The Nine-Tails gave a firm answer. "That's right. If they can bring out something like the Gedo Statue, then someone in the Akatsuki must have awakened the Rinnegan."
"I still can't figure out how eyes like that ended up out in the world, but the fact itself is undeniable."
"The Rinnegan is the manifestation of the Ten-Tails' power. Even the Sage of Six Paths' own mother only had the Byakugan, not the Rinnegan."
Akira suddenly lifted a hand and cut him off, wearing just the right amount of shock on his face. "Hold on. That's a lot to drop at once. The Sage of Six Paths had a mother? What kind of plot twist is that?"
The Nine-Tails looked at him like he was hopelessly uncultured and explained, "That woman was called Kaguya Otsutsuki. She was absurdly strong, strong enough to make anyone despair. If the Sage of Six Paths and his brother hadn't joined forces and taken her down themselves, this world would have been finished a long time ago."
Seeing the disbelief on Akira's face, the Nine-Tails finally felt like it had recovered a little of its dignity.
It let out a sly, amused rumble. "Well? Hearing ancient secrets like that, does your own strength suddenly feel a little less impressive?"
Akira quickly smoothed out his expression and answered calmly, "Not really. I'm mostly just surprised the family tree is that messy. So even godlike figures still had mothers, huh?"
The Nine-Tails' whiskers twitched furiously. "Of course they did! The one born from a rock was a monkey! The Sage of Six Paths was still human at the end of the day. How exactly was he supposed to exist without a mother?"
Akira shrugged. "I thought maybe he was born from pure natural energy or something. I mean, he's called a sage."
That bizarre line of thinking actually left the Nine-Tails speechless for a moment.
After a long pause, it sighed helplessly. "How is your brain wired? Sage is a title, not a species."
The truth was, if anyone else had dared talk about the Sage of Six Paths like this, the Nine-Tails would have smacked them flat with one tail.
But this was Akira. For one thing, it couldn't beat him. For another, after spending some time with him, the fox had come to admit that aside from his irritating mouth, the boy really wasn't bad.
Akira nodded thoughtfully. "If that's the case, then the Sage of Six Paths must have learned sage jutsu too, right?"
The Nine-Tails nodded. "Yeah. The old man trained at Mount Myoboku. But that cold edge in your chakra definitely doesn't feel like the toads' style."
As a Tailed Beast with extraordinary senses, the Nine-Tails could see through Akira's foundation at a glance. The natural energy around him carried the unmistakable scent of Ryuchi Cave's snakes.
As for Shikkotsu Forest, the threshold there was far too high. In over a thousand years, the Nine-Tails had never heard of anyone truly mastering that path.
Mount Myoboku focused on amplifying jutsu. Ryuchi Cave leaned more toward spiritual pressure and illusion. Shikkotsu Forest emphasized bodily resilience and recovery. Each had its own strengths.
Even though Akira had learned the sage arts of Ryuchi Cave, his fighting style was usually simple and direct. He rarely relied on genjutsu tricks to ambush people.
Akira smiled and didn't bother hiding it. "Sharp as ever. Yeah, I spent some time at Ryuchi Cave. I also studied Shikkotsu Forest's sage arts a little. At the core, they're not all that different."
"Shikkotsu Forest puts more emphasis on cellular activation. It's perfect for people with ridiculous durability. It does wonders for taijutsu."
"As for the toads of Mount Myoboku, I never really had much to do with them."
The Nine-Tails bared its teeth in a grin. "No wonder. Ryuchi Cave's sage arts are naturally bad news for Tailed Beasts. The illusions from that place are vicious."
Akira nodded in full agreement. "That's true. Their genjutsu hits way too hard. I tested it a little last time, and the effect was even nastier than Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu."
"When I fought that lunatic in the Land of Demons who was using forbidden jutsu, I barely had to move. The snakes around me were enough to drag him straight into an illusion."
"That guy was already around peak Kage level. If I'd gone at him personally, even someone beyond Kage class probably would've gotten lost in it."
The Nine-Tails looked at him with a complicated expression. "To be honest, with the kind of ridiculous strength you already have, you could probably crush someone above Kage level in minutes even without sage jutsu."
It had never seen Akira truly unleash everything, but perfect Sage Mode alone, combined with chakra reserves big enough to casually throw around True Several Thousand Hands, already put him on the level of Senju Hashirama.
Maybe beyond it.
And especially that bizarre Lightning Style of his. It almost felt alive, as though it carried a will of its own. That clearly meant it had been fused with Yang Release chakra of an extremely high level.
And if Yin Release were added into that as well...
Something clicked in the Nine-Tails' mind, and it suddenly felt a chill.
Wouldn't that become a power even beyond a normal kekkei genkai?
The more it thought about it, the more unsettling it became. Only then did the fox fully realize that the young man in front of it might already be frighteningly close to the Sage of Six Paths himself.
That much chakra was absurd. He was a human-shaped Tailed Beast.
No, worse.
A human-shaped Ten-Tails.
The Nine-Tails' gaze shifted as it stared at Akira. "At this point, the only thing separating you from the old Sage is a pair of Rinnegan. Put those in your head, and you'd probably ascend on the spot."
Akira waved it off modestly. "You're overdoing it. That's way too much praise."
But the Nine-Tails remained completely serious. "I don't joke about things like this. I'm stating a fact. In terms of raw physical power, the old Sage wasn't as monstrous as his mother Kaguya, but he made up for it by actually using his head, and by mastering sealing jutsu."
"Kaguya had apocalyptic power, but in a real fight she handled herself like an amateur. Her battle sense was a disaster."
What the Nine-Tails did not know was that Akira already had the Rinnegan as one of his hidden cards, and the strength of its ocular power surpassed Madara's by a ridiculous margin.
The only thing still missing was the final step in fully merging Yin and Yang Release, which kept him from reaching that last absolute state.
The Nine-Tails continued its explanation. "The Sage had two sons. Indra was the genius. He inherited the Sage's eyes. Asura inherited the Sage's body."
"But powerful as they were, they'd still come up short next to you."
Akira cut in at just the right moment. "Indra had the Rinnegan?"
The Nine-Tails rolled its eyes. "What are you talking about? At most he awakened the Mangekyō."
Akira laughed. "Then why call it the Sage's eyes?"
The Nine-Tails barked in annoyance. "Can you stop interrupting me and let me finish?"
Once Akira finally fell quiet, the fox continued with a snort. "What made Indra terrifying was the sheer absurdity of his ocular power. Even with just a three-tomoe Sharingan, he could already manifest a complete Susanoo!"
"A real complete one, with wings, capable of flight. Stronger than the one Uchiha Madara used!"
That actually made Akira pause in genuine surprise. "A full Susanoo with just three tomoe? That's a ridiculous cheat."
The Nine-Tails gave him a look that practically said welcome to reality. "Indra was a monster from childhood. He was the one who first developed the concept of ninjutsu. Asura was the one who caught up later."
"And Asura borrowed my power too, more or less what you people later turned into jinchuriki-style combat."
Akira nodded. "I see. So Asura was broken too. Aside from not having the Rinnegan, he was basically stacked from top to bottom."
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