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The Legendary Sage of Six Paths, Chapter 14;
In all honesty, perhaps I even deserved to die. I couldn't escape death however, as I woke up three weeks after the battle had ended. I didn't know how I had survived at the time, but the only thing I could think of that made sense was that with the Jubi now residing within my body, my life had somehow been prolonged. Somehow, the Jubi had kept me and was still keeping me alive. As I woke up, I realized that I was back home, but there was no one around but me. Trea was probably out doing some errands I reckoned, as I forced myself back up on my feet, picking up a wooden cane that stood beside the fireplace that had kept the house warmed up while Trea was gone. Walking slowly over to a window, I noticed that things had changed outside. By now, winter had fallen upon and across the land, as the ground was covered entirely in snow. I remembered now... It began to snow right before I passed out. Thinking back, I had a hard time gathering my thoughts as only vague memories crossed my mind. Some flashes here and there; not only of the actual battle, but as I was passing out as well. I remembered Hamura screaming out at me that he couldn't lose me as well, that I couldn't die here, not like this. How would he explain my sacrifice to Trea? How would he and Bruce be able to go on and lead the clan without me? As the flashes began to diminish, I could suddenly remember the Jubi's voice talking to me, but I couldn't remember the details of what we had talked about but I knew, I knew that the voice had no longer belonged to my mother... The Jubi had its own consciousness now. I had revived everyone that had died in the battle against Kaguya, believing that I could go my own route, my own path – Away from the one that had been forced upon me. Refusing to believe that whenever I revived someone with my power, disaster would strike, especially if I put my own life on the line in doing so. I had decided that I would save the people I could with my power, and not think about the consequences...
Little did I know however that like how everything was supposed to be predetermined, even that choice of mine was, even if I did the complete opposite thing of what was expected of me. Like how the Jubi's curse had fallen upon us, another curse would soon arise from the shadows and the ashes of war. You see, if I hadn't revived the fallen Samurai and Otsutsuki clan members, the Titans would not have come to be, or so I've been lead to believe in the more recent years. Fate can be a cruel and unexplainable thing, but there was no way I could foresee these events unfolding back then. By now however, I've come to the same conclusion that Naruto himself had begun to believe in. That was probably the reason behind the last words he ever spoke to me about whatever he ended up doing, it didn't really matter because the final outcome would still be the same in the end. Even with different choices, the end result wouldn't differ. At the time however, I was still clueless on what to come as I still had trouble remembering anything from the final moments when the Jubi was sealed away. As I kept looking at the snow that fell to the ground outside, Trea suddenly came in the door. And she was immensely surprised and glad to see me up and walking...
It had been a long while since we had talked as much as we did that night. About everything that had happened and everything that the future could hold in store for us all. She did worry about the responsibility I had taken upon me and what it all really meant however, as she laid her eyes upon the Rinnegan that I now possessed for the very first time. She couldn't even begin to grasp how something could be sealed away inside of me, but she reassured me that her feelings wouldn't change even if my appearance did. I almost laughed when she said that, but at least now I was certain. I told her everything would be fine however, as I felt more positive and more motivated than I had been in a long time, to make things happen. It finally felt like I now had the power I needed to help dismantle hatred entirely and for good in this world, but I knew it would still take a lot of time and effort in order to do so, and I had to be careful not to use my new power to force things through fear and corruption, the way Kaguya had planned to use it. The official alliance between the Samurai clans had fallen in place immediately after the battle had ended, almost as soon as they had come back to their senses after being revived, and thus, things were looking promising once more. All this happened while I was asleep, and soon it would only be a matter of time before the much talked about alliance between the Samurai and the Otsutsuki clan could recommence as well, like it first had been started all those years ago when Kaguya was promised away to my father, Nobunaga, to help seal the deal back then. As the night grew darker, Trea told me that an Otsutsuki clan meeting was about to find place in two days' time, as both Hamura and Bruce had been preparing for it for a few days already. 'A meeting about what??' I asked her, but she didn't know much of the details. Whatever it was, I knew it was important so I figured I would stop by to let everyone know that I was okay and to catch up on the latest news. As the two days went rapidly by, I had already contacted Hamura who knew I was coming. At the Winter Palace of our grandparents' old hiding place, high up in the snowy mountain, the first real Otsutsuki clan meeting in generations took place. We had a lot to discuss indeed...
There weren't a lot of us present at that meeting, but those of us that were there represented what now were the divided factions of the clan. No one knew for certain what or who to believe in anymore, as the events of Kaguya's corruption and the outbreak of the Jubi were just another of many blows to the clan's solidarity and functionality up through history. Who could lead the clan now and make the important decisions that had to be made when so needed? Did we all still desire the same thing? Could another member of the clan arise to seek control of the land? Who could be trusted with the responsibility? Was it even for the best that the clan stayed connected as one, or would it be better if the different factions of the clan went their own ways, like how the different Samurai clans were separated but still remained a part of an alliance? Was it even for the better that the clan remained on Earth, or would it be better if we left it all together to seek out a new home elsewhere, in order to prevent another corruption from happening amongst us? So many questions to be answered, and still that didn't bring into question the biggest questions of them all... What would I do now that I possessed the Jubi's powers? What would be done with the seal that had trapped the husk of the Jubi inside the new moon? Who would guard it to make sure no one else tried to access that power in the future? I could see that the other members were uncertain, not only about these questions, but especially towards my intent as well. Even if I had put my life on the line to revive them all, it begged the question if I could still see clear with all my new powers. One of them that brought this into questioning, of all people, was Hamura himself. Not because he wanted to, but because he felt it was needed. At the time, it was as if the members of the meeting split in two. Hamura and those who meant that such power should not be used, regardless for good or not, and those who thought we could benefit from it, like Bruce and I. Just the fact that I couldn't get Hamura to agree with me was a severe blow to my confidence. I simply couldn't go on with my new vision if I couldn't get my own brother to see my way, not after everything that had happened. The whole thing resulted in that neither one of us wanted to continue the meeting, as we both sat down and looked as if almost devastated. But in all honesty, I did feel devastated. Maybe the loss, or rather, the betrayal of our mother had finally caught up to the two of us? The decisions we'd had to make in order to keep order and peace in the land... Even as battle-hardened as I was, I simply couldn't ignore the things that had had to be done. I wanted to make sure that things like this never happened again, but without my brother's support, how could I? If this ended in the clan splitting in half, there was no way we could establish a real lasting alliance with the Samurai clans. Maybe things weren't as straight forward as I thought or liked to think. Maybe we really had to come to some sort of a compromise where we could meet each other on the halfway in order to make things happen...
As the two of us remained silent, the other Otsutsuki clan members present began discussing things between themselves, but it was more of a chaotic affair than a reasonable discussion. Indeed, even if the Otsutsuki clan was still pretty big when it came to number of clan members, most of them did "still" find either Hamura or I, or even Bruce for that matter, to be the natural leader in Kaguya's stead, to be her successor. Not that no one else wanted to take up position, but because the ruling of our clan had been in our family-line for generations. Maybe that's what was causing all the trouble? Maybe someone else needed to take up lead amongst us? I then finally decided to speak again as I brought this into questioning, but none of those present expressed their thoughts regarding this. I then stood up as I asked them why there needed to be a leader in the first place, and if the clan really needed to be guided forward in the time and era we now lived in. Hamura didn't respond to this but I could sense that he agreed with me. One of the other elderly members present then rose to his feet as well as he laid out how our clan had always been ruled by our family, that even if the recent years might have been for the worse, it was our ancestors that assembled and created the clan in the first place, back on our home planet after the incident of the Divine Tree there. Obviously the man knew a bit more of our history than I did, so I decided to listen further to see what he had to say...
Going on about our apparent disagreement, he proposed that even if a leader was elected, he or she didn't need to have absolute power. Why were we else having a meeting like this in the first place? If a natural and rightful heir to the leadership was what everyone thought was needed, this meeting wouldn't need to take place at all, as either Hamura, Bruce or I would naturally assume the role and decide that amongst ourselves. He was right, but I wasn't sure what to say to this as I sat down again. Bruce then rose to his feet as he decided to act as a middle-man. Even though he agreed with my views, he found it weird that neither Hamura nor I wanted to lead the meeting further simply because we couldn't fully agree with each other, when the two of us were the highest likely candidates to lead the clan in the future. At that point of time it felt like I lost a bit of interest in what was happening. Sure, this meeting would settle things here and now, but my mind was already set on the future and thus the present. I wanted to help fix things in the long run, and that was what I needed to focus on, what was really important. All this back and forth discussing seemed somewhat reluctant and pointless to me, and sensing this, Bruce questioned my apparent lack of attitude towards what was now taking place before me. Realizing that I had to pull myself together and act serious, I spoke once more...
'What are we really doing here? I mean, if we are to just select a new leader of the clan and be done with it, I suggest that Hamura takes up charge over the clan. He's the natural choice due to his great intellect and knowledge, knowing more about the clan than I do, and also due to having spent more time with Kaguya than anyone else. If anyone knows what needs to be done, it is him. That doesn't mean that I can't continue to go my own path, to do what I think needs to be done in order to maintain this peace however. Besides, we need to get the alliance with the Samurai through if we are ever to secure this peace in the first place...' Silence filled the room for a while as Hamura then stood up to his feet again. 'Well you are right about the latter, but I am not sure if I'm the right choice to lead. Clearly you are the one with the bigger ambition between us brother, and someone needs to guard the moon and the seal. Someone needs to guard the gateway and the Shrine of the Beast...' Once more people began chattering amongst themselves, as some people agreed that since I possessed the power of the Jubi, it was natural that I became the new leader, while others once more expressed concern that if I became the leader, I would hold too much power and might decide to use that power to my own benefit, like Kaguya had tried to. 'The Shrine of the Beast...' I mumbled. After the Jubi had been sealed away and hurled into space, a gateway that allowed access to the new moon from Earth, had been created. With it, one could travel back and forth between Earth and the moon and thereby making sure that the seal on the husk of the Jubi remained safe. I knew Hamura was right about this, but I also knew that whoever decided to go to the moon to safekeep the seal, would have to remain there indefinitely...
'At least we should get that out of the way first before deciding anything else.' Hamura followed up. 'I suggest that if Hagoromo is to take control over the clan here on earth, I can take charge over those that decide to come with me to the moon. This way, the clan will always have two leaders, this way, we can keep both this world and the moon safe. Since there's a lot more work to be done here on earth, it is only natural that Hagoromo takes up lead down here, if he's to use his powers to shape a peaceful land like he wishes...' I was unsure why he suddenly had changed his mind like that, but I knew that he meant business. 'Why you Hamura? Why do you have to go to the moon?' 'Let's face it... The Otsutsuki clan doesn't belong here on Earth, at least not for the most parts. Wherever we go, trouble is sure to follow. You have a human wife here who you obviously can't leave...' More and more clan members began to reason and agree with what Hamura had said, but I couldn't simply let him go like that. 'I know what you are thinking Hagoromo, but it is for the better this way. If I can't believe in my own brother to do the right thing, I suppose no one in the Otsutsuki clan can ever truly be trusted. I believe that your time here on Earth, growing up away from the clan's reach, has made you who you are now, and thus with everything you've been through and the decisions you've made, I am certain that you will not break like our mother did, no matter what happens. I can see that now...' I almost felt like tearing up when he said that, but I didn't know what to say in return. 'Well if Hamura is going, I suppose I will go too...' Bruce then concluded, and I was even more surprised to hear that coming from him, knowing how much he enjoyed himself here, on Earth...
He told me that it was more a matter of responsibility than what one wanted, and that if the Jubi's husk was to break free, we needed as much firepower as we could get there on the moon to fight it. 'Besides Hagoromo, you can always visit, although I think it would be for the better if we seal off the gate permanently after our departure. That way, even if the husk of the Jubi somehow breaks free and we fail to stop it, it can't reach Earth.' 'But Hamura-...' 'No buts brother... If you are to have your way, here on Earth, at least let me have mine. In doing so, we both get our way, and a compromise has been made between us with our differences being set aside. That is the only reasonable thing to do. I will take charge of the clan on the moon, while you will begin your work here on Earth to build a truly peaceful land...' His words had moved me to such a degree that I stood up and walked over to him, hugging him as hard as I could. 'I will not keep this power all by myself and I will not turn to corruption like our mother did, I promise you. I have a plan to restore balance in the world that will maintain the peace for generations to come. The Sect of Peace should be ready for bigger and more defining tasks now, and to operate on a bigger scale to further its teachings throughout the entire world. I will change its purpose from being a mere lecture of peace, to have it as a guiding-way to resolute balance and harmony. I will rename it to a more fitting name and set it to purpose...'
Indeed... The founding bricks for "Ninshu," the Shinobi Sect, had been laid. One of many mistakes I ended up doing, although it wasn't without its worth. As the meeting came to an end and the time to bid farewell slowly approached, it was decided that about 90 percent of the clan would travel to the moon to safeguard the seal there. I was only one of seven Otsutsuki who remained on Earth amongst the clan, as the six others that also stayed behind, spread out throughout the land and established their own creeds over the coming years, to help further my work to as many as possible. Like Hamura had promised, the gateway was sealed off and that-... Was the last time I ever saw my brother and cousin, and the rest of the clan...
As the weeks went by and a new year came upon us, the alliance had finally been fully established, even though most of the Otsutsuki clan members had traveled with Hamura to the moon. In a way though, I was still part of the Sanada clan, and Danivass was still their leader, so I wasn't all alone. Like I had promised Hamura, I began my work to spread out not only my updated teachings, but to connect everyone in the world with each other as well, so that we all could understand what we all felt deep down in our hearts and thus prevent future misunderstanding between us – Just like Trea's father had taught me would be the key. Chakra eventually spread out to all men, and the "Era of the Samurai" came to an end. One clan remained diligent to the teaching of the Samurai however, the clan who now once more lived not too far away from the Three Wolves Mountain; a land that soon would become a Land of Iron. The clan that remained and focused on this teaching to secure an alternative way of moving forward, was the noble Sanada Clan, while everyone else that my Sect and I came across, accepted this new way, this new power and teaching to see the world in a peaceful yet different way. Not that the Sanada clan didn't want to be a part of it or accept my chakra, because they did, they just thought it would be better if not everyone used their chakra to the extent we were. This way, they could act as a neutral third-party and a fail-safe that would make sure people didn't use their access to chakra for selfish desires, like the Otsutsuki clan had once did when they awakened the chakra back when it all started on our home planet. While "Shinobi" focused on using their chakra to keep people's bonds alive and to further evolution, the "Samurai of the Sanada" would focus more on using their chakra for spiritual and idealistic ideas and forms of teachings...
There was one thing I couldn't get out of my head as I had begun my new work however, something that the Grandmaster had told me during my stay with him three years ago. Like I mentioned not long ago, he had told me that; "In order to create a truly peaceful world, we must bury the one built on samurai warfare. It must be done in such a way that makes it clear to one and all. However, I fear that only something extraordinary can help the world towards this peaceful existence, and it's up to you to find out what that answer is for yourself." Ironically, the Jubi's rise had helped the land realize this and had in a sense buried the ways of the Samurai for good with the Samurai's total destruction, which in turn, had united the land after I had revived them all. By being the villain whom we had to join forces together to fight against, Kaguya had unintentionally united the different clans, both Samurai and Otsutsuki, which always was our goal. The only way I knew that it wasn't her plan all along to do this, was that she had gone on her way to kill us all, and was only stopped with a final desperate move. If it was her plan all along to unite us, she wouldn't have tried to kill us all like she did. I figured it was a share coincident that had helped pawed a way for a new era of peace, but I still found it a bit strange thinking back on it. Maybe the Grandmaster, being a creation of Naruto himself, knew all of this would happen?? Maybe that's what he meant when he said it was for me to find out...
As my teachings spread out, the Shinobi Sect helped me divide my powers so that everyone could share a portion of it, and thus, peace and balance were restored to the land. Now that we all were connected, we could sense each others' feelings and understand not only our true selves, but each other as well, without the need for dialogue or communication. In a way, I had found a path that enabled me to teach others the telepathic abilities of the Otsutsuki clan, only it now worked on a much grander and more complexed stage. This way, all the power in the land wouldn't be situated with one person and the need for greed or arrogance would be avoided. Another Kaguya would be prevented, and as long as peace thrived, another Divine Tree would not sprout. I had finally realized my lifelong goal, and thus the world was saved... But now that I look back, I had been naive, too trusting in men and that people would see my way in the long run, that they were ready. Another war didn't break out in generations, but already soon thereafter had men begun to experiment with this new power that they had been given, and that is how the teachings of Ninshu which I wanted to spread, eventually once more became the weaponized form of Ninjutsu. I fear that this world will only continue to evolve with this new way of using chakra, like how we Otsutsuki ended up evolving, and in time, peace might be broken again. That is why I believe that I need to entrust my legacy to you my sons, in order for you to maintain the peace if it comes down to it and to make sure that never happens...
For the time being however, things seemed to be working out as I had imagined. Even if I had shared my power back then, the Jubi was still part of me and its resources were almost infinitive. Like Naruto had told me, there would be another event after the Jubi which would require my attention, and I was soon to be forced to rely on the power of the Jubi once again. As I was wandering the land and furthering my teachings, connecting with new people every day, I also made sure that I continued my practice, so that I would be as strong as I needed to be once the day would come. I needed to be prepared, so that I wouldn't be caught off guard again when it happened. People wouldn't die again because I had been careless or naive, so in the time to come, training in addition to traveling to spread my teachings and to connect more people through chakra, were the only two things on my mind. One day however, after having wandered far and long away from home, I eventually came across this magical wasteland like none other...
The place I had stumbled across would eventually one day be known as Mt. Myobokuzan, a place that inhabited all sorts of creatures; both big and small. Venturing deep into a great and magical forest, and thus even further into this mysterious land, I eventually came upon a toad that was so big, it almost rivaled the size of the Jubi itself. On his back he had a long sword that was almost the same length as him, and his entire presence felt different than anything I had felt before. Like he somehow possessed chakra, like he somehow was more than just an animal. I was baffled to see such a creature living in this world, unopposed, undiscovered. Spying on him for a bit, I decided to follow him to see where he would go. The longer I kept track on him, the more I realized that he had an almost human-like nature. He even talked to himself at times as he was wandering around. But was he friendly, or was his nature more like that of the Jubi? It was then as I was about to approach him, that the Jubi spoke to me for the first time since I had passed out after reviving everyone, only this time, I actually remembered and understood what he said. What I did realize thought was that the Jubi's mind was created when I sealed its chakra inside myself, so in other words, it did not exist before then. I tried explaining how the Divine Tree had come to be, and how it supposedly had sprouted on other planets as well in the past, but it had no idea what I was talking about. As our conversation kept going, the Jubi then suddenly urged me to jump on top of the Giant Toad's head, much to my surprise. Not seeing a reason not to, I did as he said as I landed on top of the toad unnoticed. The Jubi told me to sit down and study its behavior, to learn more about this mythical land, and so I did. For three days, I remained undetected by the Giant Toad, as I eventually jumped off its head and wandered back inside the forest. A part of me wanted to say hello, but another part of me urged me to leave this land and its mythical creatures to themselves, untouched. Coming out on the other side, back the way I had come from, I eventually came across an old looking temple by the outskirt of the forest, a temple that I had failed to see on my way in. It was then as I was entering this temple that the Jubi spoke to me once more and told me to clap my hands together. At this point of time I couldn't even begin to figure out the Jubi's intent nor its opinion of good and evil. It was as if it was only talking to me whenever it felt like it...
Again not seeing a reason not to do as it suggested, I did as the Jubi told me once more as my mind suddenly went on a roller-coaster of a journey. In the next moment, I realized that my right hand was pointing towards the ground, and underneath it, a small toad had appeared. I was shocked as I fell on my back, realizing that I had in fact not just summoned a toad, I had created one. The toad seemed to think that I was his mother, as he jumped at me. I couldn't understand it, how could I create a toad out of thin air like that, that also totally somehow had skipped its infant stage? Was this similar to how Naruto had created the Grandmaster? After all, I did possess some of the same power he had now... The Jubi then told me that I had channeled the Giant Toad's DNA that I had been absorbing for the last three days, something I hadn't even realized that I had been doing, and made this toad through the new power I now possessed, and thus also transferred some of my will, life-force, power, wisdom and knowledge into this creature. All this was a lot to dig in at the time... He then suggested that I should come up with a name, as I thought long and hard on what I would call it. As the small toad was jumping up and down in front of me, it finally struck me. Why would the Jubi of all beings have me do this? And this Toad and this place... Didn't it all seem familiar somehow? As I pondered about this, something from the past came to mind, something that Naruto, yet again, had told me. He had mentioned a mythical place called Mt. Myobokuzan and someone called the Great Toad Sage, someone that had guided him in his younger days with his prophecies. Naruto had also told me as he left that he had left me with some of his life-force, in addition to the one Hylia had bestowed upon me, both of which I would one day utilize to create the Great Toad Sage. I knew that this had to be it, it had to be him he was talking about, the toad in front of me. So I did indeed name him just that, the "Great Toad Sage", and I knew he would come in handy for generations to come, even for Naruto himself one day. In a way, the life-force Naruto had received from the Great Toad Sage was now given back to him, and thus the circle was completed. If what he told me was correct, this toad would live on for a thousand years...
The Jubi then went on to tell me that I could summon this toad whenever I wanted from this magical place, but that he should remain here in the meantime. Once more I questioned the motives of the Jubi and how it even knew all this, but it was as if the Jubi was life itself, like it knew things beyond the realm of understanding. The toad seemed indifferent with me having to leave him behind at first, but he soon got saddened as I was about to leave the temple. I told him to remain here and grow stronger, and that I would return one day when the time was right. He then asked me what this place was called, and after thinking long and hard again, I decided to name it "Mountain Myobokuzan," just like Naruto had told me, and then I named the toad the ruler of this place. Naruto had made sure not to leave a single important detail out of it, and little did I know that this event would indeed be very important for future endeavors. Leaving Mt. Myobokuzan, I decided to head back home...
Remembering about the Great Toad Sage and Mt. Myobokuzan had also reminded me of the last event Naruto had told me about that would happen in the future after the Jubi had emerged, the last challenge I would have to face. I knew there and then that I had to master my powers quickly, as the "Titans," as he had called them, would soon rise. Two years then passed by as the inhabitants of the world had been more connected with each other and the land more peaceful than what it perhaps ever had been. And even better, things were finally working out on the home front as well. Yes you guessed it, Trea was pregnant with child, and it would only be a matter of time before you were born, Indra... We were both 35 years old at the time, and even if things could get complicated with age, I couldn't be happier. At the same time however, I was informed by the Great Toad Sage who now had grown immensely over the past two years, that a strange phenomenal was happening on Mt. Myobokuzan. Reassuring Trea that I was only going to head over there to check things out, there was no way I could possibly imagine the things that were indeed happening over there, even though I suspected that the Titans were involved. I just didn't know how great they would be. Looking back, fighting the Nine Titans were like fighting nine Jubis. All of them had their own unique attacks, although they were very different from one another. As I came upon the temple, the Great Toad Sage came out and met me, as he told me he had befriended the Giant Toad and that deep in the Sacred Forest, nine foul creatures, nine foul Titans had risen from nowhere, causing all sort of mayhem. If they were allowed to keep going, it would only be a matter of time before Myobokuzan would be destroyed, and most likely, the world thereafter as well. I didn't even begin to get a chance to ask how he knew the Giant Toad or how he had befriended him, but he told me he would help us out, so that was the natural place to go next...
Luckily, I had indeed been mastering my new powers in that time, as I had in the two years that had passed by since I had sealed the Jubi inside of me, learned more and become more powerful in those two years alone than all the years I had spent training prior to that event combined. Everything felt as if obtainable now, that I could learn anything I set my mind to. I had already mastered the Rinnegan and the power of the Jubi in those two years – An impossible task to anyone else. It now felt like I could learn and grasp any Jutsu ever written down in the Founding Book of Jutsu left behind for me by Naruto with ease and in the blink of an eye too, and I had become so powerful at the time, that I had essentially already become The Sage of Six Paths, a title that would stick with me after the event of the Titans...
In addition to the Founding Book of Jutsu, I had been able to invent my own techniques; one of them the Sage techniques that granted me the awakening of Natural Energy as well. Fighting head on was no longer necessary, as I had developed several "stages" of my chakra, that enabled me to activate different "Chakra and Sage" Modes. In a way, I was now immortal, and possessed even greater power than that of my mother when she utilized the Jubi's powers. The Master Sword was now one with me as well, and I could easily access the Underworld Dimension if I so please through my Timeless-Space Transfer Technique. Together with the Overworld Dimension, I could create things out of thin air and play god if I wanted to. If Hamura had seen me at the time, I'm not even sure how he would have reacted. I was almost arrogant, believing that I would live on forever and maintain the peace for all eternity all by myself. Even if I didn't use my powers to force people to see my way, some people that had previously begun trusting me had started to get uncertain around me and my drastic ways, and probably not without reason either. Even the Jubi felt as if I was using it to my own benefit, and it told me several times over during these past two years that he hated my guts, my existence; hated being sealed up inside of me. It told me that I may have its chakra, but I wouldn't have its cooperation unless the destruction of the world was at stake. As I went up against the Titans, I was certain it would be a quick battle. No matter how strong they were, no one could stand against me for long. How wrong I was soon to discover that I had been. The battle against the Titans remains to this day, the hardest battle I have ever fought, even with all my powers. And it made me realize that I had lost part of my way, my purpose. After the battled had ended, I even left the Master Sword behind in the Underworld Dimension to help maintain the seal, until one day another worthy successor would come to claim it. Not because the Master Sword alone was entirely necessary to keep the seal intact, even though it helped maintain it, but because I felt I was no longer worthy of being its wielder. The battle against the Titans made me realize many things, and it was a battle I won't forget...
As the Great Toad Sage and I met up with the Giant Toad deep into the forest, the large toad was shocked to see what he believed to be some sort of abomination trespassing on the Sacred Mountain. I had to ensure him that I was only human, although that was bending the truth a bit. He hadn't even heard of the term "human" before, and I realized that this place had to be vastly undiscovered by men. Reaching his head down, the Giant Toad let both the Great Toad Sage and myself to climb on to it, which was quite ironic being that I had already been seated meditating on his head for three whole days, two years ago... But I didn't want to mention that fact now. We then began to walk deeper into the mountain as we came upon a great lake where the Giant Toad told us he had been fending off the few Titans that had appeared, stating that he's been the guardian of the Sacred Mountain since the dawn of time, and that this lake seemed to act like some type of portal for them to come through. I pondered on the fact, before I then asked him if he could do anything else than using his sword in battle. Looking curiously at me, rolling his eyeballs upwards to get a better view of me, he wondered what I meant. 'Yeah I mean, like Ninjutsu or Genjutsu??' I boasted, thinking that my powers alone would really be enough to bring an end to the Titans, even if this was one huge toad with one huge sword on his back. He paused for a bit, then he told me he could utilize Genjutsu, the strongest the world had ever seen. I looked baffled at him; surely he was bluffing? A toad that could use Genjutsu? At this point of time, even I was a master at Genjutsu, far outranking that of Hamura's. So if the Giant Toad was telling the truth, I was indeed looking forward to seeing it tested out in battle. It did turn out to only be a hoax however, as in the heat of the battle, the Giant Toad began croaking loudly, and as we all expected the Titans to fall in some type of Genjutsu, it seemed like it only made them angrier. The Giant Toad had mistaken Genjutsu for something else, and it didn't really help our case. He did seem deadly and skilled with the blade however, fighting fiercely with the Titans, but he did indeed also seem a bit clumsy at times. Luckily, the Titans themselves were not that good at coordination, as they tended to strike out at each other more often than not during the battle. As for now however, everything seemed quiet and peaceful as the three of us were looking out on the lake in front of us. 'This is it.' He then suddenly said as I paid close attention, but seemingly nothing happened. It did not take long however before the whole earth began shaking and a huge tsunami came our way. The Giant Toad immediately realized that the Titans were approaching as he prepared himself for the incoming attack. Maybe I had somehow underestimated the Titans' strength? This upcoming battle could be some fun after all, I thought to myself...
As the tsunami approached us, the Great Toad Sage quickly covered behind me as I prepared myself to hold on tightly onto the Giant Toad's head, as he leaped through the air and out of harm's way. Landing on top of the water, and literally standing there without sinking through- something which I thought only I could do, we then waited patiently, as the water began to act wildly all around us once more, as the Nine Titans began to appear, one by one. Three of them surfaced from deep under the sea, three others came walking from the other side of the lake, and finally, the three last came flying in and landed on top of a mountain each, before they went airborne again. What scared me the most wasn't their numbers or their looks. What scared me was their size... I couldn't even begin to grasp it, or how they had lived undetected in this world. Each one of them was approximately four times as big as the Jubi and the Giant Toad were... Now I understood the concern and the seriousness of the situation, and I knew I would have to pull my act together. Even with the power of the Jubi and the Rinnegan, I had to be utmost careful if I wished to survive this. Some of these creatures represented animals that lived in the world, but some of them represented myths that I had only heard about existing in the great past. When I had met with Naruto at the top of the Three Wolves Mountain seven years ago, I had been confronted by a Genjutsu of a dragon that Naruto had said to have encountered in the past. Well, the creatures now standing before me couldn't even compare to that puny thing...
Before us floated, stood and gravitated one Giant Octopus, one Giant Killer-Whale, one that looked like a Sea Dragon-Worm-like creature, one that resembled what was believed to be a Giant Dinosaur called the T-Rex, one Giant creature that seemed to be a combination of an Elephant and a Rhino, one foul Mountain Troll, one Dragon made up of the same material as the Sun , one Dragon made up of Freezing Ice, and finally, a Dragon that was so huge it was bigger than the rest of the Airborne Titans. It had six heads, one of each resembling the elements of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning and Yin-Yang, and stationed on top of its back, was a smaller dragon, just below the size of the Jubi, that possessed all these elements altogether, being a separate part of the same dragon. This Dragon was called the Six-Headed Elemental Dragon, with its counterpart, the Six Elements Dragon. The Nine Titans were indeed fearful. For the first time since the fight with the Jubi, I begun to question if I could even pull this battle off...
For five days the battle raged on, and already on the first day did I realize that I had to rely upon anything I had learned in the past two years. I did manage to temporarily take down one of the Titans by my own doing, but eventually as the battle progressed, they all ended up merging together and thus took on their final form, a Deformed Version that towered ten times the size of the Jubi. In response to this, I was left with only one option... Using the Jubi's full power to access my Ultimate Combination of Chakra and Sage mode, a mode that covered my entire body in glowing chakra armor and made me stand almost as tall as the Deformed Titan itself. This mode had two swords in its possession, one that resembled the Master Sword, and another that I called the Sword of Nunoboko, a sword I had imagined to help me shape the world if so needed. In this mode I could even fly around in the air. In addition to this, I then went on to summon one of my new inventions that I had come up with as a defense mechanism in case something like the Jubi would ever rise again. Its size rivaled the size of the Deformed Titan, and I had named this summoning the God of War, which was the very same title that belonged to Kenshin Uesugi during the past war, a title I had been inspired to name my creation after. The God of war was made up of some type of metal that was more or less unbreakable, as it looked like some type of a living statue of a god. On its back a sword that resembled the lightsaber of the Jedi and Sith was stationed, but that wasn't the most fearful weapon it had. In its left hand, it possessed the unbreakable shield of the Yata Mirror; in its right hand, the Sword of Totsuka. Two spiritual items I had created to compensate for the lack of mobility that the Five Treasured Tools had. This was my ultimate power, proof that I had become complete. The Titans however could not be sealed inside the Sword of Totsuka nor destroyed by the Sword of Nunoboko for some reason, as no matter how much on a particle-based level I pulverized them, they instantly seemed to regenerate back together, and that ability was present even before they merged into one being. I knew I would have to rely on something else than raw power in order to defeat them. I knew that the longer this battle kept going in this world, the more the Earth was at risk. I was only left with one choice...
I had to seal them away from this world, so I clapped my hands together and preformed the Timeless-Space Transfer Technique, that took both me, the God of War and the Deformed Titan to the Underworld itself, and by doing so, I kept the Giant Toad and the Great Toad Sage out of harm's way. I knew however that in order to keep the Deformed Titan here and to maintain the seal on the dimension, I would have to leave the Master Sword behind to keep the seal intact. Therefore, I transformed the Underworld to my own desire, recreated the same place where I had found the Master Sword all those years ago, in here, and then I placed the Master Sword to rest in this new Pedestal of Time. Thus, I was transported out of the Underworld and the Titans had been defeated, to forever roam the realm of the Underworld. The Master Sword would forever be lost in this dimension however, until someone could find a way to access my powers in the future and claim it, just like Naruto had told me would happen, or rather, just like he had told me it would go down when I would be resurrected after my death to fight him. I could already begin to imagine how his life would be when he was to be born. The things he had to do and the things I would have entrusted to him by then. A part of me knew I would see him in the future like he had told me, a part of me knew I would one day return to the Underworld Dimension again. To make matters even more spectacular, I had also left a seal on each of the Nine Titans' neck, that would enable me to summon and control them in battle if that ever turned out to be necessary, although I knew an event like that would most likely not happen in the foreseeable future. For now, the peace had been kept once more. For the first time in ages, I was beyond exhausted. I never managed to fully recover from that battle. It had cost too much, and the result of exposing my body to such extreme limits had taken a lot of life-force away from me... As I transported out of the Underworld Dimension, I landed on top of the Giant Toad's head out in the outside world, breathing heavily. I had given everything of my new powers in that battle; I had truly maxed out my potential. Having a small break as I conversed with the Giant Toad and the Great Toad Sage, the Giant Toad found my nature, the nature of humans, to be very strange, and I could feel that even though we had been united in the battle against the Titans and won, he somehow despised me. Maybe despise wasn't the right word, maybe he actually had started to fear me. How such a small creature like I could possess the power to destroy the entire world if I wanted to...
As for the future with my final hours upon me, I plan to divide the Jubi into Nine Beasts so that the world may know its peace. I own the Jubi that much... This idea, actually comes from the Nine Titans, as they too seemed to be part of each other once in time like their merged Deformed Version showed me. Maybe they too split up into Nine Titans for survival purposes, and only came together to achieve ultimate power. That seems to be the most reasonable thing to do with the Jubi as well... In time, someone might get to use those Titans as summons like I intended, but time ran away from me and I never got to truly test that out... I can only wonder what their true nature and purpose is, but I will leave finding that out in your capable hands my children... This tale is approaching its end, but there are still things left to be told in order to fully prepare you for the future...
Fun Facts & Author's Note:
1: For most parts this chapter went in real time but some of you might have expected me to actually portray the full fight against the Titans in full details as well, which would have made this one big chapter indeed. There are two reasons to why I didn't, but instead only did it in passing really.
- The first one is that I already did the fight against the Titans spreading across several chapters in my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Returns, 2 years ago, and the idea to have Hagoromo fighting the Titans came from that time, so I didn't feel like repeating the same fight over, because it would essentially have been the same fight (but with Hagoromo instead of Naruto). With the Jubi however, I got to portray it on a different scale since I barely had it emerge for half a short chapter back in TLSoK Returns, so that was more justified. It made more sense since a lot of plot-points (with the Samurai, the Otsutsuki clan and Hamura and Bruce) sort of needed a conclusion, while with the Titans, it was basically only Hagoromo and them.
- The second reason is that after sealing away the Jubi and practicing his new powers, Hagoromo has more or less achieved his full potential. Sure it could be fun to display that "on screen," but honestly I felt that the excitement of just showing off a large-scale battle with fancy techniques and power-ups, didn't seem that interesting with how this story has progressed so far; to me at least. Hagoromo as the Underdog having to come up with strategy and rely on his comrades was always a better theme for this story than to just portray him as a powerhouse (that also made it more original too as well). For battles like that, I think The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series fitted and fits better as a medium. This story was never about complexed Ninjutsu anyways, while TLSoK was all about that basically. Not sure if you agree or not, as I suspect some of the new readers that wasn't with me back in 2013 would have liked to see more of these Titans, then again, I'm not too sure (you can always go back, but I doubt you will, haha). I think my old readers might agree though, as this revisiting to the past was also part of a nostalgic trip that made sense. I already planned out this part of the chapter two years ago, so I only wrote it based on notes I penned down back then. And finally as an addition to those two reasons, I could blame time and focus as well, being that I'm closing in on the end of this story, and need to decide what "events" to focus more on than the others...
2: You can call it a coincident, but this chapter portrays Winter for the first time in this story (on a world-wide scale at least), and perhaps also even for the first time in any of the stories I've written within the Timeline. Not because Winter didn't fit the scenery, but perhaps because the idea never hit me. Ironically, as I got this idea, snow began to drop to the ground where I live and it is in fact covered in snow now like Hagoromo describes it to be here in this chapter.
3: Did you know that Hagoromo and Naruto shares something in common except all the talk about destiny and their power? They've both lost their arm only to have it replaced or reattached, and they both also fought the Jubi and the Titans...
4: It is greatly hinted at in this chapter that the Sanada clan who lives by the Three Wolves Mountain in what will eventually be known as the Land of Iron, is the ancestors to the Samurai Mifune are leading in the 4th Great Shinobi War. So in a way, you could say that Mifune is a descendant of Yukimura.
5: The Great Toad Sage makes his appearance here in addition to the Giant Toad. Not really sure what else to add to that, but it's probably the first time in 2 years that I've used the character of the Great Toad Sage again. Last time I used him in my story was with his death back at the end of TLSoK Returns, which feels like forever ago.
6: At first I was thinking of just writing most of the latter part of the chapter as a short sum up from what I could remember about the Titans, but as I finished it, I realized that the chapter was only this lengthy because of the other scenes, and that it ended up becoming a bit uninspiring. So even if I wasn't going to portray the whole fight, I figured I would actually go back and re-read chapter 17-23 of Returns to fresh my mind up. Little did I remember that those chapters contained the largest scaled battle in the history of the Timeline. Not only was Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths resurrected and transported Naruto to the Underworld Dimension, but Naruto also had to fight the Titans themselves while having to deal with Hagoromo. And not to forget, Naruto himself had gained the power of the Jubi at the time, so it was essentially the Sage of Six Paths vs the Sage of Six Paths xD At the time I went overboard with what I invented for each character's arsenal, and I had completely forgotten that I gave Hagoromo the Rasenringu and the Dai Rasenringu, the attacks Naruto's counterpart Menma uses in Road to Ninja xD Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense. If Naruto had sort of used Hagoromo's body in TLSoSP to preform the Rasengan and the RasenShuriken, it would make sense for Hagoromo to develop his own version of it later on... But that was only one of many things I rediscovered. Like Naruto's Flying Thunder God being on a level I couldn't even think I had pushed him to, and ridicules techniques like the Reaper Seal Rasengan and the Super Nova Element xD All this also made me realize some of the things I actually predicted right for the manga, like the Mini-RasenShuriken (albeit in a different form/version), and the content of the scroll that Suigetsu and Jugo found which would release the trapped Hokages from the Reaper Death God. Still can't believe I predicted that one correctly, although I did have Kabuto summoning them instead of Orochimaru, and also had some other summons as well.
7: The titans, being 4 times the size of the Jubi for most parts, are so big that one of the troll's nails alone is 100 meters long (this was stated in one of those chapters detailing the fight against the Titans in Returns) xD And that is before they merge into the deformed combined form that is 10 times the Jubi's size X__x...
8: Here's two facts from one of those chapters in TLSoK Returns detailing the events of Naruto's fight with the Sage and his Titans which I feel like sharing (quite interesting to re-read now at this stage actually):
"- Something that occurred to me while writing these chapters, that may have made you guys wonder. I've stated several times through the two last chapters, that there are nine Titans... If you've been paying attention, you might have realized that it's actually ten (the Troll, The Elephant-Rhino, the T-Rex, the Octopus, the Killer-Whale, the Sea Dragon-Worm, the Moon Dragon, the Sun Dragon, the Six Headed Elemental Dragon and the Six Elements Dragon), and the reason to why they say nine and not ten in the chapters, is because the two elemental dragons are actually one being, but split in two. Like a shadow clone you could say or how the nine tailed beasts co-exist within the Jubi in my FF, where the Six Elements Dragon is a smaller version of the Six Headed Elemental Dragon."
And...
"- As I've been writing the last two chapters, I've become more and more eager to write the FF about the Sage of Six Paths, that I've been planing ever since I got the idea back in Chapter 7 of this sequel (it's the FF I'm going to do once I'm done with this series). That's also one of the reason to why I'm trying to show as little about his story and such as I can, because I will be basing that FF a lot on his life."
The later note is actually interesting to read now that I'm almost done with this Series. It seems like the ideas for writing the story/prequel about the Sage, actually developed as late as December 2012, and not in 2011 as I've been saying at some occasions. I think I might be mixing up some of my stories here, as the idea for the Western Collaboration and Three Kingdoms came to me in 2011, together with some other ideas...
9: To round things off, I hope the latter part of the chapter was as cool to read as it felt writing it, especially after doing a ton of research on my old work to make things more smooth and interesting. Now that I got a chance to rewrite how things went down with the Titans and with Hagoromo's ultimate powers, everything else seems to pale in difference. Sure I had Naruto access the same type of powers in The Legendary Sage of Konoha, but comparing all this to the manga/anime, it seems kind of overboard. The final RikudoSennin-Bijou-Mode as I pictured it, is sort of like Sasuke's "Indra Susano-Mode," only that it's glowing in orange chakra like Naruto's mode, and is probably 50 times bigger xD I don't even know how big Sasuke's Indra mode is, but yeah xD Comment, rate, tell me what you think, analyze, discuss, theorize, criticize and give me you thoughts, and I'll catch you whenever that will be
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- How it all began, the Tale of The Sage of Six Paths Begins!
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- Massacre
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- The Master Sword & The Great Wizard
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- As Destiny had Foretold, the First Jutsu Emerges
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- Showdown
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- The Otsutsuki Clan
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- One's Destiny Bestowed, The Wizard's Final Lesson As The Samurai Clans Assembles
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- The Tower of Death Part 1; A Test of Power, Courage & Wisdom - The Game Begins!
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- The Tower of Death Part 2; Fist of Legend
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- The Tower of Death Part 3; The Point of No Return
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- The Tower of Death Part 4; An Old Nemesis Returns
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- The Jubi Emerges Part 1
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-
The Jubi Emerges
Part 2The Legendary Sage of Six Paths, Chapter 14;
The Rise of the Titans:
I should have died that day using that technique, but I didn't...
Maybe I had been reborn?
Maybe I was just in some trance or alternative reality, wandering between life and death?
I couldn't tell time nor space, but I was certain I was dead...
Maybe I had been reborn?
Maybe I was just in some trance or alternative reality, wandering between life and death?
I couldn't tell time nor space, but I was certain I was dead...
In all honesty, perhaps I even deserved to die. I couldn't escape death however, as I woke up three weeks after the battle had ended. I didn't know how I had survived at the time, but the only thing I could think of that made sense was that with the Jubi now residing within my body, my life had somehow been prolonged. Somehow, the Jubi had kept me and was still keeping me alive. As I woke up, I realized that I was back home, but there was no one around but me. Trea was probably out doing some errands I reckoned, as I forced myself back up on my feet, picking up a wooden cane that stood beside the fireplace that had kept the house warmed up while Trea was gone. Walking slowly over to a window, I noticed that things had changed outside. By now, winter had fallen upon and across the land, as the ground was covered entirely in snow. I remembered now... It began to snow right before I passed out. Thinking back, I had a hard time gathering my thoughts as only vague memories crossed my mind. Some flashes here and there; not only of the actual battle, but as I was passing out as well. I remembered Hamura screaming out at me that he couldn't lose me as well, that I couldn't die here, not like this. How would he explain my sacrifice to Trea? How would he and Bruce be able to go on and lead the clan without me? As the flashes began to diminish, I could suddenly remember the Jubi's voice talking to me, but I couldn't remember the details of what we had talked about but I knew, I knew that the voice had no longer belonged to my mother... The Jubi had its own consciousness now. I had revived everyone that had died in the battle against Kaguya, believing that I could go my own route, my own path – Away from the one that had been forced upon me. Refusing to believe that whenever I revived someone with my power, disaster would strike, especially if I put my own life on the line in doing so. I had decided that I would save the people I could with my power, and not think about the consequences...
Little did I know however that like how everything was supposed to be predetermined, even that choice of mine was, even if I did the complete opposite thing of what was expected of me. Like how the Jubi's curse had fallen upon us, another curse would soon arise from the shadows and the ashes of war. You see, if I hadn't revived the fallen Samurai and Otsutsuki clan members, the Titans would not have come to be, or so I've been lead to believe in the more recent years. Fate can be a cruel and unexplainable thing, but there was no way I could foresee these events unfolding back then. By now however, I've come to the same conclusion that Naruto himself had begun to believe in. That was probably the reason behind the last words he ever spoke to me about whatever he ended up doing, it didn't really matter because the final outcome would still be the same in the end. Even with different choices, the end result wouldn't differ. At the time however, I was still clueless on what to come as I still had trouble remembering anything from the final moments when the Jubi was sealed away. As I kept looking at the snow that fell to the ground outside, Trea suddenly came in the door. And she was immensely surprised and glad to see me up and walking...
It had been a long while since we had talked as much as we did that night. About everything that had happened and everything that the future could hold in store for us all. She did worry about the responsibility I had taken upon me and what it all really meant however, as she laid her eyes upon the Rinnegan that I now possessed for the very first time. She couldn't even begin to grasp how something could be sealed away inside of me, but she reassured me that her feelings wouldn't change even if my appearance did. I almost laughed when she said that, but at least now I was certain. I told her everything would be fine however, as I felt more positive and more motivated than I had been in a long time, to make things happen. It finally felt like I now had the power I needed to help dismantle hatred entirely and for good in this world, but I knew it would still take a lot of time and effort in order to do so, and I had to be careful not to use my new power to force things through fear and corruption, the way Kaguya had planned to use it. The official alliance between the Samurai clans had fallen in place immediately after the battle had ended, almost as soon as they had come back to their senses after being revived, and thus, things were looking promising once more. All this happened while I was asleep, and soon it would only be a matter of time before the much talked about alliance between the Samurai and the Otsutsuki clan could recommence as well, like it first had been started all those years ago when Kaguya was promised away to my father, Nobunaga, to help seal the deal back then. As the night grew darker, Trea told me that an Otsutsuki clan meeting was about to find place in two days' time, as both Hamura and Bruce had been preparing for it for a few days already. 'A meeting about what??' I asked her, but she didn't know much of the details. Whatever it was, I knew it was important so I figured I would stop by to let everyone know that I was okay and to catch up on the latest news. As the two days went rapidly by, I had already contacted Hamura who knew I was coming. At the Winter Palace of our grandparents' old hiding place, high up in the snowy mountain, the first real Otsutsuki clan meeting in generations took place. We had a lot to discuss indeed...
There weren't a lot of us present at that meeting, but those of us that were there represented what now were the divided factions of the clan. No one knew for certain what or who to believe in anymore, as the events of Kaguya's corruption and the outbreak of the Jubi were just another of many blows to the clan's solidarity and functionality up through history. Who could lead the clan now and make the important decisions that had to be made when so needed? Did we all still desire the same thing? Could another member of the clan arise to seek control of the land? Who could be trusted with the responsibility? Was it even for the best that the clan stayed connected as one, or would it be better if the different factions of the clan went their own ways, like how the different Samurai clans were separated but still remained a part of an alliance? Was it even for the better that the clan remained on Earth, or would it be better if we left it all together to seek out a new home elsewhere, in order to prevent another corruption from happening amongst us? So many questions to be answered, and still that didn't bring into question the biggest questions of them all... What would I do now that I possessed the Jubi's powers? What would be done with the seal that had trapped the husk of the Jubi inside the new moon? Who would guard it to make sure no one else tried to access that power in the future? I could see that the other members were uncertain, not only about these questions, but especially towards my intent as well. Even if I had put my life on the line to revive them all, it begged the question if I could still see clear with all my new powers. One of them that brought this into questioning, of all people, was Hamura himself. Not because he wanted to, but because he felt it was needed. At the time, it was as if the members of the meeting split in two. Hamura and those who meant that such power should not be used, regardless for good or not, and those who thought we could benefit from it, like Bruce and I. Just the fact that I couldn't get Hamura to agree with me was a severe blow to my confidence. I simply couldn't go on with my new vision if I couldn't get my own brother to see my way, not after everything that had happened. The whole thing resulted in that neither one of us wanted to continue the meeting, as we both sat down and looked as if almost devastated. But in all honesty, I did feel devastated. Maybe the loss, or rather, the betrayal of our mother had finally caught up to the two of us? The decisions we'd had to make in order to keep order and peace in the land... Even as battle-hardened as I was, I simply couldn't ignore the things that had had to be done. I wanted to make sure that things like this never happened again, but without my brother's support, how could I? If this ended in the clan splitting in half, there was no way we could establish a real lasting alliance with the Samurai clans. Maybe things weren't as straight forward as I thought or liked to think. Maybe we really had to come to some sort of a compromise where we could meet each other on the halfway in order to make things happen...
As the two of us remained silent, the other Otsutsuki clan members present began discussing things between themselves, but it was more of a chaotic affair than a reasonable discussion. Indeed, even if the Otsutsuki clan was still pretty big when it came to number of clan members, most of them did "still" find either Hamura or I, or even Bruce for that matter, to be the natural leader in Kaguya's stead, to be her successor. Not that no one else wanted to take up position, but because the ruling of our clan had been in our family-line for generations. Maybe that's what was causing all the trouble? Maybe someone else needed to take up lead amongst us? I then finally decided to speak again as I brought this into questioning, but none of those present expressed their thoughts regarding this. I then stood up as I asked them why there needed to be a leader in the first place, and if the clan really needed to be guided forward in the time and era we now lived in. Hamura didn't respond to this but I could sense that he agreed with me. One of the other elderly members present then rose to his feet as well as he laid out how our clan had always been ruled by our family, that even if the recent years might have been for the worse, it was our ancestors that assembled and created the clan in the first place, back on our home planet after the incident of the Divine Tree there. Obviously the man knew a bit more of our history than I did, so I decided to listen further to see what he had to say...
Going on about our apparent disagreement, he proposed that even if a leader was elected, he or she didn't need to have absolute power. Why were we else having a meeting like this in the first place? If a natural and rightful heir to the leadership was what everyone thought was needed, this meeting wouldn't need to take place at all, as either Hamura, Bruce or I would naturally assume the role and decide that amongst ourselves. He was right, but I wasn't sure what to say to this as I sat down again. Bruce then rose to his feet as he decided to act as a middle-man. Even though he agreed with my views, he found it weird that neither Hamura nor I wanted to lead the meeting further simply because we couldn't fully agree with each other, when the two of us were the highest likely candidates to lead the clan in the future. At that point of time it felt like I lost a bit of interest in what was happening. Sure, this meeting would settle things here and now, but my mind was already set on the future and thus the present. I wanted to help fix things in the long run, and that was what I needed to focus on, what was really important. All this back and forth discussing seemed somewhat reluctant and pointless to me, and sensing this, Bruce questioned my apparent lack of attitude towards what was now taking place before me. Realizing that I had to pull myself together and act serious, I spoke once more...
'What are we really doing here? I mean, if we are to just select a new leader of the clan and be done with it, I suggest that Hamura takes up charge over the clan. He's the natural choice due to his great intellect and knowledge, knowing more about the clan than I do, and also due to having spent more time with Kaguya than anyone else. If anyone knows what needs to be done, it is him. That doesn't mean that I can't continue to go my own path, to do what I think needs to be done in order to maintain this peace however. Besides, we need to get the alliance with the Samurai through if we are ever to secure this peace in the first place...' Silence filled the room for a while as Hamura then stood up to his feet again. 'Well you are right about the latter, but I am not sure if I'm the right choice to lead. Clearly you are the one with the bigger ambition between us brother, and someone needs to guard the moon and the seal. Someone needs to guard the gateway and the Shrine of the Beast...' Once more people began chattering amongst themselves, as some people agreed that since I possessed the power of the Jubi, it was natural that I became the new leader, while others once more expressed concern that if I became the leader, I would hold too much power and might decide to use that power to my own benefit, like Kaguya had tried to. 'The Shrine of the Beast...' I mumbled. After the Jubi had been sealed away and hurled into space, a gateway that allowed access to the new moon from Earth, had been created. With it, one could travel back and forth between Earth and the moon and thereby making sure that the seal on the husk of the Jubi remained safe. I knew Hamura was right about this, but I also knew that whoever decided to go to the moon to safekeep the seal, would have to remain there indefinitely...
'At least we should get that out of the way first before deciding anything else.' Hamura followed up. 'I suggest that if Hagoromo is to take control over the clan here on earth, I can take charge over those that decide to come with me to the moon. This way, the clan will always have two leaders, this way, we can keep both this world and the moon safe. Since there's a lot more work to be done here on earth, it is only natural that Hagoromo takes up lead down here, if he's to use his powers to shape a peaceful land like he wishes...' I was unsure why he suddenly had changed his mind like that, but I knew that he meant business. 'Why you Hamura? Why do you have to go to the moon?' 'Let's face it... The Otsutsuki clan doesn't belong here on Earth, at least not for the most parts. Wherever we go, trouble is sure to follow. You have a human wife here who you obviously can't leave...' More and more clan members began to reason and agree with what Hamura had said, but I couldn't simply let him go like that. 'I know what you are thinking Hagoromo, but it is for the better this way. If I can't believe in my own brother to do the right thing, I suppose no one in the Otsutsuki clan can ever truly be trusted. I believe that your time here on Earth, growing up away from the clan's reach, has made you who you are now, and thus with everything you've been through and the decisions you've made, I am certain that you will not break like our mother did, no matter what happens. I can see that now...' I almost felt like tearing up when he said that, but I didn't know what to say in return. 'Well if Hamura is going, I suppose I will go too...' Bruce then concluded, and I was even more surprised to hear that coming from him, knowing how much he enjoyed himself here, on Earth...
He told me that it was more a matter of responsibility than what one wanted, and that if the Jubi's husk was to break free, we needed as much firepower as we could get there on the moon to fight it. 'Besides Hagoromo, you can always visit, although I think it would be for the better if we seal off the gate permanently after our departure. That way, even if the husk of the Jubi somehow breaks free and we fail to stop it, it can't reach Earth.' 'But Hamura-...' 'No buts brother... If you are to have your way, here on Earth, at least let me have mine. In doing so, we both get our way, and a compromise has been made between us with our differences being set aside. That is the only reasonable thing to do. I will take charge of the clan on the moon, while you will begin your work here on Earth to build a truly peaceful land...' His words had moved me to such a degree that I stood up and walked over to him, hugging him as hard as I could. 'I will not keep this power all by myself and I will not turn to corruption like our mother did, I promise you. I have a plan to restore balance in the world that will maintain the peace for generations to come. The Sect of Peace should be ready for bigger and more defining tasks now, and to operate on a bigger scale to further its teachings throughout the entire world. I will change its purpose from being a mere lecture of peace, to have it as a guiding-way to resolute balance and harmony. I will rename it to a more fitting name and set it to purpose...'
Indeed... The founding bricks for "Ninshu," the Shinobi Sect, had been laid. One of many mistakes I ended up doing, although it wasn't without its worth. As the meeting came to an end and the time to bid farewell slowly approached, it was decided that about 90 percent of the clan would travel to the moon to safeguard the seal there. I was only one of seven Otsutsuki who remained on Earth amongst the clan, as the six others that also stayed behind, spread out throughout the land and established their own creeds over the coming years, to help further my work to as many as possible. Like Hamura had promised, the gateway was sealed off and that-... Was the last time I ever saw my brother and cousin, and the rest of the clan...
As the weeks went by and a new year came upon us, the alliance had finally been fully established, even though most of the Otsutsuki clan members had traveled with Hamura to the moon. In a way though, I was still part of the Sanada clan, and Danivass was still their leader, so I wasn't all alone. Like I had promised Hamura, I began my work to spread out not only my updated teachings, but to connect everyone in the world with each other as well, so that we all could understand what we all felt deep down in our hearts and thus prevent future misunderstanding between us – Just like Trea's father had taught me would be the key. Chakra eventually spread out to all men, and the "Era of the Samurai" came to an end. One clan remained diligent to the teaching of the Samurai however, the clan who now once more lived not too far away from the Three Wolves Mountain; a land that soon would become a Land of Iron. The clan that remained and focused on this teaching to secure an alternative way of moving forward, was the noble Sanada Clan, while everyone else that my Sect and I came across, accepted this new way, this new power and teaching to see the world in a peaceful yet different way. Not that the Sanada clan didn't want to be a part of it or accept my chakra, because they did, they just thought it would be better if not everyone used their chakra to the extent we were. This way, they could act as a neutral third-party and a fail-safe that would make sure people didn't use their access to chakra for selfish desires, like the Otsutsuki clan had once did when they awakened the chakra back when it all started on our home planet. While "Shinobi" focused on using their chakra to keep people's bonds alive and to further evolution, the "Samurai of the Sanada" would focus more on using their chakra for spiritual and idealistic ideas and forms of teachings...
There was one thing I couldn't get out of my head as I had begun my new work however, something that the Grandmaster had told me during my stay with him three years ago. Like I mentioned not long ago, he had told me that; "In order to create a truly peaceful world, we must bury the one built on samurai warfare. It must be done in such a way that makes it clear to one and all. However, I fear that only something extraordinary can help the world towards this peaceful existence, and it's up to you to find out what that answer is for yourself." Ironically, the Jubi's rise had helped the land realize this and had in a sense buried the ways of the Samurai for good with the Samurai's total destruction, which in turn, had united the land after I had revived them all. By being the villain whom we had to join forces together to fight against, Kaguya had unintentionally united the different clans, both Samurai and Otsutsuki, which always was our goal. The only way I knew that it wasn't her plan all along to do this, was that she had gone on her way to kill us all, and was only stopped with a final desperate move. If it was her plan all along to unite us, she wouldn't have tried to kill us all like she did. I figured it was a share coincident that had helped pawed a way for a new era of peace, but I still found it a bit strange thinking back on it. Maybe the Grandmaster, being a creation of Naruto himself, knew all of this would happen?? Maybe that's what he meant when he said it was for me to find out...
As my teachings spread out, the Shinobi Sect helped me divide my powers so that everyone could share a portion of it, and thus, peace and balance were restored to the land. Now that we all were connected, we could sense each others' feelings and understand not only our true selves, but each other as well, without the need for dialogue or communication. In a way, I had found a path that enabled me to teach others the telepathic abilities of the Otsutsuki clan, only it now worked on a much grander and more complexed stage. This way, all the power in the land wouldn't be situated with one person and the need for greed or arrogance would be avoided. Another Kaguya would be prevented, and as long as peace thrived, another Divine Tree would not sprout. I had finally realized my lifelong goal, and thus the world was saved... But now that I look back, I had been naive, too trusting in men and that people would see my way in the long run, that they were ready. Another war didn't break out in generations, but already soon thereafter had men begun to experiment with this new power that they had been given, and that is how the teachings of Ninshu which I wanted to spread, eventually once more became the weaponized form of Ninjutsu. I fear that this world will only continue to evolve with this new way of using chakra, like how we Otsutsuki ended up evolving, and in time, peace might be broken again. That is why I believe that I need to entrust my legacy to you my sons, in order for you to maintain the peace if it comes down to it and to make sure that never happens...
For the time being however, things seemed to be working out as I had imagined. Even if I had shared my power back then, the Jubi was still part of me and its resources were almost infinitive. Like Naruto had told me, there would be another event after the Jubi which would require my attention, and I was soon to be forced to rely on the power of the Jubi once again. As I was wandering the land and furthering my teachings, connecting with new people every day, I also made sure that I continued my practice, so that I would be as strong as I needed to be once the day would come. I needed to be prepared, so that I wouldn't be caught off guard again when it happened. People wouldn't die again because I had been careless or naive, so in the time to come, training in addition to traveling to spread my teachings and to connect more people through chakra, were the only two things on my mind. One day however, after having wandered far and long away from home, I eventually came across this magical wasteland like none other...
The place I had stumbled across would eventually one day be known as Mt. Myobokuzan, a place that inhabited all sorts of creatures; both big and small. Venturing deep into a great and magical forest, and thus even further into this mysterious land, I eventually came upon a toad that was so big, it almost rivaled the size of the Jubi itself. On his back he had a long sword that was almost the same length as him, and his entire presence felt different than anything I had felt before. Like he somehow possessed chakra, like he somehow was more than just an animal. I was baffled to see such a creature living in this world, unopposed, undiscovered. Spying on him for a bit, I decided to follow him to see where he would go. The longer I kept track on him, the more I realized that he had an almost human-like nature. He even talked to himself at times as he was wandering around. But was he friendly, or was his nature more like that of the Jubi? It was then as I was about to approach him, that the Jubi spoke to me for the first time since I had passed out after reviving everyone, only this time, I actually remembered and understood what he said. What I did realize thought was that the Jubi's mind was created when I sealed its chakra inside myself, so in other words, it did not exist before then. I tried explaining how the Divine Tree had come to be, and how it supposedly had sprouted on other planets as well in the past, but it had no idea what I was talking about. As our conversation kept going, the Jubi then suddenly urged me to jump on top of the Giant Toad's head, much to my surprise. Not seeing a reason not to, I did as he said as I landed on top of the toad unnoticed. The Jubi told me to sit down and study its behavior, to learn more about this mythical land, and so I did. For three days, I remained undetected by the Giant Toad, as I eventually jumped off its head and wandered back inside the forest. A part of me wanted to say hello, but another part of me urged me to leave this land and its mythical creatures to themselves, untouched. Coming out on the other side, back the way I had come from, I eventually came across an old looking temple by the outskirt of the forest, a temple that I had failed to see on my way in. It was then as I was entering this temple that the Jubi spoke to me once more and told me to clap my hands together. At this point of time I couldn't even begin to figure out the Jubi's intent nor its opinion of good and evil. It was as if it was only talking to me whenever it felt like it...
Again not seeing a reason not to do as it suggested, I did as the Jubi told me once more as my mind suddenly went on a roller-coaster of a journey. In the next moment, I realized that my right hand was pointing towards the ground, and underneath it, a small toad had appeared. I was shocked as I fell on my back, realizing that I had in fact not just summoned a toad, I had created one. The toad seemed to think that I was his mother, as he jumped at me. I couldn't understand it, how could I create a toad out of thin air like that, that also totally somehow had skipped its infant stage? Was this similar to how Naruto had created the Grandmaster? After all, I did possess some of the same power he had now... The Jubi then told me that I had channeled the Giant Toad's DNA that I had been absorbing for the last three days, something I hadn't even realized that I had been doing, and made this toad through the new power I now possessed, and thus also transferred some of my will, life-force, power, wisdom and knowledge into this creature. All this was a lot to dig in at the time... He then suggested that I should come up with a name, as I thought long and hard on what I would call it. As the small toad was jumping up and down in front of me, it finally struck me. Why would the Jubi of all beings have me do this? And this Toad and this place... Didn't it all seem familiar somehow? As I pondered about this, something from the past came to mind, something that Naruto, yet again, had told me. He had mentioned a mythical place called Mt. Myobokuzan and someone called the Great Toad Sage, someone that had guided him in his younger days with his prophecies. Naruto had also told me as he left that he had left me with some of his life-force, in addition to the one Hylia had bestowed upon me, both of which I would one day utilize to create the Great Toad Sage. I knew that this had to be it, it had to be him he was talking about, the toad in front of me. So I did indeed name him just that, the "Great Toad Sage", and I knew he would come in handy for generations to come, even for Naruto himself one day. In a way, the life-force Naruto had received from the Great Toad Sage was now given back to him, and thus the circle was completed. If what he told me was correct, this toad would live on for a thousand years...
The Jubi then went on to tell me that I could summon this toad whenever I wanted from this magical place, but that he should remain here in the meantime. Once more I questioned the motives of the Jubi and how it even knew all this, but it was as if the Jubi was life itself, like it knew things beyond the realm of understanding. The toad seemed indifferent with me having to leave him behind at first, but he soon got saddened as I was about to leave the temple. I told him to remain here and grow stronger, and that I would return one day when the time was right. He then asked me what this place was called, and after thinking long and hard again, I decided to name it "Mountain Myobokuzan," just like Naruto had told me, and then I named the toad the ruler of this place. Naruto had made sure not to leave a single important detail out of it, and little did I know that this event would indeed be very important for future endeavors. Leaving Mt. Myobokuzan, I decided to head back home...
Remembering about the Great Toad Sage and Mt. Myobokuzan had also reminded me of the last event Naruto had told me about that would happen in the future after the Jubi had emerged, the last challenge I would have to face. I knew there and then that I had to master my powers quickly, as the "Titans," as he had called them, would soon rise. Two years then passed by as the inhabitants of the world had been more connected with each other and the land more peaceful than what it perhaps ever had been. And even better, things were finally working out on the home front as well. Yes you guessed it, Trea was pregnant with child, and it would only be a matter of time before you were born, Indra... We were both 35 years old at the time, and even if things could get complicated with age, I couldn't be happier. At the same time however, I was informed by the Great Toad Sage who now had grown immensely over the past two years, that a strange phenomenal was happening on Mt. Myobokuzan. Reassuring Trea that I was only going to head over there to check things out, there was no way I could possibly imagine the things that were indeed happening over there, even though I suspected that the Titans were involved. I just didn't know how great they would be. Looking back, fighting the Nine Titans were like fighting nine Jubis. All of them had their own unique attacks, although they were very different from one another. As I came upon the temple, the Great Toad Sage came out and met me, as he told me he had befriended the Giant Toad and that deep in the Sacred Forest, nine foul creatures, nine foul Titans had risen from nowhere, causing all sort of mayhem. If they were allowed to keep going, it would only be a matter of time before Myobokuzan would be destroyed, and most likely, the world thereafter as well. I didn't even begin to get a chance to ask how he knew the Giant Toad or how he had befriended him, but he told me he would help us out, so that was the natural place to go next...
Luckily, I had indeed been mastering my new powers in that time, as I had in the two years that had passed by since I had sealed the Jubi inside of me, learned more and become more powerful in those two years alone than all the years I had spent training prior to that event combined. Everything felt as if obtainable now, that I could learn anything I set my mind to. I had already mastered the Rinnegan and the power of the Jubi in those two years – An impossible task to anyone else. It now felt like I could learn and grasp any Jutsu ever written down in the Founding Book of Jutsu left behind for me by Naruto with ease and in the blink of an eye too, and I had become so powerful at the time, that I had essentially already become The Sage of Six Paths, a title that would stick with me after the event of the Titans...
In addition to the Founding Book of Jutsu, I had been able to invent my own techniques; one of them the Sage techniques that granted me the awakening of Natural Energy as well. Fighting head on was no longer necessary, as I had developed several "stages" of my chakra, that enabled me to activate different "Chakra and Sage" Modes. In a way, I was now immortal, and possessed even greater power than that of my mother when she utilized the Jubi's powers. The Master Sword was now one with me as well, and I could easily access the Underworld Dimension if I so please through my Timeless-Space Transfer Technique. Together with the Overworld Dimension, I could create things out of thin air and play god if I wanted to. If Hamura had seen me at the time, I'm not even sure how he would have reacted. I was almost arrogant, believing that I would live on forever and maintain the peace for all eternity all by myself. Even if I didn't use my powers to force people to see my way, some people that had previously begun trusting me had started to get uncertain around me and my drastic ways, and probably not without reason either. Even the Jubi felt as if I was using it to my own benefit, and it told me several times over during these past two years that he hated my guts, my existence; hated being sealed up inside of me. It told me that I may have its chakra, but I wouldn't have its cooperation unless the destruction of the world was at stake. As I went up against the Titans, I was certain it would be a quick battle. No matter how strong they were, no one could stand against me for long. How wrong I was soon to discover that I had been. The battle against the Titans remains to this day, the hardest battle I have ever fought, even with all my powers. And it made me realize that I had lost part of my way, my purpose. After the battled had ended, I even left the Master Sword behind in the Underworld Dimension to help maintain the seal, until one day another worthy successor would come to claim it. Not because the Master Sword alone was entirely necessary to keep the seal intact, even though it helped maintain it, but because I felt I was no longer worthy of being its wielder. The battle against the Titans made me realize many things, and it was a battle I won't forget...
As the Great Toad Sage and I met up with the Giant Toad deep into the forest, the large toad was shocked to see what he believed to be some sort of abomination trespassing on the Sacred Mountain. I had to ensure him that I was only human, although that was bending the truth a bit. He hadn't even heard of the term "human" before, and I realized that this place had to be vastly undiscovered by men. Reaching his head down, the Giant Toad let both the Great Toad Sage and myself to climb on to it, which was quite ironic being that I had already been seated meditating on his head for three whole days, two years ago... But I didn't want to mention that fact now. We then began to walk deeper into the mountain as we came upon a great lake where the Giant Toad told us he had been fending off the few Titans that had appeared, stating that he's been the guardian of the Sacred Mountain since the dawn of time, and that this lake seemed to act like some type of portal for them to come through. I pondered on the fact, before I then asked him if he could do anything else than using his sword in battle. Looking curiously at me, rolling his eyeballs upwards to get a better view of me, he wondered what I meant. 'Yeah I mean, like Ninjutsu or Genjutsu??' I boasted, thinking that my powers alone would really be enough to bring an end to the Titans, even if this was one huge toad with one huge sword on his back. He paused for a bit, then he told me he could utilize Genjutsu, the strongest the world had ever seen. I looked baffled at him; surely he was bluffing? A toad that could use Genjutsu? At this point of time, even I was a master at Genjutsu, far outranking that of Hamura's. So if the Giant Toad was telling the truth, I was indeed looking forward to seeing it tested out in battle. It did turn out to only be a hoax however, as in the heat of the battle, the Giant Toad began croaking loudly, and as we all expected the Titans to fall in some type of Genjutsu, it seemed like it only made them angrier. The Giant Toad had mistaken Genjutsu for something else, and it didn't really help our case. He did seem deadly and skilled with the blade however, fighting fiercely with the Titans, but he did indeed also seem a bit clumsy at times. Luckily, the Titans themselves were not that good at coordination, as they tended to strike out at each other more often than not during the battle. As for now however, everything seemed quiet and peaceful as the three of us were looking out on the lake in front of us. 'This is it.' He then suddenly said as I paid close attention, but seemingly nothing happened. It did not take long however before the whole earth began shaking and a huge tsunami came our way. The Giant Toad immediately realized that the Titans were approaching as he prepared himself for the incoming attack. Maybe I had somehow underestimated the Titans' strength? This upcoming battle could be some fun after all, I thought to myself...
As the tsunami approached us, the Great Toad Sage quickly covered behind me as I prepared myself to hold on tightly onto the Giant Toad's head, as he leaped through the air and out of harm's way. Landing on top of the water, and literally standing there without sinking through- something which I thought only I could do, we then waited patiently, as the water began to act wildly all around us once more, as the Nine Titans began to appear, one by one. Three of them surfaced from deep under the sea, three others came walking from the other side of the lake, and finally, the three last came flying in and landed on top of a mountain each, before they went airborne again. What scared me the most wasn't their numbers or their looks. What scared me was their size... I couldn't even begin to grasp it, or how they had lived undetected in this world. Each one of them was approximately four times as big as the Jubi and the Giant Toad were... Now I understood the concern and the seriousness of the situation, and I knew I would have to pull my act together. Even with the power of the Jubi and the Rinnegan, I had to be utmost careful if I wished to survive this. Some of these creatures represented animals that lived in the world, but some of them represented myths that I had only heard about existing in the great past. When I had met with Naruto at the top of the Three Wolves Mountain seven years ago, I had been confronted by a Genjutsu of a dragon that Naruto had said to have encountered in the past. Well, the creatures now standing before me couldn't even compare to that puny thing...
Before us floated, stood and gravitated one Giant Octopus, one Giant Killer-Whale, one that looked like a Sea Dragon-Worm-like creature, one that resembled what was believed to be a Giant Dinosaur called the T-Rex, one Giant creature that seemed to be a combination of an Elephant and a Rhino, one foul Mountain Troll, one Dragon made up of the same material as the Sun , one Dragon made up of Freezing Ice, and finally, a Dragon that was so huge it was bigger than the rest of the Airborne Titans. It had six heads, one of each resembling the elements of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning and Yin-Yang, and stationed on top of its back, was a smaller dragon, just below the size of the Jubi, that possessed all these elements altogether, being a separate part of the same dragon. This Dragon was called the Six-Headed Elemental Dragon, with its counterpart, the Six Elements Dragon. The Nine Titans were indeed fearful. For the first time since the fight with the Jubi, I begun to question if I could even pull this battle off...
For five days the battle raged on, and already on the first day did I realize that I had to rely upon anything I had learned in the past two years. I did manage to temporarily take down one of the Titans by my own doing, but eventually as the battle progressed, they all ended up merging together and thus took on their final form, a Deformed Version that towered ten times the size of the Jubi. In response to this, I was left with only one option... Using the Jubi's full power to access my Ultimate Combination of Chakra and Sage mode, a mode that covered my entire body in glowing chakra armor and made me stand almost as tall as the Deformed Titan itself. This mode had two swords in its possession, one that resembled the Master Sword, and another that I called the Sword of Nunoboko, a sword I had imagined to help me shape the world if so needed. In this mode I could even fly around in the air. In addition to this, I then went on to summon one of my new inventions that I had come up with as a defense mechanism in case something like the Jubi would ever rise again. Its size rivaled the size of the Deformed Titan, and I had named this summoning the God of War, which was the very same title that belonged to Kenshin Uesugi during the past war, a title I had been inspired to name my creation after. The God of war was made up of some type of metal that was more or less unbreakable, as it looked like some type of a living statue of a god. On its back a sword that resembled the lightsaber of the Jedi and Sith was stationed, but that wasn't the most fearful weapon it had. In its left hand, it possessed the unbreakable shield of the Yata Mirror; in its right hand, the Sword of Totsuka. Two spiritual items I had created to compensate for the lack of mobility that the Five Treasured Tools had. This was my ultimate power, proof that I had become complete. The Titans however could not be sealed inside the Sword of Totsuka nor destroyed by the Sword of Nunoboko for some reason, as no matter how much on a particle-based level I pulverized them, they instantly seemed to regenerate back together, and that ability was present even before they merged into one being. I knew I would have to rely on something else than raw power in order to defeat them. I knew that the longer this battle kept going in this world, the more the Earth was at risk. I was only left with one choice...
I had to seal them away from this world, so I clapped my hands together and preformed the Timeless-Space Transfer Technique, that took both me, the God of War and the Deformed Titan to the Underworld itself, and by doing so, I kept the Giant Toad and the Great Toad Sage out of harm's way. I knew however that in order to keep the Deformed Titan here and to maintain the seal on the dimension, I would have to leave the Master Sword behind to keep the seal intact. Therefore, I transformed the Underworld to my own desire, recreated the same place where I had found the Master Sword all those years ago, in here, and then I placed the Master Sword to rest in this new Pedestal of Time. Thus, I was transported out of the Underworld and the Titans had been defeated, to forever roam the realm of the Underworld. The Master Sword would forever be lost in this dimension however, until someone could find a way to access my powers in the future and claim it, just like Naruto had told me would happen, or rather, just like he had told me it would go down when I would be resurrected after my death to fight him. I could already begin to imagine how his life would be when he was to be born. The things he had to do and the things I would have entrusted to him by then. A part of me knew I would see him in the future like he had told me, a part of me knew I would one day return to the Underworld Dimension again. To make matters even more spectacular, I had also left a seal on each of the Nine Titans' neck, that would enable me to summon and control them in battle if that ever turned out to be necessary, although I knew an event like that would most likely not happen in the foreseeable future. For now, the peace had been kept once more. For the first time in ages, I was beyond exhausted. I never managed to fully recover from that battle. It had cost too much, and the result of exposing my body to such extreme limits had taken a lot of life-force away from me... As I transported out of the Underworld Dimension, I landed on top of the Giant Toad's head out in the outside world, breathing heavily. I had given everything of my new powers in that battle; I had truly maxed out my potential. Having a small break as I conversed with the Giant Toad and the Great Toad Sage, the Giant Toad found my nature, the nature of humans, to be very strange, and I could feel that even though we had been united in the battle against the Titans and won, he somehow despised me. Maybe despise wasn't the right word, maybe he actually had started to fear me. How such a small creature like I could possess the power to destroy the entire world if I wanted to...
As for the future with my final hours upon me, I plan to divide the Jubi into Nine Beasts so that the world may know its peace. I own the Jubi that much... This idea, actually comes from the Nine Titans, as they too seemed to be part of each other once in time like their merged Deformed Version showed me. Maybe they too split up into Nine Titans for survival purposes, and only came together to achieve ultimate power. That seems to be the most reasonable thing to do with the Jubi as well... In time, someone might get to use those Titans as summons like I intended, but time ran away from me and I never got to truly test that out... I can only wonder what their true nature and purpose is, but I will leave finding that out in your capable hands my children... This tale is approaching its end, but there are still things left to be told in order to fully prepare you for the future...
As even if the Titans' Rise seemed like a natural phenomenal,
I discovered much later on that there was in fact other forces at play here,
and thus, peace would be threatened once more...
I discovered much later on that there was in fact other forces at play here,
and thus, peace would be threatened once more...
~ End of Chapter 14
Fun Facts & Author's Note:
1: For most parts this chapter went in real time but some of you might have expected me to actually portray the full fight against the Titans in full details as well, which would have made this one big chapter indeed. There are two reasons to why I didn't, but instead only did it in passing really.
- The first one is that I already did the fight against the Titans spreading across several chapters in my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Returns, 2 years ago, and the idea to have Hagoromo fighting the Titans came from that time, so I didn't feel like repeating the same fight over, because it would essentially have been the same fight (but with Hagoromo instead of Naruto). With the Jubi however, I got to portray it on a different scale since I barely had it emerge for half a short chapter back in TLSoK Returns, so that was more justified. It made more sense since a lot of plot-points (with the Samurai, the Otsutsuki clan and Hamura and Bruce) sort of needed a conclusion, while with the Titans, it was basically only Hagoromo and them.
- The second reason is that after sealing away the Jubi and practicing his new powers, Hagoromo has more or less achieved his full potential. Sure it could be fun to display that "on screen," but honestly I felt that the excitement of just showing off a large-scale battle with fancy techniques and power-ups, didn't seem that interesting with how this story has progressed so far; to me at least. Hagoromo as the Underdog having to come up with strategy and rely on his comrades was always a better theme for this story than to just portray him as a powerhouse (that also made it more original too as well). For battles like that, I think The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series fitted and fits better as a medium. This story was never about complexed Ninjutsu anyways, while TLSoK was all about that basically. Not sure if you agree or not, as I suspect some of the new readers that wasn't with me back in 2013 would have liked to see more of these Titans, then again, I'm not too sure (you can always go back, but I doubt you will, haha). I think my old readers might agree though, as this revisiting to the past was also part of a nostalgic trip that made sense. I already planned out this part of the chapter two years ago, so I only wrote it based on notes I penned down back then. And finally as an addition to those two reasons, I could blame time and focus as well, being that I'm closing in on the end of this story, and need to decide what "events" to focus more on than the others...
2: You can call it a coincident, but this chapter portrays Winter for the first time in this story (on a world-wide scale at least), and perhaps also even for the first time in any of the stories I've written within the Timeline. Not because Winter didn't fit the scenery, but perhaps because the idea never hit me. Ironically, as I got this idea, snow began to drop to the ground where I live and it is in fact covered in snow now like Hagoromo describes it to be here in this chapter.
3: Did you know that Hagoromo and Naruto shares something in common except all the talk about destiny and their power? They've both lost their arm only to have it replaced or reattached, and they both also fought the Jubi and the Titans...
4: It is greatly hinted at in this chapter that the Sanada clan who lives by the Three Wolves Mountain in what will eventually be known as the Land of Iron, is the ancestors to the Samurai Mifune are leading in the 4th Great Shinobi War. So in a way, you could say that Mifune is a descendant of Yukimura.
5: The Great Toad Sage makes his appearance here in addition to the Giant Toad. Not really sure what else to add to that, but it's probably the first time in 2 years that I've used the character of the Great Toad Sage again. Last time I used him in my story was with his death back at the end of TLSoK Returns, which feels like forever ago.
6: At first I was thinking of just writing most of the latter part of the chapter as a short sum up from what I could remember about the Titans, but as I finished it, I realized that the chapter was only this lengthy because of the other scenes, and that it ended up becoming a bit uninspiring. So even if I wasn't going to portray the whole fight, I figured I would actually go back and re-read chapter 17-23 of Returns to fresh my mind up. Little did I remember that those chapters contained the largest scaled battle in the history of the Timeline. Not only was Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths resurrected and transported Naruto to the Underworld Dimension, but Naruto also had to fight the Titans themselves while having to deal with Hagoromo. And not to forget, Naruto himself had gained the power of the Jubi at the time, so it was essentially the Sage of Six Paths vs the Sage of Six Paths xD At the time I went overboard with what I invented for each character's arsenal, and I had completely forgotten that I gave Hagoromo the Rasenringu and the Dai Rasenringu, the attacks Naruto's counterpart Menma uses in Road to Ninja xD Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense. If Naruto had sort of used Hagoromo's body in TLSoSP to preform the Rasengan and the RasenShuriken, it would make sense for Hagoromo to develop his own version of it later on... But that was only one of many things I rediscovered. Like Naruto's Flying Thunder God being on a level I couldn't even think I had pushed him to, and ridicules techniques like the Reaper Seal Rasengan and the Super Nova Element xD All this also made me realize some of the things I actually predicted right for the manga, like the Mini-RasenShuriken (albeit in a different form/version), and the content of the scroll that Suigetsu and Jugo found which would release the trapped Hokages from the Reaper Death God. Still can't believe I predicted that one correctly, although I did have Kabuto summoning them instead of Orochimaru, and also had some other summons as well.
7: The titans, being 4 times the size of the Jubi for most parts, are so big that one of the troll's nails alone is 100 meters long (this was stated in one of those chapters detailing the fight against the Titans in Returns) xD And that is before they merge into the deformed combined form that is 10 times the Jubi's size X__x...
8: Here's two facts from one of those chapters in TLSoK Returns detailing the events of Naruto's fight with the Sage and his Titans which I feel like sharing (quite interesting to re-read now at this stage actually):
"- Something that occurred to me while writing these chapters, that may have made you guys wonder. I've stated several times through the two last chapters, that there are nine Titans... If you've been paying attention, you might have realized that it's actually ten (the Troll, The Elephant-Rhino, the T-Rex, the Octopus, the Killer-Whale, the Sea Dragon-Worm, the Moon Dragon, the Sun Dragon, the Six Headed Elemental Dragon and the Six Elements Dragon), and the reason to why they say nine and not ten in the chapters, is because the two elemental dragons are actually one being, but split in two. Like a shadow clone you could say or how the nine tailed beasts co-exist within the Jubi in my FF, where the Six Elements Dragon is a smaller version of the Six Headed Elemental Dragon."
And...
"- As I've been writing the last two chapters, I've become more and more eager to write the FF about the Sage of Six Paths, that I've been planing ever since I got the idea back in Chapter 7 of this sequel (it's the FF I'm going to do once I'm done with this series). That's also one of the reason to why I'm trying to show as little about his story and such as I can, because I will be basing that FF a lot on his life."
The later note is actually interesting to read now that I'm almost done with this Series. It seems like the ideas for writing the story/prequel about the Sage, actually developed as late as December 2012, and not in 2011 as I've been saying at some occasions. I think I might be mixing up some of my stories here, as the idea for the Western Collaboration and Three Kingdoms came to me in 2011, together with some other ideas...
9: To round things off, I hope the latter part of the chapter was as cool to read as it felt writing it, especially after doing a ton of research on my old work to make things more smooth and interesting. Now that I got a chance to rewrite how things went down with the Titans and with Hagoromo's ultimate powers, everything else seems to pale in difference. Sure I had Naruto access the same type of powers in The Legendary Sage of Konoha, but comparing all this to the manga/anime, it seems kind of overboard. The final RikudoSennin-Bijou-Mode as I pictured it, is sort of like Sasuke's "Indra Susano-Mode," only that it's glowing in orange chakra like Naruto's mode, and is probably 50 times bigger xD I don't even know how big Sasuke's Indra mode is, but yeah xD Comment, rate, tell me what you think, analyze, discuss, theorize, criticize and give me you thoughts, and I'll catch you whenever that will be
