At the front, an Uchiha clansman sat wearily on a rock, his head hanging low. He felt around inside his clothes and found only a single Military Rations Pill.
Looking around at his clansmen, most of whom were lying or sitting down to conserve energy, he let out a long sigh and swallowed the Military Rations Pill.
He waited a little while, until the Military Rations Pill brought him a slight feeling of fullness, before standing up again to begin clearing the battlefield.
Just as his head began to swim, figures slowly appeared on the distant path. He narrowed his eyes to look.
More and more figures appeared, gradually becoming clearer. Quite a few of them were pushing handcarts.
"It looks like our supply convoy is here!" he muttered in pleasant surprise, then hurried over. As he drew closer, he became completely certain. This was the supply convoy!
Quite a few clansmen nearby noticed what was happening. The moment they saw the supply convoy arrive, those who had been lying down immediately scrambled up and rushed over.
Many clansmen immediately ran to the handcarts and frantically stuffed the food they had brought into their mouths.
There was no order left now. Everyone fought like mad to get food.
An Uchiha clansman escorting the supplies tried to hold them back. "Everyone, line up! Don't grab! There's enough for everyone. We still have plenty of food..."
But no one paid him any attention. Someone even shoved him aside, knocking him to the ground.
Watching his clansmen drape themselves over the handcarts to snatch food, even coming to blows over it, the Uchiha clansman felt a pang of sorrow.
"All of you, line up!" Just then, a cold voice rang out, carrying a trace of childishness.
But that voice barely caused a ripple among the hungry crowd. Everyone kept doing as they pleased.
"I said, get in line!" Only when an Uchiha clansman who had been fighting was sent flying with a kick did everyone come to their senses and look toward the person who had struck.
The pinwheels in Uchiha Takashi's eyes slowly turned as he surveyed the surrounding clansmen. The Uchiha clansmen, who had never seen this Mangekyō Sharingan before, shuddered a couple of times, then immediately lined up obediently.
Seeing that his clansmen had lined up in mere seconds, Uchiha Takashi only gave a cold snort. He waved for the clansmen beside him to distribute the food, then turned and left.
Uchiha Takashi turned his head slightly and saw the clansmen who had received food frantically pouring it into their mouths at incredible speed, without a shred of dignity.
As he also looked at the listless clansmen around him, his heart sank bit by bit.
Food was scarce. Medical supplies were scarce. Injured clansmen could only endure on their own, and if they could not, they died. This was what war brought.
Perhaps some would think this was because Uchiha Takashi had been too slow in delivering the supplies. But if he had focused solely on traveling and ignored the attacks along the way, he would not even have been able to bring these supplies to the front.
He had managed to bring these supplies to the front. Whatever the final outcome, as long as he could ensure the supply deliveries, that was a success.
And everything before him had ultimately been caused by war. Without war, these people might have gone on missions or spent happy times with their families, instead of fighting the enemy here every day in constant fear.
What exactly did war bring? Death? Fear? Or profit?
Uchiha Takashi kept pondering this question. Did war have any meaning at all?
It did. What he had learned in his previous life had taught him the inner workings of war. War was essentially an extension of politics. When there were not enough resources to distribute, when internal conflicts could no longer be reconciled, war would erupt.
And the reason they had such brutal wars, such a brutal era, ultimately came down to one person-the Sage of Six Paths!
Uchiha Takashi had thought about it for so long on the road, and in the end, all he could think was: If only the Sage of Six Paths had not allowed the great nations to remain in the world despite having founded Ninshu!
If only the Sage of Six Paths had not dreamed of embracing the entire world with understanding and love! If only he had not criticized Ancestor Indra's ideal of unifying the world through force! None of this would have happened!
Though the process of unification was bound to be bloody... the result of unification would be peace for the world!
Uchiha Takashi knew that peace would not last long, but compared with the brutal Warring States period, compared with the constant wars between shinobi clans and those between the great nations,
the wars that occurred after unification would hardly count as anything. They could even be considered merely a tiny sacrifice for the progress of the times.
The people of this world clearly all used the same language and the same writing system, so why had the Sage of Six Paths insisted on keeping this world from unifying?
If it were unified, at least war would only break out after every two hundred years of peace! At the very least, it would win two hundred years of peace for the people! Everyone could enjoy two hundred years of living and working in peace.
Two hundred years... that could span four generations. For those with shorter lifespans, it could even span five!
Those five generations would not have to experience the suffering of war. They would only need to worry about how they would eat tomorrow, and what they would eat.
Compared with people like them, who fought generation after generation, constantly terrified and unsure whether they would survive until tomorrow, those would count as happy troubles!
War should never have existed, Uchiha Takashi thought. This was all the Sage of Six Paths' fault! If not for that damned old man!
And if he had not stood by while Asura and Indra reincarnated and fought generation after generation, how could this world have fallen into war with every generation?
He kept saying he hated war, that love should move and embrace everything, yet in the end, he had caused the wars himself. Heh, how hypocritical!
Uchiha Takashi revealed a somewhat crazed smile. Fate? Fucking bullshit fate! What bullshit fated twins!
Those who believed in that were probably just clinging to a tiny hope amid endless war-a hope that could barely even be called hope!
What gave the Sage of Six Paths the right to determine the course of war? On what grounds could he swear that the appearance of the destined ones would end it?
The Sage of Six Paths was like this, and so was the Great Toad Sage!
They both spoke of the wrongs of war in generation after generation, yet coldly watched those generations wage war!
He had clearly started all of this, and the Sage of Six Paths had the power to end it all, yet he insisted on spouting talk of fate, insisting on waiting until that time to resolve it. Was that not hypocritical enough?
Uchiha Takashi simply refused to believe in the so-called fate the Sage of Six Paths spoke of. The Uchiha had the least faith in any bullshit fate. He believed only in the power he held.
If he could not rewrite this so-called fate, that only meant his power was not enough!
Uchiha Takashi did not know whether his power was enough. But he did not want to keep muddling through life like this... Just drifting through each day, watching his loved ones die on the battlefield one after another? Was that really what he wanted?
Why should he believe in the so-called original story? Why should he be like all the other transmigrators, watching and waiting for the so-called fated twins to save the world? Why could he not break this so-called fate?
Could he not end all of this? Bring the endless wars to an end in his generation!
Why not? Just because of the so-called original story, the so-called fate?
It was all an excuse! Nothing but excuses to run away! Ever since transmigrating, Uchiha Takashi had been running away. All he had wanted was to live his own little life.
This world had no intention of granting his wish. It had taken his loved ones! Taken his friends! Then it kept telling him this was fate. Fuck that damned fate!
Change all of this! Let this war, which should never have existed, end here! Let this so-called fate be broken in his generation! He would rewrite it all!