The One Who Knew Everything

Elsewhere, after their mission failed, Sugito and Shinya could only return to the Kaguya Clan compound once their injuries had healed.

In the clan leader's residence, a middle-aged man with somewhat similar features to Genji stood beneath a tree in the courtyard, his hands clasped behind his back. His upright figure was perfectly still, his expression blank, yet he carried an imposing authority without needing to show anger. He was none other than Kaguya Musashi, the current leader of the Kaguya Clan.

"Clan Leader, the mission failed!" The two approached Musashi and dropped to one knee.

"Tell me about it." Musashi spoke calmly, without the fury they had expected. Yet that only unsettled them further. As Kaguya Musashi's loyal lackeys, they knew his character well: patient, ruthless, wildly ambitious, and hungry for power. For the sake of power, he would disown even his own family. From an ordinary clansman with no background to exchanging benefits with the elders of every branch, and finally rising against the odds to become clan leader, every trait of a ruthless overlord was vividly embodied in him.

"Some unexpected circumstances arose," Sugito explained.

"A man dressed like a monk headed directly for Kaguya Genji's home. The battle afterward also proved that his target truly was Kaguya Genji. He was most likely an old enemy who had come seeking revenge." Sugito's account successfully led Musashi astray, taking him further and further from the truth.

Shinya continued, describing Jigen's appearance and clothing to Musashi in detail, hoping to see whether his clan leader recognized him.

"Go on." Musashi neither confirmed nor denied it, though inwardly, he was puzzled by Jigen's origins. While neither of his subordinates had awakened a bloodline limit, the Kaguya Clan's jonin had always been synonymous with strength in the ninja world. Someone capable of defeating the two of them together should not have been unknown.

"At first, we didn't know he had come for revenge. We had no idea who he was, and he looked hostile, so we had no choice but to act. But we never expected to be defeated instantly, without any ability to resist. The enemy seemed to be proficient in space-time ninjutsu!" Shinya's limited knowledge prevented him from grasping the true nature of Jigen's technique, leaving him only able to make blind guesses.

Hearing this, Musashi's pupils contracted. He had originally assumed the two had been defeated only after a fierce battle and had somehow managed to escape with their lives.

To defeat the two of them instantly, he is not far below me, even with my Kage-level strength. My younger brother actually had such a terrifying enemy!

The two continued, "We were defeated by that man, but he seemed extremely arrogant and couldn't be bothered to kill us. By the time we woke up, the battle was already over. We inspected the battlefield, and Kaguya Genji should have used the Dance of the Bracken." They described the traces they had seen at the battlefield in detail.

When he finally heard that three piles of ash remained on the battlefield, the corners of Kaguya Musashi's lips could not help but curl upward. However, Sugito and Shinya did not see it.

It seems my younger brother fought desperately. The effects of the Ash Bones Technique truly are terrifying.

I wonder whether my nephew also awakened the Dead Bone Pulse and used the Ash Bones Technique, or whether Genji lost control and accidentally injured him. Well, it doesn't matter. The result is that they all perished together. Musashi, who had never let go of his hostility and vigilance toward Kaguya Genji's family, was finally at ease.

"Fine, you may leave. I won't punish you this time. Keep the details of the mission confidential." With the threat gone, Musashi felt a massive weight lift from his heart and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

The measures Qing Si had taken before leaving, aided by Sugito and Shinya's miraculous assistance, had ultimately succeeded in deceiving Kaguya Musashi.

As someone who had served as clan leader for many years, Kaguya Musashi understood the secret techniques of the Dead Bone Pulse like the back of his hand. Even with the Blood Burning Technique, Genji could at most briefly erupt with strength close to Kage Level. And Musashi, taking it for granted, never imagined that Genji's crippled body could protect Qing Si at the same time while perishing together with an enemy suspected to possess Kage-level strength. After all, there was an enormous gulf in power between a Kage-level fighter and an elite jonin.

No longer dwelling on the matter, Kaguya Musashi turned his thoughts toward how to further elevate his position. As the current leader of the Kaguya Clan, one of the strongest forces in the Hidden Mist Village, as well as a Kage-level expert and a high-ranking village official, he had plenty of qualifications. Though the Kaguya Clan and the village only maintained a superficial harmony and lived separately outside the village, they were still one of the three great bloodline clans that had founded the Hidden Mist Village. The position of Mizukage did not seem so distant anymore.

The Hozuki Clan had produced a Second, and the Yuki Clan had produced a Third. So why couldn't the Kaguya Clan produce a Fourth?

Qing Si awoke from his meditation and adjusted his posture, looking extremely satisfied with the information Isshiki had left behind.

With chakra reserves far beyond those of ordinary ninja, Qing Si, not yet nine years old, had now fully acquired jonin-level combat power after gaining the battle experience of Jigen and Isshiki Otsutsuki.

His only regret was that he had yet to awaken eyes of his own.

After all, compared to the legitimate Otsutsuki Clan, Qing Si could only be considered a wild-born Otsutsuki. Based on the information Isshiki had left behind, he could only guess that his Otsutsuki bloodline was not yet concentrated enough or had not reached a sufficiently high level.

However, Qing Si could clearly sense that something was gestating within his eyes. He could also vaguely sense the Daikokuten Dimension that Isshiki had left behind, though he could not establish a connection with it.

Perhaps as he continued to integrate Isshiki's gift into himself, he would awaken his own Byakugan or some other kind of eyes.

After collecting himself, Qing Si, restored to his peak condition, once again set out in search of a town.

Qing Si now understood most of the ninja world's secrets. He knew all the history of the past thousand years and had seen through the essence of the ninja world. He could already be called one who knew everything. Combined with his scattered knowledge of Naruto from his previous life, he was qualified to become the one who moved the pieces across the entire ninja world.

By the next evening, Qing Si finally arrived at a fairly sizable town.

It was a medium-sized town in the southern part of the Land of Water, while the village where the exile grounds were located lay in a remote area even farther south.

Qing Si knew that his twin horns were unusual even within the ninja world, so he used the Transformation Technique to alter his appearance, concealing the horns on his forehead and the red dot between his brows that symbolized the Kaguya Clan.

As he slowly entered the town, Qing Si did not deliberately release any aura, but his cold face, though handsome, still gave off a distinct air that warned strangers to stay away.

Though Qing Si had seen even more prosperous cities and the capitals of various nations in Isshiki's memories, he was still somewhat curious about the outside world. After all, this was his first personal experience of it.

(Most of the memory scenes were actually things Isshiki saw while controlling Jigen, which meant many of those memories belonged to Jigen. However, Isshiki reincarnated and revived through Jigen's body, so it could be said that he devoured everything Jigen had. To simplify the later writing, Jigen and Isshiki would no longer be discussed separately, and Isshiki would be used as the collective name from here on.)

Walking through the town, Qing Si slowly experienced the atmosphere of life he had never felt in this life.

The lofty, almost divine bearing he had developed under Isshiki Otsutsuki's influence was also gradually fading away.

The memories of Qing Si's past and present lives continuously merged with those of Isshiki Otsutsuki, and he gradually returned to the state of an ordinary human. Perhaps in the future, when Qing Si's bloodline evolved into that of a complete Otsutsuki, he could be called a god. But at least for now, he was not a god. He was merely a human named Qing Si—Otsutsuki Qing Si.