Looking at the panel displaying "Write Successful," Isshiki returned to his body parameter page.
As expected, the Technique Contamination level had changed to 31.0%.
Meanwhile, the Number of Techniques now showed "1."
The "+" symbol after it hadn't disappeared either, which meant his carrying capacity still hadn't reached its limit.
After committing his other parameters to memory, Isshiki returned to the divine technique list page and carefully noted down all the effects of the techniques he'd unlocked.
This was knowledge rarely accessible under normal circumstances, something only the main family's nobles could freely view. It could be considered an unspoken perk granted by the clan to geniuses who possessed high-purity Byakugan.
---
On a suspended, pure white road.
Isshiki and the others, having just finished the divine technique writing process, followed their guide toward the final stop before the tree-planting mission began.
"Watch your step and don't fall. I don't feel like running back to fish someone out."
The guide offered a brief warning, then led them through a fixed spacetime teleportation gate at the end of the white road.
The surrounding environment changed abruptly. In an instant, they crossed space and arrived at the place known as the Plantation, the cultivation ground for God Tree seeds.
It was an artificial asteroid floating within a dark purple stellar ring.
Its surface was covered in honeycomb-shaped cold white alloy plates. Every hexagonal metal plate pulsed with faint blue chakra patterns.
Spread out before them was a hemispherical zone with a diameter exceeding ten thousand kilometers. Beneath the dome, supported by a metallic framework, floated more than a hundred massive cultivation tanks.
Each tank was wrapped in two transparent layers.
The inner layer was a pale golden biological gel, within which juvenile Ten-Tails curled up, the tips of their tails continuously absorbing nutrients from the gel. The outer layer was a specially made chakra-aggregation membrane. It filtered harmful radiation while converting the abundant stellar radiation outside into biological energy.
Through the transparent observation window along the edge of the dome, Isshiki could also see the scene on the other side of the asteroid.
There stood a hazy planet covered in a thin white film, looming against the pitch-black backdrop of space.
Clearly, they had arrived outside the clan's home planet.
"As you can see, we're currently in outer space. What you're standing on is an extraterrestrial satellite created through divine techniques jointly used by the Council and the nobles. It's also responsible for cultivating God Tree seeds."
"Oh right, those tanks floating outside all contain God Tree seedlings."
The guide spoke without slowing his pace, leading Isshiki and the others swiftly through the complex metal corridors.
Urashiki wore a puzzled expression and asked, "The main family really spared no expense. But why not build the plantation directly on the home planet? Wouldn't that be more convenient?"
"Why is it always you? Why do you have so many questions?"
The guide frowned impatiently. Though clearly annoyed, his duties forced him to answer, so he gave a curt explanation.
"Because the home planet has already been covered by the White Realm, these God Tree seedlings, which require full exposure to stellar energy, were placed on this satellite instead. As for the White Realm, that's also a divine technique. I don't know its exact effects either, so don't ask."
The guide suddenly stopped in front of a massive door, deftly entered a password, and then carried out an iris-scan verification. With a low mechanical hum, the metal door slowly slid open.
Inside stood another guide responsible for leading this batch of Guardians. Clearly, they had been waiting here for quite some time.
"You're way too slow. Hurry up, finish assigning teams and seeds, and get back to submit the mission."
"What's the rush? I've got so many procedures on my side. Being a bit slower than you is only normal."
The two guides were obviously well acquainted. The moment they met, they started bickering openly, without the slightest concern for those around them.
While they were talking, Urashiki nudged Isshiki with his elbow.
"Hey, Isshiki, look over there. That clanswoman has two horns. There's actually a main family member among this generation of Guardians."
Following his gaze, Isshiki indeed spotted a clanswoman with twin horns, her long white hair nearly reaching her feet.
However, he showed no particular interest and replied to Urashiki, "So what if she's from the main family? She's not a noble. What's there to make a fuss about?"
Unlike the Hyūga clan, within the Ōtsutsuki clan there was no significant distinction between the so-called main and branch families. It was merely a label of identity.
The only thing that truly determined one's status was the innate purity of their Byakugan.
Thus, situations where a main family member with low Byakugan purity served as a Guardian for a branch family member with high purity weren't outrageous, just relatively rare.
Generally speaking, due to the small number of main family members, even those born with impure Byakugan could choose to serve as attendants to main family nobles, using that position to avoid the tree-planting mission altogether.
Thinking of this, Isshiki couldn't help but cast a discreet glance at the main family woman not far away.
He guessed she had probably gotten on the wrong side of some main family noble, which forced her to take part in the tree-planting mission and leave the home world to gamble on a different future. If that were truly the case, it would be best for him to keep his distance from her. He'd heard that power struggles within the main family were especially brutal.
As a branch family member, he already had a smooth path to advancement through the Council. It would be wiser not to get entangled in such matters. Yet fate had a way of playing cruel jokes. The more you tried to avoid something, the more it insisted on coming your way.
That woman was indeed the Guardian assigned to him by the clan.
Isshiki lowered his head slightly, his expression as cold as frost, dark and intimidating.
Carefully putting away the cylindrical spacetime container holding ten juvenile Ten-Tails, he turned to look at the tree-planting teammate who had remained silent from the very beginning.
"What's your name?"
"Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."
Kaguya remained silent for a few seconds before answering softly.
Her voice was pleasant, but her overall demeanor was the complete opposite of Urashiki's. She radiated an oppressive air of someone utterly unskilled at communication.
Isshiki's brows knit almost imperceptibly, a flash of scrutiny passing through his eyes.
"I am Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. As you can see, I'm from the branch family. I don't care what reason you had for becoming a Guardian. My only requirement is that you obey my orders absolutely. Understood?"
He spoke each word deliberately, every syllable like a heavy hammer striking the air.
Kaguya listened quietly, offered no extra words, and simply nodded. A few strands of pure white hair on her chest swayed gently with the motion. Seeing this, Isshiki let out a subtle breath of relief. She wasn't a troublemaker. The upcoming mission should proceed more smoothly.
Then, as if recalling something, he asked, "Since you're from the main family, you should also have had a chance to write in a divine technique. Tell me now. What is your divine technique?"
"My technique..."
Kaguya lightly pressed her lips together. There was a hint of hesitation in her voice. She had indeed once written a divine technique into herself. This had nothing to do with the purity of the Byakugan, but was simply a benefit reserved for those belonging to the main family.
That was because the Garden had been established by sacrificing the body of a main family member who possessed both the divine techniques Kāma and Ōkuninushi.
Therefore, every member of the main family was granted a single opportunity after birth to inscribe one divine technique there.
"My divine technique is Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack."
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack?"
Isshiki froze for a moment. Good thing he had asked.
According to the intelligence obtained from the Garden, Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack was different from the function-oriented Kāma. It was a purely offensive divine technique.
Even though its rank was very low, it would still be more than enough to easily obliterate someone like him, someone who hadn't consumed any chakra fruits yet.
In other words, a "protected one" like himself was actually weaker than his own protector.
Recalling what that main family noble had said to him before, he seriously suspected that the Kaguya standing before him, someone whose heart he could not read, was the very future calamity he had unknowingly invited.
He cast a deep look at Kaguya, who had lowered her head and eyes, then turned around and walked out with steady steps.
"It's getting late. Let's depart."
---
Isshiki was an Ōtsutsuki who firmly believed in the supremacy of strength.
After learning of Kaguya's divine technique, he wasted no time and immediately headed toward the target star system provided by the main family's scouts.
Upon arrival, he discovered that the planet harbored no intelligent civilization whatsoever, making his first cultivation mission unexpectedly smooth.
Throughout the entire process, Kaguya also cooperated fully, offering up her body.
Of course, don't get the wrong idea. It was offered as nourishment for the Ten-Tails' juvenile form.
With the aid of Isshiki's Kāma seal for conversion and the life force fed back by the Ten-Tails, Kaguya successfully restored the half of her body that had been devoured.
After delivering the first fruit borne by the God Tree to the main family, and after an extremely long wait, the second fruit finally ripened.
Although much of the planet's energy had already been drained, resulting in a chakra fruit of inferior quality, it was still more than sufficient to complete a first-stage evolution.
Isshiki forcefully suppressed the excitement surging within him and swallowed the heart-red fruit in just a few bites. The evolution of the Ōtsutsuki clan was rapid and straightforward, with no elaborate transitional process.
In just a few seconds, he could clearly feel the astonishing changes taking place within his body.
This first consumption of the fruit completed his genetic structure to a far greater degree. Such a dramatic enhancement would be nearly impossible to replicate in the future unless he could obtain a chakra fruit of unimaginably high quality. In theory, he could now choose whether or not to awaken the Tenseigan and acquire a divine technique of his own.
But...
He glanced at Kaguya, who stood quietly in the distance, gazing at the starry sky.
Over the century-long mission, she had shown no sign of betrayal and had followed orders faithfully the entire time.
Thus, he decided to proceed according to his original plan. For the time being, he would not undergo "fusion evolution" to awaken the Tenseigan. Instead, he would pursue the alternative path with a higher upper limit, natural evolution.
That meant advancing toward the two evolutionary branches: the Kokugan and the Tenseigan. The former offered greater resistance to divine technique corruption, while the latter altered and enhanced the very nature of his chakra.
If, in the future, he could continue to harvest high-quality chakra fruits, both branches would hold a slim, almost negligible chance of evolving into the eye that the entire Ōtsutsuki clan dreamed of...
The Jōgan.
"This planet has been drained dry. Let's go. On to the next nursery."
As he departed, Isshiki's eyes were filled with disdain for the exhausted planet.
Kaguya quietly lowered her gaze, said nothing, and followed behind Isshiki in silence, like a shadow that would never resist.
---
Over the long span of tens of thousands of years that followed, the operational partnership formed by Isshiki and Kaguya, relying on their highly efficient coordination and execution, faced a succession of tree-planting missions assigned by their superiors.
No matter how harsh or complex the geographical conditions were, they repeatedly fulfilled the God Tree cultivation quotas with an exceptional sense of duty and professional competence, becoming, without exaggeration, an outstanding model in the field of tree planting.
And Isshiki, at last, evolved the long-awaited Kokugan.
With his overwhelmingly powerful strength, he was officially approved to join the Council, thereby gaining access to a portion of the bodily cells of Shibai.
At the same time, his clearance within the Garden was raised to Level I, allowing him to inscribe two powerful divine techniques he had coveted for a long time into his own body.
Armed with formidable combat power and walking the path of natural evolution, Isshiki's status within the clan rose meteorically. Even Momoshiki, whom he once had to look up to, could no longer exert much pressure over him in terms of rank or status.
It was also worth mentioning that over these ten thousand years, Kaguya had never once committed any act of overstepping her bounds toward him. As the gap in their strength grew ever wider, he believed that even if Kaguya truly intended to do something, it would amount to nothing more than a joke at his expense.
He even began to suspect that Momoshiki's words back then had merely been casual deception, meant to stir his anxiety and curiosity about his future fate, pushing him to accept the recruitment offer. It seemed that the time had come to loosen some restrictions a little. For example, rewarding Kaguya with a few chakra fruits of slightly inferior quality.
After all, for someone serving as his guardian to possess nothing but a shabby Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack divine technique was simply an embarrassment to him. With these thoughts in mind, he emerged from a different dimension together with Kaguya.
He looked down upon the azure planet standing proudly in the middle of the black universe.
The sheer abundance of this planet was something he had never encountered before, even with the experience of a high-ranking Ōtsutsuki.
At a single glance, Isshiki had already made up his mind. The first chakra fruit nurtured by this planet would be his.
But when he remembered the quota of fruits that had to be submitted to the main family on schedule, Isshiki subtly cast a sidelong glance at Kaguya.
In an instant, a bold and insane thought took root in his mind.
Should he turn Kaguya into a fresh chakra fruit and use it to deceive the main family?
After all, chakra fruits were very much like ordinary fruit. Unless processed into pills, they could not be preserved for long. The inspectors from the main family could tell at a glance whether a fruit had been harvested recently. Even storing it within Daikokuten made no difference.
In his view, if he truly wanted to pull the wool over their eyes, turning Kaguya into a fruit seemed to be the best solution. Yet, recalling their partnership of tens of thousands of years, he still hesitated somewhat at the thought of taking such a ruthless step.
In the end, he chose another method, one that was slightly more risky.
"Kaguya." Isshiki slowly turned around, looking at her with a complicated expression. "I have a plan. It will require your cooperation."
Hearing this, Kaguya lifted her eyes and quietly met Isshiki's gaze. She said nothing, only gave a nod.