As Uchiha Itachi's phantom faded, the entire mental world fell still.
The moonlight, the lake, the Valley of the End... all the manifested scenery lost its color, finally becoming a pure, boundless white space.
Sasuke felt that his soul had never been so light and clear.
Having severed the karma of his past and overcome his inner obsession, he felt an unprecedented harmony with this world and his own power.
Just then, a figure radiating a gentle light slowly appeared at the very center of the white space.
He wore a long white robe and held a black monk's staff topped with a sun and moon. Several black Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind him, and his eyes bore purple concentric rings. His expression was solemn and compassionate.
He was none other than the legendary progenitor of ninja, the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
"Reincarnation of my son, Indra."
The Sage of Six Paths' voice sounded directly within Sasuke's soul, vast and distant, as though it had crossed endless time and space.
"No, perhaps it is no longer appropriate to call you that."
Sasuke looked calmly at this legendary figure, neither surprised nor afraid.
After his inner confrontations with Madara and Itachi, he could now face anything with composure.
"You possess Indra's body and talent, yet in another time and space, you have come to understand the heart that should have belonged to Asura."
There was a trace of approval in the Sage of Six Paths' voice.
"The spiral of hatred and love, the fated cycle in which my two sons have fought for a thousand years... in you, I see the possibility of its end."
"You were not consumed by power, nor did your bonds make you weak. You severed the karma of hatred and chose an entirely new path,