northernbook Chapter 639 The Person Who Gave Away the Hangover
Chapter 639 The Person Who Gave Away the Hangover
Sasuke, far from the battlefield, watched as two colossal figures, obscuring the sky, clashed violently in the distance.
Each impact caused the earth to tremble violently, and the shockwave, carrying rubble and scorched earth, spread all the way to his feet.
That far surpassed the realm of ninjas. It was power comparable to that of a god. Sasuke lowered his head, looking at his outstretched hands.
He had just awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, a power that would make anyone in the Uchiha clan a genius among geniuses, but in this battle, he didn't even have the right to stand on the battlefield.
He understood why Mai wouldn't even glance at him anymore, even after he had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan.
She pushed him away because she knew he couldn't withstand even a single blow from her. Not to mention, his chakra was almost completely depleted after activating his Mangekyou Sharingan, but even so...
Sasuke gritted his teeth, braced himself on his knees, and forced himself to get up from the ground.
But he stood tall; he didn't want to sit and wait to die. Even though he knew that if he rushed over now, he might not even be able to withstand the aftershocks, even though he knew that he couldn't change anything.
But that was Mai, the person who had stood by his side since he could remember. Even though she had said it herself, "There's no need for you to like me," he couldn't turn away. But... what should he do?
He used all his strength to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan, a power that would be considered the pinnacle for an ordinary ninja, but against Mai, against that level of power, he couldn't even get a ticket to participate in the battle.
"The current reincarnation of Indra..."
Suddenly, an old voice, as if carried by the wind from a very, very far place, entered Sasuke's ears.
"Who?!" Sasuke suddenly raised his head and looked around. He saw something gathering in front of him.
An unnatural wisp of white smoke rose into the air. The smoke slowly swirled, gathered, solidified, and finally coalesced into a figure.
Dressed in white, the hem of his robes fluttering even without wind, he held a black tin staff in his hand. His aged face was etched with the lines of time, and his eyes were filled with long, dark eyes.
Purple, wavy patterns slowly spread across the iris. The Rinnegan.
"Who are you?!" Sasuke instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist.
The old man slowly spoke.
"My name is Hagoromo. I am the founder of the Ninja Clan. When I was alive, people called me Otsutsuki Hagoromo. As for later generations, they call me the Sage of Six Paths."
"...The Sage of Six Paths?" Sasuke's brows furrowed, his Sharingan fixed on the old man before him who claimed to be the Sage of Six Paths, trying to find any trace of genjutsu or transformation techniques in his chakra fluctuations. "You say you're some kind of mythological figure? Those stories for fooling children, do you think I'd believe that? And what's this Indra thing? That's not my name. My name is Uchiha Sasuke."
"Yes, it sounds unbelievable, but it's true."
The Sage of Six Paths showed no displeasure at Sasuke's wariness and skepticism, maintaining his unhurried tone. "As for Indra, explaining that would take a considerable amount of time. But there's no time for a detailed explanation now. I've observed this world for over a thousand years since my death, and this is the first time I've encountered such a situation: in the same era, in the same place, there are two reincarnations of Ashura and two reincarnations of Indra. One comes from this world, and the other from another."
"...I don't understand a single word you're saying!"
Sasuke's voice rose slightly, not out of anger, but from the near-limitless frustration he was experiencing after being bombarded with information he couldn't process since the start of the battle. "If you really are one of those mythical figures, then go and turn Mai back to normal! You've been able to observe the world for thousands of years after your death; surely you can do something like that!"
"I'm sorry, I can't do it."
The Sage of Six Paths' voice remained calm, but carried a very faint bitterness.
"Can't do it?"
Sasuke's expression turned grim, but the Sage of Six Paths didn't give him a chance to question him, and continued to explain.
"It's not that I don't want to stop it, but that I can't. As you can see, I've been dead for thousands of years. What stands before you now is merely a wisp of my chakra incarnation left in this world."
"Since you can't do anything, what exactly do you want to do by showing up here?"
"I hope you will listen to me, the current Indra."
The Sage of Six Paths lowered his eyelids slightly, and an undisguised heaviness appeared on his aged face. "Now, everything my mother left behind, Black Zetsu, and that world-destroying conspiracy called the 'Eye of the Moon Plan' have all been resolved by Mai Uzumaki alone, without anyone knowing."
"But this is not a good thing." His voice lowered slightly, "because the way she resolved it was by plundering. She took Black Zetsu's power for herself, absorbed all of Mother's remaining chakra, and even took me."
"...You didn't let them go either?"
"She relied on that ninja named Orochimaru, using the forbidden technique Impure World Reincarnation that I created myself as a foundation, to reverse-engineer a technique that could establish a connection with the Pure Land. She found me."
"It was for... theft. She stole a portion of my power. It was because of that theft that she gained the physical strength to simultaneously wield the chakra of the three great sacred lands, that her Rinnegan in her palm evolved into the six-tomoe form, and that she possessed the power you see, the power to directly contend with Ashura and Indra from another world. You might find it laughable. The founder of the Ninja Clan, who has lived for thousands of years, had his power stolen by a twenty-year-old girl. But that's not the real reason I fear her."
The Sage of Six Paths raised his eyes, and in his Rinnegan, he saw the reflection of two colossal beasts tearing at each other in the distance.
"What truly frightens me is her obsession with power. For thousands of years, the reincarnations of Asura have always been gentle, tolerant, and valued love and bonds more than power. But this generation of Asura's thirst for power surpasses that of anyone I've seen in thousands of years."
"This belief was so strong that it even contaminated Ashura's chakra itself."
"But this kind of thing is not innate. The source of her getting to where she is today is probably everything that this child experienced in her childhood. Moreover, she has now grown to a point that even I can't control."
He paused, turning his gaze from the distant battlefield back to Sasuke's face. "Now, Ashura from another world has appeared. I can sense that this is the only chance to completely shatter the current Ashura's ambition."
"That young man from another world possesses greater power than her because he has something she lacks. He has people willing to fight alongside him, people he would risk his life to protect. And these are things that Mai has never had."
"The person I've been waiting for might not be that Ashura from another world—" His gaze lingered on Sasuke's face, "but you."
"……I?"
"It's you." The Sage of Six Paths slowly raised his hand and extended it towards Sasuke. "Come. I will give you all the power I have left."
"Please, I will give you the opportunity to stand in front of her, to let her see, and to eliminate the hatred in the current Asura's heart."