The main hall of Naka Shrine, now surrounded by countless new buildings, was torn down and rebuilt.
In its place stood the grandest shrine in the entire complex.
It would become Uchiha Kei’s residence.
Inside the newly constructed sanctuary stood a single statue.
Kei knelt before it with remarkable sincerity.
Pressing his palms together, Kei formed the Seal of Pure Yang, clapped his hands three times with force, and then bowed until his forehead touched the floor.
"There isn’t a god in this world greater than you."
"So you’d better prove that my theory is right."
When he raised his head again, the statue’s appearance became clear.
Its fierce visage...
Was none other than Uchiha Kei’s appearance from his previous life.
"In this lifetime..."
"I bow to no one but you."
Uchiha Kei solemnly swore the oath to... himself.
From the moment Tenzen awakened his eyes, a tremendous weight had finally been lifted from Kei’s shoulders.
For two years he had struggled with the lack of high-end combat power.
Now...
He had found a new path.
Although Tenzen was still not an Orange-tier Summon summon—and therefore couldn’t unlock many of the System’s higher functions—
his awakening was more than enough to tip the scales in the conflicts that lay ahead.
Two years had passed.
The first group of people summoned by the System had all grown tremendously.
If Tenzen could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan...
Then how far behind could Oboro, Gennosuke, and Danjō—each of whom occupied two summon slots—really be?
More importantly...
Tenzen’s awakening process differed greatly from the method traditionally recorded within the Uchiha Clan.
That difference gave Kei an entirely new perspective.
Tenzen’s Mangekyō Sharingan granted him the standard abilities shared by all Mangekyō users, including Susanoo.
Its unique dōjutsu, however, was called Saha World.
It was an extraordinarily powerful passive ability.
Once activated...
Everything he did was doubled.
A single sword slash became two.
One ninjutsu became two identical casts.
Even Susanoo itself manifested as two colossal warriors instead of one.
Combined with Tenzen’s nearly inexhaustible chakra reserves...
One pair of Mangekyō Sharingan effectively fought like two.
According to Tenzen himself, the awakening occurred while he had entered a state of profound meditation.
His resolve became as unwavering as a pilgrim making a sacred journey.
From that moment on...
He vowed to carry the unfinished life of Sakumo Hatake upon his own shoulders.
Before the Buddha he worshipped, he made a great vow.
"If no one else will descend into hell... then I shall."
Despite bearing the reputation of a merciless villain...
The man possessed an astonishingly compassionate heart.
A compassion deep enough to reach even hell itself.
And then...
His Sharingan awakened.
Perhaps even the gods wished to witness how a man abandoned by family and friends—yet still willing to shoulder another’s life—would live in this new world.
Tenzen’s experience caused Kei to rethink everything he knew about the Sharingan.
Perhaps...
This world truly was strange.
Perhaps...
Faith itself possessed real power.
An untalented nobody could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan...
While a genius might lose his entire family and awaken only a One-Tomoe Sharingan.
That alone suggested the commonly accepted belief—
that overwhelming negative emotions alone awakened the Sharingan—
couldn’t possibly explain everything.
At the very least...
It wasn’t the whole truth.
"If I’m right..."
"I’ll never have to let Konoha dictate my every move again."
After studying every detail of Tenzen’s awakening, Kei had reached a new conclusion.
This world was fascinating.
Gods undeniably existed.
The Shinigami.
The Jashin.
Even the Sage of Six Paths.
Very few people had ever seen them, and most dismissed them as legends.
But Kei knew they objectively existed.
What this world lacked...
Were myths.
Izanagi had a name...
But no legend.
Susanoo was simply the name of an Uchiha dōjutsu.
No one knew it represented the deity Susanoo from ancient mythology.
Among the materials Hiruzen had secretly tucked into the scroll Danzō delivered was an extensive history of the Uchiha Clan.
It carefully documented every known Mangekyō Sharingan, the abilities each user possessed, and the glorious deeds they accomplished.
Yet despite bearing the names of gods...
None of those dōjutsu contained even a single record explaining the gods they were named after.
That...
Was abnormal.
And therefore...
Extremely important.
Conveniently, both the Iga Group and the Kōga Group were clans with long-standing religious traditions.
So Kei launched an ambitious project.
The making of a hero...
Or more accurately—
The creation of gods.
He intended to test his hypothesis.
That hypothesis originated from a detail in a novel he had read in his previous life.
The Three-Body Problem.
In that story, some humans had lost all faith in humanity.
They began worshipping the technologically superior as saviors, mistakenly believing that a higher civilization naturally possessed higher morality.
They revered the like gods, hoping those advanced beings would descend to save humanity from itself.
Yet when they later discovered that even their "gods" lived under desperate circumstances...
Those same believers instinctively turned to an even more intangible object of faith—
The the gods .
Praying that the the gods would save the very gods they had once worshipped.
Which proved something profound.
Faith itself—
No matter how intangible—
Was often humanity’s greatest source of strength.
Perhaps...
When members of the Uchiha awakened the Sharingan...
It wasn’t simply because they experienced unbearable despair.
Perhaps, at the moment of absolute hopelessness...
They prayed to a god.
Their unwavering sincerity received a divine response.
And that blessing manifested as the Sharingan.
It wasn’t a cursed power.
It was a gift bestowed by the gods.
Testing that theory would be simple.
Teach his followers the stories of the gods.
Encourage them to place genuine faith in those deities.
Put bluntly...
It was religious indoctrination.
The cultivation of true fanatics.
Thus...
The grand movement to create gods officially began.
There was no harm in trying.
The Iga had always worshipped the Iga Group’s central hall .
The Kōga revered Kōga Group’s temple (Dainichi Nyorai).
Well...
Tenzen was the exception.
He worshipped Tenzen’s personal faith (Jizō Bosatsu).
No wonder people always found him difficult to get along with.
He never believed in the same things everyone else did.
If Kei could also learn exactly how Fugaku had awakened his own Sharingan...
His theory would gain even stronger support.
He was already convinced that Uchiha Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Whether Fugaku admitted it or not hardly mattered.
As long as another successful case appeared following Kei’s method...
His hypothesis would be proven.
While Kei devoted himself to large-scale development...
Konoha remained unnaturally quiet.
Hiruzen’s calculations were straightforward.
"Let the enemy grow the grain..."
"I’ll forge the weapons."
"When the time comes..."
"Their granary will become mine."
Watching Uchiha Kei enthusiastically transform the wilderness only made Hiruzen slow his own pace even further.
He would patiently accumulate military strength...
Then seize everything Kei had built.
"Uchiha Kei is still too naïve."
"A peaceful life dulls a shinobi’s killing instinct."
"And once a shinobi loses the will to fight..."
"They lose everything."
"Including the land that grants them peace."
"That has been the lesson of the Warring States Period for a thousand years."
Every clan that had perished...
Had first sought a quiet, comfortable life.
Work hard, Uchiha Kei.
Your labor will become Konoha’s final harvest.
With those thoughts in mind, Hiruzen wrote Jiraiya a heartfelt letter.
Jiraiya had recently left the village to gather material for his writing, and Hiruzen filled the letter with nostalgic memories of their years together as master and disciple.
Between the lines, he also hinted that he hoped Jiraiya would help another of his fellow disciples recover from the pain of losing both loved ones and family.
To gather even more support...
Hiruzen loosened the restraints he had previously placed upon Orochimaru.
He quietly tolerated the horrific human experimentation Orochimaru conducted in pursuit of immortality.
Immortality itself could be researched.
That much was acceptable.
But Impure World Reincarnation(Edo Tensei)...
Absolutely not.
Manipulating the souls of the dead crossed a line that could never be tolerated.
For Konoha...
Anything could be sacrificed.
Anything...
Except the dead.
Yes.
That was how it had to be.
This quiet arms race—almost like a Cold War—unexpectedly benefited Orochimaru.
Completely unaware of the real reason, even he found his recent treatment rather surprising.
Things have been going far too smoothly lately...
Did Minato do something to upset Sensei?
Aside from suppressing Minato...
Orochimaru simply couldn’t think of any reason Hiruzen would suddenly begin favoring him.
It was proof that Hiruzen’s mastery of political balancing had become deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds.
Caught between Hiruzen and Uchiha Kei...
Danzō adopted an almost detached attitude.
Although he had betrayed Kei...
He hadn’t revealed very much.
Naturally, he also dared not tell Hiruzen that he had bought his own life by exposing their shared history to Kei.
Instead...
He merely exaggerated Kei’s threat to create a clean break between them.
The outcome hadn’t unfolded exactly as he hoped...
But it was close enough.
Hiruzen and Kei had already become irreconcilable enemies.
Now...
Every action either side took would inevitably be interpreted in the worst possible light by the other.
For Danzō...
That was the ideal environment for long-term survival.
Thus...
An oddly stable balance emerged.
Uchiha Kei cultivated the land while dreaming of reshaping the world.
Hiruzen sharpened his swords while waiting to reap another man’s harvest.
Danzō, the consummate schemer, quietly watched from the middle.
Yet all three men understood the same thing.
This balance...
Would not last forever.
Sooner or later...
Someone would make the first move.
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