Sorry, I'm a Materialist

"Young man, that's not how you use the Sage's Blade!"

A calm voice came from beside him, and Dōmeki's expression changed.

Mind's Eye of the Kagura, a sensory ability unique to the Uzumaki Clan, could detect people and Chakra over a wide area, yet Dōmeki had sensed nothing unusual around him.

Dōmeki returned the treasured sword to its rack and darted back, instantly assuming a defensive stance. His eyes swept constantly around him as he shouted, "Who's there?"

"Who is it?"

Yet the room was still completely empty. No one else appeared, as though the voice had been an illusion, but-

Dōmeki focused his gaze on the altar. The God Tree design on the face of the pure green crystal began to change. Its outstretched branches seemed to take solid form, intertwining above it to form a human outline.

Gradually, light flickered, and a young man with short brown hair and a white robe walked out from among the branches.

Dōmeki looked at the Tomoe pattern decorating the man's collar and realized warily that it seemed to be a style of clothing unique to the ancient Ninshu.

"Ahaha! Don't be nervous, kid!"

The young man had a stern face and looked every bit the cool, aloof heartthrob, but for some reason, the moment he opened his mouth, Dōmeki got the feeling he was listening to an idiot.

"Asura?"

Dōmeki ventured a guess.

The young man's expression froze. He stared at the boy in disbelief. "Y-you actually know me?"

"Could you be my big brother's reincarnation? No, that's not right. Your Chakra clearly feels like it belongs to one of my blood descendants. Big brother never had that kind of temper."

Wow, what do I do if I dig up an ancestor while robbing a grave? Waiting online, urgent!

Dōmeki silently quipped, but he himself instinctively lunged in front of the young man, wailing with boundless admiration and excitement.

"Ancestor, I'm your very own, genuine blood descendant!"

"I knew this day would come! Take a look and see if there's any inheritance you forgot to pass down-Yin-Yang Release, a Sage Body, Truth-Seeking Orbs. Failing that, a dozen of the Sage of Six Paths' divine artifacts would do. I wouldn't turn them down!"

Asura was utterly bewildered by the sudden enthusiasm of this child who carried the aura of his bloodline. After a long moment of trying to process it, he finally murmured, "But I died a long time ago. This last lingering will of my Chakra can't give you any of those things!"

"Tch! Ancestor, you're way too unreliable!"

Dōmeki brushed the dust off himself and glanced at Asura in disappointment.

The corner of Asura's mouth twitched. He hadn't expected his descendant a thousand years later to turn out like this.

"Young man, don't you have too many desires? You should know that all thoughts are empty, and all things follow the Dharma. The arising and passing of conditions are governed by heaven's will. Everything is heaven's will; it cannot be forced!"

Asura chuckled and offered his advice, putting on the air of a wise and venerable monk.

Where did a family of aliens like yours get a Buddhist's enlightenment, anyway?

Dōmeki silently grumbled, but his expression grew serious, and he responded with a Buddhist verse.

"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows, like dew and lightning. Should we not view them thus?"

From childhood, Asura had taken his father, the Sage of Six Paths, as his example, and later inherited his mantle. As everyone knew, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, who founded Ninshu, was a devout Buddhist, so Asura had naturally been heavily influenced.

The more the good-natured young man pondered the boy's words, the more profound they seemed. He couldn't help looking at the boy with delight. "You really can't judge a person by their appearance. I never expected you to have such a deep understanding of Buddhism! A worthy descendant of Ninshu indeed!"

Dōmeki merely shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know much about Buddhism. I'm a materialist!"

Dōmeki offered the puzzled Asura no explanation. Instead, he assumed an air of compassion for all living things.

"I wasn't asking for those things for myself!"

Dōmeki clasped his hands behind his back and faced Asura, but tilted his head up toward the ceiling and let out a deep sigh.

"The Shinobi World is falling into ruin, and villains toy with people's lives. Though I, Shun, overestimate my abilities and wish to bring peace to the world, my strength is meager, and I have accomplished nothing!"

"Is the Shinobi World still so chaotic?" Asura sighed dejectedly. "If everyone could just understand one another and practice benevolence and love, we could create a peaceful, stable world!"

"Superficial!" Hearing Asura mutter to himself, Dōmeki couldn't help speaking up. "You and Indra were obsessed with each other as brothers, yet even you couldn't understand each other. How can you place your hopes for peace on something so intangible?"

"Young man, it seems you really do know a lot!" Asura looked at the red-haired boy's calm expression.

"Maybe more than you do!" Dōmeki nodded.

"Actually, I haven't paid attention to the Shinobi World for a long time. Descendants of my bloodline used to come here to talk to me, but the last time was decades ago!"

"That boy named Hashirama Senju—I could sense the will of my Chakra in him, and his talent was the greatest of all my descendants. Right here, he awakened a constitution identical to mine, along with Wood Release!"

Asura recalled the boy whose temperament suited his own and continued.

"But you seem pretty good yourself, young man! By the way, how are your clansmen doing now?"

"My clansmen?" Dōmeki scratched his head. "The Senju Clan is nearly extinct, and the only legitimate descendant left is a single, violent woman."

"As for the Uzumaki Clan, there are probably only two or three strays left, and one of them even became a blond!"

"My descendants are doing that badly? It seems I really can't compare to my brother!" Asura's expression grew somewhat downcast.

"You don't need to worry about that. The Uchiha are nearly wiped out too!" Dōmeki shrugged.

"But I can still sense my Chakra in the outside world reincarnating. That fated entanglement with my brother is still continuing! That means the crisis and chaos in the Shinobi World-"

"There certainly is a crisis, but you don't need to worry about those two. After all, they've even given each other their first kisses!" Dōmeki thought nothing of it. How could the crisis involving you brothers compare to your grandma!

Asura was somewhat distraught at that. Although he had always hoped to improve his relationship with his brother Indra, that definitely wasn't the kind of relationship he had in mind!!!

After a long while, Asura finally said seriously, "Young man, although you've acted rather unreliable this whole time, I can sense from your heart that your character and conduct are excellent. With your talent and strength, you can surely help deal with the crisis in the Shinobi World!"

"I really hate troublesome things, though!" Dōmeki sighed.

"Hahaha!" Asura paid the boy's words no mind. He could tell whether the child was speaking the truth.

His eyes immediately narrowed. "Young man, what did you come here for? I should be able to help you!"