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The Legendary Sage of Six Paths, Chapter 15;
Later that year, after the uprising of the Titans had been prevented, you were finally born as Indra "Madara" Otsutsuki. The news of it spread very fast; even Danivass personally came to congratulate Trea and I. From here on out, things looked to be stable in the coming years and peace continued to thrive. Naturally though, I was more around home now that you were born, and I had left most of the responsibility in furthering our teachings to the Shinobi Sect by now. Three years after you were born Indra, you, Ashura "Sasuke" Otsutsuki, came to the world as well. For someone who had been together for fifteen years without having children, it was indeed kind of strange that we were now suddenly having one kid after the other, especially at such a late stage in our relationship. It was almost as if it was destiny itself that had stalled our parenthood, as even two years after that, when both Trea and I were 40 years old, your mother became pregnant yet again. This time however, it would not be without its complications, as things gradually began to take a turn for the worse around that time...
Now that I had a family and kids to take care of, people saw it as an-... "Opportunity," to squeeze me. They knew that even as powerful as I was, I was now vulnerable. In order to adapt to the growing evolution of men and their increased power, and in fear that I could end up taking things for granted and slip up, I decided to move us all to live with the Sanada in their camp; where we could be protected from harm's touch. After all these years, Trea and I were back were it all started, but even then could we not fully be at peace. It was when Trea began having daily unexplainable nightmares that I knew things really were more serious than I had thought, and not just a bad feeling I couldn't shake. I tried to comfort your mother, believing it was due to the toll the last birth had taken on her, two years ago, but nothing seemed to help. Even I got so stressed to a certain point because of it that Danivass had to calm me down, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to ease her pain, which definitely couldn't be good for the unborn child either. During this time, I decided to adopt your given names as your main names, and that is why you've been known as Madara and Sasuke Uzumaki for the earlier parts of your lives, in order to not associate you with my name; all to lessen the risk of exposing you to unwanted trouble. And even if things had quieted down for now however, Trea didn't get rid of her daily nightmares, and I failed to, or rather, I couldn't find a way to help her get rid of them. It was as if she had a constant premonition of the future, that something bad was going to happen. It went so far that she started becoming paranoid, and eventually traumatized. As the birth slowly approached, the nightmares began to show her certain events happening, events I have yet to discuss the content of with you guys, even to this date...
You see, your mother had been dreaming about seeing her own death over and over again, and in the light of those dark shadows, she saw the birth of a baby. The only explanation I could see at the time was that it had to be because she was revived all those years ago, that she only now had begun to feel the after-effects of having previously died. That she wasn't seeing herself dying in the future, she was reliving the moment when she died back then in the Sanada clan massacre, before I revived her. That had to be it, that had to be the only explainable reason for her dreams. I reassured her that it had to be it, and in the coming days after, the bad dreams began to diminish. As we know now though, she wasn't dreaming of her death back then... She was indeed dreaming of dying in childbirth, which was what happened to your mother... As if by a prophecy, your mother gave birth to you, Kasumi "Himiko" Otsutsuki, but died in doing so. I know you bear a grudge against me for not reviving your mother again back then when you were five, Indra, but I hope that you one day will see my way and can understand why I didn't. That no matter how powerful you get, life should run its natural course. Action doesn't come without consequence, power doesn't come without a weakness. If I had revived her again, I fear what might have happened and if another curse would have fallen upon the land...
Several years after your mother's death, I came upon intel through the Great Toad Sage's first ever prophecy, which revealed that it was in fact someone else that was behind the Rise of the Titans and not just a natural phenomenal; that it was caused by some unknown force, so powerful that neither the Jubi nor the Titans would be a match for it – Someone as strong as me, or even stronger. The individual went by the name "Evil God," and he had created a group of followers known as "Jashinists." The Great Toad Sage told me that their leader and his followers were said to be immortal, but their whereabouts and their true intents remained unclear. They operated from the shadows and would continue to do so for the time being... That very same night as I returned to the Sanada camp from Mt. Myobokuzan, an assassination attempt on my life happened, the first in years... The three of you were not at the camp that day fortunately, but this assassination attempt did reveal to me that things weren't as bright as I thought, setting aside the obvious news that the Great Toad Sage had told me that day. The attempt failed miserably, as both Danivass and a ton of guards stormed the room just as the man was about to try to kill me in my sleep, and it was from that very man who had attempted my life, that I found out some interesting things. Amongst them, the man revealed to me the samurai who was said to have summoned this Evil God to our realm in the first place, the very same samurai that had tasked the man with taking my life. I pondered long and hard on what the man told me, questioning the reliability of it, as I decided I would act on it immediately. 'What do you want to do with this guy??' Danivass asked me on my way out. 'Release him...' I had simply said, much to Dani's surprise. With the name of them samurai responsible for sending this assassin on my mind, I went alone to the Tokugawa camp and met with Ieyasu that very same night...
In order to not alert the man in question of my arrival and thereby giving him a chance to escape however, I decided that it would be best if I snuck into the camp unnoticed first before coming in contact with Ieyasu himself. In the darkness of the night, a man was sleeping in his room as my hand landed over his mouth as he abruptly awakened. I told him to be quiet as I slowly removed my hand. The man was quite shocked to see that I of all people was there, lurking around in the darkness. The man I had awakened was Hanzo Hattori, the master ninja who usually was the one to surprise his foe, not the other way around. 'Hagoromo, what on earth are you doing here? Why have you snuck up on me like this, in our camp?' Sitting up in his bed, Hanzo had an expression on his face that belonged to a man that was indeed confused of my appearance. 'I can't trust many a man with this, so I had to sneak inside to avoid being spotted. If I had announced my arrival, the man I'm looking for, knowing that his plan had failed, would surely try to make his escape...' 'What man? And with the powers you now possess, he could surely not be able to escape from your grasp?? No one can outrun or overpower you in your current state, rig-...' I had to interrupt him as he said that as I began to cough heavily before I managed to regain my composure. My health had indeed started to drop in the coming years after my battle with the Titans, and I knew I only got weaker by the day. My body could only take so much, and the seal on the Jubi had begun to weakened. Asking if I was okay, Hanzo had a worried look on his face. 'There's no time to talk, I need to seek out a man named Naomasa Ii...' I shortly replied to him. 'Naomasa... What do you want to do with him??' Hanzo asked me curiously in return. 'I need you to notify Ieyasu that I am here and get him to summon Naomasa into the main living room without alerting suspicion. I will meet you there...' Agreeing to do as I said, I then met up with Ieyasu, Hanzo and Naomasa shortly thereafter, and the face of Naomasa was clear as day. He was almost shocked to see me there in his presence, but continued to keep his cool to hide it. Ieyasu however seemed almost perplexed of my arrival, realizing that I had easily snuck inside the Tokugawa camp without letting anyone know of it, that I was coming. Not that he didn't trust me, but this act surely was alarming to someone like him. 'What is the meaning of this Hagoromo, why are you here, uninvited??' He looked at me with a stern expression on his face, but I had already made up my mind and shifted my focus to Naomasa, who in return knew why I had come but still kept his tongue in check. 'Look... We all appreciate what you did in the war, but even if you have the powers you now possess, even if you shared your chakra with all of us and brought the land to a peaceful way, you can't just do whatever you want, especially sneaking around like that. Not that you aren't welcome here, but this is indeed uncommon, even for you.' Realizing that Ieyasu was upset, I decided to turn my attention back at him, apologizing for my behavior. However, I assured him that it had to be done this way to not alert Naomasa, pointing my finger at him as I said. Both Ieyasu and Hanzo looked surprised at me, realizing I had some unfinished business with the man. Turning his attention to Naomasa, Ieyasu questioned what I was on to about, but Naomasa continued with his act and remained silent...
'An attempt on my life happened tonight...' I began, as Ieyasu got more surprised by the minute. 'It's not the attempt itself that worries me, but the reason behind it. An attempt on my life means that there's someone who do not agree with the peace that has been established, someone who do not agree with my philosophy, my ways... Someone who perhaps thinks I hold too much power, someone who thinks I'm dangerous... An attempt on my life isn't only an attempt on my Sect's goals, or on me... It's an attempt on anything I hold dear, on my virtues, my friends and my children... One would not be wise to threaten my children and their future!!' Raising my voice, I decided to put on a little show as a powerful wind began to blow inside the living room, with furniture getting tossed all over the place as a powerful chakra erupted all around me. Some of the guards stationed outside the living room came running in, but immediately stepped down when they saw that Ieyasu gave them a sign not to interfere. As the wind quieted down, one thing had changed... Ieyasu and Hanzo still remained calm, but Naomasa was nervous as a wreck. I knew I had gotten to him, now I only had to get him to talk...
Breaking under pressure, Naomasa decided to reveal that he had indeed made plans to get rid of me, that he had gone to Ieyasu in order to get his approval. Ieyasu had refused his request of removing the now "God-like Sage of Six Paths" from the face of the earth, in order to not diminish the soul of the Samurai any further to such a figure. Naomasa however had insisted that they had to act if they wanted peace to last, something in which Ieyasu had just sighed back at him. Naomasa Ii was considered by many to be as great a warrior as Tadakatsu Honda himself was, so he was highly ranked within the Tokugawa clan. When someone of his caliber brought such a thing into questioning, it was sure to bring an outcome with it. Vowing to take matters into his own hands, Naomasa had approached Hanzo to ask him about it. What I didn't know at the time was that Naomasa had decided to make this personal and further the task himself, which would enable him to get revenge on Tadakatsu at the same time; a man who was like a father to him. Unlike any of the other samurai in the land, Naomasa had not been present in the Jubi fight, having been on a special mission far away from the land when it all went down, and had thus, not been affected by it like anyone else had. He knew the seriousness of the event, but he wasn't thinking about it in the same way everyone else was. He like many others at the time, viewed the current world in his own eyes... Peace was a prehistoric word that didn't exist; a peaceful world was just a world without battling, not a world with complete harmony and mutual understanding. Hanzo like Ieyasu however, had also shot him down, stating that it would be wrong to go against the Savior of the land. Realizing that he couldn't get any support in his goal, neither from Ieyasu nor Hanzo, both of which had previously been spared in the past war by Nagamasa and myself and also later revived after the battle against the Jubi ended, Naomasa decided he would take things into own hands and do things by himself, later leaving a clan meeting to demonstrate this. One man had heard his plea however, and it was this man that had agreed to carry out the assassination for him in return for a great deal of money and protection for his family – An amateur, in other words. 'Never send a farmer to do a warrior's job...' Naomasa had later resented, but for now, he was denying everything, stating that he'd had in mind to carry out things by himself, but that someone had beaten him to it. I was baffled by this claim. How could someone keep denying when we had proof of otherwise, even a witness?? I let out a deep sigh as I approached him. It was then that he drew his sword from his back, much to Ieyasu and Hanzo's amazement...
'Put your sword down at once, Naomasa! What are you doing?!' Ieyasu demanded, but Naomasa would not listen. 'I don't care what you think or what you believe, but the matter of fact is that as long as this man, Hagoromo, continues to control the land, there will always be men that will oppose him!' I looked at him with sadness in my eyes. Maybe he was on to something? Had I become the very man I had fought in the past? Had I gone beyond my virtue and sought out too great of an ambition? 'Fine I'll admit it all! At least that way I'll go down standing for what I believe in!' About to launch at me, Naomasa meant business, but at that point, Hanzo stepped in between, drawing his weapon as well. 'What, you can't fight your own battles anymore, even as powerful as you are said to be?? Age must finally be catching up to you...' Looking at me, Naomasa seemed to get angrier by the minute. 'There's no need for this Naomasa, stand down...' 'Why do you stand with him anyways, Hanzo?! Get out of my way, I don't want to hurt you!' He was shaking now, almost as if he knew he had no chance at winning. I then decided to step forward as I stopped right beside Hanzo. 'If you truly want peace as you claim, why threaten it in the first place? Why summon an Evil God from beyond this realm? Wouldn't that be the opposite of what you want??' I stopped for a second as he looked at me, but he remained quiet thinking about what I had just said. 'Would you rather trust a being like that over me?? If I wanted control over the land like you say I do, I wouldn't go so far as to share my power with everyone in the land, now would I?? Nothing you say make sense!' I was obviously aggravated at that point, but I still kept most of my cool. It was then that Ieyasu also came closer. 'Now, now, let us all stop to think for a moment... There is no need for this...' He was right. But how could I convince Naomasa of that? Hadn't enough people died already? 'How did you summon him, and what type of sacred occult ritual did you go through in order to do just that? How did you find out the requirements to do so? Who told you? What did the Evil God tell you about himself and his plans?' My questions kept surfacing, but I had a feeling that I wouldn't get a straight forward answer from him...
'Nobody told me, I read about it...' He began, slightly lowering his sword as he did. 'I will not disclose the details however, unless you can beat me in a fair fight...' He followed up, raising his sword again as he did. 'A battle of swords, a battle of men. Let me see how great your virtue really is...' An honest request. Who was I to deny it? Stepping forward, I was all the way up in his face. Putting a smile on my face, I reached my hand out to him. Looking baffled at me, he met with it as the two of us shook hands. My smile then ceased as I told him we would have a fair fight, and that when I won, he would tell me everything. Chuckling at my boast, he agreed, as the two of us readied ourselves... A man that was supposedly as strong as Tadakatsu himself? Now that would be an interesting battle. This time however, the tide was turned, and I was the favorite. Could I still do it without relying on chakra??...
The battle went on for about fifteen or so minutes before Naomasa suddenly halted his attack, breathing heavily. Now it was his turn to put a smile on his face, as he then told me that it was enough. I too was exhausted, but as soon as he told me the battle was over, the sooner did I turn my chakra back on – a feat I had learned not long after sealing the Jubi, and as I did, I was completely revitalized. Stationing his sword, he then told me all he knew about this Evil God and how he had come in contact with him. That although he didn't regret his actions at the time, still believing that he had only done what he believed in and that he was doing it for a good cause, he still feared that the being he had summoned might be stronger than he first had thought. He then asked me what I would do about the situation as I turned my head to the side thinking about it. Quite frankly, I didn't know, and I still don't fully know what will happen in the future. I have a feeling you three will face this threat one day after I'm gone, but I am certain that you will have what it takes to oppose it if you find a way to work together as one unit...
Looking back at Naomasa, I then noticed that he had bent down to one knee as he told me he was ready to accept whatever punishment I desired for him. Looking over at Ieyasu, he nodded at me as I looked back at Naomasa. Walking over to him, I simply reached my hand out to him once more, as it took a few seconds before he looked up and noticed it was there. Grabbing on to it, I helped him up to his feet again as I put my hand on his shoulder. Giving him a smile of confidence, I then turned around as I began to walk towards the exit. 'What is done is done, nothing can change that. Forgive and forget, isn't that what they say??' Turning my head back, I looked at the three of them as they all nodded back at me in return. 'I will go look for answers, but I fear this threat might indeed be bigger than anything this land has faced before, bigger than the Jubi, bigger than the Titans... Hopefully however, I can find one certain man who knows the answer to anything, a man who knows what I should do. I leave making up and sorting things out here to you, Ieyasu. I'll be in touch if I find something.' Leaving the room, I then quickly left the camp as I mounted my horse and rode off into the night. Indeed... If there was one man who knew the answer to my questions, and knew what I should do next, it was Naruto himself. The only problem was finding him, something I didn't think I would do even with my enhanced sensor ability. If I could indeed find him despite his claim of seeing me for the last time in my lifetime last time we met, he would surely have an answer for me on how to deal with this threat, perhaps he even could team up with me so that we could take him on together... I looked far and wide, long into the morning of the third day since I left camp, but no matter where I looked, I could not find Naruto. It was as he had said, we had indeed met for the last time. I could only ponder why he never mentioned this threat back then, and why he hadn't told me about it like everything else. Thinking back on my life and the decisions I have made, it all makes sense now. How everything was supposed to come full circle and eventually come to an end... Everything that has a beginning, has an end. Something I've come to peace with...
Returning home, I knew all I could do was to further my teachings and prepare for the future, but as the years went by, nothing new was heard about this Evil God that I had been warned about. Was it all a fluke? Or was he abiding his time??... I had come to believe the latter, and even though I had focused on teaching men to control their new power, I knew I would also have to prepare you three to the best of my ability... It has now been 25 years since your mother died... Even if my power should have granted me at least an extended life, I spent up too much of my life-force in my quest to bringing peace to the land, to finding the Key to True Eternal, never-ending Peace, and thus, sickness has seized me... Finding the Key to Peace... A task I am afraid I will have to leave with you, as my body has become very old and fragile, and I am just about to move on to the afterlife... Before then however, there are still a few things I need to pass down to you, my children, in order to prepare you for the future and to secure my Legacy...
Fun Facts & Author's Notes:
1: Since some of you may ask, the "Given names" of the Sage's kids originates from my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series, and staying true to the Timeline to avoid inconsistencies, I had to apply the same names here, only that I changed it to given names/code names instead of their main names. Same thing can be said about Hagoromo going under the name of "Uzumaki Naruto" earlier on in the story. If I were to have made things differently, I suppose I still would have kept the code names, but it would have been either Naruto or Hashirama for Ashura and Sasuke or Madara for Indra, to foreshadow their "reincarnations." At the time when I panned out the early details for this story that I worked into my first series which this is supposed to be a prequel to, I Imagined Naruto to be the reincarnation of Hagoromo, Sasuke to be Ashura's reincarnation, while Madara was Indra's reincarnation, or as it turned out, Tobi was/is in fact Indra himself. So yeah, lot to dig in just there if you decide to dive into it.
2: Incorporating Naomasa Ii into the story was sort of my way of giving the Samurai in this tale one last nod. That is how the entire scene with Hagoromo, Naomasa, Ieyasu and Hanzo came into place.
3: Hagoromo looking for Naruto was something I planned out long ago, even if the idea of bringing Jashin on the table hadn't formed yet. The reason was that I wanted Hagoromo to sort of admit to himself that everything hadn't turned out as he had envisioned, even with his great power and his Shinobi Sect. My way of doing so was to have Hagoromo go searching for Naruto to have sort of like a final talk with him on what the land would be like after he was gone, how he had helped shaped it to a peaceful way, and if he had done things accordingly to what Naruto had told him would happen. The fact that he couldn't find Naruto was rooted in two reasons really. One was that I wanted to reflect how Naruto himself couldn't meet/find "The Wizard" in my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series no matter how powerful he became and no matter how far he looked, not until the very end when the time was right for the two of them to meet. And reason number two was that with how the last meeting went, I felt it would be like stating that Hagoromo would have to find his own way this time and walk his own path, which I liked more. He was now the same as Naruto, inhabiting the same power as he did, but even with the power of a god, he couldn't fully control how things would turn out in the end.
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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 2
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The Rise of the Titans
The Legendary Sage of Six Paths, Chapter 15;
Legacy:
Later that year, after the uprising of the Titans had been prevented, you were finally born as Indra "Madara" Otsutsuki. The news of it spread very fast; even Danivass personally came to congratulate Trea and I. From here on out, things looked to be stable in the coming years and peace continued to thrive. Naturally though, I was more around home now that you were born, and I had left most of the responsibility in furthering our teachings to the Shinobi Sect by now. Three years after you were born Indra, you, Ashura "Sasuke" Otsutsuki, came to the world as well. For someone who had been together for fifteen years without having children, it was indeed kind of strange that we were now suddenly having one kid after the other, especially at such a late stage in our relationship. It was almost as if it was destiny itself that had stalled our parenthood, as even two years after that, when both Trea and I were 40 years old, your mother became pregnant yet again. This time however, it would not be without its complications, as things gradually began to take a turn for the worse around that time...
Now that I had a family and kids to take care of, people saw it as an-... "Opportunity," to squeeze me. They knew that even as powerful as I was, I was now vulnerable. In order to adapt to the growing evolution of men and their increased power, and in fear that I could end up taking things for granted and slip up, I decided to move us all to live with the Sanada in their camp; where we could be protected from harm's touch. After all these years, Trea and I were back were it all started, but even then could we not fully be at peace. It was when Trea began having daily unexplainable nightmares that I knew things really were more serious than I had thought, and not just a bad feeling I couldn't shake. I tried to comfort your mother, believing it was due to the toll the last birth had taken on her, two years ago, but nothing seemed to help. Even I got so stressed to a certain point because of it that Danivass had to calm me down, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to ease her pain, which definitely couldn't be good for the unborn child either. During this time, I decided to adopt your given names as your main names, and that is why you've been known as Madara and Sasuke Uzumaki for the earlier parts of your lives, in order to not associate you with my name; all to lessen the risk of exposing you to unwanted trouble. And even if things had quieted down for now however, Trea didn't get rid of her daily nightmares, and I failed to, or rather, I couldn't find a way to help her get rid of them. It was as if she had a constant premonition of the future, that something bad was going to happen. It went so far that she started becoming paranoid, and eventually traumatized. As the birth slowly approached, the nightmares began to show her certain events happening, events I have yet to discuss the content of with you guys, even to this date...
You see, your mother had been dreaming about seeing her own death over and over again, and in the light of those dark shadows, she saw the birth of a baby. The only explanation I could see at the time was that it had to be because she was revived all those years ago, that she only now had begun to feel the after-effects of having previously died. That she wasn't seeing herself dying in the future, she was reliving the moment when she died back then in the Sanada clan massacre, before I revived her. That had to be it, that had to be the only explainable reason for her dreams. I reassured her that it had to be it, and in the coming days after, the bad dreams began to diminish. As we know now though, she wasn't dreaming of her death back then... She was indeed dreaming of dying in childbirth, which was what happened to your mother... As if by a prophecy, your mother gave birth to you, Kasumi "Himiko" Otsutsuki, but died in doing so. I know you bear a grudge against me for not reviving your mother again back then when you were five, Indra, but I hope that you one day will see my way and can understand why I didn't. That no matter how powerful you get, life should run its natural course. Action doesn't come without consequence, power doesn't come without a weakness. If I had revived her again, I fear what might have happened and if another curse would have fallen upon the land...
Several years after your mother's death, I came upon intel through the Great Toad Sage's first ever prophecy, which revealed that it was in fact someone else that was behind the Rise of the Titans and not just a natural phenomenal; that it was caused by some unknown force, so powerful that neither the Jubi nor the Titans would be a match for it – Someone as strong as me, or even stronger. The individual went by the name "Evil God," and he had created a group of followers known as "Jashinists." The Great Toad Sage told me that their leader and his followers were said to be immortal, but their whereabouts and their true intents remained unclear. They operated from the shadows and would continue to do so for the time being... That very same night as I returned to the Sanada camp from Mt. Myobokuzan, an assassination attempt on my life happened, the first in years... The three of you were not at the camp that day fortunately, but this assassination attempt did reveal to me that things weren't as bright as I thought, setting aside the obvious news that the Great Toad Sage had told me that day. The attempt failed miserably, as both Danivass and a ton of guards stormed the room just as the man was about to try to kill me in my sleep, and it was from that very man who had attempted my life, that I found out some interesting things. Amongst them, the man revealed to me the samurai who was said to have summoned this Evil God to our realm in the first place, the very same samurai that had tasked the man with taking my life. I pondered long and hard on what the man told me, questioning the reliability of it, as I decided I would act on it immediately. 'What do you want to do with this guy??' Danivass asked me on my way out. 'Release him...' I had simply said, much to Dani's surprise. With the name of them samurai responsible for sending this assassin on my mind, I went alone to the Tokugawa camp and met with Ieyasu that very same night...
In order to not alert the man in question of my arrival and thereby giving him a chance to escape however, I decided that it would be best if I snuck into the camp unnoticed first before coming in contact with Ieyasu himself. In the darkness of the night, a man was sleeping in his room as my hand landed over his mouth as he abruptly awakened. I told him to be quiet as I slowly removed my hand. The man was quite shocked to see that I of all people was there, lurking around in the darkness. The man I had awakened was Hanzo Hattori, the master ninja who usually was the one to surprise his foe, not the other way around. 'Hagoromo, what on earth are you doing here? Why have you snuck up on me like this, in our camp?' Sitting up in his bed, Hanzo had an expression on his face that belonged to a man that was indeed confused of my appearance. 'I can't trust many a man with this, so I had to sneak inside to avoid being spotted. If I had announced my arrival, the man I'm looking for, knowing that his plan had failed, would surely try to make his escape...' 'What man? And with the powers you now possess, he could surely not be able to escape from your grasp?? No one can outrun or overpower you in your current state, rig-...' I had to interrupt him as he said that as I began to cough heavily before I managed to regain my composure. My health had indeed started to drop in the coming years after my battle with the Titans, and I knew I only got weaker by the day. My body could only take so much, and the seal on the Jubi had begun to weakened. Asking if I was okay, Hanzo had a worried look on his face. 'There's no time to talk, I need to seek out a man named Naomasa Ii...' I shortly replied to him. 'Naomasa... What do you want to do with him??' Hanzo asked me curiously in return. 'I need you to notify Ieyasu that I am here and get him to summon Naomasa into the main living room without alerting suspicion. I will meet you there...' Agreeing to do as I said, I then met up with Ieyasu, Hanzo and Naomasa shortly thereafter, and the face of Naomasa was clear as day. He was almost shocked to see me there in his presence, but continued to keep his cool to hide it. Ieyasu however seemed almost perplexed of my arrival, realizing that I had easily snuck inside the Tokugawa camp without letting anyone know of it, that I was coming. Not that he didn't trust me, but this act surely was alarming to someone like him. 'What is the meaning of this Hagoromo, why are you here, uninvited??' He looked at me with a stern expression on his face, but I had already made up my mind and shifted my focus to Naomasa, who in return knew why I had come but still kept his tongue in check. 'Look... We all appreciate what you did in the war, but even if you have the powers you now possess, even if you shared your chakra with all of us and brought the land to a peaceful way, you can't just do whatever you want, especially sneaking around like that. Not that you aren't welcome here, but this is indeed uncommon, even for you.' Realizing that Ieyasu was upset, I decided to turn my attention back at him, apologizing for my behavior. However, I assured him that it had to be done this way to not alert Naomasa, pointing my finger at him as I said. Both Ieyasu and Hanzo looked surprised at me, realizing I had some unfinished business with the man. Turning his attention to Naomasa, Ieyasu questioned what I was on to about, but Naomasa continued with his act and remained silent...
'An attempt on my life happened tonight...' I began, as Ieyasu got more surprised by the minute. 'It's not the attempt itself that worries me, but the reason behind it. An attempt on my life means that there's someone who do not agree with the peace that has been established, someone who do not agree with my philosophy, my ways... Someone who perhaps thinks I hold too much power, someone who thinks I'm dangerous... An attempt on my life isn't only an attempt on my Sect's goals, or on me... It's an attempt on anything I hold dear, on my virtues, my friends and my children... One would not be wise to threaten my children and their future!!' Raising my voice, I decided to put on a little show as a powerful wind began to blow inside the living room, with furniture getting tossed all over the place as a powerful chakra erupted all around me. Some of the guards stationed outside the living room came running in, but immediately stepped down when they saw that Ieyasu gave them a sign not to interfere. As the wind quieted down, one thing had changed... Ieyasu and Hanzo still remained calm, but Naomasa was nervous as a wreck. I knew I had gotten to him, now I only had to get him to talk...
Breaking under pressure, Naomasa decided to reveal that he had indeed made plans to get rid of me, that he had gone to Ieyasu in order to get his approval. Ieyasu had refused his request of removing the now "God-like Sage of Six Paths" from the face of the earth, in order to not diminish the soul of the Samurai any further to such a figure. Naomasa however had insisted that they had to act if they wanted peace to last, something in which Ieyasu had just sighed back at him. Naomasa Ii was considered by many to be as great a warrior as Tadakatsu Honda himself was, so he was highly ranked within the Tokugawa clan. When someone of his caliber brought such a thing into questioning, it was sure to bring an outcome with it. Vowing to take matters into his own hands, Naomasa had approached Hanzo to ask him about it. What I didn't know at the time was that Naomasa had decided to make this personal and further the task himself, which would enable him to get revenge on Tadakatsu at the same time; a man who was like a father to him. Unlike any of the other samurai in the land, Naomasa had not been present in the Jubi fight, having been on a special mission far away from the land when it all went down, and had thus, not been affected by it like anyone else had. He knew the seriousness of the event, but he wasn't thinking about it in the same way everyone else was. He like many others at the time, viewed the current world in his own eyes... Peace was a prehistoric word that didn't exist; a peaceful world was just a world without battling, not a world with complete harmony and mutual understanding. Hanzo like Ieyasu however, had also shot him down, stating that it would be wrong to go against the Savior of the land. Realizing that he couldn't get any support in his goal, neither from Ieyasu nor Hanzo, both of which had previously been spared in the past war by Nagamasa and myself and also later revived after the battle against the Jubi ended, Naomasa decided he would take things into own hands and do things by himself, later leaving a clan meeting to demonstrate this. One man had heard his plea however, and it was this man that had agreed to carry out the assassination for him in return for a great deal of money and protection for his family – An amateur, in other words. 'Never send a farmer to do a warrior's job...' Naomasa had later resented, but for now, he was denying everything, stating that he'd had in mind to carry out things by himself, but that someone had beaten him to it. I was baffled by this claim. How could someone keep denying when we had proof of otherwise, even a witness?? I let out a deep sigh as I approached him. It was then that he drew his sword from his back, much to Ieyasu and Hanzo's amazement...
'Put your sword down at once, Naomasa! What are you doing?!' Ieyasu demanded, but Naomasa would not listen. 'I don't care what you think or what you believe, but the matter of fact is that as long as this man, Hagoromo, continues to control the land, there will always be men that will oppose him!' I looked at him with sadness in my eyes. Maybe he was on to something? Had I become the very man I had fought in the past? Had I gone beyond my virtue and sought out too great of an ambition? 'Fine I'll admit it all! At least that way I'll go down standing for what I believe in!' About to launch at me, Naomasa meant business, but at that point, Hanzo stepped in between, drawing his weapon as well. 'What, you can't fight your own battles anymore, even as powerful as you are said to be?? Age must finally be catching up to you...' Looking at me, Naomasa seemed to get angrier by the minute. 'There's no need for this Naomasa, stand down...' 'Why do you stand with him anyways, Hanzo?! Get out of my way, I don't want to hurt you!' He was shaking now, almost as if he knew he had no chance at winning. I then decided to step forward as I stopped right beside Hanzo. 'If you truly want peace as you claim, why threaten it in the first place? Why summon an Evil God from beyond this realm? Wouldn't that be the opposite of what you want??' I stopped for a second as he looked at me, but he remained quiet thinking about what I had just said. 'Would you rather trust a being like that over me?? If I wanted control over the land like you say I do, I wouldn't go so far as to share my power with everyone in the land, now would I?? Nothing you say make sense!' I was obviously aggravated at that point, but I still kept most of my cool. It was then that Ieyasu also came closer. 'Now, now, let us all stop to think for a moment... There is no need for this...' He was right. But how could I convince Naomasa of that? Hadn't enough people died already? 'How did you summon him, and what type of sacred occult ritual did you go through in order to do just that? How did you find out the requirements to do so? Who told you? What did the Evil God tell you about himself and his plans?' My questions kept surfacing, but I had a feeling that I wouldn't get a straight forward answer from him...
'Nobody told me, I read about it...' He began, slightly lowering his sword as he did. 'I will not disclose the details however, unless you can beat me in a fair fight...' He followed up, raising his sword again as he did. 'A battle of swords, a battle of men. Let me see how great your virtue really is...' An honest request. Who was I to deny it? Stepping forward, I was all the way up in his face. Putting a smile on my face, I reached my hand out to him. Looking baffled at me, he met with it as the two of us shook hands. My smile then ceased as I told him we would have a fair fight, and that when I won, he would tell me everything. Chuckling at my boast, he agreed, as the two of us readied ourselves... A man that was supposedly as strong as Tadakatsu himself? Now that would be an interesting battle. This time however, the tide was turned, and I was the favorite. Could I still do it without relying on chakra??...
The battle went on for about fifteen or so minutes before Naomasa suddenly halted his attack, breathing heavily. Now it was his turn to put a smile on his face, as he then told me that it was enough. I too was exhausted, but as soon as he told me the battle was over, the sooner did I turn my chakra back on – a feat I had learned not long after sealing the Jubi, and as I did, I was completely revitalized. Stationing his sword, he then told me all he knew about this Evil God and how he had come in contact with him. That although he didn't regret his actions at the time, still believing that he had only done what he believed in and that he was doing it for a good cause, he still feared that the being he had summoned might be stronger than he first had thought. He then asked me what I would do about the situation as I turned my head to the side thinking about it. Quite frankly, I didn't know, and I still don't fully know what will happen in the future. I have a feeling you three will face this threat one day after I'm gone, but I am certain that you will have what it takes to oppose it if you find a way to work together as one unit...
Looking back at Naomasa, I then noticed that he had bent down to one knee as he told me he was ready to accept whatever punishment I desired for him. Looking over at Ieyasu, he nodded at me as I looked back at Naomasa. Walking over to him, I simply reached my hand out to him once more, as it took a few seconds before he looked up and noticed it was there. Grabbing on to it, I helped him up to his feet again as I put my hand on his shoulder. Giving him a smile of confidence, I then turned around as I began to walk towards the exit. 'What is done is done, nothing can change that. Forgive and forget, isn't that what they say??' Turning my head back, I looked at the three of them as they all nodded back at me in return. 'I will go look for answers, but I fear this threat might indeed be bigger than anything this land has faced before, bigger than the Jubi, bigger than the Titans... Hopefully however, I can find one certain man who knows the answer to anything, a man who knows what I should do. I leave making up and sorting things out here to you, Ieyasu. I'll be in touch if I find something.' Leaving the room, I then quickly left the camp as I mounted my horse and rode off into the night. Indeed... If there was one man who knew the answer to my questions, and knew what I should do next, it was Naruto himself. The only problem was finding him, something I didn't think I would do even with my enhanced sensor ability. If I could indeed find him despite his claim of seeing me for the last time in my lifetime last time we met, he would surely have an answer for me on how to deal with this threat, perhaps he even could team up with me so that we could take him on together... I looked far and wide, long into the morning of the third day since I left camp, but no matter where I looked, I could not find Naruto. It was as he had said, we had indeed met for the last time. I could only ponder why he never mentioned this threat back then, and why he hadn't told me about it like everything else. Thinking back on my life and the decisions I have made, it all makes sense now. How everything was supposed to come full circle and eventually come to an end... Everything that has a beginning, has an end. Something I've come to peace with...
Returning home, I knew all I could do was to further my teachings and prepare for the future, but as the years went by, nothing new was heard about this Evil God that I had been warned about. Was it all a fluke? Or was he abiding his time??... I had come to believe the latter, and even though I had focused on teaching men to control their new power, I knew I would also have to prepare you three to the best of my ability... It has now been 25 years since your mother died... Even if my power should have granted me at least an extended life, I spent up too much of my life-force in my quest to bringing peace to the land, to finding the Key to True Eternal, never-ending Peace, and thus, sickness has seized me... Finding the Key to Peace... A task I am afraid I will have to leave with you, as my body has become very old and fragile, and I am just about to move on to the afterlife... Before then however, there are still a few things I need to pass down to you, my children, in order to prepare you for the future and to secure my Legacy...
The life of the Sage of Six Paths comes to an end next time, as the new threat emerges...
Will Hagoromo's children be strong enough to oppose it?? Only two more chapters remains!!
Will Hagoromo's children be strong enough to oppose it?? Only two more chapters remains!!
~ End of Chapter 15
Fun Facts & Author's Notes:
1: Since some of you may ask, the "Given names" of the Sage's kids originates from my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series, and staying true to the Timeline to avoid inconsistencies, I had to apply the same names here, only that I changed it to given names/code names instead of their main names. Same thing can be said about Hagoromo going under the name of "Uzumaki Naruto" earlier on in the story. If I were to have made things differently, I suppose I still would have kept the code names, but it would have been either Naruto or Hashirama for Ashura and Sasuke or Madara for Indra, to foreshadow their "reincarnations." At the time when I panned out the early details for this story that I worked into my first series which this is supposed to be a prequel to, I Imagined Naruto to be the reincarnation of Hagoromo, Sasuke to be Ashura's reincarnation, while Madara was Indra's reincarnation, or as it turned out, Tobi was/is in fact Indra himself. So yeah, lot to dig in just there if you decide to dive into it.
2: Incorporating Naomasa Ii into the story was sort of my way of giving the Samurai in this tale one last nod. That is how the entire scene with Hagoromo, Naomasa, Ieyasu and Hanzo came into place.
3: Hagoromo looking for Naruto was something I planned out long ago, even if the idea of bringing Jashin on the table hadn't formed yet. The reason was that I wanted Hagoromo to sort of admit to himself that everything hadn't turned out as he had envisioned, even with his great power and his Shinobi Sect. My way of doing so was to have Hagoromo go searching for Naruto to have sort of like a final talk with him on what the land would be like after he was gone, how he had helped shaped it to a peaceful way, and if he had done things accordingly to what Naruto had told him would happen. The fact that he couldn't find Naruto was rooted in two reasons really. One was that I wanted to reflect how Naruto himself couldn't meet/find "The Wizard" in my The Legendary Sage of Konoha Series no matter how powerful he became and no matter how far he looked, not until the very end when the time was right for the two of them to meet. And reason number two was that with how the last meeting went, I felt it would be like stating that Hagoromo would have to find his own way this time and walk his own path, which I liked more. He was now the same as Naruto, inhabiting the same power as he did, but even with the power of a god, he couldn't fully control how things would turn out in the end.
