The Story of Manji

Time passes, and in the cultivation of immortality, years are not counted...

"To master peerless martial arts~ one must endure pain others cannot bear. Master Manji likes to drink oolong tea, and loves to wear Chinese red~~"

"Good morning! Master!!"

Early in the morning, Gamamaru sat on a large rock singing.

As soon as he saw Manji emerge from the house, he hopped and skipped over to greet him.

"Gamamaru, what are you squawking about so early in the morning?"

Manji looked at Gamamaru, who was wailing away at the crack of dawn, his face darkening!

What the hell are you yelling about this early?

Gamamaru had moved in about three or four years ago.

Over these three or four years, the man and the frog had lived together, and Gamamaru had taken Manji as his teacher.

At first, Gamamaru was very reserved and honest, but once he got familiar, he started bragging.

"Hehe, Master, isn't this the song you like to sing? You often sang it when you were training or bathing. Also, Master, what is Chinese red?"

Gamamaru came to Manji's side and asked incessantly.

"Alright, alright, stop asking. Sometimes, knowing too much is not a good thing. Gamamaru, let's go."

Manji put on his red and black training suit, took Gamamaru to a mountain peak, and began his daily practice.

Manji's practice involved merging and integrating the sage arts of Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest, and the Monkey Demon all together.

He aimed to turn them into a single sage art that combined the strengths of all schools!

This process required slow refinement.

It was certainly slow, but Manji didn't mind.

He had more than enough time!

Time is a blade that slays the proud, but I practice sage arts, wishing to compete with time itself.

"It's really fast..."

Manji, dressed in red and black robes, stood atop the mountain peak.

For these past few years, he had been merging sage arts; although progress was slow, it was acceptable.

"Master? Why do you work so hard at your cultivation every day?"

Gamamaru lay on Manji's shoulder, watching the morning sun over Mount Myōboku.

Manji smiled faintly: "Because there is a powerful madwoman out there."

"Oh? Is she stronger than you and Great Immortal White Eyebrow?"

Gamamaru exclaimed in surprise.

Manji nodded slightly: "That woman ate something that made her extremely strong. Furthermore, she already possesses an immortal body; I cannot defeat her alone."

"However, I can still make use of her two sons..."

Manji pondered slightly.

Speaking of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura.

He hadn't gone to see those two in all these years.

Always cautious, Manji hadn't stepped into the human world much.

Except for the occasional trip to grab some beef, mutton, vegetables, and fruit.

Because Manji couldn't stomach the "immortal delicacies" of Mount Myōboku.

"Calculating their age, those two should be three or four years old by now..."

"With my current ability to conceal my presence, I no longer need to wear that Invisibility cloak."

Manji muttered to himself.

His entire body instantly turned transparent, making him impossible to perceive, as if he had vanished.

This was something he had developed based on the abilities of the Three Snake Princesses from later generations.

"A terrifying Invisibility ability that makes it impossible to sense chakra." At least, that's what Baidu said.

"Master? Master? Where did you go?"

Gamamaru looked at the empty surroundings and shouted.

Suddenly, Manji reappeared and grabbed Gamamaru: "Let's go, I'll take you to see that woman's sons."

Manji took Gamamaru and left Mount Myōboku directly.

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya gazed silently at the sky.

She was worried, anxious that the Ōtsutsuki clan would discover her betrayal.

They would not find her within these few decades, but in a few hundred years, it would be inevitable. Before that time came, she had to prepare an army of White Zetsu to face them.

I wonder how much my sons will have grown in a few hundred years? Will they be able to withstand those people...

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's gaze drifted toward the distant lakeside.

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura were playing there.

Because the entire world was shrouded in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, there was no need to worry about danger.

Kaguya planned to release a portion of humanity later on.

After all, a world without people was a major problem.

She wanted to be the goddess of a world, not the goddess of a wasteland.

Just as Kaguya stared at the starry sky, by the side of a lake:

"Haha, Hamura, come and catch me!"

"Hagoromo, don't run! Mother told us not to go too far."

Two three-year-old children were playing on the grass.

These two children had fair skin and tender, budding horns on their heads.

They were none other than Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura.

[Note: Hagoromo is the Sage of Six Paths, and Hamura is his younger brother.]

[The reason for this reminder is that readers might confuse these two names. I used to think the Sage of Six Paths was named Hamura and that Hagoromo was the one on the moon, but I later learned that Hagoromo is the Sage of Six Paths.]

"Gamamaru, do you see? Those are that woman's children."

Manji appeared under a tree with Gamamaru, watching Hagoromo and Hamura in silence.

"Master, I have a plan. This is a great opportunity to seize these two and use them to threaten that woman."

Gamamaru suggested with great ambition.

"You had better keep your plans to yourself."

Manji sighed helplessly. It was no wonder that in the original story, this Gamamaru was manipulated by the Sage of Six Paths; he simply wasn't sharp enough.

(In the original, Gamamaru saw the future and tried to contact the Sage of Six Paths to sow discord against Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. However, the Sage of Six Paths saw through his intentions immediately. Since the Sage himself disliked his mother's rule, he played along, learning senjutsu to oppose her.)

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya slowly appeared before Hagoromo and Hamura.

"Hagoromo, Hamura, it is time to go home."

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya said gently.

"Mother!!"

Hagoromo and Hamura clung to their mother's neck like two affectionate little beasts, rubbing their small heads against her shoulder.

"Mom, did you really mean it last night when you said Mr. Manji can summon talking toads and turn into a monkey with a Golden Cudgel?"

Hagoromo tugged at Kaguya's sleeve, his round eyes filled with longing, his small horns swaying gently with his movements.

Hamura nodded as well, clutching Kaguya's sleeve with his small hand, his voice soft and sweet: "And that paper charm that can bring people back from the dead—is Mr. Manji really that amazing?"

Kaguya's footsteps faltered. Her fingertips brushed softly over the children's hair, the tenderness in her eyes like moonlight reflecting on water, yet a deep, indescribable melancholy flickered in their depths.

"Yes, Mr. Manji is the most amazing and bravest person in this world.

He once fought terrible monsters to protect this land, helped many people in need, and even helped Mother. He is Mother's great benefactor."

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya said softly.

She did not speak of the betrayal in the Bamboo Forest, nor the Chakra Fruit that had been fought over, nor the resolution she felt when she pierced him with the All-Killing Ash Bones, or the sleepless nights that followed.

She painted Manji as an omnipotent hero from a story, a legend hidden in the passage of time, as if this could somehow compensate for the heavy guilt in her heart.

The figure holding the two children gradually faded into the distance...

"Master, Master! She really knows your name! She even called you a great hero!"

Amidst the swaying shadows of the trees, Gamamaru jumped off Manji's shoulder, gesturing with his front limbs: "Look, look! Those two little ones are practically treating you like an idol!"

"..."

Manji stood motionless, the hem of his black and red robes fluttering in the evening breeze.

He watched the direction in which Kaguya and her sons had departed, his eyes deep and unreadable.

He knew, of course, why Kaguya told stories about him.

The guilt hidden behind her gentle smile was like a thin needle, pricking his heart.

It was not pain, but an indescribable irony.

Once, they had crossed blades in the Bamboo Forest, fighting a battle of life and death, yet now he had become the hero of a legend used to lull her children to sleep.

"A hero, is it?"

"She certainly knows how to spin a tale."

Manji murmured, his voice so faint it was nearly drowned out by the wind, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint arc that was hard to define as either mockery or something else.

Gamamaru tilted his head, looking at him in confusion: "Teacher, aren't you happy? She made you sound so incredible!"

Manji slowly withdrew his gaze and looked down at the hopping Gamamaru, the depth in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by a cold, knowing glint.

Manji raised a hand to rub the top of Gamamaru's head: "Happy? No, I just think... this game of chess might be easier to play than I imagined."

He recalled the longing for "Manji" in the eyes of Hagoromo and Hamura just moments ago, and the deliberate gentleness and guilt in Kaguya's voice as she told her story.

This guilt was Kaguya's weakness, and the two children's adoration for the "hero Manji" was the wedge he could exploit.

Sowing discord between mother and children never required blades or bloodshed.

Sometimes, a beautified legend, a name hidden within the passage of time, is enough to bury a fissure deep within the human heart.

When the dark truth is finally unmasked...

Beneath the beautiful story lies a feast of betrayal where it is kill or be killed!

Kaguya backstabbed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, the Emperor of the Land of Ancestors backstabbed Kaguya, and Kaguya backstabbed Manji—you betray me, I backstab you.

"Let's go, Gamamaru."

Manji turned, his figure gradually merging with the surrounding trees, his secret technique for concealing his presence flowing effortlessly, as if he had never appeared at all.

Gamamaru hurriedly followed, hopping along behind him, still muttering: "Teacher, what are we going to do next? Should we go and secretly listen to what kind of story she's telling?"

Manji did not look back, his pace steady, his voice drifting on the evening breeze with the composure of one who holds the winning hand: "No need. We only need to wait—wait for those two children to grow up, wait for their adoration of 'Manji' to turn into doubt regarding their mother's lies. When that time comes, it will be our moment to strike."

The evening breeze swept across the lake, stirring ripples that shattered the lights of the distant mansion into the water.

Manji's figure vanished into the depths of the dense forest, leaving only the sound of Gamamaru's footsteps and his fragmented questions, which were gradually swallowed by the night.

And in the mansion not far away, Kaguya sat by the bedside, gently patting the backs of her two children, and began to tell that beautified story about the "hero Manji"...