Uchiha Madara?!
Roy's eyes narrowed, and two radiant suns in his pupils suddenly shot out beams of divine light, piercing through the mists of "history" and "life and death," following the faint "line of causality"... Those Rinnegan eyes overflowed with the weight of ages, fixed upon him,
as if awakened from the cycle of "life and death," traversing millennia, piercing through the future, and exchanged a glance with Roy... On that aged face, there was an almost imperceptible hint of surprise...
'Not Uchiha Madara, it's—'
'The Sage of Six Paths!'
Inherited from the Ōtsutsuki clan, apart from the pair of Rinnegan, there was a Sharingan embedded in his forehead,
wearing a white robe emblazoned with six magatama on his chest... just a glance instilled a tremendous pressure... Roy recognized the Sage of Six Paths, and as his gaze moved downward... he saw an unseen, bottomless River of the Netherworld separating them...
The river was silent, still as an ancient well, seemingly calm, yet it kept him on the other shore.
Roy took a deep breath, looked towards the Sage of Six Paths against the sunlight, and after a moment of contemplation, he spoke softly: "Young man, do you know this old man?"
The progenitor of ninjutsu had extraordinary insight... from Roy's gaze, the Sage of Six Paths sensed many emotions,
shock, surprise, contemplation, but no... curiosity!
It was as if he and the young man were somewhat familiar, as though they had known each other before... The Sage of Six Paths awakened from his chakra, briefly searched his memory. In his long life, he couldn't recall meeting such a young man.
Moreover, from the boy's slightly chubby face and immature bone structure, he was clearly quite young... Truly... peculiar!
"I apologize, we... don't know each other," Roy admitted honestly, "This is the first time I've seen you."
The previously calm Nether River suddenly began to flow... It surged with no known source, nor known destination...
It carried endless desolation and silence, bearing countless white bones, drifting down...
Leaving the old and the young on both sides, each in deep thought, and fell into a short silence...
It's unclear how much time passed, the Sage of Six Paths with his long brown hair draped behind him, sat cross-legged on the bank, looking at Roy again, asked: "Young man, from where do you come and where are you headed?"
Roy's consciousness immersed, his real body still clutched the pendant given by Tsunade, and he smiled confidently: "I won't go to die, I'm still young and want to see the world,"
"Traversing here is merely a coincidence..."
In the youthful spirit, there was an inexplicable aura...
The Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths reflected brilliantly as he stared at Roy for a while, shaking his head with a chuckle: "Your arrival here is certainly no coincidence,"
"I can sense the presence of [Yin] and [Yang] from your being,"
Curiously... besides the chakra of [Yin] and [Yang], the Sage of Six Paths squinted as he assessed Roy, always feeling there was something more about this young man that was indefinable and astonishing!
'It seems indeed because of the merging of [Yin] and [Yang],' Roy contemplated in his mind... In the original storyline, with Naruto as [Yang] and Sasuke as [Yin], it was during their merging that they unraveled the mysteries of chakra and encountered the Sage... However,
just now, with my awakening Sharingan serving as [Yin], and when I made contact with the pendant from the Thousand-hand Hashira, it connected with Asura's reincarnation, serving as [Yang]... Hence, this is what led to this encounter crossing millennia.
"Buzz..." Two distinct Nens emanated from Roy's body, mixed but distinct as they spread...
In Konoha, at the Uchiha Clan compound, in Fugaku's residence,
Fugaku, Tsunade, Shizune, and Itachi sat across from each other on a tatami mat, suddenly noticing Roy abruptly closing his eyes and unmoving right after receiving the pendant!
The group exchanged glances, bewildered...
"Father, it's cold..." At this moment, Itachi, next to Roy, suddenly sneezed and shivered as he said to Uchiha Fugaku: "Brother is so cold!"
Uchiha Fugaku narrowed his eyes towards Roy; though facing him, the boy's forehead was indeed steaming, yet it seemed cool. He glanced at Tsunade with an intent to ask about the item she gave Roy.
However, Tsunade frowned, noticing Itachi reaching out to pull Roy's arm to try to wake him up, quickly gestured for Shizune to move him away!
"Don't touch him. His current state is very peculiar... best not to move him at all!"
"Lady Tsunade, have you figured out anything?" Fugaku questioned with a frown,
Tsunade remained silent; extremely proficient in chakra, she was familiar not only with the human body, but was confident in her medical ninjutsu, claiming to be second only to no one in the ninja world,
across the tatami, the woman spoke softly after a while: "He is experiencing [Yin] and [Yang]..."
"For more details, we must wait for him to awaken before we can understand,"
The small living room fell back into a prolonged silence, "Clang clank~" faint sounds of cooking could intermittently be heard echoing from the kitchen, where Uchiha Mikoto was busy preparing food...
"Buzz~" A red and a black Nen each occupied half of Roy's body, blending but distinct...
With consciousness immersed... Roy, across the Nether River, imitated the Sage of Six Paths by sitting cross-legged on the opposite bank, resting his chin as he gazed distantly at the Sage of Six Paths and said: "You're too kind, my trivial cultivation compared to you is hardly worth mentioning,"
"Being able to sit here and chat with you is merely a stroke of coincidence..."