Chapter 165: The Otsutsuki
Upon the moon.
Cold palace complexes sat deep within the crater basin, as if cast from solidified moonlight.
Faint blue chakra patterns floated beneath the domes, their internal energy traces flickering, isolating the universe's deadly silence and frigid temperatures.
Throughout the vast palace complex, there wasn't a trace of human presence—only teams of puppets patrolling back and forth around the palaces.
The puppets' footsteps had barely faded when Zetsu's half-body emerged from a crater crevice.
His body like melted chocolate cream, he clung soundlessly to the dome's shadows. Even the light from passing meteors left no trace on them.
After obtaining intelligence about the moon from Yasushi earlier, Zetsu had been intrigued.
After dispatching numerous White Zetsu for comprehensive searching, he finally found traces of the shinobi who had abducted Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hanabi. Following those traces, he indeed discovered the teleportation array leading to the moon.
So taking advantage of the opportunity to go on missions with Obito, Zetsu arranged for an intelligent White Zetsu to stay with Obito while he secretly came to the moon, wanting to thoroughly investigate intelligence related to Otsutsuki Hamura.
"The defenses are quite tight!" White Zetsu whispered. "But it seems like no one's here."
"This shouldn't be a residential area." Black Zetsu carefully advanced while pointing at the surroundings.
"Look at those battle traces there—obviously very recent, and on a large scale. The bloodstains are heavy and plentiful too."
"Perhaps the moon isn't very peaceful either!"
"Not peaceful is good!" White Zetsu said with a grin. "Best if they're fighting internally—that makes it easier for us to gather intelligence."
"But this place seems very large. Where should we start searching?"
"That's simple. We look for wherever defenses are strictest and go there—can't go wrong."
Black Zetsu's investigative abilities were extremely strong. Those ordinary puppets were merely things granted limited life by the massive Tenseigan. Their intelligence was quite limited, making them easy to avoid.
After spending considerable time, Zetsu wound around until arriving before a great hall.
Unlike other places with only puppet patrols, this area had extremely strict security—puppets standing in all directions, guarding this place airtight.
"Looks like this is the important location."
Zetsu observed from afar, momentarily uncertain how to infiltrate.
Don't let those puppets' lack of eyes fool you—they were extremely sensitive to chakra!
The slightest chakra fluctuation and they'd detect it.
Moreover, the situation inside the great hall was unclear. Presumably there were also alarms.
Trying to enter underground through Earth Release without alerting these puppets probably wasn't easy.
However, Zetsu might lack other abilities, but when it came to patience, he was absolutely unrivaled in the world.
He patiently watched this place, waiting until dark. Finally someone came.
An elderly old man, leading a blind child, entered from outside.
That elder had a pair of pale blue eyes that looked like sapphires—crystal clear, transparent, and very beautiful.
And in the shinobi world, distinctive eyes often represented different ocular jutsu and blood inheritance limits.
"Is that the Tenseigan?" Black Zetsu's heart stirred. He quickly averted his gaze, fearing his observation might alert the other party.
Behind them followed a team of puppets holding food boxes, following closely behind.
The group proceeded unobstructed, entering the great hall directly without any inspection or obstruction.
Much later, the group emerged from inside, though the food boxes remained within.
Zetsu carefully followed these two at a distance, hearing the elder say to the child from afar:
"Toneri, how I wish I could accompany you longer. Best if I could see you grow up, see you transplant that girl's eyes, see you successfully evolve the Tenseigan, see you purify the shinobi world..."
"Alas, I don't have that much time."
"I'm already very old and won't live much longer. The task of purifying the shinobi world will fall on your shoulders in the future."
"Toneri, I'll emphasize once more—you must remember this."
"That little girl in the great hall has extremely pure eyes. After transplanting them to you, they'll be sufficient to successfully evolve the Tenseigan."
"Only you're both still young now. Your eye sockets haven't fully developed yet. Rash transplantation isn't safe—absolutely don't take risks."
"This moon is the safest place. No one will come rescue that little girl."
"Just slowly raise her, then after your bodies fully develop, perform the transplant."
"As long as you control her father's life, she naturally can't escape your control, nor commit suicide or destroy her eyes."
"I remember." Otsutsuki Toneri gripped the old man's hand tightly, his heart extremely reluctant. "Grandfather, is your body truly failing? Can't evolving the Tenseigan extend your lifespan?"
"Alas!" The elder sighed, raising his head to gaze at the distant pale blue sphere in the distance, his voice full of regret.
"I'm merely branch family after all. My bloodline isn't pure enough. Though I seized that Hyuga clan head's eyes and barely evolved the Tenseigan, they're ultimately not my own eyes. The compatibility is far too poor."
"Though I received some feedback from the Tenseigan's high-grade chakra, strengthening my physical condition considerably, my lifespan didn't increase much."
"Moreover, I previously rashly descended to the shinobi world and fought with people. The damage to my lifespan was also significant."
"Coming and going, the lifespan I gained was basically all offset."
"How can this be!" Toneri gripped his fists excitedly, blaming himself softly: "It's all because I'm too weak. If I were stronger, Grandfather wouldn't have had to personally take action."
The elder smiled and shook his head, reaching out to pat Toneri's head reassuringly:
"This has nothing to do with you. Originally, I, Otsutsuki Yukio, survived that great war by pure luck. Now being able to help clear the path ahead for you, I'm already very satisfied."
"Originally I didn't want to alert the shinobi world people this early, but that snake-playing fellow actually wanted to exterminate all Hyuga main family members. That forced me to act ahead of schedule and abduct those two."
"Now the villages below are engaged in continuous warfare. I don't know if anyone from the Hyuga clan will still be alive after you grow up."
"Perhaps that little girl in the great hall will be your only choice for eye transplantation in the future. So my action that time was absolutely necessary. You needn't feel guilty about it."
The two spoke while advancing, winding around until entering another great hall.
Zetsu wanted to enter this hall to look around, but before approaching, suddenly a violent chakra fluctuation transmitted from inside the hall, projecting toward the distant shinobi world.
This chakra fluctuation's intensity was no less than when the Rinnegan was fully exerted.
Zetsu jumped in fright, knowing this might be the enemy's main base. Not daring to continue deeper, he quickly turned and retreated.