"...Huh?"
Sensing the "foreign object" sensation completely dissipated within his shadow, Hii Kōri took a second to realize that Rashōmon had "committed suicide and departed this life."
First, he had planned Rōran's follow-up development, the docking plan with the Chamber of Commerce, and the arrangements for Akane. Then he had established a contract with the Dragon Pulse.
Before he could even analyze and test the abilities gained from the Dragon Pulse, his own son had traveled from the future and fought him.
While fighting Hii Kao within the domain, Hii Kōri had generated numerous inspirations in need of immediate recording—including insights into space-time continuum structure, Domain Expansion, severing boundaries, and even optimizing cursed energy itself as a type of energy.
Next, after seeing his son return to the future, he was then dumped a huge amount of information by Rashōmon.
This entire combo took less than ten minutes.
Having to receive such an overwhelming amount of complex information in such a short time, while also maintaining the Rainbow Release's subconscious interference on others, even with Hii Kōri's mind, he momentarily didn't process Rashōmon's little combo.
What a fast hang up!
But truthfully, Hii Kōri didn't have any particular feelings about Rashōmon's "suicide."
After all, from its description, the existence of Rashōmon's clone was more like a "node." It could be accessed at any time, and would self-park when not needed—essentially a consumable item.
What was actually more heavyweight was Rashōmon's final words.
What did it mean by "out of selfishness, I don't want to share this happiness with the main body"?
You're a bit yandere, you know that?.
For a moment, Hii Kōri wasn't sure whether this particular split was simply "individualistic," having chosen this rather "ceremonial" way to exit, or whether future Rashōmon was actually like this.
Rather than touching, it felt more like a prank. Ah, a prank.
Hii Kōri paused mid-step, revealing a subtle expression reminiscent of a Tibetan fox.
But complaining aside, the intelligence Rashōmon delivered was indeed heavyweight. Putting aside the "travel guide" for now, the content about the other Ōtsutsuki was truly major.
Compared to Rashōmon's brief overview, the information packet it transmitted was far more detailed.
The example of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, already described in the "original manga," needed no elaboration—not much more appeared than in the manga.
The priority was to confirm that her long imprisonment on the moon had driven her at least somewhat insane. During the initial contact, they could try persuasion and other methods to avoid direct confrontation.
As for the Ōtsutsuki named Isshiki, his abilities included "changing size at will" and a different space where time was in a "frozen state," capable of storing objects that had been shrunk. The activation conditions and limitations were unknown.
Other abilities—such as time portals, black rods, and the "Karma" that converted his own information into data to be stored within other living organisms—were considered common abilities of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Although from Rashōmon's description, Hii Kōri initially thought Isshiki was parasitic inside someone's body, that wasn't actually the case.
Explaining with computer files might make it easier to understand. So-called "Karma" was closer to a compressed "backup file" of an Ōtsutsuki.
The person implanted with an Ōtsutsuki's backup data was called a "vessel." A black diamond-shaped mark would appear on the vessel's palm as a mark, and that mark was the Karma.
The vessel could use some of the Ōtsutsuki's abilities, and when the Karma was further activated and the vessel grew horns similar to the Ōtsutsuki's, all their abilities would improve significantly.
But apparently, the Ōtsutsuki clan—as planetary predators—wouldn't be so kind as to casually give their power to "lowly creatures."
Though initially the Karma (this compressed file) would be stable, over time, it would slowly "self-extract" on its own. Using Karma's power would also speed up this process.
When the data was completely extracted, the vessel's existence itself would be completely "replaced" by the Ōtsutsuki's data.
Of course, the Ōtsutsuki who implanted the Karma could delay this replacement process on its own. But once the Ōtsutsuki who planted the Karma died, the fully unblocked Karma would immediately enter the reincarnation process.
That meant, as long as there were vessels marked with Karma, the Ōtsutsuki clan could resurrect without limit.
Thinking this way, Kaguya in the original manga had probably escaped her prison through similar means. Black Zetsu was likely the "vessel" for her Karma, left behind before she was sealed.
Though one couldn't rule out that Black Zetsu was also wary of his two older brothers—whether they were dead or not, and whether they might act as "ninja world male ghosts" even in death—from his actions over this thousand-plus years, the choice of vessel probably had quite strict requirements.
After all, if there were no compatibility requirements, Black Zetsu wouldn't have needed to act as the "stirring stick" of the ninja world in the original work. He could have just found anyone to implant Karma and revive Kaguya.
Besides, that Isshiki had also been hiding on this planet for over a thousand years—hadn't the Sage of Six Paths discovered him either?
Even if the Sage didn't know about Isshiki's existence, he also didn't know about Black Zetsu's existence. No difference.
From a life form perspective, the Ōtsutsuki clan was clearly more advanced than the overly broad biological definition of "alien"—they were closer to some kind of "information lifeform."
But on the other hand, it also made the Ōtsutsuki clan's technology seem rather lame.
From information extracted from Kaguya's memories, it could be seen that Isshiki was her superior. The two had come to this planet together to plunder resources.
Kaguya, being the lower-ranked of the two, was supposed to be sacrificed to the Ten-Tails according to the original plan, as nourishment to cultivate it into the Divine Tree.
Hmm… The Ōtsutsuki clan—a race capable of crossing the universe in the flesh and enhancing themselves by plundering planetary resources. Didn't their 'feeding' method seem a little too passive?
Why did this "straw for sucking juice" require activation by a fellow clansman to work?
Simultaneously powerful and lame, simultaneously fragrant and foul. It was like Wakanda—using the most advanced technology to forge the most primitive weapons.
Staying true to one's roots, it seemed. Still reminiscing about the good old days of The Croods.
Hard to evaluate.
But unfortunately, the parts where they were lame were the most irrelevant aspects for Hii Kōri. Whether in combat ability or survivability, the Ōtsutsuki were quite troublesome.
"Tch... Looks like I'll need to specially prepare some means for the 'information state'..."
Muttering to himself, Hii Kōri slipped through the hurried guards and officials.
The Rainbow Release's subconscious interference field functioned flawlessly, making everyone ignore his presence. Even as they instinctively moved aside, none of them noticed him.
Even though dealing with those trivial matters had delayed him a few minutes, with a ninja's threefold foot speed, it didn't prevent Hii Kōri from arriving at Akane's office before anyone else.
He pushed open the door and dismissed the Rainbow Release's field.
Already awakened by Hii Kōri's Iron Sand Clone using medical ninjutsu, Akane was sitting in her chair rubbing her temples. When she saw Hii Kōri appear silently in the office again, she immediately relaxed.
"You... you're back?" Akane stood up, her tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible dependence. But as soon as she spoke, she realized her change.
Just a few dozen minutes ago, she had seen him as a dangerous invader. Yet now she was actually showing this level of "trust" in him—this was too...
Hmm... embarrassing.
"Ah. When I was contacting the Dragon Pulse earlier, I caused a bit of disturbance and knocked you unconscious too. So I had my clone send you back first."
Hii Kōri waved his hand, dissolving the two Iron Sand Clones back into his sleeve, succinctly explained. "As you can see, the disturbance was a bit loud. Your guards and ministers are about to fry the pot. The pressing matter now is finding an excuse to deceive them."
Compared to the truth—"my son traveled from the future and knocked you unconscious over some family matters"—which would make anyone ask "What the hell are you talking about?" this lie was obviously easier to accept.
Rather than waste breath explaining, it was better to use the time on more important matters.
Before Hii Kōri and Akane could discuss a reasonable plan, an urgent knocking came from outside the office door, followed by some concerned inquiries.
Though there were still guards at the door, that loud sound had come from the direction of the central tower housing Rōran's Dragon Pulse outlet.
Even if they didn't understand the specific situation with the Dragon Pulse, these ministers at least knew that was a place closely related to the barrier protecting Rōran. No one could guarantee that something going wrong there wouldn't affect Akane, who was also closely connected to the barrier.
From when Hii Kōri shook that tower with his punch to now, probably only five or six minutes had passed. For ordinary people, this reaction speed was already quite efficient.
After all, without a ninja's foot speed, traversing this palace would take a considerable time. From this perspective, Akane truly had the deep trust and respect of Rōran's people.
Of course, to put it more bluntly, she was their "external brain"—Rōran's external defenses and the handling of various affairs were almost entirely dependent on her alone.
This was also one of the reasons she looked so exhausted when Hii Kōri first met her.
Though she was quite skilled in government affairs and finance, facing this kind of completely unimaginable unexpected situation, Akane naturally had no perfect solution. She was clearly becoming anxious.
Just as she was thinking how to deal with the ministers, Hii Kōri suddenly stepped forward, pressed her shoulder, and stuffed her under the spacious desk.
Before Akane could cry out in surprise, Hii Kōri transformed into her and sat in the chair. He cleared his throat and, using her tone—peaceful yet dignified, with a hint of fatigue—responded to the ministers outside.
"Come in."
At this point, no matter how dissatisfied Akane was, she dared not speak. She sat crouched with her arms around her legs, positioned between her "own" legs, fuming silently, curling her toes, wishing she could bore ten thousand transparent holes through Hii Kōri with her glare.
The door opened. Several ministers and guards hurried in, their faces full of concern. "Your Majesty! You—"
"I'm fine."
"Akane" raised a hand to calm them, revealing a just the right tired expression.
"Something accidentally contacted the barrier. When sending it out, there was an energy conflict that interfered with the barrier's core."
This explanation was quite reasonable. The ministers exchanged glances. Though still doubtful, seeing that Her Majesty was safe and sound aside from some fatigue, they gradually relaxed.
To avoid disturbing Her Majesty's rest, the ministers and guards expressed some concern and then left.
Once the office door closed again, Hii Kōri released the Transformation Technique and bent down to reach out to Akane, still sitting under the desk. "Alright, that's temporarily dealt with."
"You were terribly rude!"
Akane grabbed his hand and was helped out from under the desk. Her meticulously arranged short hair was somewhat disheveled. Her chest heaved fiercely. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and anger.
The moment she steadied herself, she immediately shook off Hii Kōri's hand, glaring at him angrily—clearly strongly protesting being so rudely stuffed under the desk.
"In an emergency, adapt to circumstances."
Hii Kōri sat in Akane's chair, spreading his hands innocently. "You had no other explanation for what happened, and you couldn't stop them from entering. So I had to help out."
"You!" Akane was momentarily choked. Apparently she was tripped up by Hii Kōri's "correct logic." But the next moment, she realized he was changing the subject.
"No, that's not what I meant!"
But given her temperament, her anger was hardly threatening. If anything, it came off as a bit endearing.
"Hmm, those little things aren't important anyway."
Experiencing the joy of teasing kids back at the Ninja Academy, Hii Kōri's tone lightened a bit.
"More importantly, don't you think this is a good opportunity? Use this pretext and the current situation in the ninja world to play up the threat that 'more dangers may hit the barrier in the future,' prompting Rōran's people to try to reduce their reliance on the barrier and establish contact with the outside world..."
"The Dragon Pulse's decline and Rōran's resource scarcity are also real. Your ministers are somewhat aware of that, right? Discuss it with them, come up with a proposal that's presentable, and my Chamber of Commerce can use the 'coincidence' to get connected with Rōran. What do you think?"
"Hmm..."
Hearing this, Akane fell silent.
She had to admit that although Hii Kōri's array of tactics were somewhat crude, they were indeed quite effective.
Akane had long wanted to change Rōran, but the chaos of the ninja world left her no way to start. After all, she wasn't alone—she had to be responsible for all of Rōran's people.
Resources, influence, where her people would go after leaving the barrier... Hii Kōri could make up for what she lacked.
Hii Kōri took Akane's silence as agreement and continued discussing the specific arrangements for the next steps. She watched the young man before her, continuously sketching and talking animatedly over the paper, and a sense of ease gradually rose in her heart—the feeling of having found someone to rely on.
Though he was a complete bastard and control freak.
***
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