Chapter Forty-One: Shadows of the Fire

The pleasant days of camping soon came to an end. A little snake brought the three of them a mission from Orochimaru.

“I figured it’d be about time,” Xia Mi said, her gaze lingering on the scroll, her expression clouded and uncertain. “Let’s go. Whatever has to be faced, must be faced.” As expected, the mission written on the scroll was simple—kill Uchiha Sasuke.

In the original story, the Sound trio didn’t know Sasuke’s current condition, but how could Feng Xue’s group be ignorant of it? The curse mark drew from the natural Sage Chakra within Jugo. If this were a cultivation novel, Jugo would probably be a peerless prodigy born with innate spirit veins, a body that gathers spiritual energy. Unfortunately, in this world, everyone carries a foreign virus called “chakra,” which conflicts with the world’s native power—Sage Chakra, or natural energy—resulting in Jugo’s unstable mental state.

Orochimaru himself lacks the aptitude for Sage Art, as Kabuto explained in the original. In other words, Orochimaru’s development of the curse mark wasn’t just for its soul-binding resurrection effect, but also an attempt at cultivating Sage Art through external means.

And Sasuke, by some twist of fate, is the perfect adapter—one in ten, true, but beyond that, he has the highest possible compatibility. Even Sasuke’s Susanoo can fully adapt to Jugo’s curse mark. This means that, even if Sasuke can only access the first stage, his strength would leap to near-heroic levels. If Feng Xue’s group didn’t want to be utterly overwhelmed, they’d have to act before Sasuke awoke—show off their skills, make a dramatic exit, and escape.

But would Orochimaru really give them that chance?

Feng Xue was almost certain that Orochimaru had calculated the timing precisely. Unless the three of them instantly teleported to Sasuke’s side, he would inevitably wake up mid-battle. If needed, Orochimaru could even use the mental imprint within the curse mark to force Sasuke’s awakening. Sakura might be useless at this stage, but Feng Xue didn’t believe Orochimaru would really let them kill a defenseless Sasuke.

After all, what Orochimaru valued was a living body with the Sharingan, not a corpse.

“The world of Naruto is really such a mess! On the surface, it’s just a typical ninja story, but hidden underneath is a tale of cultivation and transmigration…” Feng Xue thought of the so-called “Children of Destiny,” and a headache crept in. There was a reason he referred to chakra as a virus. This power, formed from the fusion of spiritual and physical energy, is imprinted with personal will. But how did chakra first spread?

Kaguya Otsutsuki bore two sons, and the elder shared chakra with his disciples, which then spread throughout the world via teaching and procreation.

But has anyone ever considered—the consequences of passing on an energy so deeply marked by personal will?

At the level of the Sage of Six Paths, the phrase “the law has a primordial spirit” is no exaggeration. As this chakra, carrying his spiritual imprint, circulated through the world, it created a phenomenon akin to worship and deification. As long as people practice chakra, the Sage’s will never fades. Even in death, he can be reborn from the memories and chakra of humanity. Is this not just like Orochimaru’s curse mark?

Perhaps Orochimaru’s curse mark is nothing but a low-tier version of chakra itself.

But this leads to another problem—as long as the Sage’s spiritual will persists, Kaguya, the source of chakra, will always exist. The sealing of Kaguya by Naruto and Sasuke might well have been nothing more than a performance by mother and sons.

Those who read the original story should know: Naruto and Sasuke are reincarnations of the Sage’s two sons. This is the explicit reason given in the original for why they could seal Kaguya.

If the Sage’s two sons, each possessing only a quarter of Kaguya’s bloodline, could inhabit others through chakra endlessly, what does that imply?

It means that Kaguya’s lineage can be reborn at any moment from anyone practicing chakra. The Divine Tree, the Rinnegan—all are mere distractions, designed only to approach the original power. The Byakugan, Sharingan, Kaguya’s bone pulse—all these bloodline limits are standard for the Otsutsuki clan. The final “sun and moon” seal used to contain Kaguya is itself a joke.

According to the Sage, he gave his last chakra to Naruto and Sasuke, forging the left and right hand seals. Together, they touched Kaguya and sealed her? Isn’t that laughable?

Who is the Sage of Six Paths? By his own account, he’s nothing but a remnant soul, drifting for thousands of years without a body, yet still possessing chakra? And what is chakra? The fusion of spirit and body. Without a body, how could he have chakra?

The truth is, Kaguya eating the chakra fruit was a premeditated move. After her sons spread chakra across the world, the chakra absorbed everyone’s spiritual and life energy, growing ever stronger. Upon death, it returns to the Gedo Statue, the Divine Tree itself. So, while it seemed that the chakra fruit was lost, the tree gained an even greater source of chakra, gradually nurturing an ultimate divine fruit—like raising chickens on a farm.

But Kaguya realized that this method would take far too long, so long that even her unnatural lifespan couldn’t see the fruit mature.

Thus, she and her sons devised a plan—she would enter a near-frozen slumber within a seal to conserve her body, her elder son would manage the chakra plan and observe the world as a spirit, while her younger son’s line watched over her physical body on the moon. Her “third son”—not truly a son, as Black Zetsu was merely a being formed of chakra, more a tool or vessel—became the scapegoat, entering the world to secretly manipulate various factions, accelerating the use and development of chakra.

Kaguya would awaken periodically by possession to monitor the plan’s progress and threaten humanity, instilling a sense of crisis to drive further chakra research and application. As for the Eye of the Moon plan and White Zetsu, they were merely means to provide her with energy and bodies upon awakening.

If she awoke and found the fruit still unripe, she’d communicate with her son in the heavens—find an excuse to seal your mother up again.

Obediently, the Sage of Six Paths used the chakra of his sons to trick the two protagonists. They pressed their hands, marked with that childish seal, upon Kaguya, and she dramatically exclaimed—Ah, how powerful! I’m sealed again! In reality, she had never truly emerged; she was merely possessing Madara, while her real body still slept on the moon.

This also explains why chakra-based attacks are utterly ineffective against Kaguya’s lineage—because chakra itself is infused with her spiritual imprint. Attacking her with her own energy is like returning it to its owner; absorption is to be expected.

But these matters touch on legends and mythology. For now, best left undiscussed.