"We did it!"
Finally seeing Isshiki fall, Deidara cheered happily, sprawling on the ground without a care, forming a starfish shape.
"Looks like I won't need to use my final trump card after all, hmm!"
"You did well, Hidan." Nagato first breathed a long sigh of relief, then gave Hidan his earnest approval.
If it weren't for him, they likely would have been finished here.
He then glanced at Isshiki's corpse with lingering fear.
What kind of monster was this? Not only did he possess Black Receivers, but he even wielded power surpassing the Rinnegan.
Kisame, Konan, and the others also expressed their approval of Hidan.
"What a shame," Kakuzu said, casting a slightly pained look at Isshiki's corpse before turning his gaze to Isshiki's heart, which had been mangled beyond recognition.
If he could have obtained the opponent's intact heart, his power would have definitely increased greatly.
"This is a huge loss."
Sasori stared impassively at his puppets shattered across the ground. Even with a puppet body, a flicker of genuine pain briefly crossed his eyes.
He had suffered the heaviest losses among the Akatsuki members. Not only were all the rare specimens he had collected over the years gone in an instant, but even his ace puppet, the Third Kazekage, was now just a pile of useless fragments.
It could be said that aside from his main body, he had absolutely nothing left.
Back to square one overnight, he would have to start making puppets all over again.
But he had also gained the most within the Akatsuki. The androids in the laboratory had given him immense inspiration, and he had also acquired quite a lot of precious materials.
But these were secondary. The most important thing was...
"That guy's corpse stays with me."
Sasori stared intently at Isshiki, who showed no signs of life. Even if he could only harness half the power Isshiki had in life, it would be enough to significantly boost Sasori's strength.
Since there was no bounty on Isshiki, Kakuzu wouldn't fight him for it.
Besides, apart from Isshiki, there were still the Fourth Raikage and those elite Kumo-nin.
As long as he could turn them all into puppets, it would be a massive profit.
The Akatsuki had already begun dividing the spoils. None of them noticed the faint blue light gradually appearing on Isshiki's corpse. This blue light was extremely faint, so faint it was completely undetectable to the naked eye.
But soon, these blue points of light gathered more and more, gradually forming a smoky, humanoid shape.
A moment later, it became highly visible to the naked eye.
"Huh?" Among those present, only Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, sensed the abnormality.
But by the time he noticed, the smoky humanoid had already solidified into a physical form and was gradually gaining color, no longer purely blue.
"How dare you insects destroy my precious vessel." The entity formed from the points of light had pale skin and pale ashen hair. The most striking features were the curved horns and a face eighty to ninety percent similar to Isshiki's second form.
Jigen was merely a shell, the true entity controlling Jigen's actions was this Otsutsuki Isshiki.
But he was Isshiki, yet not entirely Isshiki. More accurately, he was only a partial, incomplete Isshiki.
Long ago, Isshiki and the legendary progenitor of chakra, Kaguya, came to the ninja planet together to plunder all the life energy of this planet. Their method of acquisition was to plant a tree, not an ordinary tree, but the God Tree unique to the Otsutsuki clan. Kaguya was the necessary nutrient meant to make the God Tree sprout.
But an accident occurred. Before he could offer Kaguya to the God Tree, he was ambushed by Kaguya and severely injured. Kaguya instead offered Isshiki to the God Tree, Ten-Tails that appears in the main story, seeking the Chakra Fruit.
The result was evident: Kaguya obtained the Chakra Fruit and consumed it, transforming into the progenitor of chakra, the origin of all ninja.
The subsequent story is also known. To defend against the Otsutsuki clan, Kaguya created war weapons evolved from the God Tree, the White Zetsu.
Her two sons betrayed Kaguya because a toad was having hallucinations and sealed her in the center of the moon.
Then came the story of her sons two sons, Ashura and Indra.
But Isshiki's story didn't end there. He didn't die. Ten-Tails only managed to devour most of his body before Isshiki used his Dojutsu to shrink himself, narrowly escaping death. He then converted himself into data and took refuge within a passing monk, allowing him to survive for a thousand years.
That passing monk was Jigen.
Unfortunately, Jigen wasn't a truly suitable vessel, and losing most of his body wasn't something easily recovered from. While possessing Jigen, Isshiki could only exert a tiny fraction of his true power.
In this state, he was far from a match for Kaguya, not even comparable to her sons or grandsons.
So he chose to lie low. Even after a thousand years, the current Isshiki still hadn't fully recovered, at best improving from ten percent to eleven percent.
Whether it was fortune or misfortune, he recently found the other Ten-Tails he had lost before.
The moment he saw Ten-Tails, he was moved. He planned to carefully collect the Tailed Beasts and reform the Chakra Fruit.
Find a new vessel! Take back everything he rightfully lost.
The first one successfully captured was the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
He hadn't been idle during the thousand years. He lost his power, but his vast knowledge remained. The Otsutsuki clan was a race capable of interstellar travel, their technological level far surpassed that of the ninja world.
The base beneath everyone's feet was built by humans from the ninja world using the knowledge he personally imparted.
A pity it's all completely gone now.
"Do you realize what you've done?" A terrifying presence radiated from Isshiki, like a demon, with none of his former elegance remaining. "Look at what you've done?!"
"You had the nerve to damage the body of a god."
"This power..." Kakuzu knelt on one knee. The Earth Grudge Fear within him contracted violently, seemingly terrified of Isshiki's power. Without its steady support, Kakuzu felt a deep emptiness in his body. "My body... I can't move."
"Tch." Sasori was less affected, but with all his puppets destroyed, he had little combat ability left.
"Art..." Deidara trembled as he weakly raised his hands. Using too many clay bombs had swollen the mouths in his palms.
'Looks like I really have to use that one.'
"I'll stab you! Stab you! Stab you!" Hidan repeatedly stabbed his own body with his spear, trying to kill Isshiki. But the current Isshiki didn't even have a physical body and was completely unaffected by the curse technique.
Konan, Nagato, Kisame, and Neji were in similar states. Sasuke was slightly better off, but he alone was no match for Isshiki.
Just the leaking presence was enough to overwhelm the Akatsuki members.
This intense coercion was also a method of attack for the Otsutsuki clan.
Without a container, Isshiki could wield the full power of his remaining Otsutsuki self, but without finding a new vessel, he could only survive for two days.
His time was heavily limited. He had to find a new body quickly, or he would completely dissipate when the time came.
Isshiki's gaze swept over the group, as if judging their suitability as vessels, finally settling cleanly on Nagato.
"I sense abundant vitality within you. You possess the Rinnegan, albeit in its most primitive form... but it barely meets the requirements for a vessel."
"Since you destroyed my container..."
"Then offer me your body."
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