"How is this possible!"
Black Zetsu stared, unable to believe what was happening before his very eyes.
"Answer me," Shirou said, his voice calm as he ignored Black Zetsu's shout. He repeated his question. "When did you get the impression that I was the kind of person who simply gives up and accepts their fate?"
"How did you…" Black Zetsu looked at Shirou with a mix of shock and uncertainty before gritting his teeth. "Even if you broke free from Mother's Rabbit Hair Needles, you're in her world now! You're no match for her here!"
"You are bound to lose," Black Zetsu threatened, trying to bolster his own courage as much as Kaguya's. He continued, his tone fierce but hiding a deep weakness. "In this world, no one can defeat Mother!"
"I'm asking you," Shirou said, pinching Black Zetsu's neck again. His voice was as steady as ever. "From the ancient era until today, when have you ever seen me give up?"
Countless curses welled up in Black Zetsu's mind. Was this really the time to be having this discussion?
And besides, when hadn't he accepted his fate? When he was first reanimated, he believed peace was impossible for the ninja world. Wasn't that the very definition of giving up?
"The first time you were reanimated…" Black Zetsu couldn't help but sneer, wanting to throw Shirou's past in his face. "Emiya Shirou, have you forgotten how pathetic you were back then?"
"Is that so..." Shirou nodded slowly. Then, he suddenly released Black Zetsu's neck, letting Kaguya's will fall to the ground.
"???"
Black Zetsu's thoughts froze for a second. He frantically tried to figure out why Shirou had let him go. He couldn't understand the man's reasoning, but that didn't stop him from scrambling back toward Kaguya.
Only by her side was he truly safe.
However, Shirou's next words stopped him in his tracks.
"Actually… that reanimation was part of my plan."
"!!!"
Black Zetsu's body went rigid. He whipped his head around to stare at Shirou, his mind racing to process those words.
What did that mean?That reanimation was part of his plan!
"Black Zetsu," Shirou sighed faintly, a hint of melancholy relief in his voice. "In the truest sense, from the moment I first obtained chakra, I began to plan for my own death and resurrection. You, of all people, should understand what that implies..."
Black Zetsu's eyes widened in horror.
"You kept mentioning how I was born in the wrong era, but you seem to have forgotten something," Shirou continued softly, sensing that Black Zetsu was frozen in place. "The war between the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya didn't just leave scars on the world."
"It also left behind remnants of the God Tree. The first chakra I ever obtained came from that tree. It's what I called being favored by the God Tree. If you knew about my research into human modification, you should know what secrets I could uncover from those remnants..."
A flicker of genuine terror finally appeared in Black Zetsu's eyes. Based on the power Shirou had stolen from the Sage of Six Paths' corpse, he knew Shirou would have never given up on researching the God Tree.
That man… What secret had he learned from it?
"What did you… discover…" Black Zetsu asked through gritted teeth.
"The God Tree…" Shirou stated calmly, "...does not die."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "Even as mere remnants, they continue to grow and strengthen. The God Tree is the Ten-Tails. That means the Ten-Tails doesn't die either, just like the Tailed Beasts who draw their power from it will never truly die. And the Rabbit Goddess from the legends, who merged with the God Tree and took the name of a god… she naturally wouldn't die either."
"You knew… back then, you knew Mother was still alive," Black Zetsu stammered, looking at Shirou in disbelief.
"More or less," Shirou admitted. He swiped his fingers across his palm, seriously forming the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu. "I only confirmed it after I used the remnants of the God Tree to create a new Ten-Tails."
"How is that possible!"
Black Zetsu was scared witless. He never expected to hear such a secret from Shirou's mouth. It was too terrifying. Even Kaguya herself was stunned by the revelation.
But… how? How could Shirou have cultivated a new Ten-Tails without him knowing?
How did he control it? Where did he hide it?
The Ten-Tails was an immortal, indestructible being. Not even Shirou could erase its presence completely.
"Summoning Jutsu."
Shirou's palm slammed onto the empty air. A summoning barrier appeared, and a small slug clone fell out. Shirou caught it and placed it on his shoulder.
"It's Katsuyu!" Naruto recognized the slug instantly.
"That's Sakura's summoning animal," Sasuke added in a low voice. "I heard Emiya Shirou was the one who raised Katsuyu back in the ancient era."
"Lord Emiya," the small slug said timidly, sticking close to Shirou. "Why did you only use enough chakra for a clone? My main body could have helped you fight…"
"This is enough," Shirou said, holding out his hand. "Give me the eyes."
He spoke as if it were a certainty. "Every time I summon you, you're always carrying my eyes, waiting for the moment I need them."
The small slug nodded and carefully spat out a bottle. Inside were two perfectly intact eyes. Katsuyu had preserved them well. Even after more than a thousand years, they looked exactly as they did the day they were gouged out.
"Those are!" Black Zetsu saw the eyes and realized what they were. "Those are Hagoromo's Rinnegan! You've kept them all this time!"
This man… he had been lying all along!
"These are not his eyes," Shirou corrected him. "The Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan and his corpse were destroyed by me long ago."
He slowly pressed the two eyes from the bottle into his own empty sockets. Chakra pathways quickly connected to the new eyeballs.
He blinked, adjusting to them. "These are my own eyes. They just happen to have the same abilities."
"For example…" Shirou's eyes slowly bled into a scarlet red. Three tomoe appeared and quickly swirled into a strange new pattern. "Mangekyo Sharingan."
The next moment, the air itself began to twist and distort!
A massive, earth-brown tail tore through the fabric of space, emerging from the vortex. The moment it appeared, both Black Zetsu and Kaguya recognized the chakra signature.
That was… the Ten-Tails' chakra! Another Ten-Tails!
What Emiya Shirou had said was true.
At this moment, Black Zetsu desperately wished Shirou was lying. But he knew this man wouldn't lie about something like this, not now.
And with that, Black Zetsu understood something else—why he had never found any trace of a second Ten-Tails.
"Kamui… Mangekyo Sharingan," Black Zetsu whispered in horrified realization. "If those are your eyes, you must have researched the Sharingan in the ancient era and unlocked the Kamui ability. You've been hiding it in your Kamui dimension all this time…"
"That's right," Shirou said, continuing to pull the Ten-Tails from its pocket dimension. "In a way, hiding its existence was the only time I ever used the ability of this pair of Sharingan."
A massive Ten-Tails emerged from the swirling space. The moment it was free, it threw its head back and roared, unleashing its immense aura without restraint.
However, when it saw Kaguya, its roar turned shrill, ready to fight its other self to the death.
Kaguya instinctively flinched back.
"Be quiet," Shirou said, his eyes lifting slightly. The Mangekyo Sharingan in his sockets instantly transformed into Rinnegan. He controlled the Ten-Tails, forcing the massive creature to drill directly into his own body.
This scene, however, no longer surprised Black Zetsu. Compared to the fact that Shirou had cultivated his own Ten-Tails, him possessing both the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinnegan seemed almost natural.
The Ten-Tails was the essence of all chakra. It only made sense that someone like Shirou would use it to research all kinds of strange and powerful abilities.
"The immortal Ten-Tails…" Shirou felt the surge of chakra and vitality within him.
He could finally look up and face Kaguya as an equal. "The immortal jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails… the immortal… Kaguya."
"And…" Shirou's gaze shifted to Black Zetsu again, speaking of their first encounter so long ago. "I discovered your existence back in the ancient era. When I chose to attack Indra, my purpose was to draw you out."
"Because only you could lead me to Kaguya."
"And Kaguya… is the greatest threat to the peace of this world."