Shin no longer needed to contemplate whether sacrificing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was necessary.
Truthfully, even though Kaguya was currently sealed within the moon, capturing her would not have posed any real challenge to him. With his extraordinary vision, Shin could have simply opened a portal, dragged her out, and delivered her to the Divine Tree as nourishment. To his overwhelming strength, the Ōtsutsuki clan no longer appeared as divine beings but as fragile figures, hardly more significant than ordinary shinobi. A single blow would have been enough to erase her. The only reason she was spared was because of the existence of her two sons, who were still under Shin's command. Without that consideration, Kaguya would have already been reduced to food for the sacred tree.
As these thoughts circled in his mind, Red Queen's calm and mechanical voice whispered in his ear.
"Master, I have successfully mapped all hidden dimensions on this planet. Among them, I have detected the lingering traces of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
Shin's eyes narrowed, and a sharp smile formed on his lips. "Oh, that's an even better solution. If memory serves, Isshiki possessed a smaller sacred tree of his own. Perfect. If I merge his tree with ours using the Munch-Munch Fruit's power, the resulting fusion should create a far greater Divine Tree, one capable of absorbing cosmic energy at a much faster rate."
Without wasting another moment, he instructed Red Queen to transmit the precise location. The coordinates flashed in his mind. Shin immediately ascended into the air, piercing the skies with ease. Using his super vision, he pierced through layers of space until he found the faintly glowing spatial node. With a casual motion, he drew open a portal upon it.
Blue flames, pale and ethereal, flickered around the edges of the dimensional gate. The warped surface shimmered like water under moonlight, bending reality itself. As it widened, the view inside came into focus.
Standing beyond the portal was a monk, his face filled with shock. Outwardly, he bore none of the traits of the Ōtsutsuki clan, his features appearing human, but Shin's super vision pierced all illusions. In the recesses of the monk's brain flickered a distorted and incomplete projection of a once-proud Ōtsutsuki.
Shin smirked. "Found you. You're Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, aren't you?"
The monk flinched as if he were about to speak, but Shin gave him no chance. With a breath colder than any storm, a stream of icy energy left his lips. In an instant, Isshiki's body, both shell and core, was encased in frost, frozen solid into a sculpture of shattered ice crystals.
This particular Ōtsutsuki possessed an ability that intrigued Shin. His dōjutsu allowed him to shrink matter, energy, and even himself. It was an ability worth studying in detail, but Shin himself found the man pathetic. Isshiki had spent years cowering in this hidden pocket world.
The Virtual World Shin had created earlier had grown stronger with every iteration, spreading its grip over the shinobi world until escape was impossible. Isshiki dared not set foot outside for fear of being annihilated by the Red Queen's omnipresent surveillance.
Yet no matter how carefully he hid, it was meaningless. Red Queen's calculations now encompassed energy levels, spatial fluctuations, and the deepest layers of reality itself. His attempts at concealment were but child's play. And so, Shin stood here now, delivering the final blow with little effort, almost as if discarding a worn-out pawn.
Ironically, he hadn't even come here for Isshiki. The Ōtsutsuki's demise was nothing more than a side effect. What Shin truly sought was behind him, the small sacred tree Isshiki had cultivated in secret.
Stepping forward, Shin raised his hand, and a stream of black mist spiraled outward, swallowing the tree's strange essence into the void. The once-guarded tree shuddered and vanished into his grasp, helpless against his overwhelming power.
He clapped his hands lightly, smiling. "That's done."
Isshiki's frozen body was sent directly to the Chakra Research Institute. Red Queen had long since prepared the researchers for his arrival. Whatever fragments of secrets this Ōtsutsuki carried would be torn apart, studied, and catalogued. As for Shin, he returned to the sacred tree that dominated the earth, bringing with him the new specimen.
At the roots of the colossal Divine Tree, he set the smaller one beside it. His hands glowed with the dark radiance of the devil fruit. Power surged as he commanded the two sacred trees to intertwine, their roots and essence colliding. The black energy pulsed and bound them, their forms melting together until at last, they were one.
The fusion was complete.
An enormous tree rose higher than before, its branches reaching further into the heavens, its roots burrowing deeper into the ground. When Shin tested its ability to absorb cosmic energy, the results left even him surprised. The rate was several times faster than before. What would have once taken years could now be accomplished within months. At this pace, the sacred tree would soon have consumed all the cosmic energy he had prepared for it.
Already, a fruit had begun to form, glowing faintly with the aura of cosmic power. This was no ordinary chakra fruit. This was the culmination of cosmic energy, condensed into a divine crystallization. Shin imagined the transformation it would bring to his own chakra. Not only would the quantity grow, but its very essence, its purity and depth, would evolve into something far beyond mortal comprehension.
For now, all that was required was patience.
Two months passed swiftly.
During this time, Hinata Hyuga had rarely left his side. She remained near him each day, quietly watching over his experiments. Even the presence of Mei Terumi did not deter her. This constant companionship stoked Mei's temper, though curiously, she never once confronted Hinata directly.
To Shin's surprise, Mei endured it. Her anger flared daily, yet she refrained from action, bottling her emotions. Shin did not bother to untangle their unspoken rivalry. Whatever their reasons, he let them settle it on their own. His attention was better spent elsewhere.
Yet unbeknownst to him, his very existence weighed heavily on Mei's heart. His reputation within the shinobi world had long since transformed him into something more myth than man. His chakra, tempered and refined through countless enhancements, carried a divine resonance.
Even though he masked it with his Kryptonian vitality, living so close to him allowed Mei to occasionally sense its overwhelming presence. It was like standing before a god who had chosen to linger among mortals.
And then there was his tendency to vanish into other worlds. Though he could manipulate time to ensure his return coincided with only months passing in this world, each departure still left Mei restless. She feared one day he might leave and never return, severing his ties to this realm forever.
It was under such pressure that she began to tolerate Hinata's presence, even considering that perhaps another bond might anchor him here more firmly.
Shin remained unaware of her thoughts, for he was immersed in his experiments.
News reached him from the Chakra Research Institute. "The research on Isshiki Ōtsutsuki has produced results."
He raised an eyebrow. "So soon?"
In just over two months, Isshiki had been thoroughly dissected. His ability to shrink objects was traced entirely to the manipulation of chakra.
Deprived of that energy, Isshiki's body reverted to its natural state. Without chakra to sustain himself, his body withered. He could not even survive his own injuries. His end was undignified, a pitiful death on the cold metal table of a laboratory.
But death was not the end of him. His soul had been forcibly captured and bound. The scientists of the Institute, hungry for knowledge, refused to let such a valuable specimen pass on. Every fragment of Isshiki's being, flesh, blood, and spirit, was now material for their endless experiments.
Shin, hearing the report, merely nodded. For him, Isshiki's life and death mattered little. What truly mattered was the sacred tree, the cosmic fruit it bore, and the limitless future that awaited him.
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