Takuno clearly felt that the discomfort coming from his eyes was becoming more frequent, and each duration was longer than the last.
It wasn't a simple ache or dryness, but a sensation of swelling.
It was as if his pair of Byakugan were overburdened, and continuing to absorb might cause them to be split open by the vast power of the Golden Tenseigan within his body.
He couldn't help but sigh softly, though he wasn't particularly surprised by this.
After all, the power of the Golden Tenseigan was no small matter.
It was the ultimate creation of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, formed by condensing the essence of countless Byakugan over thousands of years; the power contained within it was terrifyingly vast.
Even if Hinata's Byakugan bloodline was pure and stainless, its capacity ultimately had a limit.
Like a sturdy box used to store clothes, once it's full, one can certainly force more in by compressing them.
But the pressure on the box will increase sharply, and eventually, it will reach a point where it can no longer withstand the squeeze and will completely explode into fragments.
If a box is destroyed, it can be replaced.
However, if this unique pair of pure Byakugan carrying the power of the Golden Tenseigan were destroyed, where would he find a second pair to replace them?
Even if Hanabi's Byakugan might be of the same grade, they still couldn't compare to this pair of Hinata's eyes.
Realizing this, Takuno took the initiative to cut off the chakra energy that was continuously flowing from the Golden Tenseigan to his eyes.
At this moment, a trace of regret flickered through Takuno's heart.
His original intention was to completely absorb all the power of the Golden Tenseigan, but he hadn't expected his Byakugan to reach the boundary of endurance first.
However, Takuno did not give up because of this, for the current stagnation was only temporary.
The current limit of endurance was merely constrained by his current physical strength.
As long as his physique could break through again and achieve a deeper level of evolution, the upper limit of the power he could contain would inevitably increase significantly.
At that time, reopening the channel to continue absorbing the majestic power of the Golden Tenseigan would be a natural progression.
And this crucial moment of evolution, in Takuno's view, was already not far off.
Because almost all the subsequent preparations were ready, only waiting for the Mini Ten-Tails' size and power to be cultivated and strengthened a bit more.
Once this final step was completed and he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, he believed his physique would surely undergo a qualitative leap!
And then he would be able to restart the absorption of the Golden Tenseigan's power!
...
When Takuno severed the invisible channel between the Golden Tenseigan and his own Byakugan, a stage was declared completely finished.
That was the absorption stage where the Byakugan drew in the massive Tenseigan energy from the outside.
It could be said that this stage was generally very difficult to complete.
Theoretically, one only needed a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki paired with a pair of pure Byakugan to give birth to a Tenseigan.
But with so many Ōtsutsuki, hardly any of them ever possessed a Tenseigan, and the reason wasn't because they looked down on it.
Rather, it was because they couldn't fulfill the condition for the Byakugan to evolve into a Tenseigan, whereas the existence of the Golden Tenseigan was like a cheat code; it was itself the power of the Tenseigan, so it allowed him to directly complete this stage.
There was no need to spend countless years accumulating, and even then, completion wasn't guaranteed.
Thus, the moment he finished the absorption stage.
As if the final shackles had been removed, the pair of Byakugan in his sockets were instantly swept up by the evolutionary power surging from within.
Metamorphosis—this true metamorphosis from the inside out—had already begun unstoppably.
Takuno could even feel with absolute clarity that those eyes were undergoing a drastic change at a speed far exceeding his imagination.
Because the power absorbed by this pair of Byakugan was too vast, it was the inevitable result of the massive amount of Tenseigan energy he had previously drawn into his body.
Once this evolution started, even as the owner, Takuno now completely lost any ability to intervene in the process.
Takuno could feel that the Tenseigan, its final formation and birth, would happen within these next one or two days.
Understanding this, Takuno's state of mind actually calmed down.
At this point, any extra actions were futile and might even bring unpredictable risks.
He only needed to maintain absolute stillness and wait.
So, he sat cross-legged on the spot and slowly closed his eyes.
No one on the outside could see that beneath those seemingly calmly closed eyelids, that pair of Byakugan was being enveloped by a mysterious evolutionary glow, beginning the final evolution!
...
Time flowed silently.
Takuno's figure, like an ancient stone carving, sat there silently cross-legged, his surrounding aura condensed and still, without the slightest fluctuation.
After an unknown amount of time, finally, he opened his eyes.
In an instant, a pair of newly reborn eyes were exposed to the dim light of the moon.
They were no longer the previous pure, flawless Byakugan, but a deep, profound blue that seemed to have condensed the essence of the vast sea of stars!
Deep within the pupils, vast and pure power silently emitted a heart-palpitating faint blue halo.
The most striking part was the pupil, which sharply contracted into a vertical line; this form was exactly the same as when he first activated Sage Mode, a mark etched by Sage Mode itself.
"Is this... the power of the Tenseigan?" Takuno murmured softly, with a tremor of disbelief.
Without even using any conscious thought to drive his body, an invisible force lightly lifted him up, causing him to float in the void.
He discarded all distracting thoughts and immersed his entire mind into this pair of newborn eyes, carefully sensing the power contained within.
A strong sense of shock hit his perception; although he had long expected this, based on its record in the original work, that expectation had actually been somewhat reserved.
But now, having completed this unprecedented perfect evolution, the level of power displayed by the Tenseigan had already far exceeded his imagination!
He took a deep breath to calm his surging emotions.
In the next instant, his figure turned into a pale blue stream of light, shooting out at an incredible speed and landing steadily on the moon's desolate and dead surface.
Beneath his feet was grayish-white rocky soil covered in fine dust; looking around, there were only boundless craters and jagged terrain, with no trace of life—a pure cosmic wasteland.
This was the true appearance of the moon's surface; the previous vegetation was merely a specific area created by the Ōtsutsuki Clan for their living quarters.
Takuno stood still and formed a hand seal.
"Tenseigan Chakra Mode!"
The moment the words fell, chakra surging to the extreme suddenly erupted from within his body!
This chakra was not an ordinary color, but shone with a rich, shimmering green glow!
It surged at an astonishing speed, instantly wrapping around Takuno's entire body.
In an instant, this condensed, substantial shimmering green chakra began to "burn" fiercely on his body's surface, as if he were wearing a blazing battle suit constructed of pure energy!
The flames flickered and rose, reflecting him like a deity descending upon the lunar palace, emitting an aura of pressure and power that one could not look at directly.
After activating the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Takuno slowly clenched his fists, feeling that majestic, almost unreal energy surging through his body, and a trace of emotion couldn't help but flicker in the depths of his eyes.
This was the first time he had experienced the boost this power brought, but it wasn't the first time he had seen it.
Previously, he had briefly witnessed the power of this mode through the Golden Tenseigan's power triggered by Toneri's father.
At that time, he was already amazed that this mode's enhancement to strength actually far exceeded his Sage Mode.
However, only now did he truly understand that what Toneri's father could display back then was merely an incomplete mode!
Because Toneri's father was, after all, only using the Golden Tenseigan's power as an external force and had not truly awakened the Tenseigan himself.
Therefore, the power boost in that mode was merely a severely shrunken version.
Now, when Takuno stepped into this realm completely by his own power, he truly experienced what "unprecedentedly powerful" meant!
He didn't even need to deliberately mobilize chakra to use techniques like Monster Strength, nor did he need to form seals to perform any complex Ninjutsu.
Just a most ordinary punch thrown under the enhancement of this mode possessed a pure destructive power that reached a terrifying level sufficient to shake mountains and tear the earth!
And this was just the foundation...
The corner of Takuno's mouth twitched slightly, uncontrollably.
If he were to stack the various enhancement-type Ninjutsu he mastered on top of this, to what extent would that power swell?
He was almost certain that his Perfect Susanoo... probably really wouldn't be able to withstand even one of his own punches.
Once upon a time, that towering "Perfect Susanoo," which seemed capable of tearing through the sky, was still the undisputed trump card in Takuno's hands.
The time he had truly mastered this power wasn't actually that long ago.
However, the trajectory of fate is always full of dramatic, steep climbs.
Just a short time later, today, the light of the Perfect Susanoo has been completely overshadowed by another even more terrifying power, and left far behind...
The magnitude and speed of this leap in power levels were so great that even he, the one experiencing it, couldn't help but feel a strong sense of shock and lamentation.
At this moment, he suddenly understood why those god-like characters in the later stages of the original Naruto story experienced a suffocating leap in power with every breakthrough.
That was by no means a simple addition of quantity, but a complete metamorphosis of life essence and energy levels!
Now, this unimaginable sense of leaping had truly descended upon him, and only then did he profoundly grasp the reason.
Because right now, he was personally undergoing this subversive metamorphosis!
Since he became a Super Kage, how terrifying every metamorphosis of power has been!
The chasm of power, at higher levels, is accompanied by an awe-inspiring height with every crossing.
Takuno slowly stretched his body, and a relieved yet powerful smile spread across his lips.
Once upon a time, he thought that only by becoming the Jinchuriki of the Mini Ten-Tails could he touch that supreme Six Paths realm and complete the final metamorphosis.
However, fate gave him a surprise.
When this perfect Tenseigan completely awakened in his eyes, power surged accordingly.
With this power, he had actually achieved it naturally, crossing that seemingly insurmountable threshold in one step!
This power was absolutely not something a Super Kage level should possess! This was a perception of level that made Takuno incomparably certain.
Of course, if the Six Paths level powerhouses from throughout history were placed on a scale, his current power might still seem immature, only ranking at the very end.
But—
Six Paths is Six Paths!
This great power that stands above the mortal world, its essence can no longer be questioned!
With a thought from Takuno, without any hand seals, countless chakra orbs as black as ink appeared out of thin air, floating quietly in front of him, emitting heart-palpitating energy fluctuations.
His gaze swept over these chakra orbs that condensed pure power, and a trace of faint regret crossed his heart.
According to the performance in the "original work," he had expected the Tenseigan to directly grant him the Truth-Seeking Orbs, which symbolize the power of Shinra Tensei.
The reality was somewhat different; the creations before him were not those legendary supreme Truth-Seeking Orbs, but another form of "Chakra orbs" that also contained majestic power.
No wonder these 'Chakra orbs' in the original work could exceed nine in number.
One must know that even the legendary ancestors, Hamura and Otsutsuki Hagoromo, never controlled more than nine Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Not to mention those who came after, who were only instinctively granted nine Truth-Seeking Orbs upon becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and then those Six Paths users would lose them one by one as they were used.
Nine seemed to be the limit.
Failing to directly generate Truth-Seeking Orbs certainly caused a slight sense of deficiency in Takuno's heart.
However...
He spread his five fingers, and as his will directed, an incredibly solid energy cage shimmering with an eerie light was instantly constructed in front of him!
Not only that, those intelligent puppets that previously relied on the Golden Tenseigan's power to operate—the core mystery of the key method that granted them "intelligence"—now held no more secrets in his eyes.
Now, relying solely on his own power, he could infuse them with the same spark of "life"!
Of course, he would never become the energy source that maintained their lives.
But the essence of this power, he saw as clearly as a blazing fire.
This was Yin-Yang Release!
Under the enhancement of the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, the mysteries of Yin-Yang Release were finally completely open to him!
Takuno's eyes flickered; perhaps now he could do it...
Takuno slowly closed his eyes, and a chakra as deep as an abyss suddenly erupted from within him!
This power rapidly gathered, expanded, and took shape...
In an instant, a Perfect Susanoo that stood tall as if it could tear through the sky, carrying peerless pressure, stood majestically between heaven and earth!
In its hand, it held that grim giant sword, and around its body were three circular rings.
They were precisely those two divine artifacts, Futsunushi and Kakuriyo Komori-no-In!
Yes, without a Mangekyo Sharingan, or even a Sharingan, relying on a pair of Tenseigan which were very different from the Sharingan, Takuno successfully manifested a Perfect Susanoo!
This was a startling feat that even Madara, who shook the Shinobi World with his Susanoo, had never achieved!
Admittedly, if the Tenseigan were given to Madara, with his control over the Susanoo, he might have been able to do the same.
But there are no 'ifs' in this world.
Therefore, this matter of driving a Perfect Susanoo with the Tenseigan was pioneered by Takuno alone!
And only he alone could do it!