"Ordinary souls couldn't withstand the erosion and tearing inside the Death God's space. But we Uzumaki endured it, and even broke free of that mindless state of slaughter."
A trace of remembrance crossed the elder's eyes as he looked back on that brutal, hopeless night when Uzushio and its clan were destroyed.
"When Uzushiogakure fell, foreign enemies invaded, slaughtering the village and wiping out our clan."
"Not one clansman who knew the Dead Demon Consuming Seal fled. Not one surrendered."
"Every clansman capable of using the forbidden jutsu spent their last ounce of strength dragging enemy shinobi and invaders down with them."
"For every one of us who died, several enemies-or even dozens-went to the grave with them."
They had stepped forward one after another, trading their lives for their enemies', all casting the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and falling into the Death God's belly.
"The souls of the Uzumaki fell into the Death God's space in droves."
"We were beyond the Death God's control, lucid and rational."
"Over those long years, all our clansmen studied the rules of the Death God's space together, working out a way to escape."
At this point, the elder's voice grew slightly heavier.
"Little by little, we were no longer scattered. No longer alone."
"The souls of all our clansmen merged with one another, nourished one another, became one."
"All our resentment, all our obsessions, the essence of our bloodline, and the entire Uzumaki legacy fused completely."
"In the end, countless souls became one, shedding every individual identity and giving birth to me alone."
"I am no longer any one grandfather, elder, or clansman from those days."
"I am the rebirth of the entire clan of Uzushio, the will of everyone in the village."
After hearing this tragic history of defying the impossible, everyone