"Naruto: My Ninja Skills"Chapter 195: The Sage Is Dead
The Nine-Tails was currently about the size of a normal human—merely in its newborn state, nowhere near the mountain-like proportions it would achieve in later generations.
That's why Yūshin could lift it up like carrying a large dog.
Then both parties began staring at each other with wide eyes.
It was natural for the Nine-Tails to be bewildered—Yūshin was the second human it had ever encountered.
Yūshin was stunned because he realized this was actually his first contact with the Nine-Tails... He had met the Nine-Tails before he was even born. How extraordinary.
Thinking about it this way, when he had lured the Nine-Tails toward the Hagoromo Clan's village back then, wasn't that somewhat underhanded?
The Nine-Tails wouldn't still remember him a thousand years later, would it?
No way, no way. Yūshin shook his head. The Nine-Tails near the Konoha era couldn't possibly still remember him—at least not with such clarity.
On one hand, a thousand years was far too long; no one could clearly remember an encounter from a millennium ago. On the other hand, Yūshin's chakra signature differed drastically between now and then, making it nearly impossible to identify him as the same person.
Chakra signatures were equivalent to a ninja's facial recognition or fingerprint identification—different chakra meant a different person... When the Nine-Tails soaking in hot springs encountered Yūshin, it would probably only regard him as a vaguely familiar stranger.
The "sage version" of Kurama from the future was another matter entirely. This version had not only experienced more events but had already been recognized as "human" rather than merely a chakra beast.
Not to mention all those experiences that even the current Yūshin didn't know about. Once it began thinking like a human, perhaps those thousand-year-old memories would actually resurface... Humans and wild beasts are fundamentally different, after all.
"Hi, hello there."
Yūshin greeted the Nine-Tails, then set it back down on the ground... Well, all those beatings the Nine-Tails would suffer in the future had nothing whatsoever to do with him, Yūshin.
It was Sasuke who would burn the Nine-Tails with Amaterasu, Madara who would control it with genjutsu, and Hashirama who would slap its face senseless—none of that involved Yūshin, so they could get along peacefully.
The Nine-Tails crouched at the cave entrance. After Yūshin set it down, it didn't attempt to run outside again. It looked at Yūshin, then stretched its neck to gaze at the vast sky beyond.
The stone beneath its feet was somewhat cold, so the Nine-Tails swung one tail in front of itself, then placed both front paws on this tail... It was using its own tail fur as a cushion.
Watching the Nine-Tails' movements, Yūshin felt deeply moved. No matter how ferocious a beast might become, when just born, the paw pads beneath its claws are still pink.
At this moment, the Sage of Six Paths finally appeared, walking step by step toward the cave entrance with the other Tailed Beasts surrounding him, making him look like he was encircled by plush toys... Honestly, the scene was quite heartwarming.
"Sage-sensei, how is your body?"
The Sage of Six Paths appeared somewhat weak at this time, making Yūshin worry about how much longer he could hold on.
"I'm fine. I'll recover after some time," the Sage of Six Paths said, waving his hand.
Recover after some time? More like die after some time.
Even the Sage of Six Paths, after having the Ten-Tails' massive energy extracted from his body, had suffered damage to the very foundation of his life... Regardless of life's peak, in terms of lifespan, the Sage of Six Paths was far inferior to true Ōtsutsuki clan members.
Pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki could live a thousand years without any problems, but the Sage of Six Paths was different—he was an Ōtsutsuki born through asexual reproduction, essentially a "mortal" among Ōtsutsuki. Already unable to live long, after ending his mission as the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, his life was approaching its end.
To be precise, his life in the present world was approaching its end—his chakra wouldn't dissipate due to his body's decay and corruption.
However, generally speaking, life and death ultimately have boundaries. After the Sage of Six Paths' physical death, he wouldn't have so many means to interfere with the present world. If he wanted to continue exerting influence on the world, he would need to meet quite a few necessary conditions.
So after his death, his role would actually be more like a "higher-dimensional observer" who wouldn't easily intervene personally.
"Gan, you certainly understand these little ones' origins. Let me introduce their names..."
After completely resolving the Ten-Tails' hidden danger (as he thought), the Sage of Six Paths was clearly in excellent spirits. Just look at the life forms he designed for the Tailed Beasts—you could see what kind of expectations he placed on the newborn Tailed Beasts.
Who could have imagined that these Tailed Beasts would later grow into such fierce and malevolent creatures?
The Sage of Six Paths introduced the Tailed Beasts' names while Yūshin greeted them... These things were just like chicks sold at markets, even capable of awakening everyone's inner animal protector side.
However, Yūshin was different—his understanding of certain aspects of these nine Tailed Beasts far exceeded the Sage of Six Paths', knowing that their character... beast nature wasn't actually very good.
Tailed Beasts were, after all, chakra creatures, and environment severely influenced their personality formation—with ninjas being so dark and the chakra spread throughout the Shinobi World being so dark, how could the Tailed Beasts possibly grow into well-behaved beasts?
"Yin-Yang Release is truly too miraculous." Yūshin sighed from his heart.
The Sage of Six Paths' predictive abilities were still reliable. By this time, Yūshin's Yin-Yang Release had achieved some success—he really had studied it for a lifetime. However, this so-called "some success" ultimately couldn't compare with the Sage of Six Paths' level of casually slicing the Ten-Tails into nine sections.
Just like cutting earthworms—after the Ten-Tails was cut, each segment lived perfectly well. Not killing the Ten-Tails in the process was the technical difficulty, because after killing it, it would revive again after some time.
Thinking of this, Yūshin realized something and asked the Sage of Six Paths:
"Sage-sensei, these nine Tailed Beasts' chakra scale is very small. Even combined, they can't compare with their 'main body.' What's going on?"
"Mm, I've only temporarily created nine life cores. The other chakra has dissipated, but don't worry—that chakra won't recondense. As time passes, it will only gather toward these nine little ones, and they'll grow up then."
The Sage of Six Paths spoke while reaching out to pat the Nine-Tails' head.
Yūshin understood. Since it would regather, who would guarantee the Ten-Tails' chakra would receive equal distribution? Would it be based on individual ability?
Or did the Sage of Six Paths show favoritism when designing their life blueprints?
Anyway, from future perspectives, Kurama looked somewhat different from other Tailed Beasts.
How different? Unspeakable, unspeakable—just different.
The Nine-Tails could even get "protagonist aura"—who could you complain to about that?
For the following period, the Sage of Six Paths began teaching the nine Tailed Beasts basic attitudes for beast conduct, while Yūshin took on the role of caretaker.
At mealtimes, Yūshin would stand there, bang the feeding trough with a long-handled spoon, and the Tailed Beasts would gather around... Yūshin deeply regretted not learning postnatal care for sows in his previous life.
But he actually didn't need any care techniques. After one year, the Tailed Beasts' body sizes naturally expanded, and they were no longer suitable for captivity.
Simultaneously, having been restricted for so long, the Tailed Beasts increasingly yearned for freedom.
The Ten-Tails' sense of imprisonment and frustration flowed through the Tailed Beasts' chakra. This mountain forest was too cramped—they had long wanted to run out and frolic.
The Sage of Six Paths also felt it was time. He instructed the Tailed Beasts not to harm humans, then granted them freedom and released them.
Being able to raise Tailed Beasts made Yūshin quite proud—he even wanted to write a book titled "The Life of Tailed Beasts: From Birth and Rearing to Wild Reintroduction."
Two years after the wild reintroduction—that is, three years after the Sage of Six Paths abandoned his Ten-Tails jinchūriki status—his (physical) life reached its end.
During these brief two to three years, the Sage of Six Paths aged extremely severely.
This evening, the Sage of Six Paths summoned Yūshin to his side.
At this time, he sat cross-legged atop a sheer cliff, with the setting sun painting the horizon dark red. The Sage of Six Paths faced the sunset, his breathing almost imperceptible.
"Gan, my time has come."
"Sage-sensei..."
The Sage of Six Paths interrupted Yūshin's words. He wasn't lamenting his life—he had important matters to arrange for Yūshin to handle.
"Listen carefully to what I say. For the coming period, you must guard my body and eyes well, especially my eyes."
"After I die, my chakra will dissipate, but after some time, these eyes will guide my chakra to return."
Yūshin pressed his lips tightly together, concealing his inner shock. He naturally knew the Sage of Six Paths' chakra would always observe the Shinobi World, however...
Similar, too similar.
This process of death, dissipation, and return was too similar to the Tailed Beasts' life cycle... In other words, the Sage of Six Paths would become a very special chakra life form.
Indeed, everything was traceable. The Sage of Six Paths didn't become the "Shinobi World observer" without reason—he purposefully and systematically did this.
To some extent, the Sage of Six Paths was pursuing eternal life, except his method of eternity was somewhat special, relatively transcendent, with little interference in the present world.
Considering the positive direction, this might be subsequent measures to prevent his mother's escape. If Kaguya could arrange Black Zetsu as a backup plan, then the Sage of Six Paths arranged himself as a backup plan.
"Sage-sensei, I heard that after death, people go to the Pure Land..."
"I won't be in the Pure Land. My chakra will always remain in the present world."
Yūshin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Excellent—he had thought the Sage of Six Paths would take a trip to the Pure Land before returning, but unexpectedly the sage wouldn't go at all, directly self-cycling within the Shinobi World... This was good news for Yūshin.
"How can I know when you've returned, Sage-sensei? Is there a specific time limit?"
"If you see my Rinnegan suddenly dissolve one day, that means I've returned. Then you can dispose of my remains... As for time, one to two months."
One to two months? Yūshin nodded in agreement.
As for the Rinnegan dissolving, this very likely meant the Sage of Six Paths would reclaim this pair of eyes' power in some way. Yūshin didn't feel regretful about this, because he had never intended to claim the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan for himself.
Dare to steal the Sage of Six Paths' equipment? Honestly, that was a bit too reckless... From beginning to end, Yūshin only wanted to borrow the Sage of Six Paths' eyes.
So when he heard the Sage of Six Paths wouldn't go to the Pure Land, he felt this was a good thing.
Don't think that destroying or taking away the Rinnegan would prevent the Sage of Six Paths' chakra from returning—things definitely couldn't be that simple.
Yūshin suspected that even without these eyes' guidance, the Sage of Six Paths' chakra would merely return more slowly—it couldn't possibly dissipate into thin air... Compared to the pattern of Tailed Beasts taking years or even decades to revive after death, the Sage of Six Paths' chakra return speed seemed too fast.
The Rinnegan might just play an accelerating role.
Of course, there was a one-in-ten-thousand possibility that without the Rinnegan there would no longer be a Sage of Six Paths, but Yūshin didn't dare gamble and didn't want to gamble... The Sage of Six Paths' chakra still existed in later generations.
Moreover, personality-wise, Yūshin never engaged in gouging out people's eyeballs.
From the Sage of Six Paths' death to his chakra's second return, this one-to-two-month period when the sage had no attention toward the present world or even the Pure Land was an excellent window of opportunity.
This was already sufficient for Yūshin.
Having made arrangements, based on end-of-life care principles, Yūshin asked:
"Sage-sensei, do you need to notify Indra and Asura?"
"That's not necessary. It's not like a final parting... Cough, I mean I've already gone into seclusion and withdrawn from the world. There's no need to disturb those children."
Yūshin almost couldn't suppress his laughter, because the old fellow nearly let something slip.
Clearly it was a final parting, but why did the Sage of Six Paths say "it's not like a final parting"?
Translate, translate—what exactly does "final parting" mean?
Please be serious—the Sage of Six Paths is about to die. How can his disciple Yūshin be grinning?
However, Yūshin truly couldn't feel any sorrowful emotions, because the deceased's emotions were inherently stable... The Sage of Six Paths' death simply couldn't make people solemn.
There was no helping it—the Sage of Six Paths treated death as child's play. He didn't forcibly manipulate or toy with life and death, because simple manipulation was too elementary for him.
Look at Senju Tobirama and Orochimaru, then look at the Sage of Six Paths—they weren't even in the same league.
Yūshin accompanied the Sage of Six Paths watching the sunset, waiting until stars rose and set again. When the sun rose the next day, he brushed off the morning dew, reached out to touch the Sage of Six Paths' forehead, and found he had grown completely cold.
Yūshin stood up and brought the Sage of Six Paths' remains back to that giant cave where the Tailed Beasts were born.
At this time, Yūshin was extremely excited, but he did nothing.
After setting down the Sage of Six Paths' remains, Yūshin simply sat quietly across from them. After waiting another day, he finally cautiously attempted to say:
"Sage-sensei, you're not going to fake your death, are you?"
The Sage of Six Paths didn't speak—just like a corpse.
The Sage of Six Paths' chakra had indeed dissipated. Theoretically, he couldn't possibly still have consciousness surviving, yet Yūshin was "timid as a mouse" and genuinely worried.
After another day passed, Yūshin felt things wouldn't reverse again, so he finally decided to act.
He hesitated slightly before starting work, but once he began, his hand speed was incredibly fast.
He formed hand seals and used the Summoning Technique to summon a White Zetsu.
White Zetsu's mental consciousness was in a dormant state, but Yūshin could interfere with it. White Zetsu was like a marionette in his hands...
First, Yūshin himself had been a White Zetsu for quite a long time, so he understood these things thoroughly. Second, he was now "God Tree-Man"—the God Tree controlling White Zetsu was life-level suppression and control, just like a menopausal mother ordering around her high school son.
Yūshin controlled the White Zetsu, making it use the Spore Technique to attach to the Sage of Six Paths' remains... When the sage was alive, such things were unthinkable.
But now, the sage was dead.
Moreover, the sage had entrusted Yūshin with the authority to handle his remains—this level of trust was also very important.
After a corpse was loaded with a "White Zetsu plugin," everything became vastly different.
The "Sage of Six Paths" opened his eyelids, and those Rinnegan completely devoid of vitality and emotional coloring were thus revealed.
"Lend me a pair of wise eyes, Sage-sensei..."
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