Chapter 619: The Sage of Six Paths' Father?
"So, Kenichi..."
Hagoromo stared at him in stunned disbelief.
"You're telling me that you, a mere brat, did something like that to my mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki?"
The shock in his eyes had still not faded.
Kenichi awkwardly rubbed his nose.
He felt somewhat wronged.
Strictly speaking, this entire situation had started as an accident.
When he began experimenting on the fragment of Kaguya's consciousness, he had no idea that memories and sensations experienced by that fragment could somehow be transmitted back to Kaguya's main consciousness.
Under those circumstances, Kenichi had naturally proceeded with his experiments without realizing the implications.
His original goal had simply been to research Kaguya's consciousness and find some way to influence her.
Even so...
Facing Hagoromo's bewildered stare, Kenichi could not help feeling guilty.
He was not completely shameless.
No matter how he tried to justify it, explaining to someone that he had implanted memories of an entire romantic life with that person's mother was undeniably awkward.
Still, Kenichi had decided to bite the bullet and confess.
If he continued hiding it, the truth could cause an even greater conflict with Hagoromo later.
As for what consequences this confession might bring...
Kenichi honestly had no way to predict them.
"Strictly speaking, my original intention was only to study Kaguya's consciousness."
Kenichi gave a helpless sigh.
"I wanted to determine whether I could influence her enough to make her abandon the idea of turning the people of the Shinobi World into White Zetsu."
"That's why I began implanting memories and emotional experiences into that fragment."
He spread his hands.
"But I genuinely had no idea the fragment could transmit those experiences back to her main consciousness."
Kenichi truly had not done it with this result in mind.
He had been conducting research.
What terrible intentions could a researcher possibly have?
Still, if he wanted Hagoromo to accept the explanation more easily, Kenichi needed to phrase the matter carefully.
What justification would Hagoromo find easiest to accept?
Obviously, protecting the Shinobi World.
After all, why had Hagoromo and Hamura become such extraordinarily "filial" sons and rebelled against their own mother?
Because they disagreed with Kaguya's plans for the world.
One could only say that Kaguya had still been too inexperienced at the time.
Perhaps the education she received among the Otsutsuki had also been incomplete, which eventually led everything to that point.
Truly filial sons.
Still, from the perspective of the Shinobi World, Hagoromo and Hamura had undoubtedly made the right choice.
Otherwise, Naruto's story might never have existed.
The entire population of the Shinobi World could have been transformed into White Zetsu long ago.
What would a story in that world even look like?
A machine uprising?
No.
White Zetsu were not machines.
Perhaps it would be the heroic tale of White Zetsu rising against Otsutsuki tyranny, overthrowing Kaguya, and establishing their own free nation.
"You..."
Hagoromo stared at Kenichi with an extremely complicated expression.
Kenichi's explanation did make a certain amount of sense.
After all, even Hagoromo himself had never known that the fragment of Kaguya's consciousness could share memories and sensations with her sealed main body.
But that realization created another disturbing possibility.
If the consciousness fragment had been transmitting information all along...
How much of what they had done during this period did Kaguya already know?
Even so, Hagoromo felt that saying nothing would also be inappropriate.
No matter what had happened between them, Kaguya was still his mother.
Without Kaguya, neither Hagoromo nor Hamura would even exist.
"Hagoromo."
Before Hagoromo could continue, Kenichi suddenly countered with a question.
"Did you know about this connection beforehand?"
Hagoromo fell silent.
Because he genuinely had not known.
If he had understood the nature of the connection when he first separated that fragment from Kaguya's consciousness, he certainly would have warned Kenichi.
And then this painfully awkward situation might never have occurred.
"Ahem."
Kenichi cleared his throat.
"But I also understand that what I did went too far."
"That's precisely why, after confirming what happened, I decided to tell you myself."
He bowed his head slightly.
"I'm sorry."
No matter how he tried to explain it...
This was ultimately his responsibility.
Kenichi could easily continue shifting blame onto Hagoromo for failing to warn him.
Perhaps that would protect his pride.
But it would also plant a seed of resentment between them.
If Hagoromo kept that dissatisfaction buried and eventually turned against him because of it, the result would be far more troublesome.
Kenichi had no desire to create a serious conflict with Hagoromo.
Especially not now.
As expected, Hagoromo's expression softened slightly after Kenichi apologized.
When neither side wanted a relationship to collapse completely, it was important to give the other person some way to save face.
Kenichi understood that much.
And Hagoromo's reaction proved that his approach had worked.
At the very least, the two of them had not fallen out on the eve of their battle with Isshiki.
After a moment, Hagoromo sighed.
"Then the question becomes whether we should release Mother now."
His tone returned to business.
"Breaking her seal isn't actually simple."
"Furthermore, once Kaguya is released, she will instinctively begin drawing in some of the chakra scattered throughout this world."
Kenichi immediately fell into thought.
Personally...
He was extremely reluctant to let Kaguya out.
The memories he had implanted into her consciousness were hardly innocent.
Within those fabricated memories, Kaguya had experienced an entire intimate married life with him.
Kenichi had repeatedly deepened the conditioning and incorporated increasingly personal experiences in an attempt to make the emotional connection convincing.
The goal had been to completely reshape how Kaguya's consciousness reacted to him.
But those were only implanted memories.
As long as Kaguya remained sealed, everything existed inside her consciousness.
If she actually regained her freedom...
Who knew what she would think?
Kenichi looked seriously at Hagoromo.
"If Kaguya is released, who do you think she'll attack first?"
"Me?"
"Or Isshiki?"
Kenichi could currently imagine three main possibilities.
The first was the best-case scenario.
Kaguya might simply ignore Kenichi.
No special hatred.
No unusual feelings.
She would immediately focus on Isshiki, deal with their old enemy, and afterward perhaps speak with Hagoromo.
The second possibility was much worse.
Kaguya might emerge from the seal with such overwhelming hatred for Kenichi that she immediately attacked him before doing anything else.
Then there was the third possibility.
Kaguya could kill Isshiki first...
And then come straight for Kenichi.
As for a fourth possibility, where Kaguya had become so thoroughly affected by the implanted memories that she genuinely developed romantic feelings toward him...
Kenichi did not dare assume anything.
Kaguya was not an ordinary human woman.
Her psychology, biology, and emotional responses were all fundamentally different.
Treating her like an ordinary person would be stupid.
So Kenichi still needed to prepare for the worst.
"Before I answer that..."
Hagoromo gave him another complicated look.
"Tell me exactly what you did."
Kenichi's eyebrow twitched.
Still, he offered a simplified explanation.
A very simplified one.
It was the classic method of emphasizing the harmless parts while quietly glossing over the troublesome details.
People did this all the time.
Someone could discover suspicious messages on their partner's phone late at night, search words like [Amazing], [Come], or [How many times], and uncover some extremely questionable conversations.
Then, when confronted, the guilty party might carefully avoid the most important details or simply start arguing about something else entirely.
Kenichi naturally chose the less incriminating version of events.
"I basically implanted a series of memories where the two of us dated, got married, and had children."
He spoke as casually as possible.
Hagoromo stared at him strangely.
Something felt off.
Kenichi was clearly leaving things out.
But what exactly was he hiding?
Hagoromo could not determine that.
"If that's all..."
Hagoromo scratched his head.
"Mother would probably still be extremely angry."
Kenichi's expression stiffened.
Hagoromo continued.
"After all, when Mother gave birth to Hamura and me, she never experienced anything like ordinary human relationships."
"Our births happened through a special method associated with the Otsutsuki Clan."
Kenichi fell silent.
If that was true...
Then the situation really was troublesome.
Kenichi remembered that there had always been two different explanations among Naruto fans regarding how Hagoromo and Hamura had been born.
One interpretation claimed Kaguya came to this world, gradually fell in love with a human man, and later gave birth to her sons.
But other material rejected that interpretation, instead connecting their birth to Kaguya's transformation after consuming the chakra fruit rather than an ordinary union with a human.
There had even been theories that Kaguya represented divinity stripped of humanity, while Hagoromo and Hamura inherited the humanity that she had lost.
Under such interpretations, consuming the chakra fruit had fundamentally changed Kaguya, and the birth of her sons became another consequence of that transformation.
Kenichi had always found the subject debatable.
After all, Kaguya's behavior in the anime did not appear completely detached or divine.
She often displayed very human emotions.
Though that could simply have resulted from how the anime adaptation portrayed her.
Regardless of the exact explanation...
This Kaguya definitely had not formed an ordinary relationship with a human.
That meant she leaned much more strongly toward an Otsutsuki concept of existence than a human one.
So now Kenichi had another problem to consider.
How exactly would a being like that interpret the memories he had forced into her consciousness?
How would Kaguya see him?
Kenichi sighed.
"Now we really have a problem."
Still...
There was Isshiki.
They had to face him tomorrow.
And from a purely strategic perspective, allowing Kaguya to participate remained highly attractive.
The person who understood someone best was often their greatest enemy.
Kaguya had known Isshiki personally.
She had nearly killed him once.
She probably understood his abilities, habits, and weaknesses better than almost anyone else alive.
If Kaguya joined the battle...
The chances of Kenichi and the others successfully subduing Isshiki would rise dramatically.
So should they release her now?
Kenichi had already learned from Hagoromo that breaking Kaguya's seal was not something they could accomplish instantly.
They could recreate Black Zetsu's method.
Or they could perform a more conventional unsealing process.
But if they chose the normal method, preparations would be required.
Ideally, they would release her in advance rather than waiting until the middle of the battle.
"So what do we do?"
Hagoromo looked at Kenichi.
If Kenichi had not created this entire mess, Hagoromo might already have released Kaguya in preparation for tomorrow's battle.
Now, however...
He had to consider what would happen the instant his mother returned.
And every time Hagoromo remembered that Kenichi had practically tried to become his father through implanted memories...
His mood became indescribably complicated.
Kenichi quietly glanced at him.
He could practically see the emotional struggle happening in Hagoromo's mind.
Yes.
Once Isshiki was dead...
It was probably best to leave immediately.
Kenichi understood the danger very clearly.
Hagoromo was conflicted right now.
And complicated emotions like these could easily ferment into resentment.
So when Isshiki died...
Kenichi intended to activate the time machine and leave this timeline as quickly as possible.
...
"The war is about to begin."
Elsewhere, Hashirama sat atop his own enormous stone statue in the Valley of the End.
He quietly looked across the familiar yet strangely different world around him.
On the opposite statue stood Madara.
"Hashirama."
Madara looked toward his old friend.
"What are you thinking about?"
Then he lay back against the stone statue, folded his arms behind his head, and stared up at the sky.
He had spent so long working toward his ambitions in this world.
Only to eventually discover that he had been little more than a clown dancing according to someone else's plan.
That revelation had struck Madara harder than almost anything else in his life.
If he had not wanted to personally witness just how powerful the enemy that both Kenichi and Hagoromo treated so cautiously truly was...
Madara might already have left.
Every time he remembered that he had spent decades believing Black Zetsu was the manifestation of his own will...
Only to learn that he himself had been Black Zetsu's pawn...
Madara's pride burned with humiliation.
"I'm not thinking about much."
Hashirama laughed heartily.
"We're shinobi."
"When the enemy comes, we fight."
"That's all."
He seemed almost completely free of worry.
For Hashirama, smiling, fighting, and enjoying each day was enough.
Madara curled his lip.
Why had he even bothered asking Hashirama such a question?
He knew perfectly well what kind of person his old friend was.
Then again...
If Hashirama did not possess that personality, he would not be Hashirama.
In Madara's mind, Hashirama had always been exactly this kind of person.
Optimistic.
Cheerful.
Absurdly powerful.
And occasionally rather brainless.
Still...
Madara had to admit Hashirama's answer made sense.
They were shinobi.
Their enemy was coming.
So they would fight.
And this particular enemy was supposedly powerful enough to be called a god.
That thought alone made Madara increasingly excited.
He wanted to discover the difference between himself and a being like Isshiki.
How great was that gap?
Could it truly be called insurmountable?
"By the way."
Hashirama suddenly smiled.
"Did you see Naruto's Rinnegan?"
Madara went silent.
Hashirama's smile widened.
"Sasuke isn't the only one with those eyes anymore."
Madara continued saying nothing.
"And I almost forgot."
Hashirama sounded even more pleased.
"Naruto also has that Nine-Tails fellow."
"That fox isn't particularly impressive, but it still helped Naruto become considerably stronger."
Hashirama sighed with satisfaction.
Madara slowly rubbed his face.
Where was the Eight-Tails again?
He would go capture it right now.
....
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