Shinichi stood beside the corpses of two Ōtsutsuki clansmen and gave a bored yawn.
He nudged one of them with the tip of his foot, neither gently nor forcefully. Its eyesore of a white robe picked up some dirt, making it look even more bedraggled.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, scattering patches of light over his loose loungewear. He narrowed his eyes, growing a little impatient.
"So, are these guys mass-produced? They just keep coming, batch after batch, like dumplings dropped into a pot."
He kicked the lifeless figure in the white robe at his feet, his voice filled with undisguised disgust, as though another glance would sully his eyes.
"I killed Isshiki, and now some guy called Tenshiki pops up." He paused, recalling the few words that shrill-voiced Ōtsutsuki had let slip before dying. "And he's in charge of wiping planets clean and devouring their essence? Sounds a lot more ambitious than Isshiki, who only ever wanted to plant trees."
"All that hot air could knock you flat. He ought to watch out, or he might choke on his own bragging."
Shinichi picked at his ear, as though trying to scrape those unpleasant words out of his head and shake off the bad luck they had brought along with them.
"At least Princess Kaguya just wanted to plant a tree and harvest some Chakra Fruit as local souvenirs. Clear objective, one simple method."
He curled his lip. "Now they're going straight into planetary demolition. Quite the range of services."
He tipped his head up toward the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, his gaze melancholy. If not for the mocking curve he could not quite suppress at the corner of his mouth, he might actually have looked like someone worried for his country and its people.
"Isn't