In terms of regional geography, if one looked down on the entire world, including both land and sea, the Land of Fire could be considered the "center of the shinobi world." But if one were to search for the central point of the continent alone, that place did not belong to any great nation.
Perhaps it should be called the Land of Rain.
The Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth—the three great nations arranged in a triangular formation—did not border one another directly. Sandwiched between them were several small countries arranged in a "Y" shape, and the Land of Rain could be regarded as sitting at the intersection of the three branches of that Y.
However, the place Hagoromo was looking for was actually located slightly west of the Land of Rain. It was not within the Land of Rain, but within the borders of another small nation: the Land of Birds.
The Land of Birds lay west of the Land of Rain, wedged between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. It was no longer within Konoha's sphere of influence; it was dominated by Iwagakure.
During the previous shinobi wars, this country had also served as a battlefield between the two great nations.
Logically speaking, because this country was influenced by both the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, its climate should have leaned toward dryness. In reality, that was indeed the case. Most areas of this small country went without rain all year round. However, there were exceptions. Near the Land of Rain, it was still very easy to be affected by moisture from the neighboring country.
Thus, amid a fine drizzle, Hagoromo arrived at the coordinates.
"This should be the place, right?"
There was a trace of uncertainty in Hagoromo's self-directed question. Although he had obtained all the coordinates, he could not be certain that they were truly valid.
What if something had gone wrong with the coordinates during the long period in which the Three Great Summoning Regions had preserved them?
However, in terms of location, this place was not far from the already-destroyed Rōran. So geographically speaking, it was fairly reasonable for the Ōtsutsuki to have something here.
In any case, whether it was right or wrong, he would know after trying.
Since he had come here, Hagoromo had no reason to retreat. But he did not act immediately either. The first thing he did was find a place to take shelter from the rain, while also resting properly so that every aspect of his condition could recover to its peak.
Several hours later, Hagoromo returned to the original spot. Even the positions his feet stepped on were exactly the same as before, without the slightest deviation. Then, he formed hand seals with both hands.
There was still no wind, but the rain had already grown heavier.
However, after Hagoromo completed the seals, he waited three minutes, and no change occurred at all.
Hagoromo scratched his head. Just as he began to wonder whether something had gone wrong and was preparing to try again, a translucent dome-shaped barrier expanded outward at high speed with the spot where he stood as its center, spreading over an extremely large area.
Even the curtain of rain was held outside.
The barrier had appeared, and Hagoromo was already inside it.
At that moment, the scenery before his eyes also changed completely. It was no longer a barren stretch of empty land. The "existence" hidden within the barrier had now revealed itself.
It was a rather magnificent building.
"The Ōtsutsuki shrine, the Sage of Six Paths… thinking about it, I'm actually a little excited."
To be honest, Hagoromo was not particularly nervous right now. His tone was like that of some passerby watching the show, forcibly pretending to be someone's crazed fan, carrying a thick sense of wicked amusement.
After saying this, he directly stepped forward, pushed open the door, and entered the shrine.
The first thing he saw was the stone statue facing the entrance inside the shrine. It was a slightly fierce-looking stone statue with two horns on its head, three eyes, and an expressionless face. Its arms extended forward, elbows bent, with both hands positioned as if they were about to come together in a prayer gesture. However, its palms were tilted forward at an angle.
This posture allowed anyone who entered the shrine to immediately see the statue's palms, as well as the sun and moon symbols drawn in the centers of those palms.
"Trying to shake hands? Say hello?"
Of course not.
Those represented the yin and yang of Six Paths power.
"Judging from the appearance of this shrine, it doesn't look like it's been sealed away for over a thousand years at all. So… how exactly are the dust removal and sanitation being handled here? What kind of principle is this?"
The solid wooden floor laid inside the shrine had not accumulated even a speck of dust. On the contrary, it was so clean that it looked as if it had just been swept that very morning. Coupled with the vast interior space of the shrine and its dim, shadowed lighting, if an ordinary person stood here while being watched by that solemn divine statue, they might very well feel terrified.
But Hagoromo understood it quite well. This cleanliness should be the effect of a special sealing barrier. It also reflected the chakra characteristics of the Ōtsutsuki clan:
No preservatives included, but the shelf life was especially long.
After looking around the main hall, Hagoromo began to search carefully, and then…
He started rummaging through every chest and cabinet.
He needed to see whether he could find anything valuable. For the time being, one could regard him as a tomb robber who carried respect for the founder of Ninshū—probably—and whose professional skills were not particularly up to standard.
Unfortunately, after searching around, he found nothing.
"So, has this place already been visited? But I didn't find any tunnel dug by tomb robbers."
Mm. He was treating himself as a tomb robber now too.
Either that, or the Sage of Six Paths had really been stingy and had left nothing behind, merely leaving a statue of himself.
Wait.
The statue…
Thinking of this, Hagoromo returned to the front of the statue.
The statue was around five meters tall. Overall, it was seated cross-legged, but its body leaned slightly forward. Combined with the forward extension of its arms, its two hands were in a position that an ordinary person could reach with their hands.
Hagoromo stood beneath those two palms and thought for a moment. Then, with the mindset of giving it a try, he began forming hand seals with both hands. Afterward, he raised his hands as if surrendering and pressed his palms against the statue's palms.
Was he really going to shake hands?
No.
Hagoromo had just used the Five Elements Unseal. And the instant his hands touched the yin and yang symbols on the statue's palms, he immediately sensed something strange.
It felt as though he had pierced through something, then felt as if he had grasped something.
In the end, Hagoromo really had grasped something.
After lowering his arms, the sun and moon symbols on the statue's palms had disappeared. In their place, two scrolls—one black and one white—had appeared in Hagoromo's hands.
The powers of yin and yang?
As expected, the Sage could not possibly have left nothing behind.
However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred!
Before Hagoromo could open the scrolls and inspect them, he discovered that the place he was in had abruptly shifted. From inside the gloomy shrine, he had been transferred onto a sunlit ocean surface.
The location had changed. The time and weather had also changed.
A mental space?
Most likely.
As a result, Hagoromo had no time to look at the scrolls anymore.
"You appeared on your own before I even performed the summoning ritual?"
He looked at the long-bearded old man before him, who was sitting cross-legged in midair while holding a black staff. His words sounded both like he was muttering to himself and like he was questioning the other party.
However, he did not wait for an answer. Instead, he circled the other party with a somewhat novel gaze.
Then he saw the pattern on the other party's back.
Nine tomoe…
Mm. Nine circles.
Then he looked at the eyes in front.
Ringed eyes.
Mm, even more unmistakable.
"At a time like this, if we followed the usual routine, shouldn't you ask something like, 'Are you my mother… no, my master?' After all, you're a summoned creature."
But the problem was that Hagoromo had not even followed the ritual to summon him before the other party appeared, so there was no such thing as "Master." Besides, the Sage of Six Paths did not have an ahoge.
"Young shinobi, why have you invaded my shrine?"
"The Sage of Six Paths?" Hagoromo asked back, questioning the other party's identity. This was asking despite already knowing the answer, and also a final confirmation.
"That is me."
"…"
Hagoromo fell silent, then said, "No, no. Think about it again. Are you really the Sage of Six Paths?"
The other party was puzzled. Was there some problem with his identity?
At this moment, Hagoromo kindly cleared up the confusion.
"No. You are not the Sage of Six Paths. At most, you can only be considered the chakra essence left behind by the Sage of Six Paths who was alive countless years ago."
"An immortal? A monster?"
Listening to Hagoromo's words, the Sage of Six Paths' first reaction was simply that this was absolutely ridiculous.
Chakra essence?
He had never been described in such an accurate way before.
But in essence, what Hagoromo was now facing was the remnant chakra of the Sage of Six Paths' leftover chakra.
In other words, the weakest "Six Paths" in history.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789