Uchiha Brahman's True Colors

For a moment, the two of them fell silent.

Black Zetsu lowered his head, memories racing through his mind as he began to think back.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find any trace of Uchiha Brahman. He could rack his brains all he wanted, but he still couldn't figure out how Uchiha Brahman had learned about Obito.

Just how much did he know?!

Obito was thinking too, but like Black Zetsu, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't understand how Uchiha Brahman had found out that he wasn't Madara Uchiha, but Obito Uchiha. He'd hidden his identity so well.

It made no sense. It wasn't logical! It was completely impossible! After all, they'd kept their plans so well hidden that no one could possibly know about them, even if they used their rear end to think.

Besides, Uchiha Brahman's records had been completely unguarded. They'd known everything about his past for ages.

Before all this, he'd been an utterly ordinary Uchiha, a civilian with no parents and no talent for becoming a ninja. He'd survived in Konoha by running the fish shop his grandfather had passed down to him. That was until the day the former Daimyo of the Land of Fire came to Konoha. This noble, elderly man, who was nominally the highest leader of the Land of Fire, had pledged his loyalty to the young fishmonger.

And then Sarutobi Hiruzen had become a rogue ninja.

Wait...

Was it possible that Uchiha Brahman's so-called past was just a cover? That it was all fabricated?

But so what? Whether it was fabricated didn't matter. Even if Uchiha Brahman had been disguising his past all along, that still wouldn't mean he could know Obito's identity or their plans!

"Uchiha Brahman, who are you really?!"

For some reason, Black Zetsu felt an indescribable unease. It was even more terrifying than learning that Uchiha Brahman had a way to kill him and had disrupted his plans at the moment he'd come closest to succeeding.

It felt like trying to make out flowers through a fog. You thought you knew everything, but the more carefully you thought about it, the more you realized you hadn't seen anything clearly.

Uchiha Brahman was like a black hole, filling Black Zetsu with indescribable dread.

Just how much did he know?!

Did he know who I really was? Did he know my real plan? Was the power capable of killing me really something he'd created by chance?

Could he know everything...? This monster... Could I really... save Mother?

At the thought, Black Zetsu was overcome by despair. A chill ran through his entire body, and he even felt as if he were going mad.

"No! Impossible!"

Black Zetsu suddenly screamed and stumbled backward.

"No, impossible! He couldn't have figured it out! Absolutely impossible!!!!"

Obito hadn't broken down, but Black Zetsu had scared himself witless. He collapsed to the ground, ice-cold, shouting and roaring.

He didn't believe it. He absolutely refused to believe it. This was a genjutsu. It was fake. It was all fake.

Uchiha Brahman couldn't possibly know his identity or his plans. Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Waaah, Mother!!! I'll save you! He won't kill me! He won't! Waaah, Mother!!!

Black Zetsu roared, his frenzied voice echoing in his mind.

"Even the Six Paths didn't know I existed. Even Indra, the ancestor of the Uchiha Clan, didn't know my plans or my true identity. How could some ordinary descendant of Indra, an Uchiha Brahman with only the faintest blood connection to the Six Paths, who wasn't anyone's reincarnation and was just a fishmonger, know who I am or what I'm planning...?"

"Even if he were the Six Paths' reincarnation, so what? So what if he were? The Six Paths didn't know I existed. Would being reincarnated let him know? Besides, he isn't anyone's reincarnation. He's just an ordinary Uchiha. There's no way the Six Paths could have done the things Uchiha Brahman has done! It must be a coincidence, a coincidence! Or maybe that bastard Madara Uchiha... Maybe Madara Uchiha accidentally let our plans slip without my knowing..."

Black Zetsu frantically made excuses for how Uchiha Brahman could have learned their plans. He'd long since lost the composure he'd maintained through the ages. The truth buried deep within had scared him witless.

Because things were different now. Uchiha Brahman could find him and even kill him. He'd gone from being an observer, a player moving the pieces, to being on the board himself. Everything he'd relied on had crumbled before Uchiha Brahman.

Uchiha Brahman was unlike any Uchiha he'd ever been able to manipulate. If Black Zetsu dared show himself in front of him, he felt he really would die.

He couldn't die! What would happen to Mother if he died?

It had to be a coincidence! Uchiha Brahman didn't know who he really was or what his actual plan was. It had to be that way! Hahaha, how could an ordinary Uchiha know the history of the Shinobi World and his true identity? How could he have had such a delusion? Hahaha!!!

Black Zetsu reassured himself, slowly calming down.

Obito had no time to worry about Black Zetsu's loss of composure. When Kakashi had revealed his true identity and even his plans, Obito had been just as shocked and panicked. He had no idea how Uchiha Brahman had discovered who he really was.

"Could Madara Uchiha have accidentally let our plans slip? Maybe Uchiha Brahman is another one of Madara Uchiha's pawns?"

Obito lay on the ground, feeling the effects of the anesthetic gradually wear off. His mind was clearing too, and he voiced what seemed the likeliest conclusion.

Great minds think alike!

But there was still a problem. Uchiha Brahman was so powerful—why would he listen to Madara Uchiha? Based on what they knew about Uchiha Brahman, the first thing that monster might do upon meeting Madara was attack him, stick him with a needle, and take control of him. He wouldn't even listen to what Madara had to say.

"Maybe Madara Uchiha recorded our plans somewhere, and Uchiha Brahman found them!"

Obito turned his astonishing intellect to the problem and finally reached that conclusion.

"That's right. It has to be!"

Black Zetsu nodded. After all, although he acted as Madara's will incarnate, he was still only an incarnation. If Madara Uchiha had secretly done something without telling him, there was no way he'd know.