"Huh!?"
Karin was stunned for a moment, then looked at Momoshiki in front of her.
At this time, Momoshiki had long lost his previous arrogance. His nose was crooked, his eyes were slanted, his face was bruised and swollen, and his body was covered in cuts and bruises, with not a single good spot left.
"How could it be like this?"
Karin was completely confused.
Hikari shrugged, her expression just like Karin's, also completely baffled.
After detecting the Otsutsuki's descent on the shinobi world, Karin and Hikari, following Shinji's instructions, laid an ambush at the place where Shinji nurtured the second 'Chakra Fruit' in the shinobi world. Because in Shinji's view, if an Otsutsuki was really attracted to the shinobi world by the 'Chakra Fruit', the opponent would definitely follow the aura of the 'Chakra Fruit' to investigate this place.
Sure enough, Shinji used the aura of the 'Chakra Fruit' to lure Momoshiki Otsutsuki.
But because they couldn't contact Shinji temporarily, and Toneri on the moon didn't respond, in order to prevent the target from escaping, Karin and Hikari had to choose to take action.
Considering the opponent was a true Otsutsuki and they possessed no intelligence, for safety's sake, Karin and Hikari discussed and decided that Karin, who mastered 'Tamatsukuri no Hoko', would attack first, gaining intelligence on the opponent through combat while depleting him.
Hikari, as the backup, hid on the periphery of the battlefield. After Karin completed the depletion task, she would then take action to finish off the opponent. Because Hikari's 'Ama-no-Iwato', when used on herself, could protect herself and isolate her aura, Momoshiki did not discover Hikari hiding nearby.
The plan proceeded smoothly at first. Karin and Momoshiki broke out into a great battle and successfully entered the phase of mutual depletion.
But soon, the situation changed.
First, Momoshiki consumed his stored chakra to activate the transformation, putting Karin in danger. Subsequently, Karin activated her trump card 'Tamatsukuri no Hoko' to complete the swap, pulling the situation back.
At this stage, Hikari was ready to intervene in the battle at any time to replace the overly consumed Karin.
However, for some reason, after the situation was pulled back by Karin, Momoshiki appeared very at a loss, like a rookie just out of the ninja academy, actually overwhelmed by Karin in momentum!
Glancing at Momoshiki, who was beaten black and blue and whose consciousness was blurred, Hikari shook her head and gave her evaluation: "So weak!"
Karin still somewhat couldn't believe it: "I... I just won like this?"
Hikari thought for a moment and said: "Shinji said that Otsutsuki usually come in pairs, one master and one servant, one strong and one weak. This one should be the weak one!"
Karin agreed deeply: "En, must be so!"
Momoshiki, lying on the ground, heard Karin and Hikari's comments about him and was instantly furious: "Da... damn it!"
Such humiliation was more unbearable to him than being defeated.
However, anger aside, Momoshiki now understood. Besides Karin, the opponent also had Uchiha Hikari, who was about as strong as Karin, waiting for an opportunity near the battlefield all along.
In other words, this was a trap specifically targeting him. So he regretted coming here alone at this moment. If Urashiki and Kinshiki were by his side, he felt he wouldn't have lost.
Momoshiki cursed loudly: "That bastard Isshiki is truly despicable!"
...
Until now, he still firmly believed that Karin and Hikari were subordinates cultivated by Isshiki, and this trap was also carefully set for him by Isshiki!
Seeing Momoshiki waking up, Karin didn't dare hesitate. She hurriedly shot several black rods at Momoshiki, piercing through several main meridian points on Momoshiki's body. Then she formed hand seals to activate 'Four Symbols Seal' and Wood Release 'Tree Binding Flourishing Burial' to seal Momoshiki inside and out.
After completing the seal, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Although this battle was won somewhat inexplicably, out of fear for the Otsutsuki clan, she still maintained extremely high vigilance towards Momoshiki.
Deep in her heart, she even faintly felt that Momoshiki might still have some trump cards he hadn't played.
Looking at Karin's vigilant eyes, Momoshiki was ashamed and angry: "You bastard!"
In fact, because of the existence of 'Takamimusubi', all ninjutsu in front of Momoshiki were just aiding the enemy. Momoshiki could easily absorb these ninjutsu, then either use 'Cinnabar Panacea' to refine the absorbed chakra into chakra pills or use 'Takamimusubi' to return the absorbed jutsu with multiplied power.
So to some extent, Momoshiki possessed a certain 'magic immunity' ability.
Don't underestimate this ability. One must know that in the original timeline, the Sixth Mizukage Chojuro and the Fourth Tsuchikage Kurotsuchi joined forces. One using Hiramekarei's 'Bone Mutilation' and the other using 'Lava Release' Bloodline Limit's 'Ash Stone Seal Technique' controlled Kinshiki Otsutsuki firmly. To break free from the control, Kinshiki ended up with his skin torn and flesh gaping, suffering considerable injuries and losing face greatly.
But if Chojuro and Kurotsuchi attacked Momoshiki together, Momoshiki wouldn't even need to dodge; a single 'Takamimusubi' would absorb Chojuro and Kurotsuchi's jutsu.
Therefore, to defeat Momoshiki, either like in the original timeline, let Naruto and Sasuke cooperate in a taijutsu doubles match to beat Momoshiki into heavy injuries, then have Boruto cast the 'Vanishing Rasengan' to catch Momoshiki off guard.
Or one can only be like Karin, relying on taijutsu, punch by punch and kick by kick, to forcefully beat Momoshiki to death!
Fortunately, Momoshiki's taijutsu strength was average. In the original timeline, even after swallowing Kinshiki and obtaining Kinshiki's weapons creation ability, able to condense various chakra weapons at will and activate transformation, he only briefly suppressed Naruto and Sasuke relying on physical stats.
Once Naruto and Sasuke adapted, Momoshiki immediately fell into a disadvantage and was later beaten up in various fancy ways.
At this time, Karin opened a space portal leading to the flying fortress, then lifted the sealed Momoshiki on the ground and returned to the flying fortress with Hikari.
Throwing Momoshiki into the temporary prison on the flying fortress, Karin said to Hikari: "More than one Otsutsuki descended on the shinobi world this time. The research institute also encountered trouble. Toneri still has no news until now; I'm afraid it bodes ill for him too. I prepare to..."
Hikari interrupted Karin: "Your chakra consumption is too severe, and 'Tamatsukuri no Hoko' is also on cooldown, so leave the rest to me!"
Karin hesitated slightly: "But..."
Hikari smiled, saying confidently: "You solved one, I'll solve one, fair and reasonable!"
Thinking that Hikari's strength was not below hers, especially since Hikari mastered two powerful dojutsu, 'Yachihoko' and 'Ama-no-Iwato', capable of both offense and defense, Karin didn't say more, only instructing: "Be careful, those Otsutsuki are very despicable!"
"En!"
Hikari nodded, daring not delay, and immediately prepared to open a space portal to rush to the ritual site at the research institute.