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Manji watched the clan leaders argue over who should be chosen and quietly shook his head.
Then he slowly raised the Six Paths staff in his hand.
He touched the air with the tip of his staff, and suddenly an invisible force sealed off the area. The clan leaders who were still talking felt their throats tighten, as if something unseen was gripping them.
Every word died before it could leave their mouths.
Their faces changed right away. One after another, they collected themselves, stood up straight, and lined up respectfully in front of him.
Manji's face did not change. "The eight of you don't need to think about anything else for now. Stay in the Pure Land and continue expanding its borders. There will be work for you in the future. Until then, start from the bottom and temper yourselves properly."
The pressure binding their voices faded.
The eight clan leaders looked disappointed, but none of them spoke up. They all bowed together.
"We obey."
Manji gave a small nod, then looked past them toward Uchiha Gen, who had been quiet the whole time. "Gen. That weapon from the Uchiha Clan. Has anything happened to her over these past five years?"
"Weapon?"
Uchiha Gen paused for a moment before he realized Manji was talking about the nameless girl their clan had used as a tool.
He did not know why the Sage had suddenly asked about her, and he would not presume to guess. He quickly stepped forward and bowed.
"Nothing has happened to her, Sage. I do not know where she has been in the Pure Land these past five years, but no one here would think of provoking her."
He paused, then added, "Even though chakra and ninjutsu don't work in the Pure Land, she's very skilled in taijutsu. She's not helpless at all. She should be able to protect herself."
Manji nodded. His expression remained calm, and he asked nothing more.
The space around him began to twist.
"Sage, please wait!"
Before he could leave, the Akimichi clan leader rushed forward and slid to his knees.
"What do you want?" Manji frowned slightly.
Honestly, this Akimichi clan leader was something else.
Maybe it was his size or something even stranger, but Manji always thought the man's soul seemed heavier than everyone else's.
"Sage..." The Akimichi leader looked embarrassed. "Could you give us something to eat?"
"You are souls. You do not need food, and you will not starve."
Manji looked at the Akimichi leader's round belly and replied in a flat voice.
"But Sage, even if I don't need to eat, I still feel empty. I haven't tasted anything good in five years. I'm losing my mind here." the Akimichi leader looked genuinely miserable.
Manji frowned. Only then did he notice something.
"Where is your pickaxe?"
"I ate it," the Akimichi leader answered honestly.
Manji's eye twitched.
So that was it... No wonder the man's soul felt thicker than the others. He had been eating the pickaxe Manji made with Yin Release.
Manji almost put his hand to his forehead.
It seemed that building the Pure Land wasn't as easy as just opening a space and putting souls inside. Even the afterlife needed some kind of production system.
And apparently, it needed a food system as well.
"Sage, to be honest, the Akimichi leader has been looking at us strangely these past few years," the Nara clan leader said, taking a careful step away from him. "I'm starting to think that if this continues much longer..."
He did not finish the sentence.
He didn't have to...
The Akimichi leader had been hungry in the Pure Land for five years. Who knew what he might try next?
"What the hell? Why didn't you say that earlier?" the Uzumaki clan leader's expression changed. "No wonder he kept staring at me the other day."
He knew he'd have to be careful from now on.
Without sealing arts or ninjutsu, his old body might not stand a chance against the Akimichi Clan's endless hunger.
Uchiha Gen, Senju Shima, the Sarutobi clan leader, and the Shimura clan leader all looked toward the Akimichi leader with guarded expressions.
"..."
So souls in the Pure Land were not free of desire after all. They still had appetites. They still slept, grew tired, and perhaps even carried other cravings from life.
It was hard to picture what five years of holding back had done to the souls of tens of thousands of shinobi.
"I understand," Manji said. "I'll send someone to handle this later."
With that, he disappeared without warning, leaving the clan leaders still bowing.
"The black balls behind the Sage looked delicious..." the Akimichi leader muttered, putting his hand into his mouth and chewing on it. "Really... they smelled amazing..."
The other clan leaders stared at him, their faces growing tense.
The Nara clan leader cleared his throat and turned to the others.
"Everyone, when we rest from now on, we should leave a few people on watch. Let's not give the Akimichi leader a chance to drag someone off in the middle of the night."
Uchiha Gen's face went cold.
"If he tries to eat me, he'll regret it. I might not have my Sharingan here, but I still know how to use a blade. If he comes near me, I'll beat him until he wishes he could die again."
"Same here," Senju Shima said seriously. "If he tries to eat my people, I won't hold back. We might not be able to kill him, but I can make him suffer."
At some point, the Akimichi leader had drifted over to Uchiha Gen's side.
"Huh? Clan Leader Gen, you Uchiha all look so smooth and tender..." he murmured. "I wonder what you taste like..."
Uchiha Gen's expression grew dark.
"GET LOST!"
Before the Uzumaki clan leader could react, the Akimichi leader picked up his hand.
"Mm... Clan Leader Uzumaki is old, but he seems chewy."
The Akimichi leader held the man's hand and looked at it with real appreciation.
"You insolent little bastard!" The Uzumaki leader pulled his hand back and shouted, "Where are Ino-Shika-Chō? Lock this man up before he starts biting people!"
He turned around.
The Nara and Yamanaka clan leaders were already gone.
The Sarutobi and Shimura leaders exchanged a look.
"Brother, we should leave too."
They made the decision at the same time and slipped away without hesitation.
..............
Far away, the Nara and Yamanaka clan leaders finally stopped and let out a breath of relief.
"We finally got rid of that good-for-nothing," the Nara leader said, sounding like he'd just escaped death again. "He's been hanging onto me every day, asking me to find him food. I'm telling you, if this kept up, he was going to eat me."
For the past few days, every time the Nara leader woke up, he saw the Akimichi leader staring at him hungrily.
He had barely slept.
"Strategist," the Yamanaka leader said, "we should have asked the Sage about the shinobi world. What happened to our clans? What is their fate now?"
The Nara leader let out a sigh.
"From the looks of it, shinobi civilization is in bad shape."
"What should we do, then?"
"For now? We just keep working on expanding the Pure Land."
The Nara leader shrugged his shoulders.
"When our descendants come here one day, we need to have something ready for them. They should at least have a place to stand when they arrive in the Pure Land."
"And besides, with the Sage here, the Pure Land won't really fall into chaos. For now, we just work hard and stay grounded."
The Yamanaka leader's eyes brightened.
"That makes sense. When our descendants arrive, we can look after them. By the way, when do you think your grandson will show up?"
The Nara leader's face went dark.
"I'd rather my grandson not come down too soon."
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