"Ashen one, as I said before, you were destined to return here. And I... will always be here, waiting for you."

In the heavy silence of Tobirama Senju, the Fire Keeper's gentle voice welcomed him back to Firelink Shrine—resurrected by his own death.

To Tobirama, this was like a slap in the face. Not long ago, he had sworn with utter conviction that he would never accept the fate of becoming a Lord of Cinders. He had made it clear: he was leaving and would never return.

And yet—barely an hour after he left, he came back... dead.

Even someone as stoic as Tobirama couldn't help but feel ashamed.

Still, a moment of defeat couldn't keep him down. That man immediately set out again.

Realizing that the monster named Gundyr, the Ashen Judge, was absurdly strong, Tobirama decided that charging straight ahead would be foolish. So, he tried to find another route.

In the original *Dark Souls III* game, the paths were limited—players could only go where the game allowed. You might find some shortcuts, but ultimately, the routes were fixed.

However, in this version of *Dark Souls III* within the neural network, the freedom had been pushed to the extreme. Players could climb mountains, trees, slip through ravines—you name it. So, in theory, Tobirama should've been able to bypass the newbie-slaying boss.

But...

If it were really that easy, if Tobirama Senju could "skip class," then the Second Hokage might've had a shot at cheesing the game.

This was a trial—a pilgrimage of torment.

A gift crafted especially for Tobirama Senju by Uchiha Kei. And it had only just begun. There was no way he would let Tobirama cheat his way out of it.

Every time Tobirama tried to scale a cliff, the terrain would collapse beneath him, sending him plummeting to his death.

Every time he tried to sneak through the forest, shadowy, eldritch creatures emerged from the dark, suffocating woods and struck him down before he could react.

Every time he dared to step into a cave, crimson mists of the Abyss surged forth, corroding him to death.

Death. Death. Death. It was as if dying had become cheap—frighteningly so.

Tobirama died in every way imaginable, until he finally understood: for all the apparent choices laid before him, there was only one real path—to face Gundyr head-on. Only by defeating that monster could he move forward.

That realization brought back the words of the Fire Keeper—about the fate that would inevitably lead him back to Firelink Shrine.

It was as though some unseen hand was puppeteering his destiny, leaving him no room for choice.

He tried to roar in anger, tried to bark cold orders, tried to summon that damned Uchiha brat he was certain had done all this.

And he wasn't wrong. But shouting did nothing. Uchiha Kei wouldn't show himself.

After all, Tobirama was inside a neural network-enhanced version of *Dark Souls III* with accelerated time. While he had experienced an entire day, only half an hour had passed in the outside world.

Yes—one hour in the real world equaled two days in the game.

Only a summoned, digitized soul like Tobirama could survive this kind of insane time dilation. Orochimaru or Sasori—normal living beings—could never endure it.

Of course, it did consume some of Uchiha Kei's energy, but for a "gift" to someone as inherently evil as Tobirama, he believed it was well worth it.

And besides, a few system sodas could easily replenish that lost energy.

So, Tobirama's journey through torment was far from over.

In fact, over the next three days of real time, he struggled through the world of *Dark Souls III*. But from his perspective, 144 days—nearly half a year—had passed.

In this super-enhanced version of *Dark Souls III*, where he couldn't escape and return to the real world, Tobirama finally gave in. He chose to follow the path laid out for him, wondering if fulfilling this destiny might be his only way out.

At the same time, driven by his habits and sense of duty, he threw himself into gathering information and researching the creatures and lore he encountered.

And so, piece by piece, Tobirama uncovered hidden stories of this dark world. The deeper he went, the harder it became to believe this was some illusion.

The world was far too detailed. Its history, the beings with names and tales, its cultures and languages—it was too real, too complete. Far richer than even the shinobi world.

This couldn't possibly be the creation of a mere Sharingan illusion.

No, Tobirama came to believe that the mysterious Uchiha brat had used the Mangekyō Sharingan to *send* him into this world. Compared to illusion, the idea of inter-world travel via the Mangekyō felt more plausible.

As he came to accept this reality, the world's hidden tales and mythologies—of gods, ancient dragons, and the ever-encroaching Abyss—hit Tobirama with spiritual shock and crushing pressure.

It was despairing—worse than watching his invincible elder brother Hashirama die. This was the apocalypse. Death brought no relief—only endless chaos.

Especially after witnessing firsthand how this world had once been full of life. In this expanded neural network version of *Dark Souls III*, there were villages and towns with surviving humans.

Tobirama had seen them. He had walked through them and experienced a foreign world's culture. It truly felt like he had traveled to another realm.

But those places were all destroyed.

Corrupted by the Abyss and driven by human malice, one by one, the settlements fell. The people twisted—some into undead, some into grotesque monsters, some into horrifying amalgamations of flesh.

The horrors he saw scarred even the battle-hardened Second Hokage. This was a terror beyond anything the shinobi world could imagine.

He tried to stop it—sometimes arriving after the fact, sometimes arriving too late.

But no matter how hard he fought, nothing changed. He couldn't save anyone. He could only rely on his undying body to survive, a mere janitor cleaning up the remains of chaos.

His mental state cracked. Even his cold, calculating mind began to spiral. He howled. He raged. He broke. And he died—again and again.

But as an Ashen One, he could never truly die. He always resurrected.

Every time, he awoke beside the Fire Keeper.

She always greeted him with that same calm gentleness. When his mind frayed, she comforted him—humming lullabies to help the weary Tobirama sleep.

Frankly, if Earth's *Dark Souls III* players saw this, they'd envy him to death.

But such a Fire Keeper could only exist in this digital world—her intelligence only possible with advanced AI.

Over time, Tobirama's heart changed. From distrust and vigilance to trust and recognition, to finally viewing her as his spiritual anchor.

After all, in this hellish world, everything was lost to the Abyss. Friends? Gone. NPCs? Gone. Everyone he cared about—gone.

Only she remained.

Always in the same outfit. Always the same face. Always waiting for him at Firelink Shrine, always ready to ease his pain.

And this world—this nightmare—was enhanced to such extremes that even Tobirama, one of the strongest shinobi in history, found himself crushed.

Only in the Firelink Shrine, only beside her, did he feel a moment of peace.

And that...

That was the ultimate white moonlight, wasn't it?

So, Tobirama finally decided—he would do something for this world.

There was only one thing he *could* do:

Kindle the flame.

Find and defeat every Lord of Cinder. Reignite the First Flame. Offer himself as fuel. Become a Lord of Cinders.

After all, isn't that what the Fire Keeper wished to see?

Tobirama believed it was. The man who had died to the shinobi world now lived only to fulfill his duty as an Ashen One.

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