The starting point of Hagoromo's actions was very simple.
He was devoted to eliminating the fundamental control the Ōtsutsuki had exerted ever since the birth of shinobi. As for what consequences would follow after that elimination—whether the shinobi world would become better or more chaotic—that was not within Hagoromo's thought process. It belonged to the category of "we'll talk about it when the time comes."
Just as he had said, those were matters for the living. Whether they fought to the death or loved one another dearly, that all counted as "because I damn well feel like it."
The Sage of Six Paths had been dead for so many years. Wouldn't it be nice to obediently stay dead? Why blindly stick his nose into things?
This matter was not something he should manage. If the world was destroyed, it would not be his responsibility. Saving the world was not his obligation either.
In short, although Hagoromo looked lazy and careless, a person still needed some tension in life. Specifically, this manifested as…
When there was trouble, he looked for excitement. When there was no trouble, he still looked for excitement.
As for the thoughts of the chakra-essence version of the Sage of Six Paths, there was nothing particularly wrong with them either. Or rather, his worldview was extremely correct. He had sufficient reason to continue existing.
He had to keep watching his mother.
After all, Kaguya could not die no matter what, and if he was even slightly careless, she might break free from her seal.
In order to be ready at all times to clean up his mother's mess, the Sage of Six Paths had to remain present forever, even though he had already died long ago.
And Hagoromo acted as soon as he said he would. Exchanging a few casual words before immediately making his move was a wise decision, because the longer he delayed, the more chakra the Sage of Six Paths would recover, and the stronger he would become.
In terms of appearance, the Sage of Six Paths possessed more bearing. He looked as though victory was already within his grasp. As for Hagoromo, at most, he could be said to have "momentum."
The Sage of Six Paths could sit cross-legged and float in the air, looking every bit like a grandmaster of his generation. Could Hagoromo do that?
All right, he actually could.
And his version would even be high-end magnetic levitation with sparks and lightning all the way.
However, Hagoromo was not used to that method at all. He was not very adapted to the style of flying either, so using it in battle would be somewhat troublesome. For him, staying "down to earth" was more stable and suited him better.
As for his battle strategy, once the nonsense was over, Hagoromo directly drew his blade and charged across the water's surface toward the Sage of Six Paths.
First, he wanted to test whether the Sage's Rinnegan possessed the same powers as Pain's.
Second, he was purely letting his imagination run wild.
He felt that an important, high-status figure like the Sage of Six Paths might not necessarily be particularly skilled in close-range taijutsu.
Hagoromo, after all, often fought gang battles. He had once enjoyed the glorious experience of being chased and hacked at by ten thousand people. As for the Sage of Six Paths, as the eldest son of the Rabbit Goddess, he should at least have held the status of a proper prince-level executive.
So…
Had he ever fought in a gang fight?
Had he ever smashed someone's turf?
Had his face ever been scratched by a fierce woman?
Had he ever been imagined in all sorts of indecent ways?
Hagoromo had…
not experienced all of those things either.
Imagine that if it became close combat, the battle situation would become like this:
From the south came a Hagoromo, wearing a raincoat over his body, holding a restricted blade as he charged toward Hagoromo. Hagoromo failed to dodge in time and had his yukata torn apart by Hagoromo, revealing his little—
Cough.
However, reality proved that this was overthinking it.
Just as Hagoromo was about to rush in front of the Sage of Six Paths, the other party's cross-legged, floating figure did not move at all. He merely extended one arm forward, and at that moment, his palm was almost touching the tip of Hagoromo's nose.
Immediately afterward, an attack method Hagoromo was extremely familiar with activated.
His charge stopped instantly, and his body was blasted away by an enormous repulsive force.
Hagoromo had charged in from afar, then flew straight back from close range. His body rolled violently across the surface of the water, leaving behind a long trail of ripples.
This situation occurred only because the Sage of Six Paths had used the Rinnegan's dōjutsu: Shinra Tensei.
And Shinra Tensei, this technique that served as both attack and defense, was already very familiar to Hagoromo.
However, the routine he was unfamiliar with came afterward.
The Sage of Six Paths did not form hand seals. He merely gave a light downward wave of the palm he held out flat, and another powerful attack was launched in such an effortless manner.
At this moment, the force of Shinra Tensei had just disappeared. Hagoromo's figure had not yet fully stabilized. That technique looked and sounded frightening, but in reality, it had not caused him much damage.
First, Hagoromo had been prepared. Second, this place was a water surface. At most, he had only skipped across it a few times.
But now, an even greater sense of crisis suddenly struck his heart.
Before Hagoromo could dodge in time, a massive shadow had already descended from midair and enveloped him.
Because he was accustomed to using Summoning Technique, generally speaking, Hagoromo was always the one dropping things onto his opponents. But now, the tables had turned. This time, it was his turn to be smashed.
A mottled flash of vermilion swept through his vision. Torii gates of different sizes descended from the sky, and Hagoromo instantly felt a force of immense weight pressing down on his shoulders. Immediately afterward, that enormous force crushed him beneath the surface of the water in an instant.
That power left his unstable body with no way to resist. It carried him all the way downward, and after a loud boom, Hagoromo was trapped at the bottom of the water in a half-kneeling posture.
And it was not over yet.
Then came the second, the third.
Again and again, impacts struck down. Layer upon layer of heavy objects firmly suppressed him.
The Sage of Six Paths had used the most orthodox kind of "Six Paths Senjutsu":
Sage Art: Gate of the Great God Seal.
This person was truly extravagant. With a mere raise of his hand, the technique he used was S-rank.
This was a sealing technique specifically used to suppress tailed beasts. Its design purpose was to restrain the Ten-Tails' movements. Who would have thought that now it would land on Hagoromo's head?
Or perhaps the Sage of Six Paths simply did not possess any technique lower-level than this?
This time, Hagoromo could be considered to have enjoyed treatment similar to being pinned beneath a mountain. The layered, interlocked torii gates, combined with the double dizziness and suffocation caused by the immense water pressure, made him understand that he had to escape as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, after arrogantly coming to another country to court death, he would instantly hit the floor in less than a second. Saying "I'll die when I say I'll die" would be far too honest, and not at all a shinobi's style.
Under these circumstances, Hagoromo did not panic. Although he had been caught off guard by the Sage of Six Paths' second-stage attack, it was not as if he had no way to solve the problem.
A powerful sealing technique like the Gate of the Great God Seal could not lock down a shinobi's hands. It could suppress chakra circulation and restrict the use of ninjutsu, but what about a sealing technique that had already been prepared in advance?
Since the Sage of Six Paths had used a sealing technique, Hagoromo would also use a sealing technique against him.
Hagoromo's hands moved together with great difficulty, trembling from the pressure. Because of that pressure, Hagoromo began forming hand seals at the slowest speed in history.
This should have been one of the sealing techniques Hagoromo used most often and was most skilled with. But in reality, this was the first time in eight years that he had formed these seals again.
Familiar, yet unfamiliar.
He had not used this technique because it had failed to play even the slightest role at the most critical moment. Although Hagoromo did not regard it as a disgrace, he could not erase the resistance toward it in his subconscious.
But at this moment, he had no choice but to use it.
A black spherical curtain rapidly expanded outward with his body as its center, and in that instant, everything suppressing him disappeared.
Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique…
Or more precisely, the Mutually Multiplying Four Symbols Sealing Technique.
The difference was that this technique's activation range was only a ten-meter radius, and its duration lasted only an instant.
Even so, it had already helped Hagoromo escape his predicament perfectly.
With the range reduced and the activation time adjusted, this technique had now become incomparably suitable for Hagoromo, because it consumed far less energy.
Greatly reducing the effective range of the Reverse Four Symbols Seal was something Hagoromo had always wanted to do. But it was only now, many years later, that he had finally completed it. The difficulty and significance of that went without saying.
If one had to compare them, it was the difference between a nuclear bomb and a handheld nuclear bomb. The latter's power did not decrease, but it was much more intimidating and flexible to use.
Just by opening a hole in the Gate of the Great God Seal, Hagoromo had already escaped. The main structure of the layered torii gates had not been destroyed. Thus, Hagoromo stepped on the pillars of the torii gates and rapidly climbed upward. Then, he shot vertically out of the water. His body continued upward, and after a light flip, he righted himself and stepped onto the crossbeam of the highest torii gate.
"Cough! Cough!"
Hagoromo coughed out the seawater that had invaded his throat. Only then did he have time to gasp for breath.
Although this was a mental space, everything was so real. That also meant that if he died here, he would really die.
Hagoromo had been guarding against Shinra Tensei, but he had not expected the Sage of Six Paths to be able to use such a powerful and effective sealing technique from such a distance. Because of one moment of carelessness, he had suffered a small loss.
At this moment, his position was already more than ten meters above the surface of the sea. From here, Hagoromo could look down at the Sage of Six Paths, who had remained unmoving in his original position the entire time.
Just based on this instant ability to create structures, the Sage was clearly also very suited to construction work.
A world-class boss was a world-class boss. Although he was only at half health, he was truly difficult to fight. Hagoromo felt that even three tailed beasts gathered together would be far less troublesome than the Sage.
However, the Sage of Six Paths' attitude was somewhat subtle. He remained suspended there without moving at all, as if saying:
I'll stay right here and not move. Come at me if you can.
So, after Hagoromo's breathing calmed down, he leaped down from the torii gate. The instant both his feet touched the water's surface, he immediately charged forward.
His momentum was like a gale.
But he had no choice but to quickly change direction and switch to serpentine movement, because more Gates of the Great God Seal continued to smash down from above. If he simply advanced in a straight line, he would definitely be struck head-on.
On the water's surface, the ripples caused by Hagoromo's rapid movement intertwined with the splashes created by the falling Gates of the Great God Seal. Viewed from above, it looked like a musical composition written across a five-line staff.
However, the tune was not pleasant.
Its main theme was heavy drums, its melody chaotic and disorderly, its momentum terrifying beyond belief.
How could it not be terrifying?
The Sage of Six Paths was throwing S-rank ninjutsu around like hailstones.
Hagoromo rapidly wove through the gaps. Then, with one hand, he brushed somewhere on his body, and a massive shuriken appeared in his raised palm.
The hollow ring at the center of that shuriken was large enough to fit around his waist without issue.
Immediately afterward, Hagoromo spun and hurled the shuriken toward the Sage of Six Paths' position with tremendous force. At the same time, his hands completed a set of seals in an instant.
The Sage of Six Paths' Gate of the Great God Seal was hail.
Hagoromo's Giant Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique was a downpour.
Maintaining his calm, airy "I simply won't move" attitude, the Sage naturally intended to use Shinra Tensei to repel all of these objects.
However…
It might not necessarily be five seconds, but regardless of the length, that technique did have a cooldown.
And what Hagoromo was waiting for was precisely that gap.
The instant the three-stage lightning pattern of Chidori Current appeared on his body, he appeared beside the Sage of Six Paths.
As expected, the second Shinra Tensei had not made it in time.
Thus, a hand-blade carrying the force of wind and lightning stabbed cleanly toward the Sage of Six Paths.
No matter who you are, stab first and talk later.
Ever since Hagoromo had begun using the third stage of Chidori Current, it had basically been unstoppable. One could say that as long as he did not run into Might Guy going all-out with his life on the line, no one at this distance could block his attack.
What reached the Sage of Six Paths before the attack itself was Hagoromo's indifferent gaze.
This strike was his response to the Sage's earlier attitude.
He only said three words:
Come at me.
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