Underground tomb near the Fire Temple
As the chakra within Kitagawa Gen's body pulsed faintly, the space around him began to revert to its original state.
"Phew."
He slowly opened his eyes and gave a small nod as he took in his surroundings.
"The illusion of the Totsuka Blade… quite an intriguing trick. But unfortunately, I knew it was fake from the beginning. It was never going to give me any real trouble."
Clearly, whoever had buried the Totsuka Blade had gone to great lengths to protect it from grave robbers.
One of those measures was using the Totsuka Blade's unique properties to generate an illusion-based seal. If someone tampered with it, the trap would be triggered without fail.
"It's just too bad… you ran into me."
[Crack.]
Just as the thought passed through his mind, the sound of a fracture echoed in his ears.
Looking up, he saw that the stone gate blocking his path was now covered in a web of cracks.
[Crash—]
With a sharp sound, the gate shattered into countless fragments, scattering across the tomb chamber.
At that very moment, within his deep blue eyes, he clearly saw a spiritual form take shape—gourd-shaped, hovering quietly.
"The Totsuka Blade… just as I thought."
Seeing the prize before him, Kitagawa Gen couldn't help but smile.
He had waited so long for this—fighting Uchiha Obito and the others had been an unavoidable part of the process.
And in the end, he'd even had to "reluctantly" beat up Naruto and the rest inside the Totsuka Blade's illusory world.
Now that he had finally obtained what he wanted, how could he not be pleased?
"This will be perfect to strengthen the offensive capabilities of my 'Ōtsutsuki' identity. Even if I obtain Truth-Seeking Orbs in the future, this will still have its uses."
A spiritual weapon's standard pairing was typically something like Susanoo, but Kitagawa Gen didn't consider that to be a fixed rule.
After all, Susanoo was essentially the ultimate manifestation of Yin Release—the power to create form from the formless.
While Kitagawa Gen did not possess Susanoo, he did have the ability to use Yin Release.
[Whoosh—]
Extending his hand, a black staff materialized in his grasp. In the next instant, he pressed it against the "gourd."
Under his control, the Totsuka Blade slowly began merging with the black staff.
"Hm?"
As the Totsuka Blade fused into it, a strange power suddenly surged through his entire body.
In that moment, he once again felt his blood boiling with energy.
"So fast to react? As I thought—no matter who created this, it ultimately belongs to the Ōtsutsuki. I'm simply reclaiming my 'source energy.'"
Crossing his legs, Kitagawa Gen began seriously absorbing and attuning himself to this power. At the same time, he deliberately released the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"The Kyūbi's chakra inside is weaker than expected—judging by its density, it's only at about Four-Tails level. Still, it doesn't matter. Combined with the Totsuka Blade, it should work just fine."
With that thought, he quietly focused on comprehending and drawing in the energy.
The Totsuka Blade was a product of Yin Release, so what he was absorbing was naturally Yin Release power as well.
This was important to him—so far, the only Yin Release he had obtained came from Uchiha Obito.
Everything else he had gathered was of Yang Release.
The Kyūbi's chakra, as it merged in, continued to pool into his eyes, and he could clearly feel the speed of chakra absorption in his eyes increasing once more.
[Buzz—]
Silently, his chakra began to overflow. His body slowly lifted off the ground, surrounded by a faint blue glow of chakra.
After a long while, he suddenly opened his eyes.
[Boom—]
With the surge of chakra, cracks spread rapidly across the tomb chamber's walls.
The entire room began to tremble slightly, as if on the verge of collapse.
Yet his expression was somewhat strange. He looked down at the black staff in his hand, seemingly deep in thought.
Within his vision, the status panel appeared:
[Name: Kitagawa Gen]
[Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (Development: 36%)]
[Dōjutsu: Tenseigan (Newborn Eyes)]
[Special Abilities: Ice Release, Magnet Release, Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion]
...
"The shinobi world sure hasn't been peaceful lately."
In a training field at Konohagakure, Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya were sitting together with Kitagawa Gen.
Not far away, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hyūga Neji were training as a squad.
Jiraiya looked at the kids in the distance, rubbed his still slightly swollen face, and let out a sigh.
"Whether it's the Akatsuki or that mysterious Ōtsutsuki Genshiki, both are extremely unsettling factors."
Kitagawa Gen gave an awkward smile from the side, while Kakashi nodded gravely.
"That's right. Especially that Ōtsutsuki Genshiki—he specifically targeted the Nine-Tails' chakra for capture. Even Obito and Uchiha Itachi suffered crushing defeats at his hands. This guy…"
"…is both terrifying and troublesome," Guy couldn't help but cut in. He knew well that Kakashi had crossed blades with many strong opponents without a decisive result, yet this time the loss was so devastating.
But soon, Guy's expression lit up with intense excitement.
"Still, an opponent like that is exactly what fires me up! To keep challenging the strongest—that's true youth!"
Kitagawa Gen, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all twitched their mouths slightly at the sight of Guy's wide, side-tilted grin, gleaming with its trademark sparkle.
"Jiraiya-sama, didn't you say you were going to Mount Myōboku? Did you find anything?"
Kakashi rubbed at the bridge of his nose before finally turning to Jiraiya.
"A little… but—"
Jiraiya's body gave a slight tremor at those words.
He recalled that day—when the sky-shaking roar of natural chakra swept through, the whole of Mount Myōboku trembled without pause.
The overwhelming aura of that chakra made his scalp prickle, and because he had been so close, it nearly blasted him away in an instant!
In all his memories, nothing had ever caused such a reaction.
He had met the Great Toad Sage many times before. Aside from feeling unfathomable, the old sage had always been kindly, far-sighted, and a bit senile—likely to fall asleep at any moment and never wake again.
But this time, Jiraiya truly understood how terrifying the Great Toad Sage could be.
Such a fearsome being had reacted so violently… just from hearing a single name.
In the end, Jiraiya shook his head and sighed.
"The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku is said to have lived for over a thousand years."
"When he heard the name 'Ōtsutsuki Genshiki,' his reaction was immense."
"Unfortunately, he didn't say much in the end—only warned me to be extremely careful, then sent me away."
At those words, everyone fell silent.
The less that's said, the bigger the matter.
Everyone present clearly understood what that meant, and a deep unease settled over them.
Who exactly was this Ōtsutsuki Genshiki, that even the legendary Great Sage of Mount Myōboku would respond like that?
They didn't notice that Kitagawa Gen, sitting to the side, had a slightly off expression.
In fact, he looked a bit awkward.
'I expected it, but the aftershock's a bit too much, isn't it?'
Seeing the others remain silent, he could only play dumb.
After all, this wasn't a shadow clone—his real body had returned!
Once he'd properly finished absorbing all that energy, he didn't dare keep wandering outside.
After all, he knew full well that the mess he'd stirred up wasn't small, and he still wanted to see what kind of consequences it would eventually bring.
What he didn't expect was that after a few uneventful days back, Jiraiya would suddenly show up and drop something big on him!
'But that's only natural. After all, this is someone who fought against Ōtsutsuki Kaguya a thousand years ago—hearing about a new Ōtsutsuki and not losing composure? That'd be strange.'
In truth, it wasn't just the Great Toad Sage who would lose composure—in his view, the odds of Black Zetsu doing the same were just as high.
He was trying to save his mother, but with another Ōtsutsuki suddenly appearing, that guy was probably in deep turmoil.
'No point thinking about them. I've reaped plenty this time.'
Whatever happened between Black Zetsu and the Great Toad Sage had little to do with Kitagawa Gen—that was Ōtsutsuki Genshiki's business.
As long as he didn't expose himself recklessly, and avoided making a contract with Mount Myōboku, there shouldn't be any problems.
'Ōtsutsuki Genshiki is Ōtsutsuki Genshiki, and Kitagawa Gen is Kitagawa Gen. Still, Genshiki has leveled up again this time."
This time, he had absorbed the Nine-Tails' chakra. While its properties were abundant, the quality was somewhat lacking.
Even so, combined with the innate Yin Release within the Totsuka Blade, it had given him a tremendous boost.
'Bloodline development has reached thirty-six percent…'
That pace of progress wasn't exactly fast, but it was far from slow.
Besides, the Totsuka Blade still held many secrets to explore, and he could continue to use the Dragon Vein to replenish the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Once it was all filled up, his growth would keep surging.
'And this time, with both a tailed beast and Yin Release involved, my eyes have actually benefitted the most.'
Under this combined impact, he could clearly feel a significant increase in the absorption rate and progress of his eyes.
Furthermore, he had gained an incredibly intriguing ability—
Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
When he first saw this ability, his mind was full of question marks.
'If I remember correctly, this technique requires the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, combined with chakra orbs, to be activated, right?'
Naturally, Kitagawa Gen longed for such strength, but getting this ability before his eyes had even evolved—wasn't that a bit too soon?
Still, having such an ability was already more than enough to deal with most current enemies.
There was no way he'd just sit back and do nothing—he needed to think carefully about how to put this technique to use.
'No chakra orbs, but I did just get the Totsuka Blade. Using a black rod to wield the Totsuka Blade as a weapon shouldn't be much of a problem.'
'As for Chakra Mode, I don't have it, and for now I'm not considering using Sage Mode on 'Ōtsutsuki Genshiki' either.'
'But I do have the 'Moon's Blessing'.'
Ever since discovering last time that as long as he practiced a "sustainable fishing-dry" approach, the giant Tenseigan on the moon seemed unlikely to "cut off supply," he'd been thinking about the possibilities.
If that was the case, why not try using the moon's power as the core?
'After all, the Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion is powered by the Tenseigan. Using that giant Tenseigan shouldn't be a problem, right?'
With that thought, Kitagawa Gen more or less knew what he needed to do.
If he hadn't forcibly drawn on it again while dealing with Uchiha Obito, he would have already tested it out.
'But I basically know how to go about it now. What's left is to find the right opportunity to try.'
Kitagawa Gen gave a quiet nod.
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