Chapter 474: A Life Deceived
Above, the hundred-meter-tall Perfect Susanoo and equally massive giant Wood Human engaged in fierce battle like mythological colossi.
Every collision shook heaven and earth. Chakra shockwaves spread in all directions like tsunamis, stirring this peaceful grassland into complete chaos.
Below, the battle belonging to Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna had also begun.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Facing Izuna's Fireball, Senju Tobirama rapidly completed hand seals. Vast water flow gathered into a ferocious roaring giant water dragon, charging head-on toward the fireball with bared fangs and claws!
"BOOM—!!!"
Water and fire erupted with ear-splitting sound at the collision point! Large amounts of white high-temperature steam instantly spread. Within the steam came sharp sounds of kunai clashing and muffled sounds of jutsu bombardment.
"Everyone stop!"
Finally, a voice carrying helplessness and dignity forcibly penetrated the roaring of the giants above and the explosion sounds of jutsu below, clearly transmitting into every person present's ears.
At the battlefield's center, at some unknown time, a figure had abruptly appeared.
He wore ancient-styled white robes, horns growing from his forehead, features aged. Most eye-catching were his opened eyes—those Rinnegan!
The Sage of Six Paths hadn't expected that just taking a brief nap would result in such a huge commotion.
He looked at this chaotic scene before him, as if seeing that déjà vu of those two troublesome sons from a thousand years ago making trouble again.
"Even if you fight now, you cannot kill each other! This heaven and earth was created, not to provide you a battle arena for wanton destruction!"
However, his words seemed a bit late.
BOOM—!!!!
Almost simultaneously, the battle above was at full intensity. The Wood Human's giant fist and Susanoo's chakra greatsword were blasting toward each other! And the Sage of Six Paths' appearance position happened to be right at the center point where these two destructive attacks were about to converge!
"Hm?! Madara! Stop first! We're about to accidentally injure an innocent!"
Hashirama's reaction was fastest. Glimpsing the old man who suddenly appeared at the battlefield's center, his heart jumped in alarm. He instinctively tried to pull back force while shouting toward Madara.
Madara naturally also noticed this old fool who didn't know better, suddenly intruding into the battlefield center between him and Hashirama. He sneered inwardly, thinking anyone daring to run into the center of his and Hashirama's battlefield at this time deserved to die from accidental injury.
But because of Hashirama's shout, he still extremely reluctantly controlled Susanoo to slightly shift the slashing blade's trajectory, removing most of the force.
However, these two powers were truly too massive. Even with pulled strength, the residual impact was absolutely not something ordinary souls could withstand.
Just as the Wood Human's giant fist and Susanoo's blade were almost simultaneously about to strike the Sage of Six Paths—
Before Hagoromo, several pitch-black spheres appeared without warning. These spheres instantly formed a black shield before him.
BANG—!!!
The Wood Human's fist and Susanoo's blade solidly bombarded this black shield!
The imagined shield-shattering and death didn't occur. Not even much earth-shattering sound was produced. That black shield easily absorbed both forces capable of destroying mountains, not even rippling once.
"So... such amazing defensive jutsu!" Hashirama saw this and first breathed a sigh of relief, then widened his eyes, sincerely praising. "That's wonderful, old man. Are you alright? That was too dangerous just now!"
Sage of Six Paths Hagoromo dispersed the black spheres before him, his gaze falling on Hashirama's face full of sunshine and concern.
"...You're still the same, previous Ashura vessel."
Then, no longer paying attention to Hashirama's reaction, he casually waved toward the area below still fiercely battling in steam.
CRACKLE—!!!
Several lightning release chakra beams shot with incomparable precision into the spreading steam.
Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna, battling at a critical moment, simultaneously felt an irresistible force precisely strike their ninja tools or chakra nodes, instantly breaking their attack rhythm and follow-up combinations. They were forced to leap back separately, looking with surprise and uncertainty toward where the lightning came from—that mysterious old man who suddenly appeared at the battlefield's center.
For a moment, whether it was Hashirama and Madara above, or Tobirama and Izuna below, everyone's gaze focused on this mysteriously appearing old man.
In brief silence, Uchiha Madara finally thoroughly examined the newcomer's features and those eyes.
"These eyes... you are...?!"
Madara's voice lost that absolute control and arrogance for the first time, replaced by extreme shock.
"Mm, that's right. My name is Hagoromo, founding patriarch of Ninshu. Posterity habitually calls me the Sage of Six Paths."
The aged yet peaceful voice clearly transmitted into everyone's ears. His gaze looked toward Senju Hashirama. "Previous Ashura... I'll still call you Senju Hashirama. What your brother said is correct—this place is precisely the world after death."
Uchiha Madara's heart felt gripped by an invisible hand. The Sage's eyes... the Rinnegan... That legendary origin, pinnacle of ninja techniques, the existence recorded on the Uchiha stone tablet—now appeared living before him!
"You are the Sage of Six Paths?! That one who... left teachings on the stone tablet venerated for generations at the Uchiha clan shrine, guiding pursuit of the only path to peace... the Sage of Six Paths?!"
Uchiha Madara confirmed once more.
Hagoromo's gaze turned toward Madara, nodding. "That's right, Uchiha Madara... We can finally speak directly here. In fact, I manifested here precisely because I have important matters requiring explanation to you—and everyone."
Madara heard this and forcibly suppressed the surging waves in his heart. The sharpness belonging to a mastermind rapidly returned. He raised his hand, interrupting Hagoromo's words.
"Wait! Before hearing your important matters, I have more crucial questions that must be answered!" His eyes locked tightly on Hagoromo. "Your appearance now... is it related to that plan? In later generations, I followed the enlightenment from the stone tablet you left, seeing the true path—Infinite Tsukuyomi, creating a dream world without strife. That is the only method to save this ninja world full of suffering and conflict! Does your appearance mean... the time has come?"
"'Plan'? Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
Senju Hashirama nearby furrowed his brows tightly, his face written full of confusion and faint unease. Madara's plan? Could it be those missing years were spent plotting this? Was this the reason he later wanted to destroy Konoha?
"...Regarding this matter," Sage of Six Paths Hagoromo's expression suddenly became incomparably grave. "I must clarify a lie that has been distorted for a thousand years."
He slowly shook his head, his gaze carrying deep pity and a trace of guilt, looking straight at Uchiha Madara's suddenly widened Rinnegan.
"This so-called 'Infinite Tsukuyomi is the only salvation method to achieve permanent peace'—such absurd nonsense. I never left even half a word about such things in any inheritance."
"...What?"
The expression on Madara's face instantly froze, as if he hadn't understood this simple sentence.
"That was a fraud." Each of Hagoromo's words struck Madara's heart like a heavy hammer. "What I left behind back then was the true meaning of chakra, philosophy about understanding coexistence. However, this content was long ago, in the distant past, thoroughly tampered with and twisted by a malicious existence lurking in darkness."
"What it wrote, from start to finish, was all to guide Indra's chakra reincarnation vessels toward obsession and destruction, ultimately achieving the sinister purpose of world annihilation..."
"Don't joke around!!!"
Suddenly, Uchiha Madara's abrupt explosive roar made even Senju Hashirama instinctively step back half a step, startled by this sudden fury.
Because these few casual words from the Sage of Six Paths negated not just the "Infinite Tsukuyomi" technique—they negated Madara's lifelong convictions, decades of patient plotting, sacrifice and determination. They instantly shattered into powder all the idealistic foundation he had built by abandoning his clan, severing ties with his closest friend, walking alone in darkness!
"Utterly absurd!!"
Madara's Susanoo surged with blue flames due to his violently fluctuating emotions. Terrifying chakra pressure swept outward. "What exactly are you?! You dare impersonate the Sage of Six Paths, spouting nonsense here, defiling the Uchiha's supreme ideal?!!"
Anger and an instinctive fear of "conviction collapse" made him fundamentally unwilling and afraid to deeply consider the possibilities in Hagoromo's words.
He chose the most direct, most violent response—use power to make this "imposter" shut up!
"Calm down, youngster... I knew you would react this way. Never mind." The Sage of Six Paths looked at that Perfect Susanoo blade carrying destructive momentum slashing down again, lightly sighing.
He didn't move an inch, only slowly raising his eyelids.
BOOM—!!!
The next instant, an ocular power as vast as a star sea powerfully burst forth from Hagoromo's Rinnegan!
In the living world, his will manifestation was restricted by rules. Even maintaining manifestation for extended conversation consumed enormously. But here, in this "Pure Land" opened by his own hands, though remodeled by Naruto—Hagoromo Otsutsuki could display power close to his peak period!
"This... this is...?!" Senju Hashirama stood frozen in place, looking up at the scene before him. His usually composed face was written full of incredible shock.
Just as Uchiha Madara's hundred-meter-tall Perfect Susanoo's giant blade was about to strike—
A giant beyond words to describe its magnificence rose from the ground, standing between heaven and earth!
This was the Sage of Six Paths' Susanoo.
How could its height be merely a thousand meters? The towering form directly entered the clouds. Just quietly standing there, it radiated a soul-shaking, world-origin-derived oppressive force.
Uchiha Madara's Perfect Susanoo, before this colossus, was so small it only reached its shin height.
This was the Susanoo that once directly confronted the Ten-Tails a thousand years ago, belonging to true "Otsutsuki" level!
"Now..." Sage of Six Paths Hagoromo's calm voice transmitted from that magnificent giant's forehead crystal. "Can you calmly listen to me finish speaking?"
He looked down at Uchiha Madara standing frozen in his own Susanoo below with an already dazed expression, as well as the Senju brothers and Izuna similarly shocked by this beyond-cognition power.
"The root of all this entanglement, the long deception, and why you awakened here..." His voice became distant and heavy. "All must start from my mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki..."
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