The Curtain Falls

"So that was it."

As he absorbed this mass of chakra, scene after scene replayed in his mind. In an instant, he learned everything that had happened.

The old man took a few steps forward and stood atop the mountain, looking down. Other than the gray world and the numb souls of the dead that kept appearing, nothing had changed.

"Uchiha Shin..." Looking at the world of death, the old man fell into thought.

Creak!

The wooden door opened again, and another man in white stepped out. He looked far younger than the old man, with two horns growing from his head and pure white eyes.

"What happened, Big Brother?" the younger man asked first.

The old man turned around and replied calmly, "The chakra body I left in the world of the living was destroyed. It was by someone named Uchiha Shin. Heh, quite an interesting young man. He's not weak, and what's most remarkable is that he awakened the Rinnegan on his own, though I don't understand why."

"Uchiha Shin?" The younger man frowned, as though recalling something. "Last time, it seemed that the body I left beneath the Hyuga clan was used to revive me. Through a vague connection, I was able to sense some of what happened. It seemed that my body was destroyed by Uchiha Shin, along with the reincarnations of Indra and Asura."

The old man nodded. "Oh? You never mentioned this before."

The younger man said calmly, "It was only a trivial matter. Besides, we've been dead for who knows how many years. Isn't it better to leave the affairs of the living world to the living? Sometimes I wonder, Big Brother, why are you unwilling to cross the River of Three Paths? Don't you want to see what lies on the other