At this moment, Nagi took out a sealed scroll from a space–time sealing storage.
After opening it, a sphere covered in sealing formulas appeared.
"Hm? What is this…?"
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. He could sense that the object before him was anything but ordinary.
Meanwhile, Kabuto Yakushi and Kimimaro seemed to sense something as well and immediately became highly alert.
Nagi waved his hand casually.
"Relax. No need to worry. This is the corpse of a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan—to be precise, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
He released the seal.
A pile of fragmented remains appeared before Orochimaru.
At that moment, Isshiki's lingering soul noticed the seal had been opened and hurriedly tried to activate his Kāma.
But just then—
Nagi glanced at him.
"!!!"
That single glance made Isshiki's spirit tremble violently. His mind fell into complete panic.
The feeling was as if a god were gazing down upon him.
He didn't even dare move.
"How is this possible…?! I… I'm actually feeling fear toward him?!
Impossible! Impossible! Impossible… impo—"
Isshiki stopped speaking.
Looking at Nagi, he found himself unable to summon even the slightest thought of resisting or escaping.
"What… exactly is this…?"
Nagi casually sealed the spirit again and stored it away.
Inside the sealing space…
Isshiki actually let out a sigh of relief.
For some reason, Nagi's presence gave him an instinctive pressure at the level of life itself.
"How is this possible?!
I am a noble member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan! How could I fear a mere human?!"
Meanwhile…
Orochimaru and Kabuto stared at Isshiki's corpse with gleaming eyes.
This was a treasure trove for scientific research.
However, Orochimaru was also curious.
Where exactly had Nagi obtained this corpse?
"Nagi-kun… this Ōtsutsuki Isshiki is…?"
"Yes. He's also a member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan and was Kaguya's partner.
Not long ago, I killed him. His corpse should have considerable research value, so feel free to study it—perhaps you'll uncover some of the secrets of the Ōtsutsuki Clan."
Some time later…
"How fascinating… this cellular structure."
Orochimaru examined both the report in his hand and Isshiki's remains.
"Even though it's just a corpse, the remaining chakra, both in quantity and quality, far surpasses Hashirama Cells.
And their DNA structure is extremely peculiar…
What an astonishing race."
Kabuto added:
"Lord Orochimaru, Isshiki's body contains seven chakra attributes, and the compatibility between these attributes is surprisingly high."
Orochimaru nodded.
"That must be what Nagi-kun referred to as Kekkei Mōra.
And this is merely the body of a single Ōtsutsuki.
It's difficult to imagine how powerful he must have been while alive.
And even harder to imagine how terrifying the Ōtsutsuki Clan as a whole must be."
Nagi glanced over the report and said:
"Continue the analysis.
Also…"
He handed two eyes to Orochimaru.
One of them was a Byakugan, which Orochimaru and Kabuto were already familiar with.
But the other eye was golden, with eight triangular patterns surrounding the pupil.
"This is…?"
"Isshiki's eyes.
One Byakugan, and the other his unique dōjutsu. Please study them as well."
"No problem."
At this moment, Orochimaru's curiosity toward the Ōtsutsuki Clan had reached its peak.
Nagi glanced outside through the skylight of the laboratory.
"It's already night, huh? Looks like it's time for me to go.
…Oh?"
He noticed the moon in the sky, then turned toward Orochimaru with a faint smile.
"Why don't we also study a living Ōtsutsuki?"
"A living Ōtsutsuki?"
Orochimaru paused, then looked up at the moon as well.
"Nagi… are you referring to the Rabbit Goddess—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?"
"Yes.
She's not only a living Ōtsutsuki, but also a female Ōtsutsuki.
It would be interesting to study whether there are biological differences between male and female members of their clan."
Nagi revealed a researcher's excited smile.
However—
To Kaguya, who was watching the screen outside…
That smile looked like the smile of a demon.
Commentary Outside the Screen
Orochimaru:
"Right… in theory, if Nagi breaks the Chibaku Tensei seal on the moon, Kaguya would be released."
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki:
"N-No! You can't do this!"
Kaguya was clearly terrified.
Even if she gathered all the chakra of the ninja world and returned to her peak power, she still wouldn't dare face the Nagi shown on the screen.
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki:
"Hahaha, that's right! There are quite a few differences between male and female members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan."
Kaguya:
"You—!"
Nagi:
"Relax. A living Ōtsutsuki is far more valuable than a dead one."
Kaguya:
"…Phew. That's good."
Isshiki:
"Heh. Of course they won't kill you.
They'll just make your life worse than death."
Kaguya:
"..."
Nagi:
"Don't worry. Orochimaru and I will probably just perform some examinations.
Maybe take a few strands of hair, some blood, or other tiny tissue samples from time to time."
Kaguya:
"That's fine then. Thank you, Nagi.
Hmph, Isshiki, see? They won't harm me."
Isshiki:
"..."
Damn it! Are you insane?!
Black Zetsu:
"..."
Mom has been completely psychologically manipulated… Is this Stockholm syndrome? What do I do now?
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki:
"..."
Hamura Ōtsutsuki:
"..."
Our mother suddenly seems a little pitiful…
The Screen Continues…
Inside a secret chamber of Orochimaru's base.
A sphere of light appeared in Nagi's hand.
This was the memory orb he had extracted earlier from Isshiki's soul.
Nagi began reading Isshiki's memories.
After a while…
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he let out a quiet sigh.
"So that's how it is…
The Main Family, Branch Families, and planetary colonization through the God Tree, harvesting Chakra Fruits…"
He shook his head.
"Isshiki's status among the Ōtsutsuki wasn't very high.
Most of the information he had about the main clan was filled with fear.
If that's the case, then Kaguya—who ranked even lower—probably knows even less."
He paused.
"And Ōtsutsuki Shibai… as expected, he's truly terrifying."
From Isshiki's memories, Nagi had seen brief fragments of Shibai.
Yet even those small glimpses displayed frightening power.
"Looks like if I want to truly understand the Ōtsutsuki Clan, I'll have to wait for the incoming Ōtsutsuki invasion…
Or perhaps Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki.
…Or maybe I should just ask you directly?"
Nagi looked up toward a certain point in the sky and murmured to himself.
Later…
When Nagi returned home, night had fully fallen.
Shizuka opened the door and said gently:
"Welcome back. You must be tired.
The bath is ready. After you're done, please head over to your cousin's house. He came by about half an hour ago."
Watching Shizuka help him change clothes, Nagi felt a warm feeling in his heart.
"Alright. Thanks, Shizuka.
Also…"
He stopped her hand.
"You don't need to take off the underwear. I can do that myself."
Shizuka smiled teasingly.
"Really? Then… do you want me to help you bathe~?"
"…That won't be necessary."
Nagi immediately walked into the bathroom and locked the door.
Seeing this, Shizuka couldn't help but giggle quietly.
"My, my… it seems there's still quite a long road ahead before I can win Nagi over.
But… the captain should succeed first."
After all—
Following the captain means there's always meat to eat.
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