The Eye of the Abyss

Boruto saw it.

It wasn't an illusion or a genjutsu, but a flood of information the seed had directly injected into his nervous system. He stood at an observation point beyond space and time, witnessing how the "Bridge" worked.

The Nursery stage. Planets with potential were selected and seeded with the genes of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. Then the seed waited for the native intelligent life to evolve enough to support the "Bridge." Earth was nearing the end of this stage. The appearance of the Purifiers signaled that the evaluation had entered its final phase.

The Harvest stage. If a planet met the standards, the "seed" hatched, releasing the complete "Bridge" structure. It extracted the entire planet's bioenergy, compressed it, and transmitted it back to the Ōtsutsuki homeworld. The countless mass extinctions throughout Earth's history were all byproducts of this process—failed experiments were cleared away to make room for the next round of seeding.

The Administrator stage. A very small number of planets produced special individuals who could deeply fuse with the "Bridge" without losing their autonomy. These individuals became "Nursery Administrators," overseeing the harvest of multiple planets and gaining near-eternal life and perception across the stars.

Boruto understood why the seed had "recognized" him. His awakening wasn't an accident, but the inevitable result of Ōtsutsuki genes fusing with the planet's neural network. He was a candidate, a potential... executioner.

But the memories didn't end there.

Beyond the standard harvesting process, the seed showed him another possibility. The scene shifted, and Boruto saw other planets, other civilizations, and other candidates like him. They stood at the crossroads of choice, facing the same temptation—power, eternity, and a form of existence beyond the mortal realm.

Then they refused.

In the first scene, a civilization made up of crystalline life forms faced the moment