"Originally, you were going to die, but you're lucky. You happen to be fated with the Tenseigan."
Kageyama Kogetsu smiled, lifted his hand, and a pale green orb of light bloomed in his palm. With a flick, the orb shot out…
Sensing it with his mind's eye, Ōtsutsuki Toneri's face showed fear, yet he could not dodge. He could only watch as the orb landed on his chest.
"Let him go."
The Shōten clone obeyed.
Once Toneri hit the ground, his expression smoothed. He dropped to one knee. "Toneri pays respects to Teacher."
This was one of the Tenseigan's abilities, the spirit orb, which can control another's will and actions and read their thoughts.
The Rinnegan and Tenseigan share overlaps, like manipulating attraction and repulsion, and absorbing chakra.
In chakra absorption the Tenseigan is stronger and can draw from a distance, though it cannot absorb ninjutsu.
The Rinnegan has broader utility and leans toward sealing arts. The Tenseigan's utility is narrower, but its attack power is greater.
"Good. Take me to your clan's treasury."
"Yes, Teacher."
After sweeping the Ōtsutsuki lunar vault clean of its good things, Kogetsu was ready to head back.
As he was leaving, he suddenly remembered something.
He returned to Earth, then immediately came back to the moon and summoned Ōtsutsuki Toneri to Hamura's shrine again.
"A teacher shouldn't just take your clan's items for study without giving something back. Take these Byakugan."
"May your teacher grant you light."
These Byakugan were ones Kogetsu had quietly lifted from the Hyūga reserve in Konoha. Their purity was ordinary, basically impossible to awaken a Tenseigan.
Even if, against all odds, they did awaken, Toneri would never be his match.
"Thank you, Teacher." Toneri was overjoyed, smiling broadly.
"Come here. It will hurt a little. Bear with it."
"Yes, Teacher." Toneri obeyed.
Kogetsu took two Byakugan from a vial and pressed them into Toneri's sockets one by one.
Two lines of blood trailed down. Toneri's small face tightened, but he did not cry out.
Vibrant green life-force lit Kogetsu's right hand. He pressed Toneri's eye sockets and swiftly joined the orbs to optic nerves and capillaries.
"All right. Try them. See how they feel."
"Yes, Teacher."
Excitement and gratitude bright on his face, Toneri slowly opened his eyes. A wash of light entered…
At first his lids drooped from unfamiliar strain. Once he adapted, they lifted fully. The bright, grand, sacred shrine of Hamura filled his vision.
"So this is how the world looks with real eyes. Fascinating." Toneri's voice brimmed with curiosity.
Kogetsu had not erased Toneri's other emotions, only his desire to destroy Earth.
"Good. Go next door and get used to them. Wipe your face while you're at it."
"I've got important business. I'll call you when I need you."
"Yes, Teacher."
Toneri bowed obediently and left, happily humming.
Flick.
With a wave, a small-framed body rose into the air, serene in death. It was Nohara Rin.
Reviving Rin now and letting her live on the moon was perfect. Obito and Black Zetsu would never notice anything amiss.
Yin–Yang Release.
Kogetsu pressed his right hand to Rin's left chest. Under the wondrous power of Yin–Yang Release, the flesh, vessels, meridians, nerves, and heart destroyed by the Lightning Cutter swiftly mended…
He could have revived her without Yin–Yang Release, but using it would cost less chakra.
Outer Path…
Kogetsu stopped mid-seal, swept the scene with his right eye, and stored Rin's body back into Daikokuten.
"This is the moon. Even setting aside whether the technique would work, if her soul traveled from the Pure Land into space, it might be ruined completely."
"Do it on Earth, then bring her up."
Using space–time, he made a quick round trip, including the revival.
The Tenseigan also opens space–time channels. Stacked with his own space–time, Kogetsu's teleportation had grown vastly stronger.
He felt space more keenly, spent less chakra, could maintain it longer, and cross greater distances.
At his order, the Ōtsutsuki maid-servant puppets prepared a lavish spread in Hamura's shrine, then withdrew in silence.
Across the table, Nohara Rin slumped weakly in a chair. Kogetsu snapped his fingers.
As if receiving a cue, Rin's lashes trembled and lifted slowly. Her eyes were empty and dazed, as if waking from another life.
"Where… am I?" Rin murmured.
"Rin, long time no see. Welcome back." Kogetsu smiled, raised a glass of red wine, and saluted from afar.
Studying his face—familiar yet strange—Rin asked uncertainly, "Are you Kogetsu?"
"Yeah. It's me." He set down the wine, picked up knife and fork, and calmly cut his meat.
As time passed, Rin became more alert, though confusion still clouded her eyes.
"I was dead, wasn't I?"
"How am I here?"
After swallowing a tasty slice, Kogetsu smiled. "You did die. To thwart Kirigakure's plot, you chose to sacrifice yourself on Kakashi's Lightning Cutter."
"But I brought you back. While traveling the shinobi world I stumbled on a hidden realm."
"In it was a rare treasure that restores the dead. I happened to have secured your body back then, so I used it on you."
Rin was deeply moved, eyes brimming.
A treasure that can return life is priceless, and he used it on her…
They had been close in life, but not to that extent. If Obito or Kakashi had obtained it and used it on her, that would have made sense.
To be fair, if Kakashi truly had such a power, he would likely first revive his father, then Namikaze Minato, and only then Rin.
Obito would have used it on Rin first—if it had been before his absolute despair with the world.
And Obito did have a path to revive Rin. Nagato's Rinnegan could do it.
But to Obito, as long as this rotten world remained unchanged, even if Rin returned, she would still be hurt and fall into tragedy again. Reviving her would be meaningless. Only by changing the world—creating one where Rin would never be harmed—would revival have meaning.
"Kogetsu, though great kindness should go unspoken, I still want to thank you." Rin's voice caught.
"I accept your thanks." Kogetsu smiled. "Eat a little. You've been gone a while; you need nourishment."
"Mm." Rin nodded hard and took up her knife and fork. "How long was I gone?"
"Four years, give or take."
"How did the Third Great Ninja War end?"
"Don't rush. I'll tell you what's happened these years."
Kogetsu recounted the events after Rin's death…
Perhaps he had a storyteller's gift. As he spoke, Rin's emotions rose and fell, hard to contain.
When she heard that Namikaze Minato had become the Fourth Hokage, she was both happy and proud.
"What? Minato-sensei sacrificed himself?"
Rin went pale with shock. How could someone as strong as Minato-sensei have fallen?
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