If he thought of it, he did it. If he had a big mouth, he spoke.
That was also Tobi's life philosophy.
"Say, the Konoha ninja you want to get rid of… he's actually your fellow countryman," Tobi said mysteriously.
The figure in the shadows immediately shot back, "What nonsense are you talking about?! Our clan is—"
You both share the name 'Black' ," Tobi interrupted, then began explaining in detail. "Your name is Black Zetsu, and his name is Black Hair…"
"…."
The shadowed figure fell silent for a moment. After a while, he asked, "Isn't his name Shimizu Uzuki? And his hair is gray-white?"
"That's now. He used to have black hair…"
"…Alright, stop with that nonsense." Black Zetsu, hidden in the shadows, rubbed his temples in irritation. "Why does someone like you have to be the strongest fighter among the White Zetsu…"
"Because none of them are as handsome as me."
Black Zetsu directly ignored Tobi's comment and continued,
"As long as you don't cause any more unnecessary trouble, once the mission is finished you can do whatever you want."
"Understood!" Tobi gave a salute and then asked,
"By the way, I'm curious—why do you insist on killing Shimizu Uzuki? And why is your mom so fierce? She didn't even say hello before trying to completely erase that Konoha ninja from existence."
"That is Mother's will. As her child, I only need to follow her will."
"I knew you must know something. Then hurry up and tell me."
"Why do you want to know that?"
"If you won't tell me, I'll go ask Madara. With Madara's brain and my vast knowledge, I'm sure we can roughly deduce the truth," Tobi said seriously.
Black Zetsu fell silent again.
Although he and Tobi were nominally in an employment relationship…
In reality, their current cooperation and harmony were built on equal partnership.
He could help Tobi achieve his dream, and Tobi could help him remove obstacles on the path to reviving Mother.
For example, the Second Hokage in the past; and now those two Konoha jōnin…
It could be said that neither of them could do without the other.
However, the Tobi in front of him had a completely unpredictable personality.
If he said he would go talk to Madara about this…
He might actually do it.
How could Madara be allowed to know these things?!
That was never part of his original plan.
So Black Zetsu slowly explained:
"…You know that Mother is the progenitor of chakra in this world. All chakra in the world originates from her. In a sense, everything in this world is her child…"
"Stop! I have a question!" Tobi suddenly raised his hand.
Black Zetsu's tone grew slightly irritated as he said stiffly, "…Go ahead."
"If she's the ancestor of chakra, I can understand humans… but why do frogs, slugs, and poisonous snakes also have chakra?" Tobi suddenly looked horrified, as if realizing something. "Could it be that—"
Before Tobi could say the next word, Black Zetsu quickly cut him off:
"That is simply the inevitable result of the God Tree influencing nature. Let me emphasize again—the chakra I'm referring to is the chakra possessed by modern-day ninjas, and these ninjas can all be considered descendants of Mother."
"So that means I was born from your mom too?" Tobi pointed at himself, puzzled.
"If you were human before you died… then perhaps," Black Zetsu said uncertainly.
"I see… alright, continue," Tobi said thoughtfully.
"For Mother, this world is like her private garden. Naturally she constantly observes the changes within it… after all, Mother has never abandoned her love and familial affection for her descendants."
"But for many years… I had never felt Mother's anger."
"Until that day…"
"When Mother discovered that the Konoha ninja used that Water Release ninjutsu, the chakra contained within the technique… completely disappeared."
"Disappeared? What do you mean?" Tobi tilted his head in confusion.
"Normally, after a ninjutsu is successfully released, the chakra disperses into the world in some form, becoming nourishment for the world once again.
"So even after thousands of years, the amount of chakra in this world has never decreased by even the slightest bit… and all of that chakra has always belonged to Mother alone.
"But that Konoha ninja is different… The technique he uses is like a black hole, devouring all chakra. The chakra he consumes will never return to this world again…
"That means the ninja called Shimizu Uzuki has been continuously draining Mother's blood since the day he was born.
"How could Mother possibly allow such a vampire to exist?!
"Fortunately, Mother discovered his existence in time, so now he has been exposed before us.
"If he is allowed to keep growing, the chakra of this world will eventually be completely consumed by him. And when that happens, the disaster we will face will be catastrophic…
"So can you understand Mother's good intentions? Everything she has done is to save this world…"
"…That sounds pretty great," Tobi muttered.
"No matter what you were before, you must also be one of Mother's children. Now that this world is suffering irreparable damage, can you really just stand by and do nothing?"
"Alright… since you put it that way…" Tobi seemed to make a difficult decision and said, "Little Black, how about we merge together?"
"???"
"I'll go call Madara to give birth to you, so you can appear openly. Then we can merge together legitimately…"
"GET LOST!!"
"Only when we completely fuse into one can we truly be of one mind and work together to protect this beautiful and diverse world."
Black Zetsu's voice rose higher and higher in anger.
"I will absolutely never merge with a White Zetsu like you—"
"Hey, keep it down, will you? Madara is just sleeping, not dead. You wouldn't want him waking up and asking who I'm talking to, right?"
"..."
"Geez, Madara is really pitiful. He thinks he stands above the world, but everything is actually under your control," Tobi sighed and shook his head. "AAnd now 'Black Hair' has escaped... that means Madara's only hope, that Uzumaki sealing technique, is completely gone. I think he's going to explode with anger when he wakes up."
"That Konoha ninja escaped because of you," Black Zetsu replied.
"If he hadn't ambushed me, would I have ended up in such a miserable state?! And his Lightning Release suddenly became ridiculously powerful—who could've predicted that…"
Black Zetsu thought for a moment and said:
"After all, what he absorbed was Mother's Lightning Release chakra… and there was also another unknown power mixed in."
"If you're not sure, don't act recklessly! You ended up handing him equipment and new abilities—what am I supposed to do now? Wait… that power you mentioned—could it be the Sage chakra Madara talked about? Someone actually gave him something that high-level?!"
"The essence of Sage chakra is the fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy combined with natural energy… However, what Mother used was indeed just ordinary Lightning Release chakra. But if Madara believes it to be Sage chakra, that means someone somehow mixed natural energy into it."
"Oh? Is that person an enemy or an ally?" Tobi asked curiously.
"That is your new mission—find the rat hiding in the shadows."
"Tch… I shouldn't have asked."
...
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