Shuto frowned deeply. But as the newly appointed clan head, he forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, maintaining surface calm. "Do not panic! It might just be an accidental intruder. Activate defense mechanisms! Dispatch combat puppet squads to intercept at the channel exit! Eliminate them without fail!"
The order was quickly relayed.
Within the Moon's complex channel network, hundreds of combat puppets were activated, swarming like a tide towards the interception point. A murderous aura permeated the entire Moon interior.
The atmosphere inside the shrine grew tense.
At first, they maintained some confidence. After all, those combat puppets were quite strong and numerous, one of the means for the Otsutsuki Clan's branch family to 'purify' the Ninja World.
But soon, bad news followed one after another.
"First interception squad... annihilated!"
"Second wave lost contact!"
"The intruder has broken through the final defense line! Entered the castle outskirts!"
The battle reports brought by puppets responsible for information relay plunged Shuto and the elders' hearts into despair.
'How was this possible?'
'Among those combat puppet squads were many elite puppets strong enough to rival Jonin. How could they be so utterly ineffective against that intruder?'
Boom—!!!
An ear-splitting roar suddenly erupted from the shrine's immensely thick doors!
The entire shrine seemed to tremble!
Then came the continuous sound of metal twisting and shattering. Countless wreckage and parts of combat puppets flew through the cracked door seams as if thrown by an invisible force, scattering and clattering all over the shrine floor.
Amidst the billowing dust, the massive doors that had borne a millennium of time collapsed inward, crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
As the dust slowly settled, a figure strolled in unhurriedly from the billowing smoke outside the breach.
It was a youth who looked only twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a black robe with red trim, the hem fluttering slightly in a silent airflow.
He had jet-black short hair, handsome features, and a pair of deep black eyes. His steps were casual, as if taking a stroll in his own courtyard.
Menma stepped into the shrine, his gaze calmly sweeping across the scene.
He first looked at the much younger Shuto at the forefront, then glanced at the woman beside him and the three clearly elderly branch family elders behind them.
Finally, his gaze settled on the center of the shrine, on that golden Giant Tenseigan radiating vast Chakra energy. His eyes filled with intense interest.
Shuto forcibly suppressed the shock and fury in his heart. He stepped forward, his empty eye sockets 'staring' at Menma, demanding sharply, "Who are you?! How dare you intrude into our Otsutsuki Clan's shrine!"
Menma didn't answer immediately, merely observing Shuto with interest.
In his world, when he met Shuto, the other party was already past middle age, and Shuto had served him loyally for many years, eventually passing away peacefully a few years ago.
Now seeing this younger version, filled with fanaticism and sharpness, felt somewhat novel to him.
Considering the loyalty the Shuto of his world had shown, dedicating himself until his last breath and contributing all the Otsutsuki Clan's branch family's lunar legacy, Menma decided not to kill the people before him.
He raised his right hand, fingers slightly spread, softly uttering, "Adamantine Sealing Chains."
Hum—!
Five dazzling golden Chakra Chains instantly shot out from the empty space behind him!
These chains were impossibly fast, carrying powerful sealing force. Tracing elegant arcs through the air, they accurately wrapped around the bodies of Shuto, his wife, and the three elders, binding them tightly.
The sealing power transmitted by the chains instantly suppressed the Chakra within their bodies, rendering them immobile.
"What kind of Sealing Technique is this?!"
"My Chakra... I can't mobilize it!"
The branch family's members were horrified and despairing.
At that moment, another wave of combat puppets that had received emergency orders rushed in through the breached shrine doors, brandishing sharp blade-arms, attempting to rescue their bound masters.
Menma merely tilted his head, casting an indifferent glance towards the direction the puppets were pouring in from.
An invisible, terrifying 'pressure' exploded outward like a shockwave!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
The combat puppets charging at the forefront seemed struck head-on by an invisible giant hammer. Their metal bodies instantly twisted, deformed, then shattered piece by piece!
The puppets behind were also sent flying by this immense force, crashing into walls and stone pillars, turning into heaps of scrap metal and parts.
With just a glance, all the combat puppets were annihilated.
'Witnessing' this scene through their Mind's Eye, Shuto and the others were dumbstruck, their hearts stirring with huge waves.
'What kind of power was this?!'
'No hand seals, not even a clear action, just the released 'pressure' could destroy so many combat puppets?!'
Menma ignored them further. He began walking, unhurried, towards the Giant Tenseigan in the center of the shrine.
"Stop!"
"Don't you dare approach the Tenseigan!"
Shuto and the others struggled desperately, trying to mobilize even a shred of chakra, but under the powerful restraint of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, it was futile.
They could only "watch helplessly" as this mysterious youth approached step by step towards their clan's most core, most powerful secret, the Giant Tenseigan that embodied the combined Byakugan of countless ancestors and the fanatical beliefs of the branch family.
Menma walked to beneath the Tenseigan. From the inner lining of his robe, he took out a sealing scroll and extracted a transparent glass test tube from it.
Inside the tube, immersed in pale green nutrient fluid, was a pair of pure white eyes.
These were not plundered but clone products nurtured in his world's laboratory. Though their initial purity wasn't as high as the main family's, after years of nurturing by the Giant Tenseigan's Chakra in his world, their purity and potential had been raised to an extremely high level.
"Those are... Byakugan?!"
"How does he have Byakugan?!"
"Is he from the Hyuga Clan?"
"No! His own eyes aren't Byakugan! And there's no 'Caged Bird' curse mark!"
The branch family members, perceiving the object in Menma's hand through their Mind's Eye, once again plunged into shock and confusion.
Just then, Shuto gritted his teeth secretly. Relying on his inherent spiritual connection authority as the clan head to the Giant Tenseigan, he tried to bypass the suppression of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, forcibly mobilizing a shred of the Tenseigan's power to launch a fatal strike against this mysterious intruder!
Even if he could only drive a sliver, it would be enough to destroy anyone daring to desecrate the ancestral artifact!
However, the moment Shuto's secret intent touched the Tenseigan—
Menma's left eye, that originally deep black pupil, suddenly changed!
A crimson background appeared. Three black tomoes spun madly, linking together, then forming a complex spiral-like pattern.
Mangekyo Sharingan!
He didn't even look at Shuto, merely sensing that faint fluctuation attempting to connect with the Tenseigan.
"Dojutsu: Ame-no-Minakanushi!"
Menma whispered softly.
The pattern in his left Mangekyo swirled slightly. A power involving the rule layer was quietly activated.
In a world invisible to the naked eye, several 'connection lines' on the Giant Tenseigan seemed to be erased by an eraser.
Shuto's entire body shuddered violently. He clearly felt that the connection between himself and the Giant Tenseigan, regarded as the branch family's ultimate weapon, had been forcefully 'erased'!
As if it had never existed!
He could no longer sense any aura from the Tenseigan, like a kite with a severed string, completely losing control over it!
"How is this possible?! My authority... was..." Shuto's face turned deathly pale, boundless fear surging in his heart.
Such a method was unheard of!
Menma delayed no longer. He extended his right palm flat, facing upward.
The stopper of the test tube holding the Byakugan opened automatically. A pair of Byakugan floated just above his palm.
Simultaneously, using the absolute control he had just forcibly seized over this Giant Tenseigan with the Ame-no-Minakanushi, he issued a command.
Hum—!!!
The enormous golden Tenseigan in the shrine's center suddenly erupted with unprecedented dazzling light!
Vast, ocean-like Tenseigan's Chakra and pure Ocular Power, as if summoned, transformed into a massive golden torrent, surging and roaring, wildly rushing towards the pair of Byakugan in Menma's palm!
At the same time, a large amount of golden Chakra, like rivers returning to the sea, directly poured into Menma's body!
His body seemed like a bottomless pit, greedily absorbing this magnificent Chakra and Ocular Power condensed from countless Byakugan.
"No! Stop!"
"He's plundering the Tenseigan's power!"
The branch family members let out desperate roars, struggling frantically, but could only helplessly feel their clan's thousand-year accumulated power being crazily extracted.
Crack...
In the perception of Shuto and the others' Mind's Eye, clear cracks began to appear on the surface of the enormous golden Tenseigan, spreading rapidly like shattered porcelain!
Brighter light burst from the cracks!
Crack...
Boom!!!
Finally, with a roar resembling an ancient lament, the massive golden Giant Tenseigan completely shattered!
Countless Byakugan that originally constituted its form, densely packed, scattered as if losing gravitational bondage, but the moment they flew out, they turned into the purest Chakra Light points. Like iron filings attracted to a magnet, they surged wildly towards Menma's body and the pair of Byakugan undergoing qualitative change in his palm!
The pair of Byakugan in his palm, after absorbing a massive amount of Tenseigan's Ocular Power and Chakra, also completely melted, turning into two masses of intense golden Chakra energy. They ultimately fully merge into Menma's palm, flowing along his Chakra Pathway towards his entire body.
Menma, already possessing a Sage Body and Ten-Tails' Chakra, underwent significant changes in his body after absorbing this Giant Tenseigan.
Boom—!!!
An immense Chakra aura erupted with Menma as the center!
Golden chakra gushed from his body like flames, forming a resplendent Chakra Cloak that enveloped his entire form.
Tenseigan Chakra Mode!
Six pitch-black Truth-Seeking Balls, containing the power of all creation, silently manifested behind him, slowly rotating, emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation.
On his forehead, green horn-like keratin structures rose, forming two dragon-horn-like protrusions.
And at the top of his forehead, right above the center of his brows, the skin quietly split open a seam.
A single Tenseigan eye, golden and brimming with boundless authority and Ocular Power, slowly opened!
The overwhelming pressure swept through the entire shrine like a tsunami, washing over Shuto and the others. The air itself seemed to become viscous and heavy.
Shuto and the others, bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, trembled uncontrollably under this intimidation originating from their bloodline source, far beyond their imagination.
It wasn't merely fear but a reverence and submission stemming from the depths of their souls towards a higher-level existence!
Shuto's empty eye sockets 'gazed' at the youth enveloped in golden Chakra, with horns on his forehead and a golden Tenseigan opened, like a god descended to earth.
His lips quivered. Finally, with endless shock and a hint of indescribable bewilderment, he murmured:
"Ancestor...?!"
Menma felt the vast Chakra energy throughout his body, feeling practically invincible, and eagerly wanted to find someone to test it on.
'Who to bully?'
'Old Madara or the sickly Isshiki?'