Falling into an abyss.

  This was Bck Zetsu's moment of absolute terror.

  If Shigen's goal all along had been Kaguya, if his attack on Indra a thousand years ago was a ploy to meet it, then everything Bck Zetsu had done—every move it made for a thousand years—had been shrouded in shadow the moment they met.

  "Impossible..."

  Bck Zetsu's body trembled.

  "Back then..."

  "You had only just been born, hadn't you?"

  Shigen reminisced about their first encounter.

  "Wearing a straw hat stolen from who-knows-where, wrapped in a crude bamboo frame... you looked just like a child—young and clumsy."

  "But..."

  "You were cautious."

  "You never said a word about Kaguya."

  "..."

  Bck Zetsu recalled its earliest days, freshly left behind by Kaguya.

  It had been small and weak then.

  Its pns progressed with great difficulty.

  But no difficulty compared to this moment.

  "So even then..."

  "I was already in your trap?"

  Bck Zetsu stared bitterly at Shigen—

  And shuddered.

  Because in that instant, Shigen seemed exactly as he had in the ancient era.

  The same calm.

  The same confidence.

  A little slug resting on his shoulder.

  The aura of absolute composure.

  It felt as if… nothing in this world could shake him.

  And indeed, nothing seemed capable of doing so.

  For Shigen held the world in his grasp.

  Bck Zetsu, being part of that grip, felt only bitter, bitter resentment.

  It remembered how well they'd gotten along—once.

  How seamless their partnership had been.

  And now—

  The betrayal burned. 4

  The betrayal burned.

  "No way..."

  Naruto couldn't wrap his head around it.

  "Their roles reversed." 4

  "Their roles reversed."

  Sasuke expined coolly:

  "Bck Zetsu always thought Shigen was its pawn to revive Kaguya..."

  "But it never realized the 'pawn' was actually the pyer moving the pieces."

  He smirked slightly:

  "This guy… is terrifyingly cunning."

  Back when Orochimaru revealed that Shigen was the leader of the Akatsuki, during the chaos of the Chūnin Exams four years ago—it was already terrifying enough.

  But it turned out—

  There was a game within the game.

  A move within every move. 3

  A move within every move.

  "So actually..."

  Naruto, still immobilized, tried to grasp the revetion with his usual simple values:

  "Shigen's… a good guy?"

  Sasuke didn't know how to answer.

  Good and evil?

  Could such things really be defined in a few words?

  "Hmph."

  "He's a hypocrite, that's all!"

  "Don't think Shigen is some noble saint!"

  Bck Zetsu roared at them, furious to hear the boys even consider siding with the man who had maniputed it.

  "You think Shigen didn't manipute your lives?"

  "You and Sasuke—have always been his pawns!"

  "Even your chakra—the reincarnations of Ashura and Indra—were part of his pn!"

  Naruto and Sasuke fell silent.

  Because—

  Bck Zetsu wasn't wrong.

  Shigen had maniputed a lot of people.

  The Sage of Six Paths.

  The ninja of Konoha.

  Uchiha Madara.

  Bck Zetsu itself.

  The entire Shinobi world had danced in his hands.

  "What I want to know..."

  Bck Zetsu now ground its teeth with hatred.

  "You knew about me and Kaguya since the ancient times, yet you chose to die back then—why?"

  "Weren't you afraid of truly dying?"

  "It didn't matter if I was or not," Shigen said ftly.

  "Because human life always ends."

  "At the time, I had already reached the level of the Sage of Six Paths. If I became the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, I might not gain immortality—but I would become much stronger. That would have made you wary."

  "If I had gained immortality, you would've feared me and avoided reviving Kaguya."

  "If I hadn't, you'd have feared my power and interfered with my revival."

  "So dying… was my best option."

  "Even though I knew Ashura's vision of peace was idealistic, I held a faint hope. But more than anything, my death was meant to be meaningful."

  "Madman!"

  Bck Zetsu spat.

  Shigen spoke of dying so calmly—

  As if pnning his own death was a simple matter.

  "That was the best approach."

  "With a noble sacrifice—"

  "My corpse would be preserved in the Shinobi world."

  "As the first true medical ninja, Ashura's descendants would protect my body. You wouldn't dare destroy it, since we had once worked together."

  "Of course, I couldn't rely on that alone."

  "So I left behind two crystal coffins."

  "One for Ashura's descendants—because they're the most suited for medical ninjutsu. Not blessed like Indra's with innate Sharingan, they would inevitably delve into forbidden techniques to keep up. Such power always leads to darkness..."

  "And sooner or ter—"

  "They would study the soul."

  That didn't need further expnation.

  Everyone understood what he meant.

  Even if Tobirama hadn't existed, the Uzumaki Cn—descendants of Ashura—had already begun soul research.

  But Tobirama had still been the worst offender.

  With his deep soul experimentation, he created the dreaded Edo Tensei.

  "Even if my pn failed, it didn't matter."

  "I left a second coffin deep in the Slug Sage's forest."

  "And on that coffin—I left a will."

  "Anyone who passed the Slug's test would receive the coffin. Eventually, someone would find it. They'd learn how to revive me."

  "Coincidentally..."

  "Both coffins ended up being used."

  "The first one was used by Tobirama for my initial Edo Tensei—though the timing wasn't right. Still, it let me reconnect with you and prepare for my return."

  "There, I met Tsunade—I knew she'd eventually retrieve the coffin from the Slug. I also saw Orochimaru, ever curious about forbidden jutsu. He'd eventually use the second coffin to revive me again."

  "This time—"

  "I wouldn't need to wait another millennium."

  Shigen looked toward Bck Zetsu.

  "As long as I regained your trust during my first resurrection, you'd eagerly anticipate my return and wouldn't interfere with my second one."

  "The only thing I didn't expect—"

  "Was how hard it was in ancient times to get you to talk about Kaguya. You clung to secrecy like a terrified newborn."

  "But by the time I was revived, you had grown arrogant—after maniputing the fate of so many. You finally spoke of Kaguya."

  "That was surprising to me."

  Shigen finally showed a rare trace of surprise.

  Like a master tactician caught off guard by a foolish blunder from his most dangerous foe.

  "After all—everything I said then was meant to win your trust."

  "I never thought you'd confess everything, just to bask in your own pride."

  "You..."

  Bck Zetsu wanted to scream.

  That same moment he'd taken such smug joy in just moments ago—

  Now it made his skin crawl.

  "We were thinking the exact same thing."

  "Just as you imagined the torment I'd feel when your deception was revealed..."

  "I too wondered—how would you look when the truth was turned on you?"

  "Would it be regret... or rage?"

  "If you need a reference..."

  "I can tell you how I felt when you were bragging about tricking me."

  Shigen looked at Bck Zetsu, his expression unreadable.

  And yet—

  In his gaze was a unique glimmer.

  The kind a god might have when watching a worm wiggle in vain.

  That glimmer…

  Could only be described as—

  Pity.