After hearing the news that Uchiha Katsu had won...
Arisu, standing on the immortal platform, slightly raised his lowered eyes. A trace of barely noticeable surprise flashed through them.
But in just an instant, it returned to calm.
At the side, Black Zetsu and Fukasaku, who had already been waiting to record the major events of the ninja world, both trembled slightly, their faces filled with shock.
"Uchiha Katsu winning something he shouldn't have won… the Sage of Six Paths will definitely not let him off.", Black Zetsu turned slightly, lowered his voice, and spoke quietly to Fukasaku beside him.
"....."
Sage Fukasaku's face tightened, his brows deeply furrowed, lips pressed together. He didn't respond, but the heaviness in his eyes grew even deeper.
It wasn't that he cared about who won. If Uchiha Katsu was still alive, would the war continue again?
The ones who would suffer were still the people of the mortal world.
Arisu stood atop the immortal platform, silent in thought.
Then...
"You've worked hard. You may go now.", Arisu looked at White Zetsu and spoke gently.
"I'm not tired."
White Zetsu bowed respectfully, then lowered his body and quietly withdrew from the platform.
Black Zetsu and Fukasaku remained with their heads lowered, standing at the side, silently waiting for Arisu's final decision.
Arisu looked out at the rolling sea of clouds beyond Mount Myoboku. Suddenly, he let out a relieved smile, and there was no more disturbance in his heart.
Things have come to this. What else can I even say?
Arisu raised his hand, and with a summoning gesture, an ancient stone tablet engraved with the outcomes of Indra and Asura's reincarnations appeared out of thin air.
A strand of sage technique gathered at his fingertips. He lifted his hand and pressed it onto the tablet, solemnly carving two deep marks under the record of Indra's lineage.
On the stone tablet, the score between Indra and Asura's reincarnations was fixed at two to one.
Arisu slowly clasped his hands behind his back, his tone calm and without ripples as he instructed Black Zetsu and Fukasaku beside him, "Let it be like this. Just record it truthfully."
Both Black Zetsu and Fukasaku nodded and bowed to accept the order.
Fukasaku took out the bamboo scroll used to record the official history of the ninja world. Dipping his brush in ink, his wrist steady and his expression solemn, he wrote down each word in the formal style of historical records.
[In the 91st year of the Ninja Calendar, at the Battle of Sato River, Uchiha clan leader Katsu, after disappearing for a year at a Cliff, returned to the battlefield. With a blind body, relying on swordsmanship and extreme perception, he slew the leader of the Senju clan, Senju Hiroshi, in formation. With a severed arm and bathed in blood, he achieved victory, reversing the Uchiha clan's war situation and shaking the ninja world.]
Arisu stood with his hands behind his back, looking toward the sky above Mount Myoboku.
Perhaps, this was what Katsu deserved.
However, there was no need for him to continue anymore.
The Uchiha would no longer fight, and the situation would only remain in a stalemate.
"The forbidden technique left behind by Uchiha Katsu? I already know what it is. Forget it, let it be."
Arisu lowered his gaze slightly.
Things had already reached this point. If he interfered again, he would just become a troublemaker in the ninja world.
———
Deep within the Uchiha clan grounds, a simply furnished Japanese-style room was shrouded in dim light and shadow.
Uchiha Katsu sat cross-legged on the tatami.
The sleeve of his left arm hung empty. His eyes were still covered with that pitch-black cloth strip.
There was no longer the sharp killing aura from the battlefield of the Sato River. What remained was only the heaviness and calm of someone who had gone through life and death and seen through fate.
Two Uchiha elders knelt respectfully before him, heads lowered, unable to hide the unease in their expressions.
"Clan leader…"
One of the elders hesitated for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice.
"Now that Senju Hiroshi is dead and the Senju clan is leaderless, should our Uchiha… still carry the war through to the end?", He asked carefully, filled with fear.
Twenty years of fierce battle had already drained the clan's last reserves. Supplies, morale, and combat strength were all stretched to the limit.
If the clan leader insisted on continuing the war, internal unrest would inevitably arise within the Uchiha, and they might even face total destruction.
Uchiha Katsu fell silent for a moment, then slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. His voice was soft, yet carried a deep sense of release, "Forget it. Let it be. What is decreed by heaven cannot be defied. If it is meant to be, it will be. If it is not, there is no use forcing it."
The two elders were stunned. They exchanged shocked glances, their eyes filled with disbelief.
The clan leader before them, after surviving Luohu Cliff, returning with a severed arm and blindness, had reached such clarity of mind.
The obsessive arrogance of unifying the ninja world was completely gone. His state had already surpassed what it once was.
"Wise decision, Clan Leader!"
The two immediately bowed and spoke in unison.
Uchiha Katsu nodded slightly and gave a quiet order. "From today onward, the entire clan will lay down their weapons and focus fully on cultivating the next generation."
"The young clan members I previously selected will immediately take over Uchiha governance. I will step into a semi-retired role and no longer personally handle major clan affairs."
"Wise decision, Clan Leader!"
The elders bowed again, their voices filled with relief and admiration.
"You may go. You've worked hard.", Uchiha Katsu's voice softened.
The two elders stood up and retreated to the doorway. They exchanged a glance, both filled with doubt.
Ever since the clan leader returned, it was as if he had completely changed. The killing intent was gone, replaced by a calm gentleness. Even the way he treated others had become much softer.
"We are willing to go through fire and water for the Clan Leader!"
The two cupped their hands in salute one last time, gently closed the door, and quietly withdrew.
Silence returned to the room.
Only Uchiha Katsu remained.
He slowly raised his hand and, feeling his way forward, pushed open the sliding door to the courtyard.
A slightly cool autumn breeze carrying the scent of leaves drifted toward him, brushing against the cloth over his eyes, brushing past his empty left sleeve, and also dispersing the last trace of hostility in his heart.
A withered yellow leaf spun as it fell, landing lightly in his open palm.
As his fingertips touched the thin veins of the leaf, long-buried thoughts stirred within Uchiha Katsu.
"My name is Uchiha Katsu. I was born an orphan."
"But ever since I could remember, I had a vague sense in my heart. I would never live an ordinary life. I was destined to stand at the peak of the ninja world and look down on all living beings."
"Everything that came after proved this feeling right."
"I rose step by step from an orphan, training, growing stronger, gaining power, and eventually sitting in the position of Uchiha clan leader, crossing rivers in white robes and shaking the ninja world."
"I never found it surprising, because I already knew this was the path fate had set for me."
"At that time, I was overjoyed, convinced that I was the chosen one favored by heaven."
"It felt as if fate had already paved the road ahead for me. No matter what danger I encountered, I could turn misfortune into safety and survive desperate situations. I never feared anything, because I knew fate did not want me to die."
"But that certainty completely shattered after I killed Senju Mio."
"I realized in horror that the guiding sense within me had disappeared."
"At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. But later, nothing went smoothly. The war situation reversed, the road ahead filled with thorns, and even my own choices and actions gradually slipped out of my control."
"I finally understood a cruel truth."
"The will of this world will never shift because of anyone's obsession."
"I exhausted everything, planned with all my effort, but whenever it reached a critical moment, fate would always be forcibly twisted, returning to its predetermined path."
"I went from being the so-called chosen one of heaven to a puppet in its hands. Or rather, I had always been a puppet in the hands of heaven."
"And even more tragic, I clearly knew I was a puppet, yet could only watch myself, within the script of fate, perform one absurd play after another against my will."