Chapter 572: Black Zetsu: I’m Done

At this moment, Nagato no longer had the imposing air he had at the beginning. The clothes on his body had become tattered, and there were burn marks all over him, making him look disheveled.

Even the expressionless face he had maintained unchanged for years could no longer be maintained. Expressions of surprise, disbelief, anger, and others appeared one after another on Nagato’s face.

"Isn’t the Rinnegan the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths? Even the Sage of Six Paths only had two Rinnegan, yet I have three Rinnegan. Why can’t I beat Fujiwara Nagasawa?" Nagato was extremely confused.

Exactly which part had gone wrong? This shouldn’t be happening.

"Your Rinnegan? The pair of Rinnegan you have aren’t yours at all. They’re Uchiha Madara’s." Nagasawa smiled as he cleared up Nagato’s confusion, temporarily stopping his attacks.

Actually, Nagato’s current strength wasn’t bad. Based on Nagasawa’s experience, Nagato’s current strength was very close to Six Paths Obito, but there was still a slight gap because Nagato’s Chakra couldn’t compare to Six Paths Obito, who was the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

However, even before Nagasawa obtained the Captain-Commander Template, he could already defeat Six Paths Obito, let alone now that his strength had advanced further and Nagato was still inferior to Six Paths Obito.

"Uchiha Madara..." Nagato frowned as he looked toward Nagasawa and did not attack again.

Nagato was naturally not unfamiliar with this name. However, to Nagato, his Uchiha Madara was Obito. He had never seen the real Madara.

Of course, Obito himself had now said that he wasn’t Uchiha Madara, so Nagato knew that the Uchiha Madara Nagasawa was talking about wasn’t Obito, but the real Uchiha Madara, the powerful man who had once stood alongside the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama.

Nagato didn’t have much of an impression regarding his Rinnegan. Before this, he had always thought he was just an ordinary child. It wasn’t until the Second Shinobi World War, when Konoha shinobi killed his parents, that Nagato erupted on the spot and used the Rinnegan to kill the Konoha shinobi.

At that time, he didn’t know that his eyes were the Rinnegan. It was only after meeting Jiraiya later that Nagato learned how extraordinary his eyes were, actually being the same as the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths.

Nagato had never doubted that these eyes weren’t his. After all, why would someone suddenly suspect that their own eyes weren’t their own?

However, when Nagasawa mentioned Uchiha Madara, even though Nagato didn’t directly believe Nagasawa’s words, a trace of doubt still arose in his heart.

In Nagato’s mind, Uchiha Madara was a character shrouded in mystery.

Even as a dead man, he could still stir up the entire shinobi world.

Obito had cooperated with him under the identity of Uchiha Madara, while Black Zetsu had desperately maintained the illusion that Uchiha Madara still existed. Both of them had countless connections with Uchiha Madara.

"Since you’ve awakened your own Rinnegan, you should know one thing. Aside from the basic abilities like Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten’in, the Rinnegan has a special ability." Nagasawa said.

Nagato nodded. His Six-Tomoe Rinnegan indeed had a special ability.

"And this special ability can only be used by the owner of the eyes. If you’re not the owner of the eyes, then even if you transplant them, you can only use the basic abilities." Nagasawa continued.

Nagato’s expression turned unpleasant. He had originally thought that the reason his newly awakened Rinnegan was a Six-Tomoe Rinnegan was because it was more special, which was why it had an additional special ability. He hadn’t expected the truth to actually be this.

Although he was an enemy, Nagato believed Nagasawa’s words at this moment.

Because after actually awakening the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, Nagato had also noticed something was off.

The reason he had originally been so weak and emaciated, reduced to skin and bones, was because the Rinnegan consumed too much Chakra.

Later, using the Chimera Technique had allowed him to solve the problem of his Chakra.

At that time, Nagato had always thought that this was simply how the Rinnegan worked. Because it was powerful, using it consumed a huge amount of Chakra.

But after awakening his own Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, Nagato discovered that using the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan also consumed quite a lot of Chakra, but it wasn’t nearly as excessive as before.

Nagato had attributed this to the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan being more mysterious.

Now, that explanation was obviously somewhat far-fetched.

A more reasonable, more ninja-like explanation was that those Rinnegan originally did not belong to him, so using them was especially difficult for him, causing them to consume more Chakra. Even using a powerful move required him to pay with his life.

Cold sweat appeared on Nagato’s forehead. Exactly when had his eyes been replaced without him realizing it?

Could everything he had experienced up until now have been the result of someone manipulating things behind the scenes? Had all the pain and friendships he had experienced been deliberately created?

At this moment, Nagato’s mind was in complete turmoil. He began to question his own life and everything about himself.

The death of his parents, the awakening of the Rinnegan, his encounters with Yahiko and Konan, becoming Jiraiya’s disciple, the establishment of the Akatsuki, Yahiko’s death, the unmasking of the masked man, Zetsu...

"How do you know all of this? And how do you know so much about the Rinnegan?" The more Nagato thought about it, the more afraid he became to continue. He forcibly controlled himself from thinking about anything else and asked Nagasawa in confusion.

The new Akatsuki had been established by Nagato for Yahiko. The reason he wanted world peace was also to fulfill Yahiko’s dream.

If all of this were fake, Nagato would truly collapse completely. It would mean that all his efforts had been fake, that he was merely a puppet on strings being manipulated by someone else, ultimately walking toward the ending that person wanted.

"Because I know, so I know." Nagasawa naturally couldn’t say that he had watched the Naruto anime, so he directly began spouting nonsense.

"You only need to know that I won’t lie to you, and there’s no need for me to lie to you, because if I wanted to deal with you, I wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble." Nagasawa said leisurely.

Sometimes, revealing the truth wasn’t necessarily a benefit. It could also be a punishment.

Someone who believed himself to be a god saving everything had been overwhelmingly defeated when he took action, only to discover that his entire life had been arranged from beginning to end.

After suffering such a huge blow, going completely insane wouldn’t be anything strange.

"However, don’t worry. It’s not to the extent that your entire life was controlled. They could only control you on a broad level, guiding you in the direction they hoped you would go." Nagasawa saw through Nagato’s false calm and offered a word of reassurance.

"The direction they wanted was a Shinobi World War?" Perhaps because Nagasawa had given him such a brutal beating, Nagato was now able to think calmly.

"That was only the surface. Think about the original purpose of your organization." Nagasawa shook his head.

"The Tailed Beasts..." Nagato revealed a look of sudden realization.

"As long as the nine Tailed Beasts are sealed back into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Ten-Tails can be revived, and the Ten-Tails is connected to the resurrection of someone named Kaguya Otsutsuki." Nagasawa told Nagato the truth.

’What exactly is going on with this guy? Is he Hagoromo’s reincarnation?’ Black Zetsu, who had been hiding in the shadows while doing his utmost to conceal his presence, was beginning to lose his composure.

’This Chakra doesn’t seem like it either?’ Black Zetsu truly couldn’t understand what exactly was going on with this Fujiwara Nagasawa.

Being strong was one thing. He could be called an unparalleled genius, someone who had never existed before or would never exist again. That could still be understood.

But how exactly did Nagasawa know these secrets? As for resurrecting his mother, let alone Obito, even Uchiha Madara didn’t know about it.

Black Zetsu had originally been prepared to admit defeat and slip away, planning his next thousand-year plan. But after suddenly hearing Nagasawa start spilling secrets, Black Zetsu forcibly restrained his urge to flee.

"Then what about Uchiha Madara?" Nagato asked. Why had Uchiha Madara suddenly disappeared?

"Madara, just like you, was nothing more than a tool of the mastermind behind the scenes. The only difference between you is that Madara was the mastermind’s direct tool, while you were the tool of Madara’s tool." Nagasawa answered.

Nagato fell silent. He hadn’t expected that even the Uchiha Madara who had manipulated him was merely a tool of the mastermind behind the scenes. The anger burning in his heart seemed to have been doused with a basin of cold water.

Moreover, he wasn’t even Madara’s tool. He was the tool of Madara’s tool.

Obito also fell silent. Madara’s tool was him.

Black Zetsu below also fell silent. The mastermind behind the scenes was him. It felt as though Nagasawa even knew what color his underwear was.

"Who is the real mastermind behind the scenes?" Nagato asked.

He no longer wanted to think about why Nagasawa knew so much. He really wanted to know who the person capable of manipulating even Uchiha Madara was.

"Actually, you know him. He’s always been by your side and is one of your most capable subordinates." Nagasawa said with a smile.

"He is Zetsu of your Akatsuki, or rather, Black Zetsu."

Black Zetsu, hiding in the shadows: &￥#@...

What exactly had he been hiding all this time? How did this person know everything?

Nagato revealed an expression of disbelief. The final mastermind behind the scenes was actually Zetsu? The mastermind capable of manipulating even Uchiha Madara was that Zetsu who looked like he had something wrong with his head?

In his mind, Zetsu was at most the subordinate of the real Uchiha Madara. Who would have thought the situation was actually the opposite?

"But Zetsu has already been killed by me." Nagato was somewhat stunned. He had unknowingly killed the final mastermind behind the scenes.

"You definitely didn’t kill Black Zetsu. Although Black Zetsu isn’t strong in combat, he’s very good at staying alive." Nagasawa shook his head and said.

If Black Zetsu had appeared in front of him, Nagasawa naturally had the confidence to kill him in a single blow, directly reducing Black Zetsu to dust.

Nagato’s strength was decent, but he didn’t know Black Zetsu’s information. Perhaps he had killed a White Zetsu and thought he had completely eliminated Black Zetsu.

Hearing that Nagasawa had even begun talking about killing Black Zetsu, Black Zetsu couldn’t listen any longer. He directly fled. He couldn’t stay here any longer. It was better to go prepare a new resurrection plan.

"Now that you know everything, do you still want to continue fighting?" Nagasawa asked Nagato.

Nagato looked bewildered, but when he looked at the Allied Shinobi Forces from the shinobi villages behind him, he remembered something and suddenly said firmly, "Perhaps many of the things I experienced were arranged by others, but the fact that the major shinobi villages oppress the smaller shinobi villages cannot be changed."

"You can defeat me, or even kill me, but if you want me to lead the smaller shinobi villages in surrendering to your Five Great Shinobi Villages, that’s absolutely impossible."

At this point, even after learning everything, Nagato still had no intention of surrendering to the Five Great Shinobi Villages or admitting defeat to Nagasawa.

As a victim of the Shinobi World War, Nagato had not only experienced the terror of war, but had also experienced the oppression of the major shinobi villages toward the smaller shinobi villages.

During these two years of implementing his plan, Nagato had developed an even deeper understanding of this.

Sometimes, he really hadn’t done anything. Merely giving a few speeches and telling people about the things done by the great nations was enough to stir up the emotions of the smaller shinobi villages.

Because the two sides were inherently opposed. Since the era of shinobi villages began, these great nations had gone too far.

Nagato was prepared to carry the resistance through to the end.

Perhaps he wasn’t a good person, and he had started another Shinobi World War, but Nagato felt that what he had done was definitely not meaningless.

"The oppression of small nations by great nations in the shinobi world was indeed considerable in the past." Nagasawa did not deny Nagato’s words, but nodded.

Nagasawa had known from the beginning that the shinobi world was rotten, that this world was rotten.

In a world where even children under ten years old could possibly be sent to the battlefield, what could you expect from it?

Nagasawa really disliked it, so he had always been trying to change everything.

Changing the extreme relationship between great nations and small nations was also one of the things Nagasawa wanted to do.

Therefore, after Nagasawa sensed what Nagato wanted to do, he did not immediately run over and kill Nagato, but instead let Nagato develop.

Although Nagasawa was very strong, relying on a few words to make the other great nations treat the small nations equally would be unlikely.

The reality would be that everyone, under Nagasawa’s pressure, would pretend to comply on the surface, while continuing to do things as they had before in practice.

But if things were done as they were now, with Nagato first giving the many great nations a heavy blow, followed by Nagasawa taking the lead and establishing an alliance of all the shinobi villages in the shinobi world, the situation would be different. The great nations would have to seriously consider the issue of international relations between great nations and small nations in the future.

Because the small nations had contributed greatly to this. They had earned their right to speak through their own strength.

In addition, Nagato’s strategy of mass-producing shinobi had also caused many Ninjutsu and Secret Techniques that various shinobi clans had kept hidden to spread, which had a certain benefit for the development of the shinobi world.

Of course, this was also because Nagasawa was confident that he could control the extent of the war and prevent it from affecting civilians, merely giving some major shinobi villages a lesson.

Otherwise, if resolving the relationship between great nations and small nations resulted in rivers of blood and countless deaths, that would be far too costly. It would be better for Nagasawa to speak up and then see how things developed afterward.

"This is also what I want to change. Your Shinobi Village Alliance platform is quite good. I plan to have all the shinobi villages join the Shinobi Village Alliance. In the future, issues can be resolved through meetings instead of war." Nagasawa said.

"We’re all people from the same planet. Constantly fighting and killing each other is meaningless. Everyone can develop together and learn from each other’s strengths to make up for their weaknesses."

Nagato fell into deep thought after hearing Nagasawa’s words.

In Nagasawa’s description, he seemed to see a completely different outcome.

There would be no need for too much killing, and peace could still be achieved.

"You can’t represent all the great nations." Nagato was very tempted.

"No, I can." Nagasawa said with a smile.

Nagasawa looked at the Fourth Raikage and asked, "What do you think of my proposal just now?"

The Fourth Raikage quickly nodded.

"You see, there isn’t a problem at all, is there?" Nagasawa looked back at Nagato.

"How would you know it won’t work if you don’t try?"