Gou Hebi

Gou Hebi (蛇剛, Hebi Gou) was one of the most powerful and well-known and bounty hunters of the  preceding the era of. Having his entire family slaughtered during a struggle between the and, Gou descended into darkness and vowed to end the neverending wars between  by wiping every  participating in battle.

Early life
Gou's early life was rather normal despite the constant terrors of the between  for territory, but despite the rather poor and terrorized lifestyle, Gou's childhood was a happy one. In his early teens, Gou began working as a bladesmith alongside his father, and gained great interest in swordsmanship in the process.

The family's main source of income was the creation of numerous swords and and subsequently selling them for  to use them in battle, and despite always fearing and disliking the ongoing battles and wars, Gou nevertheless helped his father with the family's income simply to provide for his family. Shortly thereafter, however, Gou's father was killed during a struggle involving other shinobi while searching for materials, and Gou took over his place as the family's source of income and greatly improved his skills as a bladesmith, while also gaining greater self-confidence and growing hatred towards shinobi, as many shinobi would attempt to either scam or stealing his blades due to his young age, but Gou quickly learned to stand his ground, and despite death threats received by numerous shinobi, Gou refused to back down, exclaiming they wouldn't kill him or his family, as they were the only ones capable of creating their tools.

Mercenary and Bounty Hunter
Sometime after this, Gou's mother became ill with an undisclosed injury, and despite his work as a bladesmith, wasn't enough to obtain proper medicine to cure her, and Gou ultimately decided to engage in to obtain more profit. In order to achieve maximum success and self-protection, Gou crafted himself a sword, which was made from leftovers of 's and used his  to melt the steel to craft his sword, which caused the sword to develop an immense endurance, almost unbreakable.

His first days as a mercenary were plagued with murder and death, as not only Gou was forced to witness many shinobi getting brutally killed with his own eyes, but was also forced to kill many shinobi himself to gain his earnings, and further witnessed horror by bringing whatever body parts were left as proof of his success. His growing reputation had reached the attention of one of the most powerful clans in existence, the, and they ultimately hired Gou to attack their arch-enemies, the , with Gou only accepting the offer with great amounts of money, as the Senju were known as the only clan strong enough to rival the Uchiha, and refused to risk his life needlessly without proper reward.

Despite having slaughtered many of their kin, the Senju also hired Gou to kill several Uchiha for equal pay, if not greater, and Gou followed their orders, having no loyalty towards anyone but his family. Aside from working as a mercenary, Gou also worked for the as a bounty hunter and successfully completed many assignments for rich rewards, and slowly abandoned his work as a mercenary as the daimyō's assignments were far more lucrative.

Death of Family
Despite walking away from his mercenary days, many shinobi's comrades or families whom Gou had either targeted or killed had never forgotten about his actions and decided to exact revenge. One faithful night, members of the broke in Gou's family home and mercilessly slaughtered his ill mother and caretaker, and believing themselves safe regardless, left a note for Gou to find, informing him about themselves and taunted him about his family's murder.

Over a week later, Gou returned home with proper medicine from his mother after having earned enough money, but was horrified to encounter his mother and caretaker's mutilated corpses, and subsequently read the note left by the Kaguya Clan. Filled with uncontrollable hatred, Gou immediately set out to battle the Kaguya Clan, and interjected within the clan's ongoing battle with the, and slaughtered both sides before engaging in a deathbattle with the current patriarch of the clan. The patriarch, however, showed no remorse for his clan's actions, and actually laughed savagely about their actions, exclaiming they had "fun", but his laughing was cut short when Gou restrained him with Genjutsu Binding, rendering the patriarch motionless. Using his Ice Release kekkei genkai, Gou subsequently creates countless ice spears and pierces through numerous of the patriarch's body parts.

Despite suffering immense pain, the Kaguya Clan's patriarch laughs at Gou's savagery, exclaiming that his pain entertained him, and Gou finished him off by bisecting him with an ice sword. Gou was then confronted by other members of the Shimura Clan, who correctly assumed Gou had murdered their fellow clansmen and attacked him simultaneously. Despite being outnumbered, Gou easily fend them off by trapping them in a sphere of water before firing projectiles from underwater, which infiltrate the water sphere and mercilessly killing the Shimura Clan members.

Gou's act was witnessed by, who was horrified by Gou's merciless actions. After composing himself, Gou dropped down to his knees and cried in the loss of his family, and his despair caused him to lose control of his, which engulfed him completely, and caused massive destruction around the area with simple shockwaves from his chakra's pressure. However, Gou's chakra was visibly different, and Gou quickly sensed numerous chakra flows nearby, and this caused Gou to realize his different chakra, but nevertheless marveled at his own power, and vowed to end the wars by executing every shinobi participating in battle.

Three days later, Gou arrived in the battlefield, where the and  engaged in battle. Fearlessly announcing his arrival, Gou grabbed his sword and battled against both clans, who subsequently joined forces to kill Gou, but neither clan were strong enough to stop him, and ultimately retreated after Gou had murdered more than half of each side. However, neither Clan managed to escape too far, as Gou activated his unique charka, which Gou had dubbed "Mystic Chakra", and managed to track them down with the chakra's incredible sensoring skills and effortlessly killed every remaining member at the area.

Shortly after this, Gou witnessed the battle between and, and witnessed both of the young boy's friendship falling apart, and momentarily felt sorror for them, believing their friendship could've helped end the wars once and for all, and focused his hatred towards both of their fathers:  and  for forcing their sons to betray each other. Whilst Hashirama and Madara battled elsewhere, both fathers engaged in battle, but their battle was momentarily stopped by a thrown at their feet by Gou. After introducing himself, explaining his story and determination, Gou cursed them for causing their respective children pain and vowed to kill them both at the spot. Both fathers laughed at his confidence, but nevertheless chose to ignore him and continued their battle, until Gou activated his Mystic Chakra, gaining the attention of both Butsuma and Tajima, who stared at Gou with awe.

Despite his overwhelming power, Gou wasn't capable of defeating both Butsuma and Tajima by himself, and despite causing them great injuries, Gou was forced to retreat after his chakra was running out, and successfully escaped through the forest, despite being chased by both fathers. Days later, Gou realized that his current abilities weren't enough, and began researching about. Learning of ancient techniques of branding others with markings on their bodies, Gou decided to brand himself with his own fūinjutsu, but needed a basis for his development. Witnessing a lizard preying on a small insect, Gou became inspired and extracted some of the lizard's blood and inserted within his fūinjutsu, and completed his technique, which Gou named it: Cursed Seal of Hell.

Wanting to test his newfound creation, Gou searched for a nearby battle and re-encountered Butsuma and Tajima, who were ready to engage in another battle, but Gou interjected himself and underwent his Cursed Seal transformation, and transformed himself into a lizard-like creature, which shocked both Tajima and Butsuma. Sarcastically asking them if they had seen a monster, Gou proceeded to battle them, and with his newfound abilities, was finally capable of battling both clan patriarchs on equal levels. However, Gou quickly discovered that his stamina wasn't capable of sustaining his Cursed Seal state for long, and decided to end the fight quickly. Using his Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere to bind both shinobi together, Gou quickly charges foward with his sword, and decapitates Butsuma, but Tajima managed to dodge at the last second.

Activating his, Tajima proclaimed himself as the victor of the battle, but Gou seemed unfazed by his opponent's boasts, and simply creates wind blades by waving his hands, but Tajima's Sharingan allowed him to effortlessly dodge his attacks. Both shinobi exchange attacks for long periods of time, until Tajima apparerently kills Gou with his Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. However, Tajima becomes utterly shocked at seeing Gou's body disappear and his surroundings become engulfed in darkenss, and Tajima realizes he was caught in a, and Gou's voice echoes through the air, confirming his suspicions, and exclaiming that after dodging his wind blades, Gou had cast his Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique, and re-appears within the area, but Tajima claims that his Sharingan could dispel any genjutsu and seemingly does so, before charging and striking Gou with his sword, but Gou's body again disappears, and Gou's voice again echoes through the air, stating that Tajima was caught by another genjutsu, this time Demonic Illusion: Double False Surroundings Technique.

As Tajima expresses shock at being unable to counter Gou's techniques with his Sharingan, Gou's real body emerges, and exclaims that Tajima's reliance on his Sharingan would become his downfall, and binds Tajima with Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death before finishing him off with by exploding the tree. The pressure of the technique causes Tajima's mind to become damaged beyond repair, and Tajima barely clings to life, before Gou finally kills him by smashing his head with an ice sledgehammer.

Afterwards, Gou reverts back to his normal state and feels his consciousness drifting away, and theorises that the Cursed Seal had begun to drain his energy and stumbles away from the area and after finding a safe location within a cave, collapses and loses consciousness. Waking up two days later, Gou spies across both the Uchiha and Senju clans, who report their respective leaders's deaths, and name Hashirama and Madara as their respective clans next leaders. As a result of his Cursed Seal, Gou's chakra would take days to recharge, and ultimately decided to watch the battle between the Senju and Uchiha clans.

Throughout the next few years, Gou continued to engage in bounty hunting assignments while continuing on his crusade against the battling clans, although Gou himself admitted not knowing why he cared about revenue as his family was gone and had no reason for wanting money. Having spent years battling and getting nowhere near close to his goal, Gou decided to end his own life by challenging both Hashirama and Madara to a three-way battle, hoping that either one could kill him. Hashirama, Gou, and Madara engaged in an all-out battle, causing their fellow clansmen to stop battling each other, and simply witness the battle in awe. Ultimately, Gou was severely injured by Madara's and was about to get struck down, before Hashirama blocked Madara's attack with his Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique. Questioning Hashirama's motives for saving his enemy, Gou became surprised at hearing Hashirama exclaim his motivation to end the war peacefully rather than eliminating their opposition.

Being incapacitated, Gou witnessed Hashirama defeat Madara, and subsequently both the Senju and Uchiha Clan joining forces, and effectively forcing the come to an end. Hashirama also extended his offer towards Gou, who exclaimed that Hashirama should end him, as his family was gone and he had no reason to keep on living, but Hashirama explained that they would build a place where children like Gou used to be could live without having to fear and experience the same tragedy he did, and wanted Gou's assistance, saying that his family would probably be proud of him. Hashirama's words seemed to cause Gou to have a change of heart and accepted his offer.

Later life
After the creation of, Hashirama was quickly named the , while Gou was hand-selected by Hashirama to establish the to aid him in important decisions, as Hashirama believed that his head-strong nature wouldn't allow him to carefully lead the village.

Having no interest in battling aside from when necessary, Gou effectively retired from being a shinobi and simply aided Hashirama from the sidelines. During the, Gou returned to active duty and joined Konohagakure in battle. Gou's death occured while battling alongside Hashirama against. Using his sword, Gou charged towards Kakuzu, but quickly discovered about Kakuzu's immortality, and was subsequently struck down by the immortal shinobi. Hashirama attempted to save him, but Kakuzu prevented Hashirama from interfering, and used Gou's own sword to end his life.

Nevertheless, Hashirama ultimately foced Kakuzu to retreat, and mourned the loss of his friend. Gou's body was carried back within the village, and Hashirama decided to create the and engraved Gou's name within the stone, effectively becoming the first "fallen hero" of Konohagakure in the process.

Personality
A complicated, withdrawn person, Gou's life was overwhelmed with many complex emotions that he never fully disclosed. At times, Gou could appear cold, cynical, malicious, bitter, and sarcastic. He tended to hold grudges and was extremely spiteful toward those whom he disliked. In particular, Gou disdained, considering them to be blood-thirsty and heartless "creatures", which was resulted from his family's murder at the hands of the.

"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance in this battle-loving world!"

- Gou's opinion on emotionalism and self-control

Gou was an intensely private individual who viewed emotional displays as a sign of shameful weakness. Gou had superb emotional control and was adept at concealing his thoughts and feelings, which allowed him to maintain his cold, collected demeanour. However, Gou had his limits, and was not incapable of losing his temper, particularly when it came to dealing with the loss of his family, becoming irate at the mere mention of his family by anyone other than himself. Inevitably, Gou also became furious when he thought he was being pitied or accused of cowardice.

In spite of his vindictive demeanour, Gou was an immensely brave man who possessed a deep capacity for love. Everything that he did in the latter part of his life was motivated by his family's thoughts on his current life and actions, and 's words caused him to feel utter regret about his path and choices. As a result, Gou spent the remainder of his life attempting to "redeem himself" by helping establish itself and helping Hashirama lead the village from the sidelines.

Despite his incredible skills and natural talent for battling, Gou hated battling, believing it to be "barbaric", but following his family's murder, discarded whatever doubts about battles, and subsequently became famous for the very thing he'd once loathed: Battling and murder.

As a member of the, Gou made his decisions relied on logic, which often helped him to cleverly deduce information that many others missed. However, his emphasis on logic made him sceptical about accepting anything without proof, such as completely dismissing the idea of 's immortality, deeming it as a "fairy tale", which ultimately led to his own demise. Gou was very responsible, a strict perfectionist, and well put-together. He often attempted to act as the voice of reason among his more impulsive friends, to varying levels of success. Gou was very determined and focused, in that he "always [kept] his attention focused on the job that must be done".

After his reincarnation during the, Gou revealed himself to possess a dry sense of humor, playfully lamenting on not being able to spend more time with his beloved sword after the announces his intentions to cancel the technique.

Appearance
Gou was a young and rather muscular-built individual. He had long, spiky, white hair, and green eyes. While originally having normal fingernails, the side-effects from his usage of the Cursed Seal of Hell caused his fingernails to permanently transform into long, sharp, nails based from his lizard-like transformation.

Gou's attire consister of a black sleveless qipao vest, along with dark grey shaggy pants, and remained barefoot due to his long, sharp, nails, although having his shin and lower legs bandaged. Around his waits, Gou also wore the remainings of a grey kimono which was attached around his waist, which belonged to his mother in order to honor her memory. Gou also wore metal gloves, which were crafted by himself, which also contained long, metal, claws, who were covered by a large armpad wrapped around his forearm.

Abilities
Gou is considered to be one of the strongest individuals of his generation, being considered at a -level. His power was deemed in the same level of and, with many believing that Gou was the only individual capable of rivaling their powers. As a result, many shinobi clearly feared and admired him, being the target of many assassins, who before battling him, showed their respects for him and desired to obtain his sword.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
Gou's chakra was remarkably strong, so dense that it could create a surge of wind and crack stones when released. His chakra control is advanced enough to perform various complex and large-scale techniques with only one to no hand seal at all. Gou's life force also grants him enough stamina to fight nonstop for a twenty-four hour period while still left prime to battle. Gou was extremely talented in taijutsu, disarming and dodging attacks from many directions. He could strike with precision before his opponent could react, and overpower individuals twice his size.

Mystic Chakra
A unique ability of Gou's arsenal was his Mystic Chakra form. While under this form, Gou's abilities increased drastically, and he was perfectly able to sense all types of chakra, determinate who they belong to, despite how far away they are from his location, and stated that he could feel the chakra of every single living being on the entire planet, while also being able to describe whether they were "kind" or "sinister". His Mystic Chakra became his most well-recongized ability as whenever he accessed the ability, his entire body was engulfed in a light-blue aura-like chakra, which was enough to intimidate his enemies into submission. Gou's Mystic Chakra was also powerful enough to break the bind of the technique, allowing Gou to move freely without being controlled by.

Cursed Seal
After losing his first fight against and, Gou brand himself with his own-created Cursed Seal of Hell to improve his abilities. When active, the cursed seal saps Gou's chakra and drains it quickly, rendering Gou unconscious for days should Gou push himself too much.

Though useful, Gou's early uses of the cursed seal are often involuntary, painful while active, and leave him briefly unable to move afterwards. These shortcomings are either minimised or eliminated once he becomes able to enter the cursed seal's second state: a transformation that turns his green, lengthens his hair, and causes him to develop a lizard-like body, included with a large lizard tail and causes his fingernails to sharpen and grow. After being reincarnated during the, Gou was unable to activate the Cursed Seal as the seal had disappeared following his death, and therefore, Gou permanently lost the ability to access the seal's abilities.

Ninjutsu
Gou learned how to summon hawks during his time as part of the in order to deliver messages across. Whilst training with, Gou learned how to perform Tobirama's recently-created Shadow Clone Technique, and further improved the technique by exploding his clones while battling enemies.

Bukijutsu
Growing up as a Bladesmith, Gou possesses a vast knowledge of different ninja tools, and how to create them. Being an expert swordsman, Gou's area of expertise is in battling with swords and blades, but also possesses great skills in, allowing him to throw shuriken and kunai with precision; for complicated or moving targets, Gou can guide shuriken to their mark using either wire strings or deflecting them off each other.

Genjutsu
Aside from his and swordsmanship skills, Gou possesses great  abilities, which were showcased during his battle against, who despite possessing the , was unable to either dispel or counter Gou's genjutsu abilities.

Capable of discerning the truth in an instant and luring enemies to a place far beyond genjutsu, most of Gou's techniques focus around flora; primarily using large trees to bind opponents, as well as exploding the aforementioned trees to cause further damage to his opponent's mental state. He is able to simultaneously affect multiple opponents with his genjutsu, and revert the effects of genjutsu onto the caster.

Nature Transformation
Gou possesses the ability to use two, those being and. He can use Water Release without a nearby water source, being able to produce massive torrents, water dragons or water spheres to trap his opponents.

With Wind Release, Gou can create wind blades simply by waving his hands, as well as exhaling powerful vacuum-based attacks that could either slash like blades or pierce like bullets. If needed, Gou could use enhanced or localised variations.

Gou's most noticeable power was the utilisation of water and wind-natured chakra to create Ice Release. His power over ice granted him special techniques, like releasing large spikes made of ice. Defensively, he could create an ice dome that is capable of blocking multiple attacks at once. Gou could also create create a sledgehammer out of pure ice to bash his opponents with it.

Intelligence
Gou possessed a very detailed knowledge of human physiology, based from his vast knowledge of swords and blades, using his knowledge to target specific body parts and organs to cause great amounts of pain to his opponents. Gou was also very keen-minded, as he had been shown to have great observational and analytical abilities, capable of quickly determining a way around an opponent's technique or strategy. Gou was capable of adapting and copying his opponent's movements, such as after witnessing performing the  for the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, Gou carefully analyzed the seals and performed the same signs to prevent him from returning to the  to continue fighting Madara.

However, when encountered with opponents with unknown abilities that Gou couldn't come up with strategies against, Gou resorted to attack his enemies head-first to test their abilities and analyze their techniques. Despite this strategy having worked on countless occasions, this strategy was also the cause of Gou's untimely demise at the hands of, due to the latter's immortality.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
During the, Naku is reincarnated back into the living world by. When he woke up, Gou found himself alongside the reincarnated and. When Madara asked if he was, Gou informed him that he was under the Impure World Reincarnation technique. Madara was slightly shocked to see Gou reincarnated, but was more shocked at being brought back to life through said technique. The three then found themselves in confrontation with the '. , the Third, became shocked at seeing Gou and quickly informed the others about Gou's powers and told them to be extremely careful when battling him, and was even more shocked at seeing Madara alongside him.

When Madara asked Mū who was the caster of the Impure World Reincarnation, Mū was possessed by Kabuto, who began speaking to Gou and Madara through Mū. Demanding an explanation behind his reincarnation, Kabuto told Gou that they were in the middle of the, and all had united into one single army to battle the  and the. Confused, but not truly caring about the details, Gou refused to fight the army, but Kabuto claimed he wouldn't have a choice, because he was under his control. Gou laughed at his comments, but Kabuto was still confident that he could control Gou. Madara, however, calmly informed Kabuto he shouldn't have reincarnated Gou, and much to Kabuto's shock and surprise, Gou accessed his Mystic Chakra and easily broke Kabuto's control over his body and made his way towards the shinobi on the ground.

As prepared to engage him in battle, Gou stopped him, saying that he was in full control of his body and would join them in battle. Ōnoki was only slightly surprised in seeing Gou joining them, but admitted that Gou's power was too strong for Kabuto to control. The Fourth Division began to celebrate after hearing Gou's announcement of joining their side, which raised their morals and hopes. The news of Naku's reincarnation and alliance with the army quickly reached the, with expressing her surprise and relief that the most powerful mercenary in the history of shinobi joined them in battle, and claimed that just having Gou on their side drastically increased their chances of winning, especially since Gou was under the Impure World Reincarnation and as a result, couldn't be killed by the enemy.

As Madara engaged in battle with the Fourth Division, Gou grabbed his sword and charged towards him, but Madara proved himself to have gotten more powerful than he was during his lifetime, and was able to block Gou's attack and send him flying back. Nonetheless, Gou was unfazed by the attack and launched powerful numerous water shurikens towards him, but Madara blocked it with. When Madara summoned, Gou was extremely shocked by Madara's powers and wondered how did he get so powerful after death before he, along with several hundred others, was struck by the meteors, although he was soon restored thanks to his immortal body. As Gou looked at the devastated land and the corpses of many shinobi, Gou cursed Madara for his actions. When the arrived at the battlefield, Gou decided to stick with them to battle Madara.

They battle for some time, with Madara equaling and besting the Kage's efforts. When he is hit with the Tsuchikage's Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique, Madara's armour is torn away, revealing the implant of Hashirama's face on his chest. Madara laments 's legacy that these Kage have inherited, having been completely unimpressed by their attacks, particularly those of the, Hashirama's granddaughter. Gou interrupts Madara's speech, saying that the only failure around here was him, because he wasn't able to see beyond his hatred, which caused his judgement to be clouded, and told Madara to never speak ill of Hashirama's legacy ever again. Madara shruggs off Gou's comments and creates twenty-five copies of himself and have them each activate their Susanoo.

By nightfall, the Kage are still alive and are able to pool their efforts so successfully that he is nearly sealed. Finally impressed by their display, Madara responds by summoning his perfected Susanoo. Before he can use it to kill the Kage, his Susanoo starts to fade and Madara is engulfed in light. Gou is engulfed in light as well, and as the Kage wonder what was happening, Gou tells them that the caster of the Impure World Reincarnation probably cancelled the technique. Much to Gou and the Kage's surprise, Madara responds by performing the hand seals to rescind the Impure World Reincarnation contract that Kabuto has over him, enabling him to return to his immortal body without further interference from a summoner. Gou carefully saw Madara perform the hand signs and copied him, allowing Gou to remain in the living world as well. Madara then charged towards Gou and the Kage, and Gou grabs his sword and intercepts Madara's attack, but they are all defeated by Madara, and the Five Kage left at the brink of death.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
Gou wakes up sometime later and finds, and  at the site, where they were healing Tsunade and the other Kage. They later make their way towards the battlefield, where Gou saves and  from dozens of miniature ' beasts. Gou then joins with, , and  in their battle against , the  of the. However, Gou's efforts are in vain as Obito effortlessly blocks his attacks and sends him crashing through many rocks with a single punch to the face.

Gou later wakes up and receives some of 's chakra from Naruto, and later helps the in removing the  from Obito, and later follows Naruto's lead in sealing Madara. As Gou, Naruto and try to seal Madara,  forcefully makes Obito  before Madara can be sealed. However, Madara's disappear as his eyes while he was reincarnated were not truly his, and needed to get a hold of his original eyes instead. Despite being temporarily blind, Madara managed to completely overwhelm Gou, Naruto and Sai. Gou quickly recovers and, alongside, tries to stab Madara with their respective swords, but are unsucessful, although Gou did manage to slice Madara's right arm off from the forearm below. arrives and hands Madara one of his Rinnegan eyes, which allows Madara to fight at an even bigger scale. Gou tries to pierce Madara's body, but he blocks it with ease before kicking Gou sword away from his hand and stabs him between his eyes and is kicked through rocks by Madara afterwards and is knocked unconscious as a result.

He later wakes up and sees Madara successfully become the 's. Gou tries to attack Madara, but Madara ignores him and flies away from his location. Gou activates his Mystic Chakra and follows Madara. Gou arrives just at the nick of time to save, and  from Madara's attack. Gou, along with Kakashi, Minato and Gaara, help battle Madara after the former activated all of the  and gained enough power to battle Madara. Gou uses his sword to block some of Madara's and then throws his sword to Guy, who managed to stab Madara through the chest with it. Madara then slowly recovers and rips the sword from his body and throws into Gou, who manages to grab it and watches Guy perform his final attack:, and afterwards, wonders if Madara was finally defeated. Sometime later, Madara manages to successfully cast the and the entire world gets trapped into a dream.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Except for Gou, and the , the entire world is trapped under the. Gou asks Madara if it was worth it, because he was now alone in the world without anyone to interact with, but Madara assures that he finally achieved peace for the world and everyone was living their ideal dreams. Suddenly, Madara is betrayed by, who reveals himself to be the will incarnate of. Black Zetsu then successfully revives Kaguya back into the living world by using Madara's body as a vessel, and Gou becomes momentarily paralyzed by just Kaguya's presence, and silently states that Kaguya's power was beyond comprehension. Gou and Team Kakashi are later transported to and Gou saves himself by using his sword to jump onto a wall and prevent himself from falling onto the lava. Soon, Gou is rescued by 's shadow clone and watches the battle between Naruto and against Kaguya.

When Sasuke is separated from Naruto by Kaguya, Gou decides to join Naruto in battle. Gou tells Naruto that he knows he won't stand a chance against Kaguya, and might actually get in his way, but couldn't bare to just watch the world that built come to an end. Naruto affirms that his power was necessary and Gou shares some of his Mystic Chakra with Naruto. Gou attempts to activate his Cursed Seal of Hell, but discovers the seal to have disappeared, and theorises that the seal must've disappeared after his death, and even having been reincarnated, the seal had been permanently lost, and silently expresses his frustration. Later, when prepares to use his  to rescue Sasuke, Gou approaches them and offers to help them. Obito accepts and teleports himself, Gou and to another of Kaguya's dimensions. After many unsucessful attempts, they finally find Sasuke trapped in a desert dimension, and Gou uses his Mystic Chakra to enhance Obito's durability, and they successfully rescue Sasuke, and return to where Naruto and Kakashi were waiting.

When they return, Gou stands next to Kakashi, Obito and Sakura as they watch Naruto and Sasuke battle Kaguya, and are all later teleported to another dimension with intense gravity. Gou then watches Obito sacrifice his life to protect Naruto and Sasuke. Later, when Kaguya is finally defeated by, The summons them all back from Kaguya's dimensions and congratulates them for their victory. Hagoromo then informs them he is about to release the Impure World Reincarnation, and Gou playfully asks if he couldn't wait a little awhile to cancel the technique, wanting to spend a little more time with his cherished sword, but Hagoromo laughs, and laments him that he couldn't wait, and Gou simply laughs it off, saying that it was worth a try. Gou hands Naruto his sword and asks him if he could return it to, and Naruto promises him that he would leave his sword secured, and Gou thanks him as his spirit returns to the.

Legacy
Gou was considered one of the most powerful of his generation and in history, such as during the, after receiving the news of Gou's allignment with the ,  claimed that just having Gou on their side drastically increased their chances of victory, especially because he was under the , which meant he couldn't be killed by the enemy and had infinite amounts of chakra.

During his lifetime, Gou was greatly respected and feared by many other assassins, who challenged him to obtain his Legendary Sword, but were always defeated and killed. himself admitted that if he and Gou were to fight at full power during their lifetime, Gou would probably come out as the winner, and admitted that Gou was truly a once in a lifetime shinobi.

Quotes

 * (To ) "Go ahead and finish me... I've killed so many of your . I understand if you desire to exact revenge on me, and I admit my mistakes. Please, finish me and end not only your suffering, but mine as well..."
 * (To ) "There's no way I'll let you destroy the legacy that Hashirama built! Madara Uchiha, your twisted plans are not going to be accomplished. Prepare to die.... AGAIN!!"
 * (To ) "Naruto... if you wouldn't mind, after you return home, could you secure my sword safely back at the ? I mean, that's where I believe the sword belongs to... in Hashirama's homeland."