Nine-Tails: Hello, Good Person!

"Want to know? It's not impossible.

Do me a small favor, and I'll hand it over with both hands."

Although Feng wanted to fool Black Zetsu, if he brought it up himself, it would not seem very credible. Naturally, he had to wait for the other party to ask before he could bluff him properly.

"What favor?!"

Faced with a secret that could accelerate the Eye of the Moon Plan, Black Zetsu agreed readily.

"Simple. Help me steal a few random parts from the corpses of the Second Tsuchikage, the Third Raikage, and Konoha ninja Might Duy.

As for why, you just saw it—for researching the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu."

Feng's request would have been quite difficult for most people.

But for Zetsu, it was exceptionally easy. White Zetsu's "Wood Release: Tree Root Concealment" could merge into the earth. Stealing corpses buried underground was no different from strolling through his own vegetable garden.

"Fine. I'll come again in a few days. By then, you must give me an explanation."

Black Zetsu agreed readily once more.

"Heh heh, there's no need to go through all that trouble. I don't like dealing with you," Feng said.

"You're going back on your word?!" Black Zetsu instantly flew into a rage.

"No. I can tell you where the Nine-Tails chakra in my body came from right now.

Afterward, just have any White Zetsu deliver what I want.

I simply don't want to deal with you."

Feng pointed at Zetsu with one hand, his lips curling into a mocking smile.

He truly did not want too much contact with this thousand-year-old schemer, lest he be plotted against without even realizing it.

"You..."

Black Zetsu grew even angrier, but when he thought of a way to obtain tailed beast chakra without needing the tailed beasts themselves, he endured it.

"During Konoha's Nine-Tails Rebellion, someone collected the tailed beast chakra scattered throughout the battle and cultivated it through a special method, creating a Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.

I stumbled upon that secret and began researching it as well.

In the end, I added vast quantities of negative human emotions to the leftover Nine-Tails chakra from a former Nine-Tails Jinchūriki and successfully obtained the Nine-Tails' power.

That is where the Nine-Tails chakra in my body came from."

Feng spoke slowly, reciting the lie he had long prepared.

"It's that simple?"

Black Zetsu found it somewhat hard to believe. This method...

Was too simple, too easy.

"Simple? No, no. It isn't simple at all.

First, the special chakra belonging to a tailed beast is extremely difficult to obtain."

As Feng said this, Black Zetsu sneered inwardly. Tailed beast chakra might be difficult for others to obtain, but for someone like him, who had lived for a thousand years and knew countless secrets, it could not have been easier.

"Then, after obtaining tailed beast chakra, you must find the proper cultivation method to strengthen that small amount of collected chakra.

Take the Nine-Tails chakra in my body, for example. I tried many methods, and in the end, I strengthened it by using war to generate negative emotions such as brutality, fear, despair, and death.

As for sealing it into a Pseudo Jinchūriki in the end, I won't explain that. It's child's play to you.

You need to gather chakra from all nine tailed beasts. You can use my method for the Nine-Tails chakra, but you'll have to figure out how to strengthen the chakra of the other eight tailed beasts yourself."

Feng continued spouting nonsense.

But anyone who had watched the Naruto anime knew it was not entirely nonsense.

There was precedent for both collecting tailed beast chakra and cultivating it with negative emotions.

After Feng finished speaking, Zetsu pondered for a moment before saying:

"You said you only began researching this after discovering that someone else had created a Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.

Then who was that person? I need to verify whether you are telling the truth."

"Heh heh, Black Zetsu, you've forgotten again. I have no obligation to tell you anything."

"You can trade another favor for that information.

I must determine whether it is true. You know how important this is to me."

Zetsu stared sharply at Feng, refusing to yield even an inch on this matter.

"This... that could work. Let me think."

Hearing this, Feng pretended to fall into deep thought.

Only after a while did he slowly speak:

"How about this? Help me lure either Yashiro Uchiha or Tekka Uchiha out of Konoha alone.

I happen to need an Uchiha assistant.

You cannot attract anyone's attention beforehand, and afterward, you must help me clean up the loose ends. How about it?"

"Fine. I'll have White Zetsu notify you when the time comes?"

Zetsu agreed extremely readily.

They were all trivial matters. He could agree first and decide whether to actually do them after Black Zetsu returned and thought it over.

"At the Fire Temple in the Land of Fire, there is a child named Sora. He is the Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and his father was the mastermind."

Feng gave his answer just as readily.

As for whether this might bring unpleasant consequences to the Fire Temple, he felt no burden whatsoever.

After all, Sora's fate in the original story had not been good. Feng felt perfectly justified in giving those who had persecuted Sora something to deal with.

"Fine. I'll verify it. If everything you said is true,

then I'll have White Zetsu fulfill your request as soon as possible."

Having received Feng's agreement, Zetsu did not waste words. After saying that simply, he sank into the ground and vanished.

Before disappearing, a thought surfaced in his mind:

Uchiha Feng's strength and abilities are both quite good. What a pity he's a little foolish—far too naive. He trusts an enemy's words so easily. Perhaps he could become a useful pawn.

Within Feng's mental space, after sensing that Black and White Zetsu had completely left, the Nine-Tails spoke:

"Kid, you really are a despicable human.

I'm right here, yet you still managed to fool that Black Zetsu.

But what will we do once he discovers that everything you told him was a lie?"

"Heh heh, Kurama, I didn't completely lie to him.

Aside from deceiving him about your existence, everything else was true.

The Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Sora, and even using negative human emotions to cultivate tailed beast chakra.

All of that is true. Someone really is doing those things.

I have many things to accomplish. If I don't handle Black Zetsu properly now, I won't be able to do anything in the future."

Feng shook his head and spoke softly.

"What? It's all true? Are you an idiot?

With the method you described, won't that guy quickly gather all the tailed beast chakra and revive the Ten-Tails?!

Damn it! Uchiha Feng, how can you be so stupid?

Why tell him all that? With me here, there's nothing he can do to you..."

The Nine-Tails instantly bristled, roaring endlessly throughout Feng's mental space and hurling all kinds of curses at him. Mixed in were even some catchphrases Feng occasionally used while chatting.

"Heh heh, Kurama, we've been together for nearly half a year now.

Do you really think I'm the sort of person who gives others benefits for nothing?"

Feng smiled as he explained.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing that, the Nine-Tails cursed even more viciously.

"It's precisely because you always like being a good person that I think you're a damn idiot.

You actually told Black Zetsu such important information so casually!

You moron..."

"Uh... when did I ever like being a good person?"

The Nine-Tails did not know the full story, so Feng accepted being cursed over the Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki matter.

But Feng would not accept being called an idiot who always liked being a good person.

He aspired to become the Qin Shi Huang of the Ninja World.

Then, writing would be standardized, cart axles would share the same width, and a single casual order could invoke the Nine-Clan Severance Technique.

How could he possibly be a good person? He would only be a tyrant remembered for generations.

Uh, it seemed Qin Shi Huang had to review hundreds of jin of memorials every day. That sounded exhausting.

Feng did not want to drown in memorials all day.

So he would be a foolish ruler who neglected state affairs.

But being such a foolish ruler seemed likely to leave ordinary people without enough food, living in hardship and displacement.

That would not do. His mother had taught him since he was little:

Come from the masses, return to the masses.

Seek prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony...

It was fine for him to mess around himself, but he could not harm countless ordinary people.

So becoming a foolish ruler who ignored state affairs would not work, but Feng truly did not want to drown in memorials every day.

Then a constitutional monarchy seemed pretty good. He could be the Qin Shi Huang while not needing to handle affairs himself. Perfect!

"Uchiha Feng! Stop pretending to be stupid and dodging the question!"

While Feng was still agonizing inwardly over how exactly he should be the Qin Shi Huang, the Nine-Tails directly pulled the distracted Feng into the mental space.

Face-to-face, it continuously roared at him, pulling him out of his daze.

"Huh? Ah! Oh... I'm listening. Go on, go on."

Looking at the Nine-Tails right in front of him, Feng awkwardly laughed it off.

"Hmph, and you say you don't like being a good person.

Where do you think all those fields belonging to the commoners outside the capital came from?"

The Nine-Tails spoke again, presenting evidence that Feng was a good person.

"Oh, those? They belonged to nobles who died before.

Leaving them there unused would have let them go to waste. That would have been such a shame.

So I distributed them among the commoners. If they have land to farm, they won't cause trouble. The land won't be abandoned either, and next year I can collect taxes from them—thirty percent.

Heh heh, pretty ruthless, right? It accomplishes several things at once."

Feng explained. Especially when it came to collecting thirty percent in taxes, he recalled that ancient times in his previous life supposedly had taxes of "one-thirtieth" and "one-tenth." He felt he was far harsher than capitalists and landlords.

He had simply forgotten that after taking power, the Tea Country had abolished birth taxes, rain taxes, bow taxes, and all kinds of other harsh levies.

At present, the Tea Country only had three taxes: land tax, commercial tax, and inheritance tax.

In the Tea Country, newly distributed land and rented land could only be taxed at thirty percent, while privately owned land was taxed at ten percent, with nothing else added.

In the ancient world of his previous life, however, after all the miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor were included, the actual burden on commoners could reach fifty percent or even higher.

As for the Ninja World, it had stagnated for a thousand years and also had to support a group of ninjas who produced nothing yet consumed an enormous amount. Its tax burden would only be higher than that of his previous life.

Feng did not know this, but before being sealed by Hashirama Senju, the Nine-Tails had wandered the Ninja World for a thousand years.

Thus, when Feng claimed he was ruthless enough, it replied with, "Heh heh."

After mocking Feng's definition of someone who was not a good person, the Nine-Tails continued presenting evidence.

"You chopped that samurai who forcibly dragged a woman home into eight pieces."

"Hey, no, I chopped someone into eight pieces! Eight pieces! That makes me a good person?"

"Heh heh. And then? Afterward, nothing like forcibly taking women ever happened in the entire capital again.

Who doesn't call you an upright and just lord when they see you?"

"...That was only so more commoners could stay alive and pay me more taxes."

"Not long ago, on the first day your Grand Chancellor paid one thousand gold in taxes, you killed his second son and half his household the next day."

"Damn it, mentioning that guy makes me angry. I had only distributed that land not long ago, and his son immediately relied on his power and influence to seize it by force.

Not killing his entire family was already an act of immense... mer... cy..."

Feng's voice grew quieter and quieter. After reaching the word mercy, he fell completely silent.

Across from him, the Nine-Tails had already stretched its grin all the way to its ears, saying nothing as it watched Feng.

Yet Feng felt that this silence was deafening.

"...It's all because my mother raised me too well. Sigh."

After a long while, he finally muttered those words.

The Nine-Tails responded, "Heh, heh, heh, ha, ha, ha!!!"

It started by chuckling softly, then laughed louder and louder, until it simply lay on the ground laughing.

After a long time, the Nine-Tails finally laughed enough.

Only then did Feng finally get a chance to speak:

"Let's talk business. The reason I told Black Zetsu about the Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki and cultivating tailed beast chakra with negative emotions was to hold him back.

The Fire Temple is already a complete mess over the Pseudo Nine-Tails Jinchūriki matter. They cannot give Black Zetsu much useful information.

As for cultivating tailed beast chakra with negative emotions, nobody even knows where that person is.

Forget whether Black Zetsu can find them—even if he does, he won't produce results in less than ten years.

And if he wastes ten years on that, we should be happy instead.

Then the Ten-Tails, which would originally be revived fifteen years from now, will be delayed.

And I am confident that within fifteen years, I will grow strong enough to crush Obito and Black Zetsu.

So giving Black Zetsu those two pieces of information will not affect anything at all."

Hearing this, the Nine-Tails frowned and lightly tapped the ground several times with its claw. Then its brow relaxed, and it accepted Feng's answer.

After all, whether it believed Uchiha Feng or not, the worst outcome was merely the future fifteen years from now arriving a little earlier. It might as well try believing that Feng before it could truly keep his word.

Then it looked at Feng with a beaming smile and said:

"Oh, so that's how it is, good person.

You should've said so earlier, good person.

I understand now, good person.

"

Feng...

Motherland, if you still love me, send me a Zaun Madman. He shouldn't shut himself away—he should make the Nine-Tails shut itself away.