What he had just seen was only a corner of the ninja world.
Yet just this one place was already so miserable.
In the other directions of heaven and earth, in those places swept up by the flames of war between the Senju and the Uchiha, or other ninja clans, the situation was probably even more hopeless…
Even during the time when Kaguya Otsutsuki ruled, it wasn't this bad, right?
Arisu had personally experienced that era.
Although it was backward, people could still survive relatively well. They could eat their fill, and sometimes even have a meal of wild game.
But in the era he governed, what was there to eat?
'Six Paths Soil?'
Thinking of this, Arisu's mood grew even heavier.
'What the hell is the religion doing? Why aren't they opening the granaries to release grain!?', Arisu's face darkened.
Arisu knew better than anyone that the Six Paths religion established under his name had long spread throughout every part of the ninja world.
Its influence was so great it was comparable to the Christianity spoken of in the legends of his previous life.
There were temples flourishing with incense offerings, abbots and masters who presided over entire regions, and even dedicated farmland, granaries, and independent finances.
By all logic, whenever disasters or wars struck, they should open their granaries to aid the people and shelter all living beings.
But along Arisu's journey, every Six Paths temple he saw had its gates tightly shut, the monks refusing to step outside.
Even worse, Arisu had personally encountered a Six Paths temple where the foul smell of cooking human flesh drifted from inside. It was truly unbearable.
"Damn it, these bastards. They're just using the name of me, the Sage of Six Paths, to make money and live in luxury, aren't they?"
With a thought, Arisu stomped the ground twice.
"Shima!"
A flash of white light appeared, and Shima from Mount Myoboku instantly appeared.
Seeing Arisu's iron-blue face and the terrifying pressure around him, Shima immediately bowed deeply, her tone filled with respect.
"Great Immortal!"
"Have you placed people inside the religion?", Arisu asked in a deep voice.
"Yes!", Shima didn't dare hesitate even for a moment.
"Immediately pass down the order. Command all Six Paths temples to open their granaries at once and provide relief to disaster victims everywhere. There must be no mistakes."
Arisu directly issued the order.
"Yes! This subordinate obeys! The Great Immortal is merciful!"
Shima was startled in her heart. She knew the suffering among the people of the ninja world had reached the point where it angered the Great Immortal. She immediately accepted the command.
Sigh, the Immortal Lord simply couldn't bear to watch the suffering of the human world.
Shima turned into a streak of white light and hurried away to deliver the order.
———
In only a few days, the Six Paths religion took action.
Across the ninja world, large cauldrons were set up and porridge distribution points were opened.
Hot, steaming gruel was continuously handed out to starving people, finally giving the mortals on the brink of despair a thin line of survival.
Of course, it was only a thin line.
The actual implementation of the policy varied everywhere. As for how much people could really eat at the bottom level… that depended on the situation.
At the same time, on the battlefield of the ninja world, the slaughter between the Senju and the Uchiha had fallen into a stalemate.
The Uchiha clan possessed overwhelming combat strength, and their attacks were as fierce as a tiger.
But the Senju clan were not weak opponents either.
The Senju directly contacted the blood-related Uzumaki clan for reinforcements. With the Uzumaki clan's immense chakra reserves and support from their sealing techniques, they finally managed to stabilize their position and form a standoff against the Uchiha.
During a brief pause in the raging war, Arisu came alone near the Uchiha clan's encampment.
Arisu wore a simple straw raincoat and stood within the falling snow that filled the sky. Holding a crude fishing rod, he fished quietly by the water's edge.
The aura around him was as plain as that of an ordinary old man, completely out of place with the bloody chaos of this troubled era.
Before long, a figure walked across the snow.
It was Uchiha Katsu.
The iconic flame fan was strapped to his back. His brows were tightly furrowed, and an irritable aura of hostility surrounded him.
Clearly, he had been frustrated by the days of attacking the Senju without success, the battlefield locked in stalemate. He had come out alone to clear his head.
Halfway there, Uchiha Katsu suddenly raised his brows. His sharp gaze locked onto the old man fishing in the snow in the distance.
In this chaotic world, corpses lay everywhere and the people suffered endlessly. Even ninjas had to stay alert for battle at every moment.
Yet someone still had the leisure to calmly fish in the snow?
After a brief moment of surprise, Uchiha Katsu's eyes instantly turned cold. Scarlet light surged in his pupils.
The Mangekyo Sharingan suddenly activated.
Cold ocular power locked directly onto Arisu, carefully probing him.
Katsu's first reaction was that this old man was definitely not an ordinary person. He must be a ninja from the Senju clan disguised with a Transformation Technique, secretly spying and gathering information.
But even with the Mangekyo Sharingan piercing through truth and illusion, seeing through countless disguises, after a thorough inspection, the old man before him had no chakra fluctuations at all. His aura was purely ordinary, completely a defenseless old mortal.
Uchiha Katsu thought to himself and slowly withdrew his ocular power.
It seemed he truly was just an ordinary person who stayed out of worldly affairs.
Already annoyed and wanting to relax, Katsu thought for a moment before stepping through the snow and walking toward Arisu.
Stopping in front of the old man, Uchiha Katsu looked down at him and asked, "Old man, aren't you afraid of danger coming here alone?"
Arisu slowly turned his head. His calm gaze settled on Uchiha Katsu as he spoke lightly.
"Katsu, this old man greets you."
Just that short sentence caused the aura around Uchiha Katsu to suddenly freeze, and his eyes instantly darkened.
The seemingly ordinary old man in front of him had directly called out his name.
Alarm bells rang wildly in his heart, yet he still forced himself to maintain a calm expression. His gaze sharpened like a blade as he stared at Arisu.
"Old man, how do you know my name?"
"You don't need to know."
Arisu withdrew his gaze and looked back at the frozen river before him. The fishing rod didn't move at all.
"The reason this old man is fishing here was simply to meet you."
"Who exactly are you?!"
In that instant, Uchiha Katsu no longer hesitated.
He suddenly pulled the flame fan from his back. The tip of the fan glinted with cold light as it pointed straight at Arisu, who was calmly sitting there fishing.
He was now completely certain that the person before him was definitely not an ordinary man.
In this chaotic era, with heavy snow falling and a battlefield nearby, how could a normal old man remain so calm?
And how could he call out his name so precisely?
Killing intent surged inside Uchiha Katsu. The hand gripping the fan suddenly tightened as he prepared to strike directly and completely eliminate this strange old man of unknown origin.
But just as the flame fan was about to fall, an invisible and intangible force suddenly descended from nowhere, heavy as a mountain, locking his arm in place.
No matter how he circulated his chakra, his arm wouldn't move at all. The flame fan hung in the air, unable to press down even a single inch.
Uchiha Katsu's pupils shrank sharply as stormy waves rose in his heart.
Only then did Arisu slowly lift his eyes. His voice remained calm.
"Katsu, stop this war."
"If it continues, the ninja world will completely collapse, and all living beings will suffer."
"You were once an orphan yourself. You've personally seen the suffering of a chaotic world."
"Do you really want to see more and more orphans appear in this world, watching tragedy repeat itself again and again?"
"Shut up!"
A cold light burst from Uchiha Katsu's eyes. The scarlet Sharingan faintly seemed ready to boil over.
He clenched his teeth and growled in a low voice, his tone filled with suppressed anger and obsession.
"You old man, stop pretending to be mysterious here! People like you who stand outside everything don't understand what I'm trying to do at all!"
"What I want is unity. I want to completely unify the entire ninja world!"
"As long as the world becomes one and there are no more clan conflicts, only then will there truly be no more war. Only then will there truly be peace!"