"Cough... cough..." Kanon coughed up a violent splatter of blood, yet her expression wasn't one of distress. Instead, she threw her head back and laughed with raw exhilaration.
"Hahahahaha! This thrill... it's the first time I've felt anything like this since I killed Itachi Uchiha!"
"Might Guy, I assume you still have another technique up your sleeve."
"I've said it ever since I was a child, and I'm sure you've heard it too."
"Before the proud Uchiha, there are only enemies on their knees and corpses on the ground!"
In the distance, Madara grew equally ecstatic. This was the innate, primal battle lust that flowed directly through the blood of the Uchiha.
"I wanted to see it too! To witness a duel of this caliber... it truly is the first time since my battles with Hashirama! This is absolutely blood-pumping!"
Madara let out an excited roar: "Can you still dance?! Let the child of our Uchiha clan have a little more fun!"
Meanwhile, within his inner consciousness, Naruto opened his eyes.
"Where is this? Am I... dead?"
"Kanon... Even if I am dead, I still want to know... did your dream come true?!"
Naruto muttered to himself in a daze.
Suddenly, a voice echoed clearly through Naruto's ears:
"What do you consider 'death'?"
Naruto gasped in shock, scrambling to his feet. He looked over to find an old man floating calmly on top of a cluster of Truth-Seeking Balls.
"Your ethical views on death differ quite a bit from the era I hailed from."
"To carelessly declare yourself dead... be a bit more positive, newcomer."
Naruto stared at the old man, completely bewildered. "Who on earth are you?"
"That is indeed a question. Though, whether the name passed down by the world aligns with the name I present..."
"I am still a bit concerned."
With those words, the old man slowly turned around. The sight of his face froze Naruto in his tracks. "I am the architect of peace and order. My name is Hagoromo."
"Though, I fully anticipated this sort of reaction from you."
Staring at the Sage of Six Paths, Naruto looked entirely deadpan.
"Honestly, I don't understand a single word you're saying. I guess every era has its share of super-annoying old codgers."
"Sorry, Gramps, I..."
"In that case..." the Sage of Six Paths said flatly.
"Ah! Those eyes… the Rinnegan!" Naruto yelped, losing his composure entirely the moment he caught sight of the old man's eyes.
"It seems you possess a decent eye for evaluating people. If that is the case, it would be even better if you could comprehend your current situation."
"This is your mental landscape. I know you are in a hurry, but panicking right now yields no purpose. Therefore..."
The Sage of Six Paths proceeded to recount the history of Kaguya, Indra, and Asura to Naruto, eventually revealing that Naruto was the current reincarnation of Asura.
Furthermore, he unveiled another truth: Indra had reincarnated into Sasuke, with Indra's chakra anchoring itself within him.
However, at the moment of Sasuke's birth, a tiny fraction of that chakra had fractured away, subsequently drifting into the body of his younger sister, Kanon. Yet, the anomaly lay in the fact that the moment Kanon was born, a mysterious, inexplicable power had entered her body alongside it.
It was a force so profound that even the Sage of Six Paths could not peer into it, a power fully capable of instantly erasing his own chakra.
Nevertheless, it changed little of the grand design; the core of Indra's chakra remained bound to Sasuke. Concurrently, Sasuke was experiencing the exact same phenomenon, encountering the residual chakra of the Sage of Six Paths within his own mind.
"We must have had predecessors who were part of this reincarnation cycle, right?" Naruto asked.
"The previous generation of reincarnations consisted of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."
"Hashirama was Asura, and Madara was Indra. However, Madara created a severe complication before his tenure as a reincarnate reached its end."
"Obsessed with power, Madara stole Hashirama's cells. In doing so, a portion of the younger brother Asura's power was fused alongside the chakra of the older brother Indra."
"This ultimately catalyzed my own chakra, yielding the awakening of the Rinnegan."
"I foresaw that among Indra's lineage... and the reincarnations of Indra, someone of this nature would inevitably emerge one day."
"That was why I left behind the stone monument, embedding inscriptions intended to steer them toward a change of heart. However, it appears to have been entirely ineffective."
"Have you just been standing by, watching your own sons repeat this sibling rivalry forever?" Naruto questioned.
"Yes. You could say that."
Hagoromo then imparted his personal wisdom to Naruto: "Once power is concentrated solely into the hands of a single individual, it inevitably runs wild, and that person becomes hopelessly drunk on it. The current Madara is exactly like that, he has become just like my mother, Kaguya. And so has your friend, Kanon."
"Presently, Madara's tenure as Indra's reincarnate has concluded. Having obtained the power of the Ten-Tails, his strength draws close to my own."
"He is even attempting to assimilate the primal power of my mother, Kaguya."
"The Infinite Tsukuyomi is not a conventional ninjutsu. It is a genjutsu designed to trap individuals within a dreamscape for eternity, solely to harvest the raw vitality of every individual organism."
"By tethering every living soul to the roots of the God Tree, it reduces them all into living slaves."
"In addition to the Byakugan, my mother possessed the Sharingan. She once utilized her visual prowess to cast this spell upon the populace. It is a horrific technique; once a victim merges entirely with the chakra, a new Chakra Fruit will manifest."
"No matter the cost, this must be prevented. Otherwise, the world will reach its absolute end."
"I want you to stop Madara. You are fundamentally different from the past reincarnations, as you are rather foolish."
"Perhaps within your unpredictability lies a sliver of possibility."
Hearing the Sage's words, Naruto lowered his head slightly and spoke, "Even though you're dead, you still wanted to protect this world... and now it's ended up in a mess like this."
"Yet, you're still willing to place your faith in us. Thank you."
As he spoke, the manifestations of all nine Tailed Beasts materialized around Naruto, engaging the Sage of Six Paths.
"The time of our promise has arrived, old man Six Paths," Kurama stated.
"Gamamaru's prophecy was correct. He truly is the blue-eyed boy who would call out the names of the nine beasts and play alongside them."
Naruto blinked in surprise, turning to Hagoromo. "Prophecy? Do you mean the one the Great Toad Sage told Pervy Sage?"
"So his name is Gamamaru! To think you even know that... Great-Gramps, you really are amazing."
"Hey, Naruto!" Kurama barked, wanting to reprimand Naruto for being so disrespectful. After all, the Tailed Beasts held the Sage of Six Paths in the highest regard, viewing him effectively as their father.
The Sage of Six Paths glanced at the nine Tailed Beasts standing resolutely behind Naruto, speaking softly:
"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, Gyūki, Kurama."
"The time has come for the Child of the Prophecy to reshape the world! Naruto!"
"What is it that you wish to achieve? What do you seek at the end of this war? I require your absolute, most honest answer!"
Naruto nodded with unshakeable resolve. "Maybe I really am a lot like this guy Asura."
"But unlike him, I'm stupid, immature, and there are still so many things I don't get."
"But I know what comrades mean! I know what hope is, and I know what a bond is! I want to protect them, to protect the people I cherish. That's all there is to it!"
"Is that your answer?"
The Sage of Six Paths spoke to Naruto, while simultaneously echoing his words to Sasuke within his respective mental realm.
"In the past, I entrusted everything to the younger brother, Asura, failing to properly look upon the older brother, Indra."
"That negligence sowed the seeds of disaster. Extend your dominant hand. This time, I shall entrust my power to you as well, the reincarnation of the elder brother, Indra."
"From this moment onward, what you and Naruto choose to do, and whatever conclusion you reach, will depend entirely on yourselves!"
Sasuke's expression remained tranquil. He and Naruto shared a deep bond, but within that bond, there was a third individual who had remained permanently locked within both of their hearts.
The Sage of Six Paths nodded, extending his palms.
"Come..."
Sasuke and Naruto extended their hands in unison, making contact with the Sage's palms. Instantly, the Six Paths Yang Power and the Six Paths Yin Power surged violently into their respective bodies.
Back on the physical plane, Tobirama, still pinned down by the black receivers, looked over toward Jūgo. At this exact moment, Sasuke's consciousness began to stir.
"Quickly, Orochimaru-sama! Inject Hashirama's cells into Sasuke!"
"I know!"
Meanwhile, inside the Kamui dimension, Sakura and Obito were keeping a frantic watch over Naruto.
"Obito... Naruto... Naruto is going to be okay, right?"
"As a Jinchūriki, Naruto would typically die upon losing his Tailed Beast."
"However, I have successfully transferred the Tailed Beasts back inside him. He should be fine."
Sure enough, Naruto's consciousness snapped back to reality.
He and Sasuke woke up at the exact same moment. The symbols of Yin and Yang materialized clearly on their respective palms, the undeniable proof of the Six Paths power.
"Let's go..." Sasuke said softly.
Back on the frontlines of the battlefield, Kanon and Guy were both panting heavily.
"The Evening Elephant was completely ineffective?!" Guy ground his teeth.
"Excellent! Keep dancing! Do not let my excitement sour!" Madara barked with a roaring laugh, directing his words toward Guy.
Watching Kanon drag herself back up to her feet in the distance, her tattered crimson trench coat fluttering in the wind as her blood-vapor flared violently, Guy's expression turned deeply grave.
The Night Guy was a technique of his own creation; he could state with absolute certainty that Kanon would be unable to replicate it. His only remaining option was to unleash the Night Guy. This would be the absolute crescendo of his youth!
Dropping into a low stance with both hands pressing against the earth, a cataclysmic torrent of crimson chakra erupted skyward. Guy had committed to the Night Guy!
"The Night Guy, is it...? Though I never learned that specific technique, I possess an ultimate Eight Gates art of my own!"
Within Kanon's eyes, countless spectral cherry blossoms began to manifest, interwoven with the ominous petals of the Higanbana. The floral tempest completely enveloped her form. It was her Apocalypse: Flower Burial, except this time, she had condensed the technique to circulate tightly around her person, the petals weaving and compressing at a blinding frequency. Every single petal carried enough lethal velocity to instantly kill a Kage-level shinobi.
"Judging by the state of their heart chakra pathways, the next strike will be the absolute final exchange... Kanon, be careful," Madara murmured to himself.
"Gather!" Guy roared at the top of his lungs. The crimson blood-vapor radiating from his flesh condensed violently, molding itself into the shape of a colossal dragon's head spanning dozens of meters.
"Look at that stance! This isn't the Evening Elephant!" Kakashi cried out in absolute shock.
"Is there actually a technique even more devastating than the Evening Elephant?!" Gaara bellowed, as the sheer displacement of energy violently blasted them backward.
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]