya's revival!

That bastard!

He wanted to completely cut off any possibility of Kaguya's revival!

To revive Kaguya, the Uchiha Clan's bloodline had to be used, so Black Zetsu had no choice but to use its abilities to alter the contents of the Stone Tablet.

Because the contents of the Stone Tablet had been altered, Black Zetsu now had to find a way to deceive Shirou Emiya with lies once again.

"Is that so?"

Shirou Emiya nodded thoughtfully.

Shirou Emiya seemed to completely trust Black Zetsu's claims. He certainly would not speak on the Sage of Six Paths' behalf, merely sighing along with the story.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"Only after a child had grown up and crossed through time did he finally understand his mother's greatness. After spreading Chakra and turning the world into an irreparable ruin, he remembered the omnipotent mother he had relied upon since childhood?"

"..."

Black Zetsu felt somewhat saddened.

If Mother Kaguya heard Shirou Emiya's words, if the final message on the Stone Tablet truly had been about reviving Kaguya, then perhaps the emotionally fragile Mother Kaguya would also forgive that son who had defied her...

Sigh...

That Shirou Emiya...

Even his warmest words could pierce the heart.

"Forget it."

With a casual remark, Shirou Emiya had stirred Black Zetsu's emotions, but he no longer dwelled on the matters of the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya Otsutsuki. "Since the Sage of Six Paths left behind a method to revive the Rabbit Goddess, it seems we need not go to such great lengths..."

"However..."

"Madara Uchiha does not know any of this."

Black Zetsu finally got to the point. Its voice gradually grew solemn, as though it feared Shirou Emiya might spot a flaw. "Because the Sage of Six Paths concealed the news of Kaguya's revival on the Stone Tablet, I suspect that he may have..."

"The Sage of Six Paths truly understood his child..."

Shirou Emiya interrupted Black Zetsu, seemingly immersed in the lie Black Zetsu had fabricated, and let out a faint sigh. "I have met Indra, and I have also met Madara Uchiha. They possess an arrogance beyond the reach of ordinary people..."

Shirou Emiya sighed and proactively patched up Black Zetsu's story. "If those proud children truly knew that they would ultimately need their ancestor to clean up the mess, unless the world truly reached the brink of destruction, they would absolutely never wish to do such a thing."

Black Zetsu was terrible even at deceiving people...

It even needed him, the one being deceived, to fill in the gaps...

Shirou Emiya had already figured out Black Zetsu's purpose. It surely wanted him to deceive Madara Uchiha and conceal the matter of Kaguya's revival.

No...

With tricks like that...

Was it really here to teach him how to deceive Madara Uchiha?

Shirou Emiya sighed softly. "If we want Madara Uchiha to help revive the Rabbit Goddess, we must conceal the truth from him..."

"Exactly!"

Black Zetsu nodded in pleasant surprise and hurriedly urged Shirou Emiya not to cling to any moral scruples. "Wei Yuan, sometimes concealing the truth and telling a well-intentioned lie to someone who needs help is not a bad thing..."

"How strange..."

There was a trace of melancholy in Shirou Emiya's expression, as though he did not understand this era. "The shinobi of this era are teaching me to lie and conceal things as well. It seems that in an age filled with lies, honesty is also a sin..."

"..."

Black Zetsu felt a little guilty.

"This is the absurdity of the world."

Black Zetsu hurriedly comforted Shirou Emiya, carefully guiding him toward the abyss of evil. "Wei Yuan, this has never been your fault. Everything we do is to set this world back on the right track..."

"The moment Kaguya is truly revived..."

"You will never again need to hide yourself in this world."

"At that time..."

"You will never again have to touch lies and deception."

The burden in Black Zetsu's heart gradually vanished as it continued deceiving Shirou Emiya. "You can return to being your truest self. You can truly change this absurd world..."

"I understand."

Shirou Emiya looked at Black Zetsu and could not help letting out a sigh, seemingly nodding helplessly.