An abyss of pitch darkness.
No sound, no wind, no light, endless and boundless.
Absolute silence.
A stone platform hovered in the dead center of this dark world.
A man sat upon the platform, his eyes closed tightly, his black hair cascading down like a waterfall.
He had already been here for thirty years.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would remain here for countless more thirty-year cycles.
As time passed, his power would continuously grow until the person named "Kakashi Hatake" completely vanished from everyone's memory.
Only when everyone forgot this name and the planet beneath their feet would the growth of his power finally cease.
But that was impossible. Even if Kakashi's name were forgotten, the planet beneath them could never be forgotten unless it exploded.
Right now, he was Kakashi, yet he was not Kakashi.
To be precise, the name Kakashi had already ceased to truly exist from the moment he arrived in this world.
Along with the fall of Kakashi's mortal body, at the moment his soul gave back to Heaven and Earth...
...the man beneath the mask of Kakashi Hatake finally revealed his true face.
The Wanderer.
To be exact, neither the so-called Wanderer nor Kakashi remained at the moment death arrived.
The existence before us was a fusion of Kakashi, the Wanderer, and the planet beneath their feet.
The planet was the body, Kakashi was the core, and the Wanderer was the mind.
A brand-new entity born from the merger of the three.
This planet, like a grain of sand in the vast universe, now possessed a will of its own.
Planets with life were already extremely rare, let alone one that birthed its own consciousness.
It was akin to a creature gaining sentience and becoming a spirit.
This place was an isolated alternate dimension that he had carved out specifically for himself.
Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for anyone to disturb him.
A glimmer of light appeared before him.
Countless faint blue particles of light coalesced in front of him, forming an illusory, translucent figure.
Hikari.
"Where... is this?"
Hikari, who had clearly lived out her natural lifespan and died peacefully, looked around at the dark surroundings, slightly startled.
With her arrival, the entire alternate dimension radiated a faint blue glow. Peering through this light, one could see the surroundings were filled with all kinds of bizarre plants.
The eerie blue light emanated from these plants, and every single one of them exuded a vibrant, alluring vitality.
Upon Hikari's arrival, the entity before her—the combination of the planet, Kakashi, and the Wanderer—slowly opened its eyes.
Hikari looked at the man before her, staring at him for a long time before speaking somewhat uncertainly:
"...Ka... Kakashi?"
If she hadn't sensed the dōjutsu power of her own Yachihoko emanating from him, Hikari really might not have recognized him.
"Kakashi is me."
"And yet, he is not me."
The planetary will spoke.
"What do you mean?"
"What did you do to Kakashi?"
Hikari subconsciously took a step back, looking at the man in front of her with vigilance.
She clearly remembered that she had died. Logically, after her death, she should have gone to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's Pure Land, not here.
Watching the soul take a step back, the planetary will's eyes remained completely unrippled.
"Kakashi is dead."
"I know that."
Hikari spoke almost without thinking.
"The real Kakashi died long ago on the night of the Nine-Tails incident."
"The Kakashi you knew never existed from the very beginning."
The planetary will spoke calmly, causing Hikari to knit her brows tightly.
"What do you mean?"
Hikari frowned.
"On the night Kakashi died, a soul from the future merged with his body."
"From then on, the person who would change the shinobi world was born."
Unhurriedly, the planetary will revealed everything from back then, including his current state of existence.
"Are you saying... you are Kakashi?"
Frowning, Hikari looked suspiciously at the being before her, clearly still unconvinced.
After all, words alone were no proof.
"Yes."
"I am the planet, I am Kakashi, I am the Wanderer."
"I can be any of the three."
As he uttered each name, the man's appearance shifted.
From his initial form as the planetary will, he shifted into the familiar Kakashi of Hikari's memories, before finally becoming a neat-featured man with short black hair.
Hikari silently watched this short, black-haired man.
Only after a long silence did she speak:
"In other words... the Kakashi of my memories is completely dead?"
"Yes."
"This was his own choice."
The short-haired man reverted back to his original appearance.
"Then why are you telling me all this?"
Hikari felt a pang of resentment.
He had clearly wanted her to stay by his side more often before.
But now, it turned out...
"This is Kakashi's wish."
"After all, he kept it from you for a lifetime."
The planetary will's voice was calm, showing not a single ripple of emotion despite Hikari's pain.
Along with his words, a white fluorescence radiated from his palm.
A small white orb of light appeared in his hand.
"This is a portion of Kakashi's chakra."
"I am giving it to you."
As the planetary will spoke, the small orb of light merged into Hikari's body.
"Why did you..."
Sensing that familiar and comforting chakra, Hikari instinctively looked up at the man.
"Farewell..."
"Hikari."
Accompanying the planetary will's final words, a mysterious force pulled at Hikari's body.
It was the power of the Pure Land.
The planetary will had opened a pathway to the Pure Land.
From now on, Hikari would continuously reincarnate through the cycle of Samsara, just like Indra and Asura.
But under the intervention of the planetary will, every one of Hikari's future lifetimes would be happy and fulfilling. Even if she encountered hardships, she would ultimately overcome them.
This cycle of reincarnation would only end if she managed to realize her own uniqueness, and gained the ability—or the willingness—to stand by his side.
"You... you bastard!"
"You're lying to me!"
The moment Kakashi's chakra entered her body, Hikari realized it.
This bastard was lying to her.
Chakra never lies.
This guy was just putting on an act in front of her.
He is Kakashi!
But Hikari could not resist Kakashi's power. She could only allow herself to be cast into the Pure Land by the planetary will, beginning her next reincarnation.
Looking at the spot where Hikari had vanished, a flicker of apology passed through the planetary will's eyes for the first time.
Just as he had contemplated while he was still alive, an excessively long life would cause a person to lose the brilliance of humanity.
If he kept Hikari bound to his side forever, the ultimate outcome was destined to be a tragedy.
The planetary will did not want to do this, Kakashi did not want to do this, and the Wanderer did not want to do this either.
Therefore, he could only resort to this last option.
A faint light emerged from the planetary will's body as a pure white fragment of his consciousness separated from him, swiftly vanishing into the darkness.
Meanwhile, about ten months later, the cry of a newborn baby echoed in the home of an ordinary family.
"Thank goodness, the baby is born!"
"It's a girl!"
Hearing the commotion inside the room, the newly made father pumped his fists and stamped his feet, giddy with excitement.
"What should we name her?"
"Uh, how about Hikari?"
At the same time, thousands of miles away, a baby boy also came into the world with a loud, ringing cry...
A clean-cut man stared at the text on his computer screen. As he typed the final period, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
The End.
This book's performance wasn't great.
After dropping two web novels in a row, he had finally managed to finish one.
With that thought, the man put on some clothes and headed out to buy groceries.
After buying some fruits and vegetables at the supermarket downstairs, the man prepared to head back.
Having finally finished the book after so much effort, he definitely needed to unwind.
But on his way back, his gaze instinctively drifted into the distance.
Since when did the small, fourth-tier city he lived in have such eccentric, alternative-looking people?
That shock of white hair caused passersby to do a double-take.
At the corner of the street, a man and a woman were walking arm-in-arm, holding a bag of bread as they waited for the traffic light to change.
The man didn't look too closely, assuming it was just cosplay.
What the man failed to notice, however, was that as he turned to leave, the white-haired man cast a glance back at him.
"Old Ka, let's go, move it."
His wife's calling brought a smile to the man named Old Ka.
"Coming."
"Hikari, aren't you worried about gaining weight if you eat this stuff every day...?"
"You're the fat one!"