In the Pure Land…
Within a swirling, ethereal mist, the true body of the Sage of Six Paths sat cross-legged on an ancient bluestone, his eyes tightly shut. A faint blue light pulsed around him as his fingers moved through a series of complex, mysterious hand seals, as if he were communing with heaven and earth, absorbing their endless energy. The surrounding space was filled with a dense fog, where faint lights flickered like wandering spirits, adding a strange, eerie quality to the otherwise silent realm.
Suddenly, the spiritual energy in the air trembled violently. The Sage's face turned ashen, his eyeballs darting rapidly beneath his closed lids as if he were trapped in a terrible nightmare. His expression contorted, and his eyes snapped open. Two beams of light, sharp as swords, pierced through the mist and shot toward the heavens, instantly dispersing the surrounding gloom. He awoke from a state of cultivation that had seemed to freeze time itself, and the chakra emanating from him roiled like a stormy sea.
"Pfft—!"
The Sage's body convulsed as a mouthful of blood erupted from his lips, staining the front of his robes crimson. His face was a mask of pure fury, his eyes burning with a rage that seemed capable of devouring the world.
"Damn you, Uchiha Kagami!" he snarled through gritted teeth, his voice laced with deep hatred and unwillingness. "How dare you destroy a fragment of my soul! I will ensure you die without a complete body, and I will make your soul my nourishment!"
His main body had been in deep seclusion, unable to act directly, so he had separated one-tenth of his soul to deal with Kagami. Originally, this was a no-risk maneuver. Even if the fragment failed, as long as Kagami lacked the means to devour souls, it could safely return to the Pure Land. And how could a boy who hadn't even awakened the Rinnegan possibly devour his soul?
But he had never anticipated Kagami would unleash a black hole. A black hole could swallow even light itself. Though a soul is intangible, it cannot escape such a terrifyingly absolute power. His soul fragment had been crushed and devoured, meaning he had lost one-tenth of his very being.
One-tenth might not sound like much, but to a soul, it was a devastating injury. Had his soul not already been immensely powerful from absorbing countless others, this loss might have sent him into a coma. As it was, the damage was still severe. While not fatal, it would greatly delay his plan to seize control of the planet.
For a thousand years, he had been plotting, slaying the minor gods of the ninja world and devouring the souls of mortals to seize their authority. He had been close—only two or three years away from controlling all the planet's authority and becoming its one, true god. But now, after this loss, he would need at least ten years to devour enough souls to recover before he could resume his grand design.
"Damn it! Uchiha Kagami..." The Sage's face twisted with rage as he thought of his master plan being ruined by a mere mortal. The murderous intent in his eyes was so thick it was nearly tangible.
But the venture had not been a total loss. He had learned one crucial piece of information. After a long while, the Sage calmed his fury. "I did not expect this planet to develop self-awareness," he said solemnly. "Could it be because I have stolen too many souls?"
To strengthen his soul and seize more authority, he had created the Pure Land, blocking the path to the underworld and preventing souls from reincarnating. This made them easy to devour, and in doing so, he continuously consumed the planet's essence, weakening it and making his takeover easier. But he had not expected this action to trigger the planet's own self-preservation mechanism. The constant weakening of its origin had forced the ninja world to awaken a consciousness of its own.
And Kagami, he now realized, was likely the "child of destiny" chosen by the planetary consciousness to stop him.
His guess was correct. The cycle of reincarnation is a natural law for any living planet. By blocking it, the Sage had forced the planet to expend its own life force to create new souls, only for him to intercept them, trapping it in a death spiral. To avoid its own destruction, the planet had awakened.
However, because the Sage had already merged with some of the planet's authority, it could not attack him directly without causing a catastrophic paradox that would lead to its own collapse. So, in calculating countless possible futures, the planetary consciousness discovered Kagami—a foreign soul, an anomaly, and the holder of a higher power: the system. It realized Kagami was the one variable that could change the seemingly inevitable outcome.
Thus, it struck a deal with the system. It promised that if Kagami could defeat the Sage and restore the cycle of reincarnation, it would grant him control of the planet's authority, effectively making him the true son of this world. That was why the system had allowed the planetary consciousness to implant harmless subconscious guidance into Kagami. The first suggestion—to marry more wives and have more children—was a mutual idea, designed to push Kagami to use the system to grow stronger faster. All of it, from guiding the Sage to notice Kagami, to guiding Kagami to uncover the Sage's plots, had been secretly orchestrated by the planet.
The Sage of Six Paths, however, was unaware he had been walking a path to ruin. He knew a consciousness had awakened, but he did not take it seriously. As long as it couldn't attack him directly, it was nothing to fear. Once he seized all power, he could simply extinguish it.
"Although I failed to kill Kagami this time," the Sage mused, a cruel smile finally returning to his face, "I did gain a great number of ninja souls, and even the authority of a god's successor." The recent war had flooded the Pure Land with new souls. What made him happiest was that his soul fragment had successfully seized the divine authority from Hidan, the follower of Jashin.
"After I absorb these, I will not only recover but become even stronger! To kill that brat as soon as possible, there is no need to keep the remaining souls in reserve!" For a thousand years, he had preserved the souls of powerful warriors, planning to use them as his army to conquer other worlds. But now, he would devour them all.
"Kagami, just wait. Once I have absorbed all of these souls, I will make you suffer a fate worse than death!"
With that, he opened his mouth and inhaled. Countless souls sleeping in the Pure Land were pulled into his mouth like a torrent, where he began to chew and refine them.
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