Chapter 426: The Mission Is Complete

Indra looked down at the villagers from above, his icy gaze sweeping over the crowd like a blade as he sternly demanded, "Why has this village fallen into such ruin? Why don't you cultivate the land? Why don't you work?"

Under the pressure of his presence and relentless questioning, the villagers finally began to explain, timidly and one after another.

It was not laziness.

Their village lay deep inland, where the groundwater table was extremely low, making wells difficult to dig. Water was desperately scarce, and without it, irrigation and farming were simply impossible.

Worse still, a vicious band of bandits had taken up residence in the nearby mountains and forests. They regularly descended upon the village to plunder what little food and property remained.

They even abducted able-bodied villagers, leaving the people unable to guarantee even their most basic safety. Under such circumstances, how could they possibly work and rebuild their lives in peace?

After hearing the explanation, Indra's tightly furrowed brow relaxed instead. The corner of his mouth even curved into a faint expression of understanding tinged with contempt.

"So that's how it is."

Indra muttered to himself, his tone filled with disdain.

"External factors like these... What is so difficult about them?"

In his eyes, this was not a "social problem" requiring empathy or long-term commitment. It was merely a pair of technical obstacles that could be easily resolved through absolute power.

No sooner had he spoken than he acted.

He stopped wasting words on the villagers and strode swiftly through the settlement. Relying on his sharp perception and understanding of the surrounding terrain, he quickly identified several locations most likely to contain stable underground water sources.

He stopped and raised a hand.

A series of powerful and exquisitely controlled Ninjutsu followed!

Under his precise manipulation of Chakra, the ground shook violently, cracked open, and reshaped itself!

As Chakra flashed, several deep wells—each plunging dozens of meters underground, their walls smooth and sturdy—were formed in a matter of moments!

Immediately afterward, the underground water he had tapped began to surge upward. Clear, fresh water quickly filled the newly formed wells and even overflowed their edges, sparkling beneath the sunlight with the radiance of hope.

"A miracle... It's a miracle!!"

The villagers stared in stunned disbelief. After a brief silence, deafening cheers erupted throughout the village!

They fell to their knees and repeatedly bowed toward Indra, tears streaming down their faces as they cried out words such as "Sage" and "Benefactor!"

Indra stood beside the wells with his hands clasped behind his back and gave a slight nod, calmly accepting the most direct form of reverence and worship born from absolute power.

This feeling suited his temperament and sense of efficiency far more than navigating complicated relationships or spending time laboring alongside others.

After learning the exact location of the bandits' hideout, he did not linger.

His figure became a streak of violet light as he sped away.

Only moments later, a brief but violent disturbance of Chakra could be felt from the distant mountains, accompanied by faint screams before everything quickly fell silent.

A short while afterward, Indra returned to the village, his robes fluttering and completely untouched by dust.

Addressing the villagers, who were still kneeling and weeping with gratitude, he declared in a cold, emotionless voice:

"The external threat has been eliminated, and I have solved your water problem."

"The rest of the road... is yours to walk."

The meaning was clear. His mission was complete. Farming, rebuilding, and living their lives afterward were matters for these ordinary people to handle themselves. They no longer had anything to do with him.

Naturally, the villagers bowed again and offered every expression of sincere gratitude and praise they could think of, nearly worshipping Indra as a god.

Indra accepted it without reservation, his expression showing little emotion, as though all of this were only natural.

Then, without sparing the villagers another glance, he turned and became a streak of light once more, heading directly back toward Ninshū.

On the journey home, he even felt a faint sense of boredom and disdain.

Father's trial... was really this simple? There was no challenge to it at all.

It seems that so-called "helping others" is nothing more than removing obstacles and demonstrating one's power.

For the moment, he pushed aside the poisonous words Black Zetsu had planted in his mind. His confidence, bolstered by the "perfect" completion of his task, once again convinced him of his absolute superiority.

Ninshū — Central Plaza

Indra was the first to return. Standing before the Sage of Six Paths, whose calm expression revealed neither pleasure nor displeasure, he delivered his report and concisely described how he had resolved the water shortage and eliminated the bandits.

The news spread like the wind.

Indra's followers immediately erupted with excitement!

They gathered around him, unable to contain their enthusiasm.

"As expected of Lord Indra! He completely solved two major problems in such a short time!"

"Decisive in action and unmatched in strength! That is the bearing a successor of Ninshū should possess!"

"There is still no news from Asura's side. He probably hasn't even figured out how to solve the water problem yet! Hahaha!"

"Strength, intelligence, efficiency—what does Asura have that can compare? Lord Indra is the only possible successor!"

Praise for Indra and disparaging remarks about Asura surged toward him like a tide.

Indra himself merely listened quietly, a faint and indifferent smile belonging to a victor resting on his lips.

He was accustomed to the fervor of his followers.

As for Asura's continued absence, he cared even less. In fact, he considered it perfectly natural.

In his mind, his younger brother had always been slow and clumsy, lacking both strength and wisdom.

If Asura needed this long to deal with the problems of a single village—or perhaps had even failed altogether—that was hardly surprising.

It was almost laughable.

Standing at the center of the crowd, basking in his followers' admiration and their mockery of his rival, Indra felt the confidence born from his effortless completion of the mission swell even further. It intertwined with his proud certainty that the position of successor was already his for the taking.

From the high platform, the Sage of Six Paths listened quietly.

His expression remained utterly calm. He neither praised Indra's efficient methods nor showed any concern over Asura's failure to return.

He merely nodded as though listening to an ordinary report. Then, in a gentle voice that nevertheless carried little warmth, he offered Indra a few perfunctory words of encouragement—phrases like "You've worked hard" and "Well done."

Afterward, he turned away, seemingly directing all his attention back to the scrolls containing his plans for the Pure Land.

It was as though this trial, which would determine the future successor of Ninshū, were merely a routine matter to be handled according to procedure rather than anything of real urgency.

This reaction—so indifferent that it bordered on perfunctory—left some of the more perceptive disciples below slightly surprised.

But Indra, filled with confidence in his success, paid it no mind.

To him, his father's reaction only confirmed how simple the trial was and how obvious its outcome had to be.

Perhaps his father was simply occupied with grander plans and had no time to make a fuss over a result that was already inevitable.

Indra was certain that the position of successor was already in his grasp.

All he needed to do now was wait patiently for his "slow-witted" younger brother to return.

Then, before all of Ninshū, he would graciously accept the honor that had always been destined to belong to him—with the magnanimity of a victor.