The pale, solitary eye hung above the sea without blinking.
As soon as it appeared, the first White Vessel retreated behind the Old Temple.
The two possessed similar chakra.
Yet their reactions were completely different.
The Vessel observed crew members, refused orders, and protected herself when injured.
The solitary eye followed only power.
Its pupil turned toward whichever ninjutsu fluctuation was strongest.
One chain on the Land of Earth's Sealing Ship had yet to be withdrawn.
The instant the Earth Release chakra on that chain lit up, the solitary eye reproduced the same patterns beneath it.
Seawater solidified into a grayish-white stone pillar that rose toward the ship's underside.
The sealing team blocked it with a second earthen wall.
The solitary eye copied the wall's structure as well.
The two techniques should have canceled each other out.
But after the collision, the stone pillar created by the projection retained a new reinforcing layer.
It was not simply reflecting attacks.
It was learning from them, filling in the gaps in how to use its power.
The team in the mist fired a water needle toward the sea to test whether it could only copy Earth Release.
The water needle did not hit the solitary eye.
Yet a ring of flowing water patterns appeared around the edge of its pupil.
The next time a stone pillar rose, its surface was already coated in a rapidly spinning layer of water.
Gen immediately relayed both changes through the Public Broadcast.
"Stop testing it with ninjutsu."
Someone aboard the Sealing Ship challenged him. "If we don't attack, are we supposed to wait for it to finish reviving?"
"Every attack gives it another lesson."
Gen did not demand that they believe Kaguya had already appeared.
He simply placed the images from before and after the copying