The moment the name Kaguya Otsutsuki was mentioned, everyone in the Akatsuki Organization except Black Zetsu was left baffled.
They were all wondering the same thing.
—Who's that?
Black Zetsu, meanwhile, was the most bewildered of all.
—Hey, man, who are you?
Black Zetsu had spent over a thousand years working toward its plan to revive Kaguya. It had never sought a genuine ally, merely using Indra and his reincarnations.
That was because Black Zetsu knew it had an endless lifespan, but no power whatsoever.
It could afford to wait, but it absolutely could not afford to lose.
After all, it was its mother's only hope of escaping her seal.
That was why Black Zetsu would never take any sort of gamble.
When Madara Uchiha was killed by Hashirama Senju at the Valley of the End, for instance, Black Zetsu had immediately chosen to give up.
It had never considered, let alone tried, passing its idea of reviving its mother on to anyone else. It didn't trust other people.
And yet today, someone had actually said those words.
Those words described the plan Black Zetsu had steadfastly carried out for over a thousand years.
So who on earth was this person?
As if he had heard Black Zetsu's thoughts, Shirozumi didn't go straight into the details of the plan or immediately explain who Kaguya Otsutsuki was. Instead, he introduced himself first.
"Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm the leader of Amegakure, twenty years in the future, and an archaeologist."
"What does that even mean? Twenty years in the future?"
"You can ask Zero and White Tiger to confirm it. I've already proved it to them."
Shirozumi shrugged at the others' doubtful looks.
"That's right. I've verified that he's telling the truth. There's no need to doubt it."
Pain spoke in a calm voice.
That was what he said, but if he'd really wanted to verify the truth, he should have used the Naraka Path to test Shirozumi's statements, or simply used the Human Path to read his memories.
Yet Nagato had relied on the most primitive method of checking, and had decided that Shirozumi was an ally.
Perhaps that was also why Madara Uchiha had chosen him, and why Naruto had later managed to persuade him with Talk no Jutsu.
He was a little too naive.
Of course, Shirozumi hadn't lied to him about anything.
"Right, now that I've introduced myself, I hope you'll understand that what I'm about to tell you is based on events in the future and on my archaeological findings.
You may not recognize the name Kaguya Otsutsuki, but what about the Sage of Six Paths?"
At this, a few people looked toward Pain.
More precisely, they looked at Pain's Rinnegan.
"Kaguya Otsutsuki was the mother of the Sage of Six Paths. He and his own brother sealed her away together."
Shirozumi continued his explanation.
"Sealed her away? Why? Was this Kaguya Otsutsuki trying to destroy the world?"
Deidara asked, rubbing his chin.
"More or less."
Shirozumi nodded.
"Huh? Deidara, how'd you know that?"
Hidan looked at Deidara in surprise.
"What else could it be? The Sage of Six Paths got angry and sealed his mother away because she wouldn't buy him a toy?"
Deidara rolled his eyes.
"To be precise, Kaguya Otsutsuki planned to turn everyone into beings without free will, and make them her soldiers..."
Shirozumi continued.
"Huh? So she's a great evil! Why would we want to revive her?"
Hidan cried out in surprise.
It was a wonder he had the nerve to say that, given that he worshipped an evil god.
"Don't rush. Let me finish."
Shirozumi raised a hand, signaling for them to calm down.
"Based on my archaeological deductions, the Sage of Six Paths probably caused a thousand years of trouble because he was in a hurry, just like you.
Anyone with even a little sense should be asking themselves: why did she need soldiers?
If everyone in the world had been turned into her mindless soldiers, who would she have them fight?"
His words cleared away the confusion in the others' minds, as if clouds had parted to reveal the sun. "That's right. If everyone's gone, why would she need soldiers?"
"The reason is simple. She made soldiers for her own protection—or, you could say, to protect this world."
"Huh?"
"The enemy Kaguya Otsutsuki had to face was her own clan, the Otsutsuki Clan, who came from beyond the heavens.
To fight them, Kaguya Otsutsuki had to create soldiers.
Of course, those soldiers were only about as strong as ordinary Chunin. Since they had no initiative or ability to use ninjutsu, they might've been even weaker.
But there was nothing she could do about that.
For your information, ninjutsu was created by Indra, the son of the Sage of Six Paths.
Chakra was brought here by Kaguya Otsutsuki. Only after sealing Kaguya away did the Sage of Six Paths teach ordinary people how to cultivate it.
In other words, during Kaguya's era, there were no shinobi at all—only ordinary villagers.
Under those circumstances, turning villagers who couldn't even fight into Chunin-level soldiers was certainly a good way to increase their fighting strength."
"Then how should Kaguya Otsutsuki view the Shinobi World as it is now?
There are still countless ordinary people, of course, but the history of the shinobi has developed to the point where countless Kage Level and elite Jonin have emerged.
And then there are all of you: true top-tier shinobi, each one worth hundreds or even thousands of Chunin.
So in this situation, what would be the point of turning top-tier shinobi into ordinary Chunin with no special abilities, just to use them as soldiers?"
As soon as Shirozumi said this, everyone suddenly understood.
The logic was sound.
Kaguya Otsutsuki wasn't an idiot. Why would she downgrade SSRs into Rs for no reason?
Only Black Zetsu sneered to itself.
It had listened for so long, thinking Shirozumi had some profound insight. And this was it?
The question wasn't whether its mother would turn everyone into White Zetsu after being revived. The question was that reviving its mother required activating the Infinite Tsukuyomi and absorbing the Chakra of the entire Shinobi World, returning all things to one!
"So the Akatsuki's goal is now to revive the mother of the Sage of Six Paths?"
"Whoa. The way you put it, that does sound more intimidating than collecting the Nine Tailed Beasts. Hm."
Deidara considered this, then expressed his agreement with Shirozumi.
"The Tailed Beasts are already difficult to control, let alone someone like that. Are you sure she'll help us once we revive her?"
Konan frowned deeply.
"Don't worry. According to the archaeological records, Kaguya Otsutsuki was pretty naive. If someone around her level talks to her and speaks nicely, she's easy to persuade."
"...All right, then. How do we revive someone like that? I imagine it won't be easy."
Konan's mouth twitched.
Naive?
Was that really how you described the progenitor of the Shinobi World?
Konan chose to ignore that for now.
She decided to ask about the specifics first.
The word "revive" was just too sensitive.
After all, Nagato did have the power to revive people.
"It won't be easy. There are two ways to revive Kaguya. The first requirement for the first method is to gather the Nine Tailed Beasts..."
"Isn't that the same as before?"
Hidan interrupted again.
"?!"
Black Zetsu had been trying to figure out how to convince Shirozumi to become another pawn in its plan to revive its mother. Hearing this, it froze.
Shirozumi... knew how to revive its mother?
But what did he mean by "two ways"?
Black Zetsu had lived for over a thousand years and still hadn't found a second way!
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