Zetsu - Split

My life began when he found me.

Everything that happened before was just part of a long-forgotten story. An unnecessary tale about the past, one that I rarely recounted.  It was pointless to dwell on the past of a child who was no longer me.

But somehow tonight, I found myself remembering.

                                                      * * * * *

The other members of the clan murdered my mother when they found out about the monster she had given birth to.

My mother loved me even though I was a freak. She protected me.

After they killed her, I was cast out of the village. I was left to fend for myself, living out in a forest some ways away from my home village. I was six.

And I remember the first time I saw a real shinobi. He was training in a field near the forest I now called home. He sensed my presence easily of course. I expected him to yell at me, try to kill me, run away, anything. Instead, he turned to me and said “Your chakra feels pretty interesting, kid. You look like you could have some serious talent”. He was the first human to acknowledge me as something other than a monster. That was the moment when I first aspired to become a shinobi.

However, the years I spent alone took their toll. I was overcome by madness. I started behaving as though I were two different people, a condition brought on by the need to talk to someone, anyone. My natural affinity with plants now became an obsession. I became a fierce protector of my forest, murdering any human who set foot anywhere within a five-mile radius. After a time, I began to devour the dead bodies.

I lost all traces of humanity.

                                                        * * * * *

“Take one more step and I will not hesitate to kill you”

“That will not be necessary. I’ve been looking for you, Zetsu.”

Surprise. Shock. How easily those human emotions came back.

“You know my name?”

“As I said, I’ve been looking for you. I need someone like you for an organization I intend to create”

And there was the feeling to be wanted, to be needed.

He’ll use me.

He still wants me.

You don’t know what you might be getting yourself into.

I don’t care. He needs me.

“I’ll join. If you tell me about this ‘organization’”

“We will be known as the Akatsuki”

                                                               * * * * *

And just like that, my life began.

Even if I was only being used as a spy, and a convenient way to dispose of dead bodies, I was happy for the first time in my life.

And I wasn’t merely a tool. He trusted me, more than any of the other members. I was the first to know that the one who we called “leader” was merely a puppet. And I always knew his true identity.

I was the closest thing he had to a friend.

                                                           * * * * *

It felt good, to make him laugh like this.

I owed him my life, and I would give anything to make him happy.

“I can barely believe it, yet I know you would never lie to me Zetsu” he said, smiling at me as he reclined in his chair. His face was free of that hideous orange mask he wore to conceal his identity around the other members.

He trusts me…

“I could understand it if you had walked in on Sasori and Deidara in that position, but I never expected this from Hidan and Kakuzu!” he said, chuckling quietly to himself.

I can’t really see what the funny side is myself, but I’m laughing too. Because he trusts me.

                                                         * * * * *

“Did you honestly believe everything he said, Zetsu?” Konan asks bitterly, looking up at me as she kneels beside Nagato’s corpse. There are tears streaming down her face.

Don’t let her poison your mind against him. You owe him everything, you owe her nothing.

“He lied to us, and he betrayed us. Akatsuki was only a way for him to get revenge on Konoha.”

She’s lying to you…

He used me. That’s all.