Chapter 2: Designing a Fake Death
The others had no objections either, so the group gathered together and began searching the surrounding area. The rest also started to spread out—some forming small teams of two or three, while others continued alone.
What Shen's group did not know was that the moment they entered this space, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya in the ninja world had already sensed them. But at this time, she was still pregnant, and did not dare enter into battle herself.
Even so, while she could not fight in person, once inside the dimension, she could still manipulate the elemental forces within it to attack. Such attacks might not necessarily kill everyone, but they would be enough to trap them all inside. Once she finished giving birth, she would have more than enough time to deal with Shen and the others.
Kaguya gently stroked her swollen belly, her gaze tender as she murmured softly, "My children… Mother will be able to see you very soon."
She could feel that her time was due sometime this month. Soon, she would finally meet her children.
Thinking of them made her think of their father as well—that cold and merciless ruler, the man who had intended to offer up his own woman, the man who had died by her hand several months ago.
The thought filled Kaguya with anger.
That was why not a single man existed within the palace of the Rabbit Goddess—not even among the guards. Every one of them was a powerful woman.
Sensing that Shen and the others were searching the dimensional space for weak points, Kaguya felt she could not wait any longer. She rose to her feet, opened a space passage, and slowly moved through it.
At this moment, the group of eight had finally found the entrance to the central space and had just entered it when they also sensed the appearance of a dimensional passage. At first, they thought the Ōtsutsuki clan had sent more reinforcements, but when they saw that the one who emerged was a woman in flowing robes, they immediately realized she was not what they had expected.
"Careful. That's Kaguya," Shen warned in a low voice, while his entire body tensed in vigilance.
"What? She's Kaguya? How is that possible?! That chakra… it's enormous! What she ate was definitely not a medium-grade fruit!"
"What do we do? The others haven't arrived yet. With just the eight of us, there's no way we can beat her!"
"Heh, not necessarily. Look at her stomach. Her robes are loose, so it isn't obvious, but you can still tell—she's pregnant!"
"Huh? How is that possible? Did one of the clan come here before? No, that can't be right—I never heard anything!"
"Then that means… she actually mated with one of the lowly natives of this planet! This woman truly deserves to die! She's tainted the bloodline of our Ōtsutsuki clan!"
The moment they guessed the truth, several of them flew into a rage. In their eyes, Kaguya had become a disgrace to the Ōtsutsuki clan—she had actually joined with a lowly native and even conceived a child.
"Everyone, although Kaguya polluting the bloodline is indeed infuriating, what we need to think about right now is not how to kill her and cleanse that shame, but how to stay alive. Even pregnant, she is still not someone we can deal with!" Seeing the crowd consumed with righteous fury, Shen could not help but remind them. If they lost control of their emotions now, their chances of survival would only grow slimmer.
"Byakugan!"
Everyone activated their Byakugan at once, observing their surroundings to guard against a sneak attack from Kaguya.
"So… you are the ones the clan sent to capture me?" After silently observing them for a while, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya finally spoke.
"If you give up now, then I will allow you to enter this planet. As long as you do not attack me, I will not kill you."
"But if you insist on… then I will have no choice but to deal with all of you right now."
Her icy words entered their ears, and everyone immediately began breaking into a cold sweat.
Shen glanced at one of the people beside him. Just moments ago, that person had been full of fury, but now the wavering resolve in his eyes made Shen curse inwardly at his stupidity.
Left with no better option, Shen spoke up at once.
"Don't even think about it. She may spare us now, but what about after she gives birth? We will always be her enemies. Once she recovers her strength, our deaths will be certain. Instead of that, we should hold out now and wait for the reinforcements to arrive. She won't be able to face all of us alone!"
At the very least, everyone's resolve steadied. They no longer entertained thoughts of merely surviving by disgraceful means.
But because of that, Shen was directly singled out by Kaguya.
Kaguya had originally believed she might be able to avoid some fighting, but now her cold eyes locked onto Shen. A sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out across his body.
Still, he had no choice. If he had not reminded the others, then death would have been certain. And what he had said to steady their emotions was not a lie—Kaguya really would do exactly that.
Kaguya swept her long sleeve with her right hand, and a violent gale instantly surged toward them.
Shen immediately gathered chakra beneath his feet and adhered himself to the ground to keep from being blown away. The others copied him. Though it was their first time using chakra in such a way, once they had done it once, they quickly became familiar with it. This was one of the terrifying strengths of the Ōtsutsuki clan—so long as it involved chakra, they could learn any technique almost immediately.
"Hmph!"
Kaguya, being familiar with the Ōtsutsuki clan, naturally knew they did not normally use chakra in this way—not even she herself did. If not for Shen's interference, she would have been able to scatter them all at once and then pick them off one by one.
"Shen, you take command!" The others also realized that Shen possessed an unusual talent, and since they were all unfamiliar with one another, they handed command over to him.
"Alright! Uno, take the front. Spread chakra through your entire body and reinforce your physique—if you can engage in close combat, then do it. She's pregnant, so she definitely won't dare to fight head-on!"
"Guang and Aya, push from the left. Coordinate wind blade attacks with flame attacks!"
"Jing and Luo, push from the right. Wind blades and flames together!"
"Ryosuke, you have the most chakra. Use wide-range lightning to control the field. It'd be best if you can paralyze her—even if you can't hit her directly, you still need to limit her movement!"
"Jiyu, use flames to coordinate with me later! Stay behind Uno, and when I attack, strike the chakra sphere I launch. Understood?"
"Understood!" ×7
"Begin!"
There was no time to waste. Shen immediately gave the order to attack, and everyone rushed toward Kaguya at once.
When Kaguya saw the group charging at her, she panicked slightly. As a maid who had only ever served others, she had very little real battle experience. Even when facing the nations of the ninja world, she had always simply crushed them through overwhelming strength.
Boom!
As everyone's attacks erupted, a tremendous explosion rang out. Though Kaguya managed to evade them, the assault still placed immense pressure on her.
Having never experienced a battle against evenly matched opponents, Kaguya became flustered for a moment—especially under the field-control lightning of Ōtsutsuki Ryosuke.
Concerned for the child in her womb, she could only dodge, and Shen's attacks frightened her even more.
Shen, after all, knew of a powerful technique like the Rasengan.
As members of the chakra clan, the Ōtsutsuki's control over chakra was no joke. Replicating Boruto Uzumaki's feat of throwing a Rasengan was easy for them. Though Shen could not make it vanish, he could still guide it to a limited extent over a certain distance.
At Shen's side, Jiyu immediately released a stream of flames into the Rasengan, turning it into a composite ninjutsu:
Great Flame Rasengan!
As the others rapidly closed in on Kaguya and continued launching attacks, Shen also directed the Rasengan toward her.
Kaguya surrounded herself with fierce gale-force winds to block the barrage.
The others' attacks were easy enough to dodge, but Shen's controllable Great Flame Rasengan was incredibly troublesome. Yet she could not afford not to dodge. Kaguya could clearly sense just how destructive the Rasengan's power was.
Then suddenly, Kaguya gathered chakra. A blood-red eye opened on her forehead—
It was the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan!
She spread both hands, and in the next instant, everyone felt a terrifying shockwave explode outward.
"Damn it—I forgot about Shinra Tensei!"
Blasted by a single Shinra Tensei until his head rang, Shen was filled with regret. He had actually forgotten such a nearly standard Rinnegan ability. Although the Rinnegan was not an eye the Ōtsutsuki originally possessed, the main family members who had eaten the fruit all seemed to have one.
After taking one hit from Shinra Tensei, everyone quickly retreated, staring at Kaguya in alarm.
And Kaguya, likewise tense, watched their side without launching another attack.
Just as everyone was wondering why Kaguya had stopped attacking, they suddenly discovered that the environment around them had changed.
All at once, their surroundings turned into a sea of lava.
The group immediately took to the air and began dodging the encroaching magma. For a time, they were completely unable to organize any effective counterattack. Simply avoiding the lava around them was already taking up a great deal of their attention, and at the same time, they still had to remain on guard against a possible strike from Kaguya.
At that moment, a strange glint flashed through Shen's eyes.
Originally, he had thought Kaguya would transfer them into the sand dimension, but unexpectedly, she had sent them straight into the most dangerous one—the lava dimension.
That meant his plan would have to begin ahead of schedule.
Earlier, Shen had already been digging through his memories, trying to recall what hand seal Naruto's Shadow Clone used in the anime. While searching for the dimensional exit, he had secretly been practicing it. Though he had never actually used it before, Shen was already confident enough that he could perform the Shadow Clone Technique.
Forming the Ram seal with his hand, smoke suddenly burst out beside him.
Kaguya and the others were all startled.
Kaguya had no idea what kind of attack Shen had just used, while the others were simply curious about what he had created this time, and whether it might help them escape from Kaguya.
As the smoke cleared, everyone saw that two more identical Shens had appeared at his side.
Taking advantage of Kaguya's momentary distraction, the three Shens instantly switched positions and charged at her. Three Rasengans were hurled toward her in succession, making Kaguya frown.
One Shen had already been troublesome enough. Now there were three of him. This was becoming even more of a headache.
Seeing Shen launch an effective attack, and with much of the pressure on them eased by his offensive, the others gradually began resuming their own attacks against Kaguya.
Under the group's assault, Kaguya finally started to dodge more actively.
At the same time, she sensed that something was wrong with the children in her womb. She had used too much chakra, and it seemed to be affecting them.
In an instant, the Kaguya who had originally intended to slowly wear down Shen and the others over time turned ruthless. With a wave of her hand, she switched dimensions again.
This time, before the group could adjust, they all tumbled into sand.
Seizing the opportunity, Shen made one of his Shadow Clones disperse as if it could no longer withstand the attack, while he himself also pretended to vanish like a dispelled clone. In truth, however, he transformed into a speck of dust and clung to Kaguya's clothing, hiding himself there.
The remaining Shadow Clone continued pretending to be the real Shen, fighting alongside the others and resisting Kaguya's sandstorm assault.
Kaguya no longer intended to drag things out.
Once she killed the few people who posed the greatest threat, the remaining rabble could be slaughtered whenever she wished.
Especially Shen.
Kaguya decided that he would be the first to die.
With a sweep of her sleeve, sand and dust billowed wildly, and the sand surged toward the group like a tidal wave. Everyone broke into cold sweat and hurriedly fled into the distance.
As they did, the sandstorm thickened even further.
Clinging to Kaguya, Shen realized what she intended to do, and all the more felt that his earlier decision had been the correct one.
Sure enough, Shen watched as Kaguya raised her right arm. From the center of her palm, a gray-white bone spike extended outward.
Relying on her Byakugan, Kaguya locked onto Shen's position and fired a single All-Killing Ash Bone.
It was incredibly fast, and Shen's Shadow Clone had no time to react. Even though the Byakugan had already seen the All-Killing Ash Bone flying toward him, there was simply no time to dodge.
And that was the terrifying part of All-Killing Ash Bone—it was a one-hit kill. Even the slightest contact would turn the target to ash. It was an absurdly powerful bloodline ability, one Kaguya had personally awakened after consuming the fruit. At the very least, Shen had never discovered anyone with an ability even remotely similar to Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bone.
Pfft!
The All-Killing Ash Bone pierced straight into Shen's Shadow Clone.
Then, before everyone's eyes, Shen slowly turned into a pile of ash, which was swept away and scattered by the sand and wind from Kaguya's attack.
No one could sense Shen's chakra anymore.
Meanwhile, the real Shen—still attached to Kaguya—instantly received the Shadow Clone's memories, and along with them, experienced for himself what it felt like to be blown away as ashes.