Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki

, known to the world at large as the, was a legendary god-like figure who founded ninshū and created the ninja world. He was the son of Princess Kaguya Ōtsutsuki‎‎ and, alongside his brother, one of the first of humans to be born with chakra. He and his brother defeated the Ten-Tails in battle, and sealed the powerful beast within him, thus making Hagoromo the first jinchūriki.

Background
Hagoromo was born as one of two children to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki‎‎, a princess who ate the forbidden chakra fruit of the Shinju that appeared once a millennium in an effort to gain god-like abilities, which she used to put an end to the constant wars during that era. As a result, Hagoromo was born with the ability to manipulate the same type of powerful chakra as his mother. The Shinju, furious with Kaguya's actions, was determined to get its chakra back, which caused the tree to assume a monstrous form that would come to be known as the Ten-Tails.

The Ten-Tails rampaged throughout the lands until Hagoromo and his brother managed to defeat the beast by becoming its jinchūriki, causing him to be revered as a god for the virtue of his victory. With his knowledge of the concept of chakra, Hagoromo travelled across the land, giving chakra to others as well as spreading his ideals and religion, ninshū, which eventually became the ability known as ninjutsu. According to Jiraiya, his great deeds and ultimate desire to bring peace to the war-torn world made him widely known as the.

Hagoromo's ultimate wish was to establish peace across the world, but it was a goal that would never be achieved in a single lifetime. Knowing this, he chose to entrust his dream and legacy to his two sons, and began to teach them ninshū. The older son, Indra, was acknowledged by Hagoromo as a true prodigy, who quickly began to revel in his natural prowess and became very solitary. The younger son, Asura, proved to be the exact opposite, having shown no special abilities or natural talent, but he pushed on through his limitations, growing stronger and more mature because of his struggles and making friends along the way. Hagoromo acknowledged Asura's chosen path, agreeing that love and cooperation were the true key to peace.

Inspired by his younger son, Hagoromo separated the Ten-Tails' chakra within his body and used his Creation of All Things ability to divide it into nine separated bodies, creating the tailed beasts and giving each a name. As a result of extracting them all at once, Hagoromo was left weakened and incapacitated for several months, though the powerful life force of the Ten-Tails' husk kept him alive. Some time after their creation, the young tailed beasts were told that they were all still linked to one another despite being separate entities. Hagoromo also told them that they would eventually become one again, yet not as they originally were, and that one shall appear at that time to show them what true power is. Hagoromo eventually used Chibaku Tensei to seal the husk of the Ten-Tails in what would become the moon. On his deathbed, he chose Asura to be his successor, but Indra, overcome by bitterness and envy, fought against his brother, beginning a war between them that would continue through their descendants.

Suspecting that Indra or one of his reincarnations would eventually attempt to take Asura's power for themselves, Hagoromo left behind a tablet detailing his history in an attempt to make them reconsider. Only those who possess the Rinnegan can fully decipher the contents of the tablet, while a reader with other dōjutsu such as the Sharingan can still partially interpret the information.

Personality
Hagoromo was a man who sought peace by spreading his wisdom across the world. He was exceptionally wise, as he was able to bring about a great change to the world by simply disseminating the principles of chakra and his religion. He also seemed to care a great deal for the tailed beasts when they were still with him; he gave them each a name as a sign of their individuality, and told them that no matter how far apart they grew, they would always be together, and would someday be led down the right path. In return, the tailed beasts showed respect and adoration for the Sage. Kurama even shed a tear at the thought of his imminent passing, suggesting that the beasts might even have viewed him as a sort of father-figure.

Upon meeting Naruto, Hagoromo showed himself to be a very patient and composed individual, being unaffected by Naruto's outbursts. He was a very intelligent man, able to methodically learn new forms of study including language and culture. He was also very stern about his teachings being recognised as "ninshū", noting that "ninjutsu" was created for combat unlike ninshū's pursuit of peace, and gripped his staff rather tightly when Naruto failed to distinguish the difference between the two. At the same time, Hagoromo was a very modest man, openly admitting to his personal mistakes and shame as a father and leader. Despite his deified status, he also believed that no one should have more power than any other because it leaves a strong chance of the person becoming arrogant and desire even greater power.

Appearance
Hagoromo was a tall and grey-skinned (peach-skinned in the anime) man. In his elderly age, he had deep wrinkles and shaggy red hair (grey in the anime), which was short yet spiked up at the top with a chin-length braid hanging in front of his left ear. He also sported a sleek chin goatee reaching down to his waist. Hagoromo had pronounced and hairless eyebrow ridges with small, horn-like protrusions above them, as well as a red Rinnegan-like marking in the centre of the forehead. He spots a light-coloured circle marking, representing yang on his right palm. In his younger days, Hagoromo's beard was very trim and his eyebrow ridges were less pronounced. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black (red in the anime) magatama around a high collar, beneath which he wore a necklace which was also made up of six magatama. On the back of his kimono was a larger Rinnegan-like marking with a pattern of nine magatama arranged in three rows of three beneath it.

Abilities
Though not a great deal is known about all the skills Hagoromo possessed, he is widely accepted to be the most powerful figure in history, second only to his own mother, having defeated the Ten-Tails, albeit with his brother's help. As it was revered as a god, Hagoromo himself came to be seen as a god himself after becoming its jinchūriki, as well as the man to first understand the very nature of chakra itself. This wisdom, combined with his kekkei genkai, the Rinnegan, allowed Hagoromo to create the original form of ninjutsu, ninshū. With such powers at his disposal, Hagoromo obtained a great following, as men and women from across the world strove to learn from his teachings. The power of his chakra was later shown to even transcend time itself, and was able to continue observing the world and meet with people long after his death.

Jinchūriki Transformation
As the very first jinchūriki in history, having the Ten-Tails' great power contained within him, Hagoromo developed immeasurable power and chakra that far surpassed all others. Hagoromo gained the ability to fly as well as manifest and wield unique chakra-formed weapons. One is a holy sword known as the Sword of Nunoboko, which he reportedly used to shape the world. The other is a completely black, dual-headed shakujō. One end has the typical ringed hoop, while the other end possesses a crescent shaped curve, representing the sun and moon respectively.

Ninshū
A man of great wisdom and power, Hagoromo invented ninshū as a way to bring peace to a war-torn world, sharing chakra with others as a mean to connect with everyone. He intended for this power to connect all humans and bring forth harmony, however, following his death, humans would use this to widen the rift between them all, turning it into what became ninjutsu.

Fūinjutsu
Using fūinjutsu he was able to first seal the Ten-Tails into his own body, and was later able to seal it away when his life came to an end. Even on his deathbed, Hagoromo was able to employ his Chibaku Tensei technique on a massive scale and use that chakra to create the moon to imprison the body of the Ten-Tails within it, a clear testament to his incredible power.

Yin–Yang Release
By using the Yin chakra, that comes from the spiritual energy, and the Yang chakra, that comes from the physical energy, he had the ability to create form from nothingness with a mere thought to bring it to life. Hagoromo created the nine tailed beasts from the Ten-Tails' chakra by using this ability.

Bukijutsu
Hagoromo was shown carrying two objects. One was what appeared to be a katana, implying that he was skilled in kenjutsu, whilst the other was a shakujō — a Buddhist ringed staff which is meant to be used in prayer.

Treasured Tools
Hagoromo wielded unique tools which became known as the Treasured Tools of the Sage of the Six Paths, each of which possess a unique and powerful ability. The five treasures are: the Bashōsen, Benihisago, Kōkinjō, Shichiseiken, and the Kohaku no Jōhei. By combining the Benihisago, Kōkinjō, and Shichiseiken, Hagoromo could capture the word soul of his victims, and then draw them into the gourd to seal them away. With the Bashōsen, he could generate any of the five basic elements. The Kohaku no Jōhei allowed him to seal anyone without the elaborate procedures used for the Benihisago.

Rinnegan
Hagoromo was believed to have been the only shinobi to have fully mastered the Rinnegan, and also learned to control all five types of nature chakra. As a wielder of the Rinnegan, he also wielded all the abilities of the Six Paths Technique. Nagato openly admitted his power with the Rinnegan was nothing compared to Hagoromo's.

Infinite Tsukuyomi Arc
After the Yin half of Kurama was sealed inside of Naruto Uzumaki, the legendary sage met within Naruto's mind to speak with him, noting that he felt drawn to Naruto. After the young shinobi grows angry from Hagoromo's philosophical speech, Hagoromo gets to the matter at hand. He begins to explain his family history from his mother to his two sons, to Naruto, which lead him to reveal to the latter, that he is in fact the reincarnation of his younger son Asura. Realising that Naruto had already realised this on some level, Hagoromo also went on to explain that similarly, Indra has repeatedly reincarnated himself into others, most recently, as Naruto correctly guessed, Sasuke Uchiha. Hagoromo explained that Indra's previous incarnation, Madara, sought not only the Sage's power, but that of his mother's, having broken from the normal cycle of life. As the Sage asked Naruto to stop Madara, Naruto thanked him for his trust, to which Hagoromo insisted that he deserved no praise after his failings as a father and leader as well as having let the world continue to follow the belief of power for peace. Naruto disagreed with Hagoromo being a failure, to which Gyūki, Shukaku, and the Yin half of Kurama agreed as they appeared inside Naruto's mind. As the tailed beasts voiced their agreement to Naruto being the child of the prophecy, Hagoromo summoned the other tailed beasts. Admitting to his mistake of solely trusting one son and ignoring the other, Hagoromo entrusted Naruto to help reshape the world for the better. He then asked Naruto what his goal was after the war ended. Simultaneously elsewhere, Hagoromo met with Sasuke, telling him the same story and asking him the same question. Accepting the answers of his reincarnated offspring, Hagoromo transferred his power to the two friends, ensuring he did not repeat the mistake of only entrusting the task to just one.

Legacy
It is almost impossible to overestimate Hagoromo's effect on the course of the ninja world's development. As the first true ninja, he created the ninja world, revolutionised it, and left it forever changed. As his disciples grew continuously greater in number, it led to the creation of ninja clans, and later, ninja villages.

As time passed, Hagoromo ultimately faded into legend. His bloodline was divided into the descendants of his two children, which would eventually form the Senju clan — and through distant relations, the Uzumaki clan — and the Uchiha clan. As a result of Madara Uchiha acquiring and integrating the DNA of Hashirama Senju into his body, the Rinnegan would later resurface. Though he noted nothing happened initially after the DNA integration, when Madara neared the end of his natural lifespan, the dōjutsu finally awakened. With that, Madara managed to undo Hagoromo's seal on the vessel of the Ten-Tails by summoning it from the moon and formulated the Eye of the Moon Plan to become the Ten-Tails' new jinchūriki.

Because Nagato, a pupil of Jiraiya's, possessed the Rinnegan, the latter suspected Nagato to be the reincarnation of the Sage himself. In reality, Madara had secretly transplanted his own Rinnegan into the boy without his knowledge. Nagato, as a descendant of the Senju-related Uzumaki clan, was the perfect host for the dōjutsu; however, Nagato himself noted that his own power would have paled in comparison to the Sage's. Others, including Kakashi Hatake, noted that the Rinnegan was viewed merely as a mutation. The tailed beasts' recognition of Hagoromo (and their apparent status as the only survivors from his lifetime), lended credibility to his existence.

Before he died, Hagoromo told the young tailed beasts that someone would come and lead them on the right path. The tailed beasts would all later come to agree that this person is Naruto Uzumaki.

Trivia

 * literally means 'feather mantle' and is a reference to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, in which Princess Kaguya is given a hagoromo to wear upon her return to the moon. The surname roughly means 'big bamboo tree' and is derived from an obscure passage in the second volume of the Kojiki about the genealogies of Emperor Suinin, eleventh emperor of Japan, which states that he had a consort named, the daughter of a king named ; tradition holds that these individuals served as the basis for Princess Kaguya and the old bamboo cutter in the aforementioned tale.
 * His horn-like appendages may in fact symbolise rabbit ears, representing his connection to the moon by evoking the moon rabbit; pop culture depictions of Princess Kaguya and the moon-folk often incorporate features like rabbit ears for this reason.
 * The necklace that Hagoromo wore might be a reference to the Yasakani Jewel; a legendary magatama necklace that is part of the Japanese Imperial Regalia, together with the Kusanagi Sword and the Yata Mirror.
 * Hagoromo shares the same nickname with both the First and Third Hokage, who were all known as the.
 * Due to the Gold and Silver Brothers' ability to assimilate Kurama's chakra by eating some of its flesh, the Fourth Raikage suspected them to be distantly related to Hagoromo.

Quotes

 * (As quoted by Jiraiya)
 * (To the tailed beasts)