Secrets of the sage arts

After leaving home, Kazemori Masaki had no idea where to go. After some thought, he headed for Hashirama's house, following through on what he had casually said earlier. Since stepping down, Hashirama had spent his days recuperating at home and playing with his grandchildren, living much like any ordinary old man.

As Tobirama's disciple, Kazemori Masaki was a familiar face among the Senju clan. He greeted the clansmen he knew along the way and reached the house, where a maid led him to the room where Hashirama was recuperating.

Even before the door opened, Kazemori Masaki heard Hashirama amusing a child, accompanied by a little girl's happy laughter. When the maid opened the door, he saw Hashirama holding a blond girl and playing with her, looking quite cheerful.

"Oh, Masaki." Seeing who had come to visit him, Hashirama smiled. "Look, this is my granddaughter, Tsunade."

Kazemori Masaki knew at a glance that the girl was Tsunade. She was the only one Hashirama would dote on like this. He had heard that Hashirama's granddaughter had been born a few months earlier, but his training had kept him from meeting her. Now he finally got to see what the future Fifth Hokage looked like as a baby.

"Lord Hashirama, how is your health?" After a glance at the young Tsunade, Kazemori Masaki asked about Hashirama's condition.

"Well, I wouldn't call it good, but I wouldn't call it bad either," Hashirama said with easy acceptance. "Judging by how I feel, I should have another year or two left."

Konoha Ninja Village did not yet have a medical department, nor had its medical ninja been organized into a systematic framework. They relied entirely on their families' exclusive secret techniques, leaving things terribly disorganized. At present, the best practitioner of Medical Ninjutsu was Hashirama himself. If even he said so, his estimate was probably fairly accurate.

Kazemori Masaki felt deeply saddened, but there was nothing he could do. Looking at his expression, Hashirama seemed to guess his thoughts. "It's all right. I've long since prepared myself. I spent half my life at war. Being able to enjoy some peace in my final years is already a great blessing. My father never had a single day of peace, from the day he was born until the day he died."

For someone like Hashirama, who had been born in an age of war, dying in peaceful times could itself be considered a blessing. Yet Kazemori Masaki was worried. If the Land of Lightning started a war before Hashirama passed away, wouldn't even his death be robbed of that peace?

Just then, Tsunade began crying out, seemingly upset that Hashirama was ignoring her. Hashirama hurried to soothe his granddaughter. He seemed quite good at handling children, and soon Tsunade was all smiles again.

Holding Tsunade in his arms, Hashirama said, "You look as though something is troubling you."

Naturally, Kazemori Masaki did not mention the war. Instead, he brought up his disagreement with Satomi and sighed. "I just didn't want her to face danger, but that made her angry. Really, this was my fault. I didn't realize how seriously she took being a ninja."

"Why would you think that way?" Hashirama asked, a little curious. "Satomi is a ninja, after all. Isn't it only natural for her to fulfill her duties?"

Kazemori Masaki fell silent for a moment. Without noticing, he had brought the mindset of another world into this one, forgetting that the circumstances here were different. Ninja accepted their duties. Even Hashirama merely believed that children should not go onto the battlefield; he did not think the same should apply to adults. Satomi was already a grown woman, so naturally she was expected to shoulder a ninja's responsibilities.

"This was my fault. I should try to understand her." Kazemori Masaki did not attempt to argue. Since he lived in this world, he should not dismiss other people's beliefs before those beliefs had changed.

"Zhenghui, if you truly don't want Satomi to face danger, then protect her. Wouldn't that solve the problem?" Hashirama said.

"I understand, Lord Hashirama." Kazemori Masaki nodded, feeling that this was his only option. He had no grounds to stop Satomi, so the only thing he could do was protect her himself.

Satisfied, Hashirama said, "Good. I have nothing much to do these days anyway. If there's anything you don't understand about your training, feel free to ask."

As it happened, Kazemori Masaki did have a question for Hashirama, so he asked about Sage Art. Hashirama had not learned his Sage Art at Shikkotsu Forest, so what approach did he take when using it?

"So that's what you want to know. Hmm..." Hashirama gently rubbed his chin. "Let's play a game. I'll tell you while we play."

"Huh?" Kazemori Masaki exclaimed in surprise. When he saw Hashirama take a stack of things out of a cabinet, he remembered that the man loved gambling. Tsunade's interest in it had come from Hashirama leading her astray.

"Lord Hashirama, isn't this a bad example to set for a child?" Kazemori Masaki could not help asking as he looked at little Tsunade's curious face.

"You don't even have children, and you want to lecture me about raising them?" Hashirama laughed. "Relax, it's nothing bad. Once you start playing, it's plenty of fun."

No, no. If you knew your granddaughter would lose every time she gambled, and that something bad would happen whenever she won, you wouldn't think that. Kazemori Masaki glanced at little Tsunade, who was happily clapping her hands, and thought, Looks like he's already led her astray.

The game Hashirama brought out was popular in the Capital. To Kazemori Masaki, it resembled a card game from the other world. Though the rules differed, the principle was much the same: comparing high and low values.

After listening to Hashirama explain the rules, Kazemori Masaki began playing with him. To be honest, Hashirama was not much better than his granddaughter. Though his luck was not quite that awful, it was hardly good, either. Even a beginner like Kazemori Masaki beat him many times.

Still, Hashirama did not care too much about winning or losing. What he enjoyed was the experience of playing. When he lost, he merely said it was a shame; when he won, he was delighted. If they were simply playing without betting anything, that was quite a good attitude to have.

As they played, they discussed Sage Art. Hashirama said that although he had not studied Shikkotsu Forest's Senjutsu, he had borrowed some ideas from its Sage Art. Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Art drew Natural Energy into the body and infused it into life, producing an effect similar to Yang Release. Hashirama's Wood Release was so powerful because his Yang Release was extraordinarily strong, and using Sage Art raised its strength to an almost unimaginable level.

Kazemori Masaki knew how powerful Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands was, and Hashirama's answer sparked a thought. Though Hashirama had never learned Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Art, he could still reproduce its effects. Perhaps Masaki's guess was correct: Sage Art developed independently, without receiving any established teachings, had a great deal of flexibility.

Just then, Kazemori Masaki thought of someone else and asked, "Lord Hashirama, since the founders of Sage Art are all called sages, did the Sage of Six Paths also study at Shikkotsu Forest, Ryūchi Cave, or Mount Myōboku?"

"Of course not." Hashirama shook his head. "When I first visited Shikkotsu Forest, I asked the same question. The Slug Sage personally told me that the Sage of Six Paths hadn't learned at any of the places that pass down Senjutsu. He learned it on his own. In fact, to some extent, he even guided all three of those places."

Hearing this, Kazemori Masaki considered the implications. Like him and Hashirama, the Sage of Six Paths had mastered Natural Energy on his own. That meant the Sage of Six Paths should also have left behind teachings on Sage Art. After all, the Secret Techniques used today were said to have come from Ninshu's secret canon. That was why ninja regarded Ninshu as their origin and revered the Sage of Six Paths as the founder of ninjutsu.

Indra had not been Ninshu's successor. Whoever had recorded those Secret Techniques in the canon must have been either the Sage of Six Paths or Asura and his successors. As the heir, Asura should also have recorded Secret Techniques relating to Sage Art in the canon.

It looks like I should try collecting some records of Ninshu, too. Perhaps I can find clues to the Sage of Six Paths' Sage Art among them, Kazemori Masaki thought.

Although the anime-original material filled in the Sage of Six Paths' history, everyone should know that much of it contradicted the original work. For example, Kaguya gave birth to the Six Paths brothers after receiving humanity's blessings. She also quelled the wars first, then grew arrogant because of her power, and only afterward cast Infinite Tsukuyomi. The Sage of Six Paths was born with the Rinnegan rather than evolving it. The struggle between Indra and Asura over who would inherit Ninshu also erupted only after the Sage of Six Paths had died.

Having the Sage of Six Paths learn Senjutsu at Mount Myōboku felt like an imitation of Naruto's journey. The same went for Asura and Indra. Rasengan, Lightning Blade, Wood Release—the anime simply stuffed Naruto's, Hashirama's, Sasuke's, and Madara's abilities into those two.

So the anime was very unreliable. Since the original work never established this, this book will treat the Sage of Six Paths' Sage Art as something he mastered on his own.

(End of chapter)