Jie almost did not know what to say after hearing Jiraiya's question.
Of all the things to focus on, this old pervert had actually latched onto the fact that the first person to possess chakra was a woman.
At a time like this, should he not be more concerned about what role Gamamaru had played in the whole matter?
Still, Jiraiya was not completely wrong.
In the ninja world, the first person to obtain chakra had indeed been Kaguya. But aside from her own bloodline, Hagoromo and Hamura, she had never truly spread chakra to others.
If anything, she had used the Divine Tree to drain ordinary people and turn them into soldiers, extracting their life force to create more chakra.
The one who later founded Ninshū and spread chakra through the world was Hagoromo. In that sense, calling him the ancestor of chakra was not entirely wrong.
Jie did not bother explaining all of that to Jiraiya. He looked back at Gamamaru and continued.
"After that woman's two sons grew up, the real conspiracy began."
His voice remained calm, but the temple seemed to grow heavier with every word.
"Someone arranged a performance. No, not someone. A toad."
He looked straight at Gamamaru.
"That toad sent the woman Hagoromo cared about into the group being offered to the Divine Tree. At the same time, he told Hagoromo the truth about the Divine Tree. When Hagoromo found her body, he turned against his mother."
Jiraiya's expression changed, but he held back and kept listening.
"Hagoromo and Hamura were powerful, but at that time, even the two of them together were not enough to defeat their mother. So at the right moment, the same toad brought them to Mount Myōboku and taught them senjutsu, giving them the power to resist her."
Jie's gaze stayed on Gamamaru.
"In the end, that woman was sealed away by her own sons. The toad who guided everything earned Hagoromo's gratitude and became the ancestor of Mount Myōboku. That toad is now known as the Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru."
A faint smile appeared on Jie's face.
"If I missed anything, you can correct me."
For a while, no one spoke. Fukasaku, Shima, and Jiraiya all looked toward Gamamaru, because Jie had not simply accused Mount Myōboku of interfering in the ninja world. He had accused Gamamaru of manipulating the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Gamamaru no longer looked lazy or half-asleep. He sat upright on the stone seat, his gaze clear and sharp for the first time since Jie had entered the temple. That alone was enough to tell Jiraiya that Jie's words had touched something real.
After a long silence, Gamamaru finally spoke.
"How do you know this?"
His voice was still steady, but the question itself already admitted too much.
"After that woman was sealed, almost every trace of her was erased from the world. Or are you truly Hagoromo?"
Jie shook his head.
"I am myself. I am not anyone's reincarnation."
As for Hagoromo, that old man was not exactly gone either, but Jie had no intention of telling Gamamaru that. There was no need to reveal everything he knew.
Gamamaru watched him for a moment before speaking again.
"Yes. I guided Hagoromo."
This time, he did not deny it.
"But I did so because Kaguya had become too dangerous. She treated humans as tools and slaves. She drained them, controlled them, and prepared them as weapons. Sealing her was necessary if this world was to continue."
His tone was calm and righteous, as if everything he had done had been for peace and the future of the world.
Jiraiya fell silent as he listened. From what Gamamaru said, it did not sound entirely wrong. If Kaguya had truly treated humans that way, then helping Hagoromo and Hamura resist her could be called justice.
So what exactly was Jie trying to expose?
Jie looked up at Gamamaru without the slightest change in expression.
"So that is your reason for interfering with the human world?"
Gamamaru's mouth curved slightly.
"Human world?"
There was a trace of ridicule in his voice now.
"Jie Uchiha, I do not know where you learned so many buried secrets, but from the very beginning, you have misunderstood one thing."
Jie narrowed his eyes.
Gamamaru continued, "Kaguya did not bring the Divine Tree's seed to this world. The seed arrived first. Kaguya came later to guard it."
The temple fell silent again, but this time, even Jie did not speak immediately.
Gamamaru looked down at him and added, "And she was not the only one responsible for guarding the Divine Tree."
For the first time since entering the temple, Jie frowned.
That was different from what he knew.
The Naruto world he understood had come from manga and anime. No matter how much he remembered, those stories were still only fragments of the full world. If this was now a real world, then there could easily be deeper secrets that had never appeared in the original story.
In other words, Gamamaru might not be lying.
Jie did not interrupt. He simply looked at the old toad and waited for him to continue.
Gamamaru watched him for a moment. Seeing that Jie was willing to listen, he finally spoke again.
"I still remember the distant past," he said, his voice lower than before. "Back then, this world had no humans."
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