On the other side of the dense forest, Senju Mio was slowly walking back toward the clan grounds. Her small face was full of struggle that she could hardly hide.
'That Uchiha kid… really is stupid…', She sighed softly in her heart.
In truth, she had already seen through everything, appearing alone in this sensitive area in the middle of the night, there was no other possibility except someone from the Uchiha clan.
But in the end, she still couldn't bring herself to strike. She chose to pretend she didn't know and let him leave.
"Sigh… Father has always wanted me to learn how to kill, but… how could I possibly bring myself to do it?"
The conflict in her heart kept churning. Senju Mio lowered her eyes and looked at the path beneath her feet. A trace of reluctance flashed across her delicate brows and eyes.
She was recognized by the Senju clan as the new generation's genius, carrying the expectations of the clan.
Yet by nature she disliked killing and warfare. She simply couldn't be like the others in the clan, raising a slaughtering blade against a child she had never even met.
———
Inside the History room of Mount Myoboku, wisps of green smoke slowly curled upward around the sandalwood beams.
Fukasaku Sage held a brush soaked heavily with ink, carefully copying down the major events of the ninja world's calendar year by year, word by word.
The brush tip paused, and clear writing appeared on the bamboo slip.
[Ninja Calendar Year 36: Senju Shuichi died of illness. Because of Uchiha Izumichi, Shuichi spent his later years in regret and loneliness before passing away. Yet it also brought a period of relative peace for the Uchiha and Senju clans. Recorded by the historian: Fukasaku.]
[Ninja Calendar Year 38: War between the two clans reignited, and fighting continued without end.]
[Ninja Calendar Year 39: In the north, the Yotsuki clan and the Kaguya clan began a war.]
[Ninja Calendar Year 42: The Sarutobi clan and the Shimura clan formed an alliance. In the same year, the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clans signed an alliance, collectively known as the Ino–Shika–Cho clans.]
[Ninja Calendar Year 45: The Uzumaki clan and the Hozuki clan started a war over island territory. The Hozuki clan was defeated and fled east with their people.]
[Ninja Calendar Year 46: The Hozuki clan discovered a new continent.]
"Finally finished recording…", After writing line after line of calendar records, Fukasaku Sage put down his brush and let out a deep breath.
He rubbed his slightly sore wrist and turned to look at Black Zetsu, who was writing furiously at the desk beside him.
"These are the major events that have happened in the ninja world over the years. Black Zetsu, have you finished the mortal-world section you're responsible for?"
Black Zetsu's pen paused. His face was full of barely concealed exhaustion and irritation, and he immediately started complaining, "Stop rushing me!"
"I honestly didn't expect the mortal-world section to be this hard to write."
"You're in charge of the ninja-world section. All you have to do is record the conflicts and alliances between the major ninja clans."
"But for me, writing the mortal-world section means sorting out the changes in governments across various nations, diplomacy between states, social conflicts among the people, shifts in court policies, territorial and economic development, and all those tangled political power struggles… Do you think that's easy?"
Seeing Black Zetsu like this, Fukasaku Sage's smile grew even wider.
Fukasaku slapped the desk and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, all the affairs of the mortal world used to be recorded by me. So how is it?
Now that you've experienced it yourself, don't you think the ninja-world section is easier to record and much less trouble?"
"Ah…"
Black Zetsu sighed helplessly, drooping his head as he nodded, his tone full of resignation.
"Alright, Fukasaku, I admit it.
"When are we switching? Let me go back to recording the ninja world instead…"
"Hahaha, let's talk about it again in another hundred years!"
Fukasaku Sage's laughter echoed through the quiet History Pavilion.
Together with the drifting clouds and mist of the sacred mountain outside the window, the two of them quietly sealed nearly a hundred years of time from both the ninja world and the mortal world into bamboo scrolls.
Fukasaku Sage lowered his head to organize the bamboo slips filled with ninja calendar records. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed the object in Black Zetsu's hand. He stopped what he was doing, looking puzzled.
"Huh? Where's your brush?"
"Huh?"
Black Zetsu froze for a moment. He instinctively looked down at the pen in his hand, then suddenly realized.
"Oh! You mean this!"
"This is a new item recently put on the shelves in the Mount Myoboku shop. It's called a pencil. Writing with it feels smoother and lighter than using a brush."
"Unfortunately, the bamboo slips we use are too rough in texture, which really isn't suitable for writing with a pencil. Kind of a shame.", Black Zetsu said with a smile.
Fukasaku Sage slightly narrowed his eyes, speaking with a tone of understanding.
"I'm guessing it's another one of Gamamaru's strange little inventions."
Because of Arisu, the sages of Mount Myoboku didn't have strict hierarchies of status. There were only differences in seniority and division of responsibilities.
Fukasaku and Black Zetsu jointly managed Mount Myoboku's historical recording department.
The two of them were the heads of that department.
Shima Sage was responsible for gathering intelligence from the human world and was the head of the human affairs department.
Gamamaru was in charge of the technology department.
Everyone had clear responsibilities and worked more like colleagues.
"Hahaha, that's true. But the Great Sage says it well, technology changes life."
Black Zetsu laughed loudly. Over the years, Gamamaru had devoted himself to research and invented quite a few novel items, all of which were gradually adopted throughout Mount Myoboku.
Any technology with military applications had been completely forbidden by Arisu.
All technological achievements were used only to improve life on the sacred mountain, which had indeed made things much more convenient there.
———
Arisu stood in a quiet place behind the mountain. Using sage chakra at his fingertips, he performed thorough preservation techniques on the bodies of Uchiha Izumichi and Senju Shuichi, then carefully buried them here.
After finishing all this, Arisu gently waved his hand.
Two faint golden lights of souls were steadily protected in his palm, the complete souls of Izumichi and Shuichi.
"This kind of approach is quite interesting."
A hint of amusement flickered in Arisu's eyes as he considered a sudden idea he had come up with in recent years.
When the thousand-year agreement between Indra and Asura finally reached its end, he would not only awaken the sealed original souls of the two of them, but also preserve and release the souls of every reincarnation throughout those thousand years.
At that time, all the reincarnated souls of Indra and Asura from every generation would gather together in one place and carefully review the thousand years of obsession and slaughter.
Uchiha Izumichi and Senju Shuichi would naturally be among them.
Arisu could even imagine it.
On the day when the thousand-year agreement was fulfilled, when Uchiha Izumichi finally met the original Indra, he would definitely rush to ask why Indra never left behind a method for evolving the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Thinking of this, the corners of Arisu's lips lifted slightly. He carefully sealed away the two soul lights, quietly waiting for the final chapter of the thousand-year period.
———
Uchiha Izumichi: "Boss… this time in my reincarnation, my defeat happened because you didn't leave me a method to awaken the Eternal Eye!"
Indra: "I didn't know! How would I know there was even something called the Mangekyo Sharingan…?"
Hagoromo: "Huh? Doesn't the Sharingan just evolve directly into the Rinnegan? Why are you guys making it so messy?"