When he saw Zou Hyuga, Jigen showed no expression, nor did he make any move to rise.
After a brief pause, Jigen rested his chin on one hand and said slowly, "Zou, you haven't disappointed me. You finally found this place, and you've brought me enough chakra. But those vermin outside aren't your helpers, are they?
"Has the child I picked up all those years ago grown up and started raising a weapon against his elder?"
Zou Hyuga fell silent. For a moment, he seemed to see the days of his youth, when they had practiced Gentle Fist together. Who could have imagined that an injured Otsutsuki had hidden within the Hyuga Clan for decades?
"Why did you deceive me back then and deliberately fake your death to escape?"
Zou Hyuga already had his suspicions, but he asked anyway.
The Night of the Nine-Tails had also been the day Asura reincarnated. The reincarnations of Asura and Indra were bound to attract the Sage of Six Paths' attention, and the Otsutsuki before him had not been confident he could handle the Sage of Six Paths, who had once been the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
Instead, he had chosen to nurture Zou and have him secretly collect chakra throughout the Shinobi World.
That was the purpose of the Karma on Zou's body. It could absorb chakra almost endlessly, until enough had been gathered.
Holding both hands loosely around empty air, Zou Hyuga conjured a sharp sword. His emotions were tangled as he waited for Jigen to strike.
Karma was the mark of an Otsutsuki's vessel. Once it was fully unsealed, the vessel would transform completely into the Otsutsuki who had inscribed it.
Though that was the truth, his emotions still compelled him to wait for Jigen to make the first move.
As though sensing