Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

The Shinden Saga – Arc 3: The Dragon Sage

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Chapter 133 – Otsutsuki Ayaka

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Face to face with the ghost of a distant ancestor in the ruins of Takam, Sasuke Uchiha maintains a calm and respectful attitude, without hiding his confusion.

"Are you afraid, Sasuke Uchiha?" asks Ayaka Otsutsuki to the wanderer. "You seem on your guard, yet unprepared to defend yourself. If I were to attack, you'd barely be of any resistance."

At this provocation, Sasuke squints and gets in a fight stance, but quickly gets at ease when he notices the flirty smile on the former queen's face.

"Don't worry, I can't even harm you." she reassures him. "Without a physical body, and with only the little chakra used to display my soul here, I can barely even use my Dojutsu."

For a moment, the wanderer stares into her most intriguing right eye. It is the first time he sees a celestial with a Mangekyo Sharingan. Since this woman's last statement and odd friendliness are reassuring, Sasuke stops acting tense and gets more talkative.

"You're not my great-great-grandmother." he tells her. "You may be my ancestor, but I'm not Indra. I'm the son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, not Hagoromo Otsutsuki."

"If you say so…" she sassily replies. "May you now tell me the reason for this summoning."

"… I seek answers." Sasuke says. "I have quite an amount of questions, and what you said so far only makes them more numerous. Would you mind giving intel to what you probably consider an inferior life form?"

"Oh, I've died long ago. I'm not bound to any secrets." Ayaka honestly answers. "You may be a puny worshiper, but you still deserve some sort of prize for reaching this place. Judging from the way your eyes devour my facial features, I guess your questions aren't only about history."

"Hm… Yes… Your eyes, and the markings on your face…" he starts asking his questions. "I've seen or heard about them before, but I'm not sure to know. The symbol on your forehead, and the contours of your eyes must be your Sennin Mode."

"Sennin Mode? This is somewhat insulting." she begins an exhaustive explanation. "Only inferior beings would need this to perform Senjutsu. In our clan, it is innate to absorb and control natural energy. The state you see me in right now is far more powerful and difficult to achieve. We call it Shinsen Kata, the sage god transformation. A Sennin absorbs the energy of a planet. We celestials can do that simply by breathing. To become a Shinsen, the natural energy of living worlds isn't enough. You need cosmic energy, the chakra encoded within every fragment of a universe, even complete void. Once you manage to combine natural, bodily and cosmic energy into one, the next step is to study all matter and energy, figure out the roots of creation, and your place in its flow. When you complete this task, you will become able to draw energy from within what connects your soul to your body, and to all that ever existed. This connection is what we call the Rikudo Realm."

She stops her tale for a moment, noticing Sasuke's surprise when this last term is mentioned. Before he can ask a question, she completes her explanation to keep this topic for later.

"Only once you fully merge this realm's energy and yours into one within your body, you become a Shinsen. It is the Otsutsuki's key to what was baptized Shinjutsu, the divine arts. Obviously, it is extremely difficult to master. Only the greatest of us take on such a training, and it usually lasts centuries before completion. So, before you ask, No. It can't be learned by humans."

"… I figured out this transformation was out of reach, but what about Shinjutsu in general?" Sasuke asks.

"Well,… as you may know, the chakra of the RIkudo realm isn't unknown to your kind." she explains. "It is what you refer to as Rikudo chakra. The energy of the Shinju."

"So you mean Rikudo Senjutsu is Shinjutsu?"

"Not exactly. To make it simple, Madara Uchiha had both Rikudo and Sennin chakra, but it wasn't Shinjutsu. Because their Rikudo chakra wasn't found within themselves. It was only the chakra from the Juubi sealed inside them. However, Hagoromo and Kaguya, as well as yourself, managed to achieve a lower form of what could be considered Shinjutsu, thanks to the Rinnegan."

Sasuke just raises an eyebrow to show his confusion, expecting Ayaka to catch on to it and explain, which she does.

"You must have noticed, when you unlocked this eye, that its cost in chakra and body strength was terrible for a human body. This is because it is uniquely fueled by Rikudo chakra, drawn from within you. So, by absorbing natural energy with Gakido, you actually merge it with Rikudo chakra, thus resulting in a simpler form of Shinsen chakra that you use through your visual jutsu. On another note, there is one man on Earth who managed to obtain a form of chakra as pure as Shinjutsu and even surpassed it. It is your brother, Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke is pleasantly surprised by this. But that Naruto's Sennin Mode is basically a Shinsen Kata is not really unexpected. After all, it did take him many years of training multiplied by thousands of clones to master it. He did seemingly draw Rikudo chakra from within himself, and must have unknowingly learned to absorb cosmic energy as well, possibly thanks to the Biju. Considering that he somehow made it his base stage, he could be, in nature, superior to a Shinsen.

However, there is another individual Sasuke thinks of who also must have had Shinjutsu.

"What about Momoshiki Otsutsuki?" he asks. "He is a member of your clan who I believe had the same type of chakra as Naruto. And it became even stronger when he ate his father."

"Ah. These are more perverted methods." Ayaka answers. "This kid spent a thousand years collecting the roots of Shinju that we planted across the universes. Absorbing these trees gave him Rikudo chakra, and his unique Rinnegan made him able to absorb cosmic energy. But when he consumed his father, he exploited a forbidden power. Shigetsu no Juin. It is another ability unique to our clan. By absorbing the whole energy and soul of a fellow, we can fuse it into ourselves, and expand our being. So it is a shortcut to Shinjutsu, but it was made forbidden and turned into a curse by the very founder of our clan. It is not to be debated."

Sasuke agrees with this suggestion. He didn't learn much from what she said, as he mostly already knew about that. Since they are talking about Momoshiki, he doesn't wait any longer to bring up the most important question he has.

"I'd like to know… You're limited in time by your kalpa, but you have ways to reincarnation. Do you know anything about such methods?"

"You must be referring to Onmyo Fushi Tensei, the Yin-Yang Living Corpse Reincarnation. I wouldn't know much about it, as it is rarely put in practice. It requires a host carrying chakra, and no inferior species had that by my time. Besides, it doesn't restore the user's kalpa, so it's only useful if you didn't die from old age, which almost never happened in the past."

"But you do know about it. Is there a way to cancel this reincarnation process?"

"I don't know another way than to simply kill the vessel."

This reply obviously frustrates Sasuke. He spent all this time looking for Takama, only to find out that even here, he won't find any clue to save his son Oshio from Momoshiki's resurrection. Ayaka doesn't mind the silence nor the emotion and goes on with her lesson by explaining another of her facial features that Sasuke probably would like to know about, considering his bloodline.

"I guess you might want to ask about my Sharingan." she suggests. "To be honest, I'll enjoy explaining it to you, for I can't deny how frustrating it is to hear my descendants mislabel everything. Just… Try to tell what you think you know about this Dojutsu."

"Well…" Sasuke leaves his thoughts aside and answers. "Until now, I thought it was a Dojutsu unique to the Uchiha clan that descended from the Rikudo-Sennin's Rinnegan."

"Not completely wrong." she interrupts. "Coincidentally, the eyes of that kid, Hagoromo, were the same as those of our founding ancestor." she adds, staring at the largest statue of the hall. "The Sharingan, before Indra, was unique to the Otsutsuki clan."

"I see… So you also awakened a Mangekyo Sharingan through hatred and sorrow." Sasuke says, unsure.

"Ha! Wrong!." she interrupts him again. "Only you, Uchiha, bear this curse of hatred. Do you really think divine beings would rely on vile and negative emotions to improve? Unlike you, I was born with the Sharingan. To make it evolve, I learned to see, hear and sense with the eye. I perfected its senses until seeing only the truth. And so it became what we call a Tenjo Sharingan, or Heavenly Sharingan, for it is a heavenly eye that sees the truth of all creation without obstruction."

This last sentence, Sasuke heard it before, but to describe the Mangekyo Sharingan. It must have been part of the writing on the Uchiha clan's tablet. Judging from its origins, it was probably added by Kurozetsu. But if only the Uchiha need to suffer to get these eyes, does that mean the curse of hatred is, to some extent, an actual curse?

"Are our eyes really the same Dojutsu?" Sasuke asks. "If not through hate, how did you unlock it?"

"I did mention the Rikudo Realm, right?" she asks, surprising Sasuke. "When I said I trained my sight to see the truth, I meant to catch a glimpse of this place inside me again. In this realm, I fashioned a new eye enclosing a unique ability. It is similar to how you awakened Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi, except in your case it was just a subconscious answer to your will. I made my own power, a reflection of my mind and body's divinity. Also, unlike the Uchiha, we don't make our own eyes blind just by using them."

"And what is that unique ability?" Sasuke dares to ask, ignoring her mockery.

"Oyamatsumi." she frankly replies while pointing a finger to the overlapping mountains visible far away. "It allows me to manipulate any mass into what I define as a flow. Be it a flow of water like an ocean, a flow of inorganic matter like a chain of mountains, a flow of meteors, or even a flow of living beings such as a battling army. This jutsu is unique to me. I created it."

The Uchiha stays silent for a while, to hide his surprise. This ability sounds greatly superior to any Uchiha's. But even though Oyamatsumi is intriguing, it doesn't keep Sasuke's attention for long. Learning about the Otsutsuki's Sharingan has made him curious about Tokubei Otsutsuki, the man he fought 4 years ago.

"What about Susanoo?" he asks. "Do your eyes also give you this power?"

"Of course, those with a pair of Sharingan could unlock Susanoo." she answers before getting realistic. "But few are those who actually chose to engrave this ability in their eyes. You see, as time passed, Susanoo became mostly a weapon. Celestials, for most, are not interested in brute force. We pursue divinity, the power to bend minds, bodies and fate, not spill blood and destroy landscapes."

Obviously, Sasuke doesn't get much information about Tokubei from this. At least he learns that him having Susanoo isn't really that surprising. But it's certainly not this woman who'll tell him what connection he has to Itachi or Indra. Seeing him thoughtful once again, Ayaka completes her response to make it more informative.

"Yet the Tenjo Sharingan also comes with common and practical skills. One who has peeked within the Rikudo realm by the only power of his sight will see the paths in-between universes open for him. This ability, Chimatakami, is much more interesting than Susanoo to us. Every Tenjo Sharingan user can open its rifts, but the Uchiha can't. Probably because, unlike our eyes, their Sharingan isn't perfect in detail. It doesn't have straight tomoe."

"My Sharingan actually does." Sasuke corrects her. "It is rare and difficult to notice, but my eyes are perfectly aligned and symmetric."

Intrigued by this, Ayaka comes closer to Sasuke and takes a better look at his right eye.

"Oh, indeed, it seems they are. I guess this makes it a Tenjo Sharingan." she recognizes, still wondering whether this is because he took them from Itachi, or because he is Indra's successor. "In that case, your body was simply too weak to support Chimatakami. Luckily for you, it is also an ability offered by your Rinnegan."

"That's why I thought it was a Rinnegan ability." Sasuke makes another remark. "That it also requires a straight tomoe Sharingan could explain why the Rikudo-Sennin never discovered Chimatakami, but not why Madara didn't. He had eyes just like mine."

"No he did not." she explains now about his other Dojutsu. "His Sharingan may have been like yours, but not his Rinnegan. Yours evolved from your own Tenjo Sharingan and inherited its abilities, making it a Tenjo Rinnegan, bearing 6 tomoe. Madara never had his own Rinnegan. He only forcibly inherited those of that other kid, Hagoromo."

Sasuke makes a disturbed face for a moment. Ayaka is obviously much older and wiser than the Rikudo-Sennin, but to hear such a young looking figure refer to Hagoromo as a kid sure is awkward. Her explanation makes sense though. The only question he has left about his Rinnegan would be about its difference with Oshio's.

"My son has a Rinnegan just like mine, but with only 3 tomoe, and not 6." he says. "Is there a meaning to this?"

"Of course there is." Ayaka answers. "Your son's blood, body or Tenjo Sharingan must have been too weak to support 6 tomoe. The 3 he has represent the powers of his Sharingan that are forged into his Rinnegan. The 3 more you have are distinctive of a unique power. Ameno Tejikara was, believe it or not, the ability of the Rinne-Sharingan of the great Otsutsuki-sama, founder of my clan." she stays silent for a moment, staring at the greatest statue once again with Sasuke. "In her case, the 3 more that make it the famous 9-tomoe Rinne-Sharingan represent the absolute sight of this unique Dojutsu. Its ability to see not only within your own self, but within every soul and body that exists. No nature or realm is unknown to it."

"So the Rinne-Sharingan is really a totally different Dojutsu…" Sasuke whispers, taking it as he'll never suddenly unlock 3 more tomoe. "What about my Rinnegan? Did anyone you know have something similar?"

"Sadly, I was never offered the gift to awaken my own Rinnegan." Ayaka complains. "Not that it matters, but the Rinnegan was made a forbidden jutsu in the 3rd age anyway. To answer your question, you surprisingly have the same eye as my mother, Otonobe."

She now looks at the statue right behind her own. A tiny woman with capricorn horns circling and crossing around the back of her skull. She has what seems to be a third eye on her forehead, but it is only a Byakugan. Her eye sockets both have Rinnegan identical to Sasuke's. A pair of Tenjo Rinnegan. This makes him wonder why he only awakened one.

"She didn't have the same ability as yours." she says. "She had Ameno Minaka, another absolute space-time power. But unlike you, she had a pair, which made her able to use it as well as if she had a Rinne-Sharingan. My belief is that your human body is too weak to withstand 2 of these eyes. You'd need to upgrade your body to be as tough as a celestial's to potentially awaken your second eye. Do you think it's possible?"

Unwilling to use such treachery, or rely on power stolen from a world or divine tree, Sasuke slowly shakes his head to deny this possibility. Now, all he gets from this conversation is frustration and a feeling of inferiority. To bypass this feeling, he focuses on other questions he has, that aren't about powers.

She looked at the greatest statue quite a lot of times, and called it the founder of the Otsutsuki clan. She also referred to a 2nd and 3rd divine age. This reminds him of what he expected to find here, besides a way to save Oshio. So to start another discussion, he looks at the biggest statue again.

"You're finally getting to the reason why you came here." Ayaka comments.

"The history of this world." Sasuke declares.

"Don't look at this statue so much." the former queen advises. "I won't tell you about her. I don't think you deserve to know the story of the founders. Not even all the Otsutsuki know it nowadays."

"May I at least know why there are 3 hallways?" Sasuke asks. "I've read somewhere that there was more than one celestial clan. Does each hall belong to a different clan?"

"… Exactly." she accepts just to answer his question. "There were 3 great celestial families, descending from the elders of all creations."

Pointing to the hall with the shortest line of statues in the distance, she says "Oenki". Then, showing the longest range of only masculine figures, "Mominoki". And finally looking at the great statue of this corridor again "Otsutsuki."

"The statues represent all the sovereigns of each clan since their founding. The greatest statues are the founders. They created the 3 clans and guided them until leaving the realm of the living, which we later considered the end of the 1st divine age. They are unmatched entities. No matter how powerful you can portray someone to be, they were above."

"I've only heard of one leader." Sasuke adds, unable to contain his interrogations. "To introduce yourself, you used the term Queen sister. But I've only heard of one Queen Mother. The mother of Kaguya. Where is she?"

"She was Tamayori Otsutsuki." Ayaka sadly says. "My younger sister."

This answer sure confuses Sasuke. Earlier, Ayaka said that Enotsuki, Kaguya's father, is her son. And now, her sister is Kaguya's mother? Only way this is possible is if Kaguya's parents are aunt and nephew.

"To answer this, there is one tale I have to tell." she says. "How the 2nd age ended. In other words, how our crimes led to the near extinction of Oenki and Mominoki."

"Could you, please, tell this story?" Sasuke demands.

Ayaka looks down and roams around for a few seconds before sitting down, legs crossed, back to back with her own statue. She invites Sasuke to sit next to her as he listens to her tale. Both resting, they face all the statues of the Otsutsuki clan, and the massive hole between the 3 temples.

"3-… No. Over 4,000 years ago, the 3 clans' leaders, including myself, ignored the great rules of the ancestors, and betrayed the Shinju's uniqueness." Ayaka begins.

"The Shinju?" Sasuke interrupts the starting tale. "I've seen one of your clansmen plant a garden of these. Was this tree originally unique?"

"Yes. The founders were unequaled by their descendants. Yet there was one thing above them. The divine tree. It was a single sacred root in the past." she answers, before slowly raising her arm to point at the giant canyon. "This is where it was planted, within the soil of the first planet to revolve around the center of this universe. It was here as a lookout tower over all of creation, as an avatar of the Taikyo, the Absolute Spirit, the one almighty that created everything. The planetary Gudodama floating above us are empty remains of its power… It is us who experimented with its roots. We found a way to section its branches and, out of curiosity, went across universes to plant these pieces on different planets."

The wandering ninja looks at the hole, astonished. This hole seems at least as wide as one of the 5 great nations. How could one single tree be planted here? More importantly, what Ayaka just said implies that all the roots Momoshiki planted on Earth, and all those he consumed, were actually made 4 millenia earlier. One of the celestials of this age must have come to Earth to plant the tree from which Kaguya got her fruit.

"The Shinju that was here on Takama was actually the only connection of the Taikyo to its creation." She keeps explaining her tale. "To punish our clueless crime, it reflected the eye in its highest flower onto the Uchuukaku, center of the universe." She now looks up to the massive blinding golden star in the sky. "Its shine spread through all this universe in an instant and dried all living things, including celestials, of their energy."

"This sounds like Mugen Tsukuyomi." Sasuke thinks to himself. "But rather than using a moon as a mirror, it used the largest star ever and trapped the entire universe. An entire universe, way larger than my own, gone in an instant… And with no difference between simple ants and gods…". Terrified by his thoughts, he keeps listening to Ayaka.

"When we returned from our travels, we found an empty universe. We could sense the chakra of those who disappeared remaining in the Shinju. This was only a punishment from the Taikyo, intended to be undone if we fixed our wrongs. But arrogant and idiotic as we were, we refused to comply. Instead, Oenki, Mominoki and Otsutsuki worked together to free the captured lives without recognizing our crime… We were foolish to think the Shinju would not react again. Using all the lives it absorbed, it transformed into a sentient creature. A one-eyed avatar, emissary of chaos and order, invoked to bring doom. The Bijuu."

"You mean the Juubi?" Sasuke mistakenly corrects.

"Not exactly. Juubi are non-conscient creatures that come to life with a similar process, but they're only light fragments of this beast." Ayaka precises. "Also, they are called Juubi because they have 10 tails. The Bijuu is a tailed titan but its number of tails is non logic. It could be one or an infinity."

"… What happened to this creature?" the ninja asks.

"It had been summoned to make us give up on saving our doomed fellows." Ayaka goes on. "It once again silently waited for us to undo our crimes and destroy the roots we've planted. The Mominoki's prince, Zetsuki, was willing to comply, but Jakotsu and I were too stubborn and egoistic. We refused and forced the beast to take action, by destroying us… Of course, no matter how godly we were, even all at once, we were no match for this monster. What you see around you on this planet is the eternal aftermath of this battle. As we were all just pointlessly dying to this creature, we were rescued by another ascended entity. The Dragon Emperor."

"The Ryu Shinsen?" Sasuke asks, trying to connect this to his knowledge.

"Not the Ryu Shinsen. The Ryu Tenno. The reincarnating soul of the emperor of dragons. Spirit of nature and time." she explains. "The dragon god of the Ryugu-Jo. His latest incarnation had, unlike his past selves, chosen a disciple among celestials to whom he taught to manipulate its energy. This disciple was my son. Enotsuki Otsutsuki, the first Ryu Shinsen. The Ryu Tenno, existing in a dimension out of the Taikyo's reach, gave us shelter and elaborated a plan to save our pride. This plan was to seal the Bijuu with the one and only dragon force that could affect it… The rulers of the Oenki and Mominoki clans had fallen, so I was the only sovereign left. By chance, I still had my son with me, and my first sister, Tamayori. Enotsuki was chosen as the seal holder, together with his master. And I was selected to be the vessel of the creature."

"So you became the jinchuriki of the Bijuu?"

"This was the plan. But unfortunately, as soon as we left the Ryugu-jo and returned to Takama, the Bijuu showed us its superior intellect. With what felt like a simple thought, it transported everyone to another dimension that it immediately terminated with everything inside. I was killed at that moment. Tamayori, only one out of range of the beast's space-time jutsu, chose to save one person. Enotsuki. Together with the Dragon Emperor, my son sealed the Bijuu in his aunt, making her the first ever Jinchuriki in my place, able to drain into the sealed beast's power. This made her an entity mightier than the Dragon Emperor himself, on par with the grand founders."

"So she is the all-mother that Kaguya mentioned in her notes…" Sasuke thinks.

"Having become the creature of all torments herself, she convinced Enotsuki to start a new genesis. Luckily they weren't all alone. It was systematic in our clan to let the children be taught by nurses in other dimensions and worlds. After reuniting all those who remained, Tamayori created a new Takama in another dimension and settled the clan there. So she became the new sovereign of all things, and made Enotsuki the Otsutsuki king in what is known as the 3rd age."

"Sorry to cut your tale short, but I only needed to know who the Queen Mother was." Sasuke interrupts. "Now, I'd like to know how the clan ends up being led by another Ryu Shinsen nowadays. I've found clues saying that your sister was also defeated. Is that true?"

"Hm!" Ayaka lightly laughs, reminded of her sister's downfall. "Of course, Tamayori, perverted by her power, was far more egoistic than I could ever be. When such a selfish tyranny is installed, it's only a matter of time before someone makes it fall. It was only 1200 years ago that the 3rd age came to a precipitous end."

Sasuke looks at her attentively, knowing that he will now get to hear about those who rule the clan nowadays.

"Even though its avatar had been sealed, the Taikyo still had limited control over its roots. So as a defense mechanism, in an attempt to one day make its liberation possible, it absorbed the chakra of the worlds it was planted on. So every millennium, it grew a fruit that would give a fragment of its power to the consumer. Eternal youth and Immortality. Tamayori already had that gift, but not Enotsuki. So when a fruit was found on planet Earth while he was nearing his end, my son sent his first child, Kaguya, to find it for him. You know how this ended. Kaguya found the fruit but betrayed her clan, took it for herself and made Earth her kingdom. But even with this, Kaguya knew she was still nothing compared to Tamayori, so she hid herself and her world away for as long as she could. It worked long enough for Enotsuki to grow old and near a natural death. Kaguya was eventually found. The members of the clan, willing to bring an end to Tamayori's reign, chose to rebel before she could catch her daughter."

"How did they defeat her?" Sasuke thinks, eager to know.

"This revolution was inspired by the ideal of one person, my youngest sister Momoko Otsutsuki." Ayaka explains. "She didn't take part in the battle against the Bijuu and served as a nurse for the young at the time. Refusing to submit to Tamayori's reign, she fled and worked until death to erase the roots of Shinju that we refused to take back. Following this rebellious ideal, the fall of Tamayori was orchestrated mainly by 6 individuals among the clan. Ohirume Otsutsuki, the queen's own tactician, planned everything but paid for her treason with her life during the ultimate battle. Momoshiki, son of Momoko, carried out his mother's will and initiated the conflict. Naobi Otsutsuki, a prodigy whose potential worried even Tamayori, led the fight to victory. Jashin Oenki, last survivor of his clan, delivered the fatal blow that broke Tamayori's seal and killed her. Isshiki Otsutsuki, second disheired son of Tamayori and Enotsuki, got his revenge on his father. My son, at that time, was weakened by age, but had also been robbed from his power. Yamitsuki Otsutsuki, a simple clansman among others at the time, took his place as disciple of the Ryu Tenno, and became the new Ryu Shinsen…"

"And so Yamitsuki Otsutsuki became the ruler of the 4th age?" Sasuke guesses. "Can you tell me more about him?"

"Even though he perpetuates the uncharacteristic masculinity of the ruler, Yamitsuki is doubtlessly the mightiest there is." she says. "In all honesty, omitting Tamayori and the founders, he is certainly the most powerful celestial I've ever seen. He could rival such beings on his own with his abilities. I myself don't think I can compare to him. The most surprising aspect of his power is that he never even relied on energy stolen from the remains of Shinju, like Momoshiki or Kaguya did."

"What about the teaching of the Ryu Tenno?" Sasuke asks. "What does it give him exactly?"

"Remember what I told you about Shinsen Kata?" she says. "Well, the Ryu Shinsen is, compared to a Shinsen, what a sage is to average ninjas. Added to the inherited abilities and traits of the dragon kind, he can absorb and manipulate chakra with no spatial limits, from physical spaces that exist even out of creation. I don't think you'd even be able to sense his chakra."

Sasuke stays quiet to think for a moment. He's seen a dragon before, when Katashiki sent one after them in Ryuka. If he remembers correctly, he couldn't sense its chakra either. Even Naruto couldn't. So Yamitsuki, ruler of the Otsutsuki clan, must have the same type of chakra as this dragon, yet as a celestial who's base power must be on par with Momoshiki or Kaguya… Besides, he still doesn't know anything about his abilities. He must be who Toneri warned him about.

Interrupting the silence, Ayaka gives one last detail about the Dragon Sage.

"As the Ryu Shinsen, he also inherits the longer kalpa and life expectancy of the dragons. However this is, in Yamitsuki's case, more a curse than a blessing, as it will only force him to live through the extinction of his kind."

"What?" Sasuke comments, particularly curious about that last sentence and what it may mean.

"Did I not mention this? The consequences of my sister's sin." Ayaka answers.

What Sasuke is about to learn is, to him, the key to the celestial's complete extinction. However, what he doesn't know is that the Otsutsuki clan is already aware of his whereabouts. Just by summoning the soul of Ayaka, he inadvertently alerted the Shinden.

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End of Chapter 133 – Next Chapter: Boruto and Toneri