Chapter 442: Kaguya
In the deepest part of the moon, there is a core area completely isolated from the outside world.
A figure quietly curls up in the center of this area.
She has ankle-length, pale hair that looks like solidified moonlight, fair skin, and eyes full of emptiness.
She is Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, who used her power to pacify the chaotic world and was revered as the "Rabbit Goddess."
After sensing a familiar aura, a glimmer of life gradually appeared in Kaguya's eyes.
There was no confusion of waking up in her eyes, only a bottomless coldness and indifference that seemed to penetrate through the ages.
She tried to mobilize her Ocular Power to sense the outside situation through the powerful Seal specifically designed for her.
However, she failed.
The power of the Seal was like the toughest cage, firmly locking all her perceptions, Chakra, and even consciousness ripples within this tiny space.
She couldn't even clearly capture a single trace of external Chakra flow; she could only vaguely feel the slight tremors of the moon's overall structure, and... just now, for a fleeting moment, a familiar aura that caused ripples in the depths of her Soul.
"Urashiki..."
Kaguya sensed Otsutsuki Urashiki's Chakra aura, though it was very faint.
But for a being of her level, this resonance between clansmen was as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark, even through the Seal.
Urashiki... that clansman who always liked to toy with time and treat his prey as a game, had he also come to this world?
Kaguya tried to follow that fleeting aura, extending her perception to gather more information.
But the power of the Seal immediately tightened like cold shackles, ruthlessly severing and bouncing back the "tentacles" she tried to extend.
"..."
In the end, she could only give up.
Those pure yet empty Byakugan slowly closed, then opened again, gazing at the eternal, despairing darkness before her.
A thought quietly emerged in her heart, which had become nearly numb after experiencing betrayal, Seals, and long loneliness, carrying a complex emotion akin to relief that even she couldn't fully understand:
"Finally... has it come after all?"
There were only two reasons for Urashiki to come to this world: one was to plant the God Tree, and the other was to hunt her.
No matter what it was, for her, sealed here and powerless to resist, there seemed to be no great difference.
External conflicts, the collision of powers, the entanglement of fate... all of this was isolated by that thick Seal. She was like a prisoner forgotten in a corner of time, only able to wait passively, perhaps until the end of the Universe.
A deep sense of powerlessness surged like a tide. Kaguya's body, which had been maintaining a certain rigid posture, seemed to lose its last supporting strength and slowly collapsed onto the cold ground like a Puppet with broken strings. Her pale hair spread out like fading moonlight.
In the absolute silent darkness, a silent question filled with unwillingness, resentment, and deep confusion echoed in her heart:
What did I do wrong...
Her thoughts seemed to travel through long time and space, returning to that initial starting point.
She just wanted to live.
As a low-ranking member sent by the Main Family to plant the God Tree and harvest the Chakra Fruit, she and Isshiki came to this barbaric planet.
The success of the mission meant she would die.
After Isshiki finished planting the God Tree, to survive, Kaguya ambushed Isshiki, sacrificed him to the God Tree, and swallowed the Chakra Fruit containing all the life energy of this planet by herself.
She gained unparalleled power and became the god of this planet.
But she didn't feel safe; instead, she became even more terrified.
She was well aware of the Main Family's cruel methods.
To resist the possible future hunting by her clansmen, she needed an army, she needed cannon fodder.
Thus, she activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, transforming the indigenous lives on this planet—who in her eyes had low combat power and were like ants—into White Zetsu on a large scale.
Although these White Zetsu were not strong individually, they were numerous and absolutely obedient, making them the most ideal consumables and defensive force.
In her view, using these "useless" indigenous lives to construct a defensive line to resist her clansmen and protect herself and this planet was a perfectly reasonable thing.
The combat power of the natives was indeed low; even the strongest among them was far inferior in her eyes to the White Zetsu transformed by the God Tree, who possessed at least basic Chakra and some combat instincts.
But what Kaguya found most incomprehensible and unacceptable was not the weak resistance of the natives, nor even the possible threat from her clansmen.
It was that her two children, Hagoromo and Hamura, actually betrayed her!
They were her only "creations" on this planet besides power. She gave them life, she gave them power, she thought... they should naturally stand by her side, understand her fear, and support her actions.
However, they chose to stand with those "ants," regarding her as an "evil god" who brought disaster, and eventually sealed their own mother here, spending these endless years in this eternal darkness.
She didn't understand.
Wasn't everything she did for survival?
Wasn't it to protect herself, and them as well?
Why did they betray her?
Why couldn't they understand?
"To live, what did I do wrong..."
This thought, like the deepest obsession, accompanied by a thousand years of loneliness and resentment, repeatedly lingered in her heart, yet never received an answer.
A cyan figure quickly arrived outside Kaguya's sealing place.
This was exactly Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
At this moment, he was shrouded in a dense, cyan Chakra mantle that flickered like flames, and his eyes were replaced by two balls of intense cyan light, emitting heart-palpitating fluctuations.
This was precisely the "Tenseigan Chakra Mode" he had forcibly entered after extracting and fusing a large amount of Chakra from the Giant Tenseigan.
Powerful energy surged through his body, but it also brought a subtle sense of burden.
After all, they weren't his own eyes.
His purpose for this trip was clear and bold; since the strength of the external enemy was beyond imagination and conventional Puppets and his own power were difficult to contend with, he needed to find a more powerful aid.
Toneri remembered the records passed down through his Family for generations: their clan was here precisely to guard the existence within the sealing place.
He planned to take a risk and see if he could extract the Chakra of the sealed being, or at least, try to turn its power to his own use to deal with the immediate crisis.
Just as he condensed the power of the Tenseigan and prepared to try to break through the outermost Seal for perception or testing, a translucent hand composed of pure Chakra grabbed his wrist.
Toneri's heart shook violently!
He jerked his head around, his "vision" under the cyan light focusing on his side.
There, at some unknown point, a ghost-like figure had appeared.
The figure was old, with white hair and a white beard, his face etched with the marks of time, his posture hunched, carrying an ancient and solemn aura.
Most striking were his eyes.
They were a pair of pure and sharp Byakugan, with a deep gaze that seemed able to pierce through all falsehoods and point directly to the essence.
The majesty and wisdom contained in these eyes made Toneri instantly feel a surge of trepidation and awe originating from the depths of his Bloodline.
"I remember you're called Toneri, right?"
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