"Your chakra. I do not need very much. A small amount will be enough."
Kaguya remained silent for a moment.
Her eyelashes fluttered lightly. Then she raised her right hand, and a ball of chakra appeared in the palm of her hand.
"Here."
She extended the ball of chakra toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara accepted the ball of chakra with both hands.
He held the chakra sphere in his palm, closed his eyes, and immersed his perception into it.
The chakra slowly flowed through his meridians, making initial contact with Kaguya's chakra and cautiously probing its nature.
He could feel his own chakra accepting this foreign energy at an extremely slow rate, but there was always a faint barrier between the two. They were unable to completely merge.
It was like two different kinds of oil that could not fully blend together.
"It is still not enough."
Kiyohara opened his eyes and absorbed the remaining specks of chakra in his palm into his body.
Her pale and delicate face, made even whiter beneath the moonlight, was looking at him. There were no unnecessary emotions in her pure white eyes.
He reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, and gently pulled her from the cushion toward him.
Kaguya's eyelashes moved slightly. Her body followed the strength of his arm and leaned toward him, while her white hair slipped from her shoulder and brushed against Kiyohara's back.
Then he lowered his head and kissed her lips.
Kaguya's eyes widened slightly for an instant before slowly closing again.
She no longer became as stiff as a piece of wood whenever he kissed her.
However, this time, Kiyohara was not simply kissing her.
The moment their lips touched, the chakra within his body actively extended outward and made direct contact with the primordial Ōtsutsuki chakra within Kaguya's body.
Through this intimate point of connection, their chakras slowly exchanged, mixed, and penetrated into one another.
Kiyohara could clearly sense the primordial power whose nature was completely different from his own chakra. Through the contact between their lips and the tips of their tongues, it was gradually merging into the depths of his meridians, bit by bit.
So that was it.
Kiyohara silently confirmed his previous judgment.
Through intimate physical contact, his body could adapt to Kaguya's chakra much faster.
He had experienced this sensation the last time he kissed Kaguya in the Limited Tsukuyomi world. At that time, however, he had not deliberately guided the exchange of chakra.
Only now, when he consciously sensed the process, did he discover that this kind of fusion was far faster than simply cultivating through the meridians.
Kaguya's body moved slightly in his arms.
Her eyes remained closed, and her breathing was somewhat faster than before. Her chest gently rose and fell with the rhythm of her breaths.
After a while, Kiyohara released her lips and rested his forehead against hers.
Their breaths mingled together.
"That is enough."
When Kiyohara pulled back, Kaguya's eyelashes trembled lightly. She slowly opened her eyes, and her pure white pupils seemed to carry a thin layer of moisture beneath the moonlight.
"Your chakra."
Kaguya raised her hand and touched her lips with her fingertips. The warmth left behind by Kiyohara was still lingering on her lips.
"It is merging with my chakra much better."
"Mm."
Kiyohara reached out and tucked a strand of white hair, dampened by sweat, behind her ear. His fingertip gently brushed along the outer edge of her ear.
"Through this kind of contact, I am also gradually adapting to your chakra."
Kaguya looked at him. After a moment, the corner of her mouth moved almost imperceptibly.
By the time Kiyohara returned to his residence, it was already deep into the night.
Most of the moonlight outside the window had been blocked by thick layers of clouds, leaving only a few strands of cold silver light to slip through the gaps.
He took off his shoes at the entrance, walked barefoot into the living room, and then reclined halfway on the sofa.
The memories of the thousands of Shadow Clones simultaneously conducting research in the laboratory were still slowly being digested in his mind.
However, his attention was not focused on those memories at this moment.
He raised his right hand and spread his palm out in front of his eyes.
Kiyohara could feel that something inside his body was changing.
The chakra deep within his meridians was circulating at a much faster rate than usual. His ocular power was giving off a faint heat behind his eye sockets, as though something deep within his eyeballs was slowly awakening.
It was Kaguya's chakra.
Earlier, while he was at Kaguya's residence, his chakra had undergone a deep fusion with Kaguya's primordial Ōtsutsuki chakra through that kiss.
The Six Paths-level chakra, Tenseigan chakra, Dragon Vein chakra, and the chakra of the nine Tailed Beasts that already existed within his body were now undergoing a transformation, with Kaguya's chakra serving as the catalyst.
Kiyohara used his Byakugan to observe his own chakra pathways.
He could see his chakra surging through them. The different types of chakra that had originally remained clearly separated were now slowly penetrating into one another.
The green Tenseigan chakra and the golden Mangekyō ocular power were also intertwining.
It was still not enough.
He was only one final step away from completely awakening the Rinnegan. He needed more stimulation, or perhaps more chakra of the same origin.
"Just a little more."
Kiyohara thought to himself.
He turned his hand over and took the crystal ball from his clothes, then infused it with chakra.
The next moment, he arrived in the depths of the canyon within the Limited Tsukuyomi world.
The golden canopy of the God Tree spread across the night sky. The chakra flowing through its leaves shimmered faintly beneath the starlight.
The twelve Edo Tensei resurrectees he had planted here the last time he came were still fixed in place, their bodies wrapped tightly in the God Tree's roots.
Their chakra was repeatedly drained dry, restored, drained again, and restored once more.
Benevolent Kaguya was floating atop one of the God Tree's thick branches. Her translucent soul appeared even more ethereal beneath the golden radiance.
When she sensed the fluctuation caused by the spatial rift, her pure white eyes turned in that direction.
She then floated down from the branch and landed in front of Kiyohara.
"You have come again."
Her voice remained ethereal and gentle, but Kiyohara noticed that her soul seemed somewhat more substantial than when he had seen her last time. The blue radiance around her edges was also no longer flickering as inconsistently as before.
The growth of the God Tree seemed to have returned a portion of its power to her, the person who had planted it.
"This time, I brought more people with me."
Kiyohara unfolded a sealing scroll.
Twenty pre-prepared Edo Tensei formations appeared from within the scroll.
At the center of each formation was a DNA sample taken from a criminal shinobi he had found in the Hozuki Castle.
Kiyohara formed hand seals and released the Impure World Reincarnation.
Twenty shinobis with various appearances emerged.
Kiyohara did not give them any opportunity to speak.
A flash of crimson light appeared in his Mangekyō Sharingan. His ocular power instantly transformed into twenty invisible mental attacks that simultaneously entered the minds of all the resurrected shinobis.
Everyone's eyes changed at the exact same moment.
Confusion became bewilderment, bewilderment became emptiness, and then all twenty people lowered their heads in unison.
Under the guidance of Benevolent Kaguya, the God Tree's roots slowly extended toward the twenty new Edo Tensei resurrectees and wrapped themselves around their bodies.
The roots tightened.
Their chakra began to be extracted, and the bodies of all twenty people were simultaneously incorporated into the cycle.
Benevolent Kaguya stood beside Kiyohara and watched as he completed everything.
Her Rinne Sharingan remained fixed on Kiyohara for a moment before she slowly spoke.
"Is it really all right to use these people?"
"It is nothing. They are all extremely vicious criminals."
Kiyohara shook his head.
Anyone who had committed a crime worthy of the death penalty had undoubtedly committed a grave offense.
Therefore, Kiyohara did not feel the slightest psychological burden when using them.
"You did not come here this time just to bring these resurrectees, did you?"
"Mm."
Kiyohara rolled the sealing scroll back up and put it into his clothes. He then dusted off his hands, even though there was not actually any dust on them.
"Next, I am going to the Pure Land."
Benevolent Kaguya's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"The Pure Land? What are you going there for?"
"To verify a hypothesis."
Kiyohara turned around and looked at her.
"My ocular power has recently been evolving, but I am still missing the final catalyst. The chakra of the those resurrected from Edo Tensei originates from their souls, while the energy of souls can recover and replenish itself within the Pure Land. I want to study how the Pure Land operates. Perhaps I can find the key to my breakthrough there."
Benevolent Kaguya remained silent for a moment.
Then she gave a slight nod.
"I can take you inside. Although the Pure Land is a domain belonging to souls, I have an area there that belongs exclusively to me. I created it while guarding the seal for a thousand years. However, your physical body cannot enter the Pure Land directly. You will need to separate your soul from your body first."
"The Spirit Transformation Technique."
Kiyohara replied.
"I can use that technique."
As Hokage, Kiyohara had already learned ninety-nine percent of Konoha's ninjutsu.
The reason it was ninety-nine percent rather than one hundred percent was because there were still some techniques that had only recently been developed.
Benevolent Kaguya said nothing more.
She raised her right hand.
The power of the Rinne Sharingan surged from her eyes and tore open a translucent crack in the air before them.
From the other side of the crack came a pale, cold, and desolate light that was completely different from any light found in the living world.
Kiyohara formed hand seals.
His body trembled slightly.
Then a soul emerged from his physical body, as if a translucent membrane were slowly being peeled away from the surface of his body.
The Kiyohara formed by his soul looked exactly the same as his physical body, except that his entire form was translucent.
His physical body remained where it was, protected by a barrier that Benevolent Kaguya placed around it.
Kiyohara discovered that the urn symbolizing the system seemed to be bound to the depths of his soul.
Moreover, Benevolent Kaguya had not noticed it at all.
Kiyohara relaxed.
He then entered the rift leading to the Pure Land together with Benevolent Kaguya.
The scenery of the Pure Land unfolded before his eyes.
It was a vast, boundless expanse of pale whiteness.
There was no soil beneath their feet. Instead, there was a strange white substance that existed somewhere between a solid and a gas.
When stepped upon, it would sink slightly before slowly springing back, almost like walking across a layer of clouds that had somehow solidified.
There was no sky overhead.
There was only endless white.
The white light did not come from any particular direction. Instead, it seemed to seep into the entire space from every direction simultaneously.
Countless tiny blue points of light were scattered along the distant horizon.
Each point of light represented a sleeping soul.
They floated within the white mist of the Pure Land, their consciousness blurred and their forms indistinct.
Occasionally, a few souls would slowly drift past.
They never interacted with one another.
Kiyohara lowered his head and looked at his palm.
The palm of his soul was translucent, allowing him to see the pale substance beneath his feet through it.
But what interested him more was the change occurring within his body.
After entering the Pure Land, the chakra within his soul was recovering at a speed that could almost be seen with the naked eye.
The chakra he had consumed when performing the Spirit Transformation Technique had already been replenished by more than half in a very short period.
The recovery speed was at least several times faster than in the outside world.
"So that is how it works."
Kiyohara muttered under his breath. His brows furrowed slightly before slowly relaxing again.
"This special space known as the Pure Land can restore the chakra within souls. It does not absorb natural energy from the outside world. Instead, it is a property of the space itself. It naturally and continuously injects chakra into souls, just like sunlight nourishes plants."
"That explains why the souls of those resurrected from Edo Tensei can repair themselves after their chakra has been completely exhausted. The source of that restoration is not the soul itself. It is the Pure Land."
He raised his head and once again examined the boundless white space.
A deeper question surfaced in his mind.
Where did the Pure Land come from?
Was it formed naturally?
Or was it created by some kind of power?
If it had formed naturally, why was Earth the only place in the entire shinobi universe that possessed such a space?
Did the homeworld of the Ōtsutsuki clan have a Pure Land?
What about the countless other planets that had been plundered by the Ōtsutsuki clan?
There had been countless living beings killed on those planets.
Where had their souls gone?
"The universe does not contain life only on Earth."
Kiyohara rubbed his chin.
"The main Ōtsutsuki clan has plundered countless planets. Every planet should have intelligent life. If every planet has its own Pure Land, are all those Pure Lands connected to one another?"
"If the Pure Land was created by the Ōtsutsuki clan, then what was the purpose behind its creation? Was it merely to collect souls?"
Kiyohara had countless questions in his mind.
The more he thought about it, the deeper he went.
Kiyohara expanded his perception and discovered that the Pure Land was extraordinarily vast.
From the white substance beneath his feet, to the distant points of light representing sleeping souls, and then to the void extending even deeper, the scale of the Pure Land was simply astonishing.
This definitely did not seem to be a product belonging to a single planet.
It seemed more like a place where the souls of the entire universe gathered.
Perhaps the Pure Land belonging to this planet was merely a small portion of the Pure Land of the entire universe, connected to the Pure Lands of other planets through some kind of passage.
Benevolent Kaguya floated beside him.
She watched his thoughtful profile but did not interrupt him.
She simply remained quietly suspended there.
After quite some time, Kiyohara finally withdrew from his thoughts.
"Take me back."
Benevolent Kaguya nodded and tore open another rift leading back to the living world.
Kiyohara's soul passed through the rift and returned to his physical body.
The instant the Soul Transformation Technique was released, his body trembled slightly.
Then he opened his eyes.
The burning sensation deep within his eyes was even stronger than before he entered the Pure Land.
His ocular power surged behind his eye sockets, almost as though it were about to burst out of his body.
But he was still missing that final step.
"Your eyes."
Benevolent Kaguya stared at Kiyohara's eyes, her brows drawing together slightly.
"It is already extremely close to the Rinnegan, but you are still missing a catalyst."
"Yes."
Kiyohara turned around and faced Benevolent Kaguya.
Then he extended his hand.
"So I need to ask you for one more thing."
"What?"
"Your chakra."
Kiyohara answered.
Although the two Kaguyas were essentially the same person, their experiences and emotions were different, and as a result, their chakras had also become different.
Each Kaguya possessed a portion that the other did not.
If the two sources of chakra were combined, they could accelerate Kiyohara's adaptation process.
Benevolent Kaguya raised her right hand.
A ball of chakra appeared in the palm of her hand.
Compared with the chakra of the Kaguya in the living world, her chakra was much gentler in color.
"Here."
"Thank you."
Kiyohara accepted the ball of chakra with both hands and absorbed it into his body.
Then he closed his eyes.
The two sources of chakra began circulating through his chakra pathways simultaneously.
The instant the two chakras met inside his body, the chakra that had already become intertwined seemed to be ignited.
It suddenly erupted with dazzling light.
He could feel something deep within his right eye struggling to break free from its shell.
Kiyohara could also sense that something had changed within his brain, and that change was subsequently altering his eyes.
Boom!
Kiyohara's chakra erupted.
The enormous flow of chakra pierced through the clouds and shot straight into the heavens.
The canopy of the God Tree crackled under the force of Kiyohara's surging chakra.
Benevolent Kaguya took half a step backward, her pure white eyes opening wide.
She could clearly feel just how enormous the ocular power erupting from Kiyohara's body had become.
"Has he awakened his eyes?"
Benevolent Kaguya wondered inwardly.
Then she noticed the change in Kiyohara's eyes.
His originally crimson pupils gradually turned purple.
Then circles began to appear within them, one after another.
It was unmistakably the Rinnegan!
(End of Chapter)