At the Daimyo Residence in the Fire Capital, Uchiha Tonan sat on Naraku’s seat, while the Daimyo himself knelt at one side and did the maid’s work of preparing tea. In the Ninja World, both Tonan’s and Naraku’s strengths had already reached the ceiling during the time without Six Paths.
From now until the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Tonan needed to step behind the scenes and lay down the pieces to finally win the fruits of victory in one fell swoop. In addition, Konoha, after all, was a ninja village. It didn’t lack any bloodline limit or ninjutsu. But a person’s strength has many aspects. While it depended on chakra, physical strength, speed, and so on, the more important thing was to have insight and knowledge. This was also the reason why Tonan spared Naraku.
More importantly, a person’s energy was limited, and only by controlling authority, he could seize more things. Just like Naraku, who became a kage-level powerhouse from an ordinary person by killing chickens and stealing eggs. “Sensei, please drink the tea,” Naraku respectfully offered the teacup with both hands. Tonan nodded slightly and took it. After a sip, he said, “Tell me about your next plan. As your sensei, I can evaluate it for you.”
With an innocent smile on his face, Naraku said, “You are making fun of me, sensei. My little tricks are not worth talking about in front of you. Whatever you say, I’ll do.” Tonan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “Do you know why I didn’t kill you?” Naraku immediately bowed his head and replied, “You are benevolent, sensei.”
Tonan chuckled and shook his head, “Alright, you don’t have to act anymore. It’s not that I can’t see through you.” Naraku suddenly looked anxious as if he had been greatly wronged, “Sensei, you’ve truly misunderstood me. I just wanted to demonstrate my sincerity, and prove…”
Tonan impatiently stretched out his hand to signal him to shut up and then lightly said, “Do you still recall the fortune I divined for you back then?” Naraku frowned and thought carefully. After a long time, seeing that couldn’t remember, Tonan picked up the cup again.
Taking a sip of the tea, he said, “I possess the qi reading technique and all creations in this world have qi. And you, you’ve got the qi of a purple star on your forehead. This is the most central star in the starry sky and it’s surrounded by many stars. It’s the so-called emperor star. If no extraordinary external force blocked your path, you’ll be able to sweep across the eight wastelands and unify the world.”
Naraku finally remembered. Tonan did say this to him before but ever since he realized Tonan’s real identity, he thought this was his way of fooling him and had long forgotten these words. Now that Tonan mentioned it again, Naraku felt that he was trying to deceive him again but he didn’t know how to answer for a while.
As he hesitated, Tonan snorted and put down the teacup heavily on the table. “Do you think that you were worthy of this malevolent spirit of the Ninja World lying to you back then?”
Naraku smiled, “Sensei, I’m not interested in power or anything else now. All I want is to accompany you and serve you well.” Tonan gently turned the teacup with his finger and asked, “Do you know what my goal is?”
“Konoha? Ninja World?” With Naraku’s knowledge, he could only think so far. Tonan shook his head with disdain and stared straight into Naraku’s eyes, “Beyond the Six Path Sage, becoming a true God.”
Naraku was dumbfounded but he didn’t take Tonan’s words seriously. He felt that Tonan was talking big in front of him, filled with an old man’s nonsense. But now that his life was under his control, regardless of how nonsensical Tonan’s words were, Naraku could only pretend to believe it was true and nod repeatedly.
He had a look of amazement to satisfy the old man’s vanity. Tonan tapped on the table with his finger and continued, “But the gods can’t interfere with the affairs of the human world, which is not beneficial to the Ninja World’s development. Therefore, I need someone to take charge of this world for me and I just happened to have met you at the right time.”
The look of amazement on Naraku’s face was replaced with one of pleasant surprise and his entire body trembled. “In any case, this old man cannot live in the Fire Capital all the time. As long as I serve him properly now… after he left, I could find a way to remove the curse seal in my mind. Then, I can secretly accumulate strength and make a counterattack.”
In Tonan’s eyes, Naraku’s exaggerated expression was very fake. “This guy seems to be much smarter than before. It’s not easy to deceive him.” Tonan took a breath and said in a deep voice, “I already told you not to act again. When people hear such good news, they don’t smile and tremble. Most become dumbfounded. Therefore, I know that in your heart you think that I’m lying.”
Naraku’s smile stiffened. “It’s quite difficult to curse him even in my heart.” But he smiled brightly again, “No, I thought it was a bit weird but since it’s your dream, as long as I can help, I’ll do my best.”
Tonan nodded slightly and said, “You need to understand only two things. First is the divine right of the monarch. And second is that gods bless common people and they should be pious in return.”
After explaining, Tonan stretched out his finger and pointed at the ground, “Carve a good image according to my mold. Then, let your soldiers believe in worshipping this image. If you find talent in any trades and professions, or people with special strength, you can accept them as well. Then, use resources to cultivate these pious people. Remember, you must not spread this without my consent.”
Naraku hadn’t expected that Tonan would be doing this for real. He nodded repeatedly and asked, “Then, what should be the god’s name? Which one of your names should I use?” After all, for Naraku, the current Tonan was Uchiha Madara. He was still wondering how Madara was reborn.
Tonan touched his chin and began to think carefully. It was unknown whether this would work or not to gain acknowledgment through faith. But there was a foundation for this approach. That was the so-called belief acknowledgment. And the most extreme way of belief acknowledgment was faith. Faith was not just believing in Tonan himself but acknowledging his ideology.
If possible, he would prefer to use Abe Seimei’s image but for insurance, Tonan asked Naraku to carve a statue in his image. “First, call it the Great Virtuous Sage Master. I’ll write a book with many of my ideologies and thoughts in it. At that time, let these people recite it day and night, i.e. brainwashing. I’m sure you understood what I mean.”
Naraku nodded, “I understand.”
