"Actually, researching this Ōtsutsuki isn't all that difficult," Orochimaru said as his tongue flicked across the corner of his lips. A low chuckle escaped him, carrying both amusement and hunger.
"The Ōtsutsuki clan may indeed stand above the current ninja world when it comes to chakra, but they rely far too heavily on their innate gifts. Their understanding of the essence of chakra is shallow. They never truly analyzed it."
He leaned forward, his voice smooth and sharp like a scalpel. "If we continue using traditional ninja methods, like probing the brain for information with jutsu, results will be slow and imprecise. However, if we shift entirely to scientific means, if we use computational physics to extract and reconstruct memory patterns, then pulling knowledge from his brain is not difficult at all."
Shin nodded slowly, recognizing Orochimaru's point. He thought of it in terms of comparison: the Ōtsutsuki were like beings with immense physical resilience, comparable to a Super Saiyan's overwhelming defenses, but their protections against different systems, such as magic or pure science, were far weaker.
The clan attacked with ninjutsu derived from chakra, which was nearly useless against them. Yet scientific methods, divorced from chakra, could circumvent those defenses altogether.
"So," Shin asked, his eyes narrowing with curiosity, "what results have you achieved? Did you manage to retrieve the memories of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki? Still, I imagine his kind would hardly bother with recorded techniques. They rely too much on their bloodline and instinct to wield power."
Orochimaru's smile faltered for the first time. He tilted his head slightly, acknowledging the truth of Shin's words. "Indeed… This one had very little in the way of actual knowledge. His arrogance in his bloodline left him with almost nothing useful to record. We found no catalog of ninjutsu, no advanced theories that would explain their strength."
A low chuckle rose again from Orochimaru's throat. "But," he added, his voice dripping with satisfaction, "we did uncover something far more valuable, the location of the Ōtsutsuki clan's lair."
Shin's eyes widened in surprise, and he slapped his thigh. "Of course! How could I have overlooked that? Isshiki, as part of the main family, would naturally know the coordinates. That's far more useful than scraps of jutsu!"
The thought excited him. The Ōtsutsuki clan, for all their reputation as cosmic colonizers, could not possibly be as strong as the legends made them. If they truly held endless godlike power, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki would never have resisted. She would have fled instead of daring to oppose them.
Even if Kaguya multiplied her strength tenfold or a hundredfold, she would still fall instantly to a being of true superhuman power. Oppressing the ninja world for centuries had not elevated her beyond such a gap. Raising an army of White Zetsu to resist the clan? Ludicrous. Against the absolute defense of Truth-Seeking Orbs, ordinary ninjutsu would mean nothing, no matter how large the army.
And when faced with beings who could move faster than light and shatter planets, numbers became irrelevant. Even if the Ōtsutsuki clan numbered in the millions, Shin could annihilate them in moments by sweeping their world from orbit with superluminal flight.
Realistically, Shin reasoned, the clan's numbers had to be low. If there were truly vast hosts of them, Kaguya would never have dared to rebel. Ten thousand at most seemed likely, perhaps far fewer. Their strength, while superior to most shinobi, could not be limitless.
He smirked at the thought. To him, destroying the Ōtsutsuki clan would be as effortless as crushing a snail between three fingers.
"Give me the coordinates," Shin demanded, his voice brimming with determination. "This clan has lingered far too long. It's time to end it."
As he rose, his body radiated an overwhelming force. His life essence blended with chakra, creating a divine aura so intense that Orochimaru, standing across from him, almost collapsed under its pressure.
Realizing he was letting his excitement spill out uncontrollably, Shin calmed himself, withdrawing his aura. Orochimaru, now breathing steadily again, retrieved the coordinates from his files and handed them over with cautious respect.
"Leader," Orochimaru asked, his tone unusually wary, "how exactly do you plan to reach them? Even with coordinates, navigating that distance would be nearly impossible. A single error could land you inside a star or, worse, inside a black hole. The scale of those coordinates spans solar systems."
Shin waved off his concerns with a faint smile. "Don't worry. Leave everything to me. Just wait here for news of the outcome."
He studied the coordinates, pushing his super vision and cosmic senses to their limit. The Ōtsutsuki lair was far, far away, at least hundreds of light-years from the ninja world, perhaps even more. Without mastery of space manipulation, no ordinary being could have reached it. The clan's reliance on dimensional techniques now made perfect sense.
But none of this was a problem for him.
Channeling his power, Shin tore open a portal aligned with the coordinates. On the other side stretched a darkness vast and star-strewn. He stepped through, propelled by his flight, crossing the immense distance in mere seconds.
When he emerged, he hovered above a pale, alien world. His vision swept across it, and recognition struck. This was the Ōtsutsuki stronghold.
What astonished him most was not the presence of countless warriors, but the opposite. The entire clan numbered only a few hundred. Using his super-hearing, he discerned their voices across the surface. Barely a fifth of them were even on the planet. Many were scattered elsewhere, tending to the growth of trees. Altogether, they amounted to fewer than a thousand.
"A pitifully small number," Shin murmured, his voice tinged with disdain. "And what surprises me most is that the strongest presence here… isn't even one of them. It's the sacred tree itself."
Before him rose a colossal form, a sacred tree so vast that it pierced through the planet's crust and stretched skyward, its trunk thicker than mountains, its branches nearly brushing the upper atmosphere. It dwarfed even Earth, its sheer scale tenfold greater.
Shin's eyes narrowed as realization dawned. "Perhaps I misunderstood all along. The relationship between the Ōtsutsuki and the sacred tree is not master and servant. It's reversed. Maybe the clan is not wielding the sacred tree, but the sacred tree is wielding them."
He thought of Kaguya. She had appeared to dominate her tree, bending it to her will, even showing signs of merging with its consciousness. That had given the illusion that the Ōtsutsuki commanded these trees. But now, seeing the vast organism pulsing with energy, it seemed far more like the clan was servants, caretakers who nurtured it in exchange for the fruits it bore.
"Or perhaps it's closer to a symbiosis," Shin muttered. "They feed the tree, and in return, it grants them its power. But whether servant, master, or partner, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the tree is useful to me, and the Ōtsutsuki clan is a threat."
He clenched his fists, his body gleaming with power, and turned into a streak of light. Without hesitation, he flew directly toward the Ōtsutsuki planet, intent on uprooting both the clan and their monstrous tree.
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