Chapter 417: Truly Embarrassing
Familiar spiritual space, familiar spiritual clash.
Kagami Uchiha walked out of the teahouse. Seeing this scene, he looked a bit bewildered, almost thinking he had gotten drunk on cola...
The Sage of Six Paths hadn't even changed his routine. He suddenly withdrew all the defenses around his body. But this time, Masahiko wasn't going to hold back...
Just as the mental impact was about to hit the defenseless Sage of Six Paths, he sighed lightly. He planted his Sage's staff into the ground, and his white robe, imprinted with six red tomoe, fluttered as he activated the defenses around his body once again.
Masahiko chuckled, "I thought you really weren't afraid of dying! If you have the guts, don't defend! Using this kind of trick once is enough. Expecting this Sage to fall for it twice, do you take me for a fool?"
"Even if the Underworld really collapses, the stronger the person, the longer their soul survives, right? I can at least retrieve half of the souls I want. At worst, the fish dies and the net breaks!"
The Sage of Six Paths remained silent for a moment. "I can give you Hashirama Senju's soul."
Masahiko smiled, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. As long as he was willing to compromise, it was fine. If they really fought to the death, not only would many souls be reduced to ashes, but even if he managed to kill Six Paths, he would also suffer some soul trauma. Recovering from that would be very troublesome, and he still had two wanted criminals outside to catch...
"Just giving me Hashirama? Not enough! If I only wanted him, I wouldn't have chosen to pull you in!"
The Sage of Six Paths remained silent for a long time again. Finally, he changed his posture. The feet of his cross-legged floating form touched the ground as he stood up straight and spoke slowly, "Masahiko Uzumaki, let me tell you a story."
Masahiko shook his head. "How about telling me a joke instead? If it's funny and makes this Sage happy, I might just let you go!"
The Sage of Six Paths ignored him. "A thousand years ago, a goddess descended from beyond the heavens..."
"You're really telling a joke? I know all about your mother's affairs. She ate the fruit of the Divine Tree, then launched the Infinite Tsukuyomi to destroy the world, and was sealed in the moon by the combined efforts of you and your brother."
"Speaking of which, the moon is really nice, spacious and livable. How did you manage to keep it from falling to the ground for so long? Tell me, I'll make one too, and we can have twin moons in the sky!"
The Sage of Six Paths glanced at him. "That is why the Underworld cannot be destroyed!"
Masahiko was taken aback, revealing a hint of surprise. "So you created the Underworld to draw power to maintain the operation of the moon's seal?"
"If the moon's seal collapses, Mother will be freed. Although the Tailed Beasts have already been divided by me, even if the seal is undone, it would only free Mother's empty shell. However, she is immortal and could easily retrieve all her power. The current you cannot seal her, even if she has lost most of her power!"
Masahiko blinked. He currently had 545 Witness Points saved up, enough to max out his Sealing Jutsu. He actually kind of wanted to try it...
"That is not what I want to talk about." The Sage of Six Paths continued, "I have always suspected that there was a reason behind the drastic change in my pure and kind Mother's temperament. After investigating all these years, I have basically confirmed that she was bewitched by someone else!"
Hearing this, Masahiko frowned slightly. With the Sage of Six Paths mentioning this, he suddenly recalled some distant memories. He remembered that in the original work, the Naruto anime and manga had completely different explanations for the reason behind Kaguya's change. The anime team seemed to have added some original content, but he hadn't watched all of the original filler episodes...
"It seemed to be something about the Land of Ancestors. A maid of Kaguya's died, and then... what happened?" Masahiko muttered to himself.
The Sage of Six Paths was stunned. "You actually even know about this?! From the records of the Land of That?"
Masahiko suddenly understood. He didn't know much originally, but with the Sage of Six Paths' reminder, coupled with the legend of 'the Land of That offending the Goddess'...
"That's right, the Land of That has records. They caused the death of your mother's maid, right?"
The Sage of Six Paths nodded. "The fundamental reason leading to Mother's change was the death of her servant, Aino..."
"Her maid was named Aino?!"
Seeing the Sage of Six Paths nod in confirmation, massive waves surged in Masahiko's heart. Here came the question: Teuchi's wife was also named Aino. Were they the same person?
"Has the matter circled back to... Ichiraku Otsutsuki again?"
The Sage of Six Paths continued, "I don't know the exact details of what happened back then, but the shadow of the same person is involved in every single event. There is definitely a problem here!"
Masahiko pondered for a moment. "So you think your mother was bewitched by him?"
The Sage of Six Paths tapped his staff on the ground. "Exactly! If you hadn't let the other you return to the past, none of this would have happened!"
Masahiko's mind went blank, his body freezing in place. Even the mental lockdown he had been maintaining on the Sage of Six Paths stopped for a moment. Fortunately, the Sage of Six Paths didn't react in time, or perhaps he temporarily didn't want to leave...
"Teuchi, is actually me?! Right, that makes sense. He participated in all the events related to the change in Kaguya's temperament just to get Witness Points! But how... could there be two of me?" Masahiko remained silent and speechless.
It took him a good while to clear his thoughts and ask the Sage of Six Paths this question.
"Regarding the changes in space and time, I am also unclear. When he traveled through space and time twice consecutively, some unknown change might have occurred. Or it could be due to some secret within you. Reaching your current level of strength today, do not tell me it was entirely through your own training."
Masahiko breathed a sigh of relief. "You are right, it was entirely through my own training."
The Sage of Six Paths: "..."
Silence fell over the spiritual space.
Masahiko was sorting out his thoughts, wondering how exactly he should face his other self.
"He probably harbors no ill will towards me, otherwise it would have been very easy to eliminate me when I was weak. He once traveled back to the past in Konoha Year 39, and was then pulled back to his original era by space and time. He lived until Konoha Year 63, then traveled back to Konoha Year 39 again, stopping me, or rather 'his past self', from traveling through time and changing the past! And because he time-traveled twice, some unknown changes occurred in between, sending him back a thousand years and resulting in 'two of me'!"
Masahiko slowly accepted this fact. He knew his own personality best and felt the most at ease with it. No matter what his other self had experienced, it was impossible for him to become a mastermind behind the scenes; at most, he might have some other petty schemes.
And his wife Aino was most likely really Kaguya's servant, saved by him, and had lived for a thousand years...
"When he fought with Six Paths earlier, he was so weak. Perhaps he found a way to add points to other people! And since Witness Points cannot be obtained repeatedly, he currently... cannot be stronger than me!"
Having figured this out, Masahiko paused slightly, looked up, and said, "The bloodline in Sara cannot be faked. If he went back a thousand years ago..."
"The direct descendants of the ancient kingdom of Rouran are all his descendants. That girl named Sara is the last descendant of this lineage."
Masahiko felt a sense of relief in his heart and couldn't help but laugh at himself. Having raised this daughter for so many years, even if she were a completely unrelated stranger, could he just abandon her?
He was only hung up on one thing right now.
"He really embarrassed me. Traveling back to a thousand years ago, and he didn't even become the father of Six Paths! He only took away Kaguya's maid. Truly embarrassing!"
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