The Successor

To everyone's astonishment, Hagoromo picks Asura to carry on his teachings, prompting Indra to demand why he was passed over. When Hagoromo asks how each son handled his assigned village, Indra reports that he, like Asura, supplied water and felled the last of the God Tree, and did it entirely on his own. Hagoromo then reveals the difference: after Indra departed, the villagers turned on one another over water rights and nearly wrecked the place, whereas Asura taught his village to sustain itself. Still, Hagoromo praises Indra's Sharingan and asks him to stand behind Asura in upholding Ninshū.

Indra walks away, trailed by two loyal followers. That night the pair suggest petitioning Hagoromo on his behalf, and Indra thanks them, then strikes them down. A feast is thrown to mark Asura's appointment, and privately Asura questions the choice, only for Hagoromo to explain that Indra's Sharingan has dulled his capacity to understand others.

Hagoromo grants Asura power and asks him to unite with his brother. Indra crashes the celebration, rejecting love as the foundation of Ninshū and branding cooperation a weakness, his eyes now bearing the Mangekyō Sharingan. He attacks, but Asura endures the blow, catching him off guard. As Indra unleashes his Susanoo, Hagoromo and the other followers pour their chakra into Asura, who blocks the assault with Truth-Seeking Balls and answers with Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands, overpowering his brother. Indra flees, swearing never to accept Asura or his philosophy.

Hagoromo relates how Indra went on to found a sect built on power, and how Black Zetsu later altered the Stone Tablet he had left behind to caution his heirs about the Sharingan. With his final breath, he recalls Indra's visit the previous night, when the elder son vowed to keep returning through reincarnation until love-driven Ninshū is gone. Hagoromo delivers the last of this account to the four Hokage.

The episode belongs to the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes arc. Asura's decision to teach his village to find water for itself rather than simply handing it over, as Indra did, nods to the proverb about teaching a person to fish. It aired in Japan on July 21, 2016, and in English on December 4, 2018, using Blood Circulator as its opening and Pino and Amélie as its ending.