After Princess Kaguya woke,
tears had already covered her face.
The scenes from her dream rapidly began to fade and blur,
but one sentence remained clearly etched in her mind.
"Can you... wait for me to return...?"
She trembled.
Much later, she sat on the bed, lost in thought.
Dazed, she examined her condition.
The God Tree's corrosion, which had plagued her day after day, seemed to have vanished at that moment.
She almost thought she was imagining it.
She walked to the mirror.
An exquisite, flawless face appeared before her.
There was no trace of the God Tree's energy,
just as in the past.
She felt wonderful now, unexpectedly so.
The only thing wrong... was that Yuya was gone...
Another scene from the dream seemed to flash through her mind.
In that final scene...
"Wait for you to return...?"
Princess Kaguya murmured to herself.
One of Yuya's clones still stood outside the door.
Unlike the original, the clone could only passively carry out orders,
with little room for independent thought.
Now that its connection to the original had been severed, that was even more true.
Within a few days, it would dissipate as its chakra ran out.
"Where did Yuya go?"
Princess Kaguya approached the clone and asked.
"I don't know..."
The clone smiled bitterly.
"My orders are to take good care of you."
"How long will he be gone?"
Princess Kaguya asked.
"I don't know..."
Princess Kaguya fell silent.
After a long while, she said to the clone,
"Then come play chess with me."
[You selected option three: walk forward and never look back. Mission complete. Reward: Rinnegan]
The system's options
could never be defied in their overall intent,
nor were there any loopholes to exploit.
What mattered was always the essence of events and the causes and consequences they influenced,
not their outward form.
And this time, the judgment
depended on whether Yuya had returned with Princess Kaguya
or explained his reasons to her.
Returning meant option one.
Explaining meant option two.
Neither returning nor explaining, and heading to the Wind-Snow Realm, meant option three.
Those were the core criteria for the judgment.
Earlier, Yuya had merely used Tsukuyomi to tell her
to wait for his return.
In the system's judgment, Yuya had still chosen option three,
even though a great battle had taken place along the way.
The next moment, the system's reward arrived.
Yuya's eyes changed once again.
His previously blind left eye recovered at that moment as well.
Ring after ring of mysterious ripples began to appear.
His vision became several times sharper once more.
He could see for thousands of miles, discerning the finest details of anything he looked at.
Yuya had long possessed chakra of every nature inherited from Princess Kaguya,
and he also possessed a sage body.
After awakening the Mangekyo, he now possessed the Rinnegan as well.
At that moment, it was as though some transformation had been triggered.
Under the Rinnegan's influence, his various powers merged within his body.
This time, black tomoe began appearing within the ripples.
His eyes had actually transformed directly into a six-tomoe Rinne Sharingan.
At the same time, a golden sage cloak surged over Yuya's body.
Twelve Truth-Seeking Orbs began appearing behind him,
slowly revolving and floating around him.
At that moment, he had activated Six Paths Mode as well.
Floating in the air with the Rinnegan's Repulsive Force, Yuya was like a deity
as he surveyed this world.
His vision became several times sharper once more.
He could see for thousands of miles, discerning the finest details of anything he looked at.
This was a strange space.
There was no sun, no cycle of day and night,
no passing seasons or changes in the weather.
The sky forever glowed with a faint white light.
Natural energy was abundant to an absurd degree,
yet it seemed different from the energy in the main world.
Stranger still, Yuya found that he could not absorb it using Sage Mode.
The environment here was extreme.
The natural energy was not intermingled,
but sharply divided.
With the enhancement of Six Paths Mode, his perception expanded once more,
covering almost half the Wind-Snow Realm.
Countless beasts extinct in the main world could be found here.
Yet at that moment, their movements and expressions were unexpectedly uniform.
They seemed to be prostrating themselves and trembling because of his arrival.
"Roar!"
Just then, from the very center of the Wind-Snow Realm,
a beast's roar filled with an ancient, timeworn presence rang out, echoing throughout the entire space.
It seemed to have let out that strange, furious roar the instant it sensed Yuya.
Like a stone raising a thousand waves,
the beasts that had been trembling
beneath the pressure of Yuya's powerful aura
all let out furious roars at that moment.
It seemed to be an inheritance carried in their blood,
a hatred etched into their very bones.
"Interesting."
Yuya murmured.
The next instant, ripples spread through space.
Yuya arrived directly at the very center of the Wind-Snow Realm.
This place was a stretch of wetlands.
A beast emerged halfway from the water.
It was actually... a genuine Dragon...
His aura was still immature, suggesting he was quite young,
yet a supremely powerful presence spread from his body.
It seemed to be the aura of a true dragon!
And that aura was not even weaker than Yuya's current one!
After all, Yuya now possessed Six Paths Mode
and had activated the six-tomoe Rinne Sharingan.
His strength had reached the true Six Paths level.
Yet this Dragon seemed to be only a juvenile.
If this Dragon truly completed his transformation... how powerful would he become?
Yuya's expression grew complicated.
As he watched the Dragon, a thoughtful look flickered in his eyes.
His silver scales shimmered with phosphorescent light beneath the glow.
They made the Silver Dragon look exceptionally elegant.
He was the only beast that had sensed Yuya's arrival from so far away
and dared to roar at him.
He was the youngest, yet also the bravest.
The nobility in his blood seemed to forbid him from submitting.
At that moment, his eyes gleamed with intelligence and curiosity,
as well as deep wariness.
He seemed displeased that Yuya had invaded his territory.
He could not speak yet,
but his meaning was already clear.
There was no chakra within the Silver Dragon's body.
Yuya could not control him through the Rinnegan's Animal Path.
Yet seeing how close he was to completing his transformation, Yuya fell into thought again.
In his previous life, he had been born in a great nation,
and naturally had a special fondness for dragons.
Moreover, this Silver Dragon possessed extraordinary talent and an excellent mind,
but the Wind-Snow Realm was far, far too small to accommodate him.
There was no telling how long it would take him to become a true dragon.
Even Yuya could not help feeling a twinge of regret.
He thought of a skill.
When his affinity with Princess Kaguya had surpassed fifty points,
he had obtained a skill called [Enlightenment Technique].
The Enlightenment Technique could awaken intelligence in living beings,
establish a bond, and help them complete a certain transformation.
Yuya had never used it before, feeling that he had found nothing suitable or worthy of his interest.
Now, however, the idea began to take root.
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