When the two returned to the real world, night had already fallen.
Under this tranquil night sky, moonlight trickled onto the grass, casting a peaceful and serene scene.
The surroundings were very quiet, with only the sounds of insects chirping and soft breezes blowing continuously.
Kaguya's hair was casually draped down her back, fluttering slightly in the breeze, while she stood silently gazing at the starry sky, letting out a light sigh. "The God Tree has been taken away..."
Hand in hand, they slowly walked across the soft grass, feeling the gentle wind rustling between the plants.
After leaving this area, the two found an unoccupied house.
Judging from the traces inside, the owner must have left more than a week ago.
Fortunately, they still found what they needed—paper and pen.
Beside the wooden table, after reviewing and reorganizing all the information about her clansmen in her mind, Kaguya flipped through the pages one by one, considering who would be the most suitable candidate.
Hiroki sat beside her. Suddenly remembering something, he smacked his head lightly. "Right, I almost forgot—we originally wanted to find someone named Shuushi."
"That person shouldn't be anything special. With Hayato and Hamura's current strength, even if they encountered him, they could handle it easily."
Saying this, Kaguya placed her pale finger on a certain page.
"Him. He's the most suitable."
Hiroki leaned over to look. Like most of the Otsutsuki clan members, the figure in the drawing also had silver-white hair.
What made him stand out was the unusual direction of the pair of horns on his head—they seemed to grow sideways. On the right side of the portrait was his name—Otsutsuki Mineo.
"He is a [Protected]. From my memory, during a mission to plant the God Tree, he was discovered by the local forces of that planet and severely injured. He's currently recovering, with an extremely high recovery rate..."
"If it's a [Guardian], then when injured, their value would be calculated. If no suitable 'living vessel' is found, they'd be refined into fruit."
Kaguya murmured, clearly holding resentment toward such obvious preferential treatment.
"Otsutsuki Mineo... Alright, then he's our choice. Let's rest for one night, and tomorrow we'll go to the Dragon Vein."
Kaguya gave a slow nod, her eyes still lingering on the page.
From behind, Hiroki hugged her tightly, his heart stirring with desire. He whispered in her ear, "Come on, let's take a bath together."
She lifted her hand to caress his cheek, her own heart racing just as fiercely.
Kaguya sat in his lap, her body weakly leaning against him, her clothes half-open, her face flushed red.
She breathed softly, unconsciously tracing patterns across his chest with her fingers.
"Hei, your power has increased far more than just a little bit."
Upon hearing this, he let out a low chuckle, then slid a single finger into her mouth. Her eyes darkened with desire as she instinctively began licking it.
Seeing her like this reignited Hiroki's passion—he flipped her over, pinning her beneath him.
"..."
The next day, at the Dragon Vein location.
A black spatial portal suddenly appeared, and Hiroki and Kaguya stepped out.
As they landed, he created a Shadow Clone to stand by, while he himself used [Yin–Yang Release] jutsu to form a black longsword.
He stood straight, his feet firmly planted on the ground. Gripping the long sword with both hands, he tightly held the hilt. As his mind stirred, green chakra and cyan chakra simultaneously surrounded the blade.
The entire sword blazed with dazzling light. He took a deep breath and brought it down with tremendous force.
The moment the blade struck, the ground began to tremble.
A powerful surge erupted from deep underground, exploding outward like a tidal wave racing into the horizon.
The surface shook violently, as if it were about to split apart, while even more energy was triggered, echoing continuously with a tremendous sound...
Hiroki glanced at the clone and strode toward the epicenter of the energy waves alongside Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Within this powerful fluctuation, they sensed a certain force flowing around them.
"That place is..." At the same time, Hayato and Hamura also sensed something and turned their gazes toward a certain direction.
After a moment of silence, Hayato, filled with slight regret, explained to Hamura beside him, "I just heard Father's voice again. He said not to worry about that place. They must have already left..."
Inside a palace on a distant planet, within a simple room.
Otsutsuki Mineo suddenly frowned, as if he were trying hard to endure something.
After a while, he abruptly opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings with sharp scrutiny, muttering, "No memories... quite troublesome."
Letting out a slight sigh, he walked out of the room.
On his way back, he only encountered several oddly-shaped Otsutsuki clan members. Not knowing his relationship with them, he remained cold and indifferent toward all.
This was an ancient, mysterious palace, surrounded by barren, arid desert.
Constructed from black stone, its surfaces were engraved with various strange symbols and patterns.
From the outside, it bore an archaic and mystical style, as though it came from another era. The main structure consisted of one tall tower flanked by two shorter wings, harmoniously connected and elegantly arranged.
The entire building appeared embedded within black rock, creating an extremely unusual sight. It exuded a solemn and enigmatic aura.
What surprised him most was that, aside from this palace, there were no other buildings on the entire planet.
It was even more desolate compared to the Moon he remembered.
Standing outside the palace, he lingered for a moment before turning to leave.
On his way back, he happened to meet face-to-face with a calm and composed member of the Otsutsuki clan.
Their eyes met, and the other Otsutsuki spoke first,
"Mineo, where are you going? Have you recovered from your injuries?"
After a pause, Mineo countered, "Where are my people?"
Upon hearing this, Yoro Otsutsuki, the one who had been speaking with him, seemed to find it amusing, replying with a hint of mockery,
"Your people? Naturally, they've followed others to plant the God Tree elsewhere. It'll take a couple hundred years before they return. By then, they might even be sitting alongside you..."
They could even accurately predict the God Tree's growth period? No wonder they were certain about Kaguya Otsutsuki's betrayal...
The God Tree grows by absorbing and transforming local energy. If it takes less time, doesn't that mean its power level is lower?
So does the otsutsuki clan even have some sort of ranking system? Then why did he say just gathering a few God Tree's fruits would put you on the same level as him?
He couldn't help smirking as he thought, "Do they really think—"
He glanced sideways at Yoro's face, but saw no reaction whatsoever, as if he'd long grown used to it—or simply didn't care whether his tone had changed at all.
"That's not necessarily true," Yoro replied, pausing for a moment, then glancing at Mineo's face before going silent.
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