Three days had passed since the world changed.
In the heart of Konoha, past the mansion surrounded by high walls and blooming cherry trees, beneath layers of reinforced sealing barriers, Kakashi Hatake sat alone in his private lab.
The room was dimly lit, glowing only with blue script lines etched into the metal walls, seals of his own design. The scent of steel, ink, and cooled chakra hung in the air. Shelves of scrolls, jars of rare samples, and ancient tomes surrounded him.
His coat was off, revealing a muscular frame dressed in a black sleeveless shirt. His expression was calm, eyes half-lidded in thought, both Rinnegan dormant for now.
Further down the hall, deep in the lower levels of the lab, the Orochimaru clone worked silently in a sealed chamber. Within several chakra tanks floated thick severed tails, remnants of the Ten-Tails, cut off by Kakashi during the earlier extraction.
They pulsed slowly, as if still alive.
A faint hum echoed in the chamber. Kakashi looked down at his right palm. The Genesis Seal was changing.
The spiral-shaped mark once tattooed onto his skin was no longer just ink or chakra. It shifted, shimmered, and pulsed like a living organ. Six rings spun faintly beneath his skin, feeding on the remaining chakra from the Ten-Tails he had consumed.
He narrowed his eyes. The mark was deeper now. No longer a seal, but something more, something that pulsed with law. Something that reality itself recognized.
"Shinjutsu…" he whispered.
Yes. He could feel it clearly now. The Genesis Seal, once his brilliant fusion of the Chimera Technique and his Formula Reconstruction mastery, had begun to evolve. No longer was it just a devouring seal or a chakra processing engine. It had started to transcend its origins.
He leaned back, fingers tracing the now-dimming seal. It no longer needed to remain visible. It had merged with his very essence.
Moments later, a warm vibration traveled through his hand.
Kakashi's eyes widened slightly.
The Genesis Seal was gone.
No trace left on the surface of his skin. No glow. No marking. Nothing.
Yet its presence was louder than ever before.
A soft smile crossed Kakashi's face.
"It's no longer a seal," he murmured. "It's part of me now."
He stood up and closed his eyes.
At once, the world around him dimmed. Chakra fell silent. Thought itself slowed. And then…
He felt it.
A space. A void. No, a realm.
Pitch black and endless, stretching in all directions like the silence between stars.
Kakashi's spirit entered the evolved Genesis Seal, now a full-fledged Shinjutsu Realm, unique and eternal.
And it welcomed him.
His feet touched down on the non-existent ground of the realm, yet it supported him. All around was stillness. No sound, no wind, only void, yet within it, information pulsed.
Instantly, knowledge poured into his mind.
[The Genesis Realm, Core Space of the Devourer.]
[Digest or Store. Consume or Create.]
[Origin synchronized. Owner: Hatake Kakashi.]
"So this is the heart of it…" Kakashi whispered.
He instinctively understood now.
This realm would serve as a warehouse for the devoured, souls, chakra, and even genetic information. A mental and metaphysical archive. Just like Beelzebub from the tales he'd once heard, a technique that could analyze and store powers for use or refinement.
The devoured were not simply destroyed, they were understood, and then reconstructed.
Kakashi took a few steps into the dark.
And then… he saw her.
Far across the space stood a single white figure, motionless yet glaring directly at him.
Pale skin. Long white hair. Elegant robes that moved even though there was no wind.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
She stood as a specter in the dark, suspended like a soul trapped between life and myth.
Kakashi's gaze narrowed, but he wasn't surprised.
"I felt you," he said softly, stepping forward. "Ever since I devoured the Ten-Tails… I knew something slipped in."
Indeed. The Ten-Tails had been her original body. And using it as a tether, her soul, still sealed in the moon, had projected itself into him when the beast was consumed.
A final gambit.
Clever.
Kaguya's eyes narrowed. She stared at him silently, then blinked.
"You carry my son's chakra," she said coldly. "Hagoromo…"
Her voice was quiet fury, laced with centuries of resentment.
"His chakra was delicious," Kakashi smirked.
Her lips curled. "He deserved to be devoured. But you…" She eyed him again. "You are not of our line. And yet… You stand above it."
"I didn't inherit power," Kakashi replied. "I claimed it."
Kaguya moved forward now, her feet not touching any ground. She floated, almost gliding, until she stood a breath away from him.
She tilted her head slightly.
"You devoured the beast. But I am its source," she said.
Her hand lifted, palm glowing with black markings. A karma seal began forming, the Ōtsutsuki's genetic branding, meant to implant her data into a vessel.
She moved fast.
The karma slammed against Kakashi's chest-
-and shattered.
Kakashi smiled.
Then, with no change in posture, his body glowed.
The karma seal didn't fade.
He was devouring it.
"No!" Her eyes widened.
But it was already done.
Kakashi calmly absorbed the Ōtsutsuki genetic information, his Genesis Realm adapting in real time. The data didn't override him. It obeyed.
Kaguya took a step back, visibly shaken. Her perfect composure cracked.
"You… devoured my karma?! That's impossible!"
"You tried to use me," Kakashi said, walking forward again. "You're not the first. But you are certainly… exquisite."
She clenched her jaw.
Kakashi raised his hand, and a spiraling sigil formed beneath her feet.
She floated upward briefly, struggling, but then the seal pulsed and she dropped back down, frozen. Her limbs stopped moving.
A golden binding web locked her in place, formed from the raw law of his Genesis Shinjutsu.
"You will remain here," Kakashi said calmly. "Observed. Studied."
He stepped up to her and gently touched her face.
She flinched slightly.
"I don't intend to destroy you," he said, his voice low. "In fact… I think we could be good for each other. But it will take time. For now, this place will hold you."
Kaguya's eyes flared, hatred mixing with something else.
Confusion.
Possibly curiosity.
"I'll visit you often." Kakashi leaned in slightly.
She didn't answer.
But her eyes never looked away.
The seal beneath her tightened. Her spiritual form slowly sank into the blackness, becoming a faint light within the Genesis Realm, locked in stasis, like a goddess imprisoned in her own domain.
Kakashi turned.
The space dimmed slightly.
The realm welcomed its new resident. The karma data swirled into the background, being cataloged by the Genesis structure.
With every step, Kakashi could feel it. The Shinjutsu was fully active now. His very being had changed.
Not just a shinobi. Not just a seal user.
He returned to his body, eyes flickering open. The lab was silent again. But now, Kakashi was smiling.
He looked at his palm again, blank, smooth skin.
No markings. No visible power. And yet he could summon a storm, bend chakra, swallow gods.
He looked toward the lower levels.
The Orochimaru clone was still working, humming softly. Unaware of what just occurred in the deeper layer of their reality.
Kakashi leaned against the wall and exhaled slowly.
"She'll come around eventually," he muttered.
Outside, the wind shifted gently through the trees.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had entered his world.
And she would not leave it.