Chapter 580: So You're the Sage of Six Paths?
"Uzumaki Naruto, open your eyes. I am the Sage of Six Paths."
In the dim, dark space, a pale old man floated in midair in a cross-legged position.
"Ooooh! This is so realistic!"
The moment Naruto opened his eyes and saw the Sage of Six Paths, he became incredibly excited.
"And I know this part!"
Back then, Naruto had asked Kakashi to let him watch the replay. When Uchiha Obito first entered the Engraved Tsukuyomi game, there had also been a guide.
Obito's guide had even been Sasuke.
Back then, the line was, "Uchiha Obito, open your eyes. I am Sasuke."
This version wasn't much different.
They had just replaced Sasuke with the Sage of Six Paths.
But why was it the Sage of Six Paths?
Had Kakashi-sensei secretly given him some special privilege so he could have an awesome time inside?
Naruto was already looking forward to it.
"Naruto, I think you've misunderstood something. I am not a character in this illusion. I'm using this illusion as a medium to speak with you. There are some things I need to tell you."
The Sage of Six Paths noticed Naruto's mood was completely off and immediately explained.
The Sage of Six Paths before him really wasn't an NPC.
There were several conditions for his appearance.
The first was power.
A Rinnegan had to appear, and it had to belong to someone capable of using most of its power. Only then could the Sage of Six Paths project his own power through it.
Sasuke had already fulfilled this condition before reviving Madara.
The second was the appearance of the Child of Prophecy. Naruto had gathered all nine Tailed Beasts within himself, and he had also fulfilled this condition ahead of time.
Although, at the moment, Naruto had only physically gathered the Tailed Beasts. Because of the prophecy, the Tailed Beasts themselves were still wary of him.
The third condition was Kaguya's imminent revival through the removal of her seal.
There was no need to explain this one. Before returning to her seal, Kaguya had released a burst of power through Black Zetsu's body. Besides, one of Shiromo and the others' goals had always been to unseal Kaguya. The Sage of Six Paths had naturally sensed it.
There was also the condition of the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
That had not appeared.
And Naruto and Sasuke both being on the verge of death.
That had not happened either.
So the Sage of Six Paths couldn't appear in a dream. Instead, he resorted to hacking his way in, using the Engraved Tsukuyomi to contact Naruto.
As for why he didn't simply wait?
Because he had sensed something was wrong. He felt that if he waited until Naruto and Sasuke were both dying before granting them power and guidance, it would already be too late.
Recently, Momoshiki, Urashiki, and Shiromo had all displayed power on the level of the Ōtsutsuki.
The Sage of Six Paths knew nothing about visitors from beyond the stars. He could only judge that they possessed power equal to his mother Kaguya's, making them threats of the same level.
"I know, I know. Hurry up and say it. I want to create my character already. Hehe, this time it's my turn to be Sasuke."
Naruto cracked his knuckles impatiently. He couldn't wait to become Sasuke and experience being chased by all the girls in class.
"As expected of Asura's reincarnation. Even inside an illusion, you're thinking about understanding others by experiencing the life of Indra's reincarnation. What a good child."
Whether the Sage of Six Paths had gone senile or not was anyone's guess, but he started praising Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto, all nine Tailed Beasts have gathered within you. You are the Child of Prophecy. I hope you will join forces with Indra's reincarnation and stop my mother's revival... More accurately, prevent her seal from being released, and thereby save today's ninja world."
After praising Naruto, the Sage returned to the main topic.
"Stop your mother's unsealing? But..."
Naruto froze after hearing the mission.
In reality, thanks to the movie promotion and inside information, Naruto already knew everyone's mission was to unseal Kaguya and revive her.
So why was the Sage asking him to stop it?
"Oh! I get it!"
Naruto suddenly slapped his hands together in realization.
"This is the Engraved Tsukuyomi world! Just like the Limited Tsukuyomi novel said, everything here is the opposite of the real ninja world!"
After coming up with this explanation, Naruto began grinning foolishly, secretly admiring how amazingly smart he was.
'Even Shikamaru probably isn't any smarter than me.'
"Naruto, opposite? I already told you, I am not a character in this illusion."
"Listen carefully. The story I'm about to tell begins with my mother, Kaguya..."
"I know! You're the Sage of Six Paths, which means you're the sage who occupies the Six-Tails... or something like that."
"Your mother Kaguya banned furry lovers, so you sealed her away. Then you personally created nine roasted furries for yourself to enjoy—the Tailed Beasts!"
"You also had a younger brother named Hamura, I think. Since you hogged all the Tailed Beasts and refused to share even one with him, and because he discovered your mother was actually a bunny-girl furry too, he ran off to the moon. Am I right?"
Naruto finished with a smug expression.
This highlighted a serious problem.
Earlier, when Naruto had been trying to memorize the ridiculously long safe-word technique names Kakashi gave him, he couldn't remember a thing and had ultimately needed to exploit the Shadow Clone Technique as a cheat.
Yet he had only watched the Limited Tsukuyomi story once.
Now he could effortlessly repeat the entire plot as naturally as breathing.
"Right... No, wait!"
The Sage of Six Paths was completely stunned.
How did Naruto know all this?
And why were all the characters and major events correct—sealing Kaguya, splitting the Nine Tailed Beasts, Hamura going to the moon—yet every single motive behind them was completely wrong?
The Sage of Six Paths was baffled.
'Has it really been so many centuries that, without proper historians, the stories changed into... this?'
'But why would they become like this?'
'And that line about "the sage who occupies the Six-Tails or something"... isn't that way too vague?'
Most importantly—'What does "furry" mean?'
'It actually sounds... rather cheerful.'
'Does it mean something like the ancient word "auspicious"?'
'Fu means blessing, Rui also carries the meaning of good fortune.'
'The Tailed Beasts are "furries."'
'Does that mean humans and Tailed Beasts now live together peacefully?'
The Sage of Six Paths had no idea.
In his previous state, he had only been able to sense large-scale chakra disturbances, such as the Fourth Shinobi War or Tailed Beast rampages.
"My main quest is to stop Kaguya's revival?"
"So that means my enemies in this game are actually the Akatsuki and Shiromo-nii!"
"This is amazing! Kakashi-sensei, I love you!"
"Hey, old man Sage, why'd you stop talking? Hurry up! I can't wait to help you create a furry world~"
While the Sage of Six Paths was still in shock, Naruto's imagination had already run wild again. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.
"..."
The Sage of Six Paths fell silent.
For a moment, he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to explain any of this.
"Damn it, did it freeze? After I get out, I'm definitely telling Kakashi-sensei to send in a suggestion. They need to add a skip button for these story scenes."
Naruto was already getting annoyed that the Sage of Six Paths was delaying the start of his fun game.
(End of this chapter)