Chapter 416: Another Group of Ōtsutsuki Clan Members Here to Steal?

Finally, after a brief bout of gloom, the Sage of Six Paths and the others managed to recover their spirits somewhat, but looking at Lin Xuan still left them unable to feel at peace.

It wasn't because their mother had become Lin Xuan's maid, but because the two of them had already heard a few things about Lin Xuan from Hashirama Senju and the others.

At the time, they had been quite curious about that President Lin from another world, and now they had finally met the man himself.

Only, they hadn't expected that the powerhouse who had tipped the scales of the Fourth Shinobi World War, and who had even helped them put down the unrest from afar, would turn out to be such a young man!

"Where are the enemies?" Lin Xuan couldn't be bothered to exchange pleasantries with these two old men and asked directly.

At that moment, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and Ōtsutsuki Hamura also came back to their senses and cast a deep look at Lin Xuan.

Then Ōtsutsuki Hamura said, "They discovered a root of the God Tree in outer space, and they're currently carving something over there."

Given their current condition, the two brothers didn't dare get too close either.

Even Ōtsutsuki Toneri—the bloodline Ōtsutsuki Hamura had left on the moon, and his only surviving descendant—had been told by Ōtsutsuki Hamura to keep his distance from the enemy.

Because they knew that, with Ōtsutsuki Toneri's strength and that of his people, they simply weren't a match for the other side.

So, at this point, the Sage of Six Paths and the others still hadn't been able to find out exactly what those people were doing.

After hearing their briefing, Lin Xuan fell into thought for a moment.

He had to admit, the timing of his appearance this time was rather interesting.

In the original storyline, this point in time should have been when Ōtsutsuki Toneri was preparing to invade the Shinobi World.

However, now that the ancestor Ōtsutsuki Hamura had appeared before him in person, Ōtsutsuki Toneri had thoroughly understood the misunderstanding his forebears had held about the ancestor's intentions, and naturally wouldn't go invading the Shinobi World anymore.

Moreover, thanks to the protection of the brothers Ōtsutsuki Hamura, when the Ōtsutsuki clan's Ōtsutsuki Urashiki came to the Shinobi World, Ōtsutsuki Toneri wasn't sealed away by the other party as he had been in the original storyline.

So now he could even appear before Lin Xuan, and when Lin Xuan's conversation was nearly wrapped up, he personally served Lin Xuan and Orochimaru a cup of tea.

And Ōtsutsuki Toneri at this point wasn't in the state from the movie storyline—those eye sockets with nothing but bloody holes—but had a pair of ordinary Byakugan fitted in.

After all, whether the Ōtsutsuki clan members who had come to the Shinobi World early this time were the Ōtsutsuki Urashiki Lin Xuan knew, or Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, Kinshiki and their group, Lin Xuan couldn't determine right now—he could only go take a look to find out!

While sampling the tea Ōtsutsuki Toneri had brought over, Lin Xuan made his decision, pointed at the two Sages of Six Paths, and said, "Orochimaru, perform Edo Tensei on them!"

Their previous Edo Tensei bodies had still collapsed in the end; right now they were in a bizarre state where chakra clung to their souls, without physical forms, which would be quite inconvenient for what they were about to do.

"No problem!" Orochimaru agreed readily.

Once the Sage of Six Paths brothers were reincarnated by Orochimaru through Edo Tensei again, Lin Xuan swept a grand gesture and said, "Let's go—take us over first to see what the situation with the enemy actually is!"

It's worth mentioning that the Sage of Six Paths brothers were both dead and could survive in outer space without air, but Lin Xuan and Orochimaru, two very much living people, couldn't do so for the time being.

They had already tried flying over from the Shinobi World earlier; it wasn't a problem for a short while, but if a fight broke out, there was no telling what would happen.

Of course, this was hardly a problem that could stump Lin Xuan.

He directly purchased four leaf-like items in the Reputation Shangcheng, gave two to Orochimaru and kept two for himself, and stuck them to their cheeks respectively—after which, to their surprise, they could frolic about happily in outer space.

These two leaves were called Star Spirit Grass; according to the system's introduction, they were a special plant from the world of *Swallowed Star*, capable of absorbing various free-floating energies in outer space and converting them into oxygen. The price was only ten thousand Reputation points.

However, this incident also served as a reminder to Lin Xuan: he would have to find a way to solve this vacuum-adaptation problem later, otherwise it was no small weakness.

After resolving this issue, Lin Xuan and his party set off directly from the moon, led by the Sage of Six Paths brothers, and arrived at the patch of outer space near the severed God Tree root the two Hagus had mentioned.

From afar, Lin Xuan spotted several figures; their clothing and appearance did indeed look very similar to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's.

However, after scanning the area once, Lin Xuan didn't find a single familiar face among this group!

Neither Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, nor Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, Kinshiki and the others had shown up!

This left him momentarily stunned: What's going on? Could it be that the butterfly effect I caused led another group of Ōtsutsuki clan fellows to stumble upon the Shinobi World's existence by accident?

Before coming here, Lin Xuan had actually sought out Ōtsutsuki Kaguya to learn a bit about the Ōtsutsuki clan's situation.

According to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, the Ōtsutsuki clan possessed a very vast force in the universe, with many branches of clansmen; under normal circumstances they were scattered across the universe, ruling over living planet after living planet, using them as nurseries to cultivate the God Tree.

She belonged to the branch of Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, and was a servant of that branch—but she hadn't been born a servant. It was just that her parents had erred, and she had been punished as a result, which was how she ended up a servant!

However, she was clearly not the same as the other servants of Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki that Lin Xuan had seen in the original storyline.

She was unwilling to accept such a fate, and combined with certain events that occurred on this planet, she had ultimately stolen and eaten the God Tree's fruit over a thousand years ago, attempting to rebel against her destiny.

Now, seeing this group of unfamiliar Ōtsutsuki clan members, Lin Xuan naturally guessed they were people from another branch.

Of course, he'd still need to confirm the specifics with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.

As for the method of confirmation, it was also simple: just have Uchiha Madara or another member of the Uchiha clan find Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and using Genjutsu present her with the images of these people they had seen in the chat group—then they'd know naturally.

Soon, Lin Xuan saw Uchiha Madara's answer in the group: "Ōtsutsuki Kaguya says these people aren't from their branch!"

Seeing such a result, the corner of Lin Xuan's mouth curved up slightly, and he said, "In that case, these fellows are actually here to steal something too?"

PS: Regarding the character setting of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, the original Naruto is vague and conflicting, and it also clashes with Boruto's version; the original manga and anime also conflict with each other. The author can only piece together this setting based on his own understanding and the needs of the subsequent plot.