—So you are that new descendant of mine that Hamura told me about —said the newly arrived figure—. Nawaki Senju… descendant of Asura.
Noah held Hagoromo's gaze without bowing his head or showing reverence. He simply shrugged again.
—I suppose that makes me someone worthy of a conversation —he replied calmly—. That's why I thought it was worth making you the offer in person.
Noah got straight to the point.
—I want you to teach me the Creation of All Things. In exchange, I will give you the information I spoke of.
Hagoromo looked at him in silence.
—That is a technique that should not be transmitted lightly —he finally replied—. But I will accept the exchange… on one condition. I want to hear the information first.
—Fine —Noah answered without hesitation—. I have no problem with that.
Noah was not afraid that Hagoromo might decide not to uphold his end of the bargain after hearing this information. And even if he did, Noah would lose nothing of real value.
Hagoromo raised his gaze, attentive.
Even as a spirit, Hagoromo did not see everything. After all, although he was a very powerful being, he was neither omnipotent nor omniscient.
Hagoromo never knew about Black Zetsu, nor did he learn that Madara was slowly awakening the Rinnegan on his own. Many things happened beyond his sight.
Noah did not rush. He shifted his weight onto one leg and began to speak in a calm, measured tone.
—It all begins in another world. A world where a race known as the Ōtsutsuki clan arose. A clan of travelers who explored the universe seeking to increase their power.
Hagoromo and Hamura remained silent, listening intently.
—That clan was not alone —Noah continued—. From the beginning, they maintained a symbiotic relationship with another life form, a plant race. In this world, you knew it as the Divine Tree.
Hamura frowned slightly but did not interrupt.
—Just as later happened with the Hyūga or with this clan on the Moon, the original Ōtsutsuki also divided into a main branch and a secondary branch. An elite… and servants.
Hagoromo tilted his head slightly.
—Servants?
—The Ōtsutsuki traveled through space searching for worlds with life. When they found one, they planted a seed of the God Tree.
—The Jūbi. The same Ten-Tails that you later divided to create the nine tailed beasts.
Hagoromo's eyes widened slightly, but he kept listening.
—For that seed to germinate —Noah continued— it needs nutrients. Life. And not just any life. It must first feed on a sacrifice powerful enough to initiate the process.
—An Ōtsutsuki sacrifice…? —Hagoromo asked in a grave voice, grasping the general idea.
—Exactly. That's why they traveled in pairs —Noah said—. Usually, a main clan member and a branch Ōtsutsuki. When the time came, the latter was offered to the Jūbi.
Silence spread among the three. There was no longer any skepticism on the brothers' faces, only tense looks, followed by understanding. They had finally understood the origins of both their mother and the Divine Tree.
—Once they found a world with life and abundant natural energy —Noah continued—, the main clan member planted the God Tree seed, while the branch member offered their life to feed it. With that sacrifice, the seed germinated and became a tree that absorbed the vitality of the entire planet, condensing it into a chakra fruit that was finally consumed by the main Ōtsutsuki.
—But that doesn't mean the branch member dies completely —Noah added without changing his tone.
Hamura's head snapped up.
—Are you saying that…?
Both brothers' expressions changed almost simultaneously, as if the same idea had just crossed their minds.
—That's right —Noah confirmed—. Even after being sacrificed, an Ōtsutsuki can still return to life. The Ōtsutsuki clan developed a special fūinjutsu called the Karma seal. Before being offered as a sacrifice, the branch member would imprint that seal onto a compatible native of that world.
Hagoromo frowned.
—A mere container?
—No —Noah replied—. Once devoured by the Jūbi, the Ōtsutsuki experiences true death. The seal contains the genetic, spiritual, and chakra information of the Ōtsutsuki. When the original body dies, Karma begins to slowly rewrite the host. Their flesh, their chakra, even their soul. Over time, the Ōtsutsuki is fully reborn within the Karma bearer, becoming a perfect copy of themselves.
—A long time ago —Noah continued—, two Ōtsutsuki arrived in this world.
Both Hagoromo and Hamura had lived for over a thousand years tied to the shinobi world, and yet all this information was completely outside everything they knew.
—One of them belonged to the main clan —he added—. His name was… Ishiki Ōtsutsuki.
For an instant, both brothers were bewildered.
—Ishiki…? —Hamura repeated.
Hagoromo frowned, quickly following the thread.
—That doesn't fit —he said—. According to your words, the main clan member is the one who consumes the chakra fruit. In this world, it was our mother who did it.
—Exactly —Noah replied.
—The branch Ōtsutsuki who accompanied Ishiki… was none other than your mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
—Kaguya… was the branch member? —Hamura murmured.
—That's right —Noah confirmed—. Ishiki was the main clan member destined to harvest this world. Kaguya was only supposed to serve as a sacrifice to feed the Divine Tree.
—But what followed was a betrayal —Noah concluded dramatically—. Kaguya rebelled, attacked Ishiki before completing the ritual, offering him as a sacrifice in her place, and kept the chakra fruit for herself.
Noah showed no interest in the astonishment that the two old men before him were no longer trying to hide. He simply continued telling the story.
—Kaguya knew she had broken the rules of her own clan. And she also knew that, sooner or later, other Ōtsutsuki would come to investigate what had happened to this world's harvest.
Noah observed both old men in silence. He had no intention of mentioning that Ishiki had not died, but had survived by hiding inside the body of a monk named Jigen. That part of the truth did not benefit him at this moment and would only introduce unnecessary variables.
—Wait! Are you saying that other Ōtsutsuki could very possibly come to this world to harvest it as originally planned?
Hagoromo went straight to the most serious point. Suddenly, he understood his mother's apparent mad paranoia. His mother was already extremely powerful, and if other equally powerful beings came to invade this world… Hagoromo could not even imagine how this world could resist.
—Ha, ha! You've grasped the key point, although you need not worry; that is a long-term threat, and we should still have over seventy years to prepare. What should concern you are the short-term threats.
Hamura suddenly seemed to understand something.
—How do you know so much? Both about the past and the future?
The information Noah possessed about the shinobi world's past was already unusual, but now he had even given them an approximate date for when the Ōtsutsuki might arrive in this world.
Noah smiled and pointed to his left eye without saying anything else, leaving the answer to interpretation. Then he continued speaking.
—While waiting for the Divine Tree to grow and bear its first chakra fruit, Kaguya ventured into the human world. She lived among them, observed their conflicts, their constant wars, and came to the conclusion that humanity was warlike by nature and that its cycle of hatred would never end on its own.
—When the chakra fruit ripened, she devoured it. She gained immense power and decided to impose peace by force, plunging the entire world into the Infinite Tsukuyomi to put an end to all wars once and for all.
—Afterward, while waiting for the next fruit —Noah continued—, she released some people from the Tsukuyomi to serve her and worship her as a goddess. Among them was your father.
—Fearing reprisals from her clan, Kaguya began to prepare. She created the White Zetsu from the humans trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Soldiers intended to face her clan when they came to settle accounts.
Hagoromo lowered his gaze.
—The rest… we already know.
—Yes —Noah replied—. Kaguya became pregnant, you were born with chakra, you grew up. Over time, her fear turned into paranoia. She began selecting humans to sacrifice and turn into more White Zetsu. You lived through that yourselves, so I won't go into more details.
—You fought against her for months, until you finally managed to seal her in the moon using Chibaku Tensei.