After their chakra poured into the Ten Tails, the will of the Otsutsuki inside it was forced to wake up.
At this point, Nagato and Itachi were basically using the Otsutsuki's will to push their own power even further, almost like a return to their original bloodline roots.
It sounded crazy, but for them, it was actually possible.
Or maybe… Rikudou Sennin was just too strong.
Even just the ridiculously stable kekkei genkai passed down from him was enough to make Rikudou Sennin the strongest in the ninja world.
To be fair, he really *was* the top for thousands of years—only after Shanks showed up did anyone begin to challenge his position.
And in the kekkei genkai system Rikudou Sennin created—through the process of Asura and Indra being reborn again and again—he built in one more thing:
A seal for the Otsutsuki will.
Back then, Rikudou Sennin (Otsutsuki Hagoromo) and his brother Otsutsuki Hamura didn't just seal Kaguya—they sealed the Otsutsuki will inside her too.
Even in the original story, when Naruto and Sasuke sealed Kaguya, they weren't just sealing her. They were also locking away the Otsutsuki will she carried.
The abilities Rikudou Sennin placed in his two sons were actually made for sealing that will.
Whether you could seal Kaguya herself—that was about strength. But sealing the Otsutsuki will? That wasn't just a power issue.
How to explain it… in Rikudou Sennin's time, he was the only one who ever stepped into the domain of pure will—he was the only one who could even *see* the will inside the Divine Tree.
That was the real problem.
So to make sure the Otsutsuki will could be sealed properly, Asura and Indra were given the power to do just that.
And that power clearly wasn't just chakra.
What could chakra even seal, really? To make the seal last, the true sealing power had to be stored in the kekkei genkai itself.
And in the end, the Redverse took control and completely overpowered the Ten Tails, pulling the Otsutsuki will into itself.
Then what happened? Redverse was beaten by Fukuda Kiyomu, who had the full backing of the ninja world's will—and he completely destroyed it.
That moment caused a chain reaction: over in the New World of the western sea, the "Golden Lion" Jigen, because of his incredible power, was chosen by the Otsutsuki will to become a possible Otsutsuki Sage.
But that little bit of will? Jigen crushed it on the spot.
Of course, it didn't die, but over in the Otsutsuki homeland, a few of the elders weren't so lucky.
Jigen was just too strong.
Even though he was a pirate with no morals, and technically part of the Otsutsuki clan, he basically turned around and trashed them right after being picked—didn't respect them at all.
But this guy was just really strong, and because his way of thinking was so different from normal people, he could adapt to the new version insanely fast.
He easily pushed down the wills of those few Otsutsuki elders.
Right after that, the Otsutsuki will returned to the Ten Tails.
That was when Nagato picked up on the returning will with his Rinnegan. At that point, he still didn't know what was going on.
But the more he saw, the more he began to understand.
To put it simply, he saw the "answer sheet" to the test.
The powers of Ashura and Indra were meant to seal this thing—and then came news that their leader was actually Ashura.
Itachi's true identity also became clear.
As the son of the Sage of Six Paths, there was no way he could keep a low profile—it just wasn't possible.
With that settled, everything became simpler. The powers of Ashura and Indra could seal the Otsutsuki will, and now they were already able to connect with that will. They had seen the answer.
With the answer in front of you, writing the test isn't easy—but it's not impossible either.
Nagato and Itachi weren't weak, and their talent in this kind of thing was top-level.
That was back then. Now, after going through the changes of the new era, they were even stronger.
"This is it! This is the power! Follow it back and use it to fully awaken the strength inside us!"
Nagato's eyes shone, and his hair floated from the force of the chakra around him.
Itachi was the same. His eyes had entered the Mangekyo state.
"It was hidden way too deep!"
Itachi could already feel something strange. There really was another kind of power inside him.
And it was hard to draw out.
The fact that it was so stable also meant it was hard to trigger. Only the true reincarnations of Ashura and Indra would have an easier time awakening it.
But hard doesn't mean impossible for Nagato and Itachi.
Both of them had already reached the level where they could tap into natural energy, even train in Sage Mode on their own.
"Since the new era began, I've studied this kind of power a lot. This power…"
Feeling the natural energy building up inside him, Itachi didn't seem worried at all.
"Compared to training Sage Mode myself, this energy is way safer."
"It's not about training with natural energy. It's about using this power to look back and awaken it."
Itachi stayed completely calm. The natural energy under his control didn't mix with his chakra.
Both his and Nagato's chakra were still working through the Otsutsuki will, following it step by step.
"I found the path!"
Nagato spoke up. In that moment, their chakra both locked onto the Otsutsuki will—but they couldn't hold it down.
The two forces were just too different. But they didn't need to hold it down anyway.
As they continued to dig deeper—
"Itachi, get ready!"
"Don't worry. I might be better at controlling natural energy than you."
Itachi glanced at Nagato. The two of them locked eyes and nodded.
In the next moment, natural energy poured into both of their bodies, while all of Nagato and Itachi's chakra left their bodies and was stored inside the Ten Tails.
Only a small amount of mental energy still connected them to their physical bodies and the Ten Tails. Once the natural energy entered, both of them were hit by intense pain.
"It's starting!!"
"The life force in the natural energy is beginning to change our bodies."
Itachi gritted his teeth. His body was already starting to change—not from chakra or ninjutsu, but from bloodline regression, reaching back to ancient origins.
Their flesh and blood were being directly pushed into reverse evolution. At that moment, their bodies started going through terrifying changes.
Their illnesses vanished, their flesh reshaped, and their bodies began to twist and writhe out of control.
From the outside, seeing the terrifying storm clouds above, Konan, Kakuzu, and the others all felt a strong sense of danger. None of them knew what Nagato and Itachi were doing.
But from another point of view, it was obvious—these two were basically cheating. It was like writing the answers before the questions were even handed out.
Their bodies were ascending, their bloodlines reverting back, stealing power straight from history itself. This kind of cheat-level move—no wonder the world's will was reacting.
However, the massive will of the world above Amegakure couldn't act just yet. Even though Nagato and Itachi were cheating, the world will had only sensed it—it had no real proof.
Usually, cheating means copying others. But these two didn't copy anyone—they already knew the answers ahead of time and just wrote them down themselves.
Is that cheating? Technically no. But what kind of normal person could even do something like that?
Of course, the world will wasn't clueless about what was going on.
Two people needed to be blamed here. First was Shanks. If it weren't for him, at least the shinobi world might have stayed in order.
The second was the Sage of Six Paths. Nagato and Itachi were only able to pull this off because the Sage had put certain limits inside the Kekkei Genkai system.
But now, one of them was in the New World's Dragon Veins, and the other had been dead for thousands of years. His real body was still drifting through the shinobi world, totally unreachable.
Shanks was like a bandit. The world will simply couldn't do anything about him.
And the Sage? He wasn't a bandit—he was more like a thief. A perfect thief.
Everything he did went against the world's rules, but he always found a way to avoid punishment.
You want to kill me? I'll just play dead, bury myself in a coffin and hide—what are you gonna do then?
In the beginning, the Sage of Six Paths probably wasn't that strong, and he didn't do things that broke the world's order.
But after defeating his own mother and taking care of all the other Immortals, he eventually chose this path too.
And that version of the Sage Naruto and Sasuke met in the story—just a little bit of chakra? Yeah, right.
Even just that tiny bit of chakra was enough to help Naruto and Sasuke seal Kaguya. There's no way the real Sage of Six Paths is actually dead.
But the world's will truly couldn't do anything to him.
And when it came to Shanks? Even less chance.
So right now, as Konan and the others looked up at the terrifying scene in the sky, every single one of them looked pale.
"If that kind of power comes crashing down, can we really block it?"
Deidara stared at the sky with wide eyes, his face soaked in cold sweat.
"We can't!! Even I can't stop it. We'd be dead for sure."
Hidan looked serious, none of his usual pride showing anymore. If that kind of power hit them, they were all done for.
*Boom!!*
A bolt of lightning, more than ten meters thick, shot down from the sky. Deidara jumped in shock—it wasn't normal lightning at all.
The solid-looking lightning smashed into the sea in the distance, blowing open a giant hole in the surface. The water below glowed deep blue.
The next moment—
*Boom!!*
Another lightning strike came crashing down, aiming straight for the group. The terrifying power of the lightning made everyone's hair stand on end. Deidara's hair puffed up on the spot.
"Get out of the way!!"
A voice shouted from behind. At the same time, a massive orange-red Susano'o soared into the sky. Its twisted form gave off an overwhelming pressure.
The Susano'o holding the Yatagami smashed into the clouds, forcing the sky to cave in.
*Rip!!*
Countless bolts of lightning burst out of the thunderclouds—like Itachi had just shattered the sky itself.
Then a flash of sword light tore through the storm. The orange-red slash cut the lightning apart, wiping away the pressure hanging over the sky.
An even more terrifying version of Susano'o appeared high above.
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