Chapter 531: A Power He Does Not Need (Patreon)

Unknown Spiritual Plane

"What do you need?" Alaric asked. "As you can see, I'm currently handling the Ten-Tails."

The old man standing before him did not answer immediately.

Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki hovered several paces away, his pale robes resting against a space that possessed neither wind nor ground. The black magatama across his chest remained motionless while the Truth-Seeking Orbs behind him hung with the unnatural stillness of objects that had forgotten gravity existed.

His Rinnegan rested upon Alaric's face, then moved lower.

The Sage of Six Paths stared at the glowing Sun and Moon markings still visible across Alaric's palms.

Alaric followed his gaze and lifted both hands slightly.

"You dragged my consciousness away from the Ten-Tails because you wanted to admire your handwriting?"

Hagoromo's mouth tightened.

"You must not complete the seal."

The amusement faded from Alaric's face as the spiritual plane fell into a brief, uneasy silence, and he slowly lowered his hands.

"That sounded considerably more important."

"It is..." Hagoromo moved closer, the rings of his Rinnegan seeming almost darker against the featureless expanse surrounding them. "The seal I gave you was designed around the Ten-Tails as I knew it. The creature you are attempting to seal is no longer in that condition."

Alaric's brow rose.

"I noticed."

"You separated the individual remnants of the nine tailed beasts from the shell while preserving their spiritual identities. You also severed Madara's connection to the creature completely."

"That was intentional."

"I know," Hagoromo's staff shifted within his hand as his gaze hardened. "The problem is what remains."

A faint image appeared between them.

The Ten-Tails materialized as a translucent projection, followed by nine smaller currents of chakra that were gradually drawn away from it. Hagoromo moved two fingers, causing the image to separate into layers.

Alaric watched without interrupting.

"The original Ten-Tails was the Divine Tree combined with the chakra that eventually became the nine tailed beasts," Hagoromo said. "When I divided its chakra, the empty shell became the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."

The projection changed as the nine chakra currents disappeared, leaving only the pale Gedo Mazō.

"The creature Madara recreated was incomplete before he ever became its jinchūriki. It never possessed the entirety of Gyūki or Kurama."

Alaric glanced toward the missing portions highlighted within the projection.

"The Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails."

"Yes. Pieces of their chakra were enough to awaken an approximation of the Ten-Tails, but an approximation is not the same as restoration."

Hagoromo closed his fingers, and the image warped.

Its body became misshapen while different chakra currents fought one another beneath the surface.

"You have now removed even the fragments that stabilized the incomplete resurrection. If you use the Sun and Moon Seal as though the creature before you were the original Ten-Tails, you may not produce the result you expect."

Alaric's eyes narrowed.

"What result do you expect?"

"I cannot know with certainty."

That answer caught Alaric's attention more effectively than any warning.

Hagoromo rarely admitted uncertainty without reason.

The Sage continued, "The seal may reduce the remaining shell into a dormant state. It may preserve the creature exactly as it is. It may attempt to reconstruct the missing balance by drawing upon whatever chakra is nearest."

His Rinnegan settled on Alaric.

"Or upon whoever becomes its vessel."

Alaric stared at him for a few seconds before understanding finally arrived.

"Oh."

Hagoromo's expression remained grave.

"You finally understand."

"I was wondering whether you were going somewhere interesting with this."

The old man closed his eyes briefly.

Alaric looked at the translucent Gedo Mazō again.

The simplest option remained obvious. He could seal the beast somewhere inaccessible, construct a prison dimension, bury the shell beneath enough fūinjutsu to make opening it practically impossible, or simply continue dismantling it until nothing useful remained.

Each solution left the same problem.

Something existed... therefore, eventually, someone would want it.

Madara and Obito had wanted it.

Black Zetsu had spent generations arranging circumstances around it.

Future shinobi might discover records, ruins, fragments, or techniques capable of reaching wherever Alaric placed the shell.

Destroying it completely might damage the structure from which the tailed beasts originated, and Alaric had no intention of gambling with nine sapient lives merely to simplify his evening.

He rubbed his thumb across the Sun marking on his palm, then smiled. "I'll seal it into myself."

Hagoromo stared at him.

Alaric looked up.

The Sage of Six Paths continued staring.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Alaric finally asked. "...What?"

"You cannot be serious."

"I am."

"Everything I have just explained was intended to prevent precisely that conclusion."

Alaric gave him a thoughtful look before shaking his head. "You should work on your delivery."

Hagoromo's grip tightened around his staff.

"The Ten-Tails is incomplete. It lacks the entirety of the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails."

"Correct..."

"The balance of its chakra has been disrupted even further because you removed the fragments Madara collected."

"Yes."

Hagoromo's brows drew together.

"And your response is to place it inside your own body?"

"When you phrase it like that, it sounds irresponsible."

"It is irresponsible."

Alaric chuckled softly.

Hagoromo moved closer.

"When Madara sealed the incomplete Ten-Tails within himself, the creature immediately began altering him. You witnessed how quickly its instincts became indistinguishable from his survival mechanisms. Once threatened, it changed his organs and chakra network without waiting for conscious permission."

"I remember."

"You also witnessed it turn upon him the moment remaining inside his body ceased to benefit its survival."

"I remember that too."

"Then understand what you are proposing."

Hagoromo's voice deepened.

"You would become the jinchūriki of something that no longer possesses the balance necessary to function as the Ten-Tails I once knew. Its instincts would seek completion. It could draw upon your chakra to replace what is missing, corrupt your pathways, alter your mind, or attempt to reshape you into whatever vessel best serves the Divine Tree."

Alaric's expression remained relaxed. "That won't happen."

Hagoromo's eyes narrowed. "You cannot know that."

"I can."

"And why is that?"

Alaric's smile broadened. "It's terrified of my summon."

Silence followed as Hagoromo looked at him without moving.

Alaric waited.

The Sage's shoulders finally sank by the smallest amount, conceding the point without another word.

"Emberis."

"There you go."

Hagoromo closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

Of all the answers Alaric could have given, that one was difficult to dispute after Hagoromo had personally attempted to examine Alaric's soul.

He remembered crossing that boundary.

He remembered the heat.

More importantly, he remembered the presence beyond it.

The thing Alaric casually called a summon had not attacked him. It had barely needed to acknowledge him. The warning alone had carried enough pressure to make Hagoromo withdraw from a soul he had entered voluntarily.

If the Ten-Tails attempted to push deeply enough into Alaric to challenge whatever resided there...

Hagoromo opened his eyes again.

"That does not make this wise."

"No, but it does solve the corruption problem."

"You believe fear will make the Ten-Tails obedient."

"I don't need it obedient," Alaric lowered his hands. "I need it contained."

The answer changed the direction of Hagoromo's stare.

Alaric continued, "You're thinking about this like I intend to become another Madara. I don't need the Ten-Tails to increase my standing in the world. I don't need it to fight the Five Kage. I don't need it to establish a village, conquer nations, prove some old prophecy correct, or cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"You would still possess its power."

"Yes."

"And power possesses consequences whether you seek them or not."

"I'm aware."

Hagoromo's staff tapped lightly against the invisible plane beneath him.

"You speak as though the Ten-Tails would become nothing more than an artifact in your possession."

"That is approximately the plan."

"It is a primordial entity connected to the Divine Tree."

"And I'm immortal."

Hearing this, Hagoromo went still.

Alaric's expression became more serious.

"That matters more than you're giving it credit for."

Hagoromo waited.

"If I seal the Ten-Tails inside an ordinary jinchūriki, someone eventually inherits the problem. The vessel grows old. The vessel dies. Nations fight over succession. Someone decides the jinchūriki belongs to their military. Someone else decides the beast should be extracted."

Alaric gestured toward himself.

"I don't have that problem."

"Immortality does not make you incorruptible."

"No. Emberis makes the corruption part considerably less concerning."

Hagoromo sighed again.

Alaric continued before the Sage could interrupt.

"If the Ten-Tails stays in me, nobody inherits it. Nobody digs it out of a grave a century later. Nobody waits for my natural death because there isn't one. Nobody raises a child to become its next container."

His blue-red gaze held Hagoromo's Rinnegan.

"It ends with me."

The old Sage studied him for a long time.

"You speak as though you have already decided."

"I have."

"Then why are we still discussing it?"

"You interrupted me."

For the first time, irritation entered Hagoromo's face openly.

Alaric's mouth twitched.

Hagoromo restrained whatever response had nearly escaped him. "You believe my connection to the Ten-Tails gives me no authority over your decision."

"I believe it gives you a reason to be heard," Alaric inclined his head slightly. "You are Kaguya's son. You became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. You separated its chakra and created the tailed beasts. If there is anyone in existence whose warning about this deserves consideration, it is you."

Hagoromo's expression softened by a fraction.

Then Alaric finished.

"But the decision is mine."

The softness disappeared, but Alaric did not look away.

"I listened. Your concern is legitimate. The beast is incomplete, its chakra is unbalanced, and sealing it into a vessel may produce consequences neither of us can predict."

He raised one hand and curled his fingers loosely.

"I accept that."

"You accept uncertainty too easily."

"No. I simply don't mistake uncertainty for prohibition."

Hagoromo's gaze became heavier.

"You have an extraordinary tendency to believe that consequences will bend around your confidence."

"I've been killed before. Confidence didn't prevent it."

"And yet here you stand."

"Exactly."

Hagoromo's Rinnegan sharpened at the implication.

Alaric allowed the silence to settle before adding, "I am not asking permission."

The old Sage's lips pressed together.

"If you become its jinchūriki, what will you do with that power?"

The question surprised Alaric enough to make him blink.

Then he laughed.

Not loudly.

It was a quiet, genuine sound of amusement rather than mockery.

"Hagoromo, I've been powerful for a while."

"I am aware."

"No, I don't think you are."

The Sage's expression changed.

Alaric smiled.

"I surpassed Hashirama a long time ago. Madara too, even before he shoved the Ten-Tails into himself. Your sons were extraordinary, but neither Indra nor Asura at their peaks would make me particularly nervous."

Hagoromo's grip on his staff became still.

Alaric tilted his head.

"And depending on how we define victory, I would argue that I'm stronger than you already."

The spiritual plane went quiet.

Hagoromo stared at him.

Alaric waited.

No.

The flatness of the answer made him laugh again.

"You don't believe me?"

"You possess abilities I do not fully understand, and your Phoenix power is unlike the chakra of this world. That does not mean you surpass me."

"Fair."

Alaric raised both hands slightly, conceding the argument with suspicious ease.

Hagoromo regarded him carefully.

There was something in Alaric's expression he disliked.

Alaric knew the old man could see it.

He simply had no intention of explaining.

'If I died another couple of times, Kaguya probably wouldn't even be able to touch me.'

The thought carried an absurd certainty derived from a mechanism Hagoromo could never be allowed to discover.

Alaric's mouth twitched.

'Not that I'm volunteering. Dying feels fucking horrible.'

Phoenix Eternal Rebirth had transformed death into progression without making the experience pleasant. Alaric could remember each final sensation too clearly: the failure of the body, the wrenching separation, the nothingness before rebirth seized him and rebuilt what had been lost.

Power did not make suffocation comfortable.

Immortality did not make being torn apart enjoyable.

If becoming stronger required another death, he preferred to arrive there naturally.

Hagoromo watched the brief amusement pass across his face.

"What are you thinking?"

"That dying is unpleasant."

The Sage stared at him.

Alaric smiled. "You asked."

"I asked what you intend to do with the Ten-Tails."

"Nothing."

Hagoromo frowned. "That is not an answer."

"It is exactly the answer," Alaric folded his arms. "I don't need it."

The old Sage's brows lowered.

"You intend to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki while claiming you do not need its power."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"So nobody else gets it."

Hagoromo remained silent.

Alaric's voice lost most of its earlier amusement.

"The power increase would be nice. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. More chakra is useful. Six Paths-level physical reinforcement is useful. Having the Ten-Tails inside me would presumably improve several things I already do."

He gave a light shrug.

"But I literally do not need it."

The words carried no bravado because Hagoromo had already witnessed enough to know why Alaric could say them.

Phoenix Sage Mode had allowed him to dominate an incomplete Ten-Tails jinchūriki.

Cronos had the overpowered ability to stop time.

His Rinne-Sharingan opened dimensions and bent the Six Paths techniques to his control. Eros repaired injuries that should have ended battles, while Kamui, Hiraishin, Wood Release, Vulcan, Susanoo, and abilities Hagoromo had not yet seen in full gave Alaric more answers than most shinobi possessed techniques.

The Ten-Tails would be another, enormous weapon, but it would not become the foundation of his identity.

Alaric looked toward the empty distance as though he could see the creature waiting beyond it.

"I'd rather lock the most dangerous source of covetable power in the world inside someone who cannot die, cannot be easily controlled, and has no reason to use it for conquest."

Hagoromo followed his gaze.

"You assume you can never change."

"No," Alaric looked back at him. "I assume people around me would stop me if I did."

Hagoromo raised a brow.

"You believe anyone could?"

"Kassandra would certainly try."

The old Sage had no idea who that was, and the brief confusion in his expression almost made Alaric explain.

He decided against explaining it.

"Besides," Alaric continued, "the Ten-Tails already fears what is inside my soul. If it becomes ambitious, Emberis can remind it where it lives."

Hagoromo rubbed two fingers against the bridge of his nose.

The gesture looked so ordinary against his ageless appearance that Alaric nearly laughed.

"You are remarkably exhausting."

"I've been told."

"I am dead."

"I noticed."

"And somehow you have given me a headache."

"Shouldn't that be impressive?"

Hagoromo's hand remained against his brow.

Alaric allowed him several seconds.

Eventually, the Sage lowered it.

"I cannot stop you from returning."

"No."

"I cannot stop you from placing the seal upon yourself."

"Probably not."

Hagoromo's eyes narrowed.

Alaric smiled politely.

The old Sage released another breath.

"If you insist upon becoming its jinchūriki, do not use the original seal exactly as I gave it to you."

That caught Alaric's attention.

"Now we're being productive."

Hagoromo ignored the remark.

"The missing Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails chakra creates an imbalance. You must prevent the shell from trying to compensate by drawing equivalent portions from your own chakra system."

Alaric nodded slowly.

"A partition."

"More than that. The Ten-Tails must recognize your chakra as the vessel's and not as material available for reconstruction."

Alaric's eyes sharpened as the problem immediately interested him.

"I can create a layered boundary between the core seal and my network."

"You will also need to prevent your Phoenix chakra from entering the Ten-Tails automatically."

"That may be harder."

"If the creature absorbs enough of it to interpret Phoenix energy as part of its missing composition, neither of us knows what it might become."

Alaric thought about an incomplete Ten-Tails adapting around Phoenix power.

His expression became thoughtful.

"That would either be fascinating or catastrophically stupid."

"Precisely."

"Probably both."

Hagoromo looked tired again.

Alaric began modifying the formula mentally. The Sun and Moon Seal would remain the external authority, but the internal architecture could divide into nested domains. One would contain the Gedo Mazō. Another would regulate ordinary chakra exchange. A third would isolate the Phoenix pathway entirely unless Alaric consciously opened it.

Emberis would remain deeper.

Far deeper.

If the Ten-Tails ever reached that boundary, seals would no longer be its most immediate concern.

Hagoromo watched understanding settle across his face.

"You have already redesigned it."

"Mostly."

"During this conversation."

"Yes."

The Sage stared at him for another moment before shaking his head. "I have said what I needed to say."

Alaric unfolded his arms. "Alright..."

Hagoromo's eyes narrowed slightly. "You... are still going to do it."

"Yes."

"Regardless of whether I approve."

Alaric looked at the Sage before smiling. "Hagoromo, whether you like it or not, it's happening."

The old man stared at him.

Alaric held the look without mockery.

Whatever argument remained seemed to leave Hagoromo gradually. His shoulders loosened as he accepted the unpleasant truth that Alaric had listened carefully, understood every danger, incorporated the warnings into his plan, and still reached the same conclusion.

Reason could refine the decision, but it would not reverse it.

Hagoromo lifted his hand and rubbed his brow again.

"I repeat," he murmured, "I am dead, and you have somehow given me a headache."

Alaric chuckled.

"I'll take that as an accomplishment."

"Please... don't."

The spiritual space around them began thinning.

Hagoromo's form became less substantial along the edges, though his Rinnegan remained fixed upon Alaric until the last moment.

"Be careful."

The simplicity of the words removed the irritation from Alaric's smile.

"I will."

Hagoromo inclined his head.

"Goodbye, Alaric."

"See you around."

The Sage vanished.

Alaric remained alone for a fraction of a moment before his perception returned.

Heat struck first.

The unknown fire dimension snapped back around him, white radiance spreading without horizon while the Nine sealing rings remained suspended in the distance. Madara was still protected within the layered barrier, and the Gedo Mazō remained in front of Alaric where the Sun and Moon formula had been interrupted.

Time had barely moved.

Alaric smiled.

"Right, where were—"

The Ten-Tails' mouth was open.

A Tailed Beast Ball had already finished forming.

It occupied nearly Alaric's entire vision.

The compressed sphere of black-red chakra was so close that its gravitational distortion dragged the edges of his coat forward. Space folded around its surface, while fire spiraled into the sphere fast enough to create a glowing vortex around the beast's jaws.

Alaric's eyes widened as the Ten-Tails fired.

VVRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The sphere swallowed the space between them.

Alaric barely managed to open his mouth.

"WHAT THE FUCK—?!"