Black Zetsu's Lies

In the dark, sealed chamber, Black Zetsu continued in a voice thick with sorrow and persuasion:

"You probably never saw society before ninjas appeared. Back then, its capacity for violence was still very limited."

"People fought much like the swordsmen of the Land of Iron, only with far less power. Even a major battle might have killed only a hundred people or so."

"Meanwhile, we possessed power those ordinary people could not imagine."

"I watched them repeat the same wars, slaughter, and disasters across this land, driven by their weakness, ignorance, and greed."

"And I felt a profound sorrow. I felt responsible."

A trace of excitement entered his voice. "I proposed to my elder brothers that the three of us become this world's true 'gods'!"

"We would establish an age of absolute order! We would control everything, distribute resources, judge right and wrong, and eliminate all war and injustice! Peace and order would reign forever!"

"It was the fastest, most effective, most fundamental solution! Only supreme, unquestionable power could end this foolish tragedy that had repeated for thousands of years!"

Then his tone turned abruptly bitter and furious:

"But my brother, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, refused!"

"He was foolishly swayed by those mortals' brief lives and fragile emotions!"

"He stubbornly believed that sharing his power with them and letting them find their own answers was the right path!"

"He called my vision a 'dictatorship,' a tyranny that 'robbed humanity of its potential'!"

"He even... He even joined forces with Hamura, convinced that my ideas were dangerous heresy, a departure from the proper path!"

Black Zetsu's voice sharpened with hatred. "All because I had seen a more effective path to eternal truth!"

"All because I was willing to shoulder the responsibility of a 'god' instead of leaving the world to its own devices!"

"My dear brothers saw me as a threat for that!"

"They ambushed me together and used a powerful Sealing Technique to strip away most of my power."

"Then they divided that power into nine parts: what you later came to call the nine great Tailed Beasts."

"In the end, I was reduced to this monstrous form! Yet Hagoromo became the Savior who spread love, praised by mortals for a thousand years!"

Black Zetsu's words were deeply persuasive. He cast himself as a visionary prophet betrayed by his brothers' jealousy and shortsightedness.

He slowly swept his gaze over the others again, lingering on Obito and Pain.

"I was sealed away for ages, my power diminished and my form hideous."

"But my will never died. I waited in the darkness for an opportunity, for a 'partner' who could understand my vision."

"At last, I found that person: Madara Uchiha."

Obito trembled slightly at the name, and even Pain's Rinnegan seemed to flicker.

"Madara was a man who truly saw the emptiness and suffering at the heart of this world."

"He possessed immense power and an unyielding will. By chance, he helped me break that hateful seal, allowing me to exert more influence on the world."

Black Zetsu described his meeting with Madara Uchiha as though fate had brought them together.

"I spoke with him and explained the path to eternal peace I had envisioned: establishing absolute order through supreme power and ending the endless cycle of war once and for all."

"To my delight, Madara understood! He saw that this path was right!"

"So we worked together. With my wisdom and a thousand years of experience, alongside his power and prestige and Hashirama Senju's, we nearly succeeded!"

"Together, we laid the foundation for the Shinobi Village System! We created the system of shinobi villages you know today."

"But Madara and I had intended to build a vast organization centered on overwhelming power, one that would bring all ninjas together."

"It would serve as the foundation of a future government for the Shinobi World, gradually end the feuds between clans, and ultimately achieve complete unity and peace!"

His voice rang with yearning and fervor for that "unfinished work."

"Konoha's founding should have been the first step! The beginning of our grand design!"

"Madara, Hashirama Senju, and I could have become the three gods of a new world! We could have led humanity toward true order!"

His tone then plunged into grief and anger:

"But Hashirama Senju! That man was thoroughly poisoned by Hagoromo's belief in dividing his power! That naive idealist!"

"He could not begin to understand the grand vision we had laid out! He clung to his fragile dream of reconciling clans through mutual understanding!"

"He feared our power. He feared the new order we were about to bring, an order he could not control!"

"He exploited the last shred of Madara's affection for him and launched a sneak attack at the Valley of the End! He stopped us through treachery! With his own hands, he strangled the lasting peace that was about to dawn!"

Black Zetsu spoke as if his heart were bleeding, twisting a clash of ideals into a tragedy in which noble ambitions had been treacherously destroyed.

"Hashirama Senju ambushed and killed Madara, and our plan collapsed on the brink of success."

"Though the Shinobi Village System was established, it strayed from the course Madara and I had set. It became a tool for balancing and fighting between great nations, even sparking Shinobi World Wars on a far greater scale!"

"But that only proved Madara and I had been right! Hashirama Senju's naivety brought even worse disasters upon the Shinobi World!"

"Look at the Shinobi World now! Has any Shinobi World War ended without more than a hundred thousand dead and wounded?"

"If Hagoromo had agreed with my decision back then, none of these tragedies could have happened."

Black Zetsu paused, then turned an "earnest" gaze on Pain.

"But hope never died. Through long years of waiting and watching, I found a new successor."

"I found the Child of Prophecy, someone who understood this world's suffering just as deeply and possessed the legendary Rinnegan. That person is you, Pain."

"When I found you, you were enduring the most extreme pain. That pain became the foundation that let you see the truth of this world."

"I watched you grow. I watched you establish the Akatsuki Organization, recruit members, and advance step by step toward your goal."

"Because I knew that the dream you had for the Akatsuki Organization at its founding was doomed from the start."

"Hagoromo Otsutsuki and Hashirama Senju had already proven that beyond doubt."

"But now you seek to impose peace through extreme pain."

"At its heart, your wish is the same as the 'absolute order' Madara and I tried to establish! Both use overwhelming, unquestionable power to force the world into line and end the chaos!"

"Pain, you are not fighting alone. You possess more than the Rinnegan. You carry our unfinished dream!"

"We found you and helped you because we hoped you could accomplish the great work that Madara, Hashirama Senju, and I failed to complete!"

"Use your pain to achieve the peace Madara and I could not achieve through order! Set this broken world right!"