No Six Paths Sage Mode Naruto but Rinnegan Sasuke: Why?

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Here’s why Naruto doesn’t use six paths sage mode while Sasuke still has rinnegan:

Some argue that Naruto never did lose six paths sage mode.

Despite those arguments, there are never clear indications that he can still use the powers at any point in Boruto, despite facing multiple desperate situations.

It’s likely that Naruto and Sasuke lost Six Paths chakra when they lost their arms.

So if you want to learn all about why Naruto doesn’t have six paths sage mode anymore while Sasuke can still use rinnegan, then this article is for you.

Let’s jump right into it!

No Six Paths Sage Mode Naruto but Rinnegan Sasuke: Why?
Contents: show

Who Is Naruto?

Chances are that you know who Naruto is since you’re even reading this.

Despite that, I need to go over a few things.

First, let me give you a spoiler warning.

If we’re going to talk about six paths sage mode and the rinnegan, then I have to cover events at the very end of the original Naruto manga.

I will also delve into events pretty far into the Boruto storyline.

There are major spoilers ahead.

That said, Naruto is the main protagonist of his own story.

He’s a legendary ninja who is host to the nine-tailed fox.

He eventually became the Seventh Hokage (leader of the leaf village), and he’s one of the most recognized anime characters of all time.

Who Is Sasuke?

Sasuke is another very significant character in Naruto.

He is Naruto’s best friend and chief rival.

He goes back and forth between being a good guy and a bad guy, but in the end, he becomes Naruto’s most trusted ally and a hero of the Leaf Village.

What Is Naruto’s Six Paths Sage Mode?

Ok. There are a few things we have to run through in order for six paths sage mode to make sense.

First, in the Naruto universe, there is something called sage mode (or senjutsu).

This is a technique that Naruto learns shortly before fighting Pain. 

If Naruto is completely still, he can absorb natural energy in the world around him.

When he does, it gives him a massive boost in power.

He is physically stronger and faster.

He can sense chakra.

His ninja techniques get way stronger.

It’s a power up in every way.

Technically, this is something that any ninja can learn if they have enough chakra, talent, and training, and we see a handful of sages throughout the series.

Those include Jiraiya, Hashirama, and Minato, to name a few.

Six paths sage mode is like the ultimate evolution of sage mode.

Take all of the boosts that Naruto gets from regular sage mode, and six paths turns them up to 11.

The thing is, six paths sage mode is not something a ninja can just learn.

Instead, it is a special ability of the Sage of the Six Paths (named Hagoromo).

He’s basically the very first ninja and the one who invented chakra molding and ninja techniques.

Hagoromo is the son of a literal deity, so he’s not exactly a normal person.

We find that he has god-like abilities, and he can even travel through time.

This might get a little weird, but stay with me for a minute.

Hagoromo was the son of Kaguya, and she was the deity that brought chakra to the world.

She was also an evil deity, and Hagoromo wanted to stop her evil plan.

He did a bunch of things to thwart her (including creating the moon), but he couldn’t fully defeat her.

Realizing that, he decided to leave that task to his sons.

Instead of fully defeating Kaguya, they ended up fighting each other.

Over time, each son was reincarnated, and each time, the sons fought against each other instead of uniting to defeat Kaguya.

I’m skipping a lot to keep this short, but eventually, Naruto and Sasuke became the reincarnations of Hagoromo’s sons.

Hagoromo realized that these were the two who could finally defeat Kaguya, so he traveled through time to meet them.

When Hagoromo met with Sasuke and Naruto, he gave each of them special powers.

We’ll talk about Sasuke’s special powers in the next section.

For now, let’s focus on Naruto.

The special power given to Naruto was the six paths sage mode.

With this, Naruto could absorb and control chakra in the same way as Hagoromo.

This is not a technique that Naruto learned, and it’s not something that any other ninja could do through enough effort.

Instead, it was a gift of power from Hagoromo.

As I already stated, this special sage mode was incredibly powerful, and Naruto used it to help fully defeat Kaguya once and for all.

What Is Sasuke’s Rinnegan?

Now that we’ve covered the backstory, we can jump right into Hagoromo’s gift for Sasuke.

He gave Sasuke the rinnegan, only it was a little different.

It turns out that very special ninjas can unlock the rinnegan on their own.

If someone can obtain chakra from a reincarnation of both of Hagoromo’s sons at the same time, then that person can unlock the rinnegan.

This is what happened with Madara.

Madara was the reincarnation of one of the sons, and his best friend, Hashirama, was the reincarnation of the other son.

After Madara and Hashirama had a falling out, Madara was able to steal some of Hashirama’s DNA.

With that, he was able to obtain Hashirama’s chakra.

With that and his own chakra, Madara unlocked the rinnegan.

This is a special eye that comes with some insane powers.

It can absorb chakra, summon beasts, push and pull people, and even rip out people’s souls.

The rinnegan is actually what Hagomoro used to create the moon, so it’s no small thing.

The thing is, Madara’s rinnegan was not the pinnacle of what the rinnegan can be.

It was never as powerful as the one possessed by Hagomoro.

So, when Hagomoro was giving help to Sasuke and Naruto, he gave Sasuke some of his own chakra.

Sasuke was already a reincarnation of one of Hagomoro’s sons, so this chakra gift essentially gave Sasuke access to the chakra of the other son.

Sasuke unlocked the rinnegan, but because he had Hagomoro’s chakra (rather than just chakra from reincarnations of each son), he got a better, stronger rinnegan than even Madara possessed.

It’s a massive powerup, and it is the combination of the rinnegan and the six paths sage mode (along with help from Sakura and Kakashi) that allowed the team to overcome Kaguya.

Why Doesn’t Naruto Have Six Paths Sage Mode?

So, at the end of the original Naruto manga (and at the end of Shippuden), Naruto and Sasuke have some incredible power ups. 

Yet, in Boruto, it seems like Naruto no longer uses the six paths sage mode.

He fights enemies that are even stronger than Kaguya, so you would think that he would tap into this power if he could, so why doesn’t he?

This is actually the subject of much debate.

It is never explicitly stated in any manga chapter, anime episode, or anime movie that Naruto lost six paths sage mode.

He might actually still have it.

Despite that, there are no clear indicators that he can still use this mode.

I’m going to suggest that he did lose this mode, and I can support it in a couple of ways.

The first thing is that after Naruto and crew win the fight against Kaguya, Naruto’s appearance changes.

He no longer looks like he did with the six paths sage mode.

On top of that, he no longer has access to the truth seeking orbs.

This holds true through all of Boruto.

We never see these things again, and it suggests that Naruto can no longer use six paths mode.

He still has nine-tails chakra and regular sage mode, so he’s insanely strong, but six paths mode is never clearly depicted.

There’s a reason for this.

Six paths mode is incredibly powerful, and it’s a power that Naruto didn’t truly earn.

He just inherited it.

It seems in line with the writing that Naruto would only keep powers that he earned.

Also, taking away six paths sage mode makes Naruto a little more vulnerable, and that makes the storylines in Boruto quite a bit more interesting.

There’s one other reason that I can suggest for how and why Naruto lost six paths mode, but I’ll save that for the end.

Why Does Sasuke Still Have the Rinnegan?

We still have to talk about Sasuke.

After the Kaguya fight, Sasuke clearly still has the rinnegan.

He has it in Boruto too—at least in the beginning.

It’s worth noting that as of now in the story, Sasuke no longer has the rinnegan.

He lost it in the battle with Momoshiki.

During that fight, Momoshiki was able to control Boruto, and Boruto stabbed Sasuke right in the rinnegan.

It’s a big power loss.

But that brings up the primary question.

Why did Sasuke get to keep the rinnegan if Naruto didn’t get to keep six paths sage mode?

Well, the answer is a little more complicated.

First off, Hagoromo didn’t give the rinnegan to Sasuke.

He gave chakra to Sasuke, and with that chakra, Sasuke unlocked the rinnegan.

In that sense, the rinnegan was really Sasuke’s eye and not something that should be taken away.

More importantly, Sasuke didn’t get to keep Hagoromo’s chakra.

During the fight with Kaguya, Sasuke is able to spam rinnegan abilities with no ill effects.

It doesn’t rapidly drain his chakra.

Yet as an adult, Sasuke has to be careful about how much he uses his rinnegan, and he often has to charge chakra to use it.

This is despite the fact that adult Sasuke is much more adept at ninjitsu and chakra control.

It’s because he doesn’t have Hagoromo chakra anymore.

The chakra gift enabled Sasuke to use the rinnegan far beyond his natural limits.

Consider Naruto’s and Sasuke’s Arms

All of this actually comes back to their arms.

That might sound weird, but bear with me.

When Hagoromo actually gives chakra to the two characters, he explicitly tells each of them to raise their dominant arm.

As the characters raise their arms, he infuses them with his chakra, giving them the gifts that allow them to defeat Kaguya.

Here’s where things get interesting.

Right after Kaguya is defeated, Sasuke and Naruto have an epic fight, just the two of them.

In this fight, they clearly still use the gifts granted by Hagoromo.

Sasuke is able to use the rinnegan to the same extent as he did against Kaguya, and Naruto displays abilities on par with six paths sage mode.

They’re both at their strongest.

At the very end of the fight, they attack each other using their signature moves (chidori and rasengan), each attacking with their dominant arm.

The attack is so intense that they both lose their dominant arm.

After that point, neither seems to have access to Hagoromo chakra anymore.