Everyone has a period of sadness they want to hide, but the more they try, the more it shows.
On the silent battlefield, who would have thought that a young Konoha ninja had just died in battle here? Who is left to prove that these tombstone-less lives ever existed?
Has the long road finally come to an end...?
How is that possible?
Hagoromo was a very resourceful (read: sneaky) guy; there was no way he would just kick the bucket like this.
Nearing midnight, the rain created by the ninjutsu had long since passed. Bright moonlight spilled from the sky, casting jagged, overlapping shadows over the rugged terrain.
Layer upon layer.
As for the reason how the White Yaksha managed to survive the Particle Style, it's very simple. Naturally, it was because he used Izanagi... Of course, that's impossible. He didn't have the sharingan. His method of surviving fell into the rather clumsy category.
But clumsy or not, any method that keeps you alive is a good method.
In reality, Hagoromo had already used all his strength to face Onoki, but unsurprisingly, he still took a hit from the Particle Style—it wasn't that he didn't want to use his Level 5 esper ability, he simply couldn't use it at the time.
In the darkness of the night, an undetectable conversation took place.
"Big Sister, have the Hidden Stone ninjas completely retreated?"
"Hagoromo, there are no ninjas left in the vicinity."
"Big Sister, are you sure? If you're wrong, I'll probably get killed the moment I show my face. I'm not exactly in the best shape right now."
"I am su... let me check again... There are definitely no enemies left."
"Makes sense... The Hidden Stone should be busy brawling with the Hidden Cloud right now; they couldn't just stay in this area forever... Speaking of which, taking a hit from Particle Style feels really bizarre. That feeling of being atomized... Anyway, for a split second, I had the illusion that I had ascended to heaven again."
Eh, why did he use the word 'again'?
"Hagoromo, practically speaking, that 'you' really did ascend to heaven..."
The weather effects caused by the ninjutsu had vanished, but the artificially created lake was still there.
In the shadows cast by the moonlight, gentle ripples stirred on the surface of the water.
Then, something white floated up from the surface... You guessed it, it was Hagoromo... and his Big Sister.
A massive slug, just large enough to swallow a person whole, surfaced and slowly crawled onto the shore.
Then, its belly split open down the middle, revealing Hagoromo, still dressed in his Hidden Stone disguise, hidden inside.
"Cough, cough..."
Hagoromo slipped out, trying his best to muffle his coughs while gasping heavily for air.
Being able to breathe fresh air on his own was such a blissful feeling.
As for the incredibly weird, sticky sensation covering his entire body right now... please ignore it.
As for this Big Sister... okay, the title was a bit weird, but this was Hagoromo's respectful form of address for Tsunade-sama's summoning beast, the great Katsuyu-sama.
Because when he had seen Katsuyu's true body in the Shikkotsu Forest, one of the three great unexplored sage regions, it had indeed looked very big.
Very, very big.
In reality, Katsuyu is genderless. He had been corrected on this title more than once, but for some reason, Hagoromo stubbornly stuck to his chosen name.
Earlier, after casting Kirin, Hagoromo hadn't shown his face at all; instead, he had hidden himself inside the lake. Everything that moved after that was just a shadow clone.
At the time, once the lightning of Kirin had faded, Hagoromo, hiding in the lake, had successively used a few ninjutsu.
First, he cast the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the purpose being to let the clone go out, show its face, and die.
Next, he summoned Katsuyu, hid himself inside Big Sister's belly, and then completely submerged himself at the bottom of the water.
What followed was an endless wait.
Judging from the information transmitted back after the clone was destroyed, the plan proceeded far more perfectly than he had imagined.
The clone's action of triggering the lake explosion wasn't purely to roast Kitsuchi alive; more importantly, he wanted to cover up the fact that his true body was still hiding in the water. After this body of water had been hit by two consecutive S-rank ninjutsu, basic human logic dictated that no one would assume a person was still hiding in there.
After that, the clone took a hit from the Particle Style at exactly the right moment and was eradicated without leaving a single speck of dust behind... This perfectly covered up the fact that it was a shadow clone and not his real body.
The Third Tsuchikage, who had specifically come to break defenses, actually ended up doing Hagoromo a huge favor.
Of course, Hagoromo, hiding in advance, hadn't been completely certain he wouldn't be exposed. This was just one method he was testing out. If the plan didn't work and the clone's nature was exposed, then his real body would just have to run for it.
But the result was remarkably smooth.
So Hagoromo safely remained hidden at the bottom of the water, surviving entirely by relying on Katsuyu's split clones to ferry air down from the surface... Although it was incredibly suffocating and uncomfortable, he didn't suffocate to death.
Moreover, according to Hagoromo's judgment, even if the Hidden Stone cleaned up the battlefield, they wouldn't conduct a detailed search of the bottom of a lake like this. Because at that moment,they had a far more important mission, and they wouldn't waste time needlessly.
As expected, based on Katsuyu's live feedback, the Hidden Stone evacuated extremely quickly.
As for the corpses, many were dealt with on the spot. Those that could be sealed and taken away were, and those that couldn't were simply burned or buried using Earth Style.
However, out of an abundance of caution, Hagoromo had stayed hidden until now.
"Hagoromo, what are you going to do next?" the summoning beast Katsuyu asked once Hagoromo finally caught his breath.
"Although I really want to go see what the Hidden Cloud and Hidden Stone's brawl looks like, considering how much I've been courting death lately, certain things even more important than chakra have been completely exhausted... So forget it. In my current state, I have zero desire to run into people like the Tsuchikage or a Jinchuriki again."
"Next, I'll probably follow your advice. I'll head east through the Land of Lightning, and loop back to the Land of Fire from the direction of the Eastern Sea..." Hagoromo said.
He had multiple plans for his return trip. First, retracing the path of the Hidden Stone's invasion—crossing the sea, then going through the Land of Frost to return to Konoha.
It was theoretically feasible, but considering the Hidden Stone's current movements, taking that route meant a high probability of running into Stone ninjas along the way. The danger level was too high.
Heading straight south, taking the route through the Land of Sound to return to the Land of Fire?
Judging by the distance, that was the shortest route. But unfortunately, before returning to the Land of Fire, he would have to pass through the Hidden Cloud's front lines first. The danger level was even higher.
So, safety first. He planned to take the eastern route: first crossing through the Land of Lightning, then crossing the sea to the Land of Hot Water, then the Land of Iron, and finally returning to the Land of Fire.
If he could still summon the Yatagarasu right now, he wouldn't need to deal with this hassle; he could just fly.
Unfortunately, he was currently in a state of severe chakra depletion.
For example, if he undid the Summoning Jutsu right now and then tried to resummon Katsuyu, the resulting slug would probably be about the size of Naruto's tadpole.
Add to that the fact that his giant bird had taken a direct hit earlier and was forcefully knocked back to the summoning realm. It should still be in a state of recovery. Even if he managed to summon it, it wouldn't be able to fly.
So, he'd just have to walk it slowly.
Next, Hagoromo quickly completed a disguise change. He took off his Hidden Stone outfit; after all, wearing this uniform in the Land of Lightning right now was guaranteed to draw massive aggro.
He then simply treated his wounds, changed into a set of ordinary background character civilian clothes he had prepared beforehand, took off his mask and threw it away, and packed away his headband... his forehead protector.
He released Katsuyu's summon, agreeing to summon her again once he reached the Land of Hot Water.
Anyway, whether he had dressed himself up as an ordinary teenage boy or a teenage girl remained unknown, but dragging his exhausted and aching body, he began his march toward the east.
---------------------------------------------
Stones are appreciated if you can spare any.
Read 50 advanced chapters
P(a)treon.com/GoatMama