Chapter 19: The Root of Calamity
"It isn't your father who wants this," a voice said quietly. "It's your mother."
"Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."
The Great Toad Sage's words rang out beside them, sudden enough to make the air feel colder.
At some point, he had arrived near the temple. Now he stood there in silence, watching the brothers as if he had been there the entire time.
"Ōtsutsuki Kaguya is an outsider from the heavens," he continued. "She views this entire world as her territory. If her desire is not restrained, she will bring a great disaster upon it."
"And sooner or later, that disaster will destroy this world."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Hagoromo frowned, his gaze fixed on the toad. "Destroy the world? That sounds exaggerated."
They did find the sacrifices distasteful. They intervened because they could not accept innocent lives being taken.
But to claim it would end the world?
Even now, the number of lives lost each year was small compared to the world's total population. It was still, in a cold and purely numerical sense, within a "reasonable" range.
"I'm not exaggerating." The Great Toad Sage shook his head. His tone remained calm. "That God Tree is the source of all evil."
"It does not only consume the life force of living beings. It also continuously drains the Natural Energy of this world."
"And in that process, the world's Natural Energy will slowly dry up until the land becomes nothing but wasteland."
His eyes seemed to deepen as he spoke, as if countless scenes were reflected within them, like a glimpse of what had not yet happened.
Hagoromo and Hamura both fell silent, their brows tightening.
At that moment, they felt something faint shift around them, subtle enough that they might have dismissed it if they weren't already on edge.
The Great Toad Sage stepped forward and produced an oily substance, holding it out.
"This is toad oil," he said. "It helps you connect with Natural Energy. Apply it, and you will be able to feel the flow of Natural Energy clearly."
He gestured for them to verify his words with their own bodies.
"Brother…"
Hamura looked at Hagoromo, hesitation rising across his face. Trusting the words of an unknown being was one thing.
Putting a suspicious substance on their bodies was another.
If the other party held any malice at all, the consequences could be unimaginable.
Hagoromo shook his head.
He understood Hamura's concern. He felt it too.
And yet, for reasons he couldn't fully explain, when he looked at the Great Toad Sage, he felt an inexplicable sense of trust.
He had the faint conviction that the toad would not lie to him, at least not about something this small.
So Hagoromo took the toad oil and applied it to himself, right in front of Hamura.
The reaction was immediate.
Violent.
Hagoromo's expression tightened as his body responded to something foreign and immense.
"Hiss…"
He drew in a sharp breath, pain lancing through him.
Hamura watched with full alertness. A faint silvery-white sheen surfaced within his Byakugan as he scrutinized Hagoromo, capturing every tiny change.
In his eyes, Hagoromo's arm was petrifying, as if it were being pulled into an unknown transformation.
"Brother!"
Hamura's face changed. He stepped forward instinctively, ready to stop him.
"It's fine."
Hagoromo lifted his hand, stopping Hamura before he could interfere. His voice was steady, even as the sensation burned through him.
"Don't worry. I'm alright."
Then his gaze blurred slightly, as if he had just realized something he had never been able to sense before.
"So this is Natural Energy…" Hagoromo murmured, dazed. "If it's like this…"
He raised his hand.
In an instant, the Chakra inside his body intertwined with the Natural Energy around him. The two forces merged, and the pressure that erupted was terrifying.
He struck.
The impact ripped forward and pierced straight through a small hill in the distance, flattening everything in its path.
The power far surpassed anything he could produce using Chakra alone.
Hamura stared, stunned.
Even the Great Toad Sage looked surprised, admiration flickering in his eyes.
"As expected of the offspring of the outsider Ōtsutsuki Kaguya," he said quietly. "Not only is he strong, his talent for Senjutsu is astonishing."
"With this level of aptitude, if he trains diligently, his future achievements may surpass everyone who came before."
Hagoromo glanced at him, but he didn't respond to the praise.
Instead, he turned his attention to the God Tree.
He stared at it, and began to sense it carefully.
He had not formally trained in Senjutsu yet. His perception of Natural Energy should have been crude.
But the toad oil compensated for that weakness, sharpening his awareness until the flow became clear.
And with that clarity, he understood.
The Great Toad Sage had not lied.
The God Tree was not only devouring life. It was also slowly devouring the world's Natural Energy.
And the amount it consumed was not small.
If it continued long enough, it would drain the surrounding land completely.
Inside the God Tree was a staggering sea of Natural Energy, an accumulation harvested across the Ninja World's history, stored within the tree as nourishment for the fruit.
If this went on, the end was inevitable.
It was only a matter of time before the God Tree drained the Natural Energy of the entire Ninja World.
Hagoromo slowly opened his eyes and asked, "What happens if the Natural Energy of the world is completely drained?"
"That is when calamity truly begins," the Great Toad Sage replied. "It can lead to the destruction of the world itself."
He spoke of Natural Energy as a power produced by the world's own functioning, generated continuously as the world moved.
The more prosperous the world, the more Natural Energy it produced.
It was, in a way, the cornerstone of stability. With enough Natural Energy, the world remained solid, balanced, able to endure.
But if the God Tree drained it all, the world would become fragile.
Disasters would erupt across the land.
The world itself might fall into the abyss of self-destruction.
It could collapse.
Hagoromo and Hamura both felt their chests tighten at the near-apocalyptic outcome.
"If that's true…" Hamura's voice grew tense. "Then why would Father keep the God Tree?"
If the world was destroyed, it would not be surprising if it was Kaguya's doing.
But Yuu had not stopped it.
Not only that, he had ordered people to deliver sacrifices here year after year.
If the God Tree truly led to such a terrifying end, why didn't he put an end to it?
.....
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