Chapter 288 – The Ōtsutsuki's Dark Age? The God Who Plants Trees
Gen stood silently, staring at Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
What the hell is even going on anymore?!
It was bad enough dealing with Deidara's nonsense—but now even her?
Sure, he had done some questionable things lately,
but come on—
it wasn't like he was some cosmic villain plotting universal domination!
Everything he'd done was for the greater good.
To save the ninja world—no, the countless lives across the stars.
He had literally invented the "Law of the Dark Forest," a system that had already saved entire planets from destruction.
If the universe had any decency,
it ought to bow down and thank him!
So why—why the hell was he suddenly being treated like some endgame boss?!
"Hey, calm down, will you?"
Gen rubbed his temples, his chakra threads reaching out to restrain Kaguya's agitated energy.
"And stop spouting nonsense. I'm the good guy here."
"Let me go!"
His words didn't help at all.
If anything, she only grew more furious.
"I heard what you said! Don't lie to me! You just want to make me part of your so called Path to Godhood, don't you?!"
"What—no, what are you even—"
"Don't play dumb! I heard everything! I saw everything!"
"…"
"You became this strong because you devoured Urashiki!
Momoshiki only consumed Kinshiki, who was nothing but a guardian—no wonder he lost!
And now you've refined him into a pill too. You're growing stronger by the minute—and your ambition's only getting bigger!"
Gen froze.
This woman…
Was she insane?
My ambition's getting bigger?
Lady, my heart hasn't changed at all!
He sighed heavily, his patience starting to fray.
"You're unbelievable…"
"If I really wanted to do that," he said, rubbing his forehead,
"I would've killed you the moment we met. It would've made dealing with Momoshiki a hell of a lot easier."
"That's because you already have the Ten-Tails!"
Kaguya's tone was absolute, as if she had just cracked some divine truth.
"Your clone exposed everything! That clone was entirely made from the God Tree—you can't fool me!"
"…"
Gen blinked.
He was speechless.
But she wasn't done.
"You're not attacking me because you're testing whether a dead Ōtsutsuki can still plant a God Tree."
"…"
"After all, I once used Isshiki's severed body to plant one myself. My experience would be useful to you, wouldn't it?"
"…"
"No wonder you're letting Isshiki and Urashiki's Karma marks live. You're waiting to devour them properly—to complete your so-called Godhood!"
"…"
Gen just stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
How did her brain even get to that conclusion?!
She had to be the most dangerously naive being in the entire cosmos—
a sugar-coated airhead with god-tier power.
Did she realize that saying stuff like that could get her killed by anyone else on the spot?
"Fascinating."
Gen sighed, then clapped his hands lightly with a crooked smile.
"I didn't think your insight would be this sharp. You've actually managed to surprise me."
Kaguya tensed.
Her cold, regal composure wavered slightly.
"You… admit it?"
"Not exactly," he said, tilting his head.
His tone shifted, becoming chillingly calm.
"But tell me, Kaguya—since you've uncovered all my so-called secrets… why would you say them out loud?"
Her breath hitched.
He stepped closer.
"When you learn something you shouldn't," he said quietly,
"isn't it smarter to keep it buried deep inside? To make sure I never find out you know?"
"…"
"Because if I did, I might get angry… maybe even kill you on the spot.
Or worse—change my plans and come for you sooner."
He smiled faintly.
"So tell me, Kaguya… do you have a death wish?"
Her throat tightened.
And for the first time, she realized—
she might have really said too much.
She should've pretended ignorance,
waited for the right moment to escape his grasp.
But it was too late now.
"You're… going to kill me, aren't you?" she whispered.
"Use my power to complete your Godhood Path?"
chuckled softly.
"Well… I could."
Then he sighed, tilting his head.
"But why do you keep talking like I'm some kind of villain?"
"Aren't you?"
Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned with mistrust.
Gen's expression twitched.
"If I really wanted you dead," he said, "you'd already be gone.
To me, you, Isshiki, Urashiki, Momoshiki—you're all the same. No difference at all."
And he wasn't lying.
For someone like him, the line between god and prey was paper thin.
"As for me," he added with a faint grin, "don't you find this… interesting?"
"Interesting?"
Kaguya frowned, clearly not following.
"Power," he said. "Every Ōtsutsuki craves it.
And my technique—'Yomi-no-Tsukuni'—made the impossible possible."
"That's what gave birth to the Godhood Path.
To the Law of the Dark Forest.
To everything that's happening now."
He paused, his eyes distant.
"If these concepts ever spread to the Ōtsutsuki homeworld…"
He didn't need to finish the thought.
If the clan learned about this Path—
the cosmos would bleed.
The Ōtsutsuki's hunger for power knew no end.
To them, life itself was merely fuel for evolution.
Even death was a temporary inconvenience.
Isshiki had proven that.
Even as his body decayed, he sent his will through space to command Code—
to keep planting God Trees, to keep devouring worlds.
Endlessly.
Such obsession, Gen thought. Such madness.
If the others ever discovered the concept of the "Godhood Path,"
the Ōtsutsuki race would plunge into a Dark Age.
An era of self-cannibalizing gods.
"And if any of those three idiots survive the Ninja World 'battle royale,'" Gen muttered, stroking his chin,
"they'll probably start the Ōtsutsuki Civil War themselves."
Kaguya blinked slowly.
"So that's your plan…"
"Mm." He smiled faintly.
"This world is my domain. I can't let outsiders run wild.
And your power—since you've eaten the fruit before—will be essential."
"This is what you meant by 'helping me'?"
"Exactly. I told you, we're natural allies.
You're hiding from your clan's pursuit—I'm hiding from their curiosity.
We just use different methods."
Different was an understatement.
He'd made every Ōtsutsuki on edge just by existing.
Kaguya studied him for a long time.
Finally, she sighed.
"Now I believe it—you really were born in this world."
"?"
Gen raised a brow.
Kaguya's tone returned to its usual coldness.
"You're just like Hagoromo.
Cruel. Calculating. And utterly cold-blooded."
"…"
"If you weren't born here, you could never be this… human."
"…"
"Hagoromo… it seems you've finally won."
Gen inhaled deeply, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
He was seriously considering traveling to the moon—
just to refine this woman into a pill himself.
"Maybe then," he muttered, "we could ascend together."
---
Meanwhile: Inside the Ōtsutsuki Common Realm
"So… you want to team up?"
Momoshiki eyed Isshiki and Urashiki warily.
He had never expected to run into them again—much less here.
Isshiki's face was expressionless,
but his clenched fists betrayed his temper.
"That's right. We're allies now," Isshiki said curtly.
He wasn't thrilled about it either.
But facing Gen alone was suicide.
"You've seen his power. Even after consuming Kinshiki, you couldn't match him.
We can't take him one-on-one."
Urashiki folded his arms, scoffing.
"He's not just powerful. He's learned things… unthinkable things.
Before I lost, I realized—he's mastering techniques from this world itself."
Momoshiki frowned.
"What could a primitive planet like this possibly teach anyone?"
Isshiki shook his head.
"Don't underestimate it.
This world has fought, evolved, and adapted for over a thousand years.
Its wars have forged power unlike anything our clan remembers."
Momoshiki hesitated.
"A millennium of bloodshed… constant evolution… generations of combat refined?"
His voice wavered.
"No wonder he's that strong…"
Urashiki smirked bitterly.
"Exactly. This entire world is a crucible.
Genshiki is just its final product."
"Madness," Momoshiki whispered. "Utter madness. Who caused all this?"
"Kaguya's sons," Isshiki said simply.
"They feared me. Feared the clan. So they created this world of struggle."
Both Momoshiki and Urashiki stared at him flatly.
"And we're supposed to believe that?"
Isshiki's jaw tightened.
"Forget it. Believe what you want.
The point is—if we don't work together, we'll die separately."
Momoshiki was silent for a long while.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Fine. We'll cooperate—for now."
He forced a smile.
"But between the three of us, I'm the strongest. Don't forget that."
They all smiled then—sharp, mirthless smiles.
Each thinking the same thing:
I'll win.
You'll all be my stepping stones.
Only I will survive.
And deep within the Pure Land, far above the mortal plane—
two ancient brothers watched.
"Brother… the shinobi world truly isn't what it used to be," said Hamura Ōtsutsuki, eyes wide.
"Indeed," replied the Sage of Six Paths, equally stunned.
"Seven Ōtsutsuki in one era… it's absurd."
Even gods could feel overwhelmed.
"Do you think the 'Path' is real?" Hamura asked quietly.
"I don't know," Hagoromo said after a pause. "But if it is…
it might just destroy them faster than we ever could."
Back to Gen:
The rest of the Ōtsutsuki remnants he'd collected had been fed to the tree.
"No wonder your God Tree is so massive," Kaguya murmured, eyes shimmering faintly in the pale green light.
"Even without expanding, its size alone is enough to make one tremble."
She gazed up at the towering trunk that seemed to pierce the heavens,
its branches coiling like the veins of the world itself.
"Still…" she added softly,
"for something so grand, you've given it enough energy to create fruit several times over—
and yet, you've stopped it from doing so.
That's… rather extravagant."
"Extravagant?" tilted his head, curious. "What do you mean by that?"
Kaguya turned toward him, her voice calm but edged with quiet awe.
"It means that to fully awaken this tree, you'll need an impossible amount of energy.
Have you noticed? It hasn't truly awakened yet."
"That's true," admitted. "But mostly because I haven't killed any of the jinchūriki.
The tailed beasts' chakra I've gathered is… limited."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, speaking as if it were a trivial matter.
But Kaguya shook her head.
"No. That's not it.
The God Tree doesn't lack energy—it generates it naturally.
It simply doesn't know where to release it.
You've cultivated it too perfectly. It has nowhere to grow."
Gen smiled faintly.
"Not necessarily."
He wasn't about to tell her the truth.
This wasn't just any Ten-Tails.
This was his creation—
a living conduit of evolution, bound to his will,
feeding him power without end.
The "God Tree Source," as he called it,
wasn't something that would betray him.
It was an extension of himself—
a machine of perpetual transformation.
Most of his new ocular powers—
aside from the Tenseigan's innate abilities—
had been born directly from this divine fusion.
"Think whatever you like," Kaguya said, her gaze fixed on the great tree.
"But I admit, I am curious…
What kind of fruit would this one bear?"
Her voice was cool, almost reverent.
"To birth a fruit like that," she continued,
"it would require an unimaginable amount of power.
And once it does… I fear even the gods won't comprehend what comes next."
"Is that so?"
Gen vanished and reappeared at the upper dome of the space,
where the energy pulsed brightest.
In his hand, he held Momoshiki's crystallized core—the God pill forged from his remains.
He smiled.
"Seems my road is still a long one," he said quietly. "I'll have to keep pushing forward."
But mid-sentence—he froze.
A thought struck him.
Wait… Isshiki's body… and the remains of Ōtsutsuki Shibai.
His mind raced.
The corpse of the closest being to the Ōtsutsuki God—
a vessel of unimaginable, divine energy.
If he used that as an offering…
He didn't even finish the thought.
The possibilities alone made the air grow heavy around him.
His sudden silence made Kaguya's brows furrow.
And then—
a terrible suspicion dawned on her.
"No…" she whispered. "Don't tell me he's worried there aren't enough Ōtsutsuki left…"
Her face paled.
"If that's what he's thinking… then this could be very, very bad."
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