A tree.
A giant tree that reaches high into the clouds.
Its twisted roots sprawled like monsters coiling through the earth, spreading wildly and causing the extinction of all living things in their path. The thick trunk spiraled upward, deeply penetrating the clouds, and at the very top bloomed a massive flower bud.
"What is this place?!"
Uchiha Hikari pressed her forehead, feeling dazed as if she had been struck on the head. She looked around at her strange and eerie surroundings, feeling confused and lost.
Fragments of memory flickered like a strobe light.
"That's right… I lost!"
Suddenly, Uchiha Hikari recalled that while investigating a monk named 'Jigen,' she had inadvertently exposed her location and was forced to engage in battle.
Who was she?
She was Uchiha Hikari, a genius Uchiha.
Born in an era filled with powerful clans, she could slaughter shinobi like they were nothing. Even the Senju clan had fallen to her blades!
A wandering monk, no matter how skilled, wasn't worth her attention. Besides, she had her strongest trump card—the eye technique, Shin'en no Shoumei, which could control anyone!
Yet, the reality was that she had lost terribly!
The monk's methods were incredibly strange. The black staff he summoned could suppress chakra and could grow or shrink at will, appearing anywhere.
In just a few moves, she had been severely injured by the black staff.
Strangely, the monk named 'Jigen' didn't kill her. Instead, he helped the dying Uchiha Hikari stop her bleeding and, after leaving her with a meaningful smile, suddenly disappeared before her eyes.
After that, she couldn't remember what happened next.
Suddenly, a burning sensation surged through her palm, the sharp pain piercing her very soul. The girl's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
The pain came quickly, but it also faded just as fast.
Once she regained her composure, Uchiha Hikari quickly looked down at her palm, her eyes narrowing slightly. "What… is this?!"
On her once-pure palm, a pitch-black diamond mark had been burned in at some point.
That burning pain had come from this mark!
Booming…
At that moment, a violent earthquake interrupted her thoughts.
Uchiha Hikari barely steadied herself and looked up, only to see the flower bud atop the towering tree... had bloomed!
Layer upon layer of flower buds opened, revealing the core of the blossom.
At the center of the flower's heart was a massive, blood-red eyeball, surrounded by nine black tomoe embedded in concentric circles, radiating an eerie red light.
The moon hanging in the sky reflected that eye.
The crimson glow covered the sky and earth, and a solitary figure, resembling a god looking down from above, observed the mortal world with a cold, indifferent gaze.
It was a person.
Dressed in an elegant, fitted white tailcoat, loose black pants, and with a turned-up collar, he moved through the void as if stepping on stairs, approaching her step by step.
As he drew nearer, Uchiha Hikari could finally see his face—pale skin, grayish-white hair, and curved horns that resembled a crown, spiraling around his head.
But what surprised her even more was that each of his eyes held a different dojutsu. The left eye possessed the 'Byakugan' she was familiar with, while the right eye displayed something strange: a golden sun-like pupil at the center, surrounded by eight black lines.
"Who… are you?"
Uchiha Hikari was extremely cautious of the sudden stranger.
"Aren't you… the one who has been searching for me?"
He stared at her, his expression blank.
As she looked at his face, a sense of familiarity washed over her, slowly merging with the image in her memory.
Uchiha Hikari was suddenly taken aback, instinctively stepping back and adopting a fighting stance. "You are... Jigen?!"
"Jigen is just the name of this 'vessel.'" The person's pupils reflected the figure of a girl, a smirk slowly appearing on their lips. "I'm quite curious about who it is... that sent you to track me down?"
"No comment!"
Uchiha Hikari's gaze sharpened as she instantly realized she might have been pulled into an illusionary space. Her eyes shifted to the Sharingan.
"Hah, those inferior eyes..." Jigen scoffed, and the golden pupil in his left eye suddenly unleashed a wave of suppressive force. "The lowly bloodline left by Kaguya... used as a vessel, is barely acceptable."
Uchiha Hikari found herself immobilized by that power.
"Is it Otsutsuki Kaguya?"
"Or Otsutsuki Hagoromo?"
"Haha... it doesn't matter. I will slowly extract the secrets from your mind."
Jigen spoke slowly, taking deliberate steps toward her.
As they closed the distance, he gazed at Uchiha Hikari, a smile creeping onto his lips. He then extended a long, pale finger, the sharp nail aimed at the girl's forehead.
"Do not resist…"
Jigen's voice penetrated deeply into the girl's heart. "Embrace everything, accept the gift of the gods. From now on, you are me... and I am you."
"No... don't..."
Uchiha Hikari's subconscious fought back desperately.
However, Jigen's right eye suddenly burst with a power akin to a tsunami, leaving Uchiha Hikari's mind blank, as if under control. Her gaze gradually grew distant and unfocused.
As the fingertip pierced her forehead, a drop of blood flowed down.
Jigen transformed his consciousness into a massive data stream, directly entering the girl's body.
He sensed her will still stubbornly resisting.
Her soul shrank into a small light sphere, bearing the impact of the massive data stream, like a piece of driftwood in a giant wave, always at risk of capsizing.
However, before the overwhelming mental power of Jigen, her resistance lasted only a few seconds before her soul was submerged in the vast data flow.
"Let me see who sent you…"
Jigen controlled the soul, slowly merging into that small sphere, transforming it into a data stream of his own information, like a virus beginning to wreak havoc.
Suddenly!
Just as Jigen was about to turn Uchiha Hikari into his 'vessel,' a voice seemed to cross time and space, resonating with a desolate and ancient aura, like thunder striking.
"Are you… looking for me?"
A tremendous shockwave swept through the entire space.
The blood-colored space was torn apart, and the sky suddenly split open, as if shattered.
A terrifying aura poured down.
Jigen's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the rift in the sky. "Impossible… This is the reincarnation space of the Otsutsuki clan. How could it be invaded?!"
From the rift, a pair of enormous light-gold eyes with long, vertical pupils gazed down at Jigen with a cold, indifferent look.
Just that single gaze made Jigen feel a chill throughout his body, his mind filled with countless chaotic thoughts, twisting his spirit to the point where he wanted to tear his own soul apart.
Boom—!!!
The blood-colored space trembled violently.
Visible cracks spread across the entire space, like a mirror on the verge of shattering. Jigen's face turned pale in an instant.
What… on earth is this thing?!
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