"Rinne… Rinnegan!"
Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji exclaimed together.
In their impression, although the Rinnegan was no longer something that only existed in legend, its possessors were still extremely rare.
Aside from the former leader of the Akatsuki who once destroyed Konoha Village, Pain, only Uchiha Madara had these eyes.
Then, the identity of the old man before them, how astonishing must it be?
Combining it with their experience of nearly dying and coming back to life, Neji suddenly thought of a possibility.
He probed and asked, "Could it be, you are the legendary… Sage of Six Paths?"
After asking, he then looked toward the person in front of him whom he had thought to be his ancestor, Otsutsuki Hamura. If his guess was correct, then this so-called ancestor of his, whom he believed to be from the main family, could stand together with the legendary Sage of Six Paths, then what was his own identity?
Otsutsuki Hamura, seeing Neji's expression become more and more surprised and respectful toward him, instead showed a somewhat darkened face.
He had kept his Byakugan activated the whole time, yet what he got in return was Neji's resistance and refutation. All that painstaking persuasion he had done was less effective than his elder brother simply doing nothing and just showing the Rinnegan.
'So the Byakugan really have no prestige? For the junior to respect me, I have to rely on my elder brother's Rinnegan?'
Otsutsuki Hamura coughed a few times awkwardly, then tried to restore his dignity by explaining, "Actually, whether it is the Byakugan or the Rinnegan, they both lead to the same destination by different routes."
After speaking, he looked toward Otsutsuki Hagoromo, "My elder brother and I are blood brothers; the Byakugan and the Rinnegan are merely two different forms under the same bloodline, without higher or lower distinction."
Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji were shocked.
"What, the possessors of the Rinnegan and the Byakugan are actually blood brothers?"
This news brought them an enormous impact. As the Hyuga clan had long been rivals to the Uchiha, even though the Uchiha were now nearly extinct, the elders of their clan had often mentioned them.
What's more, now the Uchiha had truly stolen the spotlight in the Fourth War; who did not know of this clan's madness and strength? By comparison, the Hyuga seemed hardly worth mentioning.
If it were not for the fact that Otsutsuki Hagoromo's Rinnegan could not be faked, they might have thought the two were con men.
Hyuga Neji once again looked toward Otsutsuki Hagoromo. Although he had strong confidence in his own guess, he still wanted to get the most solid proof.
"You… still haven't answered my question. Are you truly the legendary, founder of Ninshu, the world's first monk, the Sage of Six Paths?"
Otsutsuki Hagoromo's brows furrowed slightly. He thought for a moment, then still nodded.
"If there is no second Ninshu in the world, then indeed I am the person in your impression."
Hyuga Neji's gaze toward the Sage of Six Paths completely changed. Even though he had already known the two old men before him were extraordinary, having a legendary figure appear in reality, standing right before his eyes, brought an incomparable impact.
No wonder the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan were called the three great dojutsu, this was probably not determined by the strength of later users, but because they had the same origin.
Neji suddenly realized something and gave a bitter smile.
"If you truly are the Sage of Six Paths, then even you cannot stop the development of the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
"And moreover, you once had someone to save the world, he was Naruto, right? Only when Naruto failed did you have to place the burden of saving the world on me and Hinata?"
Thinking of this, Neji suddenly felt somewhat sorrowful. He had always been called a genius, but had never been the first choice.
It seemed that for him, fate had never been fair.
The Sage of Six Paths saw the complexity in Neji's eyes and suddenly sighed. This descendant of Hamura seemed to harbor some resentment toward the world.
But could Neji himself be blamed? Of course not. The root problem was the main-house/branch-house system; wasn't this system the most prominent example of completely different fates caused solely by differences in birth?
Between people, nothing is more feared than comparison.
Thinking of this, he slowly spoke.
"I am actually not very satisfied with people of your era calling me the Sage of Six Paths. Do you know why?"
Neji was stunned. Just now, when the Sage of Six Paths admitted his identity, Neji had indeed noticed the Sage's brows furrow slightly.
That showed the Sage indeed did not like this title.
But he did not know why.
Wouldn't anyone, upon knowing they would become a legend after death, feel happy?
At the very least, they wouldn't deliberately reject it, right?
And besides, what did this have to do with his question?
Seeing Neji's face full of puzzlement, the Sage of Six Paths explained.
"I founded Ninshu, invented ninjutsu, with the original intent of allowing people to live better lives."
"But the current situation is that ninjutsu is more often used in destruction. It has not made the world more beautiful; on the contrary, it has made the world riddled with scars."
"I left my mark in the world hoping later generations would inherit my ideas… but later generations only remembered my name."
"Don't you think this is a very ironic thing? The Ninshu that walked the earth to bring beauty to the world, one day became the ninja who only know killing, these are completely different existences. So, to you later generations, what does the founder of ninjutsu, the Sage of Six Paths, truly mean? Perhaps… what you revere is only the unparalleled power under this name, and this is such a deep sorrow."
Neji suddenly greatly agreed with the Sage's words. No wonder the old man before him could become a legend later on.
Indeed, in legend, the Sage of Six Paths was the first monk; a monk symbolized lofty ideals, not invincible power.
But as the years passed, people seemed to have forgotten this. Even for Neji himself, his impression of the Sage before now was more about creation and destruction.
This was no different from worshiping the Sage's power.
He gave a self-mocking smile, "So you loathe this title."
After pausing, he continued to ask.
"But even as great as you are, you cannot decide everyone's fate. People are unequal from the start, some people, for various reasons, from birth are the ones favored, right?"
The Sage of Six Paths shook his head, "I said all this only to tell you that in the era of Ninshu, including myself, the people around me rarely thought about the question you are now thinking of. This question can be summed up in one sentence, namely: why give it to him and not to me?"
Neji was stunned. He had imagined all kinds of answers from the Sage, but had never thought it would be this one.
He could not help but ask, "Why?"
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