"You sealed me. How dare you seal your own mother!?" Kaguya spoke in a low tone, staring a hole into Hagoromo, "Especially in a seal that would make a lesser being go crazy in the first year!" Her tone rose as she sneered.
Being sealed... she could handle that. But the seal Hagoromo used was the epitome of brutality. Any maternal love she could have had for him evaporated in the first decade of being sealed in there.
"I had no other choice, mother. You were corrupted!" Hagoromo exclaimed, trying to justify his actions. "You would have wiped humanity if you were allowed to continue and I couldn't let that happen, could I?"
In a way, Hagoromo was right. What he did save humanity from his mother.
Unfortunately for him, Kaguya was not looking at it from the same angle he was. Hagoromo didn't understand she didn't care about being sealed. Honestly, she was even slightly happy about that as it allowed her to meet Rei. All that suffering... it was worth it!
But no, Kaguya was not mad at being sealed but at how Hagoromo handled the entire situation. With his resources at the time, he could have done so many other things than just trying to recklessly play a hero.
"No other choice? No choice you say!?" Kaguya seethed, too agitated to stay calm. Her son just didn't get it, did he? He still tried to be the hero shouldering the fate of humanity and it made her so angry! "Pray tell, what the hell do you mean by that? You, the one who basically created fuinjutsu arts from scratch. You, who was able to remake Moon into prison for me. You, a bonafide Demi-God with chakra reserves to match, and with all the years you had by my side couldn't do something a 'lowly' human managed to accomplish in a few months. Do you really want me to believe that? Stop making pathetic excuses, Hagoromo."
Hagoromo furrowed his eyebrows at that, not understanding what his mother meant, "What do you mean?"
Kaguya scoffed. Seems she had to spell it for him to make him finally open those divine eyes of hers and take a proper look. How... disappointing.
"Do you feel the corruption still influencing me?" She dryly asked in a disappointed tone. When Hagoromo's face showed a massive surprise as he finally took a proper look at her, Kaguya inwardly sighed in indignation. Her son was a hypocritical moron. Just like his father. Heaven... What did she do to deserve this?
"Of course, you don't." She condescendingly sniffed, "The man who freed me from the seal also made sure the corruption no longer affected me. He did that almost effortlessly. In. A. Few. Months!" She emphasized, "A human managed to do something in a few months that you, a Demi-God couldn't in the years you opposed and fought against me?"
Kaguya's tone was almost amused. It was a ridiculous notion. As strong as Rei was, he was not yet on the level of Hagoromo. Kaguya sure as hell planned to help him reach and surpass her son in the future even if she had to sacrifice her own chakra reserves in the process but she would not cover her eyes from reality.
Her lover still needed a bit of effort to reach Hagoromo's prowess.
And yet, he had already surpassed her son in every way that mattered. He created artificial bijuu, he created his own dimension, he reverse-engineered Hagoromo's biggest fuinjutsu work, her moon seal, he cracked a way to integrate chakra and nature energy... and much more.
Kaguya couldn't have been prouder of her man. Of her human. The human that already surpassed a Demi-God with his feats and claimed her heart.
"Don't make me laugh! You never tried to help your poor mother despite knowing there was something wrong with me. You only wanted the glory of defeating me. No matter if my mind was a bit clouded at the time, I raised you, Hagoromo. Don't think you can lie to my face or hide your intentions from me, boy." Kaguya snorted, leveling a disappointed look at him which made him flinch.
Her war with her sons was not just one massive battle. They stood against each other for a few years. Both sides had enough time to scheme and make plans.
Kaguya never really went through with all the ways to eradicate her sons, though. Despite being half-insane, she did love them dearly. Her whole effort in making an army of white Zetsu was to protect them.
Killing them would completely defeat the purpose of her efforts.
But her sons were different. They genuinely wanted to stop her.
Did Hagoromo really want to make her believe in all these years, he not once thought of a way to help her clear the corruption that was plaguing her?
That was total bullshit and he knew it!
He didn't want to help her. He wanted to win against her. It was as simple as that.
Hagoromo sagged his shoulders after hearing out his mother's accusations. He... really didn't have any counterargument and felt quite embarrassed. The woman in front of him was his mother and he might not have liked it but she knew him best.
After all these years, this was the very first time he admitted the intentions he had then and his eyes became weary, "I-... I was foolish, mother." He quietly admitted, dropping his head down.
He would like to proudly argue but... the proof that his way was the wrong one was clear. One simply had to look at the Elemental Nations to realize his wish of peace was not fulfilled at all.
He sealed his own mother and estranged his brother, his two sons entered into a war that lasted beyond their graves, and the world was still in perpetual conflict.
What exactly did he accomplish that would make him proud?
"Still don't get i-, wait what?" Kaguya was about to reprimand him, expecting her boy to start making another useless excuse but his simple admittance of guilt made her stop her tirade.
Hagoromo chuckled when he noticed his mother looking at him as if he grew a second head. Wearily sighing, he decided to elaborate, "Hamura. He left me because he regretted what we did to you. He relocated to the Moon and tried to find a way to communicate with you." He donned a sour expression, "He realized that..."
But Kaguya quickly cut him off with an unimpressed face and a small glimmer of disappointment in her eyes, "You are trying to manipulate me."
"No, I-" Hagoromo's eyes widened in surprise and alarm.
How could she-!
"Foolish child." Kaguya sadly chuckled and gently shook her head in exasperation, "You were always very talented but so very slow on the uptake. Just like your father." She wryly smiled. "The second you realized that I am no longer under the influence of the chakra fruit corruption, you tried to manipulate me, knowing that I often indulged you as a child. I really did spoil you too much, did I not?" She wistfully sighed to herself.
Her sons being powerful was a matter of fact. They had her blood, and therefore a share of her abilities. Considering that she had no idea how much more powerful she could grow with proper training, they inherited a monstrous power by human standards.
The power they gained mostly for free, just by being her sons.
Maybe if she didn't give them everything they wanted and let them learn their morals from their human nannies when they were younger, the situation would have been different. Alas...
Kaguya slowly stood up and stretched, "I guess I had enough of you for the foreseeable future, son. I will come for a visit later. Until then, think about your actions and repent for you are grounded." She snickered to herself.
Hagoromo looked weirdly at his mother, "You are not going to kill me?" He asked incredulously.
This... was extremely unexpected.
"And why would I do that, Hagoromo?" Kaguya raised her eyebrow at him, "Despite everything, you are my child and I do have some lingering affection for you. And besides," She looked around the realm where he was imprisoned and snickered again at the irony, "you made your own nice inescapable prison so why should I help you to get out of it so easily? This being able to watch but not interfere is a good punishment for a meddlesome fool like you. But be a good boy and don't peek at your mommy being naughty with your stepdaddy or I will have to come here and spank you, alright?"
Kaguya playfully finished and disappeared from Hagoromo's realm, leaving only the flabbergasted and blushing Sage of the Six Path in her wake.
Hagoromo had... some long days of contemplation and meditating in front of him if he wanted to get that mental image out of his head.
Much to his horror, he realized his mother could and would visit him again. He... didn't look forward to more emotional damage like this. Not at all.
Why couldn't she just kill him?