When Aoba voiced his thoughts, the Shinigami fell into silence for a long time.
"I always knew that the one who could awaken me would be different from the rest. But I never expected that you would have come this far, even thinking about such things. Unfortunately, it may already be too late.
I know. After all, he has been working on this for over a thousand years, while I've only had less than ten. But I don't believe I have no chance at all.
As I understand it, chakra itself does not naturally exist. It was created when the God Tree absorbed the Shinobi World's natural energy and transformed it.
So, at its core, natural energy is the true essence of this world. The Sage of Six Paths planned ahead, taking control of chakra, and in doing so, indirectly restricted the practice of natural energy.
But ultimately, he cannot truly control natural energy. And that is my opportunity. I need a way to fundamentally control natural energy, just like how the Sage of Six Paths is seizing authority over chakra, I need to seize authority over natural energy."
"..."
This time, the Shinigami remained silent. Aoba didn't rush him, because he knew his question was incredibly sharp, it likely touched upon the very nature of these deities. Answering this question was no different from handing their fate over to Aoba.
"Do you realize what your question means to us?"
"Of course. I fully understand. But then again, you don't have any other choice, do you? Besides me, Minato and Jiraiya can also use Senjutsu. But their Senjutsu is too intertwined with chakra.
In the entire Shinobi World, only I have the potential to completely separate chakra and cultivate pure Senjutsu. That makes me the only hope."
"But I cannot be sure that you won't become the next him."
"Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. But if you want to find out, you'll have to do something first. Again, you don't have any other choices, nor do you have any more time. Think about what will happen if the Sage of Six Paths succeeds. The answer is: nothing will happen at all. Those slumbering deities will completely die. Without a sound, without a trace, you will all vanish from this world forever... So, what are you still waiting for?" Aoba's words drove the Shinigami into an even deeper silence. But even so, it couldn't just casually hand over its greatest secret.
Besides, what Aoba was trying to do wasn't as simple as just saying it.
"You actually have another way to achieve your goal."
Aoba knew exactly what the Shinigami was referring to. He had considered that method long ago, releasing Kaguya.
Yes, this entire battle had a shortcut, freeing Kaguya early.
In Aoba's eyes, Kaguya was far less of a threat than the Sage of Six Paths.
Look at the original story, the Sage of Six Paths didn't even have to show up in person; he just handed out power to Naruto and Sasuke, and they sealed Kaguya again.
To Aoba, Kaguya was utterly lacking in intelligence and battle experience. But she made up for it with a ridiculously high base power level.
The fact that the Sage of Six Paths had spent so many years secretly building up his influence, only to rely on Naruto and Sasuke to seal Kaguya, proved one thing, even after a thousand years of preparation, his raw power still couldn't surpass Kaguya's.
For him, that was a tragic reality.
The root cause? He was never able to fully control Indra. Even in the final battle of the original timeline, Naruto and Sasuke only succeeded in sealing Kaguya because Sasuke still had attachments to the Shinobi World and a bond with Naruto.
Now, look at how he treated Naruto and Sasuke. By the end, Naruto had:
The power of all nine tailed beasts, the truth-Seeking Balls, the Six Paths Yang Power and the Perfect Jinchūriki Mode.
And Sasuke? All he got besides Six Paths Yin Power was one Rinnegan.
Let's be honest, if he had given Sasuke two Rinnegan, then with their experience at that point, fighting Kaguya wouldn't have been nearly as difficult.
But that was impossible.
The reason was simple, if Sasuke had two Rinnegan, then in the final battle at the Valley of the End, Naruto would have lost.
Even with just one eye, Amenotejikara was already an absurdly broken ability. Compared to Madara's Limbo, two Rinnegan would have made it five times stronger.
Even if Sasuke gained no new abilities, just having Amenotejikara boosted fivefold would have let him obliterate Naruto in seconds.
In other words, even at the very last moment, Asura and Indra were still under the Sage of Six Paths' control.
In this lifetime, Aoba had changed many things. He had even started breaking apart the Sage of Six Paths' master plan.
But ultimately, he had not yet truly wounded him—because Aoba still didn't even fully understand what kind of existence the Sage of Six Paths had become.
If the Shinobi World were a massive game, then the Sage of Six Paths was like a high-ranking GM (Game Master), and he was evolving into a super administrator.
Anyone who has played games knows that a GM won't randomly kill players. As long as you play within the rules, you barely notice they exist.
But that doesn't mean they aren't there. And it certainly doesn't mean their authority isn't real.
Above the GM is the administrator.
For a game, the administrator is God. The levels and equipment you grind for days can be wiped out in an instant with a simple command.
That's the difference in authority.
Originally, in the Shinobi World everyone, except for Kaguya, was under the authority of the Sage of Six Paths.
But then, Aoba appeared.
He was like a virus, interrupting the Sage of Six Paths' evolution from GM to super administrator.
That was why this had become a battle of life and death.
A GM can delete anything in the game world. But against a virus, it's not that simple.
Unless they turn the virus into part of the system itself.
Aoba had initially walked the wrong path. He had been this close to becoming part of the system.
In his calculations, as long as he used chakra, no matter how powerful he became, he would never be able to defeat the Sage of Six Paths.
Because a boss inside the game can never defeat the administrator.
But now, Aoba no longer wanted to become the final boss.
He wanted to trace this entire game's source code.
Or, to put it simply, he wanted to unplug the game.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI