At night.
Whoosh.
With a gust of wind, Neji landed in the designated grove.
At that moment, Shinji, dressed in Akatsuki attire, emerged from behind a tree. "Everything ready?"
Neji first bowed respectfully, then replied, "Yes, I've left a shadow clone behind. It should hold up for a few days!"
"Then let's go!"
Shinji's figure flickered, vanishing from the spot.
Neji hurriedly followed.
Though the village had intensified its patrols, both Shinji and Neji possessed the Byakugan, allowing them to easily slip out undetected.
Once far from the village, Shinji paused and summoned his complete-form Susanoo, saying to Neji, "Time's tight. We'll fly there!"
Using a shadow clone to cover for oneself was already risky, so Neji also wanted to make the trip quick. He allowed Shinji's Susanoo to grasp him in its hand.
The complete-form Susanoo's flight speed was extraordinary. In just one day, they crossed the Land of Hot Water and arrived in the Land of the Moon.
There, they rendezvoused with Karin, who had taken a different route to the Land of the Moon.
Karin hadn't traveled with them for two reasons: first, to avoid Neji's Byakugan potentially uncovering her identity during prolonged proximity, and second, because two complete-form Susanoos together would be far too conspicuous.
The trio reached the illusory passage to the Moon and immediately began their covert crossing.
Having done this before, they were well-practiced. Karin used her Adamantine Sealing Chains to open a breach, allowing Shinji and Neji to pass through the thin veil created by the giant Tenseigan and arrive on the Moon once more.
On the Moon, they kept a low profile, abandoning the use of complete-form Susanoo for travel. Instead, they stealthily made their way to the outskirts of the Otsutsuki branch family's castle.
Just as Neji prepared to infiltrate the castle as before, Shinji suddenly stopped him, pointing to the sky.
Neji followed Shinji's gesture, and his face tightened. "How could this be!?"
Shinji's expression grew grim as well.
Uncertain whether they had left traces during their last infiltration, the castle's defenses were now noticeably stricter.
Most striking was the patrol in the sky, which had doubled in number since their last visit.
With Shinji's current strength, ordinary Tenseigan puppets posed little threat, but the trouble was that if these puppets spotted them, they'd face the Otsutsuki branch family directly. And that meant confronting the giant Tenseigan enshrined in the temple.
Neji hesitated. "My lord, what now?"
Shinji weighed his options.
Tapping into the giant Tenseigan's chakra would indeed accelerate Neji's chakra storage, but clashing with the Otsutsuki branch family on their turf might not be worth it.
Yet retreating empty-handed felt like an even greater loss.
After deliberating, Shinji said, "Let's go. We'll infiltrate first! At the very least, we need to figure out why they've suddenly heightened their defenses!"
He reasoned that even if they were discovered, escape should still be possible, so trying was worth the risk.
Neji considered it and agreed.
The Otsutsuki branch family was a group of lunatics bent on world destruction. Any abnormal behavior warranted thorough investigation.
Soon, the two cautiously slipped inside the castle's protective barrier, finding the internal security equally stringent.
Fortunately, their Byakugan's x-ray vision and familiarity with the route allowed them to navigate without incident, reaching the temple housing the giant Tenseigan.
Shinji urged, "Hurry. I'll guard the entrance!"
"Yes!"
Neji didn't hesitate, rushing toward the giant Tenseigan.
Resonating and absorbing chakra, he completed the process seamlessly. In no time, Neji had filled himself with Tenseigan chakra.
But as he prepared to leave, the "biological exoskeleton" on his body, which had gained a trace of sentience from prolonged exposure to Tenseigan chakra, suddenly activated. Bypassing Neji's control, it began directly absorbing the Tenseigan chakra from the giant Tenseigan.
"What!?"
Neji stood frozen, dumbfounded.
The "biological exoskeleton," designed by Shinji specifically for chakra storage, had absorption capabilities far beyond what a teenager like Neji could match.
In mere moments, it absorbed a vast amount of Tenseigan chakra, even causing fluctuations in the giant Tenseigan.
Snapping out of it, Neji hurriedly called to Shinji at the entrance, "My lord, something's wrong!"
Hearing this, Shinji strode into the temple in a few quick steps. Seeing the "biological exoskeleton" autonomously absorbing Tenseigan chakra, he froze briefly but quickly reacted, lowering his voice. "Make it stop!"
Neji, panicking, stammered, "I-I can't control it!"
"How is that possible?"
With a stern face, Shinji approached Neji, casting several sealing techniques to barely suppress the activated exoskeleton.
Neji let out a sigh of relief.
Shinji, however, remained vigilant. Glancing at the giant Tenseigan, he knew the exoskeleton's actions had likely alerted the Otsutsuki branch family. He decisively said, "Let's go!"
Neji glanced at the now-agitated giant Tenseigan, instantly understanding Shinji's concern. Without a word, he followed Shinji.
No sooner had they left the temple than they were surrounded by numerous Tenseigan puppets.
Knowing they had to act fast, Shinji unleashed his complete-form Susanoo. With a single swing of its golden blade, he reduced a dozen blocking puppets to scraps!
Then, Shinji ordered Neji, "You go first!"
Neji hesitated briefly, then nodded, his figure flickering as he vanished.
Shinji, leveraging the might of his complete-form Susanoo, fought while retreating under the puppets' onslaught, battling from the floating temple to the front of the Otsutsuki castle.
At that moment, the growing swarm of Tenseigan puppets suddenly parted, and a figure appeared before Shinji.
Though slightly different from his memory, Shinji recognized the figure instantly. It was none other than the last scion of the Otsutsuki branch family, Toneri Otsutsuki!