Ch.159 Shinji's Tenseigan Plan!

On the Moon.

Susanoo let out a roar, raising its long sword overhead, piercing through the corridor as it swung ferociously toward the elder of the Otsutsuki branch family.

The Otsutsuki elder's expression darkened, and a trace of gravity appeared in his anger-filled eyes.

With a swift motion, he retreated, avoiding the direct clash with Uchiha Shinji's Susanoo, instead of using the Tenseigan light orb in his hand to parry it like last time.

Boom, boom, boom.

Though the Otsutsuki elder managed to dodge, the corridor could not withstand the onslaught of Shinji's Susanoo and was slashed to pieces!

The entire corridor was left in ruins, with debris scattered everywhere.

Shinji, seemingly unyielding, continued to drive Susanoo, slashing repeatedly, as if intending to dismantle the entire Otsutsuki branch castle.

The Otsutsuki elder, evading the strikes, activated his Byakugan.

This was the first time he had used his Byakugan, a sign that he was taking the fight seriously.

Boom, boom, boom!

No matter how sturdy the structure was, it couldn't withstand the destructive power of Susanoo.

After a few more strikes, large portions of the corridor began to collapse.

Dust and rubble filled the air, accompanied by a continuous rumbling sound.

Seeing this, Shinji's expression shifted, and he quickly used Susanoo to grab the bewildered Neji, leaping through the debris and heading toward the passage they had originally entered.

Along the way, all the Tenseigan puppets that rushed to block Shinji were reduced to fragments under the might of his Susanoo.

In just a moment, Shinji had reached the end of the corridor.

In the distance, the entrance of the protective barrier came into view. As long as he passed through it, he would successfully escape the Otsutsuki branch castle.

However, just as he was about to break through the barrier, a massive force of attraction suddenly pulled him and his Susanoo into the air.

Suspended midair, Shinji turned back in surprise to see the Otsutsuki elder, who had retreated earlier, reappearing.

"This is trouble!"

Shinji muttered to himself, then commanded Susanoo to spread its arms, clutching onto the corridor walls, tearing down a stretch of the walls to counter the gravitational pull.

The Otsutsuki elder said coldly, "After committing such a crime, you think you can escape?"

Shinji glanced at the nearby exit and replied to the elder, "You really want to force me to wipe out your entire clan?"

"Insolent!"

The Otsutsuki elder roared in anger.

To him, all the shinobi on Earth were fallen, filthy beings who needed to be purified by the power of the giant Tenseigan.

Thus, Shinji's words made him feel deeply insulted!

"Tch, arrogant to the point of madness."

Shinji smirked, then stopped wasting words.

Since the elder insisted on stopping him, Shinji had no choice but to fight for his life and carve a path out.

Susanoo once again drew its long sword, its golden light gleaming as it slashed fiercely toward the distant Otsutsuki elder.

This time, the elder did not evade but used the Body Flicker Technique, dodging the strike and appearing directly under Shinji's Susanoo, hurling the Tenseigan light orb he held at its outer armor.

Boom!

In an instant, the explosion forced both sides apart!

Shinji was momentarily stunned. He was pushed back several meters, feeling his blood surge within him, as if he had been hit by a freight train. The impacted part of his Susanoo had its armor completely shattered, leaving only fractured bones.

Suppressing his discomfort, he quietly used his dojutsu to repair the damaged area of his Susanoo.

On the other side, the Otsutsuki elder, also pushed back a few meters, appeared disheveled and confused.

Clearly.

He had not expected this outcome; despite leveraging the power of the giant Tenseigan, he had been forced back instead of overpowering his opponent.

"You—"

He scrutinized Shinji closely, a trace of fear finally showing in his expression.

By now, Shinji had calmed the turmoil within his body and smirked, "Hmph, so the Otsutsuki clan isn't that formidable after all!"

While it appeared to be a draw, Shinji knew he had been at a disadvantage.

Although the Otsutsuki elder was pushed back, he had sustained no significant injuries, whereas Shinji's Susanoo was on the verge of breaking, and it was uncertain if it could withstand another attack.

Moreover, with the elder's access to the giant Tenseigan's power, his chakra seemed endless. He could continue fighting for a day and night without tiring.

Shinji, however, had already expended a considerable amount of chakra. If the battle dragged on, he would be the first to succumb.

The Otsutsuki elder couldn't discern Shinji's thoughts. For him, Shinji was both infuriating and fearsome.

Seizing the moment, Shinji suddenly commanded Susanoo to throw the wreckage of a shattered Tenseigan puppet toward the barrier's entrance.

Whoosh.

The barrier opened instantly, allowing the Tenseigan puppet wreckage to pass through without obstruction, landing outside the barrier.

"Huh!"

Shinji uttered a sound of surprise and looked back at the Otsutsuki elder, suddenly realizing something.

Although the elder could utilize the power of the giant Tenseigan, he did not possess one himself. He could only control it indirectly through his bloodline and specific techniques.

Thus, even if he could alter the barrier's rules, it likely wasn't something he could do quickly or easily.

The elder seemed to have realized Shinji's thoughts, lunging forward and shouting, "Don't think you can escape!"

Shinji focused his gaze. "Amaterasu!"

In an instant, black flames appeared on the Otsutsuki elder's body.

The elder staggered, falling to the ground.

The infamous Amaterasu flames, the strongest in the shinobi world, might not have killed many, but their power was undeniable. In just a few moments, the elder's body was scorched and burnt.

Taking advantage of this, Shinji immediately picked up the unconscious Neji, grabbed another piece of the Tenseigan puppet wreckage, and rushed through the barrier.

Meanwhile, the Otsutsuki elder, unable to absorb the Amaterasu flames using the giant Tenseigan, had to resort to its repelling force to push away the flames clinging to his body. Ignoring his injuries and the scattered Amaterasu flames, he dashed through the barrier, pursuing Shinji.

Shinji, now outside the Otsutsuki branch castle, remained vigilant.

Glancing back at the elder and the swarm of Tenseigan puppets in the sky, he knew the danger was far from over. A moment's lapse could cost him his life here.

"The illusion passage to Earth is at least a day's journey from here. If I don't fly, there's no way I can escape!"

With that thought, Shinji decisively activated his dojutsu, unleashing the complete form of Susanoo.

In an instant, his half-bodied Susanoo expanded under the power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, growing legs and wings.

Shinji now stood atop Susanoo's forehead instead of within its body.

This was his first time attempting to activate the full-body form of Susanoo, but he had no time to appreciate it. All his focus was on flying toward the illusion passage.

Behind him, the Otsutsuki elder was taken aback upon seeing the fully-formed Susanoo.

Soon, a murderous intent resurfaced on the elder's face: "I cannot let him leave the moon alive!"

Resolute, he summoned a flying puppet, leaped onto its back, and directed the Tenseigan puppets to pursue the fully-formed Susanoo.

With both parties flying through the sky, their speeds were astonishing. They quickly crossed over forests, flew past the ruins of the old town, and reached the lake where the illusion passage lay.

Seeing Shinji head straight for the passage, the Otsutsuki elder cursed, "Damn, he really came through that illusion passage!"

That passage was the only connection between the moon and Earth.

Only the Otsutsuki clan on the moon knew about it. The distant relatives on Earth, the Hyūga clan, had only a technique to connect with the moon but didn't know the passage's exact location.

Moreover, the Otsutsuki clan had laid numerous genjutsu traps within the passage and stationed a giant crab at the entrance as a guardian. So even if someone stumbled into the passage and managed to evade the genjutsu, the crab would likely kill them.

For centuries, no one from Earth had ever entered the moon through this passage, which made the Otsutsuki clan complacent.

Shinji glanced back at the elder, still hot on his trail, and muttered, "This is getting really annoying!"

Now, both Shinji and the elder found themselves in a stalemate.

The full Susanoo had grown significantly stronger, but the elder, with the power of the giant Tenseigan, could use waves of repelling force that prevented Shinji from closing the distance.

And after learning from his previous mistakes, the elder had found a method to counter Amaterasu.

Likewise, with the Byakugan now in his possession, Shinji no longer feared the elder's terrifying ability to drain chakra with the giant Tenseigan.

The elder's other abilities couldn't breach the defense of Shinji's Susanoo as long as his dojutsu power held.

That was the situation they found themselves in!

Shinji had even attempted to use Izanagi no Mikoto again, hoping for a chance to strike down the elder.

But when he glimpsed into a fate branch, he saw himself defeated once more.

Whenever he turned to fight, the Otsutsuki elder would summon a massive Hamura statue to counter his full Susanoo.

And this kind of battle of attrition was not something Shinji, with the physical age of an eight-year-old, could endure.

Especially with Karin and Haku out of range to connect with Jikibi and Wazunagi, he had no way to draw on their chakra in an emergency.

So, as long as the stalemate continued, he would inevitably be the one to lose.

Because of this, he dismissed the thought of a desperate battle. Time was on his side, constantly allowing him to grow stronger, while the elder was aging and had little time left.

Fighting him to the death now wouldn't be worth it.

Additionally, after assimilating the Byakugan he took from an Otsutsuki, Shinji sensed that its chakra was distinctly different from that of Neji's Byakugan.

He had previously extracted Neji's Byakugan chakra through Wazunagi, directly experiencing the Hyūga clan's chakra.

The Byakugan from the Otsutsuki clan, however, carried a different chakra signature.

This sparked a thought in him.

If Toneri's transplanting of Hanabi's Byakugan combined Otsutsuki chakra with a pure Byakugan to awaken a Tenseigan...

Would merging this Byakugan with Otsutsuki chakra into Neji's eyes allow him to evolve into a Tenseigan?

Once this idea formed, even amidst the danger, Shinji couldn't help but ponder it further.

He believed that Neji's talent was on par with Hanabi's.

Additionally, Neji's father and Hanabi's father were brothers, indicating no significant difference in their bloodline.

The only distinction was that Neji bore the Caged Bird curse mark while Hanabi did not.

Thus, if he could compensate for the curse mark's effect on Neji's Byakugan purity, there would be no difference between the two.

As for how to enhance Neji's Byakugan purity, Shinji had long had an idea.

He had been studying the compatibility between the Kaguya clan's cells and those of the Hyūga. Through repeated trials, he discovered that Byakugan chakra could neutralize the aggressive nature of the Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku.

However, the cells extracted from Kimimaro were too dominant for Neji's Byakugan chakra to fully suppress.

But if he merged the Otsutsuki Byakugan with Neji's, then transplanted Kimimaro's cells...

The chakra of the Otsutsuki Byakugan, the Hyūga Byakugan, and Kaguya's Shikotsumyaku might reach a balance, allowing Neji to complete the missing parts of his bloodline and gain chakra closest to Otsutsuki Hamura's.

At that point, Neji would have both the chakra of the Otsutsuki and the pure Byakugan, fulfilling the requirements for awakening the Tenseigan!

As these thoughts raced through his mind, the cave containing the illusion passage came into view for Shinji.

He quickly focused, deactivating the power-draining full-body Susanoo and, with a burst of speed, carried the unconscious Neji into the illusion passage.

Moments later, the Otsutsuki elder arrived at the passage, disregarding the gathering Tenseigan puppets, and dove into the passage in pursuit.

Within moments.

Shinji and the elder emerged from the depths of the lake into the Moon Country's territory on Earth, where they stumbled upon Kakuzu and Hidan, preparing to retreat along the lakeside.

Seeing Shinji carrying Neji, Kakuzu and Hidan were startled: "You—"

Before they could finish speaking, the Otsutsuki elder, seeing their Akatsuki red cloud cloaks matching Shinji's, roared with fury, "Treacherous scoundrels, so you planned to ambush me all along!"