Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Why did the former clan leader rebel in Chapter 316?

In a strange space where nothingness and reality intertwine, the laws of time and space seem to have lost their meaning.

Naruto and Sasuke's consciousness seemed to float in the boundless universe, with a calm, bottomless, pure water surface beneath their feet. With each step, a soft halo would ripple out, yet no sound of water could be heard.

They could both clearly sense a chakra of the same origin yet vastly different from their own, drawing them together not far ahead. The feeling was so familiar, like the two poles of a magnet, both attracting each other and carrying a kind of fateful opposition.

They walked for an unknown amount of time, feeling as if it were a fleeting moment, yet also as if it were an eternity. At this point where yin and yang chakra naturally converged, they finally met.

Naruto raised his head, his azure eyes filled with wariness and doubt; Sasuke stopped, his dark eyes revealing scrutiny and composure. They both looked ahead—

An old man floated silently above the water's surface. He wore a simple white robe, the hem adorned with several black magatama patterns, and held an ancient-looking sage's staff. Most striking were his calm and deep eyes—rings of light rippled slowly within them—the Rinnegan. His face was both benevolent and dignified, radiating an aura that encompassed all things yet transcended them.

The Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance, both seeing the same wariness in each other's eyes. No matter how benevolent the other party appeared, a being who could so easily pull their souls from the battlefield into this mysterious space when they were on the verge of death possessed power far beyond their comprehension. Moreover, the other party's clothing style bore a striking resemblance to their enemy—Uchiha Madara.

"The reincarnation of Ashura and Indra's chakra," the old man spoke slowly, his voice gentle yet aged, as if traversing a thousand years of time, "You need not be so wary of me. You may have heard my name from the traditions—I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki."

"The Sage of Six Paths?" Naruto frowned slightly upon hearing this. He was very familiar with this name; Kurama had mentioned it more than once in moments of reflection or reminiscence. He knew that this was the legendary figure who founded Ninjutsu, split the Ten-Tails, and was regarded as the progenitor of ninjas.

"Chakra reincarnation?" Sasuke caught another key phrase, a hint of confusion and rejection appearing on his usually cold face. "What do you mean?"

The old man—Otsutsuki Hagoromo—had a look of reminiscence and complexity on his face: "It seems that the long passage of time has buried the truth."

Children, before I give you a choice, why not listen to this old man tell you a forgotten story?

His voice seemed to possess a magical quality, slowly unfolding a long-sealed scroll of history. He began by recounting the arrival of his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, and the planting of the Divine Tree, then moved on to how he and his younger brother, Hamura, sealed their mother and founded the Ninshu sect. He continued with the long and arduous struggle between his two sons—Indra, a man of exceptional talent who firmly believed in power and order, and Ashura, a man of average talent who gained recognition through hard work and love—a struggle that began with ideological differences and culminated in a life-or-death battle. He also recounted the cursed chakra that had been reincarnated and entangled with him through subsequent generations.

Naruto and Sasuke listened quietly, their eyes flickering slightly with the story's twists and turns. When they heard that Indra and Ashura ultimately turned against each other, Sasuke's brows furrowed even more, while Naruto wore an expression of pity and regret.

After the Sage of Six Paths finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the space.

Naruto finally spoke first, his tone respectful but not blindly obedient: "Grandpa, what you're saying... Brother Kurama has actually told me some of it already. About Indra and Ashura."

"Oh? Is that so?" A genuine sense of relief appeared on Hagoromo Otsutsuki's face as he looked at Naruto with gentle eyes. "It seems you and Kurama get along very well. He's even willing to tell you about these past events. This may also confirm the prophecy of the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku... You may be the child who can bring about change."

"Even someone like you... well, a 'sage,' believes in prophecies?" Naruto scratched his head, his tone tinged with confusion and even a hint of disbelief. Despite having mastered Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku, Naruto had always been dismissive of the "children of prophecy" concept associated with Mount Myōboku.

Having received a pragmatic upbringing from Uchiha Touko, he firmly believes that one's destiny should be created by one's own hands. His attitude towards Mount Myōboku is clear: he will accept all the benefits of Sage Mode, but there is absolutely no way he will become Mount Myōboku's representative in the ninja world like Jiraiya.

At this moment, Sasuke stepped forward, his voice clear and firm, interrupting the Sage of Six Paths: "Sage of Six Paths, is that it? I am Uchiha Sasuke, the personal disciple of the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, Uchiha Tokō, and the future Seventh Hokage. I am myself, not the chakra reincarnation of that 'Indra' you speak of. My path, my will, are shaped by my teacher and my experiences, and have nothing to do with the spirits of those who died a thousand years ago."

His words were resolute, carrying the unique pride of the Uchiha clan and a strong sense of identity, directly negating the Sage of Six Paths' definition of "reincarnation."

Hagoromo Otsutsuki paused slightly, then nodded slowly. He wasn't angered by Sasuke's somewhat disrespectful attitude; instead, a barely perceptible hint of emotion flashed in his Rinnegan eyes. "Alright, I understand." Perhaps recalling his eldest son's equally stubborn and aloof nature, his tone even carried a touch of tolerance.

He then shifted the focus, posing another question to try and guide their thinking to a deeper level: "So, how do you two view the eventual disintegration of the Ninja Sect? Was it merely due to Indra's resentment?"

Sasuke answered coldly, almost without thinking: "From the moment you chose to bypass your eldest son Indra and let your youngest son Ashura inherit the position of leader of the Ninja Sect, the seeds of division were sown, and the collapse of the Ninja Sect was almost inevitable."

"Oh?" The Sage of Six Paths' gaze narrowed slightly. "Child, do you mean I should have chosen Indra back then?"

“No, no, no,” Sasuke shook his head, his words sharp as a knife. “A person who possesses absolute power and holds the title of eldest son, yet ultimately loses the position of heir, demonstrates either a lack of political wisdom or a lack of popular support, making him utterly unworthy of inheriting a vast organization. What I want to say is that your initial choice was flawed—'passing the throne to the youngest, not the eldest; passing it to the virtuous, not the legitimate heir.' Such a vague standard, dependent on personal preference, is a recipe for disaster for a powerful force that needs stability and rules, inevitably sowing the seeds of conflict.” His analysis was calm and insightful, bearing a resemblance to his mentor Uchiha Touko's approach of considering issues from a political perspective.

Naruto nodded in agreement, offering a more pragmatic perspective: "Grandpa, although Kurama always says Ashura and I are similar, both believing love can resolve everything, I still think your decision to directly pass the position to Alora was ill-considered. Chakra connection allows everyone to understand each other's feelings, which is good. Understanding is one thing, but the resources of the ninja world are limited. Everyone's primary concern is survival, and making their families and villages better off. Understanding and love alone cannot solve all practical problems. Ashura's idea was good, but having a good idea without the method and power to implement it, or even using the wrong method, could lead to even greater conflict. So his failure... isn't entirely Indra's fault, is it?" His words, as always, were straightforward, yet they incisively pointed out the limitations of idealism.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki listened quietly to the two boys' vastly different yet equally profound insights, a complex light flickering in his aged Rinnegan eyes. This generation of Indra and Ashura chakra reincarnations was unlike any he had ever known before. The obsessive chakra of his two sons seemed to have had minimal impact on them. Sasuke, while inheriting Indra's calmness, arrogance, and powerful talent, seemed to have shed that stubbornness, gaining a more meticulous logic and a pragmatic political acumen; Naruto, while possessing Ashura's sunshine, warmth, and infectious energy, was not merely naive, but rather possessed a rare pragmatism and clear understanding. [It seems your teacher is a truly remarkable guide…] The Sage of Six Paths sighed silently in his heart, [If Indra and Ashura had met such a teacher a thousand years ago, perhaps the two brothers wouldn't have ended up on such a tragic path…]

……

Just as Naruto and Sasuke's souls were receiving ancient revelations in the Six Paths dimension and exhibiting thoughts completely different from those of previous reincarnations, time on the front lines seemed to pass in an instant.

Just as Madara Uchiha was laughing, a spatial fluctuation flashed past Might Guy's previously dying body, and the next moment, the opponent disappeared from Madara Uchiha's sight.

"Hmm?" Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan suddenly narrowed, his brows furrowing slightly. He hadn't even fully grasped the details of that spatial fluctuation; the opponent's speed and concealment skills were extraordinary. "Is there still a rat hiding?" He sneered, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the increasingly clear Rinne Sharingan in the sky. The execution of the Infinite Tsukuyomi was the priority. A mere ant that had managed to escape wasn't worth diverting too much of his energy at this moment.

Meanwhile, in a hidden barrier far from the main battlefield.

Uchiha Touko's figure appeared with the spatial fluctuations. He carefully laid Might Guy, whose life force was almost imperceptible, on the ground. At this moment, Guy's skin was cracked, his muscles and bones were shattered, and the flame of his life was so weak that it seemed as if it would be extinguished at any moment.

"What a reckless fellow..." Dou Guang muttered under his breath, his tone filled with undisguised respect. He swiftly covered his hands with incredibly pure Sage Chakra, which emitted a soft and vibrant green light.

He pointed his fingers like a sword and quickly pressed on the vital acupoints all over Kai's body. With extremely exquisite chakra control, he transformed the Sage Chakra into the finest energy flow, forcibly injecting it into and temporarily sealing off Kai's meridian system, which had completely collapsed due to the backlash from the Eight Gates and was constantly dissipating its life energy.

This is not treatment, but rather akin to "freezing," like forcibly sealing a breached river mouth with ice. While it cannot solve the root cause, it can buy a crucial, brief window of time for subsequent rescue efforts. This process is extremely dangerous; the slightest misstep could completely destroy the fragile system.

“Hold on, Kai,” he said in a deep voice, his gaze seemingly piercing through space as he looked toward that strange place where souls converged. “Soon… that kid will return with the ‘key.’ Before that, I will never let you, the last ‘Azure Beast,’ truly perish.”

All he did was not just to save Guy's life, but also so that one day in the future, when Guy awakens from his slumber, this master of taijutsu who shed his blood for Konoha would not have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Madara Uchiha completely ignored the vanished Might Guy, glanced up at the moon, laughed loudly, and spread his arms wide. The natural energy in the air, using his physical body as a conduit, filled the gaps in the Ten-Tails.

"Congratulations, Lord Madara! The great Infinite Tsukuyomi plan is about to be completed!" At this moment, Tobi, disguised as Black Zetsu, appeared beside Uchiha Madara and said excitedly.

"Hahaha!" Madara Uchiha laughed wildly. His decades-long plan, which had transcended life and death, was now only one step away from success. At this moment, Madara Uchiha's vigilance had also dropped to its lowest point.

However, the next moment, the black slime that Tobi had transformed into shot out like an arrow, condensing into an extremely sharp black spike containing special Yin-Yang Release power! With speed surpassing lightning, it pierced Uchiha Madara's back with unparalleled precision!

"Ugh—!"

Madara Uchiha's body stiffened abruptly, letting out a painful and incredulous groan! He looked down and saw a jet-black spike protruding from his chest!

This was no ordinary physical attack; the black spikes contained an extremely strange power that instantly disrupted the flow of the Ten-Tails' chakra within him, and even briefly severed his connection with the Ten-Tails outside! More importantly, this attack seemed to target the core of his soul!

"Black Zetsu...you?!" Madara Uchiha turned his head with difficulty, his Rinne Sharingan eyes filled with extreme shock, anger, and incomprehension. "Why?! You are a product of my will! How dare you betray me?!"

However, Black Zetsu revealed an extremely eerie, triumphant smile—a stark contrast to its usual humble and submissive demeanor—and its voice became sharp and mocking.
"Betrayal? Heh heh heh... Uchiha Madara, you've got one thing wrong from beginning to end."

"I have never been a product of your will..."

"Furthermore, Madara Uchiha, you are not worthy to carry out the great Eye of the Moon Plan." A fanatical glint flashed in Tobi's disguised Black Zetsu's eyes.

At the same time, a ripple of spacetime flashed behind him, and Uchiha Touko stepped out.

"Uchiha Touko? You..." An expression of disbelief appeared on Uchiha Madara's face.

"Hehe, why did the former clan leader rebel?" Uchiha Touko said with a light laugh.

(End of this chapter)