Episode 47: Hagaromo’s Truth

Hagaromo was standing sideways in front of the special barrier that he created. It would ensure that Jim Namikaze would not be able to alter anything about his plan during his last minutes there. He looked at Jim with his left eye, which was now a normal green eye that could reveal how he truly felt—unlike the rinnegan. He was firm, but sad at the same time.

“Jim Namikaze, before you leave, I will tell you a truth that I want you to know, about me and about you.
The truth is that I am not as holy and as gracious as the legends of your future told you. I used many people’s lives in order to save everyone. As the protector of this realm, I made sacrifices that affected many good people and those closest to them. I had a choice, but I chose to take that path anyways. And because of that, the ones closest to me had a more difficult life, and those I picked suffered as well, even though they never had the chance to choose. Their families had a harder fate too, even though they were good people that didn’t deserve it. I knew about all of it, but I continued anyways, because it was the only chance I had to save this realm.
I am very sorry for what I did to all of you. And I will gladly pay the price for it. Now that I know you well, I can feel the weight of what I did to you and to your loved ones much more than before.
You are one of my chosen saviors and, because of it, your life took a much more difficult path than the one it had by default. Forgive me Jim Namikaze.”

Although Hagaromo was firm about completing his plan for the future, the consequences of all the changes he made had affected his life. There was no doubt about it.

However, Jim didn’t think that any forgiveness was necessary. For a moment, he forgot about the imminent threat of the Snake King, and his desperation was eclipsed by his self-assuredness about his past actions. (He knew himself well! No one made the hard choices for him.)

“Hagaromo, you must be mistaken. There is no need for my forgiveness. I am here because I chose it. I was the one that chose to believe in you and in your plan. No one forced me to do it, and I am sure that it was the same way for all the others that joined your cause. We believed in you.”

Hagaromo looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Then, he turned around and looked at Jim with both of his eyes—the left rinnegan and the normal right eye. He was facing Jim and looking directly at his eyes, instead of looking at the grand violet portal.

“What happened right before you decided to leave the Clan of the Stone to go to The Leaf? What made you take that leap of faith? And… who saved you after the attack at Maida Uchiha’s village?”

Why was Hagaromo asking those questions? He was very serious about those two questions because he knew that their answers revealed the truth.

Jim answered them. He really thought that he knew what happened back then…

“The day before I left, my former trainer, squad leader Maki, died. He came mortally wounded from a mission and I was the one who saw him first. He told me that I had a much brighter future than him ahead of me, but not at that clan. I knew that I wanted to leave the Clan of the Stone, even before that. I didn’t want to spend my life as an Anbu ninja for them. My ideals never matched with theirs and I was ready to leave, even before that day. However, Maki’s words were what finally made me decide that it was over. I prepared myself and deserted the next day, without looking back, and without telling anyone about it. My brother Golan never came back from his mission either, which meant that he was dead too. I didn’t have anyone else that tied me to them and to their tyranny. Most of the people there were not good-hearted either. They were raised as assassins, so it was the norm. I left hoping to join the clan that was known for being the opposite of them. I also hoped to fight for good causes and not just for money and for their corrupt leaders.
That was years ago…
At Maida’s village, I am sure that she saved me. I found her close to me and she had replaced one of my eyes with her mangekyou sharingan. I was unconscious, but I know that she must have cured me as well, before I woke up. The battle I had before that was one of my worst and I lost. It was the worst day of my life… And, in a different way, Hiruzen also saved me that day. He and his Anbu guards arrived there just when I needed them. Without their help, I could have died, unless I made it all the way to The Leaf on my own, but that was very unlikely.”

Hagaromo took a very deep breath. It was time for the truth, which was hidden and unexpected.

“I see that you remember very well Jim. What I am going to tell you shouldn’t be a great shock to you then:
Maki Uchiha was a secret agent from The Leaf that infiltrated the Clan of the Stone. He had special sharingans, just like Maida, and he had met me before at the Dark Realm. Besides his mission for The Leaf, he also had a mission for my plan. He had to save Jim Namikaze and his brother from the conflict that would destroy their small clan. He also had to become their first teacher and their squad’s leader at the Clan of the Stone. He would look over them after that day.
As you already know, Maki accomplished his missions flawlessly.
I had told him that you needed to leave that clan to fulfill your destiny for the plan. And that was what led him to tell you those words before he died.”

Jim Namikaze started to look disconcerted. Could it be the truth? Everything fit perfectly, but it was a little hard to accept it right away.

“How is that possible? Master Maki didn’t have the mangekyou sharingan. He didn’t even have a sharingan!”

Hagaromo continued with the voice of truth:

“He had both of them, but he never used them in front of others. After his infiltration, he had his normal eyes on display at all times. Shortly after that, he saved you and your brother when you were intercepted by guards from the Stone, after you ran away from your village. That was why you two were not killed that day. And he could hide his secret well because the unique ability of his special sharingan was to disable other sharingans, including his own.”

If Jim looked a little disconcerted before, now he was at full disconcertion. And Hagaromo had not even told him about Maida yet. Jim Namikaze couldn’t have seen that coming, but that didn’t change the fact that it was the truth too.

“Maki was a great agent and a great man that died because of me and my plan to save the future. However, he wasn’t the most unique person that I met at the Dark Realm, and neither were you. The most unique owner of a special sharingan was Maida Uchiha. She was the only one that made it there on her own the very first time. I had to help everybody else to make their first trip to the special realm. She was also the only one that did it with the sharingan’s initial form. Everybody else, including me, couldn’t see the Dark Realm until they had a mangekyou sharingan or a rinnegan. Her ability for healing techniques was extraordinary too, and she didn’t even have a mangekyou back then. If she had awakened the rinnegan, her healing power would have surpassed mine.
It was I who taught her many of the healing techniques she knew, including the most advanced one, which was the one she used to keep you alive that day. She, her mother, and her half-brother also decided to go live at Barton’s village because of the advice I gave her, about leaving the Uchiha Clan. She convinced them afterwards.
I even told her about the day when she was going to meet the man that would show her the true meaning of love. And when she mentioned that she would be playing music in her piano that day, I recommended the only melody that would drive you towards her without fail. She already knew your name and what you looked like, before she met you. However, she never knew how it was going to end.
You already know the rest Jim Namikaze. I saw it years before I put all the wheels in motion from the Dark Realm.
You also know that Hiruzen saved you that day because you told him about it when he was younger.
There were no coincidences.
And all of it will lead us to the final defeat of the Snake King. Even the bad consequences and the deaths that made me curse my power proved to be necessary to make it all happen.”

Jim wasn’t looking at Hagaromo in the same way anymore. He looked perplexed. Many things that seemed natural in his life happened that way only because Hagaromo made them that way… What was he? A God?

“All those things—changing people’s lives, altering the past and the future, and having control of a lost realm where time doesn’t even exist. I don’t think that any sharingan or any normal power is capable of such things. Hagaromo… are you human, or, are you something else?”

Jim Namikaze wasn’t afraid of Hagaromo and, despite the deep revelations, he still felt that he could trust him. However, he didn’t know what to believe about him now.

Hagaromo was glad. Jim Namikaze remained on his side no matter what; and his reaction—like everything else—was as he expected. Everything continued running according to the plan. Hagaromo showed a minor smile, even in the face of the upcoming catastrophe.

“I am human Jim Namikaze. I feel as human as you and as all the other men and women that have been born at this realm. However, I am also different. I am one of the sons of Goddess Kaguya, who wasn’t completely human at the time of my conception. I also became the jinchuuriki of the Ten-Tails beast when I was even younger than you. I had Ashura’s age when it happened. And I was never the same after that.
I never lost my humanity, but my life changed after I gained the power of the holy yellow fruit of chakra. Mother Kaguya brought the yellow fruit to this world without knowing the disasters that it would cause. She used its power, which was what earned her the nickname of “the goddess.” Then, the holy fruit gained a living form of its own, which was Ten-Tails. When I sealed it in me, I also sealed the power of the chakra fruit in me.
Just weeks after that, I shared its power with the people of my clan, giving them the ability to use chakra techniques. I also used its incredible power to stop an all-out war between our two closest clans. At the end of that day, I found myself at the Realm of the Fruit of Chakra for the first time. Back then, it was light yellow and very bright, but as I used the fruit’s power, more and more, it began to get darker and darker, until now. The Dark Realm where you met me, and where most of the others met me, is the Realm of the Fruit of Chakra.
Since those times, I also began to see the future and I knew what was going to happen; so I began to act, since my youth, to change our final fate.
Having this great power and being Kaguya’s son have been my life’s curses, but if they lead to the salvation of this realm, I will be very glad at the end of it all.”

Hagaromo was very sincere in his last talk with Jim.

(“The fruit” managed to gain a living form, known as Ten-Tails, at the Human Realm. Apparently, “it” was alive. Its power was also responsible for the creation of the timeless realm, which only the special eyes powered by its chakra could visit. This power was also what gave chakra and the ability to use chakra techniques to Hagaromo’s people, which were the ancient ancestors of the future ninja clans. However, “it” proved to be more dangerous for the future than what Kaguya and Hagaromo had anticipated…)

Jim Namikaze remembered that the Dark Realm had traces of a “dark yellow” color indeed. It made sense that its origin had been “bright and yellow.”

And just when Jim was about to ask where the fruit of chakra came from (a very interesting question, by the way), he saw the first one of “them” come out from the violet portal; and the menace of that portal became too real, as soon as he recognized that face…

While Hagaromo was talking to Jim, Ashura tried to destroy the grand portal. He hit it at least three dozen times with his swords and with the hands of chakra, but they had no effect. It simply absorbed them. He stopped and began to think. There had to be a way to destroy it. And if not, then he would have to fight the Snake King and defeat him.

When Ashura was standing there, close to the right side of the portal, a human-looking being appeared from the bottom of the giant oval and jumped right in front of Ashura.

It was Zet Otsutsuki (White Zetsu), the same white green-haired sage with strange powers that defeated Jim Namikaze with ease at Maida’s village. He looked just as he did that day, which had been more than 120 years later.

When Ashura was about to move to attack him, he noticed that a bunch of odd white branches that came from the sand were holding his legs. (The branches were created by Zet. They looked just like the crazy growth of branches that Spiral—the white guardian—used in Hagaromo’s vision, during that battle with the Seventh Hokage—where Spiral, Black, the man of the cloak, and even the white snake fought against Naruto.)

Zet moved quickly and he also grabbed Ashura’s arms. When he did it, more branches began to hold Ashura. They began to make it very difficult for him to move, and they started to drain his chakra as well.

Zet grabbed Ashura’s face:

“I waited for this day for a long time. The day when I would be an equal, or even more powerful than you, Indra, and him.”

Ashura recognized who it was, even though he looked much different than before:

“Zet?? What is the meaning of this!? Who changed you and gave you this power? Are you going to betray us and take the enemy’s side!?”

Zet felt victorious already. He never imagined that overpowering Ashura could be so easy. However, he was too overconfident for his own good.

“I changed myself and I also gained this power on my own. Unlike you and Indra, who have your biggest powers because of him. No one gave me anything brother. And this is just the beginning. I shall surpass him too.”

Ashura finally took him seriously. He realized that the branches had the potential to kill him if he didn’t escape them soon. He unleashed his chakra cloak at its full power and the intense yellow chakra began to consume all the branches, like a wild fire. These were the same branches that had killed Jim Namikaze and many others at Maida’s village. However, Ashura’s chakra could overpower them.

Zet began to look a little worried, since Ashura was getting away and he still wasn’t 100% sure that he could defeat him at full power. However, Su Otsutsuki (Black Zetsu) jumped from the portal at that moment, and he landed right on top of Ashura.

As soon as Su touched Ashura, he began to cover the left side of Ashura’s body. He was a fluid black mass that looked just like the “Black” guardian that fought against Naruto Uzumaki (in Hagaromo’s vision of that alternate future).

Ashura destroyed the branches and he escaped from Zet, but Su’s “body control” power was even greater than Zet’s and Spiral’s, so Ashura couldn’t get away from it.

Su looked at Zet, from Ashura’s left side and with his own yellow-looking eye.

“Stick to our plan Zet. You will have time for your personal wishes once today’s battle is over. We need him now.”

Zet didn’t like the idea of obeying Su—meaning then that he wasn’t the “real boss” behind their plan to defeat both, the Sage of the Six Paths and the Snake King. However, this was going to benefit him too, so he followed it and stayed there, waiting for the Snake King to arrive. He would have the chance to finish Ashura another day. Now, erasing the father that he hated and the powerful Snake King from his path was all that he needed to get closer to his final goal. However, Su—Hagaromo’s second brother and Zet’s uncle—also had his own agenda…

Ashura struggled to move. It worried him that Jim Namikaze would leave and his father would be alone for this battle. However, his father had the Ten-Tails’ power; so he would be able to defeat these two “pawns” easily. That was what Ashura believed… (He still didn’t know that his father had released the Ten-Tails as nine separate chakra beasts.)

What really worried Ashura was the power of the one who created the giant violet portal. And the identity of “the black one” was also a source of concern, since he or “it” was powerful enough to hold him back. Ashura had lost control of at least 80% of his body. He could barely move, but he managed to ask him something:

“Who are you?”

And Su responded:

“Young Ashura Otsutsuki, my identity doesn’t matter now. The only thing that matters is the upcoming battle where you will participate. We have to defeat him at all costs. And this may be our only chance.”

At that moment, the white snake and Spiral appeared and jumped out from the other side of the portal, which wasn’t facing anyone. Thus, no one noticed the exact moment when those two arrived.

However, guardian “Black” never arrived at the scene because of the events that happened before among Zet, Su, and the Snake King… (this will be covered in a later episode)

Jim Namikaze began to feel the danger again when he saw what was happening to Ashura, right beneath the portal.

“Hagaromo, we have to help him! I know those two. I fought against them before! Just the white one by himself is quite powerful. We need to join Ashura now! Let me out of this barrier.”

Hagaromo turned around and looked back at the portal.

“Don’t worry about them. They won’t hurt Ashura. However, this means that the time has come. He will arrive at any minute. The moment to complete the plan and to seal our fates is now.
This is the path that our realm will take. There will be no more changes and I won’t affect more lives. I will pay for my sins as well. I hope that it leads to our future and final victory.”

Hagaromo placed his holy staff at his side and he began to prepare some sort of technique, with chakra seals that required the use of both hands. In less than one minute, six flames of different colors appeared around him. They represented the “six paths” of natural chakra techniques that existed at the Human Realm (and that had been created by Kaguya, using the fruit of chakra). They were red for fire, blue for water, white for wind, yellow for lightning, brown for earth, and green for natural healing.

Jim Namikaze had been telling him to set him free, but the holy sage wasn’t listening and he only looked back at Jim when he was done with the six flames.

“Listen well Jim Namikaze. You must seek and choose the correct time for your return in the future. You must arrive at the right time before the Snake King returns once again. Choosing right will be critical. It will be the difference between our victory or our defeat, in the future.
And, no matter what, you must not come back to the past. The needed changes have been made already. You will ensure our failure if you come back; remember that. After you leave this place, look forward to the future only. It is the place where you still have to make a difference to finish the plan.
You also have 72 hours, after you leave here, to make the final time jump to the grand battle at the future. It will take place at The Leaf, outside of Konoha. Both Naruto and Sasuke will be there before you arrive. You’ll have to figure out when is the right moment for your arrival, before the next 72 hours run out.
If you don’t make it at the right time, or if you do it after the next three days, then the plan will fail; and the greatest clan of your ninja world will be the first one that will be destroyed by him.”

“You mean The Leaf?!”

Hagaromo nodded as an indication of “yes.”

However, even though Jim loved The Leaf and what it represented, he still wasn’t eager about leaving Hagaromo there, knowing what was about to happen… Not to mention that Hagaromo was barely telling him anything about what he had to do next. (He expected that Jim would figure it out thanks to the “reliable vision” of Maida’s sharingan.)

Jim looked concerned. He understood the importance of the plan, but he still wanted to help Hagaromo. By now, Hagaromo and Ashura were his friends; they were not just trainers and sparring partners anymore.

“You can’t beat the Snake King on your own and without your power. There is still a chance Hagaromo. We can do it together! Why does it have to be this way!?”

Hagaromo looked at Jim again after he said that.

“Don’t underestimate me Jim Namikaze. Have faith in my plan and in me. It is the only way to win this battle, which is not a battle that can be won with pure power.
Remember that I was the one who figured out how to defeat Ten-Tails, the living embodiment of the power of chakra itself, before I even had the ability to see the future.”

Right when Hagaromo finished talking, Jim could hear something behind him. The sound came from the other side of the barrier.

It was the white snake and it was ready to attack. (This time it was for real.)
It jumped and attacked, from the opposite side of the barrier. However, it crashed heavily with the transparent wall that protected Jim. It also broke its nose right there—that invisible wall was hard as hell.

Seeing it right in front of his feet brought Jim back to the moment when he saw it for the first time, in his first set of visions. What happened here and the serpent’s attack towards him was the same event that he had seen in that incomplete vision before. Every single one of them was becoming real. They were not simple visions anymore…

Jim couldn’t contain himself and, facing the opposite way of Hagaromo, he directed a rinne-slash at the white snake—which was still recovering from the broken nose. Unfortunately, the barrier blocked the heavy slash of red chakra completely, and part of it went back at Jim. It left him with a wound that looked like the one he gave Ashura during their last battle. Luckily, the summoning seal and everything else was still intact; but now, even Jim Namikaze wasn’t in perfect shape for a battle.

Could things get any worse than this!?

When Jim looked back at Hagaromo, the main danger finally showed itself. And there was no way to miss it. Instantly, Jim noticed the four giant fingers on the right edge of the violet portal. They were human fingers, but they definitely looked bigger and tougher. Their skin was dark gray, unlike the skin of any human at Jim Namikaze’s world. And the fingers were still moving on the edge.

The Snake King was about to enter the Human Realm through the portal!!

Without hesitation, Hagaromo used a jutsu that he had put in place half an hour ago:

“Seal of retention, release!”

Then, the summoning teleportation seal, in front of Jim, and the teleportation technique were activated and they continued on their own, as if he had used them normally. Jim Namikaze would be leaving in less than one minute, whether he liked it or not.

“Wait! Hagaromo, don’t do this!!”

The Sage of the Six Paths looked at Jim Namikaze one last time, and revealed his final truth.

“Before you leave, there is something else that you need to know.
The Snake King is not a snake.
His true self is a human from the Zeta Realm, like me.”

Hagaromo removed his legendary white cloak and allowed it to fall on the sand, at his side.
Then, he grabbed his holy staff.

All he had were his humble white training clothes (the same ones that everybody used before), the staff, the six flames, and his other rinnegan, which wasn’t even at its full power, like the one he gave Jim.

Jim Namikaze started to disappear, but he could hear the last words that Hagaromo said to him, while he looked straight at the hand of their nemesis.

“Good bye my good friend Jim Namikaze. Thank you for everything you did to achieve our victory.”

NEXT— EPISODE 48: Arrival of the Snake King