Every moment held countless possible futures.
Uchiha Aoya looked down at the countless golden threads beneath his feet. Each one showed a different future for the next five minutes.
Over the next five minutes, he could make different choices.
In his fight with Pakura, he could choose to use Taijutsu, swordsmanship, Genjutsu, ninjutsu, Susanoo, or any number of combinations of those abilities.
He could also avoid the fight and refuse to clash with her.
He even saw a thread where he made no attempt to resist, letting a golden fireball pierce his body. He died on the spot, reduced to a dried corpse.
"..."
Even that was a possible future?
Of course.
Choosing to die was a possible future, too.
Or, even if he didn't deliberately seek death, he might fight seriously, make the slightest mistake, fail to dodge Pakura's attack, and end up on a worldline that led to his death.
"Each choice I make can give rise to countless worldlines."
Aoya kept searching with his gaze. "But that's not all..."
Even the slightest variation in the choices he made could combine with the butterfly effect and branch into countless more worldlines.
It was like flipping a coin.
The time you began the toss, the moment you released the coin, the force exerted by your muscles at the instant you threw it, and the way the different release times affected the air currents...
Everything gradually piled up, creating endless possibilities.
In a person, these possibilities were reflected in muscle movements, the timing of a technique, the eyes' ability to perceive, and the body's reactions. Together, they offered endless possibilities.
A good possibility: the opponent didn't react in time, and one strike killed them.
A bad possibility: perhaps he missed something with his eyes, perhaps his brain didn't react