The Tailed Beasts Are Born

"Hatake, what do you think lies across the ocean?"

Wantuluo asked the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy beside him curiously.

"I once heard our teacher say that the Ninja World lies over there, about 120,000 kilometers from our Sea Realm."

"If you traveled at the pace of an elite jonin, 120 kilometers per hour, it would take about forty-two days to get there."

Hatake pondered for a moment before answering.

"That would be exhausting. Elite jonin might be able to reach 120 kilometers per hour, but they can't keep up that pace forever.

"I bet even an elite jonin would have to rest after less than an hour."

Wanhualuo smiled. Her dimples appeared and disappeared, and her smile was so sweet and innocent that it made people feel warm and at ease.

Wanhualuo was only ten years old, but she was already shaping up to be a little beauty.

Wantuluo turned to Wanhualuo and asked curiously, "Little sister, your Byakugan can see far, just like Dad's, can't it?

"Can you see what's different about that world over there?"

Hearing Wantuluo's question, Wanhualuo shook her head helplessly. "Brother, you really think I'm Dad or something? My Byakugan can't see that far.

"Why are you so interested in the world over there today?"

Wantuluo chuckled. "The world is so big. I want to see it!

"The Sea Realm is huge too, but there's nothing fun to do here.

"And don't you think our town is tiny? There are only a little over a hundred thousand people, and most of them are outsiders."

Hatake reminded him, "Wantuluo, I think our teachers came here from the Ninja World too."

Wantuluo was surprised. "Is that so? How come I've never heard that before?"

Wanhualuo rolled her eyes at Wantuluo. "Brother, that's because you're always asleep in class. You never pay attention."

Wantuluo slouched, unconcerned. "I already know everything the teacher teaches.

"Who knew he'd suddenly start talking about the history of our town?"

"Xiao Luo, Xiao Hua, I heard you've been sending Shadow Clones to class lately. That's quite a daring thing to do!"

Just then, Qinshou descended from the sky. As her feet touched the ground, the two wings on her back slowly vanished.

"Ah! Mom's here!"

Wantuluo cried out in surprise.

"If I hadn't come, you two would be getting up to even more mischief.

"And you, Hatake. How could you help them skip class?

"Did you think becoming a jonin meant you could do whatever you wanted?"

Qinshou glared at Hatake, her eyes brimming with killing intent.

"T-Teacher, this has nothing to do with me! I just happened to run into the two of them here.

"I had no idea they'd skipped class to come out."

With that, Hatake hurriedly ran off.

He was moving nearly as fast as an elite jonin.

"Hey, Mom! Why are you hitting me and not my sister?"

Wantuluo wailed.

"Because you're the older brother," Qinshou said flatly.

The Ninja World.

Otsutsuki Hagoromo was now forty-eight years old, while Otsutsuki Yuhao was forty.

Although Otsutsuki Hagoromo was still in his prime, he had begun to realize that in another ten years, his strength would start to decline until he could no longer suppress the Ten-Tails within his body.

If he died, the Ten-Tails would leave his body, and the whole Ninja World would face disaster.

Otsutsuki Hagoromo had split the Ten-Tails into nine parts. Each portion of its chakra became a gigantic Tailed Beast, from the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails.

Nine Tailed Beasts, each with a ten-meter-long body, appeared between heaven and earth, radiating immense chakra.

"Hagoromo, why did you separate the Ten-Tails from your body so soon?"

After sensing his elder brother Otsutsuki Hagoromo's chakra rapidly weakening, Otsutsuki Yuhao used Flying Thunder Might to arrive there. He found nine baby Tailed Beasts floating before him.

Otsutsuki Yuhao remembered that, in the original story, the Sage of Six Paths had separated the Ten-Tails from his body only in his old age. Otsutsuki Hagoromo was still in his prime, so he shouldn't have done it so soon.

"Heh. The Ten-Tails is powerful. It gives me more chakra and tremendous strength, but it's still an external force.

"If I kept the Ten-Tails, my strength would never advance any further. I may be forty-eight, which makes me an old man by ordinary standards.

"But I have Otsutsuki blood. Forty-eight is like being in my twenties for an ordinary person.

"That means I still have plenty of room to grow."

Otsutsuki Hagoromo's face was a little pale as he spoke to Otsutsuki Yuhao.

"That's right, Hagoromo. You're still young!

"So what are you going to do with the Tailed Beasts?"

Otsutsuki Yuhao looked at the Tailed Beasts, who were still asleep as they floated in midair.

"I'll keep them with me for now. I need to teach them to shed their wild instincts before I consider anything else."

Otsutsuki Hagoromo pondered for a moment before answering.

"Hagoromo, would you mind if I took some of the Tailed Beasts' chakra?"

As he spoke, Otsutsuki Yuhao used his Rinnegan to absorb chakra from the nine Tailed Beasts, taking about one-tenth from each.

That wouldn't affect the source of their power.

Otsutsuki Hagoromo watched Otsutsuki Yuhao do this, feeling rather helpless. But when he saw that Otsutsuki Tatsuten had only absorbed one-tenth of the Tailed Beasts' chakra, he said nothing.

After all, Otsutsuki Yuhao hadn't even given him a chance to refuse.

The chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts entered Otsutsuki Yuhao's body and formed the power of the Ten-Tails. This power amounted to a little over one-tenth of the full-strength Ten-Tails' chakra.

"Yuhao, it's been ten years! Your strength has improved quite a bit!"

Otsutsuki Hagoromo looked at Otsutsuki Tatsuten in surprise. He had thought that once Otsutsuki Yuhao reached the Six Paths Realm, it would be difficult for him to make any major progress, just as it had been for himself.

But Otsutsuki Yuhao hadn't even entered Six Paths Mode yet, and his aura was already as powerful as the Six Paths Third Stage. The chakra pouring from Otsutsuki Tatsuten was roughly equivalent to that of eight Grandmasters.

Otsutsuki Hagoromo was astonished. Otsutsuki Yuhao was several times stronger than he had been ten years ago.

"Hahaha, it's not as simple as you think.

"I've just put all my extra training time into Taijutsu. My ninjutsu is still about the same as before."

Sunlight fell across Otsutsuki Yuhao's face. His furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and a wise, mature smile spread across his face.

"So that's it. Your ninjutsu has reached its limit.

"But Taijutsu hasn't, and there's still plenty of room to grow.

"I understand!"

A gleam flashed in Otsutsuki Hagoromo's Rinnegan.