"This is the Otsutsuki Clan?"
The absolute desolation of the lunar clan was so deep Madara could hardly believe his eyes. In this vast, decaying castle, there were only two living people, if you counted the unborn child, you might generously call it two and a half.
Madara didn't say it aloud, but the heavy disappointment buried in his expression needed no explanation.
This was the terrifying clan that once dominated the cosmos? Just this pathetic remnant? He'd actually been highly anticipating this meeting, believing there would be worthy, god-like opponents left to fight. Instead, it was another disappointing bunch of weaklings.
"Meow~ This is probably just a radical branch family. Of course, it might also be descendants from the shinobi world, I'm not entirely sure. But... yeah, this is pretty pathetic." Takeshi couldn't help but complain.
These people were practically a flawless copy of the Hyuga. Their main and branch system was strict and absolute. The only difference was that this branch family actually possessed lethal guts: they'd forcibly replaced every eye of the main house using the harvested eyes of their own people.
The bloody price, though, was brutal. All that remained was this single married couple, and both of them were completely blind.
The best part was, they had completely forgotten what their ancestors had actually intended. They were obsessed with the delusion that if war ever broke out below, they would violently descend and glass the planet to remake it.
This was supposed to be salvation? If you just wipe everything out, naturally there'll be no war. That was a hardcore philosophy.
When Takeshi stepped onto the lunar surface, his sensory perception swept the entire structure in an instant. The couple was hiding in the dark, too terrified to show themselves. They had lost their eyes, and now the clan relied entirely on that enormous Tenseigan.
Takeshi realized their lives were hanging by a violently frayed thread. Their life force was nearly entirely exhausted, even if no one touched them, they had only a few short years left at most.
"How deeply disappointing." Madara sighed softly.
The black cat shot him a sharp glance. Madara immediately clamped his mouth shut. Takeshi's strength clearly surpassed his own. Unless he magically obtained both Rinnegan, he stood absolutely zero chance against the feline.
Madara's mindset was growing strangely zen. What he cared about now was the history itself.
There was no doubt Takeshi hadn't lied. Standing on the white crust, Madara could distinctly sense a terrifying, dormant threat buried deep underground. He remembered the old legend of the Sage creating this exact rock.
"So that's it. The Moon was created purely to seal an enemy."
"Meow! Right, you used to be all brain-dead about casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi, didn't you? Let me recall how that brilliant plan worked... become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, then use your eyes to bounce the genjutsu off the Moon, right?"
The cat's tone wasn't openly contemptuous, he sounded completely objective, just stating cold facts. But the flavor behind the words went far beyond simple mockery.
'Madara, think about it. Really think about it.'
Madara stared at the pitted, uneven surface beneath his heavy boots. His lips parted several times as if to argue, but he genuinely didn't know how to refute the logic. Maybe Black Zetsu had gently nudged him, but the bulk of the grand plan had been his own arrogant design.
He'd never once felt there was anything flawed about it before. He'd abandoned the scheme partly because the parasite felt highly suspicious, and partly because his eyes were stolen.
But now... it did seem deeply idiotic.
Leaving aside whether becoming the vessel would lead to his mind being violently overwritten by the Shinju, just the physical act of projecting the genjutsu was insanely dangerous. There was a violently powerful consciousness sealed right here. If he blasted a massive surge of chakra at it, he might actually shatter the ancient cage.
That was... incredibly brain-dead.
Madara fell utterly silent, his self-doubt compounding into a crushing weight. Maybe he really had been dead wrong about everything.
At that moment, Takeshi felt a brief twinge of pity. Madara was only the reincarnation of Indra's chakra, he had nothing to do with the original Indra. If the ancient brother learned that his entire life had also been perfectly puppeteered by a parasite, who knew how he'd react.
Probably another massive wave of Points? Takeshi wasn't obsessed with hoarding for no reason, his sense of impending crisis was heavy. Whenever he thought about the true Otsutsuki armada descending in a few decades, he knew he couldn't slack off. If he didn't wipe those bastards out, his retirement wouldn't be comfortable.
He was even considering pushing Orochimaru to accelerate his research on the Impure World Reincarnation. If the easy targets dried up, he could just summon the villains back and squeeze them for points one by one.
"Otsutsuki Clan descendants, come out. We've already found you." Madara spoke calmly.
The last two survivors had no choice but to emerge from the shadows. They couldn't see, but their sensory abilities screamed that the human was powerful, and the strange cat was practically a god.
Madara quickly noticed the scarred sockets. Blind, huh. Interesting.
"Meow, I'll take the lead here. Pretend he doesn't exist," Takeshi said casually, padding slowly forward.
'So that child in the belly... the future Toneri? Hm.' He turned the thought over and chose not to mention the unlucky brat. His gaze shifted fully to the couple. Their eyes had been violently sacrificed. Which meant that big eye... where was it hidden? That thing was a priceless treasure.
Takeshi was seriously tempted. Even if it didn't offer a massive combat boost, it'd make a fantastic collectible. He could mount it directly on top of Kuraokami's central spire.
When the alien armada finally arrived, they'd look down and see a giant Tenseigan glowing like a massive, disrespectful lightbulb. That effect would be absolutely glorious.
"So, what brings the two of you here?" Toneri's father stepped bravely forward. He had no eyes, but he could clearly sense Takeshi's immense chakra, and judging from the human's highly suppressed emotional state, the man was deeply wary of the cat.
"Meow~ Sent someone off to the outer space, and dropped by to see the locals. Where's the rest of your clan? When I passed by before, there seemed to be quite a few of you." Takeshi casually lied.
"This... sigh, I don't even know where to begin."
The two descendants let out a heavy sigh and began to recount their bloody history. The father firmly believed in the branch family's ideology, so he painted the main house as heretics who'd betrayed Hamura's will.
Of course, even the branch family could hardly accept how violently it ended. They'd effectively wiped themselves out.
Fortunately, he knew there was still a line of descendants living in the shinobi world. As long as his own child was born healthy, the pure bloodline would not be completely severed.
What severely stunned them was: why were the descendants below so terrifyingly strong? Wait. Passing by before? So this cat had actually traveled from another planet entirely?
Another wave of shock rippled through their frail bodies. The lunar clan understood perfectly well that if they could survive up here, other cosmic life forms were entirely possible. But the raw power this feline wielded...
They 'looked' toward the human. Though their sockets were empty, Madara could distinctly feel their gaze.
"I am Madara Uchiha," he stated flatly.
Madara? The couple turned blindly toward each other. As the sworn watchers of the world below, they were not ignorant of its bloody affairs. The names Madara and Hashirama had naturally reached their isolated ears.
They had just never expected to meet the ghost in person.
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