Manji's Story

Time had slipped by. Cultivation had no measure of years...

"To master peerless martial arts~ you must endure pain beyond what ordinary people can bear. The tea Master Manji likes is called oolong, and he loves wearing Chinese red~~"

"Good morning, Master!!"

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

The moment he saw Manji come out of the house, he hurriedly hopped over to greet him.

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

Manji looked at Gamamaru, who was already croaking away at this hour, and his expression darkened!

Damn it, why are you making so much noise this early?

Gamamaru had moved in about three or four years ago.

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

At first, Gamamaru had been very reserved and well-behaved. But as they grew familiar, he started bragging.

"Hehe, Master, isn't this a song you like to sing?

You often sing it while practicing and bathing. Also, Master, what's Chinese red?"

Gamamaru came over to Manji, chattering away with questions.

"All right, all right. Stop asking. Sometimes knowing too much isn't a good thing. Gamamaru, let's go."

Manji put on his red-and-black training clothes and took Gamamaru to a mountaintop, where he began the day's training.

Manji's cultivation involved combining the arts of Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest, and the Enma Sage Art.

He wanted to create a sage art that brought together the best of them all!

The process required gradual adjustment.

It would certainly be slow, but Manji didn't mind.

He had all the time in the world!

Years cut down the heavens' chosen like a blade. I'll cultivate Senjutsu and challenge time itself.

"How quickly the years pass..."

Manji stood atop the peak in his red-and-black robes.

For the past few years, he had been combining the sage arts. Progress was slow, but he could accept that.

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

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

Manji smiled faintly. "Because there's a powerful madwoman out there."

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

Gamamaru cried out in surprise.

Manji nodded slightly. "That woman ate something that made her incredibly powerful.

And she's already immortal. I can't beat her by myself."

"But I can still make use of her two sons..."

Manji pondered for a moment.

Speaking of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura—

He hadn't gone to see them all these years.

Manji was cautious by nature and hadn't ventured much into the human world.

Apart from occasionally going to get beef, mutton, vegetables, and fruit.

That was because Manji couldn't stomach Mount Myōboku's "immortal delicacies."

"Judging by their ages, those two should be three or four by now..."

"With my current ability to conceal my presence, I don't need to wear that concealing robe anymore."

Manji murmured to himself.

His entire body instantly turned transparent, becoming imperceptible, as if he had vanished.

He had developed this by adapting the abilities of the Three Snake Princesses from a later era.

"An incredible Invisibility ability that makes one's Chakra impossible to sense." At least, that's what Baidu said.

"Master? Master? Where did you go?"

Gamamaru called out, staring at the empty space around him.

Manji reappeared and picked Gamamaru up. "Come on. I'll take you to see that woman's sons."

Manji left Mount Myōboku with Gamamaru.

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya gazed silently at the sky.

She worried that the Ōtsutsuki Clan would discover her betrayal.

They wouldn't find out for decades, but in a few hundred years, they were sure to. Before then, 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 stand against those people..."

Kaguya's gaze drifted into the distance, toward the lakeshore.

Hagoromo and Hamura were playing there.

Since the entire world was under Infinite Tsukuyomi, there was no need to worry about danger.

Kaguya planned to release some of the people later.

After all, having no people at all was a major problem.

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

As Kaguya gazed at the starry sky,

by the lakeshore,

"Ha ha! 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.

They had fair skin and tiny horns growing from their heads.

They were Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura.

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

[The reminder is here because readers may mix up the names. I used to think the Sage of Six Paths was named Hamura and that Hagoromo was the one on the moon. Later, I learned that Hagoromo was the Sage of Six Paths.]

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

Manji appeared beneath a tree with Gamamaru and quietly watched Hagoromo and Hamura.

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

Gamamaru suggested, full of ambition.

"You'd better not make plans."

Manji sighed. No wonder Gamamaru got the better of him in the original story. He really wasn't very bright.

(In the original story, Gamamaru saw the future and then tried to approach the Sage of Six Paths, hoping to turn him against Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. The Sage saw through his intentions right away. But since the Sage already disliked his mother's rule, he went along with the plan, learned Senjutsu, and fought against her.)

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya appeared before Hagoromo and Hamura.

"Hagoromo, Hamura, it's time to go home."

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya spoke gently.

"Mother!!"

Hagoromo and Hamura clung to their mother like two affectionate little creatures, wrapping their arms around her neck and nuzzling their heads against her shoulder.

"Mom, last night you said Mr. Manji could summon talking toads and a monkey that could turn into the Golden Cudgel. Is that true?"

Hagoromo clung to Kaguya's arm, his round eyes full of longing. The little horns on his head swayed gently as he moved.

Hamura nodded too, gripping Kaguya's sleeve with his small hand. His voice was soft and sweet. "And that talisman that can bring people back from the dead—is Mr. Manji really amazing?"

Kaguya paused. Her fingers gently brushed through her sons' soft hair. The tenderness in her eyes was like moonlight steeped in water, though an indescribable sorrow flickered deep within.

"Yes. Mr. Manji is the greatest and bravest person in the world.

He once fought terrifying monsters to protect this land, and he helped many people in need. He also helped your mother. He's your mother's great benefactor."

Ōtsutsuki Kaguya spoke softly.

She didn't mention the betrayal in the Bamboo Forest, the Chakra Fruit they had fought over, or the resolve with which she had struck him with the All-Killing Ash Bones—and the sleepless nights that followed.

She simply painted Manji as an all-powerful hero, a legend lost to time, as if that might make up, even a little, for the heavy guilt in her heart.

The figure carrying her two children gradually disappeared into the distance...

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

Among the swaying shadows of the trees, Gamamaru suddenly leapt down from Manji's shoulder and gestured with his forelegs. "Look, look! Those two little kids are practically treating you like an idol!"

"..."

Manji didn't move. A corner of his black-and-red robe fluttered in the evening breeze.

He watched in the direction Kaguya and her sons had gone, his gaze deep and unreadable.

Of course, he knew why Kaguya had told them his story.

The guilt hidden beneath her gentle smile was like a fine needle, lightly pricking his heart.

It didn't hurt. It was something harder to describe—a kind of irony.

Once, they had faced each other with weapons in the Bamboo Forest, fighting to the death. Now he had become the hero of a bedtime story she told her children.

"A hero?"

"She's quite the storyteller."

Manji murmured, his voice so quiet it was nearly swallowed by the wind. The corner of his mouth lifted in the faintest curve, impossible to tell whether it was mockery or something else.

Gamamaru tilted his head and looked at him, confused. "Master, aren't you happy? She made you sound so amazing!"

Manji slowly turned his gaze away and looked down at the hopping Gamamaru. The depth in his eyes faded, replaced by a glint of understanding.

Manji reached out and rubbed Gamamaru's head. "Happy? No. I just think... this game may be easier to play than I expected."

He recalled the admiration for "Manji" in Hagoromo and Hamura's eyes, and the deliberate gentleness and guilt in Kaguya's voice as she told them the story.

That guilt was Kaguya's weakness, and the two children's admiration for "the hero Manji" was a wedge he could use.

You didn't need blades and bloodshed to sow discord between mother and sons.

Sometimes an embellished legend, a name buried in time, was enough to plant a crack in someone's heart.

When the dark truth came to light...

Beneath the beautiful story was a feast of betrayal, where each side fought for survival!

Kaguya betrayed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, the ruler of the Land of Ancestors betrayed Kaguya, Kaguya betrayed Manji. You betrayed me, and I stabbed you in the back.

"Let's go, Gamamaru."

Manji turned and gradually blended into the surrounding trees, concealing his presence with ease, as if he had never been there.

Gamamaru hurried after him, hopping along at his heels and still chattering. "Master, what are we going to do next? Should we sneak over and listen to the story she's telling?"

Manji didn't look back. He kept walking, his voice carried by the evening breeze, calm and confident. "No need. We only have to wait. Wait for those two children to grow up, and for their admiration of 'Manji' to turn into doubt about their mother's lies. That will be our chance to act."

The evening breeze swept across the lake, sending ripples over its surface. The lights of the distant estate blurred and broke apart in the water.

Manji's figure disappeared into the depths of the forest, leaving only Gamamaru's footsteps and scattered questions, which gradually faded into the night.

Meanwhile, in the nearby estate,

Kaguya sat beside the bed, gently patting her two children's backs as she began telling them the embellished story of "the hero Manji"...

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