Kaguya fell silent for a long time and her gaze drifting from the God Tree's branches to the distant starry sky, as though recalling something.
She remembered how she had looked before devouring the Chakra Fruit, the innocent clansmen slaughtered in the civil wars, the planetary lives swallowed by the tree.
Shun's words had exposed the essence of the Ōtsutsuki clan, freeing her from any lingering sense of belonging.
"What are you thinking about?"
Shun's voice sounded from behind, gently pitched so as not to disturb her reverie.
Kaguya didn't turn. "About… the ones who will never return."
Shun sighed inwardly—he knew the sorrow she couldn't put into words.
"We can't undo past sins, but we can shape the future. Those who led the plunder must no longer hold power. The deceived must shoulder their choices. And the children… they deserve a different life."
Each word from Shun tore the long-flawless mask off the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Kaguya withdrew her gaze from the stars. After a long moment, she said, "Your plan is sound, I'll follow it."
Shun frowned slightly, probing. "You truly don't blame me? After all, they're your clansmen."
He knew her soft heart and feared his decisions would burden her.
Kaguya shook her head, a smile she had never worn before forming on her lips. "Clansmen? True clansmen don't treat life like grass. Those people ceased to be the Ōtsutsuki I knew long ago. What I loathe was never the clan itself, but its decayed rules. You've given the children a new beginning and me new hope. Why would I blame you?"
At her words, Shun drew her into a tight embrace, unable to let go for a long time.
Kaguya rested her cheek against his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat. In that instant, all unease and confusion melted away.
The stars above seemed brighter, several meteors tracing brilliant arcs across the deep sky.
Shun said, "Once I've settled some matters, I'll go to the Ōtsutsuki homeworld."
Kaguya no longer wanted him to face danger alone. He had given so much for her—this time she would fight at his side.
"Shun, I'll go with you."
Shun's heart warmed and he bent to brush a kiss across her lips.
"Alright, we go together."
After a night of passion, the next day, inside the Kara laboratory.
Koji was leaning against the console, holding a cigarette between two fingers, his gaze lazily falling on the experimental data.
As a Clone of Jiraiya, he inherited that innate casualness.
A voice suddenly rang out, breaking the silence of the laboratory.
"How is the progress?"
Koji paused slightly and casually put out the cigarette. "Leader, this matter can't be rushed. Shinjutsu awakening depends on opportunity. Maybe I just don't have that talent?"
Shun stepped forward and lightly tapped the console. The experimental data on it was almost identical to last week's. He knew some of the plot from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, where Koji would awaken the Shinjutsu: Ten Directions, a miraculous power capable of glimpsing various futures, which was crucial to his future plans.
His gaze changed instantly, showing obvious impatience. "I don't have that much time to wait for your opportunity. Kara doesn't need useless trash, you should know that."
The smile on Koji's face stiffened. He knew Shun kept his word, but he didn't think the other party would be so urgent.
"Leader, I've been trying... just a little bit more."
"Since you can't awaken it yourself, I'll give you a hand."
In the next second, the two of them disappeared from the laboratory and appeared on a desolate battlefield.
Broken weapons and dried blood were everywhere. The strong wind kicked up dust, scratching against their cheeks with a stinging sensation.
Shun slowly raised his hand, the killing intent in his eyes unconcealed. "If you cannot awaken the Shinjutsu, it means you are of no use. I can only eliminate you and have someone clone a new one."
"Leader, this... there's no need to go this far, right?" Koji's pupils shrank.
He had thought it was just a sparring session like usual, but the killing intent from the other party was definitely not fake.
"Whether it's necessary is for me to decide."
Before Shun finished speaking, he had already flickered in front of Koji.
Koji was startled but not panicked. The combat instinct inherited from Jiraiya instantly awakened, and his hands quickly formed seals.
Shadow Clone Technique!
Two Clones suddenly appeared, blocking left and right, while the original body quickly retreated.
Fire Release: Flame Bullet!
A ball of scorching fire erupted from his mouth, heading straight for Shun's face.
Shun kicked apart the Shadow Clone on the left, then ignored the burn of the Flame Bullet, dispersed the flames with a punch, and then slammed it into Koji's abdomen.
Koji felt his internal organs shift. His body instantly flew up and crashed heavily into a nearby rock, which immediately cracked and collapsed.
The intense pain caused Koji to spit out a mouthful of blood on the spot. He struggled to crawl up, only to find his arms numb and extremely difficult to move. At this moment, he realized that Shun was not joking.
Shun walked slowly toward him, each step feeling like it was treading on Koji's heartbeat.
"With the next attack, I will break your left hand."
"If you still cannot awaken, it will be your right foot, then your left foot, and finally your right hand. After that, it will be your head."
Shun paused, his gaze falling on his terrified face. "If you don't want to die, then awaken the power of the Shinjutsu for me."
The survival instinct made Koji completely discard his past laziness. He grit his teeth, enduring the pain throughout his body to prop himself up, and mobilized all the Chakra in his body, trying to wake that latent Shinjutsu.
While trying to awaken, he also thought rapidly of a countermeasure, he couldn't just sit and wait for death.
Shun saw that he was making no progress, and there was no ripple in his eyes. Once the time was up, he flickered out again.
Seeing this, Koji hastily performed "Earth Release: Bottomless Swamp," and the ground instantly turned into a thick mire.
Shun's footwork was eerie, as if he were walking on flat ground, easily avoiding the restraint of the Bottomless Swamp and accurately grabbing Koji's left arm.
With a crisp "crack," intense pain instantly swept to his brain.
"Ahh!"
Koji let out a roar of pain, clutching his broken left arm, cold sweat instantly soaking his clothes.
He looked at the devil-like man before him and finally understood that the other party really intended to torture him to death bit by bit. His past lazy mentality completely vanished, replaced by a bone-deep fear.
"I'll give you another 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I will break your right foot." Shun glanced at the timer on his wrist, his tone indifferent.
Koji slumped on the ground, enduring the pain in his left arm and frantically circulating his Chakra.
His brain flashed through countless thoughts as he desperately recalled information about Ōtsutsuki Shibai's cells, trying to find the key to awakening the Shinjutsu, while also not giving up on the idea of resisting.
The 5-minute limit passed quickly.
Shun flickered over and accurately kicked Koji's right foot. Another crisp sound of bone cracking followed.
Koji's body twitched violently, and the muscles on his face contorted hideously from the pain. He bit his lip hard until he tasted the blood in his mouth, preventing himself from screaming again.
"Very well, I'll give you another 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I will break your left foot."
Shun's voice remained calm, as if he had only done something insignificant.
The intense pain made Koji tremble all over. He couldn't even stand now and could only sprawl on the ground. Despair flooded him like a tide, and he even had the thought of simply giving up and dying.
Another 5 minutes passed, and Koji still hadn't awakened the Shinjutsu.
Shun's movements were not delayed at all. The intense pain of his left foot breaking made Koji's vision go dark, and he almost fainted.
"It hurts so much... I even feel like dying..."
Cold sweat kept sliding down his forehead, accumulating in a small puddle on the ground.
Seeing his pathetic state, Shun remained expressionless, as if everything before him was within his expectations.
"If you still cannot awaken after 5 minutes, I will break your right hand."
Koji's heart shrank violently, and cold sweat poured down. He exhausted his last ounce of strength, but the power in his body was like a pool of stagnant water, unable to awaken that sleeping Shinjutsu no matter what.
Time passed minute by minute.
When Shun walked toward him again, the light in Koji's eyes completely went out. He had used all the Ninjutsu he knew, yet he didn't even have a margin for resistance.
Crack...
His right hand was also broken. Three of his four limbs were now fractured, and the intense pain caused Koji to almost lose consciousness.
He lay on the ground, gasping for breath. "You might as well... just kill me."
Shun did not speak. He slowly crouched down, reached out, and firmly squeezed Koji's neck. As his fingers slowly tightened, Koji's breathing became more and more difficult, his face turning from pale to a deep purple, and his consciousness began to blur.
The shadow of death loomed, and he could clearly feel his life slipping away bit by bit.
Is this... what it feels like to be on the verge of death?
Just as Koji felt he was about to completely lose consciousness, Shibai's cells in his body seemed to receive some kind of stimulation and began to circulate frantically. Countless future trajectories spread out in his mind like a galaxy.
He saw the outcome of being killed, the scene of surviving after awakening the Shinjutsu, and countless other possible futures.