"Big Brother!"
Seeing that the battle was already over, Otsutsuki Hamura rushed over at high speed as well.
He supported Otsutsuki Hagoromo's body, worry still on his face.
"Are you okay?"
When those countless arms smashed down earlier, he was genuinely worried his big brother had been beaten into pulp.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Otsutsuki Hagoromo comforted his younger brother.
He wasn't forcing himself to act tough. He really was fine.
A Six Paths-level body could resist most ninjutsu and also had extremely strong recovery abilities.
Even though he was only a soul body now, the basic abilities hadn't disappeared.
Of course, that was only if he was injured, not completely wiped out.
If Aoba hadn't held back earlier, and all those fists carrying Tenseigan chakra had landed on him, then he probably would have to wait until his next life to use that ability again.
So although he was injured a little, those injuries quickly recovered under his abilities.
And after seeing his younger brother come over to ask about him, compared to the injuries on his body, what he felt more now was embarrassment.
After all, he had confidently said earlier, "I'll win," yet ended up losing so cleanly in the blink of an eye.
'Sigh!'
Letting out a sigh in his heart, Otsutsuki Hagoromo looked at Aoba again with a complicated expression.
"I lost. Your strength is even greater than I imagined."
"Your strength is weaker than I imagined… though even if it wasn't satisfying enough, among all the opponents I've met before, you're already the strongest."
Seeing that Otsutsuki Hagoromo had clearly been beaten into submission, the wooden giant under Aoba's feet slowly shrank back underground.
If Hagoromo still wanted to keep talking tough, he wouldn't mind spending more effort teaching him another lesson.
"..."
After hearing Aoba's words, Otsutsuki Hagoromo's mouth twitched hard. With a fake smile, he said, "Sorry for not making it enjoyable enough for you."
Aoba raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
This conversation somehow made him sound like the villain.
Though based on the original storyline, what he was doing now really was something a villain would do.
"But since you already lost, then according to what we agreed before, you'll remove Kaguya's seal."
"This…"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo's expression stiffened slightly, looking like he wanted to speak but stopped himself.
"Hm? Don't tell me you want to break the agreement?"
Seeing his expression, Aoba immediately narrowed his eyes.
If this old man couldn't accept losing, then he could only let him taste his fists again.
According to what Otsutsuki Kaguya said, he was born from the Divine Tree because of humanity's wishes.
Which meant he never had a complete childhood.
If that was the case, Aoba didn't mind making up for it.
"That's not what I mean. It's just… forget it. If possible, could you let me meet Naruto and Sasuke first?"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo hesitated before finally asking to meet the reincarnations carrying the chakra of his two sons.
Although Aoba had defeated him head-on, he still wasn't in his peak condition.
Aoba might be stronger than him, but against Otsutsuki Kaguya, that didn't necessarily mean he could completely suppress her.
The final result would probably still be fifty-fifty.
Of course, he wasn't trying to break the agreement either.
Leaving aside that, he wasn't someone who went back on his word. Just from Aoba's current expression, he felt that if he dared to refuse, things would definitely go badly.
And the reason he wanted to find Naruto and Sasuke first was because they carried a trace of the chakra inherited from his two sons. It was also one of the backup plans he left behind back then.
Once the two reached a bottleneck in strength, he could quickly help them improve.
After all, he himself couldn't guarantee the seal would remain stable forever. Otherwise, he wouldn't have kept watching it all this time.
If one Aoba wasn't enough, then adding two more would do.
"Naruto and Sasuke…", Hearing this, Aoba roughly guessed what he was thinking.
He wanted to give the power of the Six Paths to the two of them in advance.
It really did count as a backup plan prepared ahead of time.
And for something this beneficial, of course he wouldn't refuse.
"In that case, use the excuse of training them and give them the power. As for identity and stuff, don't mention it. They're just two strands of chakra anyway. There's no need to drag in some strange relationship."
After all, the two of them were living perfectly fine now. If someone suddenly appeared saying something like, "I'm your great-great-great previous life's father," that would be way too weird.
But Otsutsuki Hagoromo looked somewhat stunned.
It wasn't because he was surprised by Aoba's request, but because Aoba actually knew about his two sons.
"How do you know about this?"
The identities of Hamura ane Him could still be explained as their mother telling him, but regarding the matter of his two sons' chakra, forget their mother, even after Hamura went to the moon, he still didn't know much about it. So how did Aoba know?
Hearing this, Aoba raised an eyebrow again. He suddenly remembered that in the original story, there really weren't many people who knew this, but there was one special existence.
"You probably still don't know this, but you've actually always had a younger brother secretly hiding in the shadows causing trouble."
"What?"
The Otsutsuki brothers both widened their eyes at the same time, clearly finding this hard to believe.
"Anyway, he's in my hands right now. Back then, the reason your two sons turned against each other also had something to do with him stirring things up in secret," Aoba explained with some amusement.
"This… then he…", Otsutsuki Hagoromo wanted to ask more.
But Aoba waved a hand at him.
"Alright. Later I'll take you to Naruto and Sasuke. As for now, I promised Kaguya that after handling everything here, I'd go back and keep her company."
"Wait…"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo wanted to stop him, but Aoba had already returned to the sealed space.
"..."
For a moment, whether it was Aoba's habit of speaking in riddles, or that last sentence, both brothers felt speechless.