As Seiki was about to take the final step, high above in the Sky Fortress...
A group of people gathered before the Great Tenseigan.
Staring at the massive Tenseigan shining brilliantly like the sun, Xianglin tilted her head slightly. "Never thought those bastards actually returned the Great Tenseigan to us!"
Toneri chuckled softly. "To them, the Great Tenseigan is a source of contamination. They were more than happy to get rid of it!"
"Then why didn't they destroy it or throw it away? Could there be a trap?" Ruiga asked cautiously.
"The Great Tenseigan is an existence at their level. Destroying it would require absolute effort and come at a terrible cost. Of course, they wouldn't sacrifice themselves for others!"
Pausing briefly, Toneri continued, "As for discarding it... They saw during the Tournament how I'm connected with the Great Tenseigan. Naturally, they should understand that no matter where they abandon it, I will find it!"
"Then why not toss it to the Alli..." Ruiga began, only to realize immediately that she'd asked a stupid question.
Certainly, the Great Tenseigan was a hot potato, but it also had its value—didn't the Gaka organization use it to make a deal with them?
Abandoning the Great Tenseigan with the Alliance would only provide them with grounds for cooperation?
"There's also another reason..." Aizen suddenly said. "Isshiki Otsutsuki can no longer keep the Great Tenseigan hidden within his Dojutsu space, because he's about to undergo Rebirth!"
"Rebirth?" Toneri wasn't surprised that Aizen knew about the Gaka organization's affairs. After all, he'd already figured out where his childhood companion had gone.
Toneri asked, "Who's the chosen vessel?"
Aizen said calmly, "Kimimaro."
"Kimimaro?" Toneri was somewhat surprised. He had thought it would be Jugo!
Aizen flicked his fingers slightly. "The Moon contains the seal of Kaguya Otsutsuki, and Kimimaro's bloodline has a certain connection to Kaguya. Perhaps Isshiki plans to start from there."
Xianglin's expression turned anxious. "Won't Kimimaro be discovered by them, or worse—completely have his will corrupted?"
Aizen chuckled softly. "Don't worry. With my expertise in the soul arts, there's no way they could detect my arrangements! As for Kimimaro himself, I believe his will will never be extinguished!"
Seeing Xianglin still tense, Aizen shook his head with a smile. "Let me reveal a bit more then. Isshiki's Rebirth Ritual won't go smoothly either!"
"The Rebirth Ritual? Is it because of Momo Otsutsuki?" Toneri's heart jolted. "Because of our last meeting?"
Aizen nodded faintly. "While I can't directly influence their thoughts, I can still subtly affect their hearing."
Xianglin became excited. "So the two Otsutsuki will end up turning on each other, leaving Kimimaro as the ultimate beneficiary?"
"It's not that easy to be the silent beneficiary!" Aizen shook his head slightly. "The power gap between Kimimaro and them is too vast. He's too far out of their league to even think about profiting. However, I never intended for him to directly take them down. What I want is to plant a seed!"
Xianglin nodded as if she understood, but only partially.
Ruiga and the rest could hardly believe their ears. What had they just heard?
Aizen-sama had actually laid the foundation for Gaka organization many years ago, even planning to walk away with the prize in the end!
Such ability and strategy were truly admirable!
Besides being shocked, they were even more thrilled!
If Gaka organization was already in Aizen-sama's grasp, did anyone even need to question the outcome of the final battle?
It's secure!
With that said, Aizen turned to Toneri, "Absorb the chakra from the Great Tenseigan!"
"Should I absorb all of it?" Toneri hesitated slightly, though it wasn't out of fear of the yao monsters' power.
He had once surpassed Momoshiki. Besides his own bloodline, the cultivation of the yao monster system was also an important factor, so naturally, he wouldn't fear the yao monsters!
What he worried about was that doing so might cause the consciousness of ancestor Hamura to vanish forever!
Aizen naturally saw through his concern and said, "Don't worry, I'll protect your ancestor's consciousness! In fact, it was precisely because of his entanglement with the yao monster's consciousness that he couldn't transcend. After you absorb his strength, you'll actually be able to free him from this endless battle!"
Hearing Aizen's explanation, Toneri finally began absorbing his ancestor's power, reassured.
Seeing that The Second Toneri had once again found "heritage" left behind by his ancestor, Kakuzu said enviously, "If only we could have the power of the Otsutsuki bloodline too!"
Upon hearing this, Ruiga suddenly recalled a certain rumor and cautiously asked, "Aizen-sama, is it true that you once had a scientist named A research the transplantation of Otsutsuki bloodline?"
Aizen nodded, "Yes, that's right!"
Ruiga became excited, "Then was the research successful?"
Not just him, everyone secretly perked up their ears.
Not knowing was fine, but once someone understood even a little, no one could resist the temptation of the Otsutsuki bloodline!
Forget everything else, just the lifespan alone was enough to make them, as mere humans, salivate!
However, Aizen sighed, "Unfortunately, it failed!"
He had to admit, his original idea of trying to mass-produce Otsutsuki through bloodline transplantation was somewhat naive!
The fundamental factor limiting this idea wasn't ability, but chakra!
Ordinary ninja obtained chakra through personal refinement, but the Otsutsuki's chakra came from absorbing it from heaven and earth, which was also why their chakra was millions or even tens of millions of times greater than that of ordinary ninja!
It was also the main reason why there were so few Otsutsuki!
With the current concentration of chakra in shinobi no sekai, even if someone transplanted the Otsutsuki bloodline, it would be impossible to awaken it unless a place with extremely high chakra concentration could be found!
After listening to Aizen's explanation, Ruiga asked in disbelief, "Hold on a second, isn't chakra refined from physical energy and mental energy? How could it exist naturally in the environment?"
Aizen smiled and asked, "Have you ever considered where the chakra you use in ninjutsu goes after you use it?"
"Ah…." Ruiga opened his mouth wide and carefully asked, "Could it be… in nature?"
"The Earth Release created through chakra can be absorbed by the Otsutsuki, yet the rocks themselves won't do that, which shows there's a fundamental difference between the two!"
Aizen continued, "To be precise, except for a few rare ones, most ninjutsu eventually disperse into chakra—and that chakra ultimately remains in the ninja world!"
Kisame's expression subtly shifted. "Lord Aizen, I've heard the otsutsuki work on a thousand-year cycle. Could it be they're waiting until the accumulated chakra reaches a certain level before harvesting?"
He'd always wondered—If those otsutsuki only wanted to absorb the tiny amount of chakra in humans, why wait a thousand years? Harvesting every sixty would've been enough!
After all, sixty years is enough for a generation to come and go!
But if they needed a thousand years to gather chakra "produced and released" by nature across dozens of generations before absorbing it all together, then everything suddenly made perfect sense!
Aizen nodded, "Exactly the conclusion I've reached after years of exploration!"
"That's so unfair! I want to take back all the chakra I've used—I won't give it to them!" Xianglin puffed angrily, then curiously asked, "If we could take back all the chakra we've used, wouldn't that make us perpetual motion machines—like endless energy sources?"
Aizen shook his head slightly, "When chakra becomes ninjutsu, or ninjutsu becomes chakra, there's always energy loss. In fact, there's one crucial question I wonder if you've considered—chakra is refined and used instantly; it can't be stored in the human body. So why do the otsutsuki bother collecting chakra?"
Xianglin's eyes lit up, "Now I remember! That woman Tsunade I fought at the World's Strongest Ninja Tournament—she had a technique that could store chakra! If even she could do it, those otsutsuki certainly can too!"
Aizen nodded, "To be precise, only those at the level of Kekkei Mora can truly store chakra. Therefore, the otsutsuki aren't worried about resistance emerging from the chakra seeds scattered across the world. After all, the stronger a ninja becomes, the faster they die."
Xianglin hesitated, "The stronger the ninja, the faster they die?"
Aizen nodded with a sigh, "This is precisely why most ninja have short lifespans—we consume both physical and mental energy to produce chakra. But the otsutsuki live for thousands of years because they use chakra to replenish their physical and mental energy."
In a way, the reason Parallel World's Sasuke Prime and Big Naruto were so weak in the future was because [Six Paths] forcibly enhanced their power, draining too much of their life essence!
"So that's how it is!" Xianglin murmured in a daze. "Only powerful ninja can grasp the truth, yet the stronger they become, the closer they get to death. Unless one becomes a legend like the teacher or that Alliance leader, no one can cross this boundary!"
Kakuzu suddenly realized, "No wonder someone as powerful as Hashirama Senju died so young—it must've been from fighting so many times with people like me and Madara Uchiha!"
Sasori, who had remained silent all along, finally asked, "Still, I have one question I don't understand. If the otsutsuki's goal is to absorb chakra scattered in the natural world, why would they exterminate humanity? The chakra from one generation should be only a negligible fraction compared to a thousand years' accumulation."
Aizen said solemnly, "They may not care about that small amount of chakra, but what about the God Tree? The otsutsuki take the fruit it bears while we humans become its fertilizer!"
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