Clink.
A beaker fell to the ground and shattered.
Yakushi Nonō. He had almost forgotten that name. Kabuto never thought he would hear about his former matron again, and certainly not news from the underworld.
The gentle woman who had raised him was still thinking about him, her child, even after her death. His name had become a lingering attachment, a chain preventing her soul from finding release.
Yes... that makes sense, doesn't it?
When she died, she didn't even know the whole truth. She couldn't even recognize him. Her only thought was of a fake photograph, her only wish a false illusion.
"What's wrong?" Shirou asked, sounding a bit surprised by Kabuto's sudden loss of composure.
"No, it's nothing," Kabuto replied, feeling like he was a mess. For the living, a soul unable to find release was a painful thing. If his matron's soul was trapped because of him, how could he turn a blind eye?
He had believed his heart had gone numb long ago, but now, it began to beat again, a faint, aching pain that made him feel... human.
Panic began to set in, a wild wind tearing at the doors he had long since bolted shut. He knelt to clean up the glass shards, his voice low. "Lord Emiya... did Matron Nonō... mention anything?"
He didn't doubt Shirou's words. He knew they could never have met in the living world; only in death could their paths have crossed. A part of him desperately wished it was a lie, but he knew the man before him was incapable of such deception.
"She said a lot," Shirou replied. "After all, I'm also very curious about stories from the living world. For example, about Danzo. For example, that you were a sensible but not very obedient child. Towards the end, though, it was mostly just her worrying about a boy named Yakushi Kabuto joining Root. Her lingering attachment... it was probably that she really wanted to see you one more time."
"Is that so?" Kabuto clenched the glass shard in his hand, the sharp edge biting into his palm.
"However... she probably won't have the chance."
The words hit Kabuto like a physical blow. "What!" he looked up, his eyes wide.
"There was no other way," Shirou continued, and Kabuto's world, which had just shattered, began to piece itself back together. Shirou sighed, a hint of helplessness in his voice. "Although her soul really wanted to stay in that desolate place, waiting for you... to prevent her from getting completely lost, and to prevent the Shinigami from devouring her soul... I could only send her back to the Pure Land for release."
Kabuto let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Your hand," Shirou said, noticing the blood. A touch of emerald green chakra appeared in his palm, healing the wound. "It seems your bond was very deep. Perhaps I shouldn't have interfered. Maybe after you died, you could have resolved her attachment."
"No," a bitter smile touched Kabuto's lips. "I should be the one thanking you, Lord Emiya. The matron was a kind person her whole life. Letting her soul find release sooner is the best outcome."
"It doesn't matter," Shirou said, uninterested in his gratitude. "For me, it was just something I did along the way. I just happened to remember her name."
"But for us..."
"Alright," Shirou cut him off, changing the subject. "By the way, have there been any new advances in medicine?"
Kabuto couldn't help but look ashamed. Fortunately, Shirou was long used to the shame of these medical ninjas.
In the following days, Kabuto's attitude towards Shirou became increasingly respectful. He strictly followed Orochimaru's instructions, bringing Hashirama cells to him.
"Hashirama's cells are the ultimate of Yang Release," Shirou explained, not stingy with his teaching. "They need powerful Yin Release to neutralize them. It's normal that your experiments couldn't succeed."
He also took the opportunity, without Kabuto's knowledge, to use the cells to enhance his own reanimated body.
Kabuto was very satisfied. His progress in medical ninjutsu was rapid. Coupled with Shirou's gentleness, it almost felt like he was back at the orphanage, being taught by his matron.
Compared to Kabuto's gains, Orochimaru couldn't help but feel an itch. For a scientific madman obsessed with knowledge, there was nothing more exciting than having an unknown treasure trove of knowledge placed before him.
If it weren't for the unexpectedly sufficient funds from Akatsuki, plus his coveting of the Rinnegan, he would have abandoned the organization immediately to follow Shirou and dig up everything he knew.
Especially... Emiya Shirou had done a lot of research on souls. Orochimaru had secretly had Kabuto test him, and the result was that Shirou, who had never encountered the Living Corpse Reincarnation, proposed the concept of it, and even created a prototype and theoretical basis for it in a short time.
The temptation was too great.
However, Orochimaru had no idea his every move was under surveillance. There was someone within Akatsuki whose feelings about Shirou's resurrection were even more unbearable.
In a dark cave, a black and white monster was hidden underground. "I just received a message from a clone," White Zetsu said with some confusion. "The clone we arranged to monitor Lord Emiya reported that Orochimaru secretly resurrected him using Edo Tensei. What should we do?"
"Wei Yuan is back?" A flash of joy crossed Black Zetsu's half-face. There was no news more important than this. Whether it was Madara, Nagato, or Obito, they were nothing compared to Shirou.
Especially since Black Zetsu knew that when Shirou returned, he had brought back information about its mortal enemy, the Sage of Six Paths.
It was for this reason it had been paying close attention to Shirou's body. And when it learned his body was in Orochimaru's hands, and that Orochimaru was researching Edo Tensei, it had been secretly helping him master the jutsu as soon as possible.
In the end, that snake embezzled the funds to research his own immortality jutsu. This act of embezzlement really made Black Zetsu both hate and resent him.
Sometimes it thought Orochimaru's mind might one day rival Shirou's human experimentation techniques, and at other times it thought his vulgar pursuits and low moral character couldn't even compare to half of Shirou's little toe.
Now, Emiya Shirou was back. No more need to put up with Orochimaru.
"Go see him!" Black Zetsu didn't want to wait. It was desperate to get information about the Sage, and to persuade Shirou to take charge of the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan again.
Madara, before he died, had found a pawn named Obito. And this pawn was a complete idiot. To this day, there hadn't been the slightest sign of the plan being implemented.
Akatsuki was even still at the stage of collecting funds through missions. What kind of pawns were these?
Compared to Shirou, who, without its guidance, had single-handedly almost wiped out Ninshu, Obito seemed so useless that Black Zetsu had felt the future was a bit bleak these past years.
"No one is more important than Wei Yuan! Not Nagato, not Obito, not even Madara! Before Wei Yuan, all these pawns can be discarded!" A sinister sneer hung on its face. "Wei Yuan is back. It's time to persuade him to take charge of our plan again!"
If Shirou, after meeting the Sage, could still be easily persuaded, it could even immediately manipulate Nagato to fully resurrect him.
However, Black Zetsu didn't expect an even bigger surprise. The Shirou resurrected this time could also use the power of the Rinnegan. And he seemed to have undergone an even greater change.
Taking advantage of a time when Kabuto was not in the underground fortress, Shirou and Black Zetsu finally met again, fulfilling their forty-year-old promise.
Shirou's entire expression had faintly become somewhat sharp, no longer like the compassionate man of the past. The current Shirou was more like a drawn blade.
The last incident with Tobirama, the Shinigami seal, the three great ninja wars... something had caused a slight change in this kind-hearted medical ninja's perception of the world.
His demeanor was cold, mixed with the deathly still eyes of his reanimated body, which couldn't help but make Black Zetsu feel a trace of fear.
"Long time no see, Black Zetsu."