But Kawaki Aoba stubbornly refused to believe them. Since the Ōtsutsuki valued their beliefs so much, then he would simply destroy them.
He summoned the Hundred-Armed Avalokiteśvara, grasped the struggling clan members, and came to a halt before the colossal, golden Tenseigan floating at the center of the sanctum.
"If I'm not mistaken, you all seem to care deeply about this giant eyeball, don't you?" he said coldly. "What do you think—should I destroy it?"
There was no trace of humor in his tone.
Without waiting for their response, Aoba manipulated the Hundred-Armed Avalokiteśvara to open its mouth.
Hundred-Armed Avalokiteśvara: Zero Style.
"Wait! What do you think you're doing!?"
"That's our clan's most sacred treasure!"
"Stop! You bastard, stop it right now!"
The Ōtsutsuki members thrashed violently, panic etched into their faces, but Aoba paid them no mind.
In the next instant, the Avalokiteśvara unleashed its devastating cannon.
A golden beam of immense destructive energy roared forth. Though they were already some distance away, the sheer pressure radiating from the blast made the Ōtsutsuki tremble, their bodies shivering involuntarily.
They were unable to summon the power of the Tenseigan to defend themselves. Yet, the connection between their chakra and the Tenseigan had not been completely severed—after all, they could still sense what Aoba was doing. That alone proved the link remained intact.
When the blinding beam finally faded and the air stilled once more, the world fell quiet.
The Tenseigan remained where it was—rotating serenely, untouched, and unscathed.
But that didn't mean its defenses had withstood the assault. On the contrary, Aoba had purposefully missed.
"How was that? Powerful enough for you?" Aoba chuckled, turning to face the dumbfounded Ōtsutsuki.
"Now then, I'll give you one last chance. Tell me how to control this thing, or next time, I won't miss."
He wasn't bluffing. Though he suspected that gaining control over the Tenseigan would allow him to alter the Caged Bird Seal, it was still just a theory. Even if it didn't work, handling the Hyūga clan would only become slightly more troublesome—it wouldn't change the outcome of his plan.
The Tenseigan's powers—such as the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, which could slice the moon—were undeniably formidable. But Aoba still preferred strength he had earned himself. Perhaps, through sacrifice, he could attain something even greater.
No matter what happened, he wouldn't lose.
The remaining Ōtsutsuki were in chaos. They knew Aoba wasn't lying—the display of power he had just demonstrated was overwhelming. He didn't need the Tenseigan.
They revered the Tenseigan, but few of them truly understood its limits. The clan's records were vague, perhaps deliberately so. Still, even if the Tenseigan surpassed Aoba's power, it likely wasn't by much. That fact alone left them terrified.
Was their supreme treasure—the Tenseigan they had forged through generations of sacrifice—about to be lost?
Despair crept into their hearts. Some considered destroying it themselves, rather than allow it to fall into foreign hands.
But others hesitated.
To them, the Tenseigan wasn't just a weapon—it was the legacy of their people. Their final glory.
To destroy it would be to erase the last proof of their supremacy.
"I suggest you give up, outsider," one of them spat. "The Tenseigan is our clan's sacred artifact. Only those with our bloodline can access its power. A link between it and the Byakugan is essential."
"Byakugan, huh?" Aoba repeated with mock interest, raising an eyebrow. "You're saying anyone with the Byakugan can use it?"
The Ōtsutsuki speaker, unaware of Aoba's cunning, responded in frustration.
"Don't be ridiculous! Our eyes have already merged with the Tenseigan. It responds only to our chakra and bloodline. Even if you had the Byakugan, without our clan's lineage, you'd never be able to draw out its power!"
Aoba nodded thoughtfully. "So, to summarize… someone with the Byakugan and a connection to your bloodline could use it?"
"Tch." Another clan member scoffed coldly. "You're delusional. The power of the Tenseigan is not for you to covet. Hmph… If only one of us had fully mastered its power, you would've been wiped out already."
Clearly, it was a statement made out of anger and shame.
Aoba ignored him.
He stood in silence, calculating his next move.
After a long silence, he finally spoke again:
"This Giant Tenseigan… it should have the power to evolve the Byakugan into the Tenseigan, correct? Is that… recorded in your clan's history?"
Silence. Every member of the Ōtsutsuki clan fell completely still.
In that moment, even the most ignorant among them realized something was wrong.
The Tenseigan was a forbidden, sacred evolution of the Byakugan—a transformation so rare that even within the Ōtsutsuki clan, few knew of it. The Hyūga clan, their distant descendants on Earth, certainly had no records of such an evolution.
"Who exactly are you?" This time, it was Ōtsutsuki Ryūki who spoke, voice sharp with suspicion.
But just as they had refused to answer Kawaki Aoba earlier, he now saw no need to answer them.
Their silence had already confirmed what he needed to know.
"In that case… I think I already know what I need to do."
A thought stirred within Kawaki Aoba. The odds were slim, but there was no harm in trying.
He remembered the Byakugan pair he had previously sacrificed—eyes of exceptional purity, likely the purest in the present shinobi world.
But he was just a clone. Retrieving anything from the altar space—a pocket dimension linked to the original body's chakra—required the main body's consent.
This was what set his clone apart from typical Shadow Clones. Unlike a standard chakra clone, he was a high-grade clone crafted with semi-autonomous access to the main body's spiritual domain. Without this link, he wouldn't even be able to sense the altar space.
Without hesitation, Kawaki Aoba sent a mental request to the main body, asking for permission to retrieve the sacrificed Byakugan pair.
The main body, though unaware of the situation, trusted his own judgment and approved the request immediately.
In a flash of light, a pair of Byakugan materialized in Kawaki Aoba's hands. He unwrapped the bandages covering his vacant eye sockets and embedded the Byakugan into place.
Much like how Kakashi Hatake had instantly adapted to Obito's Sharingan during the Fourth Great Ninja War, these Byakugan synchronized effortlessly with Kawaki Aoba's optic nerves.
To ensure nothing went wrong, he drank a vial of red medicinal fluid—likely a high-tier Ōtsutsuki concoction designed to stabilize chakra compatibility.
When he opened his eyes again, light returned to his vision—sharper, deeper, and vastly more profound than before.
Though he had previously wielded the Byakugan, these eyes felt different. Beyond the 360-degree field of view and telescopic sight, they emitted an unfamiliar and powerful sensation—almost as if they held hidden abilities.
Curious, he decided to test it.
"Byakugan: Pressure."
An invisible wave radiated from his newly implanted Byakugan. It was subtle, like a gentle breeze.
Yet when it passed over the Ōtsutsuki clan members, they suddenly staggered—crushed by an overwhelming, invisible pressure.
Kawaki Aoba narrowed his eyes. This sensation... he had seen it before.
Yes—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Her Byakugan exuded a similar oppressive force.
He should've realized it sooner: the pinnacle of Byakugan purity wasn't the Hyūga. It was Kaguya herself.
Just as he thought this, a ripple passed through his Byakugan—an unexpected fluctuation of chakra.
It was a resonance.
The Giant Tenseigan was responding.
It actively reached out to his eyes, forming a powerful connection.
Kawaki Aoba froze, momentarily stunned—but he didn't resist. Instead, he deepened the connection.
The barrier between them collapsed. Distance no longer mattered. His Byakugan surged with excitement—an almost living reaction.
No, the Byakugan hadn't developed a will of its own, but its essence was being elevated—straining toward something greater.
The source of that ascension was the Giant Tenseigan glowing before him.
He turned to face it fully. Golden light streamed from the celestial sphere. But unlike before, its glow now pulsed rhythmically—like breathing. Like life.
His eyes began resonating with it. Each wave of chakra and pupil power built on the last, as if preparing for metamorphosis.
And he could feel it clearly now: the Giant Tenseigan acknowledged him.
He had authority over it—authority high enough to sever all other connections.
With a thought, Kawaki Aoba cut off the Giant Tenseigan's chakra link to everyone else.
Suddenly, the Ōtsutsuki clan members—many of whom had already transplanted their Byakugan—lost all external perception.
"What's happening!?"
"The Tenseigan! What's wrong with the Tenseigan!?"
"You bastard! What did you do to our sacred relic!?"
Kawaki Aoba ignored their shouts.
He began experimenting with the Tenseigan's abilities.
First came gravity manipulation—the same basic functions seen in the Rinnegan. With this power, he could unleash Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) and Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull).
Then came the projection of chakra orbs of mental domination.
These orbs allowed him to override a person's will, taking complete control of their actions or consciousness. It was functionally similar to the Human Path of the Rinnegan—but even more refined, utterly eclipsing the Yamanaka clan's techniques.
He could even adjust the orbs to become chakra-absorbing spheres—a fusion of offense and suppression.
Lastly, he could now access two forbidden techniques:
Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, a spiraling tornado of chakra capable of obliterating terrain on a scale akin to natural disasters.
Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, a golden chakra blade forged from Truth-Seeking Balls—its power so immense, it could slice the moon itself.
If the previous abilities were support tools, the Golden Wheel was a divine weapon.
It was a technique that allowed a non-Six Paths being to rival those of Six Paths tier.
Though these powers were still borrowed—granted through resonance rather than ownership—Kawaki Aoba knew that once the "gestation" of his Byakugan completed, he would attain full Tenseigan evolution.
And at that point, this power would be his—not temporarily granted, but permanently earned.
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