Chapter 603: The Good Life of Otsutsuki Kaguya

"My two ancestors, I will come to visit you often."

Uchiha Gin held a glowing green orb in his hands, waving goodbye to the two Otsutsuki brothers with a face full of reluctance.

Come often?

This is the Pure Land; do you think this is your backyard?

Otsutsuki Hagoromo, who was desperate for Uchiha Gin to leave immediately, had his face twitch. Could this brat really be trying to become his stepfather?

"Just let me know if you need anything. I might not be good at other things, but I'm always spot on when it comes to visiting graves."

"I want to burn—"

"No need!"

Glaring fiercely at his younger brother beside him, Otsutsuki Hagoromo composed his terrible mood and spoke slowly.

"My... descendant, this orb contains my life's learning. I hope you will use this power well and not go astray."

As he said this, he cautiously glanced at the mother standing quietly behind Uchiha Gin. Finding that she did not reveal a warning look, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Got it, got it~"

Looking at the long-winded Sage of Six Paths, Uchiha Gin waved his hand helplessly. He only wanted to find that Otsutsuki named Isshiki as soon as possible and completely erase this unstable factor.

"If I don't go back now, those guys are going to start the funeral feast."

He had already stayed here for so long; heaven knows what extreme things little Hikari and the others might do after discovering he was half-dead.

"Rest assured, the flow of time in the Pure Land is far slower than in the human world."

Otsutsuki Hagoromo shook his head, signaling Uchiha Gin not to worry. Even if he stayed here for a whole day, only a few minutes would have passed outside.

"Phew, that's good."

Hearing this, Uchiha Gin let out a long sigh. He didn't want to wake up and see everyone eating a funeral feast around his lying corpse.

"Go back, and remember the mission you shoulder."

Otsutsuki Hagoromo waved his hand, and a black hole full of suction appeared above Uchiha Gin's head, rapidly spiraling his consciousness in before he could even say goodbye.

"Finally sent him off."

Seeing Uchiha Gin's consciousness ascend, the two Otsutsuki brothers finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hmph!"

However, the next second, an indifferent voice rang in their ears. The two, having regained their senses, discovered in horror that their mother, who should have left with Uchiha Gin, was actually standing in place with her arms crossed. At this moment, she was staring at them with a pair of pure white eyes, looking at them with a cold face.

"Thump!" *2

"Greetings, Mother!" *2

Even though the two had become souls without bodies, they still felt a chill run through them.

They never expected that even after a thousand years of settling, the fear of their mother deep in their hearts would only increase, not decrease.

"Only a thousand years have passed, and you two unfilial sons have turned into this neither-human-nor-ghost appearance."

Kaguya narrowed her eyes, her gaze sweeping over the faces of her two aged sons, a sense of inexplicable complexity arising in her heart.

As creations born from the division of her own power, the two Otsutsuki brothers should have possessed endless life, just like pure-blooded Otsutsuki.

But after sealing her, these two unfilial sons not only failed to escape aging but also failed to conquer death, which meant they had spread the power she had divided among them. Losing the support of this source power, they would age and die just like fragile humans.

"Mother, we are different from you."

Otsutsuki Hagoromo slowly raised his head, his purple Rinnegan staring directly at his nightmare-like mother, his tone very deep.

"We chose to spend the rest of our lives as humans, not as emotionless Otsutsuki."

The Otsutsuki clan is born without emotions; their mission from birth is to be a qualified tree-planting expert, with no other superfluous feelings.

But the Otsutsuki brothers were different. Although they were also of Otsutsuki blood, they had lived with humans since birth. Slowly, they were infected by the complex emotions of humans and eventually determined to become humans.

And Otsutsuki Kaguya did not understand the inner world of the two brothers. At that time, she only thought about accumulating power to deal with the Otsutsuki main family that was about to descend. Because of their conflicting philosophies, the family headed toward opposition.

"Are humans such a creature that they attract you so much?"

Looking at the calm Otsutsuki brothers with a profound gaze, Kaguya asked softly.

It was clear they were a family, the children she had raised with her own hands, yet they would turn their blades against her for the sake of lowly humans.

"Mother, you have never calmed down to live with humans; you don't understand what emotion is at all."

Emotion?

Kaguya was silenced by Otsutsuki Hagoromo's words. A thousand years ago, she had indeed only focused on creating White Zetsu and had never truly understood the inner world of such creatures as humans.

But now...

"Who says I don't understand?"

Lifting her head slightly, Kaguya's cold and beautiful face showed an expression the two brothers had never seen before for the first time.

It was a smile they had only seen on the faces of young girls in love.

"Hiss."

The two brothers gasped in unison.

"Big brother, you're done for. I told you to give him something practical earlier, but you didn't. Now it's too late to regret, right?"

Looking at the silly smile on their mother's lips, Otsutsuki Hamura quietly turned his head away, his voice full of schadenfreude.

"Shut up. I remember you also sent him two women; you're no better than me."

"Huh? Do you call that sending? That was him picking them up with his own ability, exactly the same as when I descended to the mortal world back then."

Otsutsuki Hamura's face tightened, and he retorted with a guilty conscience.

"What are you two whispering about?"

After recalling the warm scenes of getting along with Uchiha Gin over the years in her mind, Otsutsuki Kaguya came back to her senses and found the two unfilial sons whispering over there. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Reporting to Mother, I want to report Hamura, he—"

Otsutsuki Hagoromo immediately raised his hand, preparing to use a trick to divert the disaster. If he couldn't have it easy, his brother shouldn't either.

"Stop! I don't want to watch you two brothers fighting like dogs right now. I just want to know when you plan to let me out."

Although Kaguya had come out now, she had not come out completely.

The current her was just a consciousness clone that had slipped out from the loosened seal on the moon, possessing only the memories of the main body and less than one percent of its power.

Even after possessing Uchiha Gin's ocular technique creation, Wuryo, her power had not recovered much.

"About that..."

Facing such a sharp question, the two brothers looked at each other, not knowing how to answer for a moment.

After all, when they sealed their mother back then, her mental state was not very good, and she had the momentum to destroy the world at the slightest disagreement.

But the mother standing in front of them now not only had a clear train of thought but also had many more human emotions, and her words and deeds were infinitely close to normal.

"That descendant is not necessarily a match for that old schemer Isshiki; only I can help him."

The reason Kaguya stayed to communicate with the two brothers alone was to get these two unfilial sons to let her out, so she could help Uchiha Gin deal with Isshiki, who had escaped back then.

"Sorry, Mother, we brothers will handle Otsutsuki Isshiki. Your main body should just take the trouble to rest for a while longer."

At least wait until they have worn out Uchiha Gin, this prospective stepfather, before saying anything.

"Are you sure? If there is no report to the mother planet for a long time, a new Otsutsuki will descend."

Hearing the refusal in the two brothers' words, Kaguya frowned slightly.

She knew the rules of the Otsutsuki clan well: if a hunting team does not report their recent situation to the mother planet for a thousand years, the Otsutsuki mother planet will send new people to investigate the situation.

A thousand years ago, after devouring the Chakra Fruit, she had sent a message back to the mother planet, but not long after that, she was sealed by her two unfilial sons.

Now that the thousand-year deadline is approaching, if no more messages are sent back, a new Otsutsuki will descend.

"A new Otsutsuki..."

It was the first time the two brothers had heard their mother talk about the mother planet, and expressions of shock appeared on their faces simultaneously.

"That's right. To tell you the truth, Isshiki and I were actually here to find a lost Otsutsuki."

In order to make the two unfilial sons realize the seriousness of the matter, Kaguya told the secret she had hidden in her heart for many years for the first time.

"Huh? Before Mother, the Otsutsuki clan had also descended on this planet?"

"That's right. That was a senior named Shibai."

Speaking of Otsutsuki Shibai, a look of fear flashed in Kaguya's eyes. Compared to this senior who had devoured countless Chakra Fruits, she and Isshiki were as weak as two raw recruits.

They had received orders from the mother planet back then to go to this planet to find traces of Otsutsuki Shibai.

Unfortunately, plans could not keep up with changes. As soon as they descended, they discovered that this planet contained terrifying power, so the two chose to postpone the search mission and eat their fill first.

It was at this time that the two had a disagreement over who should be the food for the Ten-Tails. Kaguya backstabbed Isshiki when he was careless and threw him to the Ten-Tails she had brought with her.

It was just unexpected that Isshiki's divine technique was too strange, and he actually dragged his broken body away.

Kaguya had no choice but to plant the half-full Ten-Tails. Unexpectedly, the fruit produced by the half-full Ten-Tails was not mature, and the power contained within it was not pure enough and overly violent.

After swallowing the fruit, Kaguya's body was the first to experience overload. To reduce the burden on her body, she divided a portion of her power and used Yin-Yang Release to transform the divided power into two children, which were the Hagoromo and Hamura in front of them.

The body was temporarily resolved, but Kaguya's spirit had problems again.

Because the immature Chakra Fruit contained the resentment of the local old gods that had not been refined, Kaguya began to become paranoid, and her violent emotions had nowhere to vent, eventually leading to the tragedy of motherly kindness and filial piety.

"Mother, please give us some time. It is still better for you to remain in this state for the time being."

Kaguya's words were undoubtedly a bombshell, blowing the two brothers who were sitting securely on the fishing platform into a mess. But they were not sure if their mother was lying, so they decided to investigate before making a decision.

"It's not a grievance."

Not only did she not feel aggrieved, but she also felt that her current life was wonderful. Someone fed her every day, and when she was in a bad mood, she could rub the fluffy curly hair to soothe herself. It was as happy as a fairy.

If it weren't for the threat of Isshiki and the mother planet, she would have wanted this life to continue forever. How could a Chakra Fruit compare to the scent of a lemon?

"Huh?"

Discovering that the seriousness on her mother's face did not seem fake, Otsutsuki Hagoromo's heart, which had already gone cold, died completely. He looked at his younger brother, who was secretly happy.

"Hamura, what are you happy about?"

"I gave him the Tenseigan; what about you? A decrepit dung fork? Or that pile of outdated study materials?"

"Mother, I want to report this by name!"

"Mmm~~~"

His consciousness, which had been drifting outside, finally returned to his body. Uchiha Gin slowly awakened from his deep slumber. Before he could even lift his eyelids to admire the world he had been away from for so long, he felt two pairs of mischievous little hands frantically tugging at his precious curly hair.

There are always unruly subjects trying to harm me.

"I want to pet it too!"

"This is mine!"

Hearing two familiar voices fall into his ears, Uchiha Gin's dead-fish eyes, which had yet to open, began to roll back. He wondered who could be so rebellious, only to realize it was them.

"Stop pulling; if you pull any more, I'll be bald."

Feeling that his scalp was about to be breached, Uchiha Gin opened his eyes and issued a warning.

"Ah!"

The two young women, who were in the middle of fighting over the usage rights to Uchiha Gin's curly hair, froze at his words. Seeing their teacher's teasing gaze, Uchiha Zhili, who had been arguing with her best friend until her face was flushed, turned even redder. She quickly released her small hands from the curly hair and sat to the side, acting like a well-behaved child.

"Curly-haired baboon, you're awake!"

Looking up, he saw the pleasantly surprised face of Senju Itama. Only then did Uchiha Gin realize he was actually lying on the other's soft lap. The warm, gentle sensation made his heart tighten slightly.

"Are you still not letting go?"

Reaching out to tap the clear-eyed head before him, Uchiha Gin straightened up, pretending to be nonchalant. His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the fair thigh he had just been lying on, a flash of conflict crossing his face.

It seems his enlightenment education was a bit of a failure; this brat doesn't even know that men and women should not touch, still thinking it's back when they were children?

"How long have I been asleep?"

After smoothing out his messy curly hair, Uchiha Gin noticed the audience's enthusiasm had not waned. It was clear the exam was nowhere near its end; in fact, it was at its climax.

"Not even a few minutes; we hadn't even had a chance to pet it properly."

Senju Itama, clutching her head, muttered with some dissatisfaction. Clearly, both of them had been petting him, so why did Uchiha Gin only hit her?

"A few minutes. It seems the ancestor didn't lie to me."

Uchiha Gin breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Feeling something strange in his palm, he instinctively looked down, only to discover that at some point, a magatama-shaped tattoo had appeared there.

"This is..."

The chakra aura emanating from the magatama tattoo was identical to the study materials gifted to him by the Sage of Six Paths. It seemed it had been transformed from the orb of light that Kaguya Otsutsuki's son had given him.

"Heh, I suppose this counts as an early experience with the latest version of a cheat."

As a poor student, Uchiha Gin chose to set the study materials aside for now. Since the exam wasn't over yet, he really wanted to see if the Nine-Tails could still stand tall after being split in two.

In the arena, the two young women stood facing each other, each holding a Nine-Tails card. Seeing this, Uchiha Gin stroked his chin and began to consider the issue of updates and iterations.

"Since there are two Tailed Beast cards now, shouldn't I craft a new driver to adapt to them?" (End of chapter)