The God Tree Fruit was now in hand.
At the very moment space was unfrozen, the Rinnegan of the Limbo Clone activated, dragging everyone on the moon into a genjutsu that erased all memories related to him and Urashiki.
Then, he injected his chakra into the Giant Tenseigan and into the inner core of the moon, recharging both.
Given the assimilative capabilities of these two objects, it wouldn't take long for them to fill the void left behind by the chakra consumed during the growth of the God Tree.
Every trace would be completely erased...
Lastly, with quick hands, he stuffed the residual soul of Ōtsutsuki Hamura into the Giant Tenseigan.
With everything settled here, the Limbo Clone returned to the Dragon Vein beneath the Land of Roran.
Since the remaining strength of "Karasuki" wasn't enough to take him back to the future, and the energy device had been broken by Urashiki...
He decided to seize this opportunity and remain within the Dragon Vein, which was imbued with time-space power, to try and comprehend the power of time itself!
In his previous life, there had been an interesting theory:
Time and space shared the same essence. Under certain conditions, they could even be transformed into one another...
Although the laws of this ninja world were different from those of his past life, Uchiha Kirin still wanted to give it a try.
After absorbing so much strength, after having his lifeform evolve to such a level—how far had his comprehension really reached?
It was true that, compared to comprehending and capturing time on his own, using the God Tree to absorb things suspected of containing time-based rules was a much simpler method.
After ingesting the resulting fruit, one could obtain those rules—a far easier process.
However, the fruit that had grown from the soul of Ōtsutsuki Urashiki clearly lacked the true Rule of Time.
What it contained was merely a time-type divine technique formed by rule imprints, alongside vast soul power.
The Limbo Clone moved his golden vertical eye, which could perceive rules, away from the fruit and looked instead toward the Dragon Vein.
"Whether it's by devouring a fruit or comprehending and capturing it myself, it's just a difference in process. But to truly master and flexibly wield that power—to forge one's own path—there's no substitute for personal insight and reflection."
Uchiha Kirin let out a sigh.
Just like how he could now manipulate space at will without relying on divine techniques.
Divine techniques, after all, were merely jutsu—not the essence of rules themselves, but one form of their evolution.
A single rule could evolve into countless techniques.
The more powerful among them, those closest to the rules, could be called divine techniques—capable of being pushed to their limits when blessed by the rules.
Weaker ones manifested as all sorts of ninjutsu, like Great Fireball, Great Fire Dragon, and Great Fire Annihilation.
To someone who had reached the peak of Fire Release, spewing fire was nothing more than adjusting the flame's size, temperature, and form.
At that stage, techniques lost all meaning and became mere labels.
To those who stood at the pinnacle, such techniques were meaningless—just scaffolding for the weak trying to climb higher.
"But true strength isn't forged by simply devouring fruits. No matter how many fruits you eat, you're still injecting someone else's path into your own body. It might bring momentary gains, but without true digestion, it will never lead to lasting power."
If that weren't the case, the Ōtsutsuki clan, with their mastery of God Tree cultivation, would never have suffered defeat.
They would've been able to sweep across the universe like a swarm of locusts, churning out one Ōtsutsuki God after another.
But the truth was, there was only one true Ōtsutsuki God.
The rest were merely imitations, endlessly trying to approach that level through brute-force accumulation of strength...
Understanding this, Uchiha Kirin no longer obsessed over the God Tree Fruit.
It was nothing more than a gilded dead-end. Even after reaching the destination, the rest of the journey had to be walked with one's own two feet.
Only by doing that could he forge a true path and surpass this world!
Though he didn't obtain the true Rule of Time, after slaying Urashiki, Uchiha Kirin had gathered a wealth of time-related items to use as reference and for testing:
A blue Rinnegan.
A fruit brimming with soul power and containing a time-type divine technique.
The talking turtle, "Karasuki."
And a damaged but rune-engraved time energy device.
In addition, there was the Kama Seal cursed technique binding Urashiki's body. Once fully analyzed, even if his soul couldn't be revived, the Ōtsutsuki body could still be claimed for free.
Uchiha Kirin was true to his word.
The pitiful Urashiki was ultimately squeezed dry, to the point where even the faintest trace of his existence had been erased...
The Limbo Clone, unaffected by the erosion of time, had already mastered the use of the Breathing Art of the Sage Path to capture and refine this energy.
Being in the past had become his greatest advantage.
He had all the time he needed to comprehend time and construct his own system of strength.
Worst case, he could just wait a hundred years—
Then return to his true body all the same!
"...Wait. If the Limbo Clone eats the fruit, does it actually affect the real body in another timeline?"
Looking at the fruit in his hand, Uchiha Kirin couldn't help but feel a trace of unease.
If the fruit's power only applied to the clone who ate it, that would be a disaster.
Thankfully, no such issue occurred.
The six Limbo Clones, under the resonance of the Breathing Art of the Sage Path, functioned as seamless extensions of his main body.
Devouring and digesting the God Tree Fruit felt like eating it with another mouth, another stomach.
The resulting power was transmitted back to the main body through the breathing technique, constantly reinforcing his soul and pushing his lifeform even further.
As he acquired the power of time reversal, he also synchronized that strength across all six Limbo Clones.
Not divided—synchronized.
That was the greatest advantage of the Limbo Clones: when facing enemies of equal level, they provided six nearly identical copies of his own strength out of nowhere.
To comprehend the power of time and develop a true understanding and practical mastery of both time and space, the Limbo Clones cooperated with the main body.
One clone in the past continuously unleashed Time Reversal, heedless of the chakra cost, just to push the technique to its limit and capture even the faintest trace of the Rule of Time.
Another clone, situated in the present, paused his work and began transmitting all the Mangekyō Sharingan techniques of the Uchiha clan known to the past clone.
They conducted non-stop replication and experimentation, focused entirely on the power of time.
In his pair of Rinne Sharingan with nine tomoe, the tomoe shifted and morphed into all sorts of strange patterns—each one representing a different Mangekyō technique...
Meanwhile, the clone responsible for sealing techniques was attempting to engrave the runes from the time energy device.
He tried matching them with the suspected sealing runes on the stone tablet, constructing a variety of new sealing techniques and barriers.
Some of these barriers even began displaying attributes related to the nature of time itself...