People choose to ignore the manga.This is how things seemingly went.
1- Indra was more talented than Ashura and initially more powerful.
2 - Ashura worked very hard and his chakra bloomed eventually allowing him to be Indra's level.
3- Hagoromo saw this and realized Ashura would be his better successor.
4- Hagoromo made him successor of ninshuu, but we also know he gave him both yin+yang power, because hagoromo said so himself that he gave Naruto and Sasuke the power he gave to ashura.
5 - Indra gets pissed off and leaves for some time and discovers ninjutsu in that period.
6 - Comes back with ninjutsu and MS and stalemates his brother.
For people wondering how Indra could possibly stalemate Ashura if Ashura had RSM. Think about a battle between DMS Kakashi and RSM Naruto from VOTE2. Except Indra was probably much more powerful than DMS Kakashi and Ashura was less powerful than RSM Naruto(he lacked a bijuu) and also Ashura did not know any ninjutsu.
Is it really a stretch that there was a stalemate? If Indra had an OP MS tech like kamui or something else, he should have won the battle.
The manga never explains to us what power Sage gave Ashura. It could have been a physical power up or political power. He did make him his successor. You need to understand the situation between Sage's sons and Naruto/Sasuke are not the same. The manga tell us Sage's sons had equal power and Indra became mad because he was chosen as the successor, while Naruto/Sasuke needed a power up to deal with Madara.
Why is it so hard for you to believe Ashura could match Indra's power without the RSM when you believe Indra had an OP MS. I don't believe Ashura had RSM because it doesn't matches Indra's power. RSM rivals the rinnegan. SM rivals the MS/EMS. People should not underestimate SM, it's very power. It's just a different type of power then eye power. It focuses on ability. Like I said before the only difference between jutsu and ability is a jutsu is an ability used in a specific way.
I believe Ashura had SM not RSM. He just had an OP SM because of his OP body power just like Indra had an OP MS/EMS. To understand that you need to understand Indra and his power.
Quick theory on SM -
We know Sage had RSM. I believe Sage taught SM to Ashura and the animals (toad, snake, and maybe slug). The manga explained SM can be taught, but RSM can't taught. I believe there was only one SM in the past, I'm not including RSM. The animal adapted SM to the best of their ability and created different variants of it based off their natural characteristics IE: toad SM, snake SM. Even though there are some differences between the animal SM there is no reason a skilled SM user can't learn those different SM or their different ability/jutsu. IE: Naruto should have the ability to learn inorganic reincarnation. He is capable of attacking with natural energy in its natural form because he possesses frog fu. I think the animal SM is an incomplete SM because it doesn't use all of the SM abilities.
I also believe there is a "human" SM variant. That's the one Ashura used and his was the unmodified complete SM. It's the same one the 1st hokage uses, but the 1st is not as powerful as him so he couldn't use it to its fullest. I believe that SM was handed down to his descendants, but just like with the Uchiha clan their bloodline weakened so they can't use that SM to the fullest because their body aren't strong enough.
Back to my main theory.
It should be clear that Indra possesses the MS/EMS not the rinnegan. The manga greatly implies that the lightning arrow jutsu Sasuke used -
You must be registered for see links
- against Naruto is a jutsu Indra possess. If that's true then that mean Indra is able to perform jutsu/ability that Sasuke needs the sharingan (gives him the ability to perform susanoo), rinnegan (gives him the ability to control the tail beast, take their chakra, and combine it together), and tail beast (their chakra powered up the jutsu) to perform. It's true for him than the same could and most likely does apply to Ashura. Meaning, he should be able to perform jutsu/ability that Naruto needs the RSM and tail beast to perform. That makes perfect sense and would explain to us why Ashura possess avatar mode -
You must be registered for see links
- even though he wasn't a jinchuuriki, it looks similar to Naruto's, he could fly, and he possess jutsu to appears to be either the TSB or TBB.
Remember, they are Sage's sons so they received their power directly from their father. There power wouldn't be tainted or watered down.
