"How?" Hagoromo asked in a heavy tone.
He... knew he had lost but he simply wanted to know how this happened and how it could evade his sight. He should have been notified the second the Kaguya's seal broke. But as he checked his connection to the fuinjutsu on the Moon, it was still there.
So... how?
"How what?" Kaguya calmly asked and raised her eyebrow at Hagoromo. "You gotta be more precise, son. This is why I liked Hamura more. He was always faster on the uptake." She casually insulted Hagoromo.
It was just a pity that Hamura also liked to overthink things and that meant he was prone to his opinion being easily swayed if one knew how to go about it.
Hagoromo ignored the insult. It inwardly surprised him that his mother was so passive-aggressive with him. Never before did his mother insult either him or Hamura but... Apparently, things changed.
When he looked into Kaguya's eyes, it pained him to see that the small flicker of affection that was always there whenever she looked at him or Hamura, was gone now.
No matter how... mad... Kaguya was, Hagoromo knew his mother loved him and his brother dearly. Yet now, these feelings were either perfectly hidden or gone. For some reason, that made him feel ashamed more than seeing his grand plans for the world crumble under human selfishness.
But now was not the time for pointless sentiment.
Recollecting his bearings, Hagoromo calmly elaborated. "How did you get out of the seal without me noticing, mother?"
Frankly speaking, Hagoromo left a failsafe in the seal in case it was broken. This failsafe would allow him to bestow his chakra to worthy individuals in hopes to fix the seal.
This was the last and only way for him to interfere in the world.
Yet, it was something he prayed would never come to pass. He was alright with being unable to interfere in any way if it meant his mother would stay locked in the seal.
But now... the seal was intact and he could not even use his failsafe because of that!
How the hell did she manage to do this!?
Kaguya let out a small laugh at Hagoromo's reaction. He was so cute, trying to be all calm, yet, it was as always his eyes that betrayed his panic. Just like when he was a kid and was stealing cookies from the kitchen. Nothing really changed since then in that regard.
"I had the help of the best Seal Master in the world." She truthfully stated with a fond smile on her lips.
Hagoromo was too distracted to notice. Of course, he instantly knew who his mother meant. He did pay attention to the ongoing events, after all.
"Yotsuba Rei. He let you out?" He asked in bewilderment and... disappointment.
Hagoromo was eagerly observing Rei's progress. The man reminded him a bit of himself, to be honest. A man stronger than others simply because he refused to be bound by their common sense and explored the energy available to him further than others, teaching his apprentices, creating a proper village, caring about his lovers and the people under him...
Rei was striving for improvement but he was not sacrificing human lives in the process. In fact, he tried to make them better. That was a very rare thing in the ninja world.
Hagoromo could respect that.
That's why hearing it was his favorite person in the current Elemental Nation that let his mother out made Hagoromo very disappointed. He felt as if his favorite hero in the story just betrayed his expectations. He was... seething.
Hearing the disappointment and silent anger in Hagoromo's tone when he mentioned Rei, Kaguya had just found the way how to... as Tsunade would say... verbally fuck with her target.
"Is that the tone you should use when talking about your new stepdaddy?" Kaguya narrowed her eyes, dropping an unexpected bomb on Hagoromo who suddenly felt like a child who was just scolded by his mother for being mischievous.
Sage.exe had a hard time loading the verbal nuke that was dropped on him.
"What?" Hagoromo blankly asked, his mind refusing to let him properly think.
"Your new stepfather, boy. Show him some proper respect or else..." Kaguya coldly ordered, "You might be over a thousand years old but that doesn't mean I can't bend you over my knee and spank you like the misbehaving child you are."
In fact, Hagoromo's current situation would make that extremely easy for Kaguya. The boy had no idea yet, but she was already planning to visit him on a regular basis to regale him with the tales of his stepfather's heroics both in and out of the bedroom.
She thought about it for a very long time... trying to find out the best punishment for Hagoromo.
Yet, Kaguya knew there was not much that could or would shake her son as he was now.
Physical pain would not work. He didn't have a physical body anymore so he would not even feel it if she tried to torture him without using spiritual attacks.
A spiritual attack, however, was out of the question as she didn't want to erase him from existence. That would have been too easy and fast.
Thankfully, Kaguya had incredible advisors and during one of the girl nights Rei's wives had two times per month, Kaguya got kinda drunk on Rei's special wine and told her problem to Ringo and Tsunade. The two of the both worst and best people to ask when one wanted to torture someone else.
In the end, Kaguya's answer was easy.
Emotional damage.
Hagoromo's spirit was trapped in his separate realm and Kaguya had now easy access to him without him being able to stop her in any way. She had all the time in the world to punish him for locking her away.
"Right..." Hagoromo trailed off, his mind still in great turmoil. "My new... stepfather." He grimaced at that thought. He didn't know his father but he was very interested in him when he was a kid and his mother eventually told him about the man.
And it influenced his entire life.
His father was a man who wanted only the best for his people. That was the kind of man Hagoromo wanted to become. That was the reason why he eventually decided to stop all the suffering his mother was causing and devote his life to repent for her mistakes by helping out the people with his special abilities.
It was irrational but getting to know that his mother had a new man... for some irrational reason, that irked Hagoromo more than her release from the seal, and his expression visibly soured as he thought about it.
When Kaguya saw it, she instantly knew the upcoming centuries would be very fun for her.
Taking a deep breath, Hagoromo decided to focus on what was really important. The family talk could be postponed to... preferably never. The poor naive boy had no idea about his inevitable future...
"What are you planning to do now that you are free?" He asked in a serious tone.
He needed to know. His mother was a disaster but since she wanted to... be intimate with a human, maybe she wouldn't try to destroy the world again?
Hagoromo was very hopeful...
"Mhm." Kaguya thoughtfully hummed, "Maybe I will make a few tens of siblings for you in the upcoming century?" She giggled, "I love the bedroom activities. Your father was never good at that but my new husband... mhmmm~." She released a needy moan, causing Hagoromo to blush like a maiden.
"Be serious, mother!" He ashamedly exclaimed in outrage, not liking the sleazy expression his mother showed at all.
"What? I am serious. Fucking like rabbits is my new favorite hobby, son." Kaguya playfully quipped, making Hagoromo even more mortified.
"Mom!" The situation was so ridiculous that Hagoromo even forgot their current hostile relationship and whinily complained.
"You want me to be serious?" Kaguya teasingly asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him.
"Yes!" Hagoromo firmly said in an exasperated tone, his cheeks slightly flushed.
He loved that his mother seemed to be interested in something else than world domination but he utterly hated that this new interest of hers was to fuck with some random dude that couldn't measure up to Hagoromo's father.
"As you wish, boy. Let's talk seriously now." Kaguya spoke and the air between her and Hagoromo suddenly tensed as heavy pressure full of malicious intent descended on Hagoromo, forcing him to lean forward as his eyes went wide.
Staring at his scowling mother and remembering the conflict they had between them, Hagoromo realized that no, he didn't really want her to be serious...