Chigo shook his head and stared at Uchiha Tonan with a deep gaze. He finally said, “Ordinary people may not be able to see through you, but I can see the evil under your hypocritical mask. You were right. You’re very pure, so pure that I’ve no confidence in converting you.”
Tonan looked at the night sky and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. With a slight smile on his face, he asked, “Master, do you think tonight is a good night to kill people?”
“Do you want to silence me to protect your secret?”
“Do you think I won’t?”
“You won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you want to keep this hypocritical mask while you’re still young and weak.”
Shaking his head, Tonan laughed and looked straight at Chigo’s eyes. He pointedly asked, “Is good or evil judged by thoughts or by actions?”
“Well…” Chigo frowned and started to think.
Tonan continued his question, “Kind-hearted, but hands stained with blood. Evil-minded, but helping others do good deeds. Among these two kinds of people, who’s good and who’s evil?”
Chigo remained silent for a long time before he sighed and said, “If you’re the latter, then I believe you’re a good person. Will you tell me your story? I’m curious why your heart is so dark.”
Tonan lowered his head and began speaking in a deep tone, “It all started when I was still at the Ninja Academy…”
With Tonan’s narrative, time passed by quickly. The more Chigo listened, the more immersed he became. Sometimes, he frowned, and sometimes, he found it unbearable. In the end, he sighed and sadly said, “It’s truly been too cruel on you.”
Tonan merely gave a wry smile. He looked at the brightening horizon and said in a daze, “The moment I killed Mina with my own hands, I fell into a dark abyss. But if I hadn’t done that, would I not be letting the dead Chiryo down? How can I be worthy of the Will of Fire that I’ve always adhered to?”
Chigo looked at Tonan’s small body and comforted, “Ill-fated relationship is hard to undo, it’s not your fault.” He reached out his hand to gently pat the young boy’s shoulder but Tonan slapped it away, and roared while trembling, “Since I’m not wrong, why do people always give me the cold shoulder? Just like you, Master, everyone, everywhere is guarded against me!”
Chigo was stunned for a moment. He said, looking remorseful, “I… it’s because I didn’t practice Buddhism well enough.”
Tonan took a deep breath and waved his hand. He said, “I apologize, I was unable to control my emotions. In fact, I’ve been reading the Buddhist scripture you gave me.”
Seeing Tonan restrain his emotions, Chigo felt guiltier. He gently asked, “Did it help you?”
Tonan shook his head and replied, “It didn’t help. I just learned what Buddha is.”
Chigo was amused despite himself. He didn’t believe that the six-year-old boy could comprehend the difficult age-old question of ‘What is Buddha’ by just reading an ordinary scripture.
But he still curiously asked, “Will you tell me what is Buddha in your heart?”
Tonan looked devout as he said, “Buddha is the symbol of wisdom and enlightenment.”
“Your perception is very unique.” Chigo nodded, not commenting on whether this way of thinking was correct or incorrect.
Tonan struck while the iron was hot, “I read a sentence in the scripture, drop one’s cleaver and become a Buddha.”
Chigo smiled and explained, “Legend has it that Master Segen, a great eminent monk in ancient times, said these words and also instructed later generations to spread it widely. According to rumors, Master Segen was closest to Buddha himself.”
“Throughout the ages, many monks wanted to comprehend the arcane truth of this sentence, but they gained nothing. No matter how you think about it, it seems illogical.”
Tonan nodded and said, “This sentence is a fallacy in itself. It’s used to deceive people.”
Chigo retracted his smile and pretended to be stern, “Child, you shouldn’t slander the great ancestor. How could this sentence be a fallacy? It’s just that we are not proficient enough in Buddhist doctrine, and we can’t fully comprehend it yet.”
Tonan shook his head and argued in earnest, “The reason why this sentence was spread widely was to give a person holding a cleaver, a reason to lay it down. It was to save people under the cleaver. If someone had already killed many people, he might feel his sin was beyond forgiveness. And he may continue to go down the wrong way.”
“But if he recalled this sentence when he’s going to kill the next person, he just might stop. This was Master Segen’s wisdom.”
Tonan’s perspective stunned Chigo and he fell into deep thought. But after thinking for a while, he noticed a glitch and asked Tonan, “Your argument made sense, but monks can’t deceive anyone, otherwise, they’ll go to hell. Master Segen was the first-generation monk, who set the rules. How could he deliberately violate them? So this point doesn’t make sense after all.”
“This must be Master Segen’s enlightenment.”
Tonan stood up, and facing the rising sun on the horizon, he spread his hands as if he was trying to embrace the light.
“If I don’t go to hell, who will…”
Chigo’s scalp tingled, and as if he had gone insane and was raving, he muttered to himself, “If I don’t go to hell, who will… wisdom, enlightenment, become a Buddha…”
Facing the first rays of the morning sun, the corners of Tonan’s mouth gradually rose, and he softly said, “This world is very simple. But when the heart is in chaos, we’ll not be able to see it. Heaven gave us eyes and ears. Why do we still neglect the root and pursue the tip?”
Chigo hastily nodded and closed his heart-eye. The evil aura that was lingering in his heart immediately vanished. The first rays of sunlight were dazzling. But it was soft in Chigo’s eyes because Tonan was blocking it.
“Night and day coexist. When one side of the world falls into darkness, the other must be luminous… it’s dawn.”
‘Ding! Gained Chigo’s acknowledgment.’
Tonan heard the system prompt and slightly slanted his head. He smiled gently as the sun lit up his face, making him look youthful and bright.
“Good morning, Master Chigo.”
With that greeting, Tonan left, leaving behind Chigo, sitting alone in the same spot. After a long time, the old monk slowly regained his senses and let out a long sigh. He got up and walked into his monastery room while continuously chanting.
“Wisdom… enlightenment… become a Buddha… if I don’t go to hell… who will…”
After returning to his room, Tonan sighed in relief and a smile of success played on his face. He had invested so much time and effort to trick Chigo because when he had activated the Sharingan, with his Byakugan ability, he saw profound chakra inside the monastery room.
He then recalled Chiriku, a Ninja monk from the Fire Temple’s Twelve Guardian Ninja team who was able to send Kakazu flying in the anime story from his previous life.
How was Tonan to know that Chigo, who seemed to have a foot in the grave, was actually a big shot?
At first, Tonan just wanted to stabilize his relationship with him, deeply worried that Chigo may just kill him regardless of the consequences. However later, he discovered he was able to fool him with just some fancy words.
Therefore, he simply put more effort into it and took advantage of the time when Chigo’s mind was in chaos to trick him to shut his heart-eye and gain his acknowledgment in one fell swoop.
Now that he had a big fish like Chigo in his pocket, he didn’t need to worry about small fry like Kakazu.
Moreover, he gained his acknowledgment. So far, this mission brought him great tidings.
