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With a thought from Manji, several souls descended before him.
Their phantom forms moved, shifting and coming together as light gathered around them. One after another, they took shape as the reincarnations of Indra and Asura from many generations.
Senju Shūichi. Uchiha Senichi. Senju Uzuki. Uchiha Kitsune. Senju Futen. Uchiha Sa. Senju Tsuru. Uchiha Jin. Uzumaki Yū.
They appeared one after another, and even Uchiha Gen and Senju Shima, who were at the far edges of the Pure Land, were brought over by Manji's power in a flash.
Eleven powerful reincarnations had gathered. Everyone was now here.
Uchiha Senichi slowly opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.
"Senichi!"
Before he could process what was happening, Senju Shūichi called out to him with open delight.
"Shūichi??"
Senichi jolted and instinctively tried to activate his Mangekyō Sharingan out of habit. Shūichi was already running toward him, his face full of emotion, and Senichi braced himself for the chakra-powered punch he expected.
But the punch never came. Instead, Shūichi pulled him into a tight hug.
"I missed you..." Shūichi's voice broke as tears ran down his face. "I really shouldn't have... We could have built an age of peace together—"
"..." Indra frowned, his face dark as he watched them. He had thought that when his reincarnation met Asura's, things would get tense and a fight would break out right away. Instead, it looked more like a sad reunion between lovers than a clash between rivals.
Asura was just as stunned, staring at the pair with wide eyes.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Kitsune watched the scene quietly and sighed to himself.
'How dull.'
After finding out he had been controlled by the Will of Heaven, Kitsune stopped fighting it. Now, he was fine with letting things happen as they would.
Then he sensed something wrong and turned his head.
Senju Uzuki was staring at him, her face full of anger, coldness, and hatred.
"Uzuki!"
For the first time in a long while, emotion showed on Kitsune's usually calm face. Before he could speak, another angry voice called out.
"UCHIHA KITSUNE!"
Senju Futen was glaring at him too, eyes wide with rage.
Kitsune went quiet. Of course, after death, you could meet the people you missed. Sadly, you also had to face the ones you really didn't want to see.
"What is going on?"
Uchiha Sa frowned. She clearly remembered putting on explosive tags and blowing herself up. Then she looked at Senju Tsuru.
"Senju Tsuru!? You little brat!"
"Hehe... Hello, Clan Head Sa." Tsuru gave her an awkward wave. Without Black Zetsu by his side, he knew better than to act tough.
"Drop dead!!" Uchiha Sa punched him without thinking.
Tsuru fell to the ground and was hit several more times right away.
"Wait, stop! This is a misunderstanding! WE'RE BOTH SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" Tsuru tried to explain, covering his head.
Uchiha Jin and Uzumaki Yū looked at each other. The tension between them remained strong, and both prepared to use their respective techniques.
Uchiha Gen and Senju Shima glanced at each other, then turned to Manji and bowed as if they had done it many times before.
"Greetings, Sage of Six Paths."
That one greeting made everyone fall silent.
"..." Everyone looked ahead.
The Sage of Six Paths stood before them... looking just like the portraits seen throughout the Shinobi world, with Indra on his left and Asura on his right.
Suddenly, Uchiha Sa remembered something. She staggered, her eyes wide with shock. Years of not believing in anything spiritual broke apart in that moment.
Uchiha Senichi and Senju Shūichi reacted at once, dropping to their knees in the highest form of respect.
"Greetings, Sage of Six Paths!" Kitsune sighed. So this was what the Will of Heaven really looked like.
For a moment, everyone there bowed to Manji.
"No need for ceremony." Manji waved a hand lightly.
The room grew quiet. Everyone looked around at each other, not sure what to do next.
Manji rubbed his forehead. With so many Indra and Asura reincarnations in one place, he wondered how he could possibly explain everything.
Then he sensed something and smiled a little. Sometimes, what you need just shows up at the right time.
Manji reached out and transported Black Zetsu, who was elsewhere in the Pure Land, directly to his side.
Normally, living beings from the shinobi world couldn't enter the Pure Land. But Black Zetsu was different. As a being made of Will and Energy—he could come and go from the Pure Land easily.
A moment later, Black Zetsu appeared in white sage robes.
"Grand Sage, did you call for me?" he asked with a respectful smile.
Then he noticed the crowd of Indra and Asura reincarnations, and his face went still.
"Sage Black Zetsu." Indra and Asura stepped forward and bowed to him in greeting.
"Oh, no need to be so formal." Black Zetsu smiled.
As soon as Senju Tsuru saw him, his eyes lit up. He looked at Black Zetsu with excitement and gave him a wink. Black Zetsu saw it and winked back. They understood each other right away.
"Black Zetsu," Manji said, "explain the situation to them. Introduce everything to Indra, Asura, and all their reincarnations. I have other matters to handle, so take care of this for me."
With that, Manji disappeared. He didn't want to explain everything himself. If he started from the beginning, it would take far too long. It was better to let Black Zetsu handle it.
In the next instant, Manji was back in the Shinobi world. He looked down at the sleeping baby Uchiha Madara—then returned to his reading and writing.
..............
Back in the Pure Land, everyone stared at Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu immediately straightened his posture and put on the bearing of an enlightened master.
"Ahem. Please do not be alarmed. You may call me the Sage Black Zetsu."
He put his hands behind his back and looked off into the distance, trying to appear calm and collected.
The next moment, Senju Tsuru rushed up and hugged him.
"Sage Black Zetsu? Why are you acting all grand now? I missed you! I never thought I'd see you again. So you were one of the Sage of Six Paths' people all along!"
Tsuru hugged him happily.
Black Zetsu looked helpless, but he had missed Tsuru too. Since the Pure Land was created, he had visited it many times, hoping to find Tsuru and talk with him. But the souls of the reincarnations had never been there before.
"Ahem..." Indra reminded him.
Black Zetsu smiled.
Fine, he would drop the sage act. He didn't really look like a sage anyway.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Black Zetsu. I recorded your histories along with another sage named Fukasaku. Now, let me tell you the whole story."
Then, as quickly as he could, Black Zetsu explained the Thousand-Year Pact to the group and made it clear what it meant to be reincarnations.
Everyone present was intelligent. They grasped the situation almost at once, and for a long moment, all of them sank into complicated silence.
"..."
So their storm-tossed, hard-fought lives had been part of a contest?
The Asura reincarnations took it better. They were calmer by nature, and after a while, some even smiled. If that was the case, they could see those lives as roles played on a stage.
At least they had played their parts well.
The Indra reincarnations struggled with it. As proud Uchiha, they couldn't accept that their lives were just moves in someone else's game. They saw themselves as individuals and refused to admit they were anyone's reincarnation.
Only Uchiha Kitsune stayed indifferent.
'Whatever.'
He had known this for a long time and had already come to terms with it.
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