The Story of Shinobi: Saviors of Past and Present

''Author's Note: This is a rewrite of Final Training: Rokudou Sennin trains Ryun Uchiha — written many years ago when I was still a novice writer. Looking back on my old work, I surprisingly got a lot of things right about what a meeting with the Sage of the Six Paths would be like, but obviously, there are a lot of childish mistakes that I would now like to rectify. Therefore, this will serve as an official retcon of that chapter. Please enjoy~!''

He Who Is Named Hagoromo...!
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The broken form of Ryun Uchiha laid among the stone and debris of the Land of Mountains as the heavens above unloaded a mighty downpour — almost an omen of its festering rage — across the battle scarred land. Mere hours ago, the younger Uchiha had done battle once more with his rival, Seireitou Hyūga. As usual, the battle had resulted in a tie, leaving them both unconscious for quite sometime. It was apparent to Ryun, upon glancing around at his rain-soaked surroundings, that Seireitou had woken sometime before him and left. Resting his head back into the soft mud beneath it, Ryun lamented himself. Why couldn't he beat Seireitou?! It wasn't enough knowing the two men were equal in every way. He had to know which of them was better. Cursing silently to himself, the Uchiha's eyes rolled back into his head and he again drifted back off into an abysmal slumber.

The time to awaken has come...!

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Ryun's eyes suddenly snapped open, having heard a voice summoning him from his slumber. The Uchiha warrior jolted up, alarmed, when he realized his surroundings were wholly different this time around. Had Seireitou come back for him? Imprisoned him in some godforsaken fortress? No... this place felt different. Switching to his legendary Sharingan, Ryun examined his surroundings. Wherever he was, the environment was saturated with chakra. In fact, if the young Uchiha didn't know better, he'd almost have to say the place he now found himself in was made of chakra.

"Do you think yourself in the land beyond this one, child of Indra?" a deep, rumbling voice called through the spacious domain. "Is your very soul so laden with burden that you cannot assess the very boundaries of life and death that root you to this plane?"

Ryun cast a curious glance over his shoulder at the speaker. Whoever he was, the man was obscured by the shadows cast over the domain in which they were both trapped. Ryun could only make out his floating silhouette. Looking upon him with the dōjutsu of the Uchiha revealed a very different sight, however. The figure was crackling with tremendous chakra! More chakra than Ryun had ever seen in one place! Even Seireitou, who had tremendous chakra by Ryun's standards, had nothing slumbering in him that compared to the volume of chakra that was manifested before his eyes now.

"Just..." Ryun breathed, suddenly aware that he'd stopped breathing. "Just who the hell are you?!"

The man's shadow shifted slightly.

"Indeed, in your situation, to be highly inquisitive as to the nature of my existence is an entirely natural response. Of course, if you hear my name, certain events which cannot be stopped will undoubtedly unfold and this troubles me greatly. Even so, I suppose it cannot be helped." with this, the figure floated completely out of the dark, exposing himself entirely to Ryun. "I am he who brought peace and order to the land. The name in which I was bestowed, is Hagoromo."

Ryun marveled at the floating elderly man before him. The specter's face was creased and folded with age, a thick and spiked head of auburn hair sitting atop his aged skull, and a matching goatee stretching from his chin to mid-waist. He was clothed in a pure white kimono, adorned with black magatama, but perhaps most curious was the shakujō floating behind him and the matching floating just beneath him. Suddenly, Ryun's eyes were drawn to a more distinguishing feature. The man's eyes were brimming with chakra, exuding the very definition of power. There was no mistaking it: these eyes were those of legend! The Rinnegan!

"Those eyes—! You're—?!"

"Your Sharingan do not deceive you, child of Indra." the man called Hagoromo continued. "I had imagined that one such as you might have the reaction in which you did. If that is the case, you must also now realize that you are, in fact, alive and have been brought to this place merely through my summons."

Ryun's eyes twitched comically. "This old geezer drones on even more than Shōyō-sensei..."

"Perhaps you find my methodology of speaking to be cumbersome, hm?" Hagoromo inquired. "You would not be the first to do so. Allow me to make a more concerted effort to appeal to the language of your day." Hagoromo brought his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat in preparation. "Yo! Maybe if I talk like this, a country bumpkin like yourself can understand me better, ya heard?"

"THAT'S NOT ANY BETTER!" Ryun roared comically, jabbing his fingers at the floating elderly man. "You went from speaking like Father Time to Snoop Dog!! How is that supposed to help me understand you at all?!?!"

Hagoromo covered his mouth and cleared his throat a second time, this time speaking more clearly. "Yes, well, I haven't always been the best at changing my method of speaking over the ages. Times change quickly and I often find myself lost among the rabble of the day." Ryun's eye twitched again with annoyance, but at least he could understand this time. "In any case, you must realize by now that I am from the past. I am someone who is not of this world any longer."

"A dead guy from the past... who has the Rinnegan." Ryun contemplated, his eyes narrowing with realization. "Then you're...—"

"Indeed," Hagoromo cut him off. "I am Hagoromo, the founder of Ninshū, and the one who first brought chakra to mankind. You would also know me as the Sage of the Six Paths."