Leaving Kyoto, the Hagoromo Brothers soon left the area.
Along the way, they were both visibly excited.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time they had left Kyoto on their own.
In the past, Namikawa Yū had taken them out of Kyoto to travel, but they had always been accompanied by others.
Now, however, the two of them were traveling alone.
Aside from the two brothers, there was no one else with them.
For them, this was a first since the beginning of time, so naturally they were excited the whole way.
As they traveled, the scenery was a pleasure to behold as well.
They passed well-maintained roads and many villages, where villagers made their homes.
A few decades ago, these places had all been in a state of utter ruin.
War, famine, and all manner of natural disasters were fatal to the common people. Any threat, no matter how small, was cruel beyond measure and could take many lives.
But now, under Namikawa Yū's rule, things were much better.
Chakra had been made widespread, and chakra academies had been established throughout the land.
With this power at their disposal, many tasks had become much easier.
For instance, roads could be leveled with ease using Earth Style. With chakra's help, crop yields had also increased greatly.
The development of industries across the land had created countless jobs and provided work for a vast population.
The changes this had brought were immense.
Though Namikawa Yū felt that the situation was still lacking, to everyone else in this world, it was already an unprecedented achievement.
The world before them was already an unparalleled golden age. Hunger and warfare had largely been eliminated, and even the youngest children no longer had to worry about food and clothing or fear for their safety.
The Hagoromo Brothers felt the same way.
They were not ignorant of the outside world. They knew the Ninja World's history and understood what life had been like for people in the past.
That was precisely why they held their father in such high esteem, cherishing him above all else.
"I heard this place used to be a battlefield. Now it's just ruins..."
When they came upon a stretch of ruins, they grew interested and climbed onto the remains of the ancient battlefield to gaze out at the surrounding land.
Wherever they looked, they saw newly cultivated fields.
Crops grew in the farmland, spreading a blanket of green that filled them with a sense of satisfaction.
Some of the workers in the fields were academy graduates who had been hired to work there.
Unlike ordinary people, these graduates had all learned to use chakra.
After receiving specialized training at the academy, they had acquired skills in various fields and could use chakra techniques to accomplish all sorts of tasks.
Speaking of techniques, that was another of Namikawa Yū's new contributions.
In the Ninja World, techniques would ordinarily have taken a long time to develop and mature. Legends traced the earliest hand seals and techniques back to Indra, the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths.
He had invented ninjutsu, laying the foundation for the development of shinobi in the generations that followed.
But in this era, with Namikawa Yū's arrival, the inventor of ninjutsu had naturally changed.
In another world, Namikawa Yū had been just an ordinary student at the Ninja Academy, but he had still learned the basic techniques and hand seals.
With that foundation, ninjutsu had developed rapidly in this world.
By now, countless new techniques had been invented and put to use in every aspect of life.
The Land of Ancestors had even established a patent law to protect the rights of those who invented new techniques.
The graduates the Hagoromo Brothers saw were trained in agriculture. Their main job was to support farming by using chakra to drive away pests, level the land, and perform similar tasks.
Continuing onward, they entered a city.
Compared with the countryside, the changes in the cities were even more dramatic.
The streets were lined with all kinds of devices powered by chakra. There were even many chakra streetlamps, which could illuminate the roads at night.
"That thing over there looks pretty good..."
"They seem to have a lot of delicious food..."
As soon as the Hagoromo Brothers entered the city, they were captivated by everything around them, their eyes darting from one sight to the next.
They looked around, taking in the sights, reluctant to move on.
They spent months traveling and exploring, finding plenty of enjoyment along the way and gaining a great deal from the experience.
That was exactly why Namikawa Yū had sent them out to travel.
To ordinary people, their journey might have seemed like a waste of time, with nothing to show for it but sightseeing.
But Namikawa Yū was glad that the Hagoromo Brothers could enjoy life and find pleasure in these experiences.
For them, it would help preserve their humanity.
As children conceived by Kaguya after she consumed the Chakra Fruit, they naturally possessed pure Otsutsuki blood and some degree of divinity.
Having divinity was not a bad thing, but as their father, Namikawa Yū still hoped the brothers would retain more of their humanity and experience more simple pleasures.
They had a long life ahead of them. Without something to preserve their humanity, something unpleasant might well happen over the course of those endless years.
However, judging by the results so far, the Hagoromo Brothers not only had humanity; the human side of them seemed almost too strong.
Namikawa Yū did not know whether this change was good or bad, so he could only let things take their course.
Still, judging by the way things stood, the brothers got along well enough.
Setting out from the capital of the Land of Ancestors, they had traveled across nearly half the country before finally stopping.
At last, they arrived at a certain place.
In the Land of Ancestors, it was known as a sacred ground and forbidden to most people.
Apart from a select few, no one in the entire Land of Ancestors was permitted to enter.
"So this is..."
Beneath the vast sky, Hagoromo looked up at what lay ahead, wonder flickering in his eyes. "The God Tree..."
As sons of Otsutsuki Kaguya, the two brothers felt an inexplicable closeness to the God Tree.
Their powers came from the same source.
This was especially true of Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
As the elder brother, he had inherited more of the power that came from the God Tree, so he was even more attuned to its power than his younger brother, Hamura.
The moment he stood there, he felt a change come over him.