The Forest of Asura…
On the system map, the true name of this land was clearly displayed.
Shiraishi had never heard the name Asura before.
In all the histories he had studied, only the Sage of Six Paths was ever mentioned. His sons—Asura and Indra—were barely recorded, reduced to vague footnotes.
Yet the glasses' system now identified this forest as The Forest of Asura, with annotations pulled from one of the countless ancient books Shiraishi had once scanned into the system—a forgotten travel journal written by a minor clan long ago.
Shiraishi vaguely remembered that book.
It had been full of absurd legends and wild stories. Other than mentioning that the Sage of Six Paths had two sons named Asura and Indra, the rest had sounded like nonsense, so he had never paid much attention to it.
But the system had filtered and verified the data.
Asura was real.
He was the son of the Sage of Six Paths.
And the progenitor of the Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines.
Bloodline…
Even though the Wood Release life force had already been purged from his body, Shiraishi could still feel how terrifying Asura's bloodline was. His wounds—so many that he should have died—had healed completely in an incredibly short time.
In the ancient era, ninja battles were not about ninjutsu.
They were battles of bloodlines.
Shiraishi forced himself upright and activated Sand Control and Sand Gathering. Even though the forest environment severely limited sand manipulation, some was better than none.
Grains of sand trickled into his body, slowly restoring his depleted chakra.
At the same time, he examined the Forest of Asura.
A massive barrier clearly covered this area. That was why, despite fighting Kirigakure for so long, he had never discovered this place.
The system now displayed four skill cards clustered together inside the forest.
Without hesitation, Shiraishi moved toward them.
But the closer he got, the weaker his sand techniques became.
Until—
They failed completely.
His scalp tingled.
Though some chakra had recovered, his body was still exhausted and starving. And yet his instincts screamed that he had stepped into a far more dangerous barrier inside the greater one.
The trees here were nearly two hundred meters tall, far larger and denser than those outside.
A barrier within a barrier…
But the cards were here.
"Looking for these?"
A voice echoed through the forest.
Shiraishi spun around.
A young man in ancient silver shinobi robes walked out, holding all four cards between his fingers.
"Who are you—"
The man scratched his head awkwardly.
"You may call me Asura. Though the real me died long ago. What remains is only a fragment of chakra."
He carried a black staff and a sage's blade on his back. When he saw Shiraishi's shattered silver sword, regret crossed his face.
As a fellow swordsman, he could feel the will between blade and wielder.
Shiraishi did not believe a word of it.
He instantly threw a Flying Water Shuriken.
Asura casually caught it.
"Oh? That throwing technique is impressive… Has the ninja world advanced this far?"
There was no hostility—but the pressure radiating from him made Shiraishi's chest feel heavy.
"Why not sense me?" Asura said.
Shiraishi did.
Their chakra touched.
It was powerful—yet warm, deep, and gentle.
Not malicious.
"…You really are Asura?"
"More accurately, I am the chakra that remains in this barrier. I cannot leave it."
After Asura's final battle with Indra long ago, he created this forest barrier to protect his clan from retaliation.
But it could only protect—it could not expand.
Many of his people left to explore the world.
Over time, only Asura's chakra and a single orange cat remained.
The cat had once been an ordinary pet. Asura had infused it with life force so he wouldn't be lonely.
The sage blade and black staff were Asura's original weapons.
He had been waiting for the reincarnation of his chakra.
"…But none ever came."
Shiraishi took a breath.
"I want to know the truth about the Sage of Six Paths."
Asura smiled faintly.
"Then we must begin with my grandmother…"
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
He told the forgotten story.
Of the God Tree.
Of its forbidden fruit.
Of Kaguya descending from the stars.
Of her becoming the progenitor of the chakra.
Of Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Of Ten Tails.
Of Hagoromo and Hamura sealing her away.
Of Hagoromo—
The Sage of Six Paths—
Asura's father.
Shiraishi's face turned grave.
The truth was far darker than the legends.
Asura had prepared for this future long ago.
"These cards contain power akin to your own," Asura said. "But what you need now is not power… but clarity."
Then he removed the Sage Blade and handed it to Shiraishi.
"Begin with the sword."
And then, after glancing at Shiraishi's half-naked state:
"…Also. Put some clothes on."
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