Hagoromo stood motionless inside the Ōtsutsuki shrine, like a sculpture, until he finally opened his eyes again.
"As expected of the Sage of Six Paths. In the end, he still forced me to reveal my final trump card…"
"Good thing the battle happened in a mental space. If it had taken place in reality…"
If it had taken place in reality, then once the battle ended, the damage to his body would probably have forced Hagoromo into another long period of recuperation.
Although his original plan had been to use the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and fight the Sage of Six Paths in a half-powered state, who could have known that, in the end, he would still be forced into his own limit state?
Fortunately, since the battle had taken place inside a mental space, the physical injuries suffered by his consciousness did not affect the condition of his real body.
But there were advantages and disadvantages. Although his body was fine, the corresponding price was severe mental fatigue, and even mental damage.
Trying to erase the Sage of Six Paths from the fundamental level of chakra was extremely difficult. Therefore, during the final battle, Hagoromo's method of handling it had actually been extremely simple. It also gave him a line of thought for dealing with the tailed beasts in the future.
Imagine chakra as a particulate energy body. Only when these energy bodies bonded and attached to each other could they manifest in the form of a consciousness. What Hagoromo did was not eliminate these energy bodies at the root, but merely separate them one particle at a time.
And those independent particles, having lost their connections with one another, would presumably scatter into nothingness after a certain length of time.
Without a doubt, this was a rather tricky shortcut. Although it had the corresponding effect, using the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception in such a low-level way was honestly quite stifling. But no matter what, as far as Hagoromo was concerned, effectiveness was all that mattered.
Even if all the information about the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had been exposed during battle, they still belonged to the most troublesome and unsolvable type of ability. Moreover, what the Sage of Six Paths faced had been a situation whose meaning was unclear. Therefore, in continuous close-contact combat against this bug-like ability, he had been rather helpless.
And as the battle continued, Hagoromo's victory eventually arrived.
Against an attack from someone who possessed the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, one could not make contact, could not defend, and could not counterattack. The only choice was to dodge. To deal with Hagoromo in that state, the best method should have been to be faster than him.
So the proper countermeasure was obvious…
The Flying Thunder God Technique.
Unfortunately, there was no longer anyone in this world who could use the Flying Thunder God Technique.
In the latter half of the battle, the Sage of Six Paths had actually not displayed much intense will to resist. In truth, he had been half-persuaded by Hagoromo's theory.
Assuming Hagoromo had been someone the Sage of Six Paths could trust, perhaps the battle would never have happened at all. "Offering his neck for execution" might not have been an impossible choice.
"Now, it's time to take a look at the legacy left behind by the Sage of Six Paths…"
After his consciousness returned to the shrine, Hagoromo stood up and reached out to open the scrolls he had just obtained…
Indeed, it had only been "just now." Although Hagoromo and the Sage of Six Paths had fought for a long time inside the mental space, in reality, only a short time had passed.
However… Hagoromo had still overestimated his own resistance and underestimated the mental burden he was currently bearing. He had only just tried to open the scroll when his brain crashed before his hands could move.
Then it froze completely, and Hagoromo fell headfirst to the ground…
The two scrolls rolled down beside him.
Hagoromo did not know that, if someone were to look at him from the front right now, his face would look exactly like someone who had overexerted themselves. After the battle with the Sage of Six Paths, there was no way he could simply walk away.
So, naturally, he collapsed.
As for what changes had occurred in the world before and after that moment, no one knew except Hagoromo, the instigator. But one thing was certain: what Hagoromo had done belonged to a kind of worldwide transformation. And what he had scattered was definitely not something as simple as merely the Sage of Six Paths' chakra.
A certain fixed pattern was gradually being broken free from. As for whether Hagoromo, who had already collapsed, had possessed that much foresight, only he himself knew.
When Hagoromo woke up again, he did not know how much time had passed. But the emptiness in his stomach made him understand that he had been unconscious for a while.
Under normal circumstances, his biological clock was extremely accurate. But now it had been thrown into complete disorder, causing him to lose his sense of time.
A stabbing pain similar to that caused by a severe hangover—but far more serious—continued stimulating Hagoromo's mind. This made him instinctively refuse to open his eyes, but he had no choice but to wake up anyway.
Keeping his eyes closed was useless. At the very least, it would not reduce the pain in the slightest.
At this moment, what did Hagoromo want most?
Lady Tsunade.
Hagoromo was very clear on when he should call her Lady Tsunade, and when he could afford to be more casual.
But how could there be such a convenient thing? At this time, Lady Tsunade was still carrying out her ten-year mission of gambling her way across the world and refusing to return to her hometown until she was broke. How could she have time to care about his little aches and pains?
Besides, only thinking of Tsunade whenever he was injured was a bit too much like not taking her seriously at all.
However, looking across the entire shinobi world, aside from Tsunade, it would not be easy to find a second medical-nin capable of treating mental damage.
So without Lady Tsunade around, Hagoromo could only endure it slowly, exchanging time for recovery until he gradually returned from that mental state.
After considering his condition, Hagoromo did not hurry to leave the Ōtsutsuki shrine. He stayed there for three days, squatting in the ancient temple, and only after his condition had eased slightly did he begin planning to leave.
Before that, he finally had the chance to look over what he had obtained.
"Yin-Yang Release…"
The difference between Six Paths Senjutsu and other forms of senjutsu probably lay in the use of Yin-Yang Release… Of course, because of his innate factors, the Sage of Six Paths himself had an extremely strong adaptability toward senjutsu. And the Sage's body he left behind also possessed an incomparable advantage in senjutsu training.
For comparison, Jiraiya trained in senjutsu at Mount Myōboku, intermittently spending more than ten years from boyhood to young man to middle-aged uncle before he could use Sage Mode. And when he used it, slight toadification still accompanied it because of control issues.
Hagoromo himself possessed extremely powerful chakra control. But even with such favorable conditions, he had still spent five years in Shikkotsu Forest before completing this mode… Although during that period, he had not only been training in senjutsu. He had also done plenty of other miscellaneous nonsense.
But Naruto, as a member of the Uzumaki clan who had inherited the blood of the Sage of Six Paths, had gone from zero foundation to completing perfect Sage Mode in less than a month. During that time, he had even taken the opportunity to improve his Rasengan.
This really counted as "comparison makes people furious."
This lightning-fast training might have had something to do with the fact that Naruto himself had been attached to a certain cheat who was extremely skilled at playing with Sage Mode. And now that the Sage Mode cheat had been removed, if Naruto were to train in Sage Mode again, the time required would probably be extended accordingly.
Hagoromo opened the two scrolls only because he wanted to confirm whether they were genuine. With his discernment, there should not be any mistake.
Then he came to a conclusion: there was nothing wrong with them.
After that, he casually put the two scrolls away…
Judging from his attitude, it seemed as though he had no interest in these things at all. Or rather, it looked as if he had no intention of training in them.
And that was indeed the truth. He already had more than enough abilities stacked on himself. Yin-Yang Release was something he did not need. Leaving aside area-of-effect destructive power, in terms of single-target killing power, he was still at the very top tier.
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