Uchiha Katsu opened his eyes.
Everything before him was both familiar and strange.
The wooden beams and pillars gave off a faint fragrance, while the paper sliding doors were gently stirred by the breeze, making a soft rustling sound.
Faint voices and birdsong could be heard from outside, mixed with the scent of soil and vegetation in the air.
Uchiha Katsu was stunned for several seconds, his pupils shrinking slightly as though something had suddenly blocked his mind.
'Strange...'
'I clearly remember that I went to the Pure Land gathering hosted by the Great Immortal.'
'I had just clinked glasses with the Great Immortal, and the fragrance of wine was still lingering on my lips. How did I end up here in the blink of an eye?'
Uchiha Katsu instinctively wanted to look for Mio.
"Mi... ugh..."
He was almost about to call out that name when he realized, his body was completely beyond his control.
His tiny limbs were soft and weak. Even lifting his head required all his strength.
His field of vision was extremely low, and everything around him seemed unusually tall.
He struggled to move a finger and touched rough yet warm fabric.
'I became... a baby?'
Uchiha Katsu was completely dumbfounded.
This familiar yet strange environment left his mind blank.
He closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down as he tried to sense everything around him.
'Let me take a look first.'
'I need to stay calm.'
———
[One Year Later]
Uchiha Katsu could already walk on his own and speak clearly.
His logic was so rigorous that he did not seem like a child who had just turned one. The people of the clan were surprised to discover that this child not only learned extremely quickly, but could also come out with many astonishing insights.
Someone taught him how to recognize characters, and the next day, he could memorize an entire page.
Someone casually mentioned some trivial matter, and he could immediately connect it to deeper causes and consequences.
"Prodigy."
This title soon fell upon him.
On this day, Uchiha Katsu stood alone in his own courtyard.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves and cast mottled shadows, while the wind stirred up fine dust.
He raised his small hand and looked at his tender palm. His knuckles were clearly defined, yet they still carried the softness unique to a baby.
Through listening in and making inquiries over the years, Uchiha Katsu also understood that he... seemed to have been reborn.
Reborn into a thousand years ago.
The era of Uchiha turmoil.
Thinking of everything he had done in his previous life, a surge of excitement he could hardly suppress suddenly rose in his heart.
Those regrets that had once been impossible to undo, those scenes he had repeatedly recalled in the Pure Land but could do nothing about, had all become within reach.
Uchiha Katsu murmured to himself, his voice so soft that it was almost scattered by the wind, "Mio... this time, I won't do that."
"This time, I won't have such great ambitions either!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Katsu suddenly reacted again.
Had the Great Immortal already noticed him?
He did not know.
How clear-sighted was that person in the Pure Land?
If he suddenly acted like this, would he be noticed?
Would he come looking for him directly?
Uchiha Katsu knew that this world had a Heavenly Will, and that was the Sage of Six Paths.
At this moment, Uchiha Katsu could not wait to meet the Great Immortal.
Thus, he decided to first go and take a look at a nearby Six Paths Temple.
Uchiha Katsu ran to ask his mother.
"Mother, is there a Six Paths Temple nearby?"
His mother was sitting beneath the veranda, mending clothes. The needle and thread glimmered faintly in the sunlight.
Hearing this, his mother raised her head with a puzzled look. "Six Paths Temple?"
Uchiha Katsu nodded, his tone matter-of-fact and even carrying a hint of urgency. "The temple dedicated to the Sage of Six Paths. They're everywhere. Everyone worships him."
His mother, however, gently shook her head, looking somewhat baffled, as though she had heard a completely unfamiliar word. "What's a Six Paths Temple?"
Uchiha Katsu's heart sank, and he hurriedly added, "The temple of the Sage of Six Paths! The kind where everyone worships him! There's incense burning everywhere, and people go to worship him every year!"
After hearing this, his mother suddenly smiled slightly and calmly explained, "So you mean the Sage of Six Paths!
"But, that's someone only the Senju clan worships. We Uchiha only worship the ancestor of the Uchiha, Lord Indra."
As soon as these words came out, Uchiha Katsu felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
His heart shook violently.
'This isn't right, is it?'
'I clearly remember that whether it was the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, or the other major clans, they all worshipped the Sage of Six Paths.'
'The Sage of Six Paths was the common source of faith for the entire shinobi world.'
'How come this time, he's gone?'
'And judging from Mother's reaction, the Sage of Six Paths seems... not to be that revered?'
'He's even just someone exclusive to the Senju clan?'
What Uchiha Katsu did not know was, in the first cycle, the reason the Uchiha worshipped the Sage of Six Paths was because the Sage of Six Paths at that time was Arisu.
Arisu was Indra's teacher. Naturally, Indra worshipped his own teacher, and the entire Uchiha clan consequently revered the Sage of Six Paths as a god.
But this time, the Sage of Six Paths was Hagoromo.
It would already be good enough if Indra did not go around smearing his name, let alone worshipping him.
Uchiha Katsu forcefully suppressed the turmoil in his heart and could not help asking again, "Mother, are there any portraits of the Sage of Six Paths?"
His mother thought for a moment before nodding. "There are some in the clan's library. It hasn't even been two hundred years since the fall of Ninshu, so those things haven't completely disappeared yet."
Uchiha Katsu almost immediately ran toward the library.
The library was located deep within the clan grounds, and the air was filled with the smell of old paper and ink.
Light came through the small windows high above, falling across rows of wooden shelves.
He rummaged through boxes and cabinets, carefully avoiding the scrolls that could easily be damaged. Finally, he found that portrait.
When he truly saw the person in the portrait, he froze where he stood, his face filled with disbelief.
"This is... the Sage of Six Paths!?"
He spoke unconsciously, his voice carrying obvious shock and disbelief.
"Isn't this the Immortal of Ninshu?!"
He was more familiar with the face in the portrait than anything.
After spending so long in the Pure Land, he knew exactly what the Immortal of Ninshu looked like. He was a middle-aged man with a calm bearing, carrying a hint of compassion and majesty.
Mainly because Hagoromo looked like an alien and stood out so much from them, Uchiha Katsu remembered him so clearly.
But in his memories, the Sage of Six Paths should have been a beautiful young man, holding the Six Paths Sword, with clear eyes that nevertheless held a depth beyond that of ordinary humans.
At this moment, Uchiha Katsu's expression was strained, and his mind was in complete chaos.
The person in the portrait was clearly the Immortal of Ninshu, yet it was explicitly labeled "Sage of Six Paths."
This did not match anything he knew from his previous life.
'Why does it feel... completely different from my previous life this time?'
He stood in the shadows of the library, his small fingers unconsciously tightening around the edge of the portrait until his knuckles turned slightly white from the force.
J'ust what went wrong with this world?'
Uchiha Katsu rubbed his head, then immediately opened the history books. The history books had changed too.
'Ninshu was disbanded by Sarutobi!?'
The moment he saw the first page, Uchiha Katsu could not keep it together.
"How is that possible?! Ninshu was disbanded by Sarutobi?!"
Uchiha Katsu wore a look of disbelief. According to the original history, Sarutobi should have died fighting to protect Ninshu.
'How could Ninshu have been disbanded by Sarutobi?!'
'Did Ninshu's loyal ninja become a traitor?'