His entire millennia-long game was built on one unshakable conviction: that creature was dead. That was the only reason he dared to emerge from the shadows, pit its two offspring against each other, and distort the very teachings of chakra. After all, if she were alive, would she have allowed her creation to sow discord between her sons?
No. Impossible.
So how could it be him?
On the other hand, who else in the entire shinobi world could have faced such a monster as Uchiha Yue in open combat? No one else came to mind.
How could he have survived?
No, no, he must be dead. Otherwise, I would have been discovered long ago and crushed in one blow. I know my so-called "brother" all too well—an incorrigible idealist. If he were alive, he would never have allowed the Ninshu he founded to fall and crumble to dust. After all, the main purpose for which he shared chakra was to help people understand each other and live in peace. He never imagined that they would become ninja and turn this power into a weapon for endless wars.
So what the hell is going on?!
Chaos reigned in Black Zetsu's mind. His entire strategy, his entire plan to resurrect his mother, hinged on the death of the Sage of the Six Paths. If that bastard was alive, did that mean it had all been for nothing? Was all his titanic work doomed to failure?
This can't be!
"What the hell?!" he hissed. "Who's fighting Uchiha Yue? Who?! It can't be Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo! No way! He's dead, once and for all!"
Black Zetsu's face grew darker with each passing second. An icy, primal terror stirred within him. At that moment, it seemed to him that the entire world was a vast aquarium, and he was just a small fish, whose every move was watched by an invisible, all-powerful master.
And yet... his main argument remained valid. If the Sage had lived, he would never have allowed the shinobi world to reach such a deplorable state.
There was no answer. The more Zetsu pondered, the deeper he sank into the quagmire of his own fears. Could it really be that an unseen master, who had never before revealed himself, was hiding in the world? Some superpowerful fighter, capable of matching Madara and Hashirama at the peak of their power, or even surpassing them?
There was logic to this thought. His former confidence in knowing all the powers that be was shattered. The world was vast, and its inhabitants countless. He, however, was completely absorbed in his plan to resurrect his mother. Moreover, if someone doesn't cultivate chakra, no matter how powerful they are, they will remain virtually invisible to sensors. Their body will contain only the bare minimum of energy necessary to sustain life.
Yes, exactly. That's right. The Sage of Six Paths couldn't have survived. This... this is definitely some hidden genius, hitherto unknown to the world!
That's what Black Zetsu decided. Whether it was true or not, he desperately clung to this theory, because the alternative was too terrifying.
"Perhaps there was no battle at all?" White Zetsu's carefree voice suddenly rang out. "Perhaps Uchiha Yue was simply practicing his techniques?"
These words thundered through Black Zetsu's mind like a clap of thunder.
Of course!
Training! Before Yue gained his current strength, he was a weakling from the Uchiha clan, incapable of even developing chakra, let alone ninjutsu. He was an ordinary man. All his attacks, damn it, were simple strikes! And since he didn't possess complex techniques, such massive destruction could only mean one thing: he was learning them. That was the most plausible explanation.
And who in today's world could resist such terrifying absorption power? Fighting Yue while having more than half of your chakra and life force drained from you? Unthinkable!
Black Zetsu was certain that even a resurrected Madara with two Rinnegan would be powerless. He would likely have perished ingloriously as well. All powerful techniques are essentially energy blasts. And bombarding this Sphere of Silent Death with energy was like trying to pelt a hungry dog with meat pies.
Attacks directed at this so-called sphere didn't harm Yue. Through trial and error, they had already figured out its nature. It wasn't a sphere in the conventional sense. It was something akin to solar radiation—the very space saturated with his will, where he absorbed any energy. Attacking this zone in the hopes of harming him was as foolish as bombing sunlit land in the hopes of damaging the sun itself.
"Then tell me, how long did this last?" Black Zetsu asked, seizing on the saving thought. If Yue had fought someone, how had it ended?
There could only be two outcomes. If it truly was the surviving Sage, then Uchiha Yue should be lying dead right now.
That's what Black Zetsu thought, unaware of Yue's immortality. He naively assumed the main problem was his impenetrable sphere, which absorbed any energy. Overcome it, and the monster could be killed. But that "but" made any attack pointless. After all, once you reached Yue, exhausted and almost without chakra, you'd only have time to glance at him before you dropped dead.
"How long? It's over," White Zetsu shrugged. "Shortly after that mushroom cloud, the sphere went silent again and froze in place. That guy's probably dead by now; Yue finished him off! Oh, what a shame. This is the first time I've seen anyone break through and fight him face-to-face! It was so cool!"
"That's right... He was just testing out some new techniques. Phew... scared the crap out of me." And here I thought Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, that monster who betrayed my mother, was still alive!"
Black Zetsu breathed a sigh of relief.
So that's it...