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When the report came that Uchiha Kitsune had won, Manji's lowered eyes lifted from the stone platform. A trace of surprise passed through them.
But equally quickly, the surprise disappeared.
Nearby, Black Zetsu and Fukasaku, waiting to record the next event in the Shinobi world, both tensed up. Their faces showed clear shock.
"Uchiha Kitsune won a fight he had no business winning. Grand Sage isn't letting that slide," Black Zetsu whispered to Fukasaku beside him.
Fukasaku's face grew tense. He frowned, lips sealed tight, and stayed silent, though his eyes looked even heavier.
He didn't care about the outcome of the fight.
If Uchiha Kitsune was still alive, did that mean the war would go on? It was the people of the mortal world who would suffer for it—
"..." Manji stood quietly on the stone platform, lost in thought.
Then he looked at White Zetsu and spoke gently. "You've worked hard. Go rest."
"To answer you, Grand Sage, this subordinate is not tired." White Zetsu bowed respectfully, then crawled back from the stone platform and withdrew.
Black Zetsu and Fukasaku kept their heads lowered, waiting in silence for Manji's decision.
Manji gazed at the sea of clouds beyond Mount Myōboku and gave a small, accepting smile. Any lingering unrest in his heart faded away.
At this point, what else was there to say?
With a wave of Manji's hand, an ancient stone tablet appeared out of thin air, engraved with the results of each clash between Indra and Asura's reincarnations.
Sage chakra gathered at Manji's fingertip. He raised his hand and pressed it to the tablet, carving two deep marks beneath Indra's record.
Now, the score between Indra and Asura's reincarnations stood at two to one.
Manji clasped his hands behind his back. His voice was composed as he instructed Black Zetsu and Fukasaku, "That's how it stands. Record it as it happened."
Black Zetsu and Fukasaku bowed together and accepted the order.
Fukasaku pulled out the bamboo slips used for the Shinobi world's official history. He dipped his brush in sage ink, kept his wrist steady, and wrote the entry with a serious expression.
"Shinobi Year 91: At the Battle of Satō River, Uchiha Clan Head Kitsune returned to the battlefield after vanishing for one year at Foxfall Cliff. Though blind, he relied on swordsmanship and perception to cut down Senju Clan leader Senju Futen in battle. Bloodied and missing an arm, he claimed victory, reversed the Uchiha Clan's position, and shook the Shinobi world."
Manji stood with his hands behind his back and looked toward the sky above Mount Myōboku.
Maybe this was what Kitsune deserved.
Still, there was no need for Manji to push matters further.
The Uchiha would stop fighting, and the situation would return to a stalemate.
"That forbidden technique Uchiha Kitsune left behind? I can already guess what it is. Forget it. Let it be." Manji looked down.
Things had reached this far. If he stepped in again, he would only stir up more trouble in the Shinobi world.
..............
Deep inside the Uchiha compound, a tatami room remained dimly lit.
Uchiha Kitsune sat cross-legged on the mat.
His left sleeve hung empty at his side, and a strip of black cloth still covered his eyes.
The killing intent he had carried at Satō River was gone. What remained was a heavy calm—the stillness of a man who had survived death and seen through fate.
Two Uchiha elders knelt before him with their heads bowed, their unease obvious.
"Clan Head..." one elder said after weighing his words, voice kept low. "Now that Senju Futen is dead and the Senju Clan is leaderless, should the Uchiha... carry on the war to the end?"
He spoke carefully, dread filling his heart.
Twenty years of war had used up the clan's last reserves. Food, morale, and fighting strength were all at their limits. If the Clan Head wanted to keep going, the Uchiha might split apart or even face disaster.
Kitsune stayed silent for a moment, then exhaled. When he spoke, his voice was soft, carrying a release that went to the bone. "Enough. We stop here. Fate can't be forced. What's meant to come will come. What isn't meant for me, I won't chase anymore."
"..." The two elders froze, then looked at each other in shock. Their eyes were full of disbelief.
The Clan Head before them had survived Foxfall Cliff, come back blind and missing an arm, and now seemed changed in ways they had never seen. The stubborn pride that once pushed him to unite the Shinobi world was gone. He carried himself with a new sense of calm.
"Your judgment is sound, Clan Head!"
Both men bowed at once and spoke in unison.
Kitsune nodded slightly and gave his orders. "Starting today, the whole clan will put down its weapons and focus on raising the next generation. The young clansmen I picked earlier will handle the Uchiha's affairs. I'll step back and won't manage things directly anymore—"
"—Go on. You've both done well," Kitsune said.
The two elders stood up and walked to the door. They glanced at each other, both still unsure.
Since the Clan Head came back, he seemed like a different person. His harshness and anger had faded, replaced by warmth. Even the way he treated people was gentler now.
"We would walk through fire for you, Clan Head!"
They gave one final salute, closed the door, and withdrew.
..............
The room grew quiet again.
Only Uchiha Kitsune was left.
He reached out, found the sliding door to the garden, and pushed it open.
A cool autumn wind drifted in, carrying the smell of leaves. It touched the black cloth over his eyes, moved past his empty sleeve, and seemed to wash away the last bit of violence in his heart.
A dry yellow leaf spun through the air and landed in his open hand.
As his fingers traced the leaf's thin veins, old memories and thoughts surfaced within him.
"My name is Uchiha Kitsune. I was born an orphan."
"But for as long as I can remember, I carried a strange certainty deep in my heart. I knew I would never live an ordinary life. I was destined to stand at the peak of the Shinobi world and look down over everyone."
"Everything that happened later seemed to prove that feeling right."
"I climbed from orphan to clan head step by step. I trained, grew stronger, seized authority, and took the seat of Uchiha Clan Head. I crossed the river in funeral white and shook the Shinobi world."
"I never found any of it surprising, because I had always known that this was the path laid out for me."
"Back then, I was ecstatic. I believed I was fate's chosen son."
"It felt as though fate had already paved the road ahead. No matter what danger I faced, I would survive. No matter how desperate the situation, I would find a way out. I was never afraid, because I knew fate did not want me dead."
"But that certainty shattered after I killed Senju Uzuki."
"I realized, with horror, that the unseen guidance I had always felt was gone."
"At first, I thought it was a coincidence. But later, nothing went right. The war turned against me. Every road ahead was lined with thorns. Even my own choices slipped out of my control."
"I finally understood one truth."
"The will of this world does not bend for anyone's obsession."
"I gave everything I had. I planned, bled, and wore myself down to the bone. But whenever I reached a turning point, fate would force the road aside and drag everything back toward the path it had already chosen."
"I went from fate's chosen son to a puppet dangling from its strings. Or rather, I had always been its puppet."
"And the saddest part was that I knew it. I knew I was a puppet, and I could only watch myself act out one scene after another in fate's script, never in control."
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