At night, Haru returned to his residence. His exhausted body sank into the soft mattress, and both his body and mind felt healed.
"Manji, right there!"
"Harder!!"
"Don't hold back on me!!!"
Manji was diligently massaging Haru. The moment he found the right pressure point, he went all in. His technique was skilled and practiced. He was already a first-rate massage master.
The soft pads of his paws kneaded Haru's body again and again, easing his tense muscles.
It was pure luxury.
And the price was excellent too.
Just one bottle of catnip.
Half-awake, Haru began reviewing everything he had done today.
After he took the magatama and became clan head, the Uchiha elders had immediately held a grand succession ceremony for him, as if they were afraid he might suddenly regret becoming clan head.
The location was, of course, still Naka Shrine. But this time, in that little room inside it, the place was packed to the brim with people. In the end, there still was not enough room, and some had to stand outside and watch the ceremony from there.
The succession process itself was naturally a little tedious, but that was not important.
They were already there anyway.
The only thing Haru truly cared about was that stone tablet.
The one that had fooled Madara so thoroughly.
Even though Haru already knew the truth, that the Eye of the Moon Plan was basically just a shell-company scam, using Madara's body as a vessel to revive Kaguya, he still wanted to see exactly what kind of nonsense Black Zetsu had written on it.
"On this continent, a beautiful goddess was born. The Rabbit Goddess."
"Before the goddess appeared, the land was still engulfed in endless war. Countless people died every day because of all kinds of conflict."
...
"The kind goddess could not bear to watch humanity suffer, so with her wisdom and power, she built a great nation."
"A long peace followed. The goddess also gave birth to two sons, whom she named Hagoromo and Hamura. I, Otsutsuki Hagoromo, am one of those sons. The people of that time called me the Sage of Six Paths."
"But the good times did not last. Even the perfect nation Mother created could not bring eternal peace. Long peace still could not prevent the rise of the ambitious, and war once again swept across the land."
"Mother stepped forward once more. With her unmatched power, she swiftly ended the war and punished those responsible."
"The continent gained another period of peace, but the cycle kept repeating itself."
"So Mother began to think of a way to bring true peace to the ninja world. Before long, she devised an unprecedented technique. Unfortunately, before she could put it into practice, she vanished without a trace."
"I inherited Mother's will and hoped to bring eternal peace to the ninja world, but I did not choose Mother's method. I believed it was too extreme."
"I traveled across the continent, using the power I inherited from Mother. While eliminating evil monsters across the land, I also searched for a way to bring peace to the ninja world."
"After long years of practice, I discovered that Mother's power could be condensed into a chakra seed and passed on to others. Those who possessed such chakra seeds could resonate with one another spiritually and understand each other in an instant through chakra."
"I believed that tolerance and love could allow people to understand one another. As long as people could understand each other, peace would come."
"And the only obstacle of the past had already been resolved by me. I looked forward to the arrival of eternal peace."
"But I was wrong. Wrong beyond measure."
"As people gained chakra, they gradually obtained power beyond ordinary humans. Using chakra, they created ninjutsu, and wars on a scale greater than anything before were born."
"The wars lasted for a very long time..."
"After much reflection, I began studying Mother's path. In the end, by following her line of thought, I created a technique that could cover the entire ninja world, a technique capable of bringing eternal peace!"
"Unfortunately, my time had run out. I had grown old and no longer possessed the strength to use that technique."
"I could only place my hopes in future generations."
"The conditions required to activate the technique are..."
...
After that, the text became blurred and unreadable. Only the eye power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could reveal the rest clearly.
To be fair, Black Zetsu had woven an excellent story.
Madara, after suffering through war, had joined with Hashirama to use their overwhelming strength to bring a brief peace to the entire ninja world. But under the surface, the world remained unstable, full of friction and unrest.
The moment Madara and Hashirama died, the world would fall right back into war. And with Hashirama having unified the ninja clans into villages, the wars of the future would be even bloodier than the Warring States Era.
Back then, conflict had been between clans.
Now, it was between villages.
The scale of war would be far greater than before.
Madara understood that perfectly.
His journey of thought was astonishingly similar to that of the Rabbit Goddess and the Sage of Six Paths from a thousand years ago.
Hashirama's ideals were never going to work.
Madara left Konoha in disappointment and decided to continue down the path of the Sage of Six Paths.
Pitiful.
Truly pitiful.
What was Madara doing right now?
Most likely, he was hiding in some dark underground hole, clinging to life while constantly experimenting with how to awaken the Rinnegan.
Haru silently observed a moment of pity for Madara in his heart.
Black Zetsu's scheme was tailor-made to hit the Uchiha exactly where it hurt most.
Any Uchiha who awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan would have gone through experiences dark enough to leave them deeply disappointed in the world.
The Eye of the Moon Plan was practically a guiding light, leading Madara straight into the trap at full speed.
Too bad.
None of that could fool me.
Haru felt a little smug and could not help fantasizing. If luck ever really smiled on him and he pulled a gold reward that gave him a Chakra Fruit, wouldn't that be incredible?
The moment he saw Black Zetsu, he could just become his father on the spot.
Thinking of Kaguya's cold personality, pale skin, and the horns on her head...
That kind of scene...
Just imagining it made him click his tongue a few times.
Massaged all over by Manji until his whole body turned limp and numb, Haru drifted off into sleep with all sorts of improper thoughts swirling through his head.
Haru was sleeping soundly, but on the other side of Konoha, the room of the Hyuga Clan Head was still brightly lit.
Takuya could not sleep from anxiety.
He was truly panicking.
The news of Tobirama's death had already been confirmed. As soon as Koharu, Homura, Torifu, and Danzo returned home, they were surrounded inside and out, and their families had already extracted most of the information they carried.
Takuya had naturally gathered all of that intelligence with ease.
But before one wave had settled, another had risen.
Something had happened on the Uchiha side too.
Quietly, without anyone noticing, the Uchiha Clan Head had been replaced. The current head, Haru, had awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan, and the power of the great demon king Madara had appeared in Konoha once again!
Takuya felt as though Konoha had become a powder keg. The slightest spark could set it off and blow the Hyuga Clan into the sky along with it.
Yet inside the crisis, there was also opportunity.
Takuya did not want to simply drift along and wait helplessly for fate to decide everything.
"How are things on Mito-sama's side?"
"The last time I visited, she said she was unwell. Has there been any news since then?"
Takuya asked aloud.
Standing nearby and attending to him, Kunihiko immediately answered respectfully,
"Not yet, Clan Head-sama."
"Mito-sama has kept her doors shut and has not allowed anyone in. The Senju Clan has not released a single piece of information."
Takuya let out a sigh.
Originally, he had planned to meet with Mito and discuss Konoha's future, as well as the candidate for the Third Hokage. But Mito had not given him any chance at all.
Now that the Uchiha Clan had produced a Mangekyo Sharingan user, and things had already reached this point, she still had not responded. He had no idea what she was thinking.
Takuya's expression twisted with indecision. After a while, he finally made up his mind and spoke.
"Go. Make preparations for tomorrow."
"I want to meet the new head of the Uchiha Clan."
"And remember, do not attract attention."
"Yes."
(End of Chapter)
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