"How is it? Does it feel… as if there is no real difference from the shinobi world on the ground?"
After casually crushing those rigid puppets that only knew how to act according to orders, Rei Kaguya and Orochimaru passed through the boundary lake between heaven and earth left behind by Hamura Otsutsuki and leapt onto the moon.
Now, they walked through the ruins of an ancient, long-abandoned city. Rei looked around with interest at the old-fashioned architectural remains around them and asked casually.
"Aside from the pitiful lack of human presence, there truly is no difference."
Orochimaru scattered his summoned snakes to investigate the surroundings and gather intelligence while sincerely sighing in admiration.
"What remarkable power. Is this the strength of Hamura Otsutsuki, the brother who sealed the progenitor of chakra alongside the Sage of Six Paths? Even inside an artificial prison whose surface is barren and dead, he was still able to create a living environment no different from the vibrant shinobi world…"
"Look, Rei-kun. Even though no one has lived in this city for a thousand years, the rocks, flowing water, breeze, and dust still remain as they were at the beginning… These things alone are enough to prove that he was a great existence no less than the Sage of Six Paths."
"Yes. Even if all these things were transplanted here when they left the shinobi world, creating an environment inside the empty moon that could sustain its own operation for a thousand years without collapsing is already a power worthy of being called a miracle."
Rei Kaguya activated his Byakugan. While casually wiping a handful of wall dust from a collapsed earthen wall, he could not help shaking his head and sighing.
"Honestly, when chakra is used by someone strong enough, it really is a little too all-purpose. I hope the Otsutsuki on the moon still have records related to this technology. If I can get my hands on it, the room for maneuver will be astonishing…"
"Oh? What are you planning to do with this technology now, Rei-kun?" Orochimaru asked with great interest.
"Let me think… Desert greening for the Land of Wind, terrain leveling and mountain afforestation for the Land of Earth. Or, more directly, I could call Nagato over and use Chibaku Tensei to create a few small artificial moons, imitate Hamura's method to remodel their internal environments, then place them into low orbit and let them drift there to see what effects the cosmic environment has on ordinary lifeforms from the shinobi world…"
As Rei Kaguya searched for the cemetery where the remains of many Otsutsuki main family members were buried, he replied casually.
"If that latter plan is ever carried out, you absolutely must provide me with a laboratory built on one of them!"
Orochimaru instantly appeared beside him with the Body Flicker Technique and spoke to Rei with an utterly serious face.
"Relax. When it comes to scientific research, I won't leave you out, Orochimaru. Of course, you had better produce more research results as well. Do not make me keep wondering when I will see returns on my investment… Hm. This way."
After casually drawing another tempting future for Orochimaru and hinting that he should properly fulfill his KPIs, Rei Kaguya turned a corner from the ruined street and led Orochimaru straight toward the cemetery of the moon's Otsutsuki main family.
"I will produce results that match the expectations you have given me… But, Rei-kun, did you discover something interesting? Why did you suddenly start moving with such a clear target?"
Orochimaru asked curiously.
"I saw a cemetery," Rei Kaguya replied without turning his head. "An enormous cemetery. I don't know how many people are buried there… Perhaps it has something to do with the current shortage of successors among our Otsutsuki friends?"
"I see. If it is a cemetery, perhaps I can find some materials suitable for using the Impure World Reincarnation Technique… Care to consider it?"
Orochimaru licked his lips and made the proposal with a delighted expression.
"I hope it won't be necessary."
Rei Kaguya's steps staggered slightly, and he decisively refused.
Impure World Reincarnation?
Here?
Right in front of Hamura Otsutsuki's soul?
What kind of joke was that?
I'm still hoping Hamura Otsutsuki's soul can point me in the right direction, or simply share some Six Paths power with me like the Sage of Six Paths' soul did…
While silently criticizing Orochimaru for not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, the two of them had already crossed the not particularly large city ruins and arrived at that enormous cemetery, though it was unknown whether it had been built by the Otsutsuki branch family or the Otsutsuki main family.
Countless white bones, whose flesh had long been worn away by the passage of time, were piled like mountains. Grave mounds of almost identical shape stretched all the way into the distance across the vast underground space. Even just standing at the entrance of the cemetery, one could clearly feel the bloody aura that rushed at them from across time and space, as well as the endless pain and resentment of the losing side in a war that had decided the clan's path.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Inside the empty, silent, pitch-black underground cemetery, a swaying, staggering figure began approaching Rei Kaguya and Orochimaru, who stood at the entrance. The irregular sound of footsteps echoed through the hollow underground tomb, making it seem especially sinister and strange.
Fortunately, both Orochimaru and Rei Kaguya were powerful shinobi who had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Even if the real God of Death descended before them, the two still had enough composure to consider whether to temporarily retreat or kill the God of Death on the spot.
Therefore, until that figure dressed in ragged clothing walked into the light they had ignited and revealed his incomparably weathered face, neither Rei Kaguya nor Orochimaru showed any fear or retreat.
"The Byakugan… princess… no?"
The mad, long-haired man tilted his head, murmuring unclear words. He approached Rei Kaguya step by step, whose hair was gradually turning completely white. After carefully examining the pair of extremely pure Byakugan in Rei's eye sockets, he began muttering to himself, half-hesitant and half-confused.
"Not… the princess… but… perhaps enough…"
"What… should I do…"
"Give it… or not…"
Rei Kaguya looked at the long-haired man trapped in hesitation and slowly sighed. Then he stepped forward, accurately inserting his hand into the other party's chest, which was no longer made of flesh and blood. With a hint of pity and a hint of mockery, he said,
"If everything can only be completed by those with bloodline and destiny, then this world had no need to take even a single step forward from the very beginning."
"Hand over the thing that has supported your wandering until now… I will make those self-righteous fools who misunderstood your will on their own wake up properly, Ancestor Hamura."