I woke up to something damp and heavy pressed against my face. It was soft—so soft, like the first bed I ever had. It was furry too, which I suppose was the reason it felt so warm and comforting.
But I had no idea what it was... Was this how the Pure Land welcomed its guests? If it was, I couldn't say I disliked it.
Still, the thought nagged at me: I didn't deserve to be here. I had done nothing worthy enough to enter the Pure Land.
I was a failure—a bad son who sealed away his own mother, a bad brother who had basically made his sibling to almost live as a prisoner on the moon, and a terrible father who became the reason my sons thirsted for each other's blood, locked in endless enmity.
I wasn't wise. I thought sharing chakra would unite people, bring them closer, and let this world finally experience peace. But I was wrong—so devastatingly wrong.
All I did was sow more chaos. People became even more bloodthirsty than they had been under the rule of my mother, the Rabbit Goddess.
Now, they fight endlessly, dividing themselves into factions loyal to my sons. And soon enough, they'll follow someone else to kill and destroy again.
This... this truly breaks my heart. It's like nurturing a beautiful dream from childhood only to watch it twist into a nightmare without end.
After a lifetime spent trying to maintain this fragile illusion of "peace," I finally realized a bitter truth: peace never existed. And even if I managed to create it, it would crumble the moment I or my ideals faded from existence.
Nothing in this world is permanent—except change.
"FATHER! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! WAH WAH!"
A sharp, heart-wrenching cry pierced the air, jolting me from my thoughts. It was a voice I knew instantly—a voice I'd been hearing for the past decade. How could I not recognize it? It belonged to one of my own children. What kind of father would I be if I didn't?
"K-Kurama... What are you doing here?"
My voice trembled, barely audible, a shadow of the strength it once held when I was healthy. I wasn't surprised to see him; he's the one who needs the most emotional support. The one who relies on me the most.
If only I could tell the full story from the beginning, but there's no time for that now. The truth is, I'm dying. Extracting the chakra of the Ten-Tails and dividing it among nine beasts has taken a heavy toll on my body.
I should have lived for centuries, but the strain of the extraction was too great. Watching my sons turn against each other, consumed by hatred, eager to bathe in each other's blood, only worsened my condition.
Seeing my dream of peace crumble into an unattainable illusion broke me further.
As my life slips away, I've entrusted half of my power to my younger son, Ashura—the heir to Ninshu and the inheritor of my ideals.
I spent my final days seeking kind-hearted humans to care for the nine tailed beasts, hoping that, together, humans and beasts could cooperate and maintain some semblance of order.
At first, the beasts were saddened to leave me and Ashura. But slowly, they adjusted, forming bonds with their new partners. All of them... except the youngest and strongest of them, Kurama.
Kurama always came running back to us. He couldn't bear to be apart from me and Ashura. To be honest, I wanted to entrust him to Ashura; their bond was already strong.
But I couldn't. Ashura was already far stronger than the other beasts, possessing the Yang half of my power and the wood bloodline he likely inherited from my mother.
And... there was another reason I couldn't entrust Kurama to Ashura.
Thud.
Thud.
My heart raced as the sound of footsteps echoed in the distance. Someone was coming. Panic surged through me.
Without thinking, I reached for Kurama, scooping him up like a newborn, cradling him in my arms just as I had the day he was born.
Tears cascaded onto my face as Kurama cried uncontrollably. It was painfully obvious—he didn't want me to die. Yet, deep down, he knew it was inevitable.
His eyes were bloodshot, swollen from the endless crying, and only now did I notice his entire body was burning with heat.
Had he run all the way here without resting even for a moment?
But I didn't let myself linger on that thought. There was no time for it.
"Be happy from now on, my child," I whispered, my voice barely audible. Those words drained what little chakra I had left.
Using my Rinnegan, I mustered the strength to teleport him back to the partner I had chosen for him.
That person would already be worrying about Kurama's absence.
...
As Kurama vanished, I was left staring at the wooden ceiling of my dimly lit room. The lamps, the only source of light, flickered and began to extinguish one by one, casting the room into deepening shadows.
And then, the door creaked open.
A middle-aged man entered, dressed in all black, his clothes soaked in blood. His face was as cold as ice, void of any warmth or love, as if the world had stripped him of everything that mattered.
He stepped into the room, each footfall slow, deliberate, and heavy with intent.
"You..." he began, his voice low and tense. His eyes bore into me, filled with anger, pity, sadness, and an amalgamation of emotions I couldn't fully decipher. He was a storm I could not read.
"You took everything from me," he spat, completing his sentence as his gaze hardened.
Then, without warning, he struck.
Thud.
His kick landed squarely on my chest, and blood erupted from my mouth like a fountain. The force was overwhelming, but I masked my pain, pretending as if it hadn't affected me.
"I don't even know who you are," I replied with a smug smile, meeting his fiery glare with calm defiance.
Indra. My eldest son.
But the truth was, I didn't truly recognize him anymore. The Indra I once knew—the innocent boy who used to run to me with open arms—was long gone. He and Ashura had died the moment they began their bloodthirsty feud.
They once ran to me, shouting, "Father! Father!" with beaming smiles that could light up the darkest of days.
Those memories were like fragile shards of glass now, beautiful but painful to hold. They had changed, and it was all because of my own incompetence—a truth that weighed on me like an unrelenting burden.
Now, I endured the crushing reality of my failure. The last two people who truly knew me, who mattered most, no longer existed.
And I was the one who killed them.
"..."
Indra's piercing gaze bore into me as he processed my response. For a moment, he just stood there, silent, before raising his right hand.
Without a word, a massive purple sword of chakra materialized in his grasp, radiating power and finality.
Slash!
My head was severed in an instant. There was no time to react, though it wasn't like I would've tried to resist. I had lived far too long, endured far too much, to cling to this fragile, suffering shell of a body.
As my head tumbled through the air, I caught a fleeting glimpse of Indra standing there, silent tears tracing paths down his cheeks. He looked at me one last time before bending down, his trembling hand reaching for my head.
Pluck.
With deliberate precision, he removed my Rinnegan.
And with that, my story came to an end. Or so I thought.
Because this was not the end. This was merely the beginning of a new chapter I had yet to understand.
Unknown Time Later
A piece of flesh and blood from the Ten Tails, which had broken off during the battle between the two sages and their mother and had been buried in the ground for an unknown amount of time, suddenly started to move.
It began to shift and take on a jelly-like shape, reminiscent of Rimuru—except this one was red, not blue.
"Huh," Hagoromo muttered in surprise as he took over the newly formed jelly-like body, finding himself here instead of in the Pure Lands.
Author's Note:
Just to clarify, the MC is not the Zero Tails from the movie but a tailed beast made from the flesh and blood of the Ten Tails, unlike the nine tailed beasts that were created using its chakra.
The MC is Hagoromo because I think he's underrated, so I decided to write about him.
Let me know what you think!