What determines a person's course of action is neither physical strength nor stamina, but intellect.
What determines whether an action has meaning, or what that meaning actually is, is not the action itself, nor the evaluation of a third party, but one's own perception.
Therefore, even though he had been participating in the war for several years, in Hagoromo's self-perception, there weren't many things among his actions that could truly be considered meaningful.
He had executed many ordinary missions, quite a few major missions, and had even participated in several events that altered the course of the war. However, the meaning and benefits of those successful missions were for Konoha, not for him personally.
To Hagoromo, rather than holding meaning, many things at best merely stayed within the realm of being interesting.
Looking at the entire ninja world, if classified by strength, Hagoromo should belong to the upper echelon. But the things he did and the missions he executed in the war, in terms of mindset and thought process, were actually no different from the most ordinary ninjas. He was just drifting with the tide. Perhaps his thoughts and awareness were even below the majority.
It was just that his strength was indeed quite formidable, so while drifting with the tide, he could occasionally stir up a few massive waves.
Ninjas dying on the battlefield is a set formula and an axiom. Although Might Dai had died, the feeling he gave Hagoromo was that a ninja does not die on the battlefield.
A person's thoughts will always imperceptibly shift with their experiences. For the current Hagoromo, certain parts of his mind seemed to instantly clear up.
For the first time, he developed the idea of actively participating in this war—in order to end it.
This thought probably originated at a certain moment not long ago, originating in the midst of a battle where a ninja's entire life was condensed into a single moment.
If a person's life can be summarized by a single meaningful sentence, then that person's life is often incredibly brilliant—perhaps from beginning to end, or perhaps just for a fleeting moment.
Hagoromo's mindset didn't change because of someone's death, but because of the process by which someone walked toward death.
Did he have a close relationship with Dai? Hagoromo merely knew him. But the influence one person has on another often has nothing to do with how well they know each other.
Toward the Raikage, who dared to fight ten thousand ninjas to buy time for his village, Hagoromo felt a momentary sense of respect. But toward Might Dai, who opened the Gate of Death to protect his precious comrades, Hagoromo felt an indescribable emotion that far surpassed respect.
But if Might Dai's death had such an impact on Hagoromo, then the impact of this event on Might Guy would only be even greater. Previously, Dai's teachings to Guy were merely verbal. At first, Guy might not have understood his father. Later, up until Hagoromo and Guy's spar before the Chunin Exams, due to the war and various factors, Guy had come to understand his father's thoughts and actions, but it was merely an understanding.
But now, Dai wasn't teaching by words, but leading by example. Therefore, what Dai left for Guy was much more. Perhaps his shadow would forever stand behind Guy.
"Oh right, Hagoromo, there's a letter for you sent from Konoha. I brought it over for you," Guy said. He probably didn't want to continue talking about his father.
However, Guy's demeanor was noticeably much livelier now, lacking the dead silence from earlier. Although Hagoromo hadn't deliberately tried to comfort him, some of his words had clearly served a comforting purpose.
"A letter?"
Hagoromo, feeling baffled, took the letter from Guy's hand. He had never received such a thing before. Was he sure this was a letter and not intel or a mission brief from someone?
Hagoromo immediately tore open the envelope, and then... alright, it really was a letter.
If there was anyone in Konoha who might send Hagoromo a letter, it would probably only be Kushina. Although there was no precedent for this, there was no telling if Kushina's brain had short-circuited again.
Unfolding the paper and seeing the familiar handwriting, Hagoromo confirmed his judgment.
The letter was only one page long. Coupled with Hagoromo's reading speed, he practically finished it in a single glance. The main content of this letter was to inform Hagoromo that his esteemed sensei Kushina would occasionally write letters in the future to show her care for her disciple... Someone writing a letter to tell someone else that they would write them letters in the future... What a roundabout loop. Was she trying to act cute?
Even writing about trivial daily matters would be better than this, right? Moreover, the letter came with an additional demand: Hagoromo was required to reply whenever he had free time.
Of course, there was still some substantive content in the letter, but what should have been described as the focal point was summarized by Kushina in a single sentence.
Hagoromo refolded the letter, and only then said to Guy, "It's a letter from Kushina-sensei. She told me something. Kakashi Hatake has been promoted to Jonin. It just happened within the past few days."
Guy didn't speak for a moment. After a brief silence, he continued, "Kakashi is only twelve years old, right?"
Yes. Currently, Hagoromo was fourteen, Guy was thirteen, and Kakashi was only twelve.
As for ninja ranks, Hagoromo was a Jonin, Guy was a Genin, and Kakashi was originally a Chunin... but now he had also become a Jonin.
This could be considered closely following in Hagoromo's footsteps, since he hadn't been promoted to Jonin for very long himself.
"A twelve-year-old Jonin is probably unprecedented. As expected of Kakashi."
"Is that so?" Hagoromo genuinely didn't know this. He had been promoted to Jonin after the Raikage incident. A fourteen-year-old Jonin, while novel, wasn't considered all that abnormal. But a twelve-year-old Jonin seemed a bit too dazzling.
It wasn't surprising that Hagoromo wasn't clear on this. Many of the characters he knew about had walked life paths filled with cheat codes, seemingly all acting like absolute prodigies since childhood. However, based solely on his personal observations in Konoha, including all sorts of so-called geniuses, ninety-nine percent of Jonin were aged sixteen and up. Hagoromo had never seen a twelve-year-old Jonin before either.
"Jonin... One day, I will become a Jonin too." There was no envy on Guy's face, only unwavering determination in his tone.
To Guy's statement, Hagoromo nodded without saying much. After Might Dai, not only would Orochimaru re-evaluate the power of the Eight Inner Gates, but the Hokage would do the same. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before Guy, who practiced the Eight Inner Gates, was promoted to Jonin.
Although Guy's Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu were extremely unbalanced, as long as his body matured, he would be stronger than most jonin just using the early gates. The Seventh Gate was stronger than most kage, and the Eighth Gate... let's just say, when it came to the Eight Inner Gates technique, Might Guy had more talent and was more suited for it than Might Dai.
So, as long as the Hokage had any brains, he wouldn't sit back and watch another Eight Inner Gates user become an eternal Genin.
Obviously, the Third Hokage's intellect was consistently sharp. So Guy didn't need to worry about being promoted to Jonin, and he didn't even need to set it as a goal, because to him, it would happen completely naturally.
Just like Hagoromo. Even though he had stayed at a lower rank for awhile, Guy too will probably speedrun his way to jonin."
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