Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 473 Mother Tree and Divine Throne

"This is the home planet of the Otsutsuki clan..."

Otsutsuki Kumo's feet were slightly off the ground, and he floated forward on the hard, smooth, lifeless road in an almost suspended state, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

This home planet was called "Kami-za" by the Otsutsuki clan.

As far as the eye could see, there were no natural landforms, no mountains, no rivers, no forests, and not even any earth.

There was only a flat, mirror-like, pure white ground that stretched to the horizon, reflecting the soft light from the sky and the blurry outlines of the towering buildings on both sides.

On the ground, there are fine, regular patterns. Every now and then, streaks of light converge from afar, silently sweep along these patterns, and then disperse and flow again at a certain point.

After these streams of light come into contact with the buildings on both sides of the road, they meander upwards along the same patterns that cover the building surfaces, disappearing into the depths of the buildings, seemingly supplying them with energy.

On the road, figures of various shapes and sizes walked, their faces smooth and without features, their bodies made of the same slightly warm and lustrous white material, and light also swept across their bodies.

These are the puppets serving the Otsutsuki clan, each carrying out pre-set instructions and performing cleaning and maintenance.

As the Otsutsuki Cloud Style hovered low overhead, the puppets stopped what they were doing, turned one by one in his direction, bowed, and only resumed their actions after he had left.

The whole world is like a super-giant integrated circuit board magnified to the scale of a planet.

Whether it's roads, buildings, or these puppets, they are all part of this planet, like nodes and pathways on an integrated circuit board.

Tranquil, orderly, efficient, and cold.

And at the core of this planet...

Otsutsuki Yunshiki raised his head, his gaze passing over the towering spires of the buildings, and looking towards a more distant place.

There, a "tree" stands.

A tree that spans the heavens and the earth, so large that its entirety cannot be seen at a glance, and is beyond imagination.

Its trunk resembles a giant white pillar supporting the heavens and the earth. Even from such a distance, one can still feel its breathtaking size and sense its ancient and vast aura.

The tree trunk also shimmered with light, but it was far more intense and powerful than the light on the ground, like the tree's veins flowing into the sky above, which radiated a soft glow.

That is the "mother tree" of the Otsutsuki clan.

The light flowing across the ground, buildings, and even the puppet servants is the energy transmission pipeline connecting the roots of this "mother tree".

The boundless canopy of trees, which covered the entire sky, was now emitting a soft golden glow, illuminating the entire planet.

Based on Ōtsutsuki's observations, he was quite certain that the reason the "Mother Tree" emitted light was because she was "exhaling," which also brought "daylight."

As it begins to "inhale," the light from the canopy gradually dims, leaving only a few leaves shimmering like stars, and then "night" descends.

The Otsutsuki clan, who live on this planet, determine day and night by observing the "breathing" of their mother tree, and their time is remarkably similar to the day and night cycle of the ninja world.

Suddenly, the Ōtsutsuki's cloud-like figure paused slightly.

The puppet that had been leading the way for him stopped in front of a similarly simple cube-shaped building.

Crack...

With a soft, smooth sound, the building's smooth surface silently slid to one side, revealing soft interior light and a simple layout.

Inside the gate, eight puppets, resembling the guide, stood in two rows on the left and right, bowing slightly to the Otsutsuki Kumoshiki outside the gate, their movements perfectly synchronized.

"Lord Yun, this is the temporary residence assigned to us by our family based on your bloodline privileges."

The guiding puppet ahead turned around, its voice clear and steady, devoid of any emotion: "We are very close to the 'Mother Tree' here, which will be of assistance to you..."

"These are trivial matters, and they are not important."

Otsutsuki Yun impatiently interrupted the puppet's formulaic introduction, his tone carrying the impatience and indifference common to the Otsutsuki clan.

“Tell me…” His pure white eyes looked at the puppet, “when can I set off to plant divine trees on other planets?”

The guiding puppet's bowing posture remained unchanged, and its voice remained steady and respectful: "Your noble lineage and will have passed the resonance test of the 'Mother Tree'."

"Once you are ready, you can apply for the mission and tree species at any time."

It paused for a moment, then continued, "However, according to the supreme laws and regulations, there are a few basic principles that need to be clarified to you."

"While there are not many rules and regulations governing the sowing of seeds, it is strictly forbidden for members of the same clan to kill each other. Violation of this rule will result in inescapable punishment."

"In addition, when traveling to other planets to carry out seeding missions, it is required that two people travel together. You have not yet registered any direct 'subordinates' or 'servants'."

"You can choose to wait for the subsequent allocation of 'family members', or you can submit an application if you already have someone in mind."

Upon hearing this, Otsutsuki Kumoshiki frowned, seemingly sensing some trouble, and replied, "Understood."

Having said that, he ignored the puppet that was still bowing and floated straight into the open doorway, his white robes fluttering slightly.

After he entered, the smooth doorway slid shut silently again, perfectly, as if it had never been opened.

The puppet outside the door only slowly straightened up and turned to leave in the direction it had come from, disappearing from sight, once the door was completely closed.

Inside the dwelling, the suspended Otsutsuki cloud slowly descended, and the feet touched the smooth, warm ground.

Successful.

His gaze swept around, across the simple, empty, pure white space.

Furniture such as sofas, tables, chairs, and beds are all integrated with the architecture, and are more like extensions or protrusions of the architecture.

Apart from that, there was almost nothing else, except for the soft bands of light that flowed slowly across the walls and dome, providing illumination and energy, and the air was clean and at a constant temperature.

There was no hidden surveillance, no prying activity.

Of course, it's also possible that it was hidden so well that no one noticed it, but Otsutsuki Kumoshiki is more convinced that there was no surveillance at all.

The Otsutsuki clan's screening of outsiders and their acceptance criteria for "fellow clansmen" were simpler and more direct than he had anticipated.

Or rather...

"Arrogance?"

Otsutsuki Kumoshiki narrowed his eyes slightly as he pondered the intelligence he had gathered along the way.

In some ways, the Otsutsuki clan can be considered the darlings of the universe and the chosen ones of destiny.

The Otsutsuki clan's home planet, the one they stand on, is a planet called "Kami-za" (God's Throne), and it is not a planet like Earth.

It is actually a star.

Yes, a "sun" that should have been burning for billions of years with an internal temperature of tens of millions of degrees.

However, that "mother tree," with its unimaginably vast root system, deeply penetrated and transformed the entire star's core and radiation layer.

In a way that transcends common sense, it tamed this star into a stable energy extraction and conversion device, creating an environment suitable for the birth and reproduction of life.

The Otsutsuki clan were the first intelligent life forms to be born on this planet. Whether they first occupied the "Mother Tree" or the "Mother Tree" created them is no longer clear.

Regardless, from the very beginning, the Otsutsuki clan stood at a level of life that most civilizations could not reach.

Their starting point is an end point that no other life can reach.

Otsutsuki Shibaju was one of the earliest individuals to emerge from this group.

With this innate power and the "seeds" that the "mother tree" periodically produces, the Otsutsuki clan has traversed neighboring star systems in just a few thousand years.

However, those "seeds," also known as the "divine trees," were not originally intended for plunder and consumption, but for transformation.

They were released onto planets with suitable conditions or suitable for modification, took root and sprouted, causing drastic changes in the planet's environment, accelerating the evolution of life, and giving rise to intelligent organisms.

Then, the Otsutsuki clan, acting as "creators," guided, colonized, and ruled these new civilizations.

However, it is clear that the gift of power has already come with a hidden price.

As individual strength continues to increase, and as bloodlines become purer and stronger through eugenics and selection, the Otsutsuki clan itself has also encountered irreconcilable contradictions.

With a sharp decline in birth rates, the threshold and cost of bringing new life into the world are becoming increasingly high.

Within the clan, a strict class division emerged based on blood purity and strength, with the concepts of "main family" and "branch family," and "noble" and "base" quietly taking shape.

Meanwhile, on those colonized planets that were created by the divine tree but gradually slipped out of control due to their great distance, intelligent life began to awaken and rebel.

The voices within the Ōtsutsuki clan also began to split.

Conservatives advocate for contraction, arguing that resources should be concentrated on maintaining control over nearby colonies.

For planets that are too distant and difficult to control, it is sufficient to maintain a nominal suzerain status and limited communication.

Radicals scoffed at this, advocating for the swift and decisive eradication of all resistance, the cleansing of disobedient planets, and the re-creation of an absolutely obedient servant race.

The two factions argued endlessly and reached a stalemate, but even at this time, the Otsutsuki clan did not actually intend to "extinct" their lineage; they only wanted to erase life, not destroy the planet.

Until an unavoidable crisis concerning the survival of the group arrived in the most direct way, all internal conflicts instantly became insignificant.

They discovered that their home planet was dying.

For thousands of years, the Ōtsutsuki clan has been exploiting the resources of their home planet by draining its resources, using the mother tree to frantically extract energy to cultivate more "seeds" and sustain their clan...

This almost predatory approach severely depletes the stability of the star.

Stars that originally had stable lifespans of billions or even tens of billions of years have prematurely entered their twilight years within just a few thousand years. The celestial bodies have begun to expand, and their color has turned dark red...

There is no doubt that it is evolving into a "red giant".

Moreover, this evolution is irreversible; even if the mother tree is no longer abused in the future, it will not prevent the mother planet from dying.

At this rate, it won't be long before the entire mother planet, along with the mother tree and the Otsutsuki clan who depend on it for survival, are swallowed up by the expanding star and turned into cosmic dust.

The Otsutsuki clan, blessed with unique advantages, faced the threat of annihilation for the first time, instantly overshadowing all other factions.

It was at this critical juncture that Otsutsuki Shibai stepped forward and announced his discovery.

He declared that the role of "seeds" goes far beyond modifying the environment and catalyzing life.

By offering a member of the Otsutsuki clan as a sacrifice and combining them with the "seed," a more aggressive "divine tree" can be born.

The divine tree born from the union of these two elements is capable of devouring all life and energy on the planet it inhabits.

Moreover, it can also transmit the enormous energy it plundered back to its home planet through its connection with the mother tree, thus slowing down its irreversible decay.

"Otsutsuki Shibaki! How did you learn about this method that defies common sense and requires sacrificing one's own clan?" A clansman questioned Otsutsuki Shibaki sternly.

Faced with the doubts, Otsutsuki Shibai, who already possessed both Byakugan and Kurgan, did not say much, but simply activated the Rinnegan on his forehead, which was unprecedented and had a sinister ring pattern flowing around it.

The immense power contained in those eyes instantly stunned everyone present.

Otsutsuki Shibai frankly admitted that he discovered the Ten-Tails larva, which was the "seed," after accidentally killing a member of his clan, and developed a strong desire for the corpse.

So it was fed to the ten-tailed juvenile, and after the two merged, the divine tree that was born underwent a strange change.

He secretly nurtured this divine tree, witnessing it drain a planet into a desolate wasteland, and finally it bore a "fruit".

And he swallowed the fruit.

The result was obvious: he not only gained the power of the Rinnegan, but his level of life also underwent a leap forward.

However, the conservatives of the Ōtsutsuki clan remained angry, while the radicals, who relied on their bloodline, were also dissatisfied, because attacking one's own clan was an unforgivable crime in the Ōtsutsuki clan.

However, Otsutsuki Shibai asked a question.

"Have you ever thought about why you didn't notice at all when a member of your tribe died?"

Then, the clansman who had been dead actually stood up alive.

The Otsutsuki Shibaju showcased another groundbreaking achievement.

--"wedge".

After mastering the "Karma," the Otsutsuki clan can replicate themselves and digitize their own data, then implant it into a "reincarnation vessel."

If one simply inserts their "wedge" into a suitable container before the sacrifice, then what is devoured by the Divine Tree is merely an "empty shell" possessing the bloodline of the Otsutsuki.

The clansmen do not truly die; their consciousness and bloodline can be reborn and revived within the container through a "wedge".

The radicals were overjoyed and unhesitatingly embraced Otsutsuki Shibaju's ideas in their entirety.

The conservatives, who were originally opposed to sacrificing their own people, fell silent after witnessing firsthand the feasibility of the "wedge".

Even though they knew that Ōtsutsuki Shibai's claim of "accidentally" killing a clansman was a lie, they still chose to acquiesce.

This method not only solves the crisis on their home planet but also grants them greater power; they couldn't think of a better way.

And so, all the arguments came to an abrupt end.

Since then, the meaning of the "sacred tree" has been completely rewritten.

It is no longer a "seed" that brings life and hope to the universe, but a "weapon" that brings destruction and death to other planets.

Except for a few neighboring colonies that the Otsutsuki clan considered as a way out and thus escaped, all the other distant planets that had been colonized by the Otsutsuki clan were turned into "nurseries".

Planting sacred trees, plundering energy, and forcing fruit to grow...

Countless planets and life forms perished and wailed beneath the roots of the Divine Tree, transforming into nutrients that strengthened the Otsutsuki clan and nourished their home planet and the Mother Tree.

The Otsutsuki clan thus embarked on a path of using star systems as fields and life as crops to harvest the universe, sustain themselves, and pursue the position of the sole "god".

　I got back late today, there's one more chapter, it'll be a little later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)