The desert of Konoha was now filled by a towering tree, which had grown inside the bottomless cave that had once been there.
At the top of the giant tree, a white-haired young man sat cross-legged in midair, eyes closed and hands forming a seal. Nine smooth, black Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind him.
The giant tree was formed from several thick trunks that twisted and wound around one another. Its structure was something like a hollow shell. It was hard to say whether this unusual shape had anything to do with the surname "Ōtsutsuki."
Broad green leaves also grew from the branches along the tree's outer edges.
In appearance, this God Tree was completely different from the one Obito and Madara had created in the original timeline. Their tree had been nothing but a bare trunk, without any branches or leaves.
The God Tree Souya had "planted" looked more like an actual plant. But beneath its "bark," countless faint bulges shifted and slid, like a network of raised "pipes"—or like innumerable writhing insects beneath the surface. It looked deeply unsettling.
In fact, the "veins" inside the tree, which resembled blood vessels, were filled with Chakra and life force "drawn" from living beings across the planet. An immense, boundless energy was now continuously converging at the top of the tree.
At the crown, formed by several twisting trunks, a gorgeous, bewitching pink flower had bloomed. It was enormous, and its shape was somewhat like a lotus.
But as energy accumulated, the spread pink petals began to change.
Their color gradually shifted from pink to dark red. At the same time, the delicate petals dried and shriveled, turning a red that looked increasingly like congealed, dried blood.
After a long while,
the petals had all withered and fallen away, leaving a fruit