"Shishou-sama, do you really have no other thoughts about me?" Hyuga Rimei asked, her voice trembling.
Shishou was stunned by Rimei's boldness. Given her usually cold and dignified demeanor, saying something so direct must have taken immense courage.
Does this mean... she actually wants to pursue me?
Shishou frowned. He was used to taking the initiative, not being pursued. Just like when Mei Terumi tried to hold his hand, he pulled away and took her hand instead.
But there was a more significant reason. Shishou had never considered having any romantic involvement with Rimei because she was a married woman. He didn't hesitate with widows like Mikoto and Kushina, but with married women like Rimei and Ino's mother, Nahako, he only admired from a distance. Despite his ambitions, he had some lines he wouldn't cross... well, not many.
"Shishou-sama, do you really not find Rimei appealing?" Rimei asked again, feeling a deep sense of loss.
She believed that in terms of appearance, figure, and personality, she wasn't much different from Mikoto. So why didn't Shishou notice her?
Seeing Rimei's disappointed expression, Shishou raised an eyebrow.
Then, he grabbed her neck and pulled her close, smiling. "Back then, you didn't want it."
"I'm just keeping my promise."
Rimei blushed deeply and was at a loss for words. Indeed, she had resisted back then and made Shishou promise not to touch her.
After a moment of silence, Rimei blushed even more and whispered, "Back then, I was married, so naturally, I resisted."
"But now, Rimei... Rimei is willing."
Looking directly into Shishou's eyes, Rimei fought to keep her composure despite her embarrassment.
Shishou raised an eyebrow, looking at Rimei's beautiful face.
"Wait for me tonight."
Leaving these words, Shishou disappeared. He needed to have a proper discussion with her.
"I did it!" Rimei exclaimed in delight a few minutes after Shishou left.
Her months of effort had finally paid off, and she was ecstatic. She quickly ran to her room in the base, beginning to prepare herself according to Mikoto's advice to give Shishou an unforgettable night.
...
On the Moon.
At the site of the falling asteroids.
The Great Slug Sage's body reassembled from the cracks in the ground, forming slugs of various sizes.
These slugs then gathered together to reform the Great Slug Sage's body.
Due to her ability to liquefy, the Great Slug Sage had burrowed into the trenches created by Ōtsutsuki Jinin's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion when the asteroids fell.
Thus, despite the destructive power of the asteroids, they did little damage to the Great Slug Sage.
Her abilities to split and liquefy, making her almost immune to physical attacks, combined with her vast chakra reserves, were the main reasons why the Shikkotsu Forest was one of the three great sage regions in the ninja world.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I never thought I'd get hit by falling rocks," Shishou appeared above the reassembling Great Slug Sage, marveling at the massive craters on the lunar surface.
It reminded him of when he used a giant turtle to crush Nagato in the Valley of Death.
Under the bombardment of several asteroids, most of Shishou's clones were annihilated, except for a few hidden within the Great Slug Sage.
The more clones there were, the less chakra each had. Additionally, with the Flying Thunder God marks removed, they couldn't survive the widespread meteor bombardment.
"It seems your task is complete," the Great Slug Sage said as Shishou returned.
She knew exactly what Shishou's purpose for leaving was.
Shishou smiled and said, "Yes, it's done. Now, the Ōtsutsuki father and son are no longer a match for me."
"Watch how I deal with them."
Without the ability to produce Truth-Seeking Orbs, Shishou had nothing to fear from the Ōtsutsuki duo.
Seeing Shishou's confidence, the Great Slug Sage sighed. "You've already won."
"They're already dead."
Shishou was taken aback. "What?"
He had only moved the giant Tenseigan. How could the Ōtsutsuki father and son be dead? There were still many things he needed to ask them!
"They're dead," the Great Slug Sage confirmed, splitting off two slugs larger than a human and revealing two withered corpses.
"Were they drained of their life force?" Shishou frowned at the corpses of the Ōtsutsuki father and son.
The Great Slug Sage explained, "I'm not entirely sure. Maybe when you cut off their power supply while they were controlling the planets, it drained their life force."
"Or perhaps it's something else."
"Anyway, they fell from the sky shortly after the asteroids hit, and I caught them."
Shishou released Phosphorescent Parasite Worms to examine the corpses and determine the exact cause of death.
"There's not a trace of life left..." he noted.
The Ōtsutsuki father and son's condition didn't look like they were drained by a jutsu.
Given their bloodline, even without the giant Tenseigan's power, moving a few small planets shouldn't have drained all their life force.
"Could the giant Tenseigan have drained them?"
Thinking of how Nagato was drained by the Rinnegan, Shishou considered this possibility.
If they weren't drained by a jutsu, then it had to be the giant Tenseigan.
If that were the case, the giant Tenseigan was even more terrifying...
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He wrapped the Ōtsutsuki corpses in Phosphorescent Parasite Worms and said to the Great Slug Sage, "Little Slug, you can go back now. Take care of Mei Terumi for me."
"Understood," the Great Slug Sage replied and vanished.
She had expended a lot of Senjutsu energy and needed to return to the Shikkotsu Forest to replenish it.
After she left, Shishou surveyed the devastated landscape and shook his head.
Then, he headed towards the entrance to the Moon's interior.
"Now, let's see what treasures the Ōtsutsuki clan on the Moon have hidden," he said.
**********
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