In the desolate world, three figures clashed violently across the heavens, the shockwaves reaching skyward in a tide of power.
Yoru and Orochimaru both stared at the three figures, their eyes dark with awe and something unspoken—
But one thing was certain:
This war... was the origin.
The origin of chakra, of shinobi, and the root of all the world's change.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A battle at the Six Paths level had already surpassed the boundaries of ordinary ninjutsu. Each clash of force rippled out, shaking the very fabric of space.
Even though it was only an illusion, Yoru and Orochimaru could still feel the overwhelming grandeur of the conflict. The intensity was so great that even the illusion couldn't fully stabilize—
the image was starting to break apart into pixelated distortion.
In ancient legends, gods cannot be looked at, cannot be comprehended, cannot be touched, and cannot be defined.
Though the power of Hagoromo and his family couldn't truly be called divine—not like beings such as Ōtsutsuki Shibai who had transcended dimensions—even so, their battle wasn't something ordinary eyes could gaze upon freely.
Even the White Snake Sage, who had now caught up to the level of Hagoromo and Hamura to some extent, still couldn't close that gap from back then.
The distortion of the images couldn't conceal the savagery of the battle. Sacred chakra burst outward with the force of Truth-Seeking Balls, tearing the sky and cracking the earth. Explosions echoed endlessly.
"In the past, celestial beings descended upon the earth, devouring its life force for themselves.
But their offspring, moved by the suffering of the world, chose righteousness over blood—
and together, the two brothers sealed their own mother away…"
The White Snake Sage's voice emerged, exactly as the images turned to mosaic—a fitting narrator.
But his words made Orochimaru frown, his eyes flicking toward Yoru, who clearly knew more than what the "legend" suggested.
"The God Tree devoured all life, turned every living thing into White Zetsu…
and that's what they call suffering?" Yoru snorted coldly.
"Wasn't it Hagoromo and Hamura's rebellion against their own mother that caused this so-called devastation?"
"It's just another story of two ambitious sons—Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Hamura—killing their mother and stealing her power to seize the world for themselves."
And with that, Orochimaru understood everything.
As long as they were human, they'd have desires. Even the so-called Sage of Six Paths, self-proclaimed savior of the world, was not immune.
Of course, Orochimaru didn't say that aloud. He still used chakra, and hadn't become a Shinigami yet. It wasn't wise to slander Hagoromo while still bound by his rules.
The fog-shrouded illusion progressed quickly.
Soon, the fierce battle of the sages ended with the two brothers sealing their mother.
A colossal sealing stone descended from the heavens, wrapping Kaguya in a spherical cocoon, which then rose into the skies to become the moon.
At the same time, Hagoromo secretly sealed the weakened Ten-Tails husk—the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—onto that very moon.
"So the moon was created by the Sage of Six Paths…"
That was a revelation far beyond a shinobi's worldview.
To shape a celestial body—
To create a moon out of nothing...
No wonder Hagoromo was revered as a Sage.
As a god.
Who in the shinobi world, across a thousand years, could ever match that?
"Wait… if the Sage of Six Paths created the moon to seal his mother inside, then… everything Yoru said before was true?!"
The realization slammed into Orochimaru like a thunderclap.
When myth becomes reality, the first to lose themselves are always the scholars—those who believe they understand everything.
The illusion continued.
After sealing Kaguya inside the moon, Hagoromo absorbed all the chakra stripped from her and surpassed even his own mother in strength.
But then he did something incomprehensible:
He released all that power.
He split it into the nine tailed beasts, and instead of hoarding it, he began to spread chakra across the world, passing pieces of himself to the people of the shinobi world.
As this occurred, Hamura—just as Yoru had described—departed for the moon, becoming the guardian of the Demonic Statue.
Time passed. As chakra spread and ninshū took form, ambition followed—and with it, the world began its slow descent into chaos.
Orochimaru stood silently, lost in thought. The fog illusion began to dissipate.
"Hold on."
Yoru's sudden voice snapped both Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage out of their thoughts.
"I'm not here just to watch a cosmic soap opera."
"Oh?" the White Snake Sage replied, amused. "What else could possibly be more interesting than divine matricide and the rise of chakra?"
"I want to see what happened before all that."
Orochimaru blinked.
Before the brothers.
Before Kaguya's children.
Before chakra itself.
The true beginning.
The White Snake Sage was silent for a long moment.
"…So that's your ambition, Master of Souls."
He finally understood.
This man who ruled over death and souls wasn't just watching the world.
He was watching the gods themselves.
He was watching the heavens.
"It's difficult," the sage admitted, voice low and serious now. "When the celestial beings descended, I had not yet awakened. At best, I can reconstruct only fragments of what happened."
"Fragments are fine," Yoru replied calmly.
"Very well. Brace yourself."
The smoke that had faded once again flooded the chamber.
A new illusion unfolded.
Same ruined world.
But at its center stood a colossal, twisted tree, its branches still undeveloped, like a sleeping beast—
The God Tree, in its infancy.
This was the age before Kaguya's control.
The time when Ōtsutsuki first descended upon Earth.
They came as conquerors.
Invaders.
Slaughter.
Bloodshed.
Extraction of power.
The sky cracked. The earth cried.
The world screamed.
One look was enough.
One look was all Orochimaru needed to understand why Yoru was obsessed with this.
All of Orochimaru's speculation, all his theories—shattered.
The native beings of Earth had once possessed terrifying power.
Even if they weren't on the level of the White Snake Sage, their strength exceeded Pain, and even rivaled Madara and Hashirama themselves.
But against the two Ōtsutsuki, they were like insects—
Their power meant nothing.
It was as if something had suppressed or drained them.
"This isn't how it should be…" Orochimaru muttered, eyes fixed on the monstrous God Tree.
"Don't tell me…"
"Your intuition never fails to impress, Orochimaru," the White Snake Sage praised.
"You're correct."
"Before the arrival of the Ōtsutsuki, there was no chakra on Earth.
Humans trained in three paths: physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy.
Each path led to tremendous power.
And some even mastered all three—reaching heights equal to the greatest shinobi legends."
"But the God Tree… drained it all."
"When the energy source vanished, their strength withered.
Even the greatest warriors became powerless. They had no roots."
Both Yoru and Orochimaru nodded grimly.
They understood.
Even natural energy, powerful as it was, needed to be replenished from the earth.
But the God Tree had stolen nearly all of it.
The fall of Earth's native race was inevitable.
The illusion changed again.
The native inhabitants of the world—its original people—stood no chance against the overwhelming power of the two celestial beings. Their resistance was shattered by slaughter. They were crushed utterly. There was no fight left.
With nothing in their way, the two beings simply waited.
They stood in silence, allowing the God Tree to draw out the world's power, biding their time until it bloomed and bore fruit. The grotesque, towering thing—half tree, half monster—slowly grew, absorbing energy with terrifying hunger.
But that growth didn't last long.
At a certain point, it stagnated. As if something was missing.
The two celestial beings showed no surprise. One of them—whose appearance closely resembled the progenitor of chakra that Hagoromo and Hamura once sealed—stepped forward and began a strange, ancient ritual at the base of the God Tree.
"From what I've gathered," the White Snake Sage explained,
"For the God Tree to fully mature, a celestial being must sacrifice themselves.
That's why two of them came.
One was meant to offer themselves. The other to reap the harvest. It's likely part of their culture—
a hierarchy of sacrifice and power."
Yoru frowned, His gaze was fixed squarely on Ōtsutsuki Isshiki—the dominant one between the two.
And then, it happened.
Under that looming, monstrous tree, Kaguya, who had already assumed a posture of offering, suddenly made a sudden move.
She turned. And struck.
An ambush.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, caught completely off guard, was hit hard. The attack was merciless, precise—and deadly.
Blood sprayed. His form trembled.
He was critically wounded, reduced to a near-death state in the blink of an eye.
Orochimaru's entire body went still. Then his jaw clenched tightly.
Yoru, on the other hand, didn't move. Not even a flinch.
The illusion shifted again.
The gravely wounded Ōtsutsuki Isshiki tried to resist, his body twitching with what little strength remained—
but in the end, Kaguya offered him up as a sacrifice to the Ten-Tails.
The grotesque, monstrous God Tree, having consumed Isshiki's life, reacted as if it had been given a key—
a key that unshackled its sealed power.
It began to grow—no longer restrained—towering toward the heavens like a true world-devourer.
Its extraction of the planet's energy intensified dramatically, ripping into the Earth with terrifying force.
"A subordinate rising against their superior to seize power… only to be betrayed and sealed by their own children."
Orochimaru chuckled darkly, his eyes gleaming.
"These celestial beings… all of them endlessly fascinating."
"For power, they'll devour worlds. What use is morality?" the White Snake Sage rasped.
Yoru said nothing.
His gaze remained locked on the image of Kaguya offering Isshiki's broken body to the tree. His eyes were calm—but deep in thought.
Then, after a long silence, he finally asked:
"In all these centuries… have you ever sensed that one?"
The White Snake Sage paused. His massive tail slowly coiled.
But then he understood who Yoru meant.
And he shook his head.
"You overestimate me, Master of Soul.
I may have become a Sage… but some things still lie beyond my reach.
I can sense all things in this world—
but not that being from the stars."
"Interesting," Yoru muttered.
He let out a slow breath, his eyes now fixed on the White Snake Sage.
"Then let me ask you something."
"Do you want to escape?"
The snake blinked. Then narrowed its gaze.
"Escape?"
Then, suddenly—he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
It was coarse, brutal, and deep. So sharp it shook the fog around them into vapor.
He laughed for a long, long time.
At last, the ancient white snake—who had lived for over a thousand years—raised his massive head and met Yoru's eyes.
"Hehehehe… to leave one cage, only to enter another… what's the point?"
"What's the difference? What's the meaning?"
"Besides—don't you already have one of us under your command?"
Yoru shrugged with a wry grin.
"Three against one just doesn't feel fair."
"But if I can bring you over… two against two? Now that, I can work with."
"So, what do you say?"
"It's still a cage, sure—
but mine's a hell of a lot more comfortable than the Sage of Six Paths'."