Konoha, the Second Research Base.
A circular building stood there, looking nothing like the buildings in the village. Countless thick, leafless wooden stakes surrounded it at strange angles, forming a barrier.
Several indistinct figures moved within the barrier. A closer look revealed that they were all faceless puppets, weaving back and forth.
A white-haired man in blue battle armor rapidly scanned the latest data report, his brow furrowed.
He was Konoha's Second, Tobirama Senju, who had broken free of Impure World Reincarnation and remained in the village ever since.
"Why has Urashiki Otsutsuki's body undergone this strange change again? The test data offers no explanation at all. There is no chakra left in his body, no sign of life, and he hasn't passed on any so-called 'pact'..."
Tobirama shifted his gaze from the report to the deathly pale body in the center of the laboratory.
Over this period, Tobirama had performed countless experiments on the body, dissecting it over a hundred times alone. Yet after a certain amount of time, the corpse, already reduced to a pile of flesh, would return to its original state.
And this recovery was nothing like Impure World Reincarnation or the automatic regeneration his elder brother had possessed in life. It simply "returned" to its original state in an instant.
No matter what methods he used, he could not observe the process of recovery.
It was Urashiki Otsutsuki's corpse. Before Boruto left, the group returning from the moon had brought back knowledge about the Ōtsutsuki, along with information dictated by a certain cooperative Momoshiki. After that, Tobirama's research into the Ōtsutsuki had entered a new stage.
The First, Hashirama Senju, had built this Second Research Base specifically for Tobirama's research into the Ōtsutsuki. It was one of Konoha's most closely guarded secrets.
"I'm sorry. I've