The sight made Seventh Hokage Naruto's heart skip a beat.
There was a Tailed Beast inside him as well. One day, he might have to face the exact same fate.
The Eight-Tails had already demonstrated its power during the Fourth Great Ninja War. Although it wasn't as strong as the Nine-Tails, it was still incredibly formidable. In the hands of a Perfect Jinchuriki, the Eight-Tails was at least Strong Kage Level.
Yet a warrior of that caliber had been captured with ease, and the Eight-Tails had been refined into a Chakra Pill.
The sheer horror of it was difficult to put into words.
Worse still, the entire process had taken almost no time at all. Compared to Otsutsuki Momoshiki's efficiency, the Akatsuki Organization looked pathetically weak.
Naruto still remembered how much time and effort Akatsuki had spent extracting the One-Tail from Gaara. They had gone to enormous lengths and made elaborate preparations.
Otsutsuki Momoshiki's method, on the other hand, was brutally simple.
How long would I last if that were me?
"Naruto, that man… He's definitely an Otsutsuki."
Kurama's voice echoed from within him.
"They carry an aura similar to Kaguya, the Sage of Six Paths, and Otsutsuki Toneri."
Seventh Hokage Naruto nodded.
Of course he knew they were Otsutsuki. Both of them possessed that unmistakable air unique to the Otsutsuki Clan.
Strictly speaking, the only true member of the Otsutsuki Clan in the Shinobi World was Otsutsuki Kaguya Hime.
Neither the Sage of Six Paths nor Otsutsuki Toneri could truly be considered full members of the Otsutsuki Clan anymore. However, both were immensely powerful, and after their bloodlines reverted toward their ancestral origins, their bloodline purity was no weaker than that of an ordinary Otsutsuki.
That was completely different from someone like Uzumaki Naruto, who had become stronger through outside means.
Naruto didn't possess those eyes.
In other words, Uchiha Sasuke might actually be the only person capable of evolving his eyes step by step, returning to his ancestral roots until he eventually became a new Otsutsuki.
It was somewhat similar to Kaede Kitahara.
Kaede possessed the bloodline of the Uchiha Clan and had awakened the Sharingan. In the future, he would awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan as well.
At that point, whether he admitted it or not, he would effectively be an unofficial member of the Uchiha Clan.
Of course, Kaede himself would never identify as an Uchiha.
After his defeat, Otsutsuki Toneri had come to understand the true intentions of his ancestors. He remained on the moon to protect the Shinobi World.
His bloodline was pure enough that even the Otsutsuki Fisherman had acknowledged it. Even so, Toneri saw himself as an Otsutsuki of the Shinobi World, not as a member of the demigod race known as the Otsutsuki Clan that wandered among the stars.
Everyone else wore equally grave expressions.
Many of them had never met Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, but they had at least heard of the Eight-Tails. Uchiha Sasuke was probably the only one present who still had no idea what it was.
Watching such a renowned Tailed Beast get ripped out and refined into a Pill in the span of a few moments made every hair on their bodies stand on end.
The Akatsuki Organization was terrifying, but compared to these two, they weren't even on the same level.
At that moment, everyone gained an entirely new understanding of just how dangerous the Shinobi World truly was.
No wonder Kaede Kitahara remained so cautious despite already possessing tremendous strength.
Hatake Kakashi, who had personally fought Kaede before, understood his power better than most. Kaede had already surpassed what an ordinary Kage Level fighter could hope to match.
Yet he still acted with extreme caution.
Against these two Otsutsuki, what difference was there between someone at Kage Level and some worthless small fry?
"I used most of my Pills while traveling through time and space."
Otsutsuki Momoshiki's cold remark confirmed everyone's suspicions.
He truly was a powerful alien who had descended from another planet.
He had even casually revealed how he had reached the Shinobi World.
He had traveled through time and space.
"Lord Momoshiki, I'm detecting a much stronger response to the east."
After extracting the Eight-Tails, Otsutsuki Kinshiki tossed Killer Bee's motionless body directly into the water.
"I believe it must be the massive source of Chakra we've been searching for."
"Traveling through time and space?"
Namikaze Minato's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"Is it similar to the Flying Thunder God? Perhaps a version capable of crossing an unimaginable distance?"
"Otsutsuki… Momoshiki?"
Hatake Kakashi stared thoughtfully at the video in the diary.
The name followed the same pattern as Otsutsuki Isshiki's.
But if that was the case, then what was the explanation for Otsutsuki Kaguya Hime?
Her name didn't seem to follow the same pattern at all.
There were too many unanswered questions. Even Kakashi couldn't make sense of them.
Meanwhile, within the video, Uzumaki Boruto had been persuaded by Tono Katasuke to wear a Scientific Ninja Tool.
Everyone shook their heads at the sight.
This was a textbook example of someone allowing power to control them.
There was nothing inherently wrong with borrowing another person's strength, but one could never become dependent on it.
If someone was already strong and then borrowed outside power, it merely added to what they already possessed.
But when someone lacked strength of their own and relied on another person's power to obtain what they wanted, that borrowed strength would eventually turn against them.
The scene changed, and the Chunin Exams began.
Neither the first round nor the second seemed particularly complicated to those watching. In fact, they looked remarkably easy.
After all, the participants were only competing at the Chunin level.
Uchiha Sasuke, however, watched with great interest.
He would soon be participating in the Chunin Exams himself. Although he knew the exams might change drastically over the next several decades, this future version could still serve as a useful reference.
Then they watched Uzumaki Boruto grow overconfident and lose to his opponent, only to resort to the Scientific Ninja Tool in order to secure victory.
Everyone shook their heads again.
"How can Boruto's fundamentals be this bad?"
Seventh Hokage Naruto couldn't stop himself from speaking.
His son had been completely suppressed in Taijutsu by a ninja from Kirigakure. In the end, Boruto had only managed to win by relying on the power of a Scientific Ninja Tool.
Naruto was deeply dissatisfied.
It wasn't an insurmountable difference in talent. Boruto didn't even have less Chakra than his opponent.
His basic training was simply inadequate.
Had Naruto been in his place, even with his stamina and Chakra reduced to the exact same level, he could have defeated the three Kirigakure siblings with ease.
In Naruto's eyes, Uzumaki Boruto's fundamentals were a complete mess.
His movements were full of openings.
"What the hell did he learn at the Ninja Academy?"
Seventh Hokage Naruto ground his teeth.
Kurama gave a smug snort.
"Hmph. You attended the Ninja Academy too. Don't you already know what they teach there? Were you any stronger than him at that age?"
"My training was disrupted by your Chakra back then. I couldn't learn Ninjutsu properly at all. Besides, I didn't have a father…"
Seventh Hokage Naruto had been about to say that he had grown up without his parents.
There had been no one around to teach him the fundamentals. Even something as basic as tree climbing had been taught to him by Hatake Kakashi.
Elemental transformation techniques had been even further beyond his reach. He hadn't learned much about those until he began training under Jiraiya.
His learning conditions had been terrible.
He had only reached his current heights through relentless effort and a few fortunate advantages.
But what about Uzumaki Boruto?
Both his parents were alive, and he was the Hokage's son.
Sarutobi Konohamaru had been assigned an elite private instructor to teach him the fundamentals when he was young. That alone made it obvious that Uzumaki Boruto's treatment couldn't possibly have been poor.
Yet this was the result of all that privilege.
It was bitterly disappointing.
But as soon as Naruto finished speaking, he realized he might have been unfair to Uzumaki Boruto.
It was difficult to deny that his son's mischievous personality might have come directly from him.
After all, Boruto's grandfather had been gentle and rational, while his mother was kind and virtuous.
It was painfully obvious who Boruto had inherited his temperament from.
And after becoming Hokage, Naruto had rarely been home.
He barely had time to spend with his family. Otherwise, he never would have sent a Shadow Clone to attend his daughter's birthday celebration.
He could perhaps squeeze out half a day or a full day to spend with them.
But teaching Boruto?
When would he ever find the time for that?
One only had to look at Sarutobi Konohamaru's childhood.
Back then, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen had never had time to personally teach his grandson. He had been forced to hire the best instructor he could find.
Konohamaru had also been rebellious and disobedient.
He had wanted to defeat his grandfather and had even followed Naruto around to learn the Sexy Jutsu.
How was that any different from Uzumaki Boruto's eyes lighting up the moment he heard Uchiha Sasuke's name, desperately wanting Sasuke to teach him how to defeat his own father by finding Naruto's weaknesses?
Naruto fell silent for a moment.
He bore an undeniable share of the responsibility for the way Uzumaki Boruto had turned out.
"Kurama, do you think I'm a failure?"
Seventh Hokage Naruto sighed.
"When I was young, I wanted nothing more than to have my mom and dad beside me. I know how painful it is to grow up without parents. But Boruto has a father, and somehow, he's still ended up living as though he doesn't have either parent.
"I must've failed pretty badly as Hokage for things to turn out like this. I think I'm finally beginning to understand how much the Third Hokage suffered back then."
"You're the Hokage. What else is there to say?"
Kurama lay sprawled inside the seal as he spoke.
"Sacrificing yourself for the village is part of the path you chose. I may not be human, but even I understand that you can't have everything both ways. Once you chose this road, you gave up the other possibilities.
"But now that you've recognized the problem, go fix it. Make more time for your family from now on. Boruto needs better guidance, but more importantly, you may encounter that Otsutsuki named Momoshiki in the future.
"I may be forced to use Baryon Mode, and you might die in battle. You may not have much time left to spend with your family."
Kurama continued, his voice steady.
"Do you really need to handle every piece of official business yourself? Delegate the unimportant matters to Shikamaru. He's the Hokage's Assistant. That's part of his responsibility.
"You can also have the Advisory Council deal with more of the insignificant government work.
"You need to leave more time for training and for your family. What the future Shinobi World needs is your combat strength, not your ability to process paperwork.
"Unless you intend to place all your hopes for the future on that brat Boruto."