Chapter 240: Who let him cook?

Akihara Kagura believed there was nothing wrong with the history he compiled.

All the key figures in ninja world history appeared, even the Ten Tails God Tree had its role, and he even proactively fabricated a respectable identity for Black Zetsu.

Who is Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?

Where did this minor name come from?

Who is the Sage of Six Paths?

Everyone in the ninja world knows what kind of figure the Sage of Six Paths is!

Akihara Kagura painstakingly helped Black Zetsu fabricate a respected identity. The will split from the Sage of Six Paths is far stronger than the will of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya...

Because everyone has heard of the Sage of Six Paths, they would naturally respect the will split from the Sage of Six Paths, Black Zetsu, especially since Akihara Kagura plans to redeem it...

[Black Zetsu's appearance is coincidental.]

[Since the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, was a mortal, he would inevitably suffer from the pains of birth, old age, illness, and death. Upon seeing his younger daughter Ōtsutsuki Kaguya obtain infinite vitality by devouring the Ten Tails God Tree, the compassionate heart of the Sage of Six Paths was invaded by the desire for immortality gained from the Ten Tails...]

[Black Zetsu is the dark reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo. It is the embodiment of his deepest desires, seeking the Ten Tails' power for immortality and dominion over the world. The Sage of Six Paths could not kill it, so he split it off to prevent it from corrupting his heart...]

[The chakra of the Ten Tails God Tree had long been scattered across the world as the nine tailed beasts. His younger daughter Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, merged with the Ten Tails' husk, was sealed on the moon. Black Zetsu's first goal upon birth was to find a way to gather the Ten Tails and revive his younger daughter Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, thereby controlling Kaguya to obtain the Ten Tails' power...]

This is the origin of Black Zetsu.

Akihara Kagura planned to turn Black Zetsu's idea of reviving the Ten Tails into a desire for immortality, fitting the role of a behind-the-scenes manipulator.

Otherwise...

Claiming Black Zetsu merely wanted to save someone?

That would hardly suit the identity of a mastermind!

Moreover, this reason withstands scrutiny because Black Zetsu's goal indeed was to gather the tailed beasts to revive the Ten Tails God Tree. Akihara Kagura merely gave it a more grandiose reason...

Even though the reason is false...

It seems more real than the truth!

Apart from the identity, everything else is true.

[Black Zetsu's power isn't great, but it possesses the Yin-Yang Release left by the Sage of Six Paths and has quietly hidden some of the God Tree's power, making Black Zetsu immortal. No one can kill it, and it has the power to merge with the Ten Tails God Tree...]

This is necessary!

Black Zetsu isn't very powerful, but it is indeed hard to kill!

The fabrication of Black Zetsu's origin is complete. The next step in compiling history requires a blend of truth and falsehood to make the story plausible.

[The Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, to prevent his dark will, Black Zetsu, from reviving the Ten Tails, sealed this history on a stone tablet, passing it to his eldest son, Indra, who had the Sharingan and extraordinary talent...]

[Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's eldest son, Indra, was born intelligent, created the hand signs for ninjutsu, and inherited the powerful Sharingan. Hagoromo hoped Indra would bear the responsibility of sealing Black Zetsu. To prevent others from discovering the tablet's secrets, Hagoromo left a restriction on the tablet that only the Sharingan could decipher...]

[His second son, Ashura, was simple and honest by nature. Hagoromo decided to pass the ninja creed to Ashura, hoping Ashura would strengthen the ninja creed...]

[However, the situation changed. Black Zetsu, the will split from Hagoromo, upon learning of the tablet revealing its origin, quietly altered the tablet's content...]

[But Black Zetsu, lacking great power, claimed to be a will born from Indra's increased strength, persuading him to gain the Ten Tails' power following his younger sister Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's path. This led Indra to attack Ashura and Hagoromo, attempting to capture all the tailed beasts in the ninja world to revive the Ten Tails...]

[Fortunately, a dying Hagoromo bestowed his power to Ashura, who led the ninja creed to defeat Indra, averting the ninja world's second crisis...]

[In this crisis, a dying Hagoromo discovered that his will, Black Zetsu, had altered the tablet's content. Realizing that the immortal Black Zetsu would inevitably cause turmoil in the ninja world to revive the Ten Tails, Hagoromo predicted that future conflicts would arise due to Black Zetsu's manipulations...]

[To correct the errors born from his desires and prevent the descendants of Indra and Ashura from being exploited by Black Zetsu, Hagoromo decided to inscribe this secret history on the bark of the God Tree, passing it to his second son, Ashura, hoping future generations would be wary of Black Zetsu...]

The story ends here.

Since Akihara Kagura wrote it from the perspective of the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, he added some remorse and shame for not being able to control his desire, which split into the immortal monster Black Zetsu, hoping future generations would be cautious and not be misled by power.

As this forged history was left by Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, it naturally couldn't include stories of the conflicts between the Uchiha and Senju clans, as the Sage of Six Paths had already died by then.

"This history is quite good..."

Akihara Kagura looked at the history he compiled, feeling there was nothing more to add.

Of course.

If someone who truly knew the history of the ninja world examined it, the story would be full of flaws!

But...

How many people truly know the real history of the ninja world? And how can those who do know prove it?

Even if Black Zetsu appeared and said that, in its thousand years of existence, the history recorded on this bark was all lies, that it wasn't the will of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo but of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and that Hagoromo never knew of its existence, what use would that be?

Wouldn't that be self-destructive?

After all, Black Zetsu always claimed to be the will of Uchiha Madara!

The will of Uchiha Madara, a being only a few decades old, could not possibly know the truth from a thousand years ago. This explanation wouldn't hold, so Black Zetsu, by refuting the history, would have to be the dark will of the Sage of Six Paths from a thousand years ago...

However, if Black Zetsu chose to remain silent and not refute the history...

Then everyone would assume the history recorded on the bark was true!

After all, it was left by the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo!

Black Zetsu would definitely be considered the embodiment of Hagoromo's dark will, having altered the Uchiha clan's stone tablet, instigated the millennium-long war between Indra and Ashura, and sought the Ten Tails' power to dominate the world!

This is an unsolvable dilemma.

Since Black Zetsu used the name of the Sage of Six Paths when manipulating Uchiha Madara, Akihara Kagura did the same, using the name of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo to record Black Zetsu's origin and its alteration of the stone tablet, delivering a fatal blow to Black Zetsu...

Thus...

Whether Black Zetsu would refute these truths or not, it would be thoroughly rejected by everyone in the ninja world, becoming a universally reviled figure...

Honestly...

The only person in the ninja world who has seen the entire content of the Sage of Six Paths' stone tablet is Uchiha Madara. But if Madara sees the supposed God Tree bark left by the Sage of Six Paths, he would likely believe the content on the bark more...

By then...

What could the cornered Black Zetsu do?

Akihara Kagura felt only he, this broad-minded and equally ambitious genius ninja, could accept Black Zetsu as his superior and conspire together to seize the Ten Tails' power. Black Zetsu would have no choice but to agree!

"Let the four Hokages hunt down Uchiha Obito..."

Akihara Kagura formulated his action plan, deciding to implement it step by step: "Force Uchiha Obito to have me solve his troubles one by one, exploit all the legacy Uchiha Madara left for him, and wait for Black Zetsu and Uchiha Obito to force me to revive Madara..."

"At that time..."

"I'll reveal the bark."

"Let Hashirama discover the truth recorded on the bark and convey it to Uchiha Madara, making Madara completely abandon Black Zetsu, turning Black Zetsu into a reviled monster..."

Akihara Kagura felt his plan was flawless.

Except perhaps for Black Zetsu, as the historical account on the bark might make Black Zetsu angry and curse Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, or suspect another mastermind behind the scenes...

Anyway...

Akihara Kagura could only wish it well in advance.

Meanwhile...

Black Zetsu wasn't feeling too good either.

Because White Zetsu Ah Wei brought some unfriendly news to it and Uchiha Obito.

In the Land of Rain.

In the Akatsuki organization's base.

Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu quietly listened to White Zetsu Ah Wei's report.

"The boy's Edo Tensei had a problem..."

"When reviving the previous Hokages as instructed by the higher-ups of Konoha, the boy experimented on them, intending to revive them at their peak and make them his puppets..."

"But something went wrong. After the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama was revived, he had prepared a method to break the Edo Tensei's control and gained his freedom..."

"Wait..."

Uchiha Obito recalled an important issue and asked in a deep voice, "Was the Fourth Hokage Minato revived as well?"

Regarding his former teacher, Uchiha Obito had some concerns, as Minato once caused him a great loss despite having the Mangekyo Sharingan...

"Yes..."

White Zetsu Ah Wei nodded, ignoring Uchiha Obito's grim expression, and continued, "Now the boy can't control the Edo Tensei he revived..."

"This is quite normal..."

Black Zetsu understood this matter well, speaking in a sinister tone: "The Second Hokage Senju Tobirama created the Edo Tensei technique. He would certainly have a way to break its control..."

"However..."

White Zetsu Ah Wei hesitated for a moment before continuing: "Senju Tobirama created the Edo Tensei to ensure his revival. He found Madara-sama's missing body and wanted to use the technique to stop Madara-sama's plan. Even the Hashirama cell transplant experiments were part of his preemptive measures..."

"He knew about Madara and our plan?"

Uchiha Obito frowned.

"Not yet..."

White Zetsu Ah Wei shook his head, adding something perplexing: "But whatever Madara-sama intends, or whatever you, Obito, intend, or even what the Uchiha plan, Senju Tobirama intends to stop it..."

"..."

Uchiha Obito felt a surge of anger.

This Second Hokage Senju Tobirama was truly a menace! How could he be against them at every turn? He opposed the obedient Uchiha in Konoha and the rogue Uchiha outside of it. How could he still be antagonistic?

"This is quite normal."

Black Zetsu, understanding the grudge between Senju Tobirama and the Uchiha clan, was concerned about the future with four troublesome individuals: "The four revived former Hokages won't be easy to deal with. They will definitely try to stop our plans..."

"That brat Akihara Kagura, I've disliked him for a long time!"

Uchiha Obito snorted, venting his dissatisfaction with Akihara Kagura: "I've long told him to be more obedient, yet he keeps trying to control powers beyond his grasp, now causing us trouble..."

Just the Fourth Hokage Minato alone was a huge problem, let alone the other revived Hokages!

"But..."

White Zetsu Ah Wei seemed puzzled by Uchiha Obito's thoughts: "The boy has always intended to revive Madara-sama at his peak, using the former Hokages as Edo Tensei experiments..."

"It's not yet time to revive Madara!"

Uchiha Obito grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"Now it's necessary..."

Black Zetsu shook its head, looking at White Zetsu Ah Wei: "The four Hokages will pose a significant threat to our plans. They won't let the perpetrator of the Nine Tails incident go unpunished, right?"

"Indeed."

White Zetsu Ah Wei nodded, continuing: "Before I came, the four Hokages were discussing hunting down Obito. The boy couldn't act, so he could only pass on information or create some trouble in Konoha to distract them…"

~~~

Patreon.com/Bleam

— 70 Advance Chapters!

Get 2 Sponsored Chapters "Every Month" for every person who joins the "Special Jonin•Bleam" Membership!