"Senior, apologies for this junior's reckless behavior." Huo Yuhao calmed down and cupped his fists, forcing his trembling spiritual sea to steady itself.
Even then, the surface of the lake still quivered under the lingering pressure of that single opened eye.
The white-haired man lowered his hand, the infinity sigil dimming but not disappearing. "Mm."
"Quick to compose yourself. That saves me some effort."
"Yuhao. Who the heck is that guy?!" Skydream said in a hushed tone, staring wide-eyed at the strange man. His back completely drenched in cold sweat.
At that moment, he could feel the close breath of death choking his throat.
It was the same feeling Skydream once had when facing Beast God for the first time, multiplied by a hundred times.
That immense otherworldly-like pressure brought by that man, Skydream compared it to the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux.
This man was a being comparable to a God-level being!
"....My Ancestor, probably." Huo Yuhao said.
"..."
"What's with that look?"
Skydream rolled his eyes, smacking his shoulder. "Bro, how many ancestors do you have? Also, wasn't Indra basically yourself? Is this another manifestation of another you in the past?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "No. Honestly, it's just a guess."
"A guess?!"
"Skydream, listen. You know about Indra's life story. The origin of the Chakra and jutsus in that otherworld. The woman who devoured the chakra fruit, became the strongest being at the time, and birthed my father and my uncle—my grandmother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki!" Huo Yuhao said, as he and Skydream descended down. They respectfully stood behind the mysterious 'old' man.
Skydream was smart and he quickly connected the dots from his words. "No freaking way. Are you saying... That this guy is someone from the Ōtsutsuki Clan?!"
"Ohoho! Impressive, impressive. You quickly figured out my identity, not bad." He clapped softly. The white-haired man turned his head just enough for Yuhao and Skydream to see the faint curve of amusement on his lips.
Huo Yuhao wrly smiled. "It wasn't hard to figure out. Someone appearing in my spiritual sea with long white hair and with powerful ocular prowess, it could only lead to one logical conclusion—you're someone from the Ōtsutsuki Clan."
The man fully turned to face them now, his eyes closed but his lips revealed a satisfied expression.
"Hahaha. You're a forthcoming brat, I like that. Looks like my judgement wasn't wrong. Compared to that other prodigious descendant of mine who is cold, arrogant and stuffy, you're much more preferable."
"..." Huo Yuhao didn't know what to say. He had many questions in his mind right now.
Why was this guy here? How is he here? Was the Ōtsutsuki Clan here?!
That last question stiffened Huo Yuhao. He had Sasuke Uchiha's memories and knew just insane and powerful those people were.
"You don't have to worry about the clan descending into this mortal world, yet."
Huo Yuhao blinked. "What do you mean by that, senior?"
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. Ah, but I do want to keep an air of mystery~" He tapped his chin and chuckled. "Call me... Masashi."
"Masashi Ōtsutsuki... I've never heard a name like that in my memories." Huo Yuhao frowned, racking his brain for every information that he had about the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Masashi smiled and said. "The current supreme head of the clan, Shibai Ōtsutsuki, is currently sealed by the combined core-universal forces of five fifth-dimensional beings."
'Shibai...?' Huo Yuhao's eyes widened, perspiring beads of cold sweat.
Shibai Ōtsutsuki. That was a name engraved deep within his soul that, the moment it was mentioned, he remembered who he was.
The one who became a God in the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
'How? Why?' Huo Yuhao racked his brains for answers but had none.
But the person person before him certainly had.
"The rest of the clan doesn't have the strength to rescue the Shibai brat. So, they won't move for the time being. But it's also because they were ordered by their head to stand down."
Skydream asked, confused. "That should be the logical decision any leader should make... but why does it feel off when you say it like that?"
The Ōtsutsuki Ancestor replied, "Because little worm, given enough time... one or two members within the clan would've gained enough strength to rival one or two of those fifth dimensional beings in the span of at least a decade."
Skydream was stunned.
"But... I thought the strength of Gods were predetermined when they ascend? According to what I had learned during my imprisonment from Beast God and the other Great Beasts; very rarely do Gods ascend to a higher state of existence, and some who do would take a very long time."
To soul beasts could live for countless eons, a decade was like blinking an eye. For Skydream and Beast God to say that a God would take a long time to grow stronger was very telling.
"....Not for the Ōtsutsuki Clan," Huo Yuhao added, shaking his head. "I don't know what the Gods of this world are like, besides being absolutely petty, but I'm very familiar of the Ōtsutsuki Clan."
"They are power-hungry, ever-evolving monsters who grow stronger simply by consuming other lifeforms. As long as life exist, they'll keep on getting stronger. There's no lines that they wouldn't cross for the sake of getting stronger."
Masashi smirked.
"Correct. Looks like you know well enough of how the Clan works. I don't have to tell you what the fate of yours and the people you care about would become when the... so-called Gods of your world are defeated."
"What do you want with me?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Masashi tilted his head, an innocent expression on his face.
"What else? I want to kill you!"
"Aah! I knew it!" Skydream yelled and his body radiated a golden aura. Immense spiritual power that could move mountains and split the sea surged around him.
At this moment, facing the threat of an unknown enemy and to protect the ones he loves, Skydream would fight with everything that he had.
"Don't underestimate me! I-I don't show off often but I'm a one million year old soul beast! A being that borders on the edge of becoming a divine beast! Oraaaaa!!"
"Stop." Huo Yuhao chopped his head, and immediately the immense spiritual power around him dissipated like smoke.
Huo Yuhao turned to look at Masashi and said, "If you wanted us dead, you would've already done it."
"Perhaps I'm toying you both before taking your lives."
"..." Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows and walked forward, to the utter surprise and horror of Skydream.
He stopped right in front of Masashi, close enough that the latter could easily grab onto his neck and strangle him.
Huo Yuhao was tall for someone at his age, and although the Ōtsutsuki Ancestor was a couple inches taller, he just appeared more intimidating and more overwhelming, like a towering peak disguised in human shape.
Even so, Huo Yuhao didn't avert his gaze. Not once.
His eyes met Masashi's closed lids head-on.
His gaze remained firm and unwavering.
If he were to meet an inevitable death, then he would do so with dignity.
Skydream was stunned for a moment. He shook his head, slapped his cheeks with his hands, before walking up to stand besides Huo Yuhao with an earnest face.
Though he was noticeably nervous and scared from his trembling clenched fists, there was no denying his loyalty towards his friend.
The silence stretched.
Masashi tilted his head slightly, amused. "Hmm? Approaching me so boldly."
He sighed and spread his hands.
"The younger generation, so full of passion! Very well, I can't stay here for long anyway."
Before Huo Yuhao could react, Masashi reached his right hand and grabbed his face.
"You—!" Skydream roared, spiritual power igniting as he lunged.
Masashi lazily flicked his left hand.
Skydream hit the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut and went completely immobile. Eyes wide open, his body refusing to obey him.
"G-Gah—! Ah! M-My body...! Yuhao!!" he croaked.
Masashi didn't even spare him a glance.
His fingers tightened on Huo Yuhao's face. Not enough to harm, but enough to make escape impossible.
Huo Yuhao's pupils shrank. "What are you—?!"
"I'm doing what any Ancestor would do for his descendant," he said, and then his closed lids rose.
"I'm giving you a fortuitous opportunity."
His eyes opened.
The left eye, etched with the rotating infinity sigil. The right; an abyss of pure white, depthless and consuming, a void that seemed to erase space-time itself.
The moment they opened, the entire spiritual sea shuddered.
Skydream let out a strangled noise from where he was pinned to the ground. "N-No...not again! Yuhao—!"
Masashi ignored him completely.
"Have you never wondered," he murmured, his fingers still locked around Huo Yuhao's face, "about the strange transformation of your hair? Once all black and ordinary... and now lustrous, silky white; as if woven from excellent web threads of the Ancient Cosmic Spider Mother."
Huo Yuhao's breath hitched as Masashi's grasp tightened and he gritted his teeth, feeling intense pain spreading.
He shouldn't feel any pain since this was just his spiritual avatar, yet he was!
His spiritual sea trembled in resonance and his blood began boiling.
"You've reincarnated into another world and your current body has zero blood relations with the Ōtsutsuki, yet how did you awaken one of our Dōjutsus?"
"It's because the Sharingan is deeply imprinted within your soul, Indra Ōtsutsuki."
"Our dōjutsus aren't merely inherited tools. They are genetic commandments, engraved so deep into the essence of an Ōtsutsuki that even if the flesh perishes and the soul reincarnates into a foreign world, into a foreign species... the eyes still remains."
"T-That means... as long as a dead and living only a soul Ōtsutsuki finds a suitable body, he can still retain their eyes? Infinitely?!" Skydream sputtered, eyes widened a little in shock.
Masashi shrugged. "Of course, there are some limitations. But I don't feel like telling you."
"Now, accept my blessings."
"Aaaugh!!" Huo Yuhao's Rinnegan eyes flickered erratically; changing colors and the black lines shifting.
Then his eyes turned completely white; the sclera, iris, and pupils.
Under his eyelids and above his eyebrows, strange slits appeared.
On his forehead split opened to reveal the Eye of Destiny, shining with golden brilliance—
"Wake up to reality!"