Chapter 386: The Rinnegan

The vacant, lifeless eyes that had been devoid of all awareness suddenly regained their clarity, as though a sheet of ice had shattered.

Agonizing pain...

Confusion...

Disbelief...

And the chilling sensation of his life rapidly slipping away—

All of it flooded Hamura's consciousness at once.

With immense effort, he slowly raised his head.

His gaze first fell upon his elder brother's face, a face filled with unbearable grief, unwavering resolve...

...and tears.

Then, with equal difficulty, his eyes shifted toward the woman standing upon the ruins not far away.

Their mother.

Kaguya remained expressionless, as though she were indifferent to everything unfolding before her.

Hamura's lips trembled.

It seemed as though he had countless things he wished to say.

Perhaps he wanted to question his mother.

Perhaps he wished to apologize to his brother.

Or perhaps...

He simply wanted to call out one final time—

"Brother..."

Or...

"Mother..."

But in the end, the blood welling up his throat and his rapidly fading life stole every word from him.

He could not utter a single sound.

He merely looked at them one last time with those newly restored, yet rapidly dimming eyes.

His gaze was filled with emotions too complicated to put into words.

Then...

The light faded completely from his eyes.

His body lost all strength.

He collapsed backward without a sound, crashing heavily onto the cold rubble.

Blood quickly spread beneath him, staining the broken stones a vivid crimson.

Kaguya continued watching in silence.

Not even the slightest ripple appeared in her eyes.

As for Hagoromo...

He remained frozen in place with his hand still extended.

His eyes were fixed upon his younger brother lying motionless in a pool of blood as life steadily slipped away.

Time itself seemed to stop.

"No..."

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH—!!"

The grief he had desperately suppressed—

His regret...

His rage...

His despair...

Everything erupted at once.

A heart-rending scream burst from the depths of his soul, as though his very spirit were being torn apart.

Scalding tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.

Mixed with the blood Hamura had sprayed onto him, they formed crimson trails that looked like tears of blood.

BOOM!!

At the very peak of that overwhelming anguish—

At the instant when it felt as though his soul itself would be crushed beneath unbearable sorrow and fury—

The three tomoe of Hagoromo's crimson Sharingan, already spinning at incredible speed, suddenly surpassed a critical threshold.

The tomoe blurred.

They stretched.

Twisted.

Merged.

Reformed.

An ancient, boundless power erupted from his eyes.

A brilliant violet radiance burst forth, instantly swallowing the crimson light of the Sharingan.

When the brilliance finally subsided...

The eyes that remained were no longer the Sharingan.

Instead...

They were a pair of majestic purple eyes adorned with concentric ripple patterns, each centered by a tomoe-like mark.

Eyes that radiated overwhelming authority...

...and the power of Samsara itself.

The Rinnegan.

After personally ending the life of the one dearest to him and enduring pain beyond measure, the final dormant power within Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's bloodline was completely awakened.

Ignited.

Transcended.

The ultimate dōjutsu of the one who would one day become known as the Sage of Six Paths was born amid blood and tears—

Emerging for the first time from the depths of absolute despair and immeasurable rage.

Silence fell across the Shinobi World.

No one could find the words to describe the tragedy they had just witnessed.

Brother against brother.

The awakening of the Rinnegan.

The cruelty and weight of history pressed so heavily upon everyone's hearts that it became difficult to breathe.

Beneath the Heavenly Curtain, the entire Shinobi World was enveloped in stunned silence.

The scenes they had just witnessed remained seared into everyone's minds, burning themselves into memory.

The moment the two unfamiliar yet overwhelmingly powerful chakra signatures erupted from the direction of the palace and instantly reduced it to ruins...

The entire Shinobi World had exploded into an uproar.

Countless people immediately thought of one terrifying possibility.

"The Ōtsutsuki Clan!"

"It has to be members of her clan! They've come to investigate the whereabouts of the Chakra Fruit!"

"Kaguya was originally sent here to plant the God Tree. She's disappeared for years, and the fruit was never delivered. Of course they'd come looking!"

"This is bad... Kaguya consumed the Chakra Fruit herself. If her clan confirms it, there's no way they'll let her off lightly!"

When those unfamiliar chakra signatures quickly disappeared, many people sighed in relief—

Only to be immediately corrected by those who understood the situation better.

"Driving them away only makes things worse!"

"This group may have only been scouts."

"The next ones who come..."

"...will probably be warriors so powerful that even Kaguya can't stand against them."

That possibility sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Then came Kaguya's cold order to reclaim chakra.

Every shinobi who possessed chakra felt their heart sink.

Once again, they were forced to confront the horrifying truth.

The power they called their own...

Had never truly belonged to them.

It could be controlled.

Taken away.

Their helplessness tightened around their throats like invisible chains.

Then came the complete collapse of Kaguya's family before the ruins.

Hamura's empty eyes as he attacked his own brother...

Hagoromo's anguished whisper before he struck back...

The quiet yet horrifying sound of a hand piercing flesh...

Hamura coughing blood, briefly regaining his senses before the light faded forever from his eyes without speaking a final word...

And finally—

Hagoromo's soul-shattering scream...

The blood and tears streaming down his face...

Every moment weighed so heavily that it left people unable to breathe.

Until...

That brilliant violet light tore through every shadow of grief.

When the mysterious purple eyes adorned with concentric ripples and tomoe finally replaced the crimson Sharingan—

When the Rinnegan revealed itself amid blood and tears—

Every voice across the world fell silent.

No scripture...

No historical record...

No ancient legend had ever described this supreme dōjutsu in such detail.

Within those eyes lay Hagoromo's immeasurable grief...

His boundless rage...

The loneliness born from destroying his own family...

And a newly awakened power capable of shaking heaven and earth itself.

"The Rinnegan..."

"It awakened just like that?!"

"That's impossible!"

"How did a Three-Tomoe Sharingan jump straight to the Rinnegan?"

"That's not how it works!"

"According to the Uchiha Clan's evolution, the next stage after the Three-Tomoe Sharingan is the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"Just like Uchiha Itachi's!"

"Who skips every stage and goes straight to the Rinnegan?!"

After a brief silence, even louder cries of disbelief erupted.

Everything people thought they knew had been overturned.

Their understanding of dōjutsu had begun to crack.

Yet others quickly recovered.

Their eyes filled with awe and sudden understanding.

"As expected of the Sage of Six Paths..."

"How could the rules governing ordinary people's dōjutsu apply to him?"

"In the depths of absolute grief and unwavering resolve, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan transformed directly into the Rinnegan."

"That..."

"...is the true foundation of the Sage of Six Paths."

"That is how a legend is born."

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