"You want to follow them and have a look too?" Natsuro asked Umbreon, who had suddenly appeared.
Umbreon nodded.
"I see… You're interested in the Tenseigan too, huh?" Natsuro gave a thoughtful nod, ultimately agreeing.
Seeing that Natsuro had given permission, Umbreon's eyes lit up. In the next instant, it vanished from the desk and appeared on his shoulder, licking his cheek affectionately.
Natsuro, still leaning back, felt a bit awkward, he knew that within Umbreon was the sealed Kaguya...
Then, the blood-red Rinnegan on Umbreon's forehead opened, and a black spatial rift appeared beside it. Umbreon leapt from his shoulder and dove into the rift.
"Yomotsu Hirasaka…"
Natsuro watched the rift and raised an eyebrow. Despite possessing the Blood-red Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan, Umbreon struggled with most of its abilities—except for the spatial ones like Yomotsu Hirasaka and Amenominaka, which it had mastered effortlessly.
As for the risk of Kaguya taking advantage of Umbreon's use of her powers, he had considered it.
But so far, Kaguya hadn't made any suspicious moves. In fact… she seemed quite content with her current existence.
Was she really satisfied just being able to "sightsee" through Umbreon's travels?
Umbreon possessed some of the finest spatial powers in the world. It often wandered freely across the globe, sometimes alone, sometimes bringing Ino and the others along for fun...
It had no understanding of stress or worry. Its carefree lifestyle was, in a way, enviable.
Natsuro felt a touch of envy toward Umbreon's carefree existence, but shook his head and let it go.
Come to think of it, Umbreon was turning out to be quite the powerhouse. Although Natsuro himself hadn't fused any Sharingan, Rinnegan, or Byakugan into his own body, the creature he created was slowly collecting them all.
If this mission succeeded, Umbreon would soon possess the Nine-Tomoe Blood Rinne Sharingan and the Tenseigan. That thought made Natsuro smile, it seemed this little creature he made was shaping up to be quite the monster.
Still, what exactly were the conditions to awaken the Tenseigan?
Natsuro mused. Toneri hadn't taken Hinata's eyes but instead abducted her younger sister, Hanabi.
From what he knew, Hanabi's Byakugan purity wasn't as high as Hinata's. So…
Was Tenseigan activation based on a certain level of Byakugan purity? Combined with Ōtsutsuki blood?
That didn't quite add up. Kaguya herself had the Byakugan, and it would be ridiculous to claim that her blood wasn't pure enough.
So why hadn't Kaguya ever awakened the Tenseigan?
And why hadn't Urashiki, whom he had encountered previously, shown any interest in it either?
Was it that they couldn't awaken it? Or simply that they didn't need to?
Or… perhaps the Tenseigan was something only the Moon branch of the Ōtsutsuki had developed independently, and the main Ōtsutsuki clan wasn't even aware that the Byakugan could evolve further?
The whole thing felt strange.
Maybe… they just didn't need it. Most of them already possessed the Rinnegan, which had more versatile abilities. The Tenseigan might've had more raw power in some areas, but to the Ōtsutsuki, power alone wasn't the point.
Sure, the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion could slice the moon in half, but the Sage of Six Paths had created the moon itself with a Chibaku Tensei. Between creation and destruction, which was more impressive?
In the end, he didn't care. Whether it was the Rinnegan or Tenseigan, neither held much use for him. Even if he implanted them, they wouldn't boost his strength.
What did interest him, though, was his recent progress in cultivating the Ten-Tails.
Over the past two years, he had released all nine tailed beasts into the wild. As he had expected, Kurama eventually returned to Naruto and re-entered his body.
Gyūki made the same choice and returned to Killer Bee.
Shukaku sought out Gaara once more, but Gaara, uninterested in being a Jinchūriki again, declined.
Even so, Shukaku remained by his side, now residing in Gaara's iconic gourd.
As for the others, Natsuro ordered that they return on an annual "trial day" to offer challenges to worthy humans. If they found someone suitable, they could become that person's tailed beast.
Otherwise, they were free to roam.
Of course, none of them dared defy him.
Forget Natsuro's own strength, his five created Sacred Beasts were now so powerful that even the Nine-Tails could only barely compete with them.
The current locations of the Sacred Beasts were...
Suzaku in the lava zone within Amenominaka
Genbu in the rocky wilderness near the former Land of Earth
Qinglong in the oceans of the world
Byakko in the desert space within Amenominaka
Kirin, floating above the former Land of Lightning, absorbing lightning from the clouds
Their strength and intelligence continued to evolve with time.
Though the tailed beasts were released, he retained all of their chakra samples, as well as part of the original Ten-Tails' body.
Using natural energy, Natsuro developed this chakra to grow a new being, the Mini Ten-Tails.
Crucially, this new creature had no will or consciousness—it was an empty vessel, designed solely to serve as a chakra converter.
He had no need for a full Ten-Tails rampaging inside him. He just needed a powerful, obedient engine to generate high-grade chakra on demand.
So far, everything was going smoothly. The Mini Ten-Tails had inherited all the original Ten-Tails' powers just in smaller, more manageable form.
And that was ideal. Natsuro didn't need the original's powers. All he needed was a high-output chakra generator to call upon in emergencies.
It would also allow him to further research chakra itself. Even though his own path was based on natural energy, expanding his knowledge never hurt. Who knew when it might prove useful?
Still, despite all this progress, he sighed.
He had created such a treasure and yet, had no worthy opponent to showcase it against.
That frustration lingered. Maybe... he could start looking forward to an eventual Ōtsutsuki invasion after all?
A faint glimmer of hope, however reluctant, surfaced in his heart.
Meanwhile, on the task team's side…
Naruto and Hinata quickly found Neji and Tenten and explained the mission.
"Hanabi's been kidnapped?" Neji frowned, visibly surprised.
"Yeah. We're waiting for the tracking squad to confirm Toneri's location, and then we move in," Naruto said seriously.
"Alright. I'll get ready." Neji responded earnestly, his gear wasn't fully stocked yet.
Before long, everyone was ready, and when they returned, they discovered Sasuke had joined them. Neji's tense expression relaxed.
If it had just been Naruto, Neji might've had concerns. But with Sasuke, there would be no issues.
"Lord Hokage, are you leading this mission?" Neji asked Sasuke.
"No. Natsuro already named you as team leader. I won't go against that," Sasuke replied calmly. He had no interest in the leadership role.
"In that case, everyone's clear on the mission, right?" Neji asked. "We're to investigate Ōtsutsuki Toneri and rescue Hanabi Hyūga. The longer we delay, the greater the risk. So, everyone ready?"
"All set."
"Good. Then let's move out!" Neji commanded.
In a flash, five figures shot off at incredible speed toward the last known direction reported by the scouts.
Meanwhile, Toneri had arrived at a pristine white room.
On a surgical table lay Hanabi Hyūga, completely unconscious.
Before long, in this world where eyes could be plugged in like USBs, Toneri slowly opened his new eyes, revealing a pair of brilliant blue irises.
"Who's there?!" Toneri suddenly frowned and shouted.
But nothing moved. He scanned the area carefully, there was no one.
"Was it… my imagination?" Toneri muttered, furrowing his brow. Maybe it was because he had just implanted Hanabi's eyes and hadn't fully adjusted to them yet... was it a hallucination caused by the transition?
After a moment of silent thought, Toneri glanced at Hanabi. He eventually ordered the Ōtsutsuki puppets to place her in a medical chamber and lock the door. Somehow, deep down, he felt that this girl had some kind of connection to his future bride.
So Toneri decided, once he brought Hinata back, he'd question her. If Hanabi turned out to be unrelated, he could always kill her later.
After Toneri left, a small figure suddenly appeared beside Hanabi, it was Umbreon, instantly recognizable by its small, cute form.
Umbreon curiously examined Hanabi, she was one of its favorite companions for playing around.
Looking at Hanabi… then glancing off into the distance at a power source it could sense that piqued its interest… Umbreon thought for a moment. Then it placed a paw gently on Hanabi's body.
Immediately, a Flying Thunder God seal identical to Natsuro's appeared on her.
Now it was safe. Umbreon nodded with satisfaction. If Hanabi encountered danger later, it could teleport to her instantly.
As for sending Hanabi back to Earth right now using Flying Thunder God?
Although Umbreon could easily do that… it wasn't stupid. If Hanabi suddenly disappeared, Toneri would definitely notice.
And right now, Umbreon didn't want to attract his attention, it still had work to do.
Having finished its task, Umbreon once again vanished from Hanabi's room.
Outside, it began to run without making a single sound. That's because it wasn't physically touching anything. Instead, it sprinted through space itself, stepping across gaps without leaving a trace.
Before long, Umbreon arrived at a massive door, sealed tightly with powerful enchantments. Normally, it would stop almost anyone from entering.
But, unfortunately for the door, Umbreon wasn't "almost anyone."
A black spatial rift appeared on the door's surface, and Umbreon leapt through, effortlessly bypassing the barrier.
Inside, Umbreon saw it... the enormous golden Tenseigan.
Its eyes sparkled.
At that moment, the blood-red Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan on its forehead opened again.
Umbreon jumped directly into the Tenseigan, and surprisingly, encountered no resistance at all. It entered smoothly, as though it belonged there.
From the outside, the golden glow completely concealed the Moon Spirit's presence. Even if Toneri came here, he wouldn't detect that Umbreon was inside the Tenseigan, absorbing its power.
And judging by how quickly the Tenseigan's energy was fading… it wouldn't take long before Umbreon absorbed it entirely.
Toneri, of course, was completely unaware.
At that moment, he was still in the Ōtsutsuki clan's main hall, quietly resting, waiting for his new eyes to finish evolving. Once they were complete, it would be time to retrieve his bride, from that primitive, unrefined blond-haired savage.
Suddenly, Toneri frowned.
He had just sensed movement through the passage that his Ōtsutsuki puppets had used to reach Earth, someone had come through it again.
"Were the puppets followed? That speed… it's fast." Toneri was surprised, but not worried. His fusion with the Tenseigan wasn't complete yet, these weren't his original eyes, after all.
Still, he didn't think any of those under-evolved Earthlings could possibly rival the Tenseigan.
"Hmm… it seems Hinata is with them." Toneri's lips curled into a smile, his eyes shining. Very well... how generous of them to bring his bride right to him.
Time to go welcome her.
With that thought, Toneri's body vanished from the hall, heading toward the intruders.
Moments later, the two parties clashed.
Toneri looked around at the battlefield, his puppets were being destroyed with ease. He frowned. Were the intruders really this strong?
These Ōtsutsuki puppets weren't weak by any means.
Toneri narrowed his eyes and studied the attackers carefully.
Then… he saw Sasuke's Rinnegan.
His eyes flew wide open in shock.
"Those are… the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths?!"
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