All along, whenever Hagoromo used his electrical esper ability, he was unable to use ninjutsu—or even chakra.
This wasn't because the two were fundamentally incompatible. In theory, there was no conflict between the power systems at all. The issue lay entirely in execution.
The stronger the esper ability became, the more complex the instantaneous calculations his brain had to perform. Those endless strings of formulas allowed no margin for error—any mistake would immediately cause the ability to collapse.
Under such intense cognitive load, it was extremely difficult for Hagoromo to operate another power system simultaneously.
To put it simply:
When using his esper ability, his CPU, GPU, and memory were all running at full capacity. There was no processing power left to multitask.
In theory, as long as his brain continued to develop, dividing his attention should not be impossible. He had, in fact, been training toward that goal all along.
But progress had to be gradual.
After all, this wasn't a world where you could just install extra RAM to boost computational power.
This kind of specialized brain-domain development required enormous amounts of time.
Yet due to a certain catalyst, Hagoromo had underestimated the problem.
He had once used both abilities simultaneously.
It had only happened once—purely by accident—but the two powers had coexisted within him at that time, and no serious consequences had occurred.
That single incident was what convinced him to try again.
Sometimes, Hagoromo was extremely cautious.
At other times, he was anything but.
Bold experimentation, careful verification was a perfectly scientific attitude—
With one critical prerequisite:
That the test subject was not your own body.
Anyone willing to experiment on themselves was a true madman.
In short, assumptions piled on assumptions—and led directly to Hagoromo's current predicament.
His left hand had been severely burned.
Reality had not rewarded him with newfound power.
Instead, it was like taking turns on a work shift: his right hand had only just recovered, and now his left hand entered its own rehabilitation period.
In hindsight, Hagoromo concluded that when using his esper ability, employing chakra of a different nature merely caused the two systems to run in parallel—harmlessly.
Lightning Release, however, was different.
Two powers of the same nature did not operate in parallel—they formed a series circuit.
And that was what burned out his "hardware."
The extent of the damage far exceeded his expectations.
As for why the previous incident hadn't caused the same outcome—
He could only chalk it up to an astronomically rare coincidence.
In any case, the lesson was clear:
Unless you were someone like Orochimaru—who could replace the entire chassis—you should never casually attempt to destroy your own hardware.
A painfully hard-earned realization.
That said, the fusion of Lightning Release and his esper ability was not entirely impossible.
After this accident and its lesson, Hagoromo racked his brain and finally identified a potential path forward.
If two liquids could not mix—because mixing caused an explosion—then one needed a neutralizing agent.
Or perhaps—
If they couldn't dissolve in each other, maybe they both dissolved in water?
Perhaps being half-disabled had become routine. After injuring himself, Hagoromo felt no panic at all. Instead, he calmly analyzed the situation.
Apparently, one could get used to anything.
His injury—akin to a severe burn—was only treated with minimal first aid, after which he set the matter aside.
Not because it wasn't serious.
On the contrary—he knew exactly how serious it was.
This was not something he could treat on his own.
He needed a professional.
A very professional one.
After the failed experiment and successful self-sabotage, Hagoromo neither rushed to heal himself nor immediately began senjutsu training.
Instead, he devoted his time to reading through a large volume of Shikkotsu Forest's records.
Before Hagoromo brought his "pets" here, Shikkotsu Forest had only one summon—Katsuyu.
Unlike Ryūchi Cave or Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest had no Sage in residence.
But a sacred land was still a sacred land.
What it lacked in living guides, it compensated for in written knowledge.
Hagoromo became one of its readers.
Here, he learned many things that were "unknown"—or at least, unknown to his former self.
What changes occurred in his mindset afterward?
No one but Hagoromo himself knew.
Only after understanding all this did he finally begin his planned senjutsu training.
...
Overall, Shikkotsu Forest was a quiet place.
A sacred land needed to feel sacred. If it were as noisy as a marketplace, the title of "Three Great Sage Lands" would be a joke.
A massive shadow swept rapidly across the ground.
Then swept past again.
And again.
Yatagarasu flew overhead repeatedly. Its master ignored it, but the flying creature clearly enjoyed itself.
In this environment, a little girl's laughter carried especially far.
The Divided Hound followed obediently behind Hagoromo, with Mirai resting atop its middle head.
A baby who couldn't even crawl properly couldn't be balanced on a flat, round dog's head—so to prevent her from rolling off, the hound used chakra adhesion to keep her in place.
No matter how hard Mirai struggled, she couldn't move an inch.
Encountering this situation for the first time, she apparently found it hilarious and giggled nonstop.
As for taking a bite out of this tiny creature—
That was impossible.
Between Hagoromo's restrictions and the hound's own long-term development, it was destined to become a Hachikō-level loyal dog someday.
Senjutsu chakra was formed from a balanced combination of natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy.
For Hagoromo, balancing those three was not the hard part—honestly, that was what he was best at.
The true difficulty lay in sensing and drawing in natural energy.
But even before that, Hagoromo had a decisive flaw.
There was a fundamental prerequisite for senjutsu training:
The practitioner's own chakra reserves had to be enormous.
Otherwise, they couldn't suppress the volatile and highly dangerous natural energy.
In truth, senjutsu was also a kind of "cheat skill."
No matter how one evaluated Hagoromo's chakra reserves, they clearly did not qualify as "enormous."
And therein lay the paradox:
If he already had that much chakra, why would he need senjutsu at all?
"Hagoromo," Katsuyu's split body said gently,
"you should already understand the risks of senjutsu training. Are you still determined?"
"And I think you should heal your hand first."
"It's fine," Hagoromo replied calmly.
"I've already made up my mind… Is this the place?"
He looked at the massive circular formation before him.
"Yes," Katsuyu replied.
"This facility has existed since my birth. It is designed to help practitioners sense natural energy."
Birth?
Are you sure that isn't just a periodic memory reset?
It really felt like Katsuyu had been alive for an absurdly long time.
"Then let's begin."
After saying that, Hagoromo stepped into the formation without hesitation.
To be honest, rather than a senjutsu training facility, he seriously suspected this was the gathering site of some interdimensional cult.
The so-called circle was actually a massive ring formed by wooden stakes shaped like the letter "F," varying in height and thickness.
The two horizontal bars of each "F" pointed straight toward the center.
This didn't look like a training ground.
It looked like a place to burn heretics.
After mentally running through a series of religious rituals, Hagoromo sat motionless at the center of the formation.
To sense natural energy, one had to become completely still.
Once he settled into silence, Hagoromo felt a strange energy radiating from the wooden stakes—then flowing into his body.
A peculiar sensation followed.
If he could somehow see himself ten years after death in his previous life, it would probably feel like this.
So this is what people mean by grass growing on your grave.
Something—whether a mushroom or a sapling—sprouted from the top of his head at a visible speed.
Then—
It continued to grow.
Putting it in more scientific terms—
A brand-new plant-person was about to be born.
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