Chapter 297: Surrender
"You broke your promise."
The first person to find Ryosuke wasn't from the Hyuga Clan.
It was Uchiha Madara—or more accurately, the consciousness of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki hidden within his body.
Still lying on the bed, Ryosuke hadn't yet fully digested his current situation when a strong and familiar aura surged nearby.
Before he could even rise, he saw Uchiha Madara standing at his bedside, expressionless. "We agreed on one year. But you vanished from this world for three."
It was obvious—Kaguya had felt the pressure of his reappearance and had come immediately, using the space-time ritual to cross the veil.
"You entered my room without knocking." Ryosuke stood up slowly, smiling. "If it happens again… you might just vanish from this world entirely."
As he spoke, a wild, oppressive aura surged out from him—like the crushing pull of space itself. Heavy, suffocating, and infinite.
"You've become stronger again."
Kaguya took a cautious step back. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the white-haired man before her. "But the aura around you… it's different. Strange."
She had expected Ryosuke, this descendant born a thousand years after her time, to grow stronger. That was inevitable.
But this—this change was deeper. Something internal had shifted. Something alien.
"There were some minor incidents. Resolved now," Ryosuke replied casually, brushing it off.
But then, he paused. "Actually… you came at just the right time. I have a question."
"Question?" Kaguya took another half-step back. Her voice was defensive. "But you haven't fulfilled your end of the deal. My true form is still sealed."
She didn't want to antagonize him, but the fear was already there—etched deep into her movements. Compared to the vague unease she felt three years ago, the threat Ryosuke now exuded was tangible. Oppressive.
"I've already gained the means to forcibly break your seal," Ryosuke said calmly, though with a trace of regret. "But I haven't yet found a way to replace the moon."
"You should understand—if I forcibly unseal you without a replacement, you won't survive. The connection between you, the Sacred Tree, and the Earth is too intertwined. Without one, the others fall."
Kaguya's so-called immortality depended on the Earth and the Sacred Tree. If either were disrupted, she would be dragged into death despite her power.
In this world, the moon's destruction might not cause global collapse as it would in Ryosuke's former world—but the repercussions would still be immense. If the moon were shattered during her release, the Earth would suffer. Kaguya might be freed, only to die in the aftermath.
"Of course I understand." Kaguya's expression softened slightly. "That's why I haven't pressed you these past three years."
She glanced at Ryosuke, uncertain of his intentions. "A thousand years ago, the original moon orbiting the Earth had already collapsed—thanks to the interference of my two sons."
"In the past three years, I've been searching for a viable substitute. But in this galaxy, I've found nothing."
"Perhaps… you can bring one from another world?"
Naturally, Kaguya wouldn't entrust her fate entirely to Ryosuke. She had been searching for her own solution, even as she waited.
"Pulling a planet from another world? That's a bold plan."
Ryosuke considered it carefully. "With my current ability, I could… pull a moon-sized celestial body from another dimension and teleport it here."
"But before I attempt that… I just thought of something better."
His gaze sharpened as it met hers. "Since your sons created a moon from scratch… why can't I do the same?"
Pulling a planet from another world was certainly possible. The Teigu world, for example, had a celestial system of its own. But Ryosuke had no plans of sacrificing that world, not when its value hadn't yet been fully extracted.
Besides, why rely on external worlds when he could now do something even more impressive?
If celestial transfer was possible—why not celestial creation?
Reconstructing a body in orbit that mimicked the moon's gravitational and spiritual functions… it wasn't easy. But it was possible. And Ryosuke was confident he had reached the threshold to do it.
"But… you don't have the power of Yin and Yang," Kaguya countered. She frowned, hesitant. "The sealing methods used by Homura and Hagoromo are rooted in the power of the Sacred Tree. Only they knew how to form the seal that became the moon. Even I don't possess that knowledge."
She misunderstood.
She thought Ryosuke meant to replicate their Chibaku Tensei—the same Six Paths-level technique used to imprison her. But that was a mistake.
"Hagoromo and Homura are long gone. Their method died with them," she said bitterly. "We don't even know the full composition of their seal. It far exceeded what either of them had previously shown."
The power of Yin and Yang she spoke of was not mere elemental manipulation—it was a principle. A force forged from the very roots of Six Paths energy.
After eating the Sacred Tree's fruit, Kaguya had gained a divine body. But the children born from that body… were stronger than her. The sons of Ōtsutsuki had inherited everything—and improved upon it.
They'd even surpassed her in the use of her own gifts. It was through their newfound strength that they'd sealed her.
If their lives hadn't been bound to Earth, perhaps they would've killed her outright. But instead, they spared her—for the planet's sake.
That memory stirred something dark within her. Hatred. And grief.
"It's not that hard," Ryosuke said quietly.
She blinked. "What?"
"Do you remember… how I created my Eighty Gods Air Strike?"
Kaguya paused.
"You're saying… you want to create a sealing method of your own?"
The Eighty Gods Air Strike—Ryosuke's original technique. Created without Ōtsutsuki inheritance. Different in form and function from the technique she once wielded, yet… stronger. More flexible.
A technique born entirely from his will.
Even if her consciousness escaped the seal, she couldn't rely on others to unseal her—but if it was him...
"The Six Paths Sage brothers created the power of Yin and Yang," Ryosuke said calmly. "Naturally, I have other ways to create a moon."
"I understand the principles of Chibaku Tensei very well. I can replicate a similar technique… but it'll take time."
"Creating a ritual isn't something that can be rushed, and I can't predict how long it'll take. But if you still insist on a deadline, then… like I said before—I'll do my best within a year."
If it had been three years ago, he wouldn't have dared speak with such confidence. Even just a few days ago, despite having corrected the flaws in his body, he wouldn't have made such a bold claim so easily.
But now, things were different.
Now he possessed Boros' life memories—a vast and potent treasure trove sealed within his mind.
Centuries of conquest, knowledge from hundreds of worlds, insights into countless fighting styles and spiritual paths—all of it was now nourishment for his growth.
Celestial bodies like the moon were hardly unique in the universe. In Boros' memory, he had personally destroyed several moon-sized bodies. With that experience as a reference, the feasibility of this plan was no longer a question.
"No… I only hope you'll remember your promise."
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's voice softened as she looked at him with rare sincerity. "I've done what you asked. I've set aside hatred and emotion. I've lived on this planet as a bystander."
"I only ask that you help me—just this once—for the sake of our blood."
There was a hint of pleading in her tone.
She had once been confident that Ryosuke would fulfill his end of the bargain. But now…
Now she wasn't so sure.
Because the pace of Ryosuke's growth was incomprehensible—so fast that it frightened her. She feared the day he would no longer see the Ōtsutsuki inheritance as worth his time.
So now, to retrieve her original body, she had no choice but to lower her head.
"I won't forget," Ryosuke said as his eyes narrowed, gazing through Uchiha Madara's face as if he could see the white-haired woman still sealed within the moon's core.
For the first time, he gave a promise directly to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Their bloodline was connected. If her strength could help preserve order, then there was no shame in freeing her.
Now that the Hyuga clan had conquered the Teigu world, there could very well be a second, even a third world next.
The Ninja World—the origin of the Hyuga—still needed someone to watch over it.
Kaguya, though not an aggressive warrior, could oversee it. At the very least, once she was fully revived, she could control the remaining White Zetsu and serve as a guardian of the realm. If foreign worlds invaded, she could be a rallying force.
Kaguya nodded slowly, gratitude flickering in her eyes. "Then… ask what you wish. I will tell you everything I know."
"I'll also hand over the full inheritance of the Ōtsutsuki clan to you."
There was no point clinging to advantages that were slowly losing their weight. Instead, she would give everything to Ryosuke—before it became worthless.
"I want to know… how much you understand about reincarnation."
Ryosuke didn't hesitate.
He was determined to get to the bottom of the Ōtsutsuki mysteries.
"Rinnegan?" Kaguya asked, uncertain.
"No, not the Rinnegan."
Ryosuke shook his head. "I mean true reincarnation. Life after death. The cycle that creates new lives from old—like the reincarnations of Indra and Asura."
In this world, the cycle of reincarnation existed.
Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara had both been reincarnations of the sons of the Sage of Six Paths.
Because of that connection, they'd surpassed ordinary ninja. For example, Hashirama had wielded the power of Asura in life, but once resurrected via Impure World Reincarnation, he lacked that chakra and became drastically weaker—so much so that even Madara overwhelmed him.
Since reincarnation was real, Ryosuke hoped he could use it to uncover the truth of his fragmented memories.
Whether it was the ordinary human, the universe's overlord Boros, or the current Ryosuke… the memories between these identities were broken. Disconnected.
And yet, he knew instinctively that awakening his true self depended on stitching those memories together.
So before that, he needed to understand reincarnation in this world.
If nothing else, perhaps in one of his lifetimes, he had already mastered this secret. Perhaps the reason he could be reborn again and again, retaining slivers of his former self, was connected to this mystery.
Perhaps all of this—three lives' worth of accumulation—was meant for a larger purpose.
"I'm sorry…" Kaguya's reply came slowly, her tone laced with regret. "I can't give you a full answer."
"I don't know much about true reincarnation."
"All I can say is this—"
She looked up at the sky, as if gazing into something unseen.
"The underworld doesn't just belong to this planet. It stretches across the universe."
"After consuming the fruit of the Sacred Tree and awakening the Rinnegan, our Ōtsutsuki clan gained the ability to communicate with the underworld's rules. With it, we can resurrect the dead… but the price is steep."
Her words weren't what Ryosuke had expected.
The underworld—where the souls of the dead rest—wasn't just limited to Earth. It was part of something much larger. Universal. Possibly even multi-dimensional.
Even with the power of the Rinnegan, very little was known about it.
Ōtsutsuki records were vague. Even those resurrected through the Rinnegan—like Uchiha Madara—remembered nothing of their time there. Their memories were erased upon return.
The worlds of the living and the dead were absolute in their separation.
No one crossed the threshold and kept their mind intact.
This, too, was why Madara and the others never spoke of the underworld after their resurrection. There was simply… nothing to say.
"So…" Ryosuke muttered, deep in thought. "Maybe that's why my memory is broken…"