Purple Buddha figures filled the sky. One eye after another opened, silently gazing down upon everyone.
After witnessing the Great Land Master God depart and the fully unsealed Buddha unleash its power, the people outside the Divine Realm collapsed helplessly to the ground. Although the countless purple Buddha figures were separated from them by the space of the Divine Realm, they nevertheless felt like enormous boulders pressing down on the hearts of everyone in the Land of Grass.
The fresh sunlight suddenly became blinding, and the air itself seemed to have been drained away.
"Would even a god abandon its believers?"
The thought surfaced in everyone’s mind, shattering the radiance born from their gathered faith.
Uchiha Kei shook his head, his face filled with delight and disdain.
"Ruined it. You completely ruined it. And you still expected people to praise you afterward? One word—disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. You’re definitely not getting any faith from this! Bah! Ugh, that’s revolting!"
At a time like this, he really ought to perform a piece from the Shinsengumi repertoire. Otherwise, all his devotion to the gods of Japan would have been wasted.
Kunitsukami were simply unreliable by nature. Relying on them was honestly worse than relying on himself.
Uchiha Kei had never expected the Great Land Master God to come and resolve the situation before him. The god had come uninvited.
And that displeased Kei.
Everything had two sides.
Faith had brought Nanga the favor of the gods, causing Nanga’s strength to soar. But the downside was that religious fanaticism throughout Nanga had become rather severe.
Some Nanga people had begun to worship the gods even more fervently than they worshiped Uchiha Kei—the very person who had given them their current lives.
To them, Uchiha Kei was the god’s representative in the mortal world, while their ultimate faith belonged to the gods.
That was something Uchiha Kei did not want to see.
As the saying went, a large ship was difficult to turn, while a small boat could change course with ease.
If Nanga consisted only of the few hundred members of the Uchiha Clan, Kei could do whatever he wanted. Even if he made a mistake, it would not matter much. The entire Uchiha Clan would obey his orders unconditionally, allowing him to correct his mistakes in time and change course whenever necessary.
But now, Nanga’s sphere of influence had grown larger and larger. It was no longer a matter concerning a few hundred people. It involved the lives of hundreds of thousands.
The more people there were, the more opinions there would be. Blind religious worship could bring far too many disadvantages.
Especially when it involved gods—beings possessing tremendous power. No one could say what might happen if things continued this way.
Kei had never been particularly worried about the power Susanoo had displayed in the past. That mechanical godlike existence seemed to possess little intelligence and was unlikely to interfere with Uchiha Kei’s rule.
But the Great Land Master God who had appeared this time was clearly capable of thought and possessed intelligence.
That was something Uchiha Kei could not tolerate.
The bottom line of the divine right of kings was that gods must not interfere in the mortal world.
And ōkuninushi-no-Kami had clearly crossed that line.
Susanoo could be treated as a tool. Although he had his own objectives, those objectives did not conflict with Uchiha Kei’s.
But the Great Land Master God’s actions were different.
It was no longer simply doing the work of a god—it was meddling in human affairs.
The god was far too domineering, seemingly wanting to control everything in the mortal world.
Since its arrival had brought nothing but conflict, Uchiha Kei would no longer show it any courtesy.
After all, he, Uchiha Kei, had merely become involved in a conflict between gods. He was not capable of controlling the gods themselves.
There were certain precautions he had to take.
Who could guarantee that a god would never issue a divine decree ordering Heaven to punish Uchiha Kei?
Especially a god accustomed to acting on its own initiative.
"A god that has ideas of its own really makes people feel insecure."
Uchiha Kei muttered under his breath, his heart filled with disdain toward the Kunitsukami.
After withdrawing the Heavenly Everstanding Kingdom, Uchiha Kei complained about the god while secretly rejoicing inside. Even his voice became noticeably lighter.
"The people who create religious worship are always the ones who believe in gods the least. If you don’t even understand something that basic, no wonder you could never ascend to Heaven!"
Kei’s words were directed at the Buddhas filling the sky, but they seemed equally applicable to the Kunitsukami who had fled so quickly.
Facing the countless Buddhas displaying such terrifying power, Uchiha Kei remained completely unfazed.
His voice, clear and melodious like a wind chime, made it seem as though everything was still within his control.
"Little monk, you’d better behave yourself! If I hadn’t spared you, you’d already have turned into a rainbow! Be good, understand?"
The arrogant Uchiha Kei had already begun preparing to manipulate the gods.
And it seemed he had succeeded.
After all, this was Uchiha Kei’s Divine Realm. Here, he possessed the power to manipulate Heaven and Earth.
The Great Land Master God, which had descended through the crack between worlds, had simply made too many assumptions. It had believed that someone who relied upon divine miracles for his livelihood would naturally cooperate with a god’s arrangements.
But the Great Land Master God had attempted to use the fragile Divine Realm created by Uchiha Kei to manifest its mythology in this world, at least spreading it before the will of this world could expel it.
Yet the moment the Great Land Master God arrived, it discovered that things were not as expected.
The master of the Divine Realm, Uchiha Kei, was not willing to cooperate.
A man who made his living through divine miracles was actually unwilling to submit to a god.
This was completely different from what the Great Land Master God had anticipated.
Fortunately, the mythology had still been performed.
As long as the performance continued, the Great Land Master God felt that it had not truly failed.
Whether Uchiha Kei was willing to cooperate or not, it believed that it had already won.
The only question was how much it would win.
But this god had clearly underestimated humanity.
Humans were the creatures most skilled at judging circumstances and going with the flow.
From the moment the Kunitsukami demonstrated intelligence, Uchiha Kei had already decided that he could not allow it to remain.
A god’s strength depended entirely upon human imagination.
And myths and legends were the tools used to proclaim a god’s power to humanity.
Therefore, even though the Great Land Master God had forcibly intruded into Uchiha Kei’s Divine Realm to perform its own mythology, the domineering Uchiha Kei had tolerated it.
Because he could not destroy the god.
But he could teach this uninvited guest a lesson.
A lesson in failure.
A lesson that gods rarely experienced.
The Great Land Master God had only just entered this world. How could it not understand the true nature of the Buddha?
It dared to come because it naturally possessed the strength to defeat the Buddha.
At least, after Uchiha Kei severed the Buddha’s connection with its Source World, the Great Land Master God was capable of doing so.
The Great Land Master God had even tried to think like a human for once.
Uchiha Kei, who had risen through faith, now needed to defeat the Buddha.
If the Great Land Master God helped Uchiha Kei defeat the Buddha and then spread its own mythology throughout this world, wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?
But gods simply did not understand human nature.
In this world, people asked others for help when they needed something.
Who had ever heard of someone who did not wait to be asked before rushing over to help?
The Kunitsukami had been too eager.
So eager that it had made Uchiha Kei suspicious of its intentions.
How enormous must the benefit behind such enthusiastic assistance be?
Uchiha Kei had never minded assuming the worst about others.
An independent person did not need a god to manipulate their life.
What he needed was the ability to pray to a god when he wanted divine assistance.
And when he did not ask for it, the god had better know its place and mind its own business.
Believe in science.
Therefore, during the confrontation between the Great Land Master God and the evil Buddha, Uchiha Kei deliberately held back.
An outsider god defeating an ancient god inside a sealed space was perfectly normal.
But in the Source World, an outsider god could not defeat an ancient god.
Especially while the world’s will remained intact.
An outsider god could only be expelled or suppressed.
And that was the lesson Uchiha Kei had prepared for the Great Land Master God.
He would stage a failed divine myth in this world, causing faith in the god to collapse.
The story of the Great Land Master God being inferior to the Buddha would then spread throughout the world.
At the same time, it would teach the fanatical Red-Eyes that they should never blindly trust gods.
Because when the crucial moment came, some gods would abandon their believers.
"Only I, Uchiha Kei, shall possess the sole authority to interpret the myths of the gods. Any god that refuses to cooperate will be reduced to nothing more than a yokai in this world!"
The obedient Susanoo had established a contractual relationship with the Uchiha Clan.
He did not interfere with the Uchiha Clan. He merely exchanged divine power for faith.
That was why he had been able to leave behind myths of divine power in this world.
But the Great Land Master God had acted on its own.
Therefore, all it would leave behind was the shame of failure.
I, Uchiha Kei, may not be as powerful as a god.
But I can rewrite a god’s fate.
I will make every god understand this.
Do not cross the line!
Gulp...
The boy’s thoughts were not concealed from the Buddha.
High in the sky, facing the gloomy yet radiant Uchiha Kei, the Buddha’s Adam’s apple moved as it swallowed nervously.
Its brown pupils were filled with fear of human nature.
Are these tiny humans all like this?
Will they do anything for their own interests—even abandon their faith?
Can such humans still be saved?
Clearly, the Buddha had now broken free from the seal of desire and returned to a state of clarity.
It had begun thinking for itself.
It had originally sought to save humanity, which had become trapped in desire and unable to free itself.
Then it had been devoured by human emotions and lost its sense of self.
Afterward, it had been redeemed.
And now it had witnessed humans playing with the very gods they worshiped.
For the first time, even as a Buddha, it felt the terror of humanity.
Especially because it was not a Buddha who had attained enlightenment through self-cultivation.
It was not a Buddha possessing great wisdom.
Because Buddhas existed throughout the myriad heavens and worlds, a Buddha existed here.
Because people believed in Buddhas, faith had given form to it.
It was a product of the laws governed by the will of the world.
Whatever this world believed a Buddha should be, that was what it became.
Otherwise, it would never have resorted to such an extreme method of loving humanity.
It had wanted to absorb their desires into itself and make everyone into Buddhas.
The Buddha had always believed itself to be magnificent.
But when it saw the boy before it, the Buddha froze.
For the first time, it began to question the relationship between humans and Buddhas.
Or rather, the relationship between humans and faith.
"Shouldn’t humans be incapable of harboring malice toward the gods they believe in?"
The Buddha spoke.
The Buddha was actually negotiating with a tiny human.
Because Uchiha Kei had opened the Divine Realm, the Buddha’s manifestations could fill the entire sky.
But its true body remained within the Divine Realm.
Therefore, only the two of them could hear their conversation.
Uchiha Kei grinned and rolled his neck.
"As long as you’re willing to cooperate with my performance, I’ll naturally have no ill will toward you."
He was seriously trying to educate a god.
But the Buddha believed that gods and humans could never be equals.
This child had clearly accepted humanity’s teachings.
"Child, gods are the hope of humanity in its darkest moments. They must not be blasphemed."
Yet Uchiha Kei believed that merely being willing to negotiate with the Buddha was already the greatest respect he could show.
After all, whether the Buddha cooperated or not would not affect the performance that followed.
"So, little monk, you’re no good. I want to place my hope in the gods I created myself. That way, even if I’m disappointed, at least I won’t feel wronged."
As he spoke, Uchiha Kei gradually became solemn and sacred.
"Because they are my creations!"
High above the heavens in his Divine Realm, Uchiha Kei looked down upon the ants below.
Seeing the terrified crowds covering the ground, Kei became increasingly divine.
The despair brought about by believers being abandoned by their faith had dealt a severe blow to the Red-Eyes.
For the people of the Land of Grass, however, it was far more than a simple blow.
Their hearts had been completely broken.
The disasters of war.
The abandonment of their gods.
The Radiant Buddha had given them faith, yet could not save them.
Even when a god descended personally into the mortal world, it could not dispel their suffering.
They no longer knew whom they could rely upon.
High in the sky, facing the remnants of those despairing faces, Uchiha Kei slowly spoke.
"Do not worry. The Uchiha Clan is a clan favored by the gods. We have our own guardian deity. Its power is beyond anything that some wandering wild god can compare to!"
Uchiha Kei passed his final judgment upon the Great Land Master God.
A wandering wild god.
The moment his voice fell, everyone in the Land of Grass who had raised their heads toward the sky saw a hand as white as jade emerge from thin air.
When the Great Land Master God had forced its way into this world from an unknowable realm beyond the timeline...
When it began its battle of Forbidden jutsu s against the Buddha’s Divine Realm...
When their battle spread across the entire shinobi world...
And when its mythology was finally expelled...
From the Land of Grass to the Land of Fire, from the Land of Rain to the Land of Earth, half of the people across the world of Naruto who merely looked toward the sky could see purple Buddhas filling the heavens.
And they could see the Great Land Master God fleeing in disgrace.
An indescribable sense of dread and terror rose within the hearts of the shinobi.
It was as though, at that moment, they had rediscovered an instinct they had lost during their evolution—the ability to sense danger.
Cats and dogs wandering the streets curled themselves into trembling balls of fear.
Mice poured out of their nests in swarms before collapsing stiffly onto the ground.
They had sensed danger.
But they could not escape it.
Because danger was everywhere.
The world of Naruto was vast.
But some things could still make every living being perceive danger with terrifying clarity.
At this moment, everyone looked toward the sky.
The purple Buddhas began converging, charging toward the Milky Way.
It seemed as though the Milky Way itself had been pierced open, and countless points of light descended from the heavens like fireflies.
Then a "person" appeared in the sky.
A gigantic "person."
A humanoid figure with the body of a serpent.
The "person" stood within the vastness of the cosmos, dressed in black robes and wearing a ceremonial crown.
Its face could not be seen clearly.
Within the fine beads hanging from the crown, one could clearly see mountains and rivers, birds and beasts.
It was as though those hanging beads were not beads at all, but miniature worlds.
It extended a hand as white as jade.
The infinitely expanding purple Buddhas were all encompassed within its palm.
Then it slowly curled its five fingers inward.
This single grasp was not merely intended to crush the Buddha.
It seemed as though it intended to crush the entire world as well.
"Is this the Uchiha Clan’s guardian deity?"
"With a god like this protecting them, who would dare defy the Uchiha Clan from now on?"
The appearance of the Heavenly God gave rise to different thoughts in the hearts of people throughout the shinobi world.
They did not know why they instinctively knew that this was the Uchiha Clan’s guardian deity.
But they simply knew.
As the Heavenly God’s hand began to close, terrified and humble prayers spread throughout the shinobi world.
"Great Heavenly God, please spare a thought for insignificant people like us."
"What kind of bullshit guardian deity is this? Is it going to crush the entire world as well? Does it not even care about the Uchiha Clan anymore?"
Everyone watched the scene and cried out in despair.
Yet when the Heavenly God’s fingers touched the world, none of the expected disasters occurred.
There was no cataclysm caused by the impact of its fingers.
Nor did its fingers simply crush the world.
Everything remained peaceful and unchanged.
"Genjutsu! The Uchiha’s Genjutsu!"
"I knew it. This is just another Uchiha deception."
Those who opposed the Uchiha Clan would never acknowledge the Uchiha’s greatness.
But before their thoughts could settle, they saw the expanding Buddha being caught within that enormous hand.
The Heavenly God gently exerted force.
Bang!
Something shattered like a bubble.
The Buddha’s remains scattered throughout the world.
The disaster they had prayed for had arrived.
Countless Planetary Devastation spheres descended from the heavens, signifying the destruction of one village after another.
Strangely, even Konoha was struck by scattered meteorites.
Yet not a single meteor fell upon Nanga.
The world descended into disaster.
Desperate cries spread across the land.
Yet unexpectedly, Ryūchi Cave, one of the Three Great Sage Regions, erupted into celebration.
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