Another fifteen years passed.
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye fifteen years slipped by, quietly bringing the timeline to the year 816 of the Ninja Calendar.
Over the past ten years, the Senju clan suffered a sudden heavy blow. With their clan head killed, the entire clan instantly fell into leaderless chaos.
They had no choice but to urgently send a request for reinforcements to their ally, the Uzumaki clan.
The Uzumaki clan had long been bound to the Senju through generations of intermarriage.
The marriage alliances established years ago had already tightly tied the fate of the two clans together.
In addition, many daughters of the Uzumaki elders had married into the Senju clan, becoming bonds that linked their bloodlines.
From both the situation and their interests, the Uzumaki clan had no other choice. They immediately mobilized their forces and set out to support the Senju.
For a time, the Uchiha clan alone faced the combined army of Senju and Uzumaki. The three sides engaged in fierce, chaotic battles across the battlefield.
That same year, Uchiha Tajima completed his marriage and officially stepped into a new stage of life as an adult.
Late at night, heavy rain poured down.
The torrential rain slammed down wildly, washing over the rooftops and tiles of the Uchiha clan grounds.
The world was shrouded in a dense curtain of rain.
From the delivery room came the painful groans of Tajima's wife, Meiko.
"Ah… ah…"
Uchiha Tajima paced anxiously back and forth under the corridor. The rain soaked the hem of his clothes, yet he didn't notice at all.
The Tajima of now had long shed his youthful immaturity, fully grown into a tall and handsome adult ninja.
His brows and eyes carried both the sharpness that Madara would later have and the gentleness of Izuna. He was widely recognized within the clan as a strikingly handsome man.
He looked a bit like an older Uchiha Itachi with Sasuke's hairstyle, especially with those faint lines at the corners of his mouth.
"Grandpa! Grandpa, what should I do? Meiko has been in difficult labor for so long. If… if it ends with both mother and child lost, what am I supposed to do!", Uchiha Tajima hurried over to Arisu, his voice trembling as he spoke.
Arisu, on the other hand, remained completely calm, his expression steady and unmoved.
"Calm down, Tajima. Don't say such unlucky things. I've already performed a divination for the people in the delivery room."
"This birth may have some danger, but it will pass safely. There will be no harm.", Arisu said slowly.
"Grandpa, how can you be so certain? I really can't stop worrying!"
Tajima still couldn't hide his anxiety.
"Naturally, I am completely certain." Arisu nodded slightly.
Arisu sighed inwardly. If something truly went wrong, with his abilities, he could easily resolve it. This level of trouble was nothing to worry about.
Hearing his grandfather's words, the weight on Tajima's heart finally eased a little.
Although he didn't understand what this divination was, he knew it was something used to predict fortune and misfortune.
Grandpa had always been accurate without a single mistake. Since he said it so firmly, then Meiko and the child in her womb would surely pass through this safely.
Thinking of this, Uchiha Tajima felt slightly better.
Arisu slowly raised his gaze, his deep eyes piercing through the layers of rain toward the eastern sky.
'So it's finally coming… Uchiha Madara is about to be born, which means Uchiha Yuto has reached the end of his fate…', Arisu thought silently.
In every generation, the reincarnation of Indra could never exist in the world at the same time.
Only when the previous reincarnation completely fell would the power of Indra belonging to the next generation find a new vessel and complete the transition of fate.
Now that the next reincarnation of Indra, Uchiha Madara, was about to be born, it meant that Uchiha Yuto, as the current reincarnation of Indra, was destined to reach the end of his life.
———
At the same time, on a battlefield thousands of miles away, the rain poured down just as heavily.
The dense curtain of rain blurred all vision.
"Shhh! Shhh!"
Two figures stood facing each other from a distance.
Uchiha Yuto and the Uzumaki clan head, Uzumaki Itsuki, had already fought hundreds of rounds.
Their strength was evenly matched, their chakra heavily depleted. For a time, neither could gain the upper hand.
"Uchiha Yuto, withdraw your troops immediately! My Uzumaki clan has no intention of advancing deep into Uchiha territory."
"As long as your Uchiha stops attacking the Senju clan, our forces will withdraw at once and will not continue fighting!"
Standing in the rain, Uzumaki Itsuki shouted coldly toward Uchiha Yuto.
But the response he received was Uchiha Yuto's immediate and fierce counterattack.
"Amaterasu!"
Along with Uchiha Yuto's low shout, pitch-black, inextinguishable flames suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying a terrifying heat that seemed capable of burning everything as they shot straight toward Uzumaki Itsuki.
The rain fell onto the Amaterasu flames and instantly evaporated into white mist.
"Damn it, that inextinguishable flame again!"
"Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
Uzumaki Itsuki's expression changed drastically.
He immediately activated the power of the Uzumaki bloodline, and countless golden chakra chains emerged from his body.
Layer upon layer, they blocked in front of him, forcefully resisting the burning of Amaterasu. The crackling sounds of chains clashing with black flames rang out continuously.
On the other side, Uchiha Yuto tightly covered his eyes. His body trembled slightly in the cold rain as he struggled with all his strength to sustain the ocular power of Amaterasu.
He knew better than anyone the condition of his eyes. Years of overusing the Sharingan's power had already pushed them to their limits.
If he chose to retreat this time, and his eyes went completely blind in the future, he would never again have the chance to contend against the allied forces, and the Uchiha would fall entirely into a disadvantage.
"Damn it… you're forcing my hand. Looks like I can only use that…"
Uzumaki Itsuki let out a deep sigh.
Seeing that Uchiha Yuto had already made up his mind and showed no intention of backing down no matter what, the last trace of negotiation in Uzumaki Itsuki's heart completely vanished.
As the Uzumaki clan head, from the moment he took the position, he had been prepared to sacrifice everything for the safety of the clan.
And every generation of Uzumaki clan heads inherited the forbidden technique: Reaper Death Seal.
This was the final trump card of the Uzumaki clan head, a power to overturn the entire situation when the clan faced destruction and could not match the enemy… a final move that would lead to mutual destruction.
"Sealing Technique: Reaper Death Seal!"
Uzumaki Itsuki roared as he exhausted all his chakra, using his own soul as the catalyst to forcibly summon the legendary Death God.
A sinister, terrifying phantom of the Death God, holding a long blade, slowly took shape within the rain. It emitted a chilling aura of death, its cold gaze locking firmly onto Uchiha Yuto.
The temperature across the battlefield seemed to drop instantly.
Hearing "Reaper Death Seal," Uchiha Yuto did not panic. Instead, he slowly curled his lips into a relieved smile, this was exactly the ending he wanted.
If things continued like this, dragged out in a battle of attrition, with his worsening eye condition, he would most likely die from exhaustion.
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Itsuki might only be severely injured.
But now that Uzumaki Itsuki had activated the Reaper Death Seal, it was clear he intended to die together with him.
To trade his own life for the life of the Uzumaki clan head, securing the greatest possible advantage for the Uchiha, this sacrifice was worth it.
"Reaper Death Seal…"
As the Death God's blade swung down, both figures froze in place, and the chakra around them completely dissipated.
Uchiha Yuto and Uzumaki Itsuki both fell in this cold, pouring rain.
After their deaths, from within their bodies, a strand of pure energy rose from each.
The power of Indra and Asura…
One shot toward the west, heading for the Uchiha clan territory, while the other drifted away toward the east.
———
Within the Uchiha clan grounds, Arisu suddenly looked up toward the sky.
He clearly felt that vast power belonging to Indra rushing rapidly toward the clan.
"So it's finally over…"
Arisu gazed into the rain-covered distance and let out a soft sigh.
"Good work, Yuto. See you in the Pure Land…"