Chapter Fifty-Four: The Apology of the Six Paths Immortal

Just a moment ago.

In the interval between life and death.

This was the boundary between the Pure Land of the Underworld and the mortal world.

When Senju Hashirama's soul left his physical body, his death caught the attention of the Sage of Six Paths because the Sage sensed the specific chakra residing within Hashirama.

"Is it starting again?"

The residual chakra of the Sage of Six Paths gazed at the chakra within Senju Hashirama, as if able to perceive the oath once made by his own younger son: "Ashura's chakra... is it returning to the Pure Land of the Underworld... to follow his elder brother and await the next cycle of reincarnation?"

Such tales of chakra reincarnation.

The Sage of Six Paths had witnessed them many times over the span of more than a thousand years, and he had long since grown thoroughly accustomed to it. All he could do was hope that the chakra of his two children might one day achieve reconciliation.

However...

This time, an exception seemed to have occurred.

Because Senju Hashirama's soul, carrying the seed of Ashura's chakra, did not return to the Pure Land of the Underworld; instead, driven by a certain obsession, it remained trapped in the interstice between life and death!

This...

This meant something had gone wrong with the bearer of the reincarnated chakra!

The Sage of Six Paths realized the trouble at once. Such a situation had never happened before, because Ashura's chakra had always continuously reincarnated solely to resolve the reincarnated chakra of Indra. Why would it choose to linger in the interstice between life and death?

The Sage of Six Paths furrowed his brow, leaving him to ponder only one possibility: "Could it be because the bearer of Indra's reincarnated chakra has not yet died?"

Yet...

This was of no avail.

Even if a soul were confined to the interstice between life and death by an obsession, it would not necessarily find release, for it required another soul willing to respond to that obsession.

Even if Indra's reincarnated chakra bearer were to die...

They might not necessarily be willing to echo the reincarnated chakra of Ashura.

Indeed, the chakra left behind by that arrogant eldest son might ruthlessly choose to return to the Pure Land of the Underworld, utterly indifferent to the Ashura chakra trapped within the boundary, and unhesitatingly commence the next round of reincarnation.

"Although this is not a true crisis for the ninja world..."

The residual chakra of the Sage of Six Paths sighed softly, his figure quietly descending toward that region: "Fortunately, this is not the mortal world, but the interval between life and death. This remnant chakra can manifest without the need for a medium..."

The interval between life and death.

Senju Hashirama's soul sat silently beside a bonfire.

As Hashirama's soul gazed around in confusion, he saw only a boundless and endless darkness, which stirred a terrifying sense of loneliness deep within his heart.

A loneliness devoid of light...

Was absolutely not something an ordinary person could endure!

Fortunately, Senju Hashirama was no ordinary person, and his willpower was exceptionally resolute. His soul was pondering a question that obsessed him deeply: When would he be able to see Madara?

No, that was not quite right...

He had come to seek an audience with the Sage of Six Paths...

Yet Hashirama's soul instantly tried to banish that thought to the back of his mind. The obsession of wanting to see Uchiha Madara enveloped his soul, making him subconsciously reluctant to see the Sage of Six Paths; he only wanted to see Uchiha Madara here...

This thought was somewhat discourteous.

Since he had died, yearning so eagerly to see the deceased Madara right away was truly rather inappropriate.

However...

This thought refused to vanish.

Hashirama realized that in this lonely realm, he truly, deeply wished to see Uchiha Madara, and wanted to have a good talk with him after death.

There was no time here.

He should be able to see Uchiha Madara very soon.

There was no time here.

Perhaps it would take a thousand years before he could see Uchiha Madara.

Just as Hashirama was wishing, with a tinge of shame, that he could meet Uchiha Madara sooner, an odd-looking elderly monk walked out from the darkness. He stopped like a traveler of many years and gazed at Hashirama with a kindly expression.

"Newcomer."

"May I rest here for a moment?"

"Of course you may."

Hashirama's soul was inherently kind-hearted. Believing that the old man must be cold from walking out of the darkness, he even deliberately made some room, gesturing for the other party to sit down.

Yet the moment the elderly monk actually sat down, Hashirama abruptly sensed that something was amiss!

This...

This wasn't right, was it?

Didn't Wugong Shiyuan say there was only loneliness here?

Why was there a traveling monk to be found here?!

"Would you be willing to keep this former monk company and chat for a bit?"

The elderly monk carried a monk's staff on his back, sat down sluggishly, and naturally opened the conversation: "Why have you lingered here?"

"Who are you, honorable sir?"

A trace of wariness even surfaced on the face of Hashirama's soul. Recalling Wugong Shiyuan's admonitions, he asked cautiously: "In this place, apart from one's own obsession, souls shouldn't be able to encounter one another..."

"Newcomer."

"Then can you first tell me..."

"Just who told you about the situation here?"

The elderly monk raised his gaze slightly, revealing a pair of eyes resembling peculiar growth rings. Those eerie eyes seemed to cause Hashirama to sink into them completely: "This is the boundary belonging to the underworld and the mortal world. Even the dead should not be able to obtain information about this place..."

"That is..."

"The Rinnegan..."

Hashirama recognized those legendary eyes at a single glance.

The Rinnegan!

The legendary Rinnegan of the ninja world!

The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths from legend, those eerie eyes resembling tree rings, ranked alongside the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan and the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan as the Three Great Dojutsu!

"Are you..."

"The Sage of Six Paths?"

For a fleeting second, Hashirama felt a twinge of regret.

Because right before he died, he seemed to have forgotten to ask Wugong Shiyuan what the Sage of Six Paths actually looked like, leaving him completely unable to determine the other party's identity!

However...

It had to be the Sage of Six Paths, right?

After all, any entity capable of wandering through this interstice of life and death must be a legendary deity, not just some ordinary person...

Therefore...

Their plan had succeeded!

"I truly never expected..."

The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths closed slightly as he sighed softly in amazement: "There are still people in the mortal world who remember this former monk of the past..."

"Are you truly the legendary Sage of Six Paths?"

Hashirama felt a momentary surge of joy and took the opportunity to voice his obsession: "Pardon me, I stayed behind purely because I wish to see my old friend Madara..."

"Hmm?"

The Sage of Six Paths raised a finger, only to indicate his helplessness: "Your friend should still be alive..."

"Uh, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant..."

Hashirama hurriedly tried to suppress his obsession, but try as he might, he could not control it. He had no choice but to try recounting the story between himself and Uchiha Madara to the other party.

"Madara and I... were friends for many years..."

Hashirama could only narrate his past from the beginning, speaking of how he and Uchiha Madara first met, how they were forced by their respective families to sever their friendship, and how they fought each other after growing up to become clan heads.

"I have never forgotten my friendship with Madara..."

"Even though my honorable father forced me to cut ties with Madara, I still hoped that Madara and I could be friends. Even later, when we grew older and were forced by the hatred between our clans to become enemies, I still hoped to be friends with Madara, so that we could join forces to pacify this chaotic era..."

"..."

The Sage of Six Paths listened and nodded slightly.

Because this story fit the characteristics of Ashura's reincarnated chakra bearer exceptionally well; they possessed kind and sincere hearts, hoping to unite all forces around them.

"Later..."

"I finally succeeded."

"Madara and I joined hands to found Konoha..."

Hashirama's soul felt a sense of nostalgia for those days, yet he had to face the reality that their friendship had fallen apart: "However, in the end, Madara and I still argued. Madara left Konoha, wanting to destroy the village we had built together..."

"We started the war all over again..."

Hashirama's soul felt heavy, speaking with a sense of pain and struggle: "To protect Konoha, I had no choice but to hunt down Madara for ten years right before my death. Even until my dying breath, I hadn't resolved Madara's problem; he might still pose a threat to Konoha..."

"This was not your fault."

The Sage of Six Paths gently shook his head.

For he knew that Uchiha Madara was the bearer of Indra's reincarnated chakra, and those who bore Indra's chakra invariably came to revere extreme power.

To be honest...

This generation's bearer of Ashura's chakra had done exceptionally well.

He had pacified the chaotic wars of the Sengoku era, earning the high approval of the Sage of Six Paths for his deeds. The only pity was that he had failed to end the war with Indra's reincarnator.

"So..."

"Is that why your old friend became your obsession?"

The Sage of Six Paths sighed, seemingly understanding Hashirama's obsession.

"Indeed."

"I want to return to the mortal world."

Hashirama's gaze gradually grew resolute as he made a sincere request: "My life is about to end, and Lord Wugong told me that only the Sage of Six Paths could allow me to return to the mortal world after death, leading me to come to this interstice of life and death to seek an audience..."

"Wugong..."

The Sage of Six Paths murmured this surname, his eyes falling into a prolonged contemplation as he searched his memories spanning over a thousand years for this surname and any names matching it.

"Lord Wugong Shiyuan?"

"Yes!"

A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Hashirama's face.

"Lord Wugong..."

A look of startled doubt flashed across the face of the Sage of Six Paths, and he abruptly raised a finger as if trying to locate Wugong Shiyuan's whereabouts: "I recall that Lord Wugong Shiyuan died long ago..."

Indeed...

Even after his death, Wugong Shiyuan had been a good person...

For whenever he occasionally caught sight of Wugong Shiyuan's soul emerging from the underworld into this region to rescue those lost souls, it even made him feel deeply ashamed by comparison.

"Uh..."

Hashirama felt somewhat embarrassed and could only explain how his younger brother had used the Reanimation Jutsu to resurrect Wugong Shiyuan: "Back then, in order to heal my body, my younger brother used a forbidden technique to bring Lord Wugong's soul back to the mortal world..."

"..."

The corner of the Sage of Six Paths' eye twitched.

Wait...

Ashura's descendants were truly a handful as well...

How dared they disturb Wugong Shiyuan's peace...

If the departed souls of the underworld came to know of this, if the souls in the Pure Land of the Underworld could communicate with one another, the caster who had desecrated Wugong Shiyuan's soul would undoubtedly be beaten to death by the other souls upon arriving in the Pure Land...

"You people really are..."

"Utterly audacious..."

A bitter smile appeared on the face of the Sage of Six Paths, and he could not help but sigh: "How could you disturb the peace of his soul?"

"He was a medical saint revered by all humans of the ancient era, a sage honored even by the dead within the Pure Land of the Underworld. Even I fall far short of him. Using a forbidden technique to summon his soul shows far too little respect for him..."

"..."

Hashirama scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression.

"Fortunately..."

"Lord Wugong Shiyuan is magnanimous of character and inherently kind-hearted, choosing not to hold it against you..."

The Sage of Six Paths sighed once more, speaking with a trace of shame: "I truly never imagined that he would pin his hopes on me to help you. While I feel deeply honored by it as well, I am afraid I must say I am sorry to him..."

"I cannot do as he does... to save a suffering world..."

"As for myself now..."

"I have only remnant chakra left..."

"This residual chakra must be kept in reserve to guard against a true crisis in the ninja world, a crisis sufficient to destroy the ninja world..."