Chapter 256: Sage
"It has been some time, White Snake Sage."
Inside the ancient, savage temple of Ryūchi Cave, Rei Kaguya sat before the White Snake Sage's enormous serpent body, bathed in the cave's incomparably dense natural energy.
Sage Mode had activated on him almost naturally.
With a tone that was practically the same as greeting a familiar old woman from the neighborhood, he greeted this angel investor of his.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph. So you still remember this old woman exists, Rei Kaguya."
The White Snake Sage loosened the pipe in her mouth and slowly breathed out a perfect, standard smoke ring.
Looking straight at Rei, she said, "These past few years, you have truly made a name for yourself in the shinobi world. Sealing Mōryō, reopening the Dragon Vein, turning the Child of Prophecy with the Rinnegan into a tool paving the way for your kingship, tricking that brat Sage of Six Paths' outstanding descendants until they could not tell north from south, and even displaying strength no weaker than those two brats Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha…
"Even if this old woman came forward now and said that you are the true Child of Prophecy capable of changing the shinobi world, that old toad from Mount Myōboku probably would not have absolute confidence in refuting it, would he?"
"I have never cared much about the identity of Child of Prophecy. If I have it, I can use it. If I do not, it does not affect my intention to become the one who decides the direction of the world."
Rei shrugged indifferently, then pointed at his own white eyes and said to the White Snake Sage, "As for why I came here today, you, who know all intelligence in the shinobi world, should already know, right?"
"Hmph, hmph, hmph. Your way of speaking has also become more and more direct, Rei Kaguya…"
The White Snake Sage narrowed her eyes. Half admiring, half sighing, she asked in return, "You are looking for that Ōtsutsuki Shinya who came down from the moon, correct?"
"You even investigated the other party's name, White Snake Sage?"
"Heh. Do not underestimate this old woman and Ryūchi Cave's thousand years of accumulation too much, Rei Kaguya…"
While feeling a little surprised by the White Snake Sage's intelligence-gathering ability, which had temporarily exceeded his understanding, Rei nodded and said frankly, "The person I am looking for is indeed a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan from the moon. The Hyūga clan issued me a private commission, hoping I can help them recover the eyes of their clan head, Hyūga Hiashi. And due to some personal reasons, I also intend to reestablish relations with this group of distant relatives who have not contacted us for more than a thousand years…"
"Distant relatives?"
The White Snake Sage's pupils contracted slightly.
"It seems Hamura did not leave absolutely nothing behind for this branch of descendants that was, to him, completely unexpected."
"To Ancestor Hamura, the Kaguya clan was actually unexpected?"
Rei could not help raising an eyebrow.
"I thought the Hyūga and Kaguya were comparable to the Uchiha and Senju on the Sage of Six Paths' side…"
"Then you are wrong, Rei Kaguya."
The White Snake Sage shook her head. When speaking of the vicissitudes of the distant past, her voice became especially fittingly nostalgic and leisurely.
"To the Sage of Six Paths, whether it was Indra and the Uchiha clan, who inherited the Sage's Eyes, or Asura, the Senju, and the Uzumaki clan, who inherited the Sage's Body, all were born and propagated under his expectations and blessings…"
"But to the other Six Paths—that is, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, the strongest inheritor of the Byakugan—only the Byakugan was the treasure he wished to leave to his descendants.
"When he discovered among his descendants an inheritor of the Dead Bone Pulse who had not inherited the Byakugan, but could freely manipulate bone, the expression he showed was quite stunned."
"Because it reminded him of the mother he and his elder brother sealed together, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?"
Rei asked expressionlessly.
"Heh. You even investigated the existence of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya…"
The White Snake Sage coiled her body higher. Her tone also became much more solemn and serious as she spoke.
"Then you should also be very clear that the Kekkei Genkai known as Dead Bone Pulse was destined from birth to march toward the end of self-destruction…
"A Kekkei Genkai grows stronger as its user develops it. But Dead Bone Pulse possesses an evolutionary endpoint that even Ōtsutsuki Hamura himself would find difficult to bear. For the Kaguya clan that inherited Dead Bone Pulse, this power is no longer a blessing or a gift. It is an inescapable curse and shackle."
"Ancestor Hamura never tried to do anything?"
Rei maintained a calm attitude and continued asking.
"The Hamura descendants who first obtained the Dead Bone Pulse Kekkei Genkai could create those gray, deathly bones like you the moment they awakened it…
"But later, after Hamura left the shinobi world, the Kaguya clan still stubbornly passed itself down for thousands of years, and eventually waited until you, a monster who breaks common sense, appeared."
The White Snake Sage did not give a direct answer. Instead, she used a side statement to hint to Rei what Ōtsutsuki Hamura had done to the descendants who later formed the Kaguya clan.
In response, Rei merely sighed softly and murmured, "I see… So weakness was actually Ancestor Hamura's blessing to the Kaguya clan? That really is an answer that makes one sigh."
"Existence is the premise of everything."
The White Snake Sage gave that evaluation.
"Tch. At times like this, I really cannot help envying those distant relatives, the Senju and Uzumaki, whose inherited constitutions basically have no side effects at all…"
Rei shook his head. His face did not waver as he continued, "Chatting time is over. Now, White Snake Sage, can you tell me the whereabouts of that Ōtsutsuki Shinya?"
"He has already taken those Byakugan back to the moon through the space-time barrier left behind by Hamura."
The White Snake Sage put her pipe back into her mouth. While smoking, she spoke in a tone carrying a hint of warning.
"A warning. Although your current strength has already approached or even surpassed the strongest reincarnations of Indra and Asura, compared to the Sage of Six Paths and Ōtsutsuki Hamura, there is still a difference as vast as heaven and earth…
"Do not think that with your current strength, you can look down on the legacy Hamura left for his descendants, Rei Kaguya."
"I know."
Rei nodded and slowly stood up. His voice became deep.
"But in order to find the possibility of resolving the problem completely, I must go to the moon no matter what… And perhaps only Ancestor Hamura has any chance of helping me answer another question."
"What answer?"
"Senjutsu—or rather, controllable natural energy… Why can it ignore the Ōtsutsuki clan's ability to absorb chakra and deal real damage to them?"
Rei gazed at the natural energy in his hand, which had almost taken solid form, and spoke softly.
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