[Gintama] Immortal

In the vast universe, a ship is sailing.

The magnificent and treacherous nebula intertwine and bloom, like intricate nerve endings, or the enlarged pupils of human beings. Looking in from the middle, the bottomless abyss seems to reach the end of time.

Standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling portholes, the journey spanning hundreds of thousands of light years is monotonous and boring. No matter how bright the galaxy is, it will become mediocre and unremarkable if you look at it day after day.

His own face was reflected in the cold porthole: scarlet pupils, the corners of his mouth half-smile.

He was familiar with the expression.Through the blurred reflection on the water surface, the bronze mirror in the dim light, through the eyes of other "selves", he has been looking at this face with this expression for nearly a thousand years.

It's just a skin.

Wrapped in an empty shell.

For thousands of years, he has been locked in such a boring existence.

There were very light footsteps behind him, staring at the nebula outside the porthole, that Naraku touched the ground with one knee, and reported without expression:

"There is a request for communication from the Heavenly Daoists."

The shadow crawled under his feet, Xu Xu didn't turn around.He stretched his eyebrows, his mood seemed to become a little bit happier, and his low voice raised slightly with the corners of his mouth:

"Cut off."

Nai Luo, who was kneeling behind him, was silent for a while: "That lord's condition is very bad."

The implication is that they are worried that the other party will make unpredictable actions if they are pushed.

"Oh?" Xu said casually, "How bad is it?"

"The adult's body has shown signs of decay, and it is said that his left hand is almost useless." The voice that answered him was stiff and flat.

Tapping the handle of the knife with his fingers unhurriedly, he narrowed his red eyes.

"Isn't that good?"

His voice was mellow and elegant, with invisible oppression, and the smile behind the mask revealed a bone-chilling malice.

"It's just an arm. Compared with my own life, those old guys naturally understand how important it is."

……

Back to Earth is the season of early spring.

The old forest wakes up from the long winter, the rocks are covered with thick moss, and the vines are densely entwined on the trees and bear fine flowers.

Amaterasu-in Naraku and Xu did not change before they left.

Oboro still had the dull expression, facing the demon who killed his mentor, he was respectful and pious, like a believer who worshiped a god.

I think I am tired of seeing this kind of creature, even Xu has to admit that human beings are really strange sometimes.

It's all right if you are angry, hate, whimpering and weeping, the other party's performance like stagnant water is really boring.

Even if Song Yang was used to provoke him, tearing off the bloody scar again and again, there would be no cracks on that expression of forbearance to the point of self-disregard.

The man who had sentenced himself to death, like a smoldering embers that could not see through the light, silently carried a scorching temperature, burning himself to ashes bit by bit from the inside.

Xu Xu looked down at Ou, with a bit of playfulness in his eyes.The man knelt on the spot motionless on one knee, his face seemed paler and sicker than before, silently waiting for him to speak.

If Songyang were here, seeing the disciple's current appearance, I don't know what kind of expression he would have.

He is the one who wins.

"How is the shogunate doing recently?"

"The Yiqiao faction is becoming more and more ambitious. Duke Dingding doesn't intend to endure it. He must make some moves in the next few days."

Hazy answered with a stern look.

Songyang lost, he is the winner.

Xu Xu took a step forward and walked past the man with his head down.

"... What about other news?"

Hearing his own voice suddenly, cold displeasure welled up from the bottom of his heart, covering up those restless and struggling emotions in the depths for a while.

Obscure's hesitation was extremely short and fleeting. If Xu hadn't waited on purpose, he probably wouldn't have caught this subtle change.

"not yet."

Oboro lowered his voice: "Shinsuke Takasugi has been diverting Naraku's attention."

lie.

But it's not all lies.

The man Ren Gaoshan diverted Naraku's gaze hung his neck. If he slashed down now and the blood splashed out, his indifferent eyebrows and eyes would probably not change a bit.

Thinking of this, Xu lost interest.

"Back off."

……

jingle--

The wind chimes under the eaves spun around.

The midsummer cicadas are noisy and rolling along the heat wave.

The man wearing the yata mask was sitting at the table, as if he could not feel the sweltering heat in the air, silently reading the scriptures in his hand.

False knows where he is.

In the memory of Tensho 17th year (1588), at the end of the Warring States period, the period when Naraku Six Daime of Amaterasu-in was in office.

——"Aren't you bored?"

The familiar voice rang in the ear, and the man with scarlet eyes seemed to have never heard it, and his eyelashes did not even tremble.

——"Really, don't you feel bored in every sense? Isn't it boring? Don't you feel hot sitting here?"

People without shadows are sitting carelessly by the window, the clothes that look ancient even in the Warring States Period hang down and spread out, the soft veil is like a cloud, and the whiteness is like a lamb on the altar.

After chattering for a while, as if talking to himself was enough for the time being, Yae turned his head slightly, and turned to look at the blue sky outside the window.

Feeling the gaze falling on him go away, the man wearing the Yata mask raised his eyes.

Xu Leng stared at the past self in the dream, as if he had been living in the depths of his consciousness for 500 years, indifferently watching the reincarnation of "self" birth and destruction.

Yae, who was staring at the sky in a daze, suddenly turned around and suggested with great interest: "Didn't the abbot of that temple send you an invitation letter? I heard that the courtyard there is beautiful. You happen to be free right now. Why don't we go for a walk?" ?”

The golden-red carp jumped into the pool, the ripples were broken, and ripples opened.

The scenes in the dream can only be changed in the blink of an eye, "Xu" lowered his eyes, watching the boiling water flow into the coarse porcelain teacup, washing away the accumulated tea powder at the bottom of the cup.

"What a surprise," said the young abbot of the monastery with a gentle and soothing voice, as the bamboo curtains were hanging down to cover the scorching sun, "I thought you wouldn't accept the invitation from the monastery."

After closing his words, he slightly raised his hand and gestured to the rough porcelain teacup dyed with mulberry: "You are laughing at the crude tea art."

Yatagara's mask covered most of his expression, "Xu"'s voice was low and cold: "If you have anything to say, you might as well just say it."

The smile on the face of the abbot of the temple froze slightly.

The summer is fine, the sparkling light is swaying by the promenade, and the wooden floor is cool with water vapor.

"Master Guan Bai① has conquered various countries in the past few years, continuously annexed and expanded territories, and recently issued a knife hunting order to further consolidate the regime. When the situation is stable and the world is peaceful, have you thought about your retreat?"

"Xu" casually rubbed the rim of the cup, his deep scarlet pupils could not see sadness or joy.

"Times change, but human desires don't."

Greed, selfishness, cruelty, arrogance, no matter what era humans are, they have been burdened with these ugly original sins since birth.

"Just as war is the carrier of human desires, Amaterasu-in Naraku will not disappear."

He raised his eyes and said: "The struggle between people will not stop, so even if Amaterasu-in Naraku disappears, organizations of the same nature will continue to exist."

"Human beings have no way to erase their own nature."

With a bang, the sound of startled deer came from the courtyard.

The bamboo pipe filled with water poured down and knocked on the white stone scorched by the sun.

The young-looking host raised his eyelids, the gentle smile no longer appeared on his face, and his expression became obscured by the shadow cast by the bamboo curtain.

"Then, what about you?"

When the summer wind blows, the bamboo curtains on the porch are blown up by the wind, and the person on the opposite side glances at the courtyard pointingly, and their eyes pass over the empty Zhuqiao.

"What is your desire?"

The rough rim of the cup was steamed wet by the heat of the tea, "Xu" stopped moving, and his fingertips stayed on the small notch deliberately made by the teacup.

"To be honest, I have been able to see things that ordinary people can't see since a long time ago." The abbot of the temple smiled again, with a cautious smile, hiding a trace of confidence, "There seems to be something around you all the time."

The afternoon passed slowly.

The golden-red carp swims among the green algae, occasionally splashing a little water with a bang.

After the other party's smile became stiff during the long wait, "Xu" spoke again: "Really."

The surrounding temperature seems to be a little lower, but it seems to be just a short illusion.

"Xu" put down the teacup in his hand, and his fingers, which could easily break a human's head, were well-knit, slender and fair, and it was hard to imagine their blood-splattered appearance.

"You keep talking."

In the 18th year of Tianzheng (1589), the Hojo family rebelled.

Toyotomi Yoshihide, who was in the post of Guanbai in the imperial court at that time, led an army of 20 to crusade against the Hojo clan.

In July, the Hojo Clan was defeated across the board.

Hojo father and son committed seppuku, and their retainers were exiled to a deserted island.

Zhenghuai, the abbot of Wunian Temple, participated in the rebellion, and his disciples were beheaded on the banks of the Kamogawa River in Kyoto.

For unknown reasons, Wunian Temple was not ordered to be burned down.Toyotomi Yoshihide appointed the monk who had informed him as the new abbot, and Wunian Temple was renamed Zhengxing Temple.

——"What a surprise."

Yae lay on the railing of the bridge, looking at the goldfish swimming leisurely in the water despite the changes in the world.

"I thought this time you would be the same as before, not choosing to stand in line. Those who win you over, just ignore them."

The weather was fine, and the blood on the banks of the Kamogawa River in Kyoto had already been washed away.

The courtyard in the temple has the same scenery as before, with a white stone arch bridge, but the monks who come and go between the Buddhist halls have changed a group.

She annoyed him every day, and she was naturally there when Xu borrowed a knife to kill people to expose the conspiracy, but she didn't understand why he suddenly started actively wading into the muddy water.

The surface of the water was like a mirror, and there was no reflection of her.

Holding his chin, Yae suddenly turned his head: "Do you have fish food?"

Before she could finish the next sentence, "Feed me a goldfish?", the man dressed in pitch black had already looked away indifferently.

"I reject."

Yae: "...Stingy. Small belly. Iron rooster. Iron crow. All crows in the world are generally black."

Before she finished her nonsense, she laughed out loud, shook her head, and continued to lie on the bridge railing to look at the goldfish.

After a moment, "Xu" turned his gaze back.

"You seem to be very interested in humans and keep imitating human behavior."

Yae's voice was sunburned lazily: "Because it's fun."

"Do you want to be seen?" "Xu" whispered, "by humans."

The figure paused, and Yae turned back: "Is there anything strange about this?"

"……Innocent."

Xu looked at his "self" in the past and said coldly.

Naive.

He knew what that "Xu" was thinking at that time.

If human beings discover your existence, they will do everything they can to control you, torture you, burn you to ashes, chop you up bloody, goug out your eyeballs, and lock you up in a dark prison.

Let you torture yourself in the long darkness, devouring and biting your own flesh and blood like a mad beast, strangling your consciousness and emotion by yourself.

Tortured to the point of insanity by the cage called ego, he cannot die even if he is insane.

In the end, he could only chop himself up, distribute the endless pain to every fragment of existence, and suffer numbly.

If you are discovered by humans, you will only suffer torture that is worse than death.

Just like they did to "me".

...just like they did to "us".

……

The mountain cherry blossoms in early spring bloom in the night.

The bronze lamp under the porch is slightly lit, outlining the pink petals of the branches.

Not wanting to go back to the boring dream, I stood under the eaves of the corridor, staring at the flower branches that bloom repeatedly every year.

——"Little monster, have you seen Kagura Dance?"

The mountains of Kumano are filled with mist, and the thin golden sunlight penetrates from the treetops thousands of years ago.

The cherry blossoms kept falling like blowing snow, the figure raised his wrist slightly as if holding a fan, and rolled up the long sleeve hanging down with the other hand, and slowly and leisurely circled around under the flower tree.

——"Like this, it's actually easy to learn slowly."

Snapping away the non-existent fan, the figure approached with a smile, its soft lips pursed.

……

want to.

There is no wind, Ye Ying seems to be still in the light and shadow of time.

The emotions in the depths of his chest became agitated again, but compared to the experience of being cut open by a human being, this pain was insignificant.

Xu Xu watched these redundant emotions with cold eyes.

It was something that was inside him, but not his.

The thirst that is close to hunger is like a bottomless dry well.The countless "selves" killed by him, the residual influence is still struggling today, appealing to him meaninglessly:

--want to.

But he has long been accustomed to maintaining the perspective of an outsider, looking down on others, including his "own" life and death.

For him, those uncontrollable emotions are just stumbling blocks on the road, an eyesore and boring.

The key to the dragon vein is about to be obtained, and there is no need to recover the spare chess pieces.

So hazy lies, he does not pursue.

"grown ups."

There was an extra shadow behind him, Xu Xu turned his head slightly, and a Naraku knelt in the depths of the shadow of the long corridor, his face was still in place vaguely.

"News came from Edo Castle that Bai Yasha and other unknown people sneaked into the General's Mansion with the intention of plotting rebellion. The Thirteenth Generation has gone to suppress it."

The silent heart beat strangely, frowned invisibly, and suppressed it a few times, but failed to suppress this feeling.

His expression became more and more cold, and his scarlet eyes were gloomy.

After a long silence, Xu turned around.

"...prepare the ship."

His voice was very low, and his expression was cold behind the mask.

"Go to Edo Castle."

The author has something to say:

① "Guanbai (Japanese: Guanbai) is an ancient Japanese official, and its original meaning originated from China. The word was introduced to Japan by the envoys sent to Tang Dynasty, and gradually became an important position for the Japanese emperor to assist the prime minister Wanji after he came of age. It is equivalent to the prime minister in ancient China." Excerpted from Baidu Encyclopedia

Historically, in 1585, Toyotomi Hideyoshi "was given the surname Toyotomi by the emperor and took office as Guanbai (No. 1 of civilian origin), establishing the status of the people of the world" from Wikipedia

The part of Hojo is a real event, and the rest are fiction√