This was so frustrating.
Black Zetsu's mood was uncontrollably melancholic. It was one thing for Emiya Shirou to believe Asura in the ancient era, but why did he approve of Senju Hashirama in this era? Yes, Hashirama had pacified the Warring States period, but after his death, new wars would surely break out!
"Lord Wei Yuan," Black Zetsu's voice was hoarse and gloomy, "you are the smartest person in the history of the ninja world. Even as I have followed in your footsteps for a long millennium, I cannot see a silhouette that resembles you. You should clearly understand that the peace Senju Hashirama has brought is only temporary."
It continued, its voice filled with a grim certainty. "As long as ninjas exist, as long as greed exists in their hearts, as long as there is no power above them to suppress that greed, the fighting will never cease! It doesn't matter how many times Asura's chakra is reincarnated! When Senju Hashirama dies, the ninjas of this world will start new wars, repeating over and over again the painful and tragic fate they have had to endure."
"Lord Wei Yuan, have you forgotten your own belief? Enduring the suffering that the world cannot bear, striving to save the world's people who cannot escape their suffering. Are you going to just watch as the world endlessly cycles through pain? The will that you once wanted the medical ninjas of future generations to carry on, have you yourself forgotten it?"
"But..." Shirou's brow furrowed. He thought about how to defend himself and subconsciously found someone to take the blame. "Asura once mentioned to me—"
"Asura is an arrogant fool!" Black Zetsu quickly cut him off. "If you hadn't believed his words back then, but had chosen to kill him and completely destroy Ninshu, taking back all the chakra the Sage had spread, this world would not have had a thousand years of war! The people who brought war to this world are all descendants of the Sage and those despicable people of Ninshu!"
Shirou was a bit silent. This fellow Black Zetsu had grown quite a bit after living for over a thousand years. Just looking at its righteous posture, he was a bit dazed, as if Black Zetsu was the one on the side of justice. This was absurd. How did the situation turn out like this?
"Heh heh heh... why don't you answer me?" Seeing his silence, a sinister smile appeared on Black Zetsu's face. "Is it because you realize you have once again walked down a wrong path?"
Shirou still remained silent.
Black Zetsu suddenly felt a bit uneasy. Did I go too far?
"Black Zetsu," Shirou slowly lowered his head, his voice filled with infinite loss, as if his life had lost all belief. "We... cannot succeed."
Black Zetsu immediately wanted to refute him.
"Hear me out," Shirou interrupted, calmly explaining his past. "When I first obtained the power of the Sage, I immediately wanted to take back the chakra he had spread. But I studied his body and did not find a way to completely retrieve the chakra. Whether it was Wood Style or the Rinnegan's abilities, it was impossible. That's why I had to kill them all, good and evil, when I was destroying Ninshu."
Black Zetsu's expression became a bit strange. Because... this was all its fault. It was all its fault for not teaching Shirou the correct method in advance! After all, retrieving the chakra was part of reviving Kaguya, and it didn't think Shirou could get to that step.
"I..." it immediately wanted to explain.
"Listen to me quietly," Shirou interrupted again, his voice holding a dead-hearted calmness. "Do you remember the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya Otsutsuki we believe in?"
Black Zetsu quickly nodded. Kaguya was its mother. Its own birth was precisely to revive her after she was sealed by that rebellious son, the Sage of Six Paths.
"I believe the Rabbit Goddess should be able to retrieve the chakra," Shirou continued his fabrication. "I heard a taboo piece of information from a Ninshu disciple, of unknown authenticity, that she is the mother of the Sage, which means she is the grandmother of Asura and Indra. To be honest, although I'm a little worried, I can only place my hopes on her. I can only hope she can uphold the principle of fairness in distributing and retrieving chakra, making it a power to save the world, not a power for those Ninshu disciples to wantonly bully the weak. So when I went to Ninshu, I actually had another purpose: to ask Asura how to revive the Rabbit Goddess. But I was persuaded by him during our battle and gave up on asking. As for what happened later... you should know it all."
Black Zetsu was at a loss. It didn't expect Shirou to have wanted to do so much! To be honest, he was already outstanding enough! It was even faintly touched. It had never thought Shirou would make so much effort to revive Kaguya, and even truly wanted her to rule the world. He even wanted to find out from Asura how to revive her!
This guy is really too strong! If he had known the correct steps, they might have been able to revive her in the ancient era!
"Actually..." Black Zetsu's mood was faintly excited.
"Black Zetsu, hear me out," Shirou interrupted for the third time, continuing to fabricate his thoughts. "Now, I have been resurrected in this era. I know this world has experienced a painful millennium of warring states. I understand that I was hot-headed back then, lightly believing Asura's promise, sparing those people from Ninshu, and giving up the hope that was most likely to change the world. But what's the use of me thinking about these things now?"
His voice became completely dejected. "The Sage died long ago. Asura and Indra have been dead for a thousand years. In this world, only their family knows how to revive the Rabbit Goddess. This era doesn't even have historical records. The ninjas of this era regard the Sage as a god of creation. Our path is already broken. We have no way to retrieve the chakra, nor is it possible to find any more news about reviving the Rabbit Goddess. I also can't bring myself to kill all the ninjas of this era. Besides continuing to believe in Asura's promise, I have no idea what else I can do."
He gave a dejected, bitter smile. "Black Zetsu, I am just a lucky person who was once favored by the God Tree, not some omnipotent person who can change the world. I'm sorry... for letting your expectations down."