In the middle of the room, Hagoromo looked at Naruto and Sasuke, nodding in satisfaction. "I’m glad you two have managed to get past your sadness."
"Let’s skip the opening speech, Grandpa Six Paths," Naruto said, clenching his fists.
"That’s right," Sasuke replied, nodding firmly. "I just want to get stronger now."
Hagoromo wasn’t upset. "Since that’s the case, I’ll get straight to the point."
Naruto and Sasuke had been waiting for this moment. Seeing their parents again gave them even more motivation to become stronger.
Hagoromo continued, "I will grant you the power of the Six Paths and the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts. But first, you need to learn something—natural energy, or what your era calls Senjutsu."
"I know about that," Naruto jumped in. "Pervy Sage wanted me to learn Senjutsu, but Kurama said there was no need for now since it takes too long. He told me to wait until I met you."
"Kurama wasn’t wrong," Hagoromo said as he looked at them. "Learning Senjutsu takes a long time. Even I had to train for years before I fully mastered it."
"Naruto," Hagoromo turned to him, "you will learn Senjutsu from Mount Myoboku. I will have Gamamaru teach you. But before that, you must stop all your other Ninjutsu training."
"Sasuke, the same goes for you," Hagoromo said as he shifted his gaze to him. "But unlike Naruto, you won’t be learning the Senjutsu of Mount Myoboku. Instead, you will train in Ryuchi Cave’s Senjutsu. I will have Gamamaru contact the White Snake Sage for you."
"No problem," Sasuke agreed without hesitation.
He had heard about Senjutsu before and was curious about how strong Jiraiya was when using it. According to Kurama, in his Sage Mode, Jiraiya was one of the strongest shinobi in the world.
Unless someone had some kind of ridiculous advantage, a fully prepared Jiraiya in Sage Mode could take on just about anyone in the ninja world.
There was no way Sasuke wouldn’t want something that powerful.
"Good. You both have great spirit," Hagoromo said with a satisfied smile before turning his head. "Gamamaru, you can come out now."
At his call, an orange toad, about the size of three adult heads, crawled out from a distant well.
As it climbed out, it grumbled, "Man, I should be sleeping in Mount Myoboku right now. Why do I have to come here and teach some brat?"
Naruto and Sasuke’s faces immediately turned strange.
It couldn’t be helped. People in this era spoke in such a formal and flowery way, as if they wanted to stuff honorifics into every sentence.
Then out of nowhere, this toad shows up talking like someone from the future. And not just that—it gave off a weirdly familiar vibe.
Kind of like... Kurama lounging around in Naruto’s mind.
Hagoromo chuckled as he looked at Gamamaru and explained to Naruto and Sasuke, "For certain reasons, Gamamaru can see glimpses of the future, so his way of speaking is more in line with what you’re used to."
Gamamaru stood next to Hagoromo. Though not exactly small, he was only about as tall as Naruto and Sasuke’s knees.
He looked at Naruto and Sasuke with his toad-like eyes and casually said, "The Child of Prophecy, huh? No wonder you were in such a rush to have me train them. But isn’t it a few thousand years too early?"
"Enough already. The future has long since changed. Weren’t you the one who said that?" Hagoromo sighed.
This toad was fine in every other way, except he loved speaking in riddles and often said the most bizarre things.
Naruto looked curious. "The Child of Prophecy? You mean the one Pervy Sage talked about?"
Sasuke was also intrigued.
"More or less," Hagoromo replied with a smile. "But there’s a slight difference. Gamamaru and I both saw a future involving the Child of Prophecy, but later, we realized that the person we each foresaw wasn’t the same—it was two different people."
"A blue-eyed boy who plays with the nine Tailed Beasts and calls them by name." Hagoromo raised a finger. "That was my prophecy."
Naruto froze. Wait... isn’t that me?
Sasuke also looked at Naruto in surprise.
"A disciple of Jiraiya who will change the shinobi world and bring peace." Gamamaru lay on the ground. "That was my prophecy."
Naruto scratched his head, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. "Wait, aren’t they both about me?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"No," Hagoromo chuckled and shook his head. "My prophecy was about you. But Gamamaru’s prophecy wasn’t—it was about Sasuke."
Thinking about it now, he technically was Jiraiya’s disciple. After ditching Orochimaru, Sasuke had set off on a journey with Jiraiya. Even though Jiraiya never formally accepted him as a student, he had taught Sasuke without holding anything back.
Ninjutsu, strategy, Taijutsu, Genjutsu—Jiraiya had shared everything with him. And since Sasuke’s fighting style was so different, Jiraiya had racked his brain to help him improve. In comparison, Naruto hadn’t actually learned as much from Jiraiya.
After all, Naruto had Kurama as his teacher, while Sasuke had... nothing.
Seeing their shocked expressions, Hagoromo chuckled. "Alright, that’s enough about the prophecy. Any more, and it’ll be a spoiler."
Inside the sealed space—or rather, Naruto’s inner world—Kurama pouted. "You already spoiled it."
Spoilers might not literally destroy families, but half-spoilers weren’t much better.
Gamamaru just smiled without saying a word.
Hagoromo extended his hand: "Kurama, and you, follow me for training. For now, come out of the sealing space. I’ll take you to where you need to go."
"Okay." Kurama obediently stood up, and his form passed through the inner world, transforming into pure chakra that shot out from Naruto’s body.
As the massive red form crawled out from Naruto’s belly, the red chakra instantly filled the entire dojo. In the next second, a giant figure landed nearby, its crimson body and sharp teeth resembling a mountain full of overwhelming pressure.
But Naruto and Sasuke had seen it countless times already, so they didn’t feel much.
Naruto glanced at the inner world. The place where Kurama had been lying was now occupied by a second Kurama, about one-fifth of Kurama’s size. The second Kurama had its eyes closed, looking very cute and peaceful.
Naruto was stunned: "Did you look when you were small?"
Kurama’s face darkened: "Shut up! If you dare say that outside, I’ll kill you!"
Even Sasuke, who hadn’t been curious, felt a bit curious now. Just a little bit. He swore, just a little bit.