"You're such a pathetic waste."
Glaring at the nearly destroyed charger in his hand, Uchiha Kirin viciously kicked Urashiki a few more times as he lay on the ground.
These were all part of his haul, his spoils—yet Urashiki had gone and ruined them like this!
Every bit of loss felt like a stab to his heart.
His Limbo Clone radiated fury. Urashiki had cost him a treasure trove of loot, and he would make sure to squeeze every last drop out of him.
Conveniently, Kirin had a God Tree seed on hand—crafted from the root of the God Tree he'd gotten from the Slug Sage, infused with chakra from all nine Tailed Beasts, and cultivated following the method provided by Black Zetsu.
He had prepared multiple seeds for exactly this reason—to savor each of the Ōtsutsuki who descended upon the Shinobi World.
Every one of his Limbo Clones carried a seed.
Now was the perfect time to put it to use.
Even though Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's body was all but wrecked, to the point of being beyond repair, and his chakra was completely drained, it didn't matter.
Urashiki's soul was still intact. The Shinobi World had too few methods for targeting the soul. Even when such techniques existed, they weren't something ordinary shinobi could use to threaten an Ōtsutsuki.
And what Uchiha Kirin wanted the God Tree seed to devour... was Urashiki's soul.
This guy and Momoshiki each had powers related to time—one could rewind, the other could freeze it.
The power of time itself—he'd coveted it for far too long. He had even been on the verge of making a move on the Toad Sage.
Thankfully, Urashiki's arrival had saved him from that desperate path. He wouldn't have to destroy a force native to the Shinobi World after all.
Perfect.
Use the original to process the original.
Using Urashiki's body as a sacrifice, he'd make the God Tree bear fruit upon his soul!
"Now I just need a place brimming with energy..."
Uchiha Kirin looked around. The Dragon Veins were already claimed—using them would alter history.
As for the Sun, while it was rich in energy, the nature of that energy wasn't suited for spiritual or yin-aligned things like soul fruit. Any fruit grown there would likely turn out... strange.
"The Moon—tsk, I almost forgot about that!"
In a flash, Uchiha Kirin grabbed the heavily sealed Urashiki and teleported to the Moon.
...
At that moment, the remnants left behind by Ōtsutsuki Hamura on the Moon had not yet descended into civil war. The Main and Branch Families had joined forces to build the massive Tenseigan, which reflected every change occurring in the Shinobi World.
Several figures in ornate robes, clearly of high status, paced anxiously in front of the Tenseigan. They were in the middle of discussing their clan's next move.
Some believed that staying on the Moon to guard the Ten Tails' husk was a dead end. Their ancestors had essentially abandoned them as pawns.
Instead, they argued, they should go to the Shinobi World to gather resources. While their clan's scientific knowledge remained intact, they should use it to build spacecraft capable of venturing to other life-bearing planets.
Others proposed sending puppets down to capture those who claimed descent from Hamura—specifically the Hyuga, whose so-called lineage had "tainted" the bloodline.
By regularly harvesting Byakugan from the Hyuga, they believed they could heal the widening rift between the Main and Branch Families of the Moon's Ōtsutsuki.
...
However, their most pressing concern now was the mysterious image reflected in the Tenseigan: an immense, semi-transparent purple figure—and a badly injured man who appeared to be from the Ōtsutsuki main family.
Based on old manuscripts left behind by Hamura, the elders speculated that the injured Urashiki, like Kaguya, came from the true Ōtsutsuki clan.
If they could rescue him, perhaps they could earn a path back into the main lineage!
But the mysterious purple phantom clearly wouldn't be easy to deal with.
"Wait—where did they go?! Something's wrong!"
An elder of the Ōtsutsuki clan cried out in alarm.
In the next instant, a Limbo Clone appeared.
A frigid burst of spatial power surged into the Moon's surface, spreading rapidly. Though it left no visible trace, everything within its reach was now trapped inside a spatial barrier, frozen in place—completely immobilized by Uchiha Kirin.
"I didn't realize... my understanding of space had reached such a level..."
Kamui, Flying Thunder God, Shintenshin, Amenotejikara—without even realizing it, the number of space-time techniques he had mastered had grown significantly.
As the micro-world connected to Kamui continued to evolve, and as he constantly bathed in the power of space-time after traveling to the past, Kirin's control over space had evolved beyond the need for specific jutsu forms.
He could freely infuse and merge different powers into his space techniques, adapting their form at will.
This Space Freeze was a prime example—created by fusing space-time power with Ice Release, it mimicked the effect of time being frozen.
"Grow well now."
The Limbo Clone stepped up to the massive Tenseigan and summoned the Scythe of Death, hooking Urashiki's soul out from his body.
With one hand gripping the God Tree seed, he extended a Wood Release branch that stabbed into Urashiki's soul.
The root of the God Tree began to devour Urashiki's soul powerfully, greedily absorbing all its hidden rules and mysteries, analyzing and fusing them into itself.
Along with that influx came the power sealed within the giant Tenseigan—and even deeper within the Moon itself.
"Enough!"
Suddenly, a translucent emerald-green apparition emerged from the Tenseigan.
Like the Sage of Six Paths, he was surrounded by nine Truth-Seeking Orbs. A staff hovered before him, and a seal radiated power in his hand.
He brought the seal crashing down, aiming to interrupt the God Tree's rapid growth!
Ōtsutsuki Hamura—the Sage of Six Paths' younger brother.
But unlike the Sage, who had forsaken the body and strengthened his soul through Pure Land worship and spiritual absorption, Hamura had merely fused his soul into the Tenseigan.
His power had steadily dwindled over the centuries. Though the contributions of Byakugan from his descendants allowed him to barely maintain his presence, the decline was irreversible.
Now, he only had enough chakra to match an elite Kage.
Even with his seals and remaining Truth-Seeking Orbs, he could only muster a limited portion of Six Paths power.
A true case of: those who imitate flourish, those who mimic die.
Hamura, who possessed pure Ōtsutsuki blood, could have attained immortality. Had he kept his body and then created the Tenseigan, he might have surpassed even the Sage of Six Paths.
Instead, he abandoned the simple path, copied without understanding, and ended up no more than a weak, lingering soul that could barely appear in dreams.
"Too weak."
The Limbo Clone ignored Hamura's presence, pushing forward with his body against both the Truth-Seeking Orbs and the suppression seal.
With a single finger, he froze Ōtsutsuki Hamura in place as well.
Moments later, the God Tree branch that had taken root in Urashiki's soul finally absorbed enough energy. A pale, translucent trunk, like moonlight, began to grow.
The Limbo Clone tossed Urashiki's broken body into it as an offering.
Soon, both Urashiki's soul and his flesh began to wither together, all of it being drawn into the semi-transparent fruit glowing with a faint blue phosphorescence.
Eventually, the God Tree crumbled into ash.
And in the Limbo Clone's hand...
Was a phantom-like fruit, about the size of an apple.
----------------
Fanfic is finished on Patreon (324 chapters in total.)
Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)