16 Sage of Six Paths (1/2)

On top of the Sacred Mountains, Naruto was on his usual meditation and the only difference now was he was levitating in the air without the use of his chakra wings. A single black ball hovering on top of his head slowly changing in form as if it was trying to form something.

(I hadn't named the mountain in previous chapters because I hadn't found a decent name but I'll call it Sacred Mountains from now on)

Golden Chakra Cloak covered Naruto's body as he had entered Sage of Six Paths mode. Naruto was going to move out of the Sacred Mountains after his six months of the train and the day before his departure, while he was in his usual meditation enlightenment, struck his mind letting him enter the Sage of Six Path mode for a certain period.

He saw a glimpse of Hagoromo but he vanished quickly before they could communicate. Naruto already knew he was a reincarnation of Asura Otsutsuki and his bloodline was somehow tied to the Otustsuki clan. Senju and Uzumaki were the decedents of the Asura while Uchiha were the descendants of Indra.

But Hagoromo wasn't the reason Naruto decided to stay a bit more but it was Asura or rather his Chakra. Through his enlightenment, he had managed to sense the untapped potential of Asura's Charka.

The same chakra Hagoromo unlocked during the Fourth Shinobi War in both Sasuke and Naruto letting Sasuke unlock a Rinnegan on his left eye while Naruto unlocked his ability to enter Sage of Six Paths mode.

Naruto was instantly hooked with the prospect of unlocking his Sage of Six Paths mode that he forgot his initial plans. It didn't take long after the enlightenment, Naruto easily managed to improve his sage mode letting him enter the 2nd level in a single month and 3rd level after 4 months of training.

With the 3rd level of Sage mode, he was now capable of entering Sage mode at will and gather Nature chakra in his body without having to stay still and concentrate.Naruto knew he was getting lost in power but it was too addicting to stop.

The higher his sage arts went the more he could sense Asura's Chakra lying dormant in his body. And within a year, he had managed to establish a thread between his chakra and Asura's chakra.

An overwhelming sense of power drowned Naruto as he slowly assimilated the Asura's power into his own. But that sense of achievement quickly drowned as the power quickly grew out of control taking over him. His body changed as his skin turned pale and a pair of horned grew out on top of his forehead.

Naruto fell down unconscious with no control over his body sending Gorudo and his wife into worry. They hadn't seen any cases like Naruto's before and Gorudo tried to push out the foreign chakra from Naruto's body but he was flung off his Nest by a powerful backlash. With no solution in hand, they waited for Naruto to solve it himself.

Inside Naruto's mindscape, Hagoromo stood in front of Naruto with a slightly disappointed gaze. Naruto had his head down acting like a child caught doing something bad by an elder now awaiting the punishment.

”Greed, it has always been the deciding factor for human's development and destruction. I'm no different in this manner as I'm a part human myself. It has been my greed for love that led me to become who I was at the time of era.

And the greed for Strength and Recognition led my son Indra to become one of the most feared people on this planet after my mother. My younger son Asura also had his own greed, his greed for love and respect led him to become the savior of the people.

Everyone has greed and it is an important part of human nature. Forsaking your emotion means forsaking your humanity. Forsaking your humanity won't mean you'll become a sage. You'll become a sage when you learn to embrace them.

Do you understand, child? I'll help only once since you are Asura's reincarnation but embracing your emotion is something that needs to be done by yourself.” Hagoromo said in a light tone letting Naruto reflect on his actions.

Naruto had gotten in a wrong foot when he thought to be a sage meant forsaking to his worldly emotions to reach the true enlightenment and become a true sage. Things he randomly tried remembering the cultivation novels from his previous world. It was something that came up repeatedly from the so-called fictional saints.

But Naruto hadn't realized he had lost himself to his greed for power and randomly tried various excuses to satisfy his guilty conscious. He could have already returned home to Yugao in just two months after his arrival on Scared Mountains but his hunger for power didn't allow it.

He kept on lusting for more power and trained in the mountain trying to reach sagehood until it backfired. The spread of Asura's chakra was stopped by Hagoromo but he left Naruto on his own in terms of controlling the already spread chakra in Naruto's body.

And thus Naruto began to control the rampant chakra inside his body trying to get out of his ugly for of his. It was a self-reflection of sort accepting his greed for power but making sure the greed was in his control, not the other way around.

And now a single truth-seeking orb formed around his back signifying he had accepted his greed and fully embraced his ugly side of his. According to Hagoromo more he only conquered 6 of his emotions to became Sage of Six Paths but 9 patterns were woven into his back to signify there is a total of 9 emotions.