Chapter 396: Black Zetsu's Code of Conduct
"What? Second Hokage-sama, are you saying that we're actually all descendants of the Sage of Six Paths?"
Inuzuka Kiba looked both shocked and delighted as he stared at his hands, "Does that mean there's some kind of great power hidden inside me too…?"
"Not at all."
Senju Tobirama mercilessly shattered his fantasy.
Great power? At most, you can merge with Akamaru and turn into a furry mascot.
"Some who conceived children gave rise to clans like the Kaguya clan, the Hagoromo clan, and the ancestors of Kinkaku and Ginkaku."
"As for those who didn't conceive, they simply obtained chakra. They might have been unlucky women, or even just men."
"And even for the Sage of Six Paths, it would have been impossible to 'reach' everyone."
"So some people only acquired chakra indirectly. By getting close to those who had already 'interacted' with him and carried chakra, they ended up gaining chakra as well."
Tobirama explained patiently.
But the way he described it… it sounded less and less like chakra, and more like something else.
What made it even more unsettling was this: originally, living beings in the ninja world had no chakra and lived just fine. But once they gained chakra, they could no longer live without it.
Without chakra, their entire bodies would weaken, and they would die in despair.
It didn't just sound like one thing anymore. It sounded like something else entirely.
"At the same time, before being sealed, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki left behind something called Black Zetsu."
"Black Zetsu had no power and couldn't cultivate. Yet its mission was incredibly difficult, to unseal and rescue its mother, Kaguya."
"After learning what the Sage of Six Paths had done, Black Zetsu decided to stop him."
"There was only one reason."
"To rescue its mother, it needed the power of the Rinnegan."
"Black Zetsu knew it couldn't defeat or deceive the Sage of Six Paths, so it had no choice but to wait for the next generation."
"That meant combining the powers of Ōtsutsuki Asura and Ōtsutsuki Indra to produce the Rinnegan."
"But Black Zetsu was also afraid. It feared that, given how unrestrained the Sage of Six Paths was, there might one day be countless 'Indras' and 'Asuras.'"
"And if those 'Indras' and 'Asuras' were just as unrestrained, freely interacting with each other… wouldn't that lead to a massive number of Rinnegan appearing?"
"One pair of Rinnegan is the key to unsealing Kaguya."
"But hundreds or thousands of Rinnegan? That would be a disaster."
"Even if Kaguya was unsealed, the sheer accumulated power of those Rinnegan could undergo a qualitative change, and seal her again in turn."
"To prevent that from happening, Black Zetsu began traveling across nations, promoting 'codes of conduct' to counter the Sage of Six Paths' unrestrained behavior."
"Black Zetsu had no power, only ideas. So it could only spread those ideas again and again."
"I've encountered Black Zetsu before. It once said that the entire history of the ninja world was shaped by it. That might sound arrogant, but strictly speaking, it's not wrong."
"It's precisely because of the 'codes of conduct' Black Zetsu promoted that we now have the basic moral framework of the ninja world."
"Unfortunately, its influence was limited. Most of the principles it promoted directly opposed the Sage of Six Paths' actions."
"Because it needed Indra and Asura to turn against each other, it had to abandon ideas like 'brotherly harmony' and 'filial piety.'"
"As a result, those concepts only emerged much later."
"If they had appeared earlier, perhaps someone like Uchiha Itachi, such a 'filial son', would never have existed."
"Back to the main point. As these codes spread across the ninja world, the Sage of Six Paths was forced to stop wandering and established the 'Ninshū.'"
"He began operating within this organization, carrying out unspeakable activities internally."
"Indra was the capable older brother. Asura was the somewhat foolish younger one."
"There are records claiming that Indra preferred solitude and pursued power, while Asura valued unity and pursued love."
"It is said that the Sage of Six Paths saw more of himself in Asura, so he passed Ninshū on to him instead of Indra."
"That… is incorrect."
"Think carefully about what kind of person the Sage of Six Paths was. We've already come to a conclusion."
"So if he thought Asura resembled him, what kind of person must Asura have been?"
"The answer should be obvious."
"The real situation is this: Asura, like his father, enjoyed 'group activities' with others."
"But Indra was different. Influenced by Black Zetsu, he believed in one-on-one relationships, love between a man and a woman, between humans, and that was what he pursued."
"This completely contradicted the Sage of Six Paths' ideals."
"The Sage of Six Paths considered Indra's devotion to a single person shameful. He constantly tried to 'educate' him, even manipulating the people around him."
"Those close to Indra were influenced and began to covet his beauty."
"One night, two of Indra's companions drugged his drink, intending to drag him into corruption."
"Indra discovered it, and in despair, personally killed the two fallen friends. At that moment, he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"From that point on, Indra was completely disillusioned. He broke ties with his brother Asura and his father."
"He activated Susanoo and prepared to take revenge."
"Asura alone wasn't strong enough to stop him. But because he followed his father's path and formed close 'connections' with many people, everyone became linked to him."
"At the critical moment, the power of those people, including his father's, converged on Asura, allowing him to defeat Indra."
"After an unknown number of years passed, the Sage of Six Paths, who should have lived a long life, was nearing death."
"Because the codes of conduct spread by Black Zetsu had, like a spring breeze, swept across the land."
"The Sage of Six Paths could no longer freely indulge himself."
"Meanwhile, the forces established by Indra continued to challenge Ninshū, exposing its corruption and decay."
"Ninshū itself was on the verge of collapse."
"The Sage of Six Paths, though still alive, was as good as dead, eventually reaching this state of complete exhaustion."
"At his deathbed, Asura made a vow. He would continue to reincarnate, and he would make sure that his brother Indra would also become like him, a "bond-type" person who enjoyed those same 'group activities.'"
"That very night, Indra also came to the Sage's bedside and made his own vow. He too would reincarnate endlessly, and he would find a way to destroy the twisted ideology passed down by the Sage of Six Paths and Asura. He would never be influenced by them."
"Huh? That doesn't sound right. Second Hokage-sama, didn't you say that the First Hokage and Madara, Naruto and Sasuke, were…?"
Nara Shikamaru noticed the inconsistency.
Weren't they supposed to be reincarnated partners bound by fate, sharing mutual affection?
Why did Indra's vow sound like this?
Something wasn't adding up.
"That's correct. But Indra overlooked one thing, there was a 'ghost' within the household."
"To ensure that Indra's reincarnations would unite with Asura's, Black Zetsu, who originally promoted moral codes, secretly mixed in its own agenda, and once again guided Indra's reincarnations down a different path!"
(End of this chapter)