Consciousness Invasion

In a gray, hazy space, a drop of water fell directly onto the ground.

Shamu instantly opened his eyes and saw Hagoromo Otsutsuki sitting cross-legged in midair.

Pretending not to recognize him, Shamu asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the founder of Ninshu, the one who divided the tailed beasts, known as the Sage of Six Paths."

Hagoromo Otsutsuki introduced himself in a dignified voice.

But Shamu clearly did not buy it.

"I don't care whether you're the Sage of Six Paths or not. You invaded my spiritual world, so you're my enemy!"

The string of words Hagoromo Otsutsuki had been about to say stuck in his throat.

Anger appeared on his face. "How dare you be so disrespectful to me!"

Shamu narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You dared to invade my consciousness at will. Am I supposed to be grateful to you?"

"Because of your title as the Sage of Six Paths? Or because you invented ninjutsu?"

"It's not ninjutsu! It's Ninshu!" Hagoromo Otsutsuki thundered.

"My Ninshu was born to create hope. How can it be lumped together with ninjutsu, which creates war and chaos?"

"Even your Uchiha bloodline was passed down from my son, Indra."

"Hmph. You're trying to claim kinship over something that happened centuries ago?"

"Get out of my spiritual world!"

Shamu put on the air of a reckless brute.

The entire spiritual space immediately shook wildly as a tremendous force began repelling Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

Hagoromo's expression changed. He slammed the staff in his hand against the surface of the water.

His body suddenly became much more solid.

He had actually not been expelled by Shamu.

"Your strength is indeed formidable, but your Soul Strength is inferior to mine. You cannot drive me out," Hagoromo Otsutsuki said slowly.

Hearing Hagoromo's words, Shamu subconsciously glanced at his own attribute: Soul Strength 38%.

He wondered how much higher Hagoromo Otsutsuki's was than his.

This spiritual world was essentially a holographic projection chatroom. Neither Hagoromo nor Shamu could harm the other.

Not knowing what Hagoromo wanted, Shamu darkened his expression and said, "State your purpose."

He pretended to know nothing, simply to see whether he could pry some information out of Hagoromo.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki spoke in a commanding tone.

"Immediately cease interfering with the fate of the Savior Duo. Go into seclusion and wait for Indra's and Asura's reincarnations to fulfill their destiny of saving the world."

Shamu was so angry he laughed. "Why?"

Hagoromo Otsutsuki struck the ground with his staff, and the water on the ground began showing scenes of Kaguya Otsutsuki.

"First, the story of my mother..."

Shamu roughly knew the story, but he did not interrupt Hagoromo Otsutsuki's explanation.

He also wanted to compare it and see whether the actual circumstances differed in any way.

As Hagoromo Otsutsuki explained, he displayed images. Since this was a spiritual world—

many scenes were crammed into Shamu's mind in fast-forward.

Shamu discovered that Kaguya did not know any Land of Ancestors Emperor.

Hagoromo and Hamura had no father.

As for the people blessing her, that was utter nonsense.

"After Mother gave birth to Hamura and me, her power declined greatly. Then even more people were offered to the God Tree..."

Shamu raised an eyebrow. Something felt slightly off when he heard that.

He already had a certain understanding of the Otsutsuki. The Otsutsuki had a strict hierarchy.

Kaguya's original fate had been to serve as a sacrifice.

That meant she was either weaker or less talented.

That was why she had only managed to nearly kill Isshiki through a sneak attack before swallowing the Chakra Fruit herself.

Shamu suspected that Hagoromo and Hamura had been born because Kaguya could not digest the Chakra Fruit.

By then, Hagoromo Otsutsuki had reached the end of his account.

"Naruto and Sasuke have not experienced enough hardship. They cannot bear more of Indra's and Asura's power."

"Only by joining forces can Indra and Asura seal my mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, once more."

Hearing this, Shamu's heart stirred, and he put on a suddenly enlightened expression.

"So there must be enough suffering for Sasuke and Naruto to grow?"

Seeing Shamu's attitude soften, Hagoromo Otsutsuki thought Shamu had taken his words to heart.

So he explained patiently.

"Sasuke carries the Chakra of Indra's reincarnation within him, but Sasuke's personality must become closer to Indra's before Indra's Chakra will begin to become active."

"The same applies to Naruto."

Hagoromo said seriously, "You have already changed Sasuke's life considerably, but that also has its benefits."

"Sasuke has received more love. When he suddenly loses it all, he will feel deeper pain, begin pursuing power, and hate the world."

"That will make him more like Indra in personality."

"Then Indra's power will rapidly strengthen Sasuke."

Shamu asked with apparent confusion, "Then to what extent does Sasuke need to be pushed before he is stimulated?"

Hagoromo Otsutsuki said, "By my estimation, his entire family will probably need to die."

On behalf of Sasuke's family, thanks a lot.

"The prerequisite is that you cannot remain by Sasuke's side. As long as you are beside him, I cannot clearly see the trajectory of Sasuke's future."

"Naturally, I also cannot reach Sasuke."

Shamu neither agreed nor disagreed.

"If it is to defeat the Otsutsuki..."

"What about Naruto? Does Minato need to die first?"

Seeing that Shamu had been persuaded, Hagoromo Otsutsuki smiled.

"As long as Indra awakens, Asura's Chakra within Naruto will gradually awaken as well. Naruto will naturally begin pursuing Indra."

Shamu understood.

"You mean Naruto is currently stronger than Sasuke, so Sasuke will naturally begin feeling jealous and resentful, then desperately pursue power."

"And if Sasuke's entire family dies and I go into seclusion, Sasuke will be left with no one to rely on. In pursuit of power, he will stop at nothing and walk down an extreme path."

"That will allow Indra's soul to further influence and strengthen him."

As Shamu spoke, he felt something was off.

"So you knew that Black Zetsu had manipulated Indra back then?"

Hagoromo Otsutsuki said in a low voice, "To seal Mother, we can only use Mother's power."

"Hamura and I were born because Mother's body could not contain too much power."

"That power gave birth to us, and we can also use that power to seal Mother."

"But Hamura and I had limited lifespans, so we had no choice but to find a way to pass that power down."

Shamu had not expected his earlier guess to be correct.

He narrowed his eyes. "Did the power weaken as it was passed down?"

Hagoromo Otsutsuki nodded.

"It is very difficult for children to fully inherit their parents' power."

"Indra's and Asura's power was insufficient to seal Mother, so they had to reincarnate continuously and accumulate enough power."