"Follow me, Hinata..."
Holding her hand, Kaoru led her into an ancestral shrine.
Standing before them was a statue three or four meters tall, draped in traditional robes and possessing an ancient, dignified appearance.
However, the facial features had long since been destroyed, making it impossible for Kaoru to tell whether it depicted the Sage of Six Paths or Hamura Ōtsutsuki.
"Let's go inside the inner chamber and take a look."
Kaoru walked past the statue and entered the back room of the shrine, only to find it pitch black, with not a shred of light penetrating the darkness.
With a simple wave of his hand, a glowing sphere materialized in his palm and floated upward, instantly illuminating the entire area.
The power of Yin Release allows one to create form from nothing, while Yang Release gives life to that form.
Creating a simple ball of light was child's play for Kaoru, who had mastered the Yin-Yang Release.
Although his Rinne Sharingan would have allowed him to see perfectly clearly even in total darkness, he created the light sphere out of consideration for Hinata.
The first thing that came into view was an octagram symbol — the clan crest of the Ōtsutsuki, which Kaoru recognized immediately.
"Look... there are some inscriptions here, but... I can't understand what they mean..."
Hinata pointed to a row of ancient characters beneath the emblem, looking at Kaoru in confusion.
Just as Kaoru was about to examine the writing closely, a hollow, distant voice suddenly drifted into his ears.
"The maiden with the Byakugan... and the young man possessing such terrifying dojutsu... Heavens... such immense power..."
The voice, filled with a mix of fear and awe, echoed as if an ancient elder were whispering directly into their ears. Hinata was so startled that every hair on her body stood on end.
"Who?! Who is there?!"
"Down there..."
Kaoru remained calm and composed as ever. His gaze seemed to pierce through all obstructions, seeing clearly every detail of the place.
"Will you show us the way willingly, or shall I force my way in with violence?"
Kaoru spoke suddenly to empty air, saying something that made absolutely no sense to Hinata.
"Kaoru? What are you talking about...?"
Hinata had barely voiced her confusion when, right beneath their feet, a section of the floor slid open automatically, revealing a dark, deep passageway leading underground.
"Smart choice..."
A faint smile curved Kaoru's lips. He then led Hinata down into the dark passage.
Descending the stone stairs, they found themselves facing what appeared to be a countless number of graves stretching out before them.
"Is this... the graveyard for this village?" Hinata asked. She looked at the dense forest of tombstones surrounding them and instinctively stepped behind Kaoru, afraid.
"It seems so..." Kaoru nodded lightly. It appeared that something terrible had happened to the Ōtsutsuki clan in the distant past... enough to cause so many deaths.
"I sense you two... one possesses the purest Byakugan... and the other... power so terrifying..."
At that moment, amidst the pitch-black graveyard, a figure slowly walked toward them. The atmosphere was eerie and terrifying.
Kaoru looked closely. It was a strange, middle-aged man walking toward them. His eye sockets were pitch-black, hollow, and completely empty — he had no eyeballs at all.
"H-HE'S TERRIBLE..."
Hinata pressed herself tightly against Kaoru's back, her ample chest softy rubbing against him with every movement, making it rather difficult for him to keep his focus.
"Do not be afraid... this one means no harm." Kaoru reassured her, patting her hand gently as he looked at the eyeless man.
Suddenly, the strange man opened his mouth — stretching it to an impossible, inhuman width — as if he were about to vomit. And indeed, from within his throat, he spat out a massive glowing sphere!
The sphere rapidly expanded, shining with a blinding white light.
From within that brilliance, Kaoru saw a vision of an ancient battlefield. Two vast armies were locked in combat.
Countless banners bearing the Ōtsutsuki crest fluttered in the wind.
And among the soldiers of both sides, the vast majority possessed pure white eyes — the Byakugan.
"This is..." Hinata gasped, covering her mouth in shock. Seeing so many people possessing the same eyes as herself was an incredible revelation.
At first, the two forces seemed evenly matched. But suddenly, one side summoned a colossal white orb.
From it, a beam of golden light shot forth instantly, annihilating the opposing army in a single strike.
The bright light and the illusion vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The strange middle-aged man spoke again.
"The descendants of Hamura... shall descend upon this world riding the sun..."
"Please... stop the descendants of Hamura... The world created by the Sage of Six Paths... must not be allowed to be destroyed like this..."
He spoke in fragmented, breathless sentences. Kaoru stepped forward to ask for further explanation, but suddenly, the man collapsed onto the ground, dissolving into a puddle of foul-smelling pus and slime.
"Wha—... what on earth is going on here?!" Hinata stared at the disgusting remains of the once-terrifying man, feeling the situation growing stranger and more unsettling by the second.
"I believe the vision he showed us was an event from long, long ago..." Kaoru analyzed the information rapidly, piecing it together in his mind.
"What we just witnessed was likely the war between the Main Branch and the Branch Branch of the Ōtsutsuki clan — descendants of Hamura, the Sage's younger brother."
"Main Branch and Branch Branch?" Hinata blinked in surprise. She was extremely familiar with those terms — after all, her own Hyūga clan was divided exactly the same way.
"Mm." Kaoru nodded. "After Hamura Ōtsutsuki and his older brother, Hagoromo, sealed away the Ten-Tails, Hamura and his people migrated to the Moon. Their mission was to stand guard over the Ten-Tails' husk, the Gedo Statue..."
"However, after Hamura passed away, a great disagreement arose between the Main Branch and the Branch Branch of the clan regarding his final wishes..." Kaoru explained calmly.
"The Branch believed that the Earth — a world of endless war created by the Sage of Six Paths — should be destroyed completely. The Main Branch opposed this idea. When war broke out between the two factions, every member of the Branch willingly removed their Byakugan and fused them together to create a colossal Tenseigan. With its power, they wiped out every single member of the Main Branch in an instant."
"This man... was likely one of the very few survivors of the Main Branch." Kaoru concluded.
"But... why did they have the Byakugan too...?" Hinata quickly asked the question that concerned her most.
"Because before Hamura left Earth for the Moon, he left behind a splinter group... a branch lineage..." Kaoru replied, his eyes shining with insight.
"A splinter group... You mean... we Hyūga are that lineage?" Hinata was smart enough to understand immediately.
"Exactly." Kaoru nodded.
"I never knew our clan had such history..." Hinata sighed in amazement, but then her expression turned serious.
"If this is true... then the Branch members of the Ōtsutsuki want to destroy our world... We have to stop them no matter what!!"
"Naturally..." Kaoru smiled and nodded.
"But..." Hinata scratched her head, confused.
"If you say the Ōtsutsuki Branch is on the Moon... how are we supposed to get there? Also... just before he died, that man said they would 'descend riding the sun.' But they are on the Moon... That doesn't make sense at all..."
"Don't think about it too much for now. Let's just leave this place first..." Kaoru said with a smile, taking her hand once more.
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