"Black Zetsu?!"
Obito froze for a moment before asking in disbelief,
"You're saying the contents of the Uchiha Clan's Stone Tablet are nothing more than a scheme created by Black Zetsu?!"
"But isn't Black Zetsu supposed to be the manifestation of Madara Uchiha's will?"
Obito had never truly lowered his guard around Black Zetsu. He had always remained cautious.
But that was because he believed Black Zetsu was the embodiment of Madara's will.
Never in his wildest imagination did he consider that Black Zetsu might be the real mastermind—and that even Madara Uchiha himself was merely a pawn.
This was nothing short of turning the heavens upside down.
Ren nodded calmly.
"Black Zetsu is indeed the manifestation of someone's will."
"But that person isn't Madara."
"It's the legendary Rabbit Goddess—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
"The Rabbit Goddess… Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?!"
At that moment, Obito's emotions became incredibly complicated.
He never expected that besides the Sage of Six Paths, another legendary figure would be involved in all this.
Compared to the Sage of Six Paths, however, the legends of the Rabbit Goddess seemed even more ancient—almost lost to history.
Obito only knew that this so-called Rabbit Goddess had once ruled the world. Beyond that, he knew nothing.
In fact, this was the first time he had even heard her full name:
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
"Wait!"
Obito suddenly seemed to realize something and asked loudly,
"Earlier you said my arrogance is similar to the Ōtsutsuki Clan, and that their blood flows in my veins…"
"Does that mean—"
When Ren had said that earlier, Obito thought it was simply mockery and hadn't paid much attention.
But now Ren was saying the Rabbit Goddess's full name was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
According to the records passed down within the Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha were descendants of Indra Ōtsutsuki, the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths.
Could it be…
Was there some connection between the Rabbit Goddess and the Sage of Six Paths?
Ren nodded, confirming Obito's guess.
"You're right."
"The Sage of Six Paths' real name was Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki—the eldest son of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
"Kaguya also had a second son: Hamura Ōtsutsuki."
"He later became the ancestor of the Hyūga Clan."
"This is…"
Obito didn't even know what to say anymore. After a moment, he demanded,
"How could you possibly know something that happened so long ago?"
Ren raised a hand and pointed to his eyes.
"Is your memory only seven seconds long?"
"I already told you—my eyes can trace things back to their origin."
"As long as something has happened in this world, it leaves behind traces."
"If enough traces can be found, my eyes can follow them and witness the events that originally occurred."
"And if I obtain enough information, my eyes can also infer possible futures."
Once a lie is told, countless more lies are needed to maintain it.
That was exactly the situation Ren was in now.
To make his story sound more convincing, he described his so-called ability in as much detail as possible.
"What incredible eyes…"
Obito glanced at Ren's eyes with a hint of envy.
If he possessed such eyes, perhaps many things could have been avoided.
Perhaps he would never have ended up where he was today.
But soon Obito steadied his shaken resolve and said,
"But that means the 'future' you see is only a possibility, not something guaranteed to happen."
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Do you truly not understand, or are you pretending?"
"The future was never fixed in the first place."
"All I can do is see the threads of possibility more clearly—and guide events toward the future that benefits me."
"Of course… even that isn't certain."
"Do you remember one of your sparring matches with Kakashi Hatake?"
"I used my ability to see whether there was any possibility of you defeating him."
"I observed 14,000,604 possible futures."
"Guess what I saw?"
Obito swallowed nervously.
"What did you see?"
To be honest, he didn't even remember which sparring match Ren was referring to. He and Kakashi had sparred countless times.
But that didn't stop his curiosity.
After all, he had never beaten Kakashi once back then.
The gap between them had been obvious.
Obito was curious about what Ren had seen in those possibilities.
"Once."
Ren raised a single finger and said seriously,
"Out of 14,000,604 possibilities, you defeated Kakashi exactly once."
"That means Kakashi had almost infinite room for error."
"But for you, even placing one finger slightly wrong could lead to defeat."
"Now you understand how difficult it is to change the future."
Obito: "..."
I understand the logic.
But using me as the example—isn't that a bit excessive?
Ren didn't linger on the topic and returned to the main point.
"But even Hagoromo and Hamura didn't know this."
"Kaguya Ōtsutsuki actually had a third child."
Obito shuddered.
"You don't mean… that third child is Black Zetsu, do you?"
At this point, Obito's worldview was beginning to collapse.
That pitch-black creature…
Was actually the child of the legendary Rabbit Goddess?
Ren nodded.
"That's right."
"As unbelievable as it sounds, Black Zetsu is indeed Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's third child."
"He is the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths."
"However…"
"When Kaguya created Black Zetsu, it was done hastily."
"So the result came out… a little crooked."
In the original historical records, the Sage of Six Paths and his brother had no father.
They were created directly by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself.
As for the version claiming that Kaguya fell in love with some human emperor—Ren dismissed it entirely as nonsense.
To the Ōtsutsuki Clan, humans were no different from insects.
Would a person fall in love with an ant?
The truth was much simpler.
Kaguya created powerful offspring to serve as allies against the possible arrival of other Ōtsutsuki Clan members.
That was also consistent with her later actions—turning humans into White Zetsu soldiers.
Which meant that the being who always called Kaguya "Mother"—
Black Zetsu
—really was the Sage of Six Paths' own brother.
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