Isshiki was truly terrified now.
He hadn't expected Kaito to have a time-based dōjutsu, one that completely restrained him.
The thought of retreat had already sprouted in his heart. If he got hit by Gyakunen again, he really would die without even a trace left behind.
Thinking this, he slowly began to back away. A black portal had already appeared behind him.
Of course, Kaito wasn't going to just let Isshiki run.
The moment Isshiki tried to step into the portal, purple light flashed in Kaito's eyes, and in an instant, their positions swapped.
Isshiki appeared where Kaito had been standing just a moment ago, completely dumbfounded. When he realized what had happened, he found himself surrounded by twelve Truth-Seeking Orbs.
"Not good!"
Instinctively, Isshiki tried to activate his dōjutsu to shrink the orbs—but Kaito didn't give him the chance.
Crack!
Kaito's body turned into lightning. In a flash, he appeared in front of Isshiki and jabbed a finger toward his right eye.
Isshiki was still focused on the Truth-Seeking Orbs. He didn't have time to react.
Squelch!
"AHHH!!!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore from Isshiki's throat. He clutched his right eye and dropped to one knee.
Kaito opened his hand. Nestled in his palm was a golden eyeball, still dripping faintly with golden blood.
Isshiki glared at Kaito with his remaining Byakugan, his voice filled with hatred.
"You bastard! How dare you—"
Before he could finish, the twelve Truth-Seeking Orbs around him linked together like black prayer beads, binding his body tightly.
Isshiki struggled desperately, but that only made the orbs constrict tighter.
Kaito lifted his hand slightly, and the orbs floated upward, carrying Isshiki into the air.
Watching Isshiki struggle, Kaito smiled.
"Looks like you've still got some fight in you. Good. That's even better."
Isshiki roared furiously,
"Let me go! What the hell are you trying to do!?"
"No need to rush. You'll find out soon enough."
As he spoke, wisps of black smoke began rising from Kaito's body. Under Isshiki's horrified gaze, the smoke gathered into the form of a monstrous beast.
Isshiki's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the single massive, blood-red eye on the monster's face.
"The Ten-Tails!?"
The Ten-Tails fixed its greedy gaze on Isshiki, like it was staring at a delicious meal.
Isshiki knew that look all too well. He had experienced it once before.
Judging by its appearance, this Ten-Tails was still in its juvenile stage. That made Kaito's intentions obvious. He was going to feed Isshiki to it—just like Kaguya had been once!
The realization sent Isshiki into a frantic struggle, true terror surging through him.
But without his right eye, mere physical strength wasn't enough to break free of the Truth-Seeking Orbs. Soon, he was dragged before the Ten-Tails' maw.
The beast had been waiting impatiently. The moment Isshiki was brought before it, it opened its mouth wide and swallowed him whole.
Isshiki's life force was absurdly strong. Even as the Ten-Tails chewed him like gum, he kept screaming.
Kaito, growing impatient, kicked the Ten-Tails in the belly. With a gulp, the beast swallowed Isshiki down.
The screams ended abruptly.
The Ten-Tails roared, then its bloated body began to shrink, becoming leaner than before.
After absorbing Isshiki, it turned its gaze toward the golden eyeball in Kaito's hand.
Kaito raised an eyebrow, tossing the eyeball lightly. The Ten-Tails' single eye followed it up and down, like a puppy begging for a treat.
With a smirk, Kaito casually tossed the eyeball away. The Ten-Tails opened its mouth, unleashing a powerful suction that pulled the golden eye straight down its throat.
Once it swallowed, the beast looked satisfied. Then it dissolved back into a cloud of black smoke and re-entered Kaito's body.
The moment it merged, Kaito's eyes snapped open. Black beams of light erupted from his body, as if he was about to explode.
Gradually, a pitch-black sphere formed around him, wrapping his body completely before shattering like glass.
Kaito stood with eyes shut. When he opened them again, two golden beams shot forth.
Feeling the immense surge of ocular power swelling inside him, Kaito drew a deep breath and deactivated the Rinnegan.
He looked up—and froze.
There were no blind spots. His vision encompassed a full 360 degrees.
Not only that, he could see clearly for hundreds of kilometers—and in full color.
This was like an upgraded version of the Byakugan!
Raising his hand, Kaito conjured a water mirror. Sure enough, his usual black pupils had turned white—not the pure white of the Hyūga, but a crystalline white tinged faintly with light blue, like two glittering gems.
The Ten-Tails' feedback after consuming Isshiki was staggering. Not only had his eyes changed, but the energy required to open dimensional portals was once again abundant.
In other words, Kaito could now open a dimensional portal at will—to return to the Pirate World, or to travel to entirely new worlds.
Since leaving the Pirate World, this was by far his greatest gain.
With such a harvest, Kaito wasn't in a hurry to cross over again. The Ōtsutsuki were walking treasures. He could hardly wait to storm their nest and gorge himself.
But before that, there was something else he had to do.
He touched his new "Byakugan," then lifted his gaze skyward.
He remembered clearly—on the moon rested a massive Tenseigan. If he absorbed that, these "Byakugan" of his might very well evolve into a Tenseigan of his own.
Combined with the Rinnegan, perhaps his eyes could ascend to an entirely new level.
With that thought, Kaito narrowed his eyes, then shot straight into the sky, soaring toward the heavens.
...
On a certain white planet,
A phantom figure sat cross-legged on a sacrificial altar, surrounded by flickering blue flames.
Suddenly, one of the flames wavered and then extinguished completely.
The figure stirred, speaking as though to himself.
"Isshiki is dead. Yet his guardian, Kaguya, still lives… strange."
"Hmph. If I had known, I never should have entrusted him with two Ten-Tails."
"No… I can't allow those two Ten-Tails to simply be lost…"
He raised his hand, and in an instant, three figures appeared before him.
Still seated with eyes shut, he spoke,
"Momoshiki, Kinshiki, Urashiki—go immediately. Find Kaguya's whereabouts. Her life or death doesn't matter. What I want are the two Ten-Tails Isshiki carried away!"
"Yes, Great Elder!"
One of the finest sources of nourishment had been lost.
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