Good Night, White-Browed Toad

"I crossed mountains, and they said nothing."

"I passed by the sea, and it said nothing."

"My little donkey clip-clops along, while the Six Paths Sword goes with me to the ends of the earth."

"People say I feared Kaguya and hid away on Mount Myōboku, shunning the world.

But in truth, I simply fell in love with Mount Myōboku's clouds and sunsets. They reminded me of the fireworks that had burst across the sky when I first crossed into this world at sixteen."

The wind swept across the wilderness, through the valleys, and over the rivers.

It blew against Manji's handsome face, lifting the hem of his white robe...

In the fields

Manji wore white, tall and graceful as jade. With the Six Paths Sword on his back, he walked slowly between the ridges.

Fifty years had flown by since he sent the Tailed Beasts on their way...

Time had slipped by.

Over those fifty years, he had wandered among the ordinary people and their everyday lives.

He raised his eyes to the distance, a trace of wistfulness passing through them.

Far away, he could see Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, with several hundred ordinary people following by his side, steadily making their way forward.

Many steadfast followers trailed behind him!

In just a few decades, his following had grown from a mere handful to several hundred. Hagoromo truly had a remarkable charisma.

Manji stood still, his sword on his back, gazing at them from afar, but in the end, he did not go over to greet him.

A glimpse from afar was enough. There was no need to disturb him.

It had been nearly eighty years since Manji parted ways with Hagoromo after the battle with Kaguya. Over those decades, he had experienced what it meant to be invincible, and tasted the loneliness that came with it.

It was essentially a world where, as long as Six Paths wasn't around, Manji was invincible.

Everyone beneath him was an ant.

But Manji had never meddled much in the great affairs of the human world.

He would occasionally use his power to punish the most evil of men, and that was all.

Watching the group dwindle to a speck in the distance before finally disappearing from sight, Manji lowered his gaze, turned, and silently walked away with the wind.

"It's time to return to Mount Myōboku..."

Manji spoke softly, looking at the letter in his hand.

The letter, written in the White-Browed Toad's aged handwriting, was still tucked inside his robe.

"My life is nearly at its end. I hope you will return so I can entrust my final affairs to you."

—White-Browed Toad

Manji returned to Mount Myōboku.

The clouds over Mount Myōboku were still just as he remembered them, their colors shifting as they rolled and unfurled. They were no different from a hundred years ago, when he had first arrived.

Traces remained in the mountains of the Tailed Beasts playing and roughhousing there long ago.

In front of the mist-shrouded cavern, Gamamaru was already waiting.

"Master! The Great Sage..."

Gamamaru had grown much larger.

"I know." Manji raised his hand slightly.

Then he walked deeper inside.

The cavern glowed with a faint, clear light. The White-Browed Toad Sage lay propped against a couch of clouds.

Hearing footsteps, he slowly raised his eyes. When he saw Manji standing beside the couch, the furrow that had been etched between his brows for so long finally relaxed.

"Manji, you came... Heh heh heh..."

His aged voice quavered with each breath.

"The boy who once braved mountains and rivers to climb up here in search of power has now become an immortal who saves the world and stands on his own."

His words instantly drew Manji's thoughts back a hundred years.

Manji gazed at the White-Browed Toad, frail with age, lying on the couch.

In a daze, scenes from a century ago surged through his mind like a tide—

Back then, he was a stranger who had only just arrived in this world. With little understanding but a courageous heart, he had crossed lofty mountains and perilous ridges, and battled through the mists and poisonous vapors before finally finding Mount Myōboku, hidden beyond the mortal world.

Perhaps it had been a stroke of luck, or perhaps fate.

The memory of the White-Browed Toad Sage pointing the way with his staff, offering earnest advice, remained so vivid it might have happened only yesterday.

Manji was no longer the boy who constantly encouraged himself, saying, "Be patient. Keep an open mind. Hang in there."

Time had flown.

Manji looked once more at the White-Browed Toad.

The White-Browed Toad was nearly a thousand years old, a venerable age even for a toad.

"Grandpa White Eyebrow..."

Manji stepped closer, his gaze settling on the White-Browed Toad with complicated emotions. There was respect, reluctance to part, and the melancholy of a century's passing.

The White-Browed Toad slightly raised a foreleg. Manji understood and leaned closer.

The wrinkled palm gently covered the back of his hand. Its touch was cool, yet carried an undeniable solemnity.

"Manji, I don't have much time left."

The White-Browed Toad's eyes were deep as an ancient pool.

"From now on, I entrust Mount Myōboku to you. You will be Mount Myōboku's Great Sage. No one will object."

Manji had long expected this.

Over the years, the White-Browed Toad had nurtured him and placed great hopes in him. His occasional hints and the gradual passing down of Mount Myōboku's most important teachings had all foreshadowed this day.

Seeing the trust and responsibility in the White-Browed Toad's eyes, Manji said nothing. He only nodded slowly, his movements steady, like the eighty years he had lived.

The White-Browed Toad looked at his calm expression and sighed softly. There was no regret in the sigh, only relief

"Ah... I've lived for a thousand years. I've lived long enough.

I'm grateful to Heaven for finally bringing this long stretch of years to an end."

He paused, then turned his gaze to Manji beside him, his tone growing meaningful:

"Living too long, seeing too many changes in the world and too many shifts in people's hearts, can make it easy to lose your way... Manji, remember this: no matter how time wears on you, no matter how powerful you become, hold fast to your true self. Don't lose it in the endless passage of time."

Manji was slightly taken aback. Then he composed himself. It seemed the White-Browed Toad already knew something.

"Feel with your heart. Don't insist on pursuing power. What is meant to come will come... Don't let it become an obsession..."

"I hope you take care. Take care. Take care."

With those words, the White-Browed Toad drew a deep breath. His chest rose slightly, then slowly fell still.

The eyes that had witnessed a thousand years of change gradually lost their light. The sage power around him receded like the tide, returning to silence, returning to Mount Myōboku.

The cavern was so quiet that only Manji's breathing could be heard. He held the White-Browed Toad's hand as it grew colder, unmoving for a long time.

The clouds over Mount Myōboku still rolled and unfurled. The sunsets still shone brilliantly.

But the Toad Sage who had protected this sacred land for a thousand years had passed away.

"Master... Grandpa Sage..."

Outside, Gamamaru trailed off.

Manji raised his hand slightly.

Gamamaru immediately understood that the Sage had passed away, and tears began to fall.

Manji looked at the White-Browed Toad's body, his heart heavy with conflicting emotions. If not for this Grandpa Sage, he might have died long ago while searching for Mount Myōboku.

He had always thought himself lucky, believing he had found Mount Myōboku with nothing but an ordinary human body.

Now that he thought about it, it was ridiculous...

He had already mastered Mount Myōboku's barrier, so he naturally understood that an ordinary person could never find Mount Myōboku.

Back then, Grandpa White Eyebrow had only felt compassion for him. Seeing him struggle to learn until he was near death, he had opened the barrier and let him in...

After standing there for a long while, Manji sighed softly.

Looking at the White-Browed Toad Sage's body, he spoke in a quiet voice:

"Good night, Grandpa White Eyebrow."