Peculiar Chester
Member
So around the time of The LAST’s release in late 2014/early 2015, a fairly widespread debate came up over whether or not Naruto lost the powers he gained from the Sage of the Six Paths in Chapter 671. The discussion has died down since then, and most people seem to have settled with one of two popular theories and left the topic be, but the lack of a concrete answer leads to the topic still coming up every now and again, making me feel the need to address it. That, and I figured it’d make for a pretty good first thread. (God forbid it be about anything related to Hinata or Sakura...) Before I get to that, though, a moment of review for those who don’t know:
The most popular explanation, from what I’ve seen, is that he hasn’t lost anything at all. Despite the significant changes in his design, Naruto still possesses all of the abilities he possessed during his fights with Madara, Kaguya, and Sasuke, and simply chose not to use them during subsequent conflicts. As for the Truth Seeker’s Orbs, they were either lost or destroyed, and cannot be reformed… (Even though Kaguya did, well, exactly that in chapter 688.)
The second most popular is the exact opposite. That Naruto has completely lost the powers given to him by the Sage of the Six Paths, and has reverted back to the ability set he possessed prior to his “death,” the only difference being that he now possesses the full power of the Nine Tails as opposed to the mere half he had before.
I could be wrong, but to me it seems the majority of people have fallen into one of those two camps, and just accepted the inconsistencies with their chosen stance. Neither theory sat particularly well with me, though. On one hand, the second stance seemed impossible, given Naruto’s continued parity with Sasuke (who retained the ocular powers granted to him by the Sage), and the lack of the tell-tale facial pigmentation when entering Sage Mode, whereas the first just seemed off for a number of reasons. (The radical design change, the disappearance of certain abilities, etc.) I’m sure I’m not alone in this regard, and I doubt I’m the first to have come to the conclusions that I have. However, for those who are still confused and looking for an alternative explanation, here’s what I’ve come up with after gathering all of the available evidence: (Brace yourselves…)
The first and most important distinction to make going into this is between Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu. As we all know, Sage Mode is the result of a shinobi drawing on ambient Senjutsu chakra and mixing it with their internal chakra; therefore, it only stands to reason that “Six Paths” Sage Mode must be a variant of Sage Mode that uses “Six Paths” Senjutsu as its vehicle… that was my original line of thought. However, looking back, I think that’s the critical misconception that’s been leading to confusion. I’d like to propose that the two are completely separate powers--and that once this is understood, everything else will fall into place.
The description of Six Paths Sage Mode from the 4th Databook outlines it as an enhanced version of Sage Mode granted by Hagoromo to those who have the guts to never give up. With it comes the ability to comprehend the nature of chakra, senses that rival or surpass JJ Madara’s, and the ability to fly; it can be differentiated from normal Sage Mode by the lack of pigmentation around the eyes, image below.
Notice how even as Six Paths Sage Mode is active here, Naruto’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs haven’t manifested; likewise, the only mention of Truth Seeker’s Orbs on the databook page is about how Naruto was able to deflect Madara’s to defend Gai. From this, we can gather that Six Paths Sage Mode and Truth Seeker’s Orbs may not be related.
So what does the databook have to say about the Truth Seeker’s Orbs? It says that when Six Paths Senjutsu blossoms within an individual, the black spheres with the power of the five elements appear in a halo around them. In Naruto’s case, that moment was here:
So Naruto’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs manifested along with his chakra cloak, not his Six Paths Sage Mode, further supporting the idea that Six Paths Senjutsu and Six Paths Senjutsu exist independently of one another. For the final nail in the coffin, let’s take a look at what Madara says on the following page:
After seeing the cloak, he cites Six Paths Senjutsu as the power Naruto obtained, and goes on to say that he also possesses that power. However, if we look back at the databook’s page on Six Paths Sage Mode, it’s listed users are Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Ashura Otsutsuki, and Naruto Uzumaki… Madara is absent. That’s the proof that Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu are two mutually exclusive abilities that Naruto possesses.
So that begs the questions, what is the difference between Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu, and why is it so important? Six Paths Sage Mode is easy to explain; it’s just an enhanced/improved form of Sage Mode, and as we can see in Naruto/Sasuke’s fight in The Valley of the End, it’s power source is normal Senjutsu chakra:
Six Paths Senjutsu, on the other hand, is something of a misnomer. It doesn’t refer to ambient natural energy, but rather the chakra of the Shinju, or the Ten Tails. We know this because on the databook’s page for the Six Paths Ten Tails Coffin Seal, it says that the acquisition of the power of all the Tailed Beasts is accompanied by the Truth Seeker’s Orbs, which are confirmed on their own page to appear with the manifestation of Six Paths Senjutsu. (Confirmation on the Ten Tails’ chakra being a form of Senjutsu below.)
This is obviously observable in the cases of Obito and Madara, but it’s also something we see with Kaguya as well. When she forms the Expansive Truth Seeker’s Orb in chapter 688, she does so by cultivating the chakra from her unstable Ten Tails transformation:
This is also consistent with Naruto’s case, where the Truth Seeker’s Orbs appear alongside Naruto’s Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak rather than along with his Six Paths Sage Mode. In Shikamaru Hiden, Sakura confirms that accepting the Tailed Beasts’ chakra awakened the chakra of the Ten Tails, or Six Paths Senjutsu, within Naruto:
TLDR: Six Paths Senjutsu is the power of the Ten Tails, whereas Six Paths Sage Mode is a heightened version of normal Sage Mode developed by Hagoromo. They’re mutually exclusive, proven by how Madara has SPS but not SPSM, and how Asura has SPSM, but not SPS. The reason they’re both labeled “Six Paths” is not because they’re related, even though it seems that way, but rather because they’re both Hagoromo’s powers.
So now that we’ve gone all this way to establish this distinction, we can address why it’s so important. Before that, though, I’d like to take time to point out that Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu both seem to come with easily recognizable tell-tale signs. In the case of SPSM, as we’ve already covered, it can be distinguished from Sage Mode by it’s lack of pigmentation around the eyes. As for Six Paths Senjutsu, let’s look back at that image of Madara’s reaction to Naruto’s transformation:
Notice how the focus is on Naruto’s back when Madara recognizes his employment of Six Paths Senjutsu. While similar patterns of swirls and magatama have appeared on Naruto’s back in his various chakra modes, that particular pattern happens to be the one to accompany every single known Six Paths Senjutsu user. That is, a Rinnegan over three rows of magatama:
So now that we have all of that information in mind, we can now inspect Naruto’s form in Naruto Gaiden, and begin to draw conclusions. (His form in The LAST was confirmed in the LAST booklet to be normal Sage + Kurama Mode, and is consistent with the pigmentation/cloak rule.)
So what we see in the first image is that Naruto is indeed using Six Paths Sage Mode, as evidenced by it’s lack of facial pigmentation, but in the second image we get a look at the markings on his back. Instead of a Rinnegan over nine magatama, the indicator for Six Paths Senjutsu, a black circle with thick lines protruding from it can be seen--the indicator for Kurama Mode.
Just like that, we have our answer: post-VOTE, Naruto does still have his enhanced Six Paths Sage Mode, with its unrivaled sensory abilities and flight, but doesn’t possess Six Paths Senjutsu chakra--or at the very least, not enough of it. This is consistent with what we see onscreen; Naruto still has the power to stand toe-to-toe with the Otsutsuki clan and Sasuke, but not once does he use SPS’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs, nor does he call on his unique nature transformations. In other words, the power that he “lost” was not the power he received from the Sage of the Six Paths, but rather the power he received from the Tailed Beasts:
Now that we have the “what,” let’s direct our attention to the “why.” The first part is easy to understand; Sasuke didn’t lose his gift from the Sage, the Rinnegan, so it’s only natural that Naruto wouldn’t lose his gift, the Six Paths Sage Mode. But in that case, why did he lose the power of the Tailed Beasts? Well, let’s take a look at what the Tailed Beasts did:
So I’ve seen a lot of people make the claim that the Tailed Beast chakra fragments that Naruto received would regenerate over time, just as the chakra of the Tailed Beasts themselves do. While I can understand why people might think that way, seeing them manifest within Naruto and all, let’s run it by the empirical evidence. Specifically, I’d like to reference a similar instance of Tailed Beast chakra transfer through physical contact here:
In this instance, Naruto transferred Kurama’s chakra to Hinata, and subsequently did the same for thousands of shinobi. Now, following the logic I mentioned earlier, all of those ninja should forevermore be Jinchuuriki of miniature Kuramas… but that’s obviously not the case. So why do people assume that it’s any different for Naruto?
Moving on, I have an idea of what the knee-jerk response might be. People will think back to this page right here:
Just to clarify, I’m not saying Naruto completely used up the chakra of the Tailed Beasts. On the contrary, it’s a fact that he didn’t. Once again, turn your attention to what Sakura said in Shikamaru Hiden:
Emphasis on “had *some of the [Ten Tails’] power *even now,” implying that he has less of it than he did back when he first obtained their chakra. I could go on, explaining more specifically how the ratio of Kurama’s chakra to the other Tailed Beasts’ chakra may have affected each stage of the appearance of Naruto’s cloak, but I digress. (Whew, you made it.)
For now, I’ll TLDR the conclusion from everything I’ve gone over so far to wrap up: Essentially, Naruto entered the fight with Madara with two new powers: Six Paths Sage Mode, a heightened version of Sage Mode granted by Hagoromo, and Six Paths Senjutsu, a special chakra cloak he gained through the cooperation of the Nine Tailed Beasts. Fast forward to Gaiden, and Naruto still possesses the gift he was granted by Hagoromo, and he still possesses diminished fragments of the Tailed Beasts’ chakra, but the now-complete Kurama has reclaimed his role as Naruto’s primary power source. Just like Sasuke lost an arm, but gained mastery of his Rinnegan, Naruto lost access to certain powers, but gained Kurama’s other half. In this way, when all is said and done, the opposing powers of those two remained in balance.
...if that makes sense. Of course, this still doesn’t address the role of the sun and moon tattoos, or the actual chakra Naruto mentioned he received from the spectre of Hagoromo in chapter 672, but I’ll save those things for a later update post. In the meantime, hopefully this thread does something in the way of clearing up some people’s confusion in regards to Naruto’s Six Paths Sage Mode and the discrepancies between his design and abilities from the War arc to the Next Generations arc. If anyone has any questions, criticisms/disagreements, or new ideas to propose, please do run them by me. There’s still quite a bit of ground to cover on this topic, so it would benefit the thread as a resource if other areas or stances were brought up.
The most popular explanation, from what I’ve seen, is that he hasn’t lost anything at all. Despite the significant changes in his design, Naruto still possesses all of the abilities he possessed during his fights with Madara, Kaguya, and Sasuke, and simply chose not to use them during subsequent conflicts. As for the Truth Seeker’s Orbs, they were either lost or destroyed, and cannot be reformed… (Even though Kaguya did, well, exactly that in chapter 688.)
The second most popular is the exact opposite. That Naruto has completely lost the powers given to him by the Sage of the Six Paths, and has reverted back to the ability set he possessed prior to his “death,” the only difference being that he now possesses the full power of the Nine Tails as opposed to the mere half he had before.
I could be wrong, but to me it seems the majority of people have fallen into one of those two camps, and just accepted the inconsistencies with their chosen stance. Neither theory sat particularly well with me, though. On one hand, the second stance seemed impossible, given Naruto’s continued parity with Sasuke (who retained the ocular powers granted to him by the Sage), and the lack of the tell-tale facial pigmentation when entering Sage Mode, whereas the first just seemed off for a number of reasons. (The radical design change, the disappearance of certain abilities, etc.) I’m sure I’m not alone in this regard, and I doubt I’m the first to have come to the conclusions that I have. However, for those who are still confused and looking for an alternative explanation, here’s what I’ve come up with after gathering all of the available evidence: (Brace yourselves…)
The first and most important distinction to make going into this is between Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu. As we all know, Sage Mode is the result of a shinobi drawing on ambient Senjutsu chakra and mixing it with their internal chakra; therefore, it only stands to reason that “Six Paths” Sage Mode must be a variant of Sage Mode that uses “Six Paths” Senjutsu as its vehicle… that was my original line of thought. However, looking back, I think that’s the critical misconception that’s been leading to confusion. I’d like to propose that the two are completely separate powers--and that once this is understood, everything else will fall into place.
The description of Six Paths Sage Mode from the 4th Databook outlines it as an enhanced version of Sage Mode granted by Hagoromo to those who have the guts to never give up. With it comes the ability to comprehend the nature of chakra, senses that rival or surpass JJ Madara’s, and the ability to fly; it can be differentiated from normal Sage Mode by the lack of pigmentation around the eyes, image below.
You must be registered for see images
Notice how even as Six Paths Sage Mode is active here, Naruto’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs haven’t manifested; likewise, the only mention of Truth Seeker’s Orbs on the databook page is about how Naruto was able to deflect Madara’s to defend Gai. From this, we can gather that Six Paths Sage Mode and Truth Seeker’s Orbs may not be related.
So what does the databook have to say about the Truth Seeker’s Orbs? It says that when Six Paths Senjutsu blossoms within an individual, the black spheres with the power of the five elements appear in a halo around them. In Naruto’s case, that moment was here:
You must be registered for see images
So Naruto’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs manifested along with his chakra cloak, not his Six Paths Sage Mode, further supporting the idea that Six Paths Senjutsu and Six Paths Senjutsu exist independently of one another. For the final nail in the coffin, let’s take a look at what Madara says on the following page:
You must be registered for see images
After seeing the cloak, he cites Six Paths Senjutsu as the power Naruto obtained, and goes on to say that he also possesses that power. However, if we look back at the databook’s page on Six Paths Sage Mode, it’s listed users are Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Ashura Otsutsuki, and Naruto Uzumaki… Madara is absent. That’s the proof that Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu are two mutually exclusive abilities that Naruto possesses.
So that begs the questions, what is the difference between Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu, and why is it so important? Six Paths Sage Mode is easy to explain; it’s just an enhanced/improved form of Sage Mode, and as we can see in Naruto/Sasuke’s fight in The Valley of the End, it’s power source is normal Senjutsu chakra:
You must be registered for see images
Six Paths Senjutsu, on the other hand, is something of a misnomer. It doesn’t refer to ambient natural energy, but rather the chakra of the Shinju, or the Ten Tails. We know this because on the databook’s page for the Six Paths Ten Tails Coffin Seal, it says that the acquisition of the power of all the Tailed Beasts is accompanied by the Truth Seeker’s Orbs, which are confirmed on their own page to appear with the manifestation of Six Paths Senjutsu. (Confirmation on the Ten Tails’ chakra being a form of Senjutsu below.)
You must be registered for see images
This is obviously observable in the cases of Obito and Madara, but it’s also something we see with Kaguya as well. When she forms the Expansive Truth Seeker’s Orb in chapter 688, she does so by cultivating the chakra from her unstable Ten Tails transformation:
You must be registered for see images
This is also consistent with Naruto’s case, where the Truth Seeker’s Orbs appear alongside Naruto’s Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak rather than along with his Six Paths Sage Mode. In Shikamaru Hiden, Sakura confirms that accepting the Tailed Beasts’ chakra awakened the chakra of the Ten Tails, or Six Paths Senjutsu, within Naruto:
“The Nine Tails was still living inside Naruto. There were also remnants of the other 8 Tailed Beasts inside him as well. In that way, you could say he was a human pillar for the power of the Ten Tails.”
TLDR: Six Paths Senjutsu is the power of the Ten Tails, whereas Six Paths Sage Mode is a heightened version of normal Sage Mode developed by Hagoromo. They’re mutually exclusive, proven by how Madara has SPS but not SPSM, and how Asura has SPSM, but not SPS. The reason they’re both labeled “Six Paths” is not because they’re related, even though it seems that way, but rather because they’re both Hagoromo’s powers.
So now that we’ve gone all this way to establish this distinction, we can address why it’s so important. Before that, though, I’d like to take time to point out that Six Paths Sage Mode and Six Paths Senjutsu both seem to come with easily recognizable tell-tale signs. In the case of SPSM, as we’ve already covered, it can be distinguished from Sage Mode by it’s lack of pigmentation around the eyes. As for Six Paths Senjutsu, let’s look back at that image of Madara’s reaction to Naruto’s transformation:
You must be registered for see images
Notice how the focus is on Naruto’s back when Madara recognizes his employment of Six Paths Senjutsu. While similar patterns of swirls and magatama have appeared on Naruto’s back in his various chakra modes, that particular pattern happens to be the one to accompany every single known Six Paths Senjutsu user. That is, a Rinnegan over three rows of magatama:
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
So now that we have all of that information in mind, we can now inspect Naruto’s form in Naruto Gaiden, and begin to draw conclusions. (His form in The LAST was confirmed in the LAST booklet to be normal Sage + Kurama Mode, and is consistent with the pigmentation/cloak rule.)
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
So what we see in the first image is that Naruto is indeed using Six Paths Sage Mode, as evidenced by it’s lack of facial pigmentation, but in the second image we get a look at the markings on his back. Instead of a Rinnegan over nine magatama, the indicator for Six Paths Senjutsu, a black circle with thick lines protruding from it can be seen--the indicator for Kurama Mode.
Just like that, we have our answer: post-VOTE, Naruto does still have his enhanced Six Paths Sage Mode, with its unrivaled sensory abilities and flight, but doesn’t possess Six Paths Senjutsu chakra--or at the very least, not enough of it. This is consistent with what we see onscreen; Naruto still has the power to stand toe-to-toe with the Otsutsuki clan and Sasuke, but not once does he use SPS’s Truth Seeker’s Orbs, nor does he call on his unique nature transformations. In other words, the power that he “lost” was not the power he received from the Sage of the Six Paths, but rather the power he received from the Tailed Beasts:
You must be registered for see images
Now that we have the “what,” let’s direct our attention to the “why.” The first part is easy to understand; Sasuke didn’t lose his gift from the Sage, the Rinnegan, so it’s only natural that Naruto wouldn’t lose his gift, the Six Paths Sage Mode. But in that case, why did he lose the power of the Tailed Beasts? Well, let’s take a look at what the Tailed Beasts did:
You must be registered for see images
So I’ve seen a lot of people make the claim that the Tailed Beast chakra fragments that Naruto received would regenerate over time, just as the chakra of the Tailed Beasts themselves do. While I can understand why people might think that way, seeing them manifest within Naruto and all, let’s run it by the empirical evidence. Specifically, I’d like to reference a similar instance of Tailed Beast chakra transfer through physical contact here:
You must be registered for see images
In this instance, Naruto transferred Kurama’s chakra to Hinata, and subsequently did the same for thousands of shinobi. Now, following the logic I mentioned earlier, all of those ninja should forevermore be Jinchuuriki of miniature Kuramas… but that’s obviously not the case. So why do people assume that it’s any different for Naruto?
Moving on, I have an idea of what the knee-jerk response might be. People will think back to this page right here:
You must be registered for see images
Just to clarify, I’m not saying Naruto completely used up the chakra of the Tailed Beasts. On the contrary, it’s a fact that he didn’t. Once again, turn your attention to what Sakura said in Shikamaru Hiden:
“The Nine Tails was still living inside Naruto. There were also remnants of the other 8 Tailed Beasts inside him as well. In that way, you could say he was a human pillar for the power of the Ten Tails. In the last war, Obito had become a human pillar for the Ten Tails and had gained chakra rivalling that of the Sage of the Six Paths. Naruto, who’d taken the Tailed Beasts into him as well, had some of the Sage’s power even now.”
Emphasis on “had *some of the [Ten Tails’] power *even now,” implying that he has less of it than he did back when he first obtained their chakra. I could go on, explaining more specifically how the ratio of Kurama’s chakra to the other Tailed Beasts’ chakra may have affected each stage of the appearance of Naruto’s cloak, but I digress. (Whew, you made it.)
For now, I’ll TLDR the conclusion from everything I’ve gone over so far to wrap up: Essentially, Naruto entered the fight with Madara with two new powers: Six Paths Sage Mode, a heightened version of Sage Mode granted by Hagoromo, and Six Paths Senjutsu, a special chakra cloak he gained through the cooperation of the Nine Tailed Beasts. Fast forward to Gaiden, and Naruto still possesses the gift he was granted by Hagoromo, and he still possesses diminished fragments of the Tailed Beasts’ chakra, but the now-complete Kurama has reclaimed his role as Naruto’s primary power source. Just like Sasuke lost an arm, but gained mastery of his Rinnegan, Naruto lost access to certain powers, but gained Kurama’s other half. In this way, when all is said and done, the opposing powers of those two remained in balance.
...if that makes sense. Of course, this still doesn’t address the role of the sun and moon tattoos, or the actual chakra Naruto mentioned he received from the spectre of Hagoromo in chapter 672, but I’ll save those things for a later update post. In the meantime, hopefully this thread does something in the way of clearing up some people’s confusion in regards to Naruto’s Six Paths Sage Mode and the discrepancies between his design and abilities from the War arc to the Next Generations arc. If anyone has any questions, criticisms/disagreements, or new ideas to propose, please do run them by me. There’s still quite a bit of ground to cover on this topic, so it would benefit the thread as a resource if other areas or stances were brought up.
If your question is about why I wasted my life making this thread, though, I really can’t help you. I don’t know either...
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