Could one blame him?
Nobody took the time to sit and chat with the plant-man. All he was seen as was the 'ring retriever'.
Nobody knew of his past in the hidden grass village. Nobody knew of his childhood, or what it was all like as he grew and came to the evil organization known as the Akatsuki.
Not until now, anyway.
It was a dark sunset the day Zetsu was forced out of his village. The small child he was, only around five years old, ran from the small village deemed as the 'Hidden Grass'. This village was hardly known by any, and if so, was seen as an eyesore by the public.
It's worn-out shacks and repulsive fields were shunned by everyone except those who were forced or unlucky enough to live there.
The rotten fields stank of molding wheat and rotting sheep carcasses.
Those like Zetsu, with iron stomachs, lived off of some of the foul meat. The child, ever since he could walk, ran through the broken dirt roads in this small village in hopes to steal his next meal.
He had used his chakra, which he had seen as a 'magical power' since almost no living thing in the Hidden Grass had proper education, to form a justu which let him sink into the ground and 'disappear' as he pleased. He often used this skill to make his way through the fields and steal rotting organs from dead animals.
Zetsu sat at the edge of a molding, dirty field. He was only six years of age. He had a start of a flytrap growing on his shoulders, and often wondered if it was his food that gave him such a growth.
He munched, not-so-eagerly, on a clump of donkey meat. One of the 'richer' people in the village had stolen a dying mule and brought it back to his field, where within hours it died. Luckily, Zetsu had gotten to the mule's body in enough time to steal a good handful of the meat that happened to be on it before the owner even knew the mule was dead.
But then again, it would be fairly hard to notice it's body among the piles of bones and decaying carcasses laying around.
Zetsu swallowed the last bite of his meal and stared at the dried dirt and blood on his calloused feet. He wondered if there was anything better than his life, or if there were ones better off.
"There has to be." The light side said. "There are people we take from. They have the round metal and the long paper that gets their food and animals."
"Why do they have all of those round metals though? Why do we never get any?" The darker side questioned.
Zetsu shrugged. "Maybe they make it."
Now, he may not have had any proper schooling, but Zetsu was not a stupid child. He picked up parts of conversations and understood most of it. He knew when things were bad, and when things were good... Which was a fairly new concept, for good things hardly ever happened.
Zetsu found having fun was playing with a stick in the dirt, or having conversations with himself. What others would call boredom, Zetsu called being content. What Zetsu called boredom, which was very rare, would be a horribly quiet torture to anyone else.
In the eyes of an adult that cared, Zetsu was the perfect, lazy child. He was quiet, didn't do or say much...
He had often heard of a word. If he recalled it correctly, it was the word "friends", yet he didn't understand it. He tried to put it together as he listened how the 'bigger people' used it when they talked.
But to no avail, it only furthered his confusion.
He sighed, standing up. As he was carefully limping to his usual sleeping spot, under a large willow tree, when one of the elderly men who lived in the village came running to him.
He placed both hands on Zetsu's shoulders, trembling. "Run, kid, run! The men, the men have come and we are sick! Run, if you want to live!"
The fear in this man's eyes and the desperation in his voice alone convinced Zetsu to fleet, running up steep hills away from his home.
He understood the man concept of that man's words. Bad men were coming and making everyone not feel well, and he would die if he did not go away from these men.
But why are they making my village sick? He thought, panting as he scrabbled up the side of his hill. A good mile-and-a-half's distance was between him and the rotten trash he lived in.
He kept imagining that old man's eyes, and every time he did so he took another strong step away from what could have been his death.
After hours of running, the image of those eyes had faded, depleting Zetsu's will to run. He stopped, panting, and sat on the side of a hill, overlooking the Leaf Village.
And there he would stay for two years, mooching off of passing travelers and sometimes even breaking into the village itself.
But one early morning, Zetsu heard stirring in the woods behind him. He quickly flipped around defensively, balling his hands into fists.
"Whose there?" The darker half growled. There was muffled laughter.
"Very good." Praised the mysterious voice. By the sound of dry leaves crunching and the shuffling of this strangers clothes as they moved, Zetsu assumed they were advancing towards him. He scooted back slowly and carefully.
"You have your guard up and you are very aware of your surroundings. Very good for a child of your age."
Zetsu felt cold metal touching his throat. He was done for. There hadn't been even a draft of wind.
"You're good." Zetsu sounded somewhat amused. "But we have home-field advantage." Zetsu smirked. He quickly sunk into the ground and appeared behind the stranger.
He wore what looked like a black cloak with red cloud print. His wild orange hair was visible in the light that leaked through the tree branches.
Zetsu saw the bend of the elbow holding the kuni jerk to the side. Zetsu tensed, ready to sheathe himself in the underbrush. He watched, intrigued, as the stranger dropped the weapon and turned to him.
The orange-haired man let out mused laughter. "Very smart. You have potential."
Zetsu knew that speaking would not give away his hiding spot; The man had known where he was the entire time. "Why don't you attack, Stranger?" He asked, bordering on the edge of just leaving this man and going about his day.
"Why don't I attack? Why don't you attack, Young One? After all, I am invading your territory with the intent to kill." The stranger seemed fairly pleased with himself.
-What an Idiot.- The lighter half thought. "I have no time for mindless bloodshed. I would rather not kill you just for your amusement." The darker half replied. He wanted now to just turn and walk away, but this stranger would probably take much joy in jumping Zetsu, so that plan was out of the way.
"I don't know what you're trying to do. I'll admit this is my first fight." Zetsu said confidently. He had thought of a back-up plan; Admit his weaknesses, trip up this stranger's mind, and run.
He didn't doubt his plan. What kind of a sick creep would actually go after and kill an innocent child?
The spiky-haired stranger let out a hardy laugh. "I see right through you, child."
He turned and stepped so the light shone on his face, shadowing the left half as he turned to face Zetsu. Three black piercings in his nose. Two on his bottom lip. All sorts of rings and a bar in his ears.
-What kind of benefit does that offer, showing himself?- The darker half pondered.
-Unless...-
"You really do plan to kill me, don't you?" Both halves asked in unison. Fear clung to each word. Zetsu found his mind racing, trying to work up some sort of ridiculous plan simply to distract itself from the truth.
He was going to die.
Instead, this man knelled down to one knee. "No, child. I will not kill you. You have shown yourself to be very quick-witted. I know you are living alone. Correct me if I am wrong, but was your village burned away by enemies?"
Zetsu's gaze flooded from fear to confusion. His eyes fell upon this man, looking him over in a new thought. He didn't look as intimidating as he had before.
Zetsu swallowed and nodded. He was no longer acting like the inhuman animal as he had before. Instead, his child-like curiosity piqued.
"Would you like a place to live and sleep at? Where nobody could find or hurt you?" The strange man offered. His voice had lost it's sharp edges and dulled out to a soft yet strict tone.
Zetsu's gaze fluttered to the ground.
"I won't hurt you."
These words seemed so realistic and human, pure and strong. Zetsu nodded absentmindedly.
He had no idea he had just signed a contract with the devil; To live a life with blood and killing and fear. A life where you had to run and hide and kill to stay alive.
A life he never wished he had adopted.