Chapter 628: The Otsutsuki Clan's Heritage
Deep within a vast primeval forest, ancient trees towered toward the sky.
Their dense crowns spread like enormous green umbrellas, blocking most of the sunlight and allowing only scattered rays to filter through.
The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth, mixed with the fragrance of wildflowers.
A thick layer of fallen leaves covered the ground, rustling beneath every step as though whispering stories from ages long past.
Wild animals lived freely within this natural kingdom.
Occasionally, a squirrel darted between tree trunks and curiously peeked at passing creatures.
Birds hopped among the branches, their clear chirping weaving together into a natural melody.
Several deer grazed quietly in the grass, gentle yet constantly alert.
But hidden within this seemingly untouched wilderness was a secret.
Behind a dense wall of bushes stood a modern laboratory.
Moss and ivy covered its outer walls, allowing the structure to blend almost perfectly into the surrounding forest.
Its windows were tightly sealed.
Only through a few narrow gaps could one vaguely see figures moving busily inside.
Kenichi sat within the laboratory, studying Isshiki with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.
Isshiki was slowly wriggling his body.
No matter how desperately he tried to move, however, his sealed body barely responded.
Kaguya stood nearby with her arms crossed, watching Isshiki with cold indifference.
Hagoromo sat off to one side, looking somewhat helpless.
The entire scene was bizarre enough that even Hagoromo found himself staring strangely at Kenichi.
This fellow really was peculiar.
Still, Isshiki was finally willing to cooperate.
That alone was good news.
Hagoromo was eager to learn one thing above all else.
Just how powerful were the strongest members of the Otsutsuki Clan?
"The Otsutsuki Clan originated on another planet."
Isshiki finally began speaking.
"In this vast sea of stars, our clan can be considered one of the stronger powers."
"Within the clan, members are divided into the Main Family and Branch Family according to their innate talent and bloodline."
"The Branch Family learns techniques in order to protect members of the Main Family."
"At the same time, when members of the Main Family travel to other planets to plant Divine Trees and harvest chakra fruits, Branch Family members are responsible for serving as sacrifices."
Isshiki's expression darkened.
"This system continued for nearly ten thousand years without a single accident."
"Until I brought Kaguya to this world to plant a Divine Tree."
"Then something unexpected happened."
Isshiki looked coldly toward Kaguya.
Kaguya merely scoffed.
That single sound nearly made Isshiki lose his temper again.
Fortunately, Kenichi was standing nearby and managed to calm him down before things escalated.
Kaguya continued staring at Isshiki with disdain.
Still, she knew everything he had said was true.
The Otsutsuki Clan possessed an ancient heritage stretching back countless years.
They had long since developed the technology required to travel across the universe.
Compared with the native people of this world, the Otsutsuki Clan could almost be described as a highly advanced civilization carrying out a dimensional attack against a primitive one.
If Kaguya's son Hagoromo had never tried to change this world, the Shinobi World might still have remained as backward as it had once been.
Kaguya glanced toward Kenichi.
Kenichi happened to be looking at her helplessly.
"Hmph."
Kaguya snorted.
Then her body disappeared into another dimension.
Only one ear remained floating beside them.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Kaguya was becoming increasingly surreal.
Isshiki ignored it and continued.
"The hierarchy within the clan is extremely strict."
"Those with higher status possess almost absolute authority over those beneath them."
"As far as I know, the most powerful beings within the clan are those referred to as gods."
"I don't know many of them."
"Only two."
Isshiki's expression became unusually serious.
"One is Izanagi."
"The other is Yamata no Orochi."
"Their abilities are terrifying."
"Someone like me, or even the current Kaguya after consuming a chakra fruit, would be little more than an infant before those two."
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
Isshiki continued.
"Izanagi does not even need to stand before me."
"If he merely sees me, I will die."
"As for Yamata no Orochi..."
Isshiki paused.
"I have only seen that god's pet attack."
"It was an enormous serpent with eight heads."
"Terrifyingly powerful."
"Even a Truth-Seeking Orb striking it directly could not break through its scales."
Isshiki's tone was grave.
His feelings toward the clan were complicated.
But one thing was clear.
He could no longer return.
In his current condition, returning to the Otsutsuki Clan would mean death.
The clan would not expend valuable resources saving him.
They would weigh the costs and benefits, then treat him as waste material and squeeze whatever remaining value they could from his existence.
Cruel?
Perhaps.
But that was simply how the Otsutsuki Clan operated.
The clan did not waste resources caring for trash.
Those were their own words.
Isshiki understood this perfectly.
That was precisely why he was willing to explain the Otsutsuki Clan to Kenichi and the others now.
If Kenichi somehow slaughtered the clan in the future, Isshiki would almost welcome it.
At least then he could say that his defeat had not been because he was weak.
The enemy had simply been too strong.
Kenichi nodded.
None of this completely surprised him.
In fact, he had already formed several theories about how the Otsutsuki Clan operated.
"Isshiki."
Kenichi looked at him.
"I want to confirm something."
"When someone like you or Kaguya fails, is the clan's treatment always this cruel?"
Although phrased as a question, Kenichi was mostly verifying his own theory.
Isshiki's situation had always struck him as strange.
Isshiki had prepared for years.
Yet throughout all that time, Kenichi had never seen him make any effort to call the Otsutsuki Clan for help.
That suggested something important.
Perhaps the internal structure of the Otsutsuki Clan was even crueler than outsiders could imagine.
Otherwise, why would Isshiki rather sit here speaking to his enemies than request rescue from his own people?
The most likely answer was that the clan operated according to an extreme law of the jungle.
Survival of the fittest.
Only the strong deserved to survive.
If that was true, then from Kenichi's perspective, it was actually good news.
It meant the Otsutsuki Clan might not care very much when its members encountered trouble while operating outside the clan.
If someone eventually came to investigate Isshiki's disappearance, it might not be one of those godlike beings.
More likely, the clan would send other powerful members.
Stronger than Isshiki and Kaguya, perhaps, but still below the level of those so-called gods.
If so, that would give Kenichi and the Shinobi World more time to prepare.
"Yes."
Isshiki coughed weakly.
"That is how the clan treats failures."
"And the people who eventually come looking for me won't be a rescue team."
"They will only investigate whether I encountered an enemy I could not resist."
"Then they will evaluate the resources of this world."
"If the resources are abundant, the clan will send people here to extract them."
"The inhabitants of this world will be enslaved."
"Miners."
"Lumberjacks."
"Whatever labor is required."
"If the world lacks valuable resources, then they will simply retrieve the chakra fruit."
Isshiki's voice had become noticeably weaker.
Although he was an Otsutsuki, he was still an intelligent life-form capable of dying.
And at this moment...
Isshiki could feel death approaching.
The realization left him strangely emotional.
He would probably become a negative example recorded within the clan's history.
After what had happened between him and Kaguya, the clan might even establish new precautions to ensure that designated sacrifices could never betray their partners again.
But none of that mattered to Isshiki anymore.
He was dying.
Perhaps that was not entirely bad.
Living in this world while obsessing over revenge against Kaguya had been exhausting.
Once he died, perhaps he would finally stop feeling so tired.
He might even get to watch as Kenichi and Kaguya struggled beneath the pressure of the Otsutsuki Clan.
Isshiki found that prospect strangely amusing.
Nearby, Kaguya silently listened.
Her ear still floated beside Kenichi, while her actual body remained in another dimension.
After consuming the chakra fruit and obtaining its power, Kaguya had finally understood just how enormous the gap was between herself and the true monsters within the clan.
That gap was so vast that it could crush any desire to resist.
Kaguya had once witnessed one of the clan's supreme powerhouses battling an enemy.
Even now, she remembered the sight.
A boundless divine light shattered across the heavens.
Then a majestic figure descended.
He wore white robes that billowed in the wind, his entire body radiating overwhelming power.
Kaguya had never known exactly who his opponent was.
She only knew the man was an enemy of the Otsutsuki Clan.
And why had Kaguya witnessed the battle?
Because she had still been a member of the Branch Family at the time.
Her role had involved logistics and transportation across the battlefield.
That was why she had seen it.
With every movement of that figure's hands and feet, planets were destroyed one after another.
Countless lives vanished.
The entire galaxy seemed to tremble beneath his power.
Every attack brought unimaginable suffering and despair.
He stood like the sovereign of the battlefield.
A ruler controlling the fate of an entire galaxy.
A leader.
An elder among elders.
Almost an emperor.
His existence seemed unmatched.
His presence alone suppressed all living beings.
Mountains and seas seemed insignificant beneath his strength.
Even enormous chaotic creatures trembled before him.
The vast battlefield appeared completely dominated by his presence.
Every section of space seemed filled with attacks that were impossible to escape.
And the strongest members of the Otsutsuki Clan were no less terrifying.
To beings like them, a planet was something insignificant.
That was why Kaguya knew how hopeless resistance against the clan could become.
Even using a time machine to flee through time would accomplish nothing.
The clan's strongest beings could detect the fluctuations left behind by such movement and follow the trail.
No matter where they fled...
They would eventually be found.
There was nowhere to run.
Only death.
Kaguya sighed quietly.
Kenichi had no idea what she was thinking.
He was still recording Isshiki's explanation.
But the more information he wrote down, the more outrageous everything sounded.
Was the Otsutsuki Clan really this absurdly powerful?
The descriptions almost sounded ridiculous.
Then again...
This was a civilization capable of interstellar travel.
When viewed from that perspective, perhaps such strength was not impossible to understand.
Still, Kenichi developed a headache.
How were they supposed to fight a clan like this in the future?
Even if they successfully killed the next group of Otsutsuki who arrived, that might only attract even stronger enemies.
Then stronger ones after that.
Eventually...
What if one of those gods appeared?
That would truly become interesting.
Hagoromo had also fallen silent.
If these enemies were really this powerful, what were they supposed to do?
For the first time, Hagoromo began to truly understand why Kaguya had once become so desperate that she wanted to transform the entire world into White Zetsu.
Facing this kind of pressure...
Even Kaguya could not endure it calmly.
She could not run.
She could not hide.
So she had chosen resistance.
But even that resistance appeared almost meaningless.
Hagoromo felt his chest tighten.
If everything Isshiki said was true, then what could the Shinobi World possibly do against those gods?
He suddenly felt almost like crying.
He genuinely had no idea how they were supposed to resist.
Kenichi rubbed his brow.
At times like this, having a cheat really was convenient.
Without one, even Kenichi had no idea whether he would possess any chance of fighting the Otsutsuki Clan.
He looked toward Isshiki.
Isshiki was still speaking.
And now that he had started, he was explaining things in considerable detail.
He even described several unusual forms of ninjutsu.
Kenichi recorded all of them.
As he listened, he noticed something important.
At higher levels, ninjutsu no longer required hand seals at all.
Most advanced users relied entirely on their own energy to activate techniques.
It almost resembled wishing for something and causing it to become reality.
If someone wanted to cast a technique, they merely needed to determine within their mind what kind of ninjutsu they wanted.
Its nature.
Its scale.
The amount of chakra they were willing to expend.
Once those factors were decided, the technique could be activated directly.
It was absurdly convenient.
Isshiki also explained that this was considered a high-level skill.
Not everyone within the clan possessed it.
Those who lacked that ability could simply learn conventional methods of releasing ninjutsu instead.
Kenichi remained silent.
Because in truth...
He had already noticed hints of something similar himself.
"Ninjutsu really shouldn't be such an inconvenient thing."
A bold idea began forming in Kenichi's mind.
But before drawing any conclusions...
He would need to experiment a few times.
....
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