Everyone bowed together, their voices filled with sincere gratitude.
Arisu waved his hand and said calmly, "No need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank yourselves for diligently and conscientiously guarding this Pure Land for hundreds of years."
Arisu turned his back to them, and a very soft sigh faded into the air.
"Sigh...."
"You may leave."
The group respectfully bowed once more before silently withdrawing.
In the hall, only he remained.
"Sigh…"
Arisu raised a hand and rubbed between his brows.
At some point, his state of mind had already become calmer and softer through the long passage of time.
The hostility around him had long disappeared. He no longer even had the urge to get angry.
"Thinking about it carefully, it's already been hundreds of years since I truly got angry…", Arisu muttered softly.
The last time he got angry was during the battle against demons as the Sage of Six Paths several hundred years ago.
After that, no ripples ever rose in his heart again. It remained clear and calm.
"Sigh… the closer one gets to godhood, the farther one becomes from humanity…", Arisu sighed lightly, standing with his hands behind his back. His figure flashed once and disappeared into the clouds and mist of the Pure Land.
———
Returning to Mount Myoboku, Arisu stepped into the Great Hall.
But when he looked up, he saw a slender figure standing quietly in the hall with her back facing him.
A pink-white immortal dress dragged across the ground, and silver-white hair flowed down to her waist like a waterfall.
It was Kaguya.
"What are you here for?", Arisu asked calmly.
"I…"
Hearing his voice, Kaguya slowly turned around.
Those eyes that always carried a layer of coldness, were now filled with a depth of affection he had never seen before, fixed directly on Arisu.
Arisu's brows slightly furrowed.
A trace of confusion passed through his heart.
Then he secretly gathered power, preparing to throw out a killing move at any moment.
"You're acting strange."
"If you have something to say, say it quickly. I already told you before, if something comes up, sending a message is enough. There's no need for you to personally come to the place where I handle affairs."
As Arisu spoke, he walked into the hall and stopped in front of her.
Kaguya still raised her eyes to look at him. A faint blush spread across her cheeks, and her eyes were full of shyness and unease.
"Arisu… I…I…", Her red lips parted slightly. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. The words reached her mouth, only to be swallowed back down again, while her fingers unconsciously tightened around her skirt.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Seeing her hesitate like this, a sudden guess appeared in Arisu's mind.
'N-no way....'
'When women act like this, usually it means.....'
Arisu had seen this kind of situation before.
Of course, it was in his previous life.
Kaguya took a deep breath, as if she had made an enormous decision.
"I… I don't want to only rely on messages to see you anymore."
Kaguya gathered her courage and said it.
Arisu slightly frowned but said nothing.
"From the first time I saw you, I felt that you were different. It was a very strange feeling. I always felt that you were different from everyone on this planet!"
Kaguya spoke with deep emotion in her eyes while moving closer to Arisu.
Arisu, "Oh? What kind of feeling? My moral character?"
Kaguya placed her hand on Arisu's chest and seriously said, "No. Fundamentally different. Other people may not be able to tell, but an Otsutsuki can."
"You… don't seem to be someone from this planet."
Arisu's expression did not change as he continued listening to Kaguya.
"Back then, after I killed you for the chakra fruit, I deeply regretted it. I dreamed about you countless times. I dreamed about you ruling the world together with me and governing all people together…"
"When I learned you weren't dead, I felt both joy and hatred toward you. I hated you for not coming to see me. I hated you for plotting against me together with Hagoromo…"
Before she finished speaking, Arisu interrupted her.
"Kaguya, you were the one who sneak attacked me for power first, yet now you hate me instead?", Arisu said calmly.
Kaguya's eyes immediately reddened.
"But at the time I was just a weak woman too! My clansmen wanted to kill me, the Emperor of the Ancestor Country used me. To protect myself, I could only do this!"
"Then why are you telling me all this now?"
Arisu closed his eyes.
Kaguya then made a bold move.
"What I want to say is..."
Kaguya crashed into Arisu's arms, tightly wrapping both arms around his waist. She buried her burning face deeply into his chest and said word by word, "I love you."
Kaguya's words were like a Truth-Seeking Ball exploding.
Arisu's entire body shook, stunned speechless.
"Y-you… what did you say?"
Arisu stiffly lowered his head to look at Kaguya tightly hugging him.
Blushing, Kaguya buried her head in Arisu's chest and repeated softly and obsessively, "I love you. I want to stay with you forever...."
Arisu completely broke.
Several words flashed through his mind, classic, anxious, filial, happy, broken, numb, winning. Which one should he use to answer?
At that moment, Black Zetsu, bored out of his mind, had just been about to enter the Great Hall to report work, when he saw Kaguya hugging Arisu in the center of the hall.
Black Zetsu froze. Then his eyes suddenly widened.
Afterward, he gasped heavily and leaned against the wall, staring at the sky in shock.
"I must have recorded too much history...", Black Zetsu muttered in shock.
Then, as if possessed, he quietly left the place.
On the way back, he happened to run into Fukasaku.
"Eh? Brother Black Zetsu, weren't we going to report work together at the Great Hall? Why are you..."
Before Fukasaku could finish speaking, Black Zetsu hurriedly dragged him away.
"Run! There's great terror inside the Great Hall!!!!"
Fukasaku looked completely confused.
"Huh? What great terror? What thing dares cause trouble in the sacred land of immortals?"
———
[Great Hall]
Arisu regained his senses and seriously looked at Kaguya.
"Kaguya, are you serious?"
Kaguya sincerely met Arisu's eyes and nodded.
Arisu wanted to push Kaguya away, but Kaguya hugged him even tighter.
"You..."
Arisu looked at Kaguya helplessly. For a moment, he did not know what to say.
He had lived for so long and basically experienced quite a lot of things.
Only love, he had never experienced.
He was still a virgin even now.
Mainly because Arisu was already used to being alone... And Arisu had always viewed the people around him as family.
Whether it was the tailed beasts, Fukasaku and Black Zetsu, or Hagoromo and Hamura.
Even more so, the entire planet's people.
Arisu viewed them all as family.
He was the Sage of Six Paths. What he loved was the entire world.
"Kaguya..."
"Let me… think about it a little more."
Arisu's voice paused.
Kaguya lifted her head in confusion. The eyes that had just been shining instantly became covered in mist as she blankly looked at him.
"You… don't like me?"
"No."
Arisu avoided her gaze.
"There are still some things I must handle. When I return, I'll definitely give you a clear answer, alright?"
Kaguya silently nodded. In the next second, she threw herself into his arms again, tightening her arms around him as if afraid that if she loosened her grip, the person before her would turn into smoke and vanish.
"Alright...."
Arisu's gaze softened as he gently patted her back.