A moment earlier.
Within the Between Life and Death.
Here lay the gap between the Netherworld Pure Land and the world of the living.
When Hashirama Senju's soul left his body, his death caught the Sage of Six Paths' attention, because the Sage of Six Paths noticed the chakra within Hashirama Senju.
"Is it beginning again?"
The Sage of Six Paths' residual chakra watched the chakra within Hashirama Senju, as though he could see the vow his second son had once made: "Ashura's Chakra... is it returning to the Netherworld Pure Land again... to wait alongside his brother for the next cycle of reincarnation?"
This story of chakra reincarnation.
The Sage of Six Paths had witnessed it many times over more than a thousand years, and he had long since grown completely accustomed to it. All he could do was hope that one day, the chakra of his two children could reconcile.
But...
This time, an exception seemed to have appeared.
Hashirama Senju's soul carried Ashura's Chakra seed, yet rather than returning to the Netherworld Pure Land, it remained in the gap between life and death because of some obsession!
This...
Something had gone wrong with the vessel carrying the reincarnation of chakra!
The Sage of Six Paths immediately realized there was trouble. This had never happened before. Ashura's Chakra had continuously reincarnated in order to resolve the reincarnation of Indra's Chakra—so why had it chosen to remain in the gap between life and death?
The Sage of Six Paths frowned, able to think of only one possibility. "Could it be because the vessel carrying Indra's Chakra Reincarnation has not yet died?"
But...
That would be of no use.
Even if a soul remained trapped in the gap between life and death due to its obsession, it might not find