[Forest of Menos · Inside the ancient tree hollow · The next day]
Naruto awoke in a golden ocean.
No, he had not awoken.
His body still slept among the ancient tree's roots, but his consciousness had drifted here-into a boundless, warm ocean of golden light.
Tiny motes of light flowed through it, like stardust, or some kind of living reishi.
They gently brushed against his consciousness, sending out soft ripples, like a mother's hand stroking her baby.
"Where... am I?"
Naruto tried to speak, but no sound came out. He discovered that he had no body, only a consciousness suspended in the center of the ocean of light.
"This is deep within your soul, a space of resonance created as Asura's power merges with you."
A voice rang out, gentle and aged, carrying the weariness of someone who had crossed time and space.
Naruto "looked" toward its source. A hazy figure emerged within the ocean of light.
It was the silhouette of an old man, sitting cross-legged, his long hair loose around him. He wore a plain, old-fashioned white robe and held a black staff.
Most striking was his forehead, where two horns rose, resembling a ram's horns, but thicker and more imposing.
"You're..." Naruto had a vague guess as to who the man was, but he was not certain.
"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki. People call me the Sage of Six Paths." The old man slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes were peculiar, patterned with concentric rings like the growth rings of a tree. But his pupils were golden, identical to Naruto's eyes when his Yang Power erupted.
"The Rinnegan?" Naruto blurted out.
"The Rinnegan is one of the traits I display when I enter Six Paths mode. But these eyes would more accurately be called the 'Jōgan.'"
Hagoromo