Chapter 614: The Battle on the Moon IV
The moon was beneath everyone's feet, and Kaguya was sealed right at its center.
When Iwagakure publicly announced control over a Earth-Moon passage and declared plans for immigration, Black Zetsu had secretly infiltrated the moon.
With Black Zetsu's ability, even if Ishiro himself guarded the Earth-Moon passage, it would be impossible to identify the person possessed by Black Zetsu from the massive immigration team.
So Black Zetsu's infiltration was very successful.
After entering the moon, the excited Black Zetsu used the resonance between his body and Kaguya to contact her deep within the moon.
Black Zetsu hoped his mother would descend upon his body, but Kaguya told him that she needed a body capable of withstanding Sage power.
Black Zetsu was merely a defective product temporarily created by Kaguya before she was sealed.
Black Zetsu's body could not withstand Kaguya's power.
So, after Black Zetsu recounted his longing to Kaguya, he returned to the ninja world.
Black Zetsu began doing his utmost to help Orochimaru become a Sage.
And Orochimaru didn't disappoint Black Zetsu; he even received help from the Sage of Six Paths.
Orochimaru became a Sage very quickly, completely exceeding Black Zetsu's expectations.
The next step was to lure Orochimaru to the moon.
Orochimaru wasn't Madara Uchiha or Obito Uchiha; he wasn't easy to deceive.
But just as Black Zetsu was getting a headache, Orochimaru unexpectedly brought up the Giant Tenseigan on the moon that resonated with him.
Black Zetsu knew about the Giant Tenseigan; he had secretly checked it out when he went to the moon.
Kaguya told Black Zetsu that she originally intended to descend using the Giant Tenseigan as a medium.
The Giant Tenseigan was fused from Byakugan, and those providing the Byakugan were all descendants of Kaguya, so there was no problem with compatibility.
In addition, the intensity of the Giant Tenseigan actually reached the Sage level, capable of accommodating Kaguya's will.
However, the Giant Tenseigan had masters; the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon were its masters.
Through special means, Kaguya slowly influenced the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon, causing their numbers to dwindle.
By Toneri Ōtsutsuki's generation, he was the only person left on the entire moon.
Kaguya originally thought that in a few more decades, after Toneri Ōtsutsuki died, there would be no living people left on the entire moon.
By then, she could directly control the masterless Giant Tenseigan and realize the descent of her will.
But then Ishiro arrived on the moon, causing the Giant Tenseigan to recognize Neji-kun as its master directly.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's entire plan fell through.
Fortunately, Black Zetsu arrived not long after.
Hearing Orochimaru bring up the Giant Tenseigan on his own initiative, Black Zetsu was overjoyed. So he made up a bunch of lies and lured Orochimaru directly to the moon.
And considering that Orochimaru in his prime wasn't suitable for Mother to possess—after all, Orochimaru didn't trust Black Zetsu, so Black Zetsu had no way to launch a sneak attack—
Black Zetsu also lured Ishiro and the others to the moon.
Sure enough, the result of the battle between the two sides was Orochimaru's defeat.
The Black Zetsu lurking in his body activated at the perfect moment, controlling Orochimaru while communicating with Kaguya.
Kaguya used Black Zetsu's body as a medium to complete the possession.
Why was there Black Zetsu in Orochimaru's body? It wasn't because he was careless and got invaded by Black Zetsu; actually, Black Zetsu had been hiding inside Hiashi Hyūga's head.
When Black Zetsu realized Orochimaru was uncontrollable during their cooperation, he started thinking of other ways.
Black Zetsu, guessing that Orochimaru would utilize Hiashi Hyūga's body, directly integrated a part of his body into Hiashi Hyūga's brain.
After Orochimaru possessed Hiashi Hyūga, Black Zetsu naturally lurked into Orochimaru's brain.
Later, during Orochimaru's process of advancing to Sage, the reason his Byakugan didn't change form but became Byakugan possessing high-level dōjutsu like Kaguya's was also partly due to Black Zetsu's secret guidance.
Eventually, Orochimaru's body became the most suitable vessel for Kaguya's possession.
If Orochimaru had stayed on Earth, that bit of Black Zetsu's body in his head wouldn't have been enough to pull Kaguya across such a long distance to descend.
But it was easy on the moon. With such a short distance, Kaguya only needed a little medium, and she could also transmit her own chakra into Orochimaru's body.
Although Kaguya's chakra was no longer endless because the Ten-Tails had been extracted.
Kaguya herself still possessed a certain amount of chakra.
With the help of this chakra, Black Zetsu believed that Kaguya should be confident in dealing with the Iwa ninjas who had just fought a great battle with Orochimaru.
In Black Zetsu's speculation, the Iwa ninjas at this time might have already lost one or two Sages at Orochimaru's hands.
The remaining one or two should also be injured or exhausted; how could they still be a match for Mother?
Although Ishiro wasn't clear about these dark schemes and calculations, he knew that Orochimaru must have fallen for Black Zetsu's trap.
Ishiro carefully scrutinized Kaguya in front of him.
Ignoring the red Rinne-Sharingan, the entirely white Kaguya actually easily gave people a harmless feeling.
But that fierce and terrifying Rinne-Sharingan constantly reminded everyone that she was not to be trifled with.
Even though this eye was not fully open now, in a half-open, half-closed state.
Of course, Ishiro wouldn't only care about Kaguya's appearance; he focused on Kaguya's power.
Undoubtedly, the chakra surging from underground just now was Kaguya's own chakra.
In the original story, when Kaguya descended from the moon onto Madara Uchiha in the ninja world, her own chakra couldn't play a role.
She could only rely on the power of the God Tree. The God Tree absorbed the power of the ninja army, and she used this power to forcibly change Madara Uchiha's form.
But in this life, Orochimaru was on the moon, so Kaguya could directly transmit her own chakra.
Of course, the result was also different. Without the power of the nine Tailed Beasts and the chakra of the Allied Shinobi Forces, the current Kaguya was also not in her prime.
This could be seen from the Rinne-Sharingan that failed to open fully.
Kaguya also knew her condition wasn't optimal. She also knew that the combat power of Ishiro and the others wasn't weak, and they hadn't been injured by Orochimaru.
So her first reaction after manifesting wasn't to attack Ishiro and the others, but to use Yomotsu Hirasaka to open a spatial gate and prepare to escape.
Kaguya had witnessed the entire battle between Orochimaru and Ishiro's group just now.
Her abilities were actually similar to Orochimaru's. Orochimaru lost in one-on-one fights, and she felt Ishiro and the others wouldn't play one-on-one with her.
She reckoned she had no chance of winning.
Orochimaru had consumed a large amount of chakra. Although she injected her own chakra, making her current chakra amount several times more than Orochimaru in his prime...
That was all. This didn't give her an absolute advantage.
So Kaguya's idea was to run away first, go to the ninja world, absorb enough chakra, and then come back to deal with these tricky opponents.
But how could Ishiro let her have her way? He immediately said, "Sōkai, stop her!"
The prepared Sōkai nodded, activated his Rinnegan dōjutsu, and directly closed the spatial gate opened by Kaguya.
Seeing no hope of escape, Kaguya turned her gaze back to Ishiro and the others.
Facing Orochimaru, Ishiro had the idea of sparring to increase everyone's combat experience, but facing Kaguya, Ishiro had absolutely no such thought.
Kaguya's combat experience might be even less than Sōkai's and Izumi Uchiha's. Sparring with her, it was unclear who would be training whom.
Ishiro said, "Sōkai, you are responsible for preventing Kaguya from escaping to other dimensions and protecting Chiga."
"Shion, intercept from the periphery with Priestess seals to prevent her from running away."
"Neji-kun, Izumi, let's attack together. I'll attract her attention, Neji-kun will be the main attacker, and Izumi will support."
"End the battle quickly! Don't give her a chance to use special abilities!"
As soon as Ishiro finished speaking, he rushed quickly toward Kaguya. The others responded and immediately began to act.
While rushing toward Kaguya, Ishiro formed seals with both hands to cast a ninjutsu.
This was a ninjutsu cast by Ishiro using chakra fused from the five basic natures—a Kekkei beyond Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōta.
When dealing with Orochimaru, Ishiro hadn't exposed intelligence on this aspect!
Facing Kaguya, Ishiro didn't hold back, using a trump card he hadn't used before right from the start.
However, when Ishiro used this ninjutsu, he didn't yell or deliberately show its uniqueness. Instead, he cast the white five-attribute chakra as if casting an ordinary ninjutsu.
To make this move appear ordinary, Ishiro didn't even use Senjutsu chakra.
Kaguya thought it was just an ordinary ninjutsu. Her response method was simple: she extended her left hand to absorb it.
But when Ishiro's attack touched Kaguya's left hand, Kaguya was surprised to find she couldn't absorb it.
It was too late to change strategy. Kaguya withdrew her hand while dodging sideways.
But in the end, one of her arms was cut off by Ishiro's ninjutsu.
Kaguya obviously lacked combat experience. If it were Orochimaru seeing Ishiro use ordinary ninjutsu so abnormally, his vigilance would have been maxed out long ago.
The naive Kaguya fell for it without any surprise.
Seeing an arm separated from Kaguya, Ishiro didn't choose to pursue the victory but sealed that arm first.
Losing an arm right at the start, Kaguya was immediately somewhat flustered. She hurriedly began to use her ultimate move.
Many bone spikes appeared on Kaguya's body. These bone spikes separated from her, adjusted their direction, and shot densely toward Ishiro, Neji-kun, and Izumi Uchiha.
Ishiro shook his head. Kaguya's combat experience was truly too poor.
Shinra Tensei!
Ishiro extended his hand, repelling these bone spikes in less than a second.
Neji-kun and Izumi Uchiha also possessed gravity abilities. Like Ishiro, they easily deflected all the bone spikes.
Seeing this, Kaguya knew she made a mistake; she shouldn't have shot them all out at once.
She hurriedly prepared bone spikes again, but at this time, the attacks of Ishiro and the others were also ready.
First was Neji-kun's giant sword, tens of meters long. Although it was difficult for the giant sword to work on people, it was still okay to scare Kaguya.
Kaguya was still very careful facing this kind of attack, dodging rapidly.
Next was Ishiro's ninjutsu cast with five-attribute chakra.
To attract Kaguya's attention, Ishiro's ninjutsu had a large range and impressive momentum.
This time Kaguya didn't stupidly try to absorb it. She created a Truth-Seeking Ball and used it to form a shield to resist Ishiro's attack.
Ishiro naturally knew the power of the Truth-Seeking Ball; Neji-kun had just used a Truth-Seeking Ball to defeat Orochimaru in one fell swoop.
So Ishiro reminded the others: "Be careful, don't touch the Truth-Seeking Ball with your body."
While speaking, Ishiro cast multiple ninjutsu consecutively. The targets of these ninjutsu were not Kaguya, but that Truth-Seeking Ball.
Among the ninjutsu Ishiro knew, only five-attribute fusion chakra ninjutsu and Senjutsu could touch the Truth-Seeking Ball without being destroyed.
Ishiro's consecutive five-attribute fusion ninjutsu blasted the Truth-Seeking Ball off course directly, opening a path for Neji-kun and Izumi Uchiha's attack.
Perhaps limited by chakra amount, Kaguya only created one Truth-Seeking Ball.
After Neji-kun missed with one slash, he swung his sword again. Seeing this, Kaguya hurriedly dodged, but by this time, Izumi Uchiha had already arrived near her.
Izumi Uchiha stared at Kaguya with her Rinnegan, which flashed with strange light.
The next moment, Kaguya's body returned directly to the position before dodging, right under the blade of Neji-kun's forty-meter-long broadsword.
Without any surprise, the unresponsive Kaguya was cut in two directly.
However, Kaguya was almost immortal. Her upper body fled quickly.
Ishiro didn't chase but went to the side of Kaguya's lower body, forming seals to seal this half of the body as well.
Suffering consecutive setbacks, Kaguya dared not continue fighting.
She fled rapidly into the distance.
While fleeing, she also attempted to open a spatial gate, but she was stopped by Sōkai, who was eyeing her covetously from afar.
Unable to flee across space, Kaguya could only fly far away from this battlefield, but what greeted her was the waiting Priestess Seal.
Priestess power was different from chakra; Kaguya tried to absorb it but failed.
With interception in front and pursuers behind, Kaguya knew if this continued, she would definitely be sealed.
Rather than be sealed by unknown means, it was better to return to the main body inside the moon.
Black Zetsu said he had a second plan in the ninja world.
So Kaguya voluntarily released the possession of Orochimaru, her will returning to the main body deep in the moon.
When Ishiro and the other two rushed to Kaguya's side, she had already reverted to Orochimaru's body, that is, Hiashi Hyūga's appearance.
With Kaguya's disappearance, the Truth-Seeking Ball blown away by Ishiro also dissipated directly.
Ishiro naturally noticed this scene and felt some regret. What a pity to harvest one less Truth-Seeking Ball.
Ishiro turned his head, about to take Orochimaru's Byakugan, when he suddenly heard him say, "Neji, I'm sorry!"
Neji-kun was stunned, and Ishiro's extended hand also paused.
This wasn't Orochimaru? This was Hiashi Hyūga?
Where was Orochimaru? Did he die when Kaguya possessed him?
Ishiro sneered in his heart. Hiashi Hyūga didn't die; how could Orochimaru die?
Ishiro stepped forward and removed Hiashi Hyūga's eyes directly.
Regardless of whether Orochimaru died or pulled a Golden Cicada shedding its shell, these Sage-level Byakugan couldn't be faked.
Hiashi Hyūga didn't resist, nor did he have the strength to resist.
After Ishiro took his eyes, Hiashi Hyūga continued to say to Neji-kun, "Neji, although your father died for me voluntarily, I did harbor such thoughts in my heart."
"The Main House owes the Branch House a lot. Whatever you do to me, I deserve it."
"Just, please spare Hinata and Hanabi. They are both your sisters; they are innocent."
Neji-kun sneered. His emotions weren't affected by Hiashi Hyūga's words at all.
After leaving Konoha, from a child who wasn't even a ninja to the Sage he was now, his mind had long matured.
His views on the Main and Branch Houses were far more profound than Hiashi Hyūga, the clan head who grew up in a greenhouse.
Hiashi Hyūga thinking that admitting a mistake before death could make Neji-kun let go was clearly overthinking.
Neji-kun acted without hesitation, raising his hand and bringing it down, directly ending the dying Hiashi Hyūga.
As for how to treat Hinata and Hanabi Hyūga, Neji-kun had his own ideas and didn't need Hiashi Hyūga to teach him.
Seeing Neji-kun's decisiveness, Ishiro smiled, then directly sealed Hiashi Hyūga's body, which had been cut in two by Neji-kun.
Although Hiashi Hyūga's body wasn't as valuable as Kaguya's, it was still a body that had once been a Sage.
With this, the Battle on the Moon officially ended.
In the distance, Sōkai, Shion, and Chiga all breathed a sigh of relief seeing this.
However, Ishiro didn't immediately take everyone back to the ninja world. He took out Kaguya's left arm that he had sealed earlier.
Ishiro undid the seal on Kaguya's left arm and said to Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha, "Kaguya's will returned to her main body, but this sealed part of her body remains."
"This arm contains a part of Kaguya's will and her chakra."
"This is chakra at the Kekkei Mōra level. A great tonic!"
Everyone: "..."
Sure enough, Ishiro-sensei was still that Ishiro-sensei; his style of plucking feathers from every passing goose hadn't changed a bit.
Ishiro didn't care about everyone's looks at all. He said, "Neji-kun, you communicate with the Giant Tenseigan. Izumi, Sōkai, you communicate with the Giant Sharingan."
"Let's work together to decompose this arm."
Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha all nodded.
Shion asked, "Then what do I do?"
Ishiro thought for a moment. Telling her to just watch didn't seem appropriate, so he said, "Shion, set up Priestess seals around here to prevent Kaguya from controlling this chakra to escape."
Shion gave a hum of agreement, excited to be assigned such an arduous task.
Just now, she was the one who used the Priestess seal to block Kaguya when she was about to escape.
While Shion prepared the Priestess seals, Ishiro and the other three got to work.
All four were Sages, and with the assistance of the Giant Tenseigan and Giant Sharingan, although Kaguya's arm was at the Kekkei Mōra level, it was still slowly decomposed.
Watching Kaguya's right arm melt little by little as if heated by high temperature...
Ishiro was somewhat excited. It's working!
After a while longer, Kaguya's entire right arm was completely decomposed, turning into a mass of black chakra.
Ishiro carefully absorbed a trace of chakra, trying to comprehend the profoundness within.
Seeing that Ishiro had no adverse reactions, Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha followed suit and began to comprehend.
Ishiro once mentioned a term when brainwashing Kisame: the essence of chakra.
Actually, at that time, Ishiro himself didn't know what the essence of chakra was.
Even after Ishiro fused five attributes and achieved Sagehood, he still wasn't clear about what the essence of chakra was.
But when Ishiro touched the black liquid chakra in front of him, he knew: this was the essential form of chakra.
No wonder Kaguya was called the Progenitor of Chakra. This wasn't just because she was the first to possess chakra in the ninja world.
It was also because her chakra was the purest chakra.
Ishiro put this trace of chakra into his body and tried to mobilize his own chakra to contact it.
Then, Ishiro felt that his own chakra became more active and vital after contacting this black chakra.
However, this trace of chakra wasn't enough for Ishiro to cleanse his entire body's chakra.
So Ishiro began to absorb more black chakra.
Similarly, Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha were doing the same thing.
A moment later, the black chakra in front of the few people was all absorbed.
The few opened their eyes, all feeling unsatisfied.
Ishiro smiled and took out Kaguya's half-body again.
Neji-kun and the other two's eyes lit up upon seeing this. Without Ishiro's order, the four tacitly repeated the process just now.
A long time later, Kaguya's body was finally completely absorbed.
Ishiro took a deep breath and said, "So refreshing! This feeling isn't much different from when I became a Sage."
Neji-kun also said, "Yeah, if there were enough Kekkei Mōra chakra, maybe we could achieve Kekkei Mōra very quickly too."
Ishiro smiled and said, "Achieving Kekkei Mōra isn't that easy. Even if we decomposed the entire Kaguya and used all the chakra on one person, it wouldn't be possible to make him achieve Kekkei Mōra."
"If one really achieved Kekkei Mōra that way, there would only be one possibility: it was actively facilitated by Kaguya."
"That person would only have one end in the last, which is to be possessed by Kaguya like Orochimaru."
"Don't think about taking this shortcut. To achieve Kekkei Mōra, either cultivate the fusion of seven attributes honestly."
"Or use the massive Ten-Tails chakra to complete the qualitative change directly with quantitative change."
"Other tricky methods are difficult."
Izumi Uchiha nodded and said, "Indeed! Although I feel very comfortable, I'm still very, very far from advancing again."
"But I feel my strength has improved, and the flexibility of my chakra has also increased."
The group chatted for a while longer, then Ishiro said, "Alright, matters on the moon are resolved. Let's return to the ninja world."
When they came, everyone took the Earth-Moon passage like Orochimaru, mainly to prevent intelligence on Sōkai's dōjutsu from leaking.
But going back, there weren't so many scruples.
Sōkai's Rinnegan flashed, and he soon identified a direction. Then he opened a spatial gate.
Everyone passed through the spatial gate one after another, arriving directly in the ninja world, right on the edge of Iwagakure.