Naruto, all the ninja women love me, and Konoha depends on me.

Chapter 112 Wakama, You Are a Paper Person

In the face of Senju Wakama's last question, Zetsu remained silent for a long time.

Senju Wakama was not in a hurry, nor did he rush him. He knew that some things were probably difficult to speak of, and even if Zetsu did, they would be hard to believe.

Senju Wakama added water to the bathtub, planning to bathe while draining the water, turning the hot water in the tub into flowing water.

Keeping the water running was to avoid any eavesdroppers that neither he nor Zetsu might have noticed.

With the sound of flowing water as cover, Senju Wakama could speak with Brother Zetsu at ease.

However, just as Senju Wakama immersed himself in the still-filling bathtub, Zetsu spoke again.

「...How should I put this? I don't know how best to explain it to you.」

Hearing this, Senju Wakama wondered, "Just tell me directly. I'll tell you my understanding, and you can see if my understanding is correct?"

「Emmm... Tsukuyo is a higher-dimensional existence than the Otsutsuki clan.」 Zetsu said cautiously.

"Higher dimension?" Senju Wakama was puzzled. "What does that mean?"

What Brother Zetsu had initially recounted about the Otsutsuki clan was already incredible enough for Senju Wakama.

Yet, Brother Zetsu now said that Tsukuyo was an even more bizarre existence.

Zetsu fell silent again for a while, seemingly organizing his thoughts.

Finally, Zetsu quietly asked, 「Wakama, have you seen the manga books equipped on the bookshelves of every guest room in Hot Spring Street?」

Manga is a type of reading material that interprets stories with vivid images and text.

It's a form of entertainment reading enjoyed by people of all ages and genders.

Senju Wakama had certainly seen them, and he quite liked them.

"Uh..." Senju Wakama didn't know why Brother Zetsu brought up manga, but he still nodded and said, "I've seen them. Tsukuyo taught some clan members with drawing talent to draw them... It's said they sell quite well even in the capital of the Land of Fire, and they're a significant source of income."

「Hehehehe...」 Zetsu chuckled again, 「What if I told you that, for Tsukuyo, this world you are currently in is a world of manga, and you... are one of the characters in the manga? Can you understand that?」

There was nothing particularly special about this sentence originally.

But it exploded in Senju Wakama's mind like oil in a hot pan, leaving him speechless for a long time.

「Emmm...」

「Let's take you, who is currently reading a manga, as an example. Tsukuyo is the person who has left the manga world and is reading the manga.」

「And you, your father, your brothers, everyone in this world, are scenes, characters in the manga.」

「You don't know the truth of your world. You live in this created world by your own will. You will walk a predetermined path throughout your life.」

「You might think that you are you, and you won't be swayed by others' thoughts.」

「But is it possible that your personality and upbringing determined your thoughts, and your personality and upbringing were given to you by the one who 'drew' this world?」

「Whether it's a staunch atheist, or a fanatical believer, or an ignorant fool, good people, bad people, geniuses, failures...」

「Everything was bestowed upon you by the 'Creator.' Based on precise and meticulous birth times, they endowed you with different personalities, different backgrounds, different appearances, and different destinies.」

「You think you control your own destiny, you think you are breaking destiny, unaware that this too is the destiny bestowed upon you by Them.」

Listening to Zetsu's whispers, like a devil's curse, Senju Wakama couldn't help but say, "Brother Zetsu, if what you're saying is true, then, in this world, wouldn't infants born at the exact same time have identical destinies?"

「No... Wakama, the reason you think they were born at the exact same time is because the times are too close, but not exactly the same.」

Zetsu retorted, 「In many worlds, time units are years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds. This is for people's convenience in using time units, but it doesn't mean that the smallest unit of time is a second. If you divide it finely, to one-tenth of a second, one-hundredth of a second, one-thousandth of a second, one ten-thousandth of a second...」

「If you keep refining it infinitely, you will find that no one is born at the exact same time.」

「The Creator has written fixed programs, stipulating what kind of talent and what kind of destiny an embryo formed at a specific location, year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and even one ten-thousandth of a second, will have. It has already been customized.」

「Once this embryo develops fully and is safely born, he or she will complete their own cycle according to the customized personality.」

「Personality and environment determine their destiny. The decisions they make in certain situations may seem to be their own, but in reality, they are inevitable consequences caused by the personality they were initially endowed with.」

Senju Wakama looked up, gazing blankly at the steam-filled bathroom ceiling. He murmured, "Brother Zetsu... are you also... a 'manga reader'?"

The example Zetsu gave reminded Senju Wakama of what Zetsu had said at the beginning: that he became "a blob" when he arrived in this world.

If this world truly is a manga world.

Then Zetsu must be a product formed from a large "blob of ink," right?

It certainly seems so...

Then Black Zetsu said, 「Me... I wasn't at first...」

At these words, Senju Wakama's pupils slightly contracted. "You weren't a manga reader at first, which means, you at first... were also part of... like me?"

「Yes, I was originally part of this world... Hehehee...」 Zetsu laughed perversely, 「Until Mother personally took me out of this world and made me a special existence.」

Senju Wakama's expression was complex. "So, you're saying that we humans, whose 'fates are already predetermined,' can actually leave your so-called manga world and go to the wider world outside?"

「Yes, just like me...」 Zetsu was still laughing.

"How do you achieve that?" Senju Wakama had never been so serious.

「...You need to gain the family's approval.」 Zetsu stopped smiling, 「But it's not that easy. Mother wants me to maintain 'destiny' in this world...」

「There are some individual variations that gradually deviate from their original destinies. My responsibility, in fact, is to maintain the existence of these major events.」

Senju Wakama displayed an ineffable expression, and the topic returned to the very beginning. "So, you said that from ancient times until now, you have constantly been stirring up trouble and sowing discord, making our Senju and Uchiha clans sworn enemies... Is this also the 'destiny' you must maintain?"

Zetsu was silent for a moment before saying, 「Yes...」

Senju Wakama swallowed. "Then my original destiny was..."

Zetsu: 「To be surrounded and beaten to death by a group of adults from the Hagoromo clan and Uchiha clan before the age of ten...」

Senju Wakama: "..."

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