Night
Hokuto returned to his residence and collapsed onto the soft mattress. The exhaustion locked in his muscles melted away at once, leaving both body and mind pleasantly light.
"Manji, right there!"
"Harder!"
"Don't hold back!"
Manji worked diligently over Hokuto's shoulders and back, tiny paws finding the exact pressure points with uncanny accuracy. His technique was already on par with a professional masseur.
Soft, padded paws kneaded again and again, loosening every knot of tension. It was pure luxury.
And the price was laughably cheap.
One bottle of cat grass.
Half-dazed, Hokuto let his thoughts drift back over everything that had happened today.
After accepting the jade magatama and officially becoming clan head, the Uchiha elders had practically dragged him into a formal inauguration ceremony, terrified that he might suddenly change his mind and refuse the position.
The location was still Naka Shrine, but this time it was held inside the small inner chamber. The space was so packed that many clan members could only watch from outside.
The ceremony itself was tedious and ceremonial, but Hokuto barely cared. He was already seated at the top—everything else was decoration.
What truly captured his attention was something else entirely.
The stone tablet.
The very tablet that had once led Uchiha Madara astray.
Although Hokuto already knew the truth—that the so-called Eye of the Moon Plan was nothing more than a pyramid-scheme-level scam designed to resurrect Ōtsutsuki Kaguya—he still wanted to see with his own eyes what Black Zetsu had carved into it.
"Upon this land was born a beautiful goddess—the Rabbit Goddess.
Before her arrival, the continent was engulfed in endless war. Countless lives were lost in ceaseless conflict.
Unable to bear humanity's suffering, the compassionate goddess used her wisdom and power to found a great nation.
Peace endured for a time. The goddess bore two sons—Hagoromo and Hamura. I, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, am her son, later known as the Sage of Six Paths.
Yet prosperity could not last forever. Even a perfect nation could not extinguish ambition. War returned once more.
Mother rose again, suppressing the chaos with unmatched power and punishing those responsible.
Peace returned briefly… but the cycle repeated.
Thus, Mother sought a path toward true, eternal peace. Before she could complete the unprecedented technique she conceived, she vanished without a trace.
I inherited her will, yet rejected her extreme methods. I traveled the land, purging monsters and contemplating the meaning of peace.
Through long practice, I discovered that Mother's power could condense into chakra seeds and be passed to others. Those who possessed chakra could resonate with one another and understand each other instantly through chakra.
I believed that tolerance and love would allow people to understand one another, and that understanding would bring peace.
The greatest obstacle seemed resolved. I awaited the arrival of eternal peace.
But I was wrong—terribly wrong.
Those who gained chakra acquired power beyond ordinary humans and created ninjutsu. Even greater wars were born.
After long reflection, I returned to Mother's path and finally devised a technique that could envelop the entire ninja world—a technique capable of achieving eternal peace.
But my time was running out. I could no longer activate this technique myself.
Thus, I entrust it to future generations.
The conditions required to activate the technique are—"
After that point, the script blurred and fractured. Only the ocular power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could fully decipher the remainder.
Objectively speaking, Black Zetsu had crafted a masterpiece of manipulation.
Madara had lived through endless war. Alongside Hashirama, he had used overwhelming strength to forge temporary peace. Yet beneath the surface, resentment and tension never truly disappeared.
Once Madara and Hashirama were gone, conflict was inevitable. In fact, with clans unified into villages, future wars would only grow larger in scale than the Warring States era.
Before, wars had been clan versus clan.
Now, they would be village versus village.
Madara understood this all too well. His thinking gradually aligned with that of the Rabbit Goddess and the Sage of Six Paths from a thousand years earlier.
Hashirama's idealism had simply never stood a chance.
Disillusioned, Madara abandoned Konoha and chose to walk the Sage's path instead.
Pitiful.
Truly pitiful.
Hokuto wondered briefly what Madara was doing now.
Most likely clinging to life in some damp underground cavern, endlessly experimenting with how to awaken the Rinnegan.
Hokuto offered him a silent three seconds of mourning.
Black Zetsu's trap had struck directly at the Uchiha psyche. Any Uchiha who awakened the Eternal Mangekyō carried profound darkness and despair toward the world.
The Eye of the Moon Plan shone like a blazing beacon in that darkness, guiding Madara straight into the snare.
But none of it could fool Hokuto.
A faint trace of smug satisfaction surfaced in his chest. His thoughts drifted into idle fantasy—if one day his luck truly spiked and he pulled a golden-tier reward, say… a chakra fruit, wouldn't that be ridiculous?
He'd grab Black Zetsu by the collar and make him call him "Dad" on the spot.
And as for Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's icy temperament, pale skin, and those unmistakable horns…
Just imagining it—
Tsk, tsk…
With Manji's massage leaving his entire body pleasantly numb and his thoughts drifting into increasingly inappropriate territory, Hokuto finally sank into a deep, comfortable sleep.
—
While Hokuto slept soundly, at the other end of Konoha, the Hyūga clan head's residence remained brightly lit.
Hyūga Takuma couldn't sleep.
He was genuinely uneasy.
The death of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, had been fully confirmed. The six who had returned—Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, Akimichi Chōza, and Shimura Danzō among them—had barely made it home before being surrounded and questioned relentlessly by their respective clans.
Takuma had gathered that intelligence with ease.
Before the dust had even settled, another storm erupted from the Uchiha.
Quietly, the Uchiha clan head had changed.
The new head—Uchiha Hokuto—had awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan. The power once wielded by the great demon Uchiha Madara had reappeared inside Konoha.
Takuma felt as though the village had become a powder keg—one stray spark away from detonating and dragging the Hyūga down with it.
Yet crisis also meant opportunity. Takuma had no intention of drifting helplessly with the tide.
"How is Lady Mito's situation?" he asked.
"The last time I visited, she claimed to be unwell. Has there been any news?"
Standing beside him, Hyūga Kunihiko answered respectfully, "Not yet, Clan Head. Lady Mito has kept her doors closed. The Senju haven't released any information at all."
Takuma exhaled slowly.
He had originally hoped to speak with Uzumaki Mito about Konoha's future—and the selection of the Third Hokage—but she had given him no opening whatsoever.
Now that the Uchiha had produced a Mangekyō wielder, that silence felt even more ominous.
After a brief struggle, Takuma finally made his decision.
"Make preparations for tomorrow," he said quietly.
"I'm going to meet the Uchiha's new clan head. Keep it discreet."
"Yes."
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