"This is… the aura of the God‑Tree!"
Just after the Ten‑Tails transformed into a God‑Tree, the three Great Sages who dwell in the other‑space linked to the real world suddenly opened their eyes, shock written on their faces.
Their reactions, however, were not the same.
The Slug Sage, eyes narrowed in worry, murmured:
"Has that lord really become the Rabbit Goddess of this era after all?"
"Tsk… history really does go in circles," the White Snake Sage grumbled around his pipe.
The elderly Toad Sage said nothing, his expression clouded with concern.
At that moment a black rift split open above the three Sacred Lands, and an emotionless voice rolled out:
"This world is my home. Whatever calamity arises, I will deal with it. In deference to your ties with Konoha, let me give you a friendly reminder: do not meddle, or bear the consequences yourselves."
Before the three sages could reply, the rift vanished.
Their answer, it seemed, was irrelevant.
"A reminder? More like a warning," the White Snake Sage scoffed. "What an overbearing fellow."
"Thank goodness—Lord Izayoi won't destroy the world," the Slug Sage breathed in relief.
The Toad Sage still said nothing; only after a long silence did he sigh softly.
Izayoi cared nothing for their reactions. He always kept Wood‑Release clones watching the shinobi world; if anyone approached the God‑Tree, he would view that person's entire past with Tensonari. Even the Ōtsutsuki high council could not block it, much less any creature native to Earth. Should a mastermind appear, Izayoi would tear them up by the roots.
He wasn't worried about the God‑Tree being destroyed—because it couldn't be. The only dangerous moment was when it bore fruit: anyone could pluck a Chakra Fruit. Yet the tree ripened only once every thousand years, and that was the real nuisance. What Izayoi had to solve now was how to make the God‑Tree bear fruit quickly. Evolution has shortcuts; surely fruition does too. He strongly suspected Ōtsutsuki Shibai had already found one—otherwise only talent could never have let him rise so far above his kin.
"Far too slow…"
Hovering in mid‑air, Izayoi looked down at what, outwardly, was just an ordinary giant tree. In his eyes its roots were madly drawing in blue energy—life‑force of the planet—cycling through the trunk like chakra devoured by the Preta Path and then fading away. As it absorbed that power the tree grew unbelievably tough, immune to all ninjutsu; only Sage power, space‑time techniques, or Kekkei Mōra‑level forces could harm it. Its shape had not changed yet, but in a few days it would enlarge slightly—still far too slow. Even daily growth would not change the thousand‑year cycle.
So Izayoi decided to experiment—and first to take precautions.
"Wood Style: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
With a clap of his hands the desert shook. Thick branches burst from the sand, instantly leveling the Rōran ruins and everything in between, racing outward in all directions. In moments an enormous oasis of towering trees filled the once limitless, dust‑blown waste. Compared to that forest the sapling God‑Tree looked insignificant, and even the Dragon Vein's sealing altar was hidden perfectly.
But this was only the beginning.
Standing on a treetop, Izayoi formed a black orb that liquefied into six black rods and used Teleportation Jutsu to send them away. A six‑sided, crimson‑transparent barrier then rose—Ninja Art: Six Red Yang Formation. Still not done, he opened the Rinne‑Sharingan in his forehead; scarlet light flared, and the entire forest shimmered like a mirage before vanishing behind a Kekkei Mōra‑class illusion. Without extreme Sage mastery no sensory skill could pierce it, and without Six‑Paths‑level power no one could break a barrier stacked atop the Four Red Yang Formation.
Finished, Izayoi flew to the Dragon Vein altar. In its center stood a special three‑pronged kunai—Minato's marker from his sealing—and around it swirled Uzumaki sealing formulae.
Izayoi knew them all. Two years of studying the God of Seals (Multi-Color) had made him a master of every fūinjutsu; he had even learned Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei by observing its past.
Without forming a seal he created a chakra orb, fired a golden beam into the altar, and the seal fell away. A terrifying energy erupted—yet did not spread, so distant Sunagakure noticed nothing. Earth's chakra, the planet's raw natural energy, blasted up as a pillar of white light; space warped around it—and, in Izayoi's eyes, even time twisted. A true space‑time turbulence: step inside and one might be torn to dust, or—with luck—flung through time or into a parallel world.
Izayoi stayed clear until the Dragon Vein calmed. Minutes later the pillar shrank and disappeared, leaving a warped well‑mouth in the forest. He still did not approach: instead he looked at the God‑Tree—and a delighted light flashed in his eyes. Through his Rinne‑Tenseigan he saw its countless unseen roots absorbing vastly more blue energy, and at terrifying speed. If before it drank through a straw, now it was pumping with a turbine.
"Worthy of the planet's lifeline. Drinking from an open wound is faster than a mosquito through skin," he chuckled.
Had he not known the Rōran arc he'd never have found the Dragon Vein—let alone guessed it was Earth's lifeblood, hidden so deeply that Byakugan and other dōjutsu could not see it unless it erupted.
The experiment proved the shortcut real. At this rate the God‑Tree might fruit in a few hundred years—but even that was too long. Halve it, cut to a third, it was still 250‑plus years. If no better way existed, he would wait; but why stop now?
He molded Wood‑Release chakra and created a wood clone beside the tree. The clone extended branch‑arms: one into the God‑Tree, one into the ground, boring swiftly toward the deceptively plain yet lethal warped well. A few metres in, the branch shattered like glass to dust. The clone regenerated it, stopped at the deepest safe point, and whispered, "Miketsu!"
The tip became a gigantic hand, palm a black‑hole‑like vortex that sucked ferociously through the well—drawing the planet's berserk life energy. That power flooded through the branch, into Izayoi's own body, then out through the clone's branch and into the God‑Tree.
Izayoi's eyes lit up—then narrowed. The clone's body convulsed, bones cracking; blood gushed from its nose and mouth. Even an "invincible" wood clone could not endure planetary force. Izayoi was not discouraged: Miketsu had worked—the conduit had failed. He himself would fare no better; regeneration or not, he would be gravely wounded. If he could solve that durability problem, a full‑power Miketsu would be another acceleration hack. But Wood Style lasted less than a minute—what technique could survive?
For now he had no answer. He tried Chakra Orbs and the Ohirei Sword of Nunoboko to open a channel directly in the God‑Tree and link it to the Dragon Vein—both failed. Wood Style could link them because of shared origin; Yin‑Yang‑based tools were simply immune.
Still, he would not give up. If Wood Style plus Miketsu worked in principle, the shortcut existed, and some fix must exist. And there was time: many years remained before Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki's party would reach Earth. With Ōtsutsuki Isshiki gone, time was on Izayoi's side.
He left a wood clone to guard the forest and returned home through a black portal opened by Yomotsu Hirasaka.
…
"Onii‑chan, you're back! All done?"
No sooner had he stepped out than a lithe figure leapt onto him like a sloth, beaming.
"Yeah, all settled." Supporting his sister‑in‑law's legs, Izayoi smiled apologetically. "Sorry for delaying your preparations."
"Hee‑hee, it's fine! Birthdays come every year; we can make it up. Onii‑chan's work is more important," Hanabi laughed.
"Hanabi, you're nearly as tall as Izayoi‑kun—don't be childish, down you go," Hinata chided.
"Geez, I'm not even an adult yet! Wait till you marry him, sis, then you can boss me around," Hanabi shot back—but obediently climbed down.
Five years younger than Izayoi and Hinata, yet aided early by Izayoi and Gelel's Stone—and genetics—Hanabi had matured even faster than Hinata.
Now she was a stunning 170 cm beauty: a touch of youthful softness in her face and a figure not yet at her Boruto‑era peak, but already radiating the charm of the "Number‑One Goddess" to come.
The titles "Most Beautiful of the New Generation" and "Princess of the Hyūga" had long spread across the ninja world. As Izayoi's sole student, the future Hokage's sister‑in‑law, and next head of the Hyūga clan, Hanabi's fame already eclipsed the stalwarts of the previous generation—she had become the foremost star of the new era.