Izumi returned to the moon, the silver ring clasped loosely in her hand. She tossed it up, caught it, and slipped it onto her finger before glaring at it with disdain. Then, as if annoyed by its presence, she removed it and let it fall. Picking it up again, she scrutinized the ring carefully.
"When I used to read manga," she mused aloud, "I thought every member of the Akatsuki Organization was incredible—each one so stylish, so cool. But now that I've grown too strong myself, that excitement has faded. Maybe it's just because I was younger back then... It seems like as you grow up, you gain some things but lose others."
She shook her head and dismissed the thought. "Forget it. It's come to this point, and there's no use dwelling on such trivial things anymore."
Her gaze hardened. "This Ninja World… I will destroy it."
Raising her palm, a gray bone suddenly emerged, as if conjured from nothing.
"All-Killing Ash Bones!" Izumi commanded.
With a sharp whistle, the bone shot forth from the entrance of her palace, speeding into the vastness of space. It struck a nearby meteorite, disintegrating the rock at the point of impact. The gray bone crumbled into ash as the meteorite itself began to turn to dust, the decay spreading until the entire celestial body scattered into cosmic fragments.
Izumi stepped out of the palace, spreading her arms wide as laughter echoed across the lunar surface. "Hahaha! This is true power! The might of Ōtsutsuki Hamura flows through me—I've obtained both the Reincarnation Eye and the Dead Bone Pulse. With these abilities, there's almost nothing left to fear in this world."
Her expression turned cold as she contemplated the future. "Those two brats will threaten me eventually. Since that's the case, I'll eliminate them first. That way, I'll have even fewer worries to deal with."
Without hesitation, Izumi activated her Kamui to cloak herself, vanishing from sight. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, she instantly teleported to the Hidden Leaf Village.
Izumi appeared at the doorstep of Uchiha Sasuke's residence. She slipped inside quietly and looked down at the sleeping boy. Like herself, Sasuke had lost his family and lived in solitude. Yet, he was one of the protagonists in this world, one of the heroes who had sealed Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
However, even after all that, the Ninja World had not changed for the better. The cruelty persisted. Other ninja villages, cowed by Naruto's military might, dared not resist Konoha's dominance. Instead, they turned their hostility towards smaller villages, oppressing the weak.
The Land of Rain, for instance, had only become poorer and more miserable. Naruto had failed to improve the Hidden Rain Village's circumstances after becoming Hokage, breaking the promise he once made to Pain.
Still cloaked by Kamui, undetectable by anyone, Izumi raised her hand, slowly reaching toward Sasuke's peaceful face.
Suddenly, a terrifying, oppressive gaze bore into her.
"What?!" Izumi startled, immediately withdrawing her hand. Her face turned grim as she realized the source of the gaze.
"This… this isn't from any strong person of the human world. This gaze is from the Pure Land."
"Tch!" Izumi gritted her teeth. "Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo… you old man. Even after death, you still interfere with the human world."
Her eyes morphed into the Reincarnation Eye, locking onto the gaze as she engaged Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo in a spiritual clash at the boundary between the present world and the Pure Land.
The two forces collided, causing Izumi's body to sway under the immense pressure. For a moment, the power between them remained balanced.
But then, slowly, Izumi began to lose ground. Hagoromo's power overwhelmed her, pressing her down.
"Damn it! I'm not afraid of you!" Izumi shouted fiercely, pouring all her spiritual energy and chakra into resisting his strength.
Suddenly, something changed on her face.
Slender bone spikes burst through her skin, growing rapidly. Ink lines spread across her cheeks and forehead, forming tiny, distorted faces—faces of those she had devoured.
"What?!" Izumi gasped, panic flashing in her eyes. She immediately retracted her power, vanishing from the spiritual battlefield and reappearing in a deep canyon.
Gripping her face, she saw that her body was no longer fully under her control. The bone spikes and ink lines continued to emerge uncontrollably, the tiny faces etched by the ink distinctly those of her victims.
"This… I didn't expect this to happen!" she murmured, horror creeping into her voice.
A sudden cough forced her to spit out a mouthful of blood. Wiping it away, she kicked a nearby rock in frustration.
"Can the Rinnegan actually detect my Kamui?" she growled. "Damn it! And is that old man really stronger than me? Is the Reincarnation Eye's power inferior to his? That's right… Ōtsutsuki Toneri couldn't even defeat Naruto, who only possessed Yang Release and the Nine-Tailed Fox."
She clenched her fists tightly. "Damn it! I've overestimated my own strength. Without the full power of Divine Ink, I'm no match for Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo. It looks like I have no choice but to cultivate faster."
Looking down at the barren ground, she chuckled darkly.
"However, you've lived for so long, and so will I. Sooner or later, I will surpass you."
"Very soon. Once I reach a certain realm and grow stronger, that will be the day I defeat you. But when I faced him just now, I realized a serious problem within myself. I need to handle the hidden dangers in my body first."
"I almost suffered a cultivation deviation, but luckily I detected the problem early! Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, I have you to thank for that."
Returning to her palace on the moon, Izumi clutched her head, troubled.
"I've devoured many people recently, and they carry a lot of negative energy and grievances inside them. If I don't properly refine and resolve those, they'll become hidden dangers."
"Plus, because my power is already great, my cultivation speed has accelerated rapidly. I must stabilize my realm and consolidate my strength."
She set up a complex formation around the palace for protection and sat cross-legged at its center, closing her eyes to cultivate deeply.
Meanwhile, in the Pure Land, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's eyes remained fixed on the distant moon.
"This little girl is more formidable than I expected," he murmured. "I didn't think she could become this strong so quickly."
"Although she is my descendant, her rapid growth could create unforeseen variables. Unfortunately, I cannot descend to the mortal world at will—doing so could disrupt the natural order."
"After my younger brother returned to the Pure Land, he refused to interfere with the world below. If he had acted, this girl's troubles could have been resolved easily."
"But it's not yet my time to intervene either. If the worst happens, this girl could serve as a backup candidate for Mother's descent."
"Regardless, she is no match for me. I did not even unleash my full strength earlier."
"Though she knows Sage Mode, a few years of cultivation cannot surpass my many decades."
He smiled faintly.
"Still, she cultivates something beyond Sage Mode—immortal cultivation techniques."
With that thought, Hagoromo ceased focusing on Izumi and turned his attention back to Black Zetsu and his two descendants, his expression calm but watchful.
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