"When I walked past the mountains, the mountains did not speak."
"When I passed by the sea, the sea did not speak."
"The little donkey clip-clopped, the Six Paths Sword accompanied me to the ends of the earth."
"People all say that I feared Kaguya, so I hid in Mount Myoboku to avoid the world."
"But in truth, I simply fell in love with the clouds and sunset of Mount Myoboku. They looked so much like the fireworks that filled the sky when I first crossed over at sixteen."
———
The wind swept across the open fields, passed through the valleys, crossed over the rivers.
It blew onto Arisu's handsome face, lifting the hem of his white clothes…
In the fields, Arisu wore white, tall and graceful like jade, carrying the Six Paths Sword on his back, walking slowly along the ridges between the farmland.
Ever since he sent off the Tailed Beasts back then, fifty years had already passed in a flash…
Time slipped by quickly.
For these fifty years, he wandered through the smoke and fire of the human world.
He lifted his eyes toward the distance, and a trace of emotion passed through them.
From afar, he could see Otsutsuki Hagoromo walking steadily forward, with several hundred ordinary people following at his side.
Behind him were many determined believers.
In just a few decades, from only a handful of followers in the past, he had now gathered several hundred. Hagoromo's personal charm was truly extraordinary.
Arisu stood in place with his sword on his back, watching from afar, but in the end he did not step forward to greet him.
One distant glance was enough. There was no need to disturb him.
Since parting with Kaguya after that battle and saying goodbye to Hagoromo, counting on his fingers, it had already been nearly eighty years without meeting.
In these decades, he had tasted what it meant to be unmatched in the world, and he had also tasted the loneliness of being unmatched.
Basically, as long as the Sage of Six Paths did not appear, Arisu was invincible.
Below him, all were like ants.
But Arisu did not interfere much with the major affairs of the human world.
Occasionally, he would use his power to punish extremely evil people, that was all.
Watching that group gradually shrink into a small dot in the distance and finally disappear at the end of his sight, Arisu lowered his gaze, turned around, and silently left in the direction of the wind.
"It's time to return to Mount Myoboku…." Arisu spoke softly, looking at the letter in his hand.
The letter from White-Brow Toad, written in shaky old handwriting, was still tucked in his chest.
[My lifespan is coming to an end. I hope you return, to entrust my final matters.]
———
Arisu returned to Mount Myoboku.
The clouds of Mount Myoboku were still the same as in his memory, rolling and spreading with rosy light, no different from when he first arrived a hundred years ago.
Among the mountains were still traces of the Tailed Beasts playing and fighting in the past.
In front of the cave dwelling wrapped in mist, Gamamaru had already been waiting.
"Teacher! The Great Toad Sage, he…."
Gamamaru's body had grown much larger.
"I know." Arisu slightly raised his hand.
Then he walked deeper inside.
Inside the cave, a faint clear light glowed. The White-Brow Toad Sage leaned sideways on a cloud couch.
Hearing the footsteps, he slowly raised his eyes. When he saw Arisu standing before the couch, the brows that had been tightly furrowed for a long time suddenly relaxed.
"Arisu, you've come… hehehe…" The old voice carried a trembling breath.
"Back then, that reckless boy who climbed mountains and crossed rivers seeking power has now become an immortal who saves the world and stands on his own."
These words instantly pulled Arisu's thoughts back a hundred years.
Arisu looked at the aged White-Brow Toad on the couch.
In a daze, scenes from a hundred years ago rushed in like waves...
At that time, he had just entered this world as a stranger, carrying confusion and lone courage. He crossed dangerous mountains, stepped through mist and poisonous fog, and only then found Mount Myoboku, hidden from the mortal world.
Whether it was coincidence or fate.
The image of the White-Brow Sage holding his staff, giving guidance and speaking earnestly back then, was so clear as if it had happened just yesterday.
Arisu was no longer the young man who shouted every day, "Endure it, think it through, hold on," to encourage himself.
Time flew.
Arisu once again looked at the White-Brow Toad.
White-Brow was nearly a thousand years old, which was already a long life even for a toad.
"Grandpa White-Brow…"
Arisu stepped forward. His gaze fell on White-Brow, full of complicated feelings. There was respect, reluctance, and a trace of sorrow that crossed a hundred years.
White-Brow slightly lifted one forelimb. Arisu understood and leaned closer.
That wrinkled palm gently covered the back of his hand. It felt slightly cool, yet carried unquestionable seriousness.
"Arisu, I don't have much time left."
White-Brow's eyes were deep like an ancient pond.
"Mount Myoboku will be entrusted to you from now on. From today forward, you will be the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku. No one will object to this."
Arisu had long had a feeling about this.
Over the years, White-Brow's guidance and expectations, those hints given on purpose or by chance, and the gradual passing down of Mount Myoboku's core inheritance, had all shown that this day would come.
He looked at the trust and hope in White-Brow's eyes. He did not say much, only slowly nodded, steady and calm, just like the eighty years he had walked through.
White-Brow looked at his calm expression and let out a soft sigh. There was no regret in that sigh, only relief.
"Sigh… I've lived a thousand years. It's enough."
"Thank the heavens, this long life has finally come to an end."
He paused, looked at Arisu beside him, and his tone became meaningful.
"Living too long, seeing too many changes in the world and the rise and fall of human hearts, it's easy to lose yourself… Arisu, remember this."
"No matter how time washes over you, no matter how strong your power becomes, you must hold on to your original heart. Do not lose your true self in endless time."
When Arisu heard this, he was slightly startled, then became serious. It seemed White-Brow Toad already understood something.
"Feel with your heart. There is no need to insist on chasing power. What should be yours will come… do not turn it into an obsession…"
"I hope you cherish yourself, cherish yourself, cherish yourself."
After the words fell, White-Brow took a deep breath. His chest rose slightly, then slowly stilled.
Those eyes that had seen a thousand years of change gradually lost their light. The immortal power around him faded like a receding tide, returning to stillness, returning to Mount Myoboku.
Inside the cave, it was so quiet that only Arisu's breathing remained. Arisu held White-Brow's gradually cooling hand and did not move for a long time.
Outside the window, the clouds of Mount Myoboku still rolled and spread, the sunset still brilliant.
Only the Toad Sage who had protected this immortal land for a thousand years had now passed away.
"Grandpa Sage, he…", Outside, Gamamaru hesitated to speak.
Arisu slightly raised his hand.
Gamamaru immediately understood that Grandpa Sage had passed away, and he could not help but cry.
Arisu looked at White-Brow Toad's body, his heart filled with mixed feelings. If not for this Grandpa Sage, he might have died long ago on the road searching for Mount Myoboku.
Before, he always thought he was lucky, that with a mortal body he had somehow found Mount Myoboku.
Thinking about it now, it was truly laughable…
He had already mastered Mount Myoboku's barrier, so he naturally understood. How could a mortal possibly find Mount Myoboku?
Back then, it was only because Grandpa White-Brow felt pity. Seeing him suffering and almost dying in his search for learning, he opened the barrier and let him in…
After standing there for a long time, he let out a soft sigh.
Arisu looked at the body of the White-Brow Sage and softly spoke, "Good night, Grandpa White-Brow."