Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the original concepts and narratives that I have introduced in this story.

Epilogue: Creationism

Almost six days passed since Yuno last spoke to Hagoromo. It was hard for her to bear with such deprivation, but she had to do it. She had to do her best for her beloved who had put so much faith in her. He told her he needed his utmost focus to undergo his task, so she had to give him just that. She couldn't disappoint him. She wouldn't.

The bond they shared helped her get through this ordeal. She could feel him as strongly as ever through it, and that alone gave her the strength to keep going. They would always be together in spirit, even if otherwise somehow apart. She knew that he would always be there with her. She could sense his presence embracing her, after all, and that was enough to give her comfort. She would be patient and diligent in her wait.

Yuno kept staring with a dreamy smile at the empty spot on the grass next to her. Her beloved had been sitting there in meditation for the first couple days. Though he'd suddenly dispersed himself through the world on the third day. It surprised her a little, but she could tell he was okay, so she remained calm.

She didn't like the feeling of not having him physically close to her, but she could bear with it for his sake. She could feel him in the world all around her, yet her heart still longed for the feeling of his body close to hers. She wouldn't be at peace as long as he wasn't with her in all ways possible.

The sixth day was about to end very soon, and Yuno felt an almost oppressive urge to check on her beloved. He'd told her that he would be back in six days, and she could sense that he was alright, but she just wanted to be sure. She was his wife, after all. It was only natural of her to be worried about him. Not to mention her wifely duties. And she really missed seeing him...

Closing her eyes, Yuno concentrated on their bond. Through it she felt his presence like a bright, warm beacon. She reached out to that feeling and latched herself to it it. Soon enough, she found her consciousness drawn toward the place where she felt her beloved was.

Yuno blinked at the bright white welcoming her sight. The place she found herself in was strange. It didn't resemble the mental world of her beloved that she remembered, though she could tell that it had a similar feeling. It was probably a sort of extension to it, or maybe just another instance of it.

She sent a few glances around her, but the world looked the same regardless of the direction she gazed in. It was an endless, peaceful white world. Though none of those details seemed to matter anymore once her ears caught notice of the melodious laughter sounding in the distance.

Her senses perked up and, without any further thought, Yuno suddenly dashed in the direction of that sound. Soon enough, her eyes caught sight of the one she'd been looking for.

A bright smile formed on her face when she saw his standing form amidst the never ending whiteness of the world, and she quickly skipped toward him with a spring in her step, all the while wondering what could be so funny that he'd laugh at with such zest.

Hagoromo's laughter came to an end by the time he noticed Yuno approaching him. As soon as she got to him, the young goddess wrapped her slender arms around his torso in a tight hug and buried her face in the fabric of his robe. He returned the hug, and the two of them remained in each other's embrace for an entire minute.

When their hug came to an end, Yuno looked at her husband with lingering worry in her eyes. "Is everything okay, Hagoromo?" she asked.

Hagoromo smiled at his wife in reassurance. "Yes, my love, there's nothing to worry about," he replied, his right hand cupping her cheek and caressing her face affectionately.

Yuno seemed to almost melt at his loving touch, all of her previous traces of concern draining away from her gaze as she nuzzled her cheek deeper in his palm while closing her eyes in delight.

Hagoromo chuckled at the sweet display of his wife, before whisking her off her feet in a swift motion as he seated the both of them on a wooden bench that he willed to existence behind him.

The rose haired goddess giggled at her husband's act, before giving him a playful smile as she gazed at his ethereal visage from her spot on his lap. "What was so funny that you were laughing like that when I got here?" she asked curiously after a few moments of silence.

"Me," Hagoromo answered with an amused smile.

Yuno pouted at his vague response.

Seeing her reaction, he decided to elaborate. "I just found out my origins," he added after a brief pause.

Yuno only felt her confusion grow in response. "What do you mean?" she queried, noticing his smile widen into a grin at her question. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she decided to play his game. "Who are you?" she further asked.

"I Am That I Am."

Hagoromo's words rang out through the white expanse.

Yuno was overcome by a series of giggles as soon as she registered his response. "No way..." she managed to get out in between her giggling.

Hagoromo looked at her in amusement. "Wait until you hear the rest," he said in a matching tone, before gesturing briefly at his surroundings. "What do you think this is?" he asked.

Yuno pondered for a moment. "Another instance of your mental world?" she replied, sounding a little unsure.

Hagoromo hummed in thought. "In a way, yes, but in scope not quite, my dear," he spoke.

Yuno looked at her husband in confusion, her eyes beckoning him to continue.

The silver haired deity smiled at his wife. "This is what came before creation," he revealed with a bit of dramatic flair in his voice. "My domain. Me."

Realisation dawned upon the young goddess once she heard that. "Then... that means..." she trailed off, her cerise eyes widening in a mixture of surprise and awe as she stared at the smiling face of her beloved.

"Indeed. My world has an Original Being. There is a God," Hagoromo said after a few moments of silence, confirming her previous thoughts. "I Am."

Yuno just stared blankly at her husband's smiling face for a while, looking like she was in a sort of daze. "Just when I thought that I've heard and seen it all..." she mumbled when she recovered enough to regain coherent speech.

Hagoromo's smile widened in response. "Ah, my young goddess, but you have much more to see and learn. So much more," he voiced in amusement. "After all, this is just the beginning."

"Uh-huh," Yuno simply nodded, not finding the words to properly express her reaction to such a revelation. Not that there was any need, anyway, courtesy of their bond.

The two of them spent another brief while looking at each other in silence, before Yuno opened her mouth to speak again once she fully regained her composure. "So, umm... anything else?" she asked tentatively.

"I thought you'd never ask, my dear," Hagoromo answered with a pleasant smile, prompting the rose haired goddess to let out a giggle at the enthusiasm etched on his face. "Would you like to hear the beginning history of my world?"

"Of course I would, darling," Yuno replied cheerfully, before sighing in delight when she felt her husband's hand begin caressing her hair with gentle touches.

"Very well," Hagoromo spoke with a chuckle, before getting to the explanation. "The history of my world is closely tied to the history of my clan. The founder of the Ōtsutsuki clan was actually the Original Being himself."

Yuno didn't feel as surprised as she thought she might be at the revelation. The Ōtsutsuki clan was too grand in scope to have nothing to do with the history of everything in her husband's world. Not to mention that the members themselves were akin to deities in power alone.

"The Original Being created the first humans and watched over them for eons," Hagoromo continued. "Though in the end he lost hope for them upon seeing the choices they were making, despite the guidance he was trying to offer them."

"Oh..." Yuno muttered as she noticed the parallel her husband was drawing.

"Sounds familiar, right?" Hagoromo asked with an amused smile.

The rose haired goddess simply nodded in silence, waiting for her beloved to continue.

"That development eventually drove him to give up on humans and everything else. He split nine fragments from his soul, and used his power to create the first generation of Ōtsutsuki," Hagoromo said. "He hoped that they might be able to do better than him when it came to nurturing humankind. After that, he allowed himself to fade, dispersing the rest of his soul and power throughout the world. This amplified what came to be known as the current natural energy of the universe and also spawned the first Shinju on the Ōtsutsuki home world."

Yuno gained a thoughtful look as she listened to her husband's words. "This is why the Ōtsutsuki had such a desire for chakra, isn't it?" she asked.

"Indeed. Not only because it is an energy that fuelled them, but also because they were subconsciously trying to restore the Original Being," Hagoromo said in reply with a nod. "But that could only become possible once an Ōtsutsuki gathered enough power to become aware of the true nature of the natural energy. My mother must have reached very close to this, yet in the end the power consumed her..."

Noticing the heavy note threatening to seep in her husband's voice, Yuno clasped his free hand and interlocked her fingers with his own as she gazed at him with a delicate smile.

Hagoromo smiled back at his wife's loving gesture, and resumed his explanation after a brief period of silence. "The awakening of the Rinne Sharingan was the requirement for a worthy Ōtsutsuki to open their path to Ascension," he elaborated.

Yuno seemed to ponder for a few moments on what she'd just been told. "This explains Momoshiki's reaction to seeing your Rinne Sharingan," she pointed out.

"Precisely," Hagoromo nodded. "The history of the clan spoke of only one other member having been in possession of said eyes; the patriarch of the first Ōtsutsuki generation, who similarly to my mother, ended up losing himself to the power while trying to Ascend. That is why the other members created that extreme rule forbidding the consumption of a whole chakra fruit to oneself."

Once Hagoromo was finished speaking, Yuno took a few moments to sort through all of the information. It was quite the origin mythology. Much more than what she had initially expected.

The life of her beloved was so similar to that of the First Ōtsutsuki, though it kind of made sense, given the circumstances surrounding the two of them.

Both had hoped to the highest skies of the tenacity of human potential, only to end up suffering from that very hope.

Both created nine pieces of legacies, one of them with chakra, the other with his very soul. And that was where her beloved had the advantage. He hadn't given into futility completely.

Yuno's thoughts suddenly came to an end when she heard her husband speak again.

"The irony of this all is almost staggering, isn't it? My world must have a fetish for it, or something. Not that I'm any better in that regard myself," Hagoromo said in amusement as his eyes drifted to the endless white expanse. "Though at least now I know where all that foolishness had come from. I clearly inherited a good part of it. From God himself, no less." He let out a dry chuckle, before growing silent for a while as he just stared idly into the distance.

It was such a purposeful history, despite being quite tragic as well in a sense. Everything had been constant repetition of history for his clan. A cycle that the Ōtsutsuki couldn't break out of, even with their feigned cold methodology.

Another dry chuckle escaped his mouth, yet the sweet sound of his wife's voice pulled him out of his pensive mood.

"You did what God himself wasn't able to do, my love," Yuno spoke, a note of intensity creeping into her voice. "You didn't give into absolute futility as the First Ōtsutsuki had done, and thus gained the power to correct your path."

Hagoromo felt a small smile form on his lips at his wife's reassuring words. He was so glad to have her by his side...

"You're right..." Hagoromo spoke softly as he gazed back at the loving face of his beloved. "But you are the reason why I didn't share the same fate as him. You helped me break that cycle, Yuno."

The rose haired goddess smiled brightly at her husband, before capturing his lips in a sudden, passionate kiss. Her arms quickly found their way around his neck as she deepened the kiss, though she couldn't hold back the soft moan that escaped her lips when she felt herself pulled against the warmth of her husband's chest.

After some intense minutes of locking lips with her beloved, Yuno pulled back from the kiss, a slight flush adorning her cheeks. With a content smile on her features, her gaze sought that of her husband, and the two of them spent the next few minutes silently in each other's embrace.

Hagoromo was the one to break the silence after a while. "Shall we return now?" he asked.

"Yup!" Yuno replied happily.

The world of endless white was gone in the blink of an eye.

Feeling her consciousness return back to her body, the rose haired goddess stood up and patted her robe a few times to remove any dust. She looked around for any traces of her beloved, and soon noticed a rather striking detail that filled her with both surprise and wonder.

She could sense his presence everywhere in the world. Like a soft blanket that was embracing her being with warmth. It wasn't just the mental presence of their bond anymore. Right now she could feel his power permeating every seam of this world, as if he was part of it. Or rather, as if the world was part of him.

Her gaze was quickly drawn in front of her when she felt her husband's presence suddenly concentrate in that place. Ethereal waves of a dense, white mist manifested before her eyes, causing her breath to hitch for a moment at the awing display.

The air of absolute power almost overwhelmed her senses. A majestic presence soon made itself known to the world.

Yuno watched with undivided attention how the living energy gathered into a coiling current, before shaping itself into a radiant entity that glowed white with a divine aura.

For the better part of the next minute, she just stared in silent awe at the otherworldly being, taking the time to come to terms with what she had just witnessed.

She was eventually snapped out of her daze when she heard the being speak.

"That might have been a bit too much," Hagoromo mused to himself as his usual youthful features returned in the span of a few seconds. "A little too flashy, I suppose."

Yuno burst into a fit of giggles the moment she registered her husband's words. She just couldn't help it. The dissonance between his earlier awing display and his subsequent greeting was too much for her to take with a straight face.

"Memorable first words to the world as its new God," Yuno said between her giggling.

Hagoromo chuckled in amusement. "Would you have preferred 'God is Great'?" he asked wryly in reply. "Those words might have had a bigger impact, after all."

Yuno's mirth doubled in intensity upon hearing that, and her giggles continued for the better part of the next minute.

"But wouldn't that be self advertising?" the rose haired goddess asked once she recovered from her previous fit of laughter. "Or even worse, plagiarism?"

Hagoromo smirked at his wife's cheekiness. "Maybe," he said as his voice took on a facetious note. "But remember, my dear, God makes the rules."

Yuno smirked playfully at her beloved. "Is that hubris I hear, darling?" she asked in a faux-innocent tone.

The silver haired deity chuckled in reply. "Touché," he said as he walked up to the young goddess.

Another giggle escaped Yuno's lips as she latched herself onto her husband's right arm, leaning against his side and resting her head comfortably on his shoulder as the two of them sat down on the soft grass.

Hagoromo smiled fondly at his wife's gesture and used his other arm to embrace her in a tender hug as she perched herself on his lap, snuggling closer to his chest.

"I wonder what you can do now that you're literally God," Yuno mumbled in the fabric of the deity's robe, her voice barely intelligible.

Hagoromo's previous smile widened into a grin. "Ask and ye shall receive, my dear!" he declared in an overly dramatic voice, eliciting another series of giggles from his wife.

Yuno pouted at her beloved once she regained her composure, though it only made her look even more adorable to him. "Jeez, darling!" she said with a hint of facetiousness in her tone. "You're making me laugh so much that my cheeks are getting sore."

"Don't worry, my dear. You're in no danger of ever feeling blue anymore," Hagoromo assured with a serene smile. "Or not right now, at least."

Yuno blinked in confusion at her husband's reply, though a surprised gasp accompanied her realisation once she caught a brief glimpse of the sky. It wasn't blue anymore. It was red.

"This... I didn't even notice..." Yuno muttered in disbelief at she stared with wide eyes at the changed sky.

She had to take a few seconds to make sure that her eyes weren't playing any tricks on her. But they weren't. This was no illusion or anything of the sort. The sky was now red for real.

Yuno looked back at the amused face of the God holding her in his embrace, her eyes asking the questions that her words failed to properly form.

Hagoromo had a light smile playing on his lips, as if he hadn't just changed the color of the sky on a whim. "Blue no longer exists, so the sky had to turn red," he supplied helpfully.

Yuno blinked again at his words, needing a moment to make sure that she heard him right. "Darling... did you undo the existence of the color blue?" she asked tentatively.

Hagoromo's smile widened in response. "That's right. I removed the color blue from this world," he supplied casually, as if he was talking about something of little to no concern.

Yuno just stared blankly at her husband for a few moments, her mind doing its best to catch up with this most recent revelation. She needed some time to process the simple fact that he had just undone a fundamental concept of reality from existence with a mere thought and without her even noticing it...

Earlier, she'd come to terms with his status as the restored God of the world, but to actually see his power in action... it was a whole different thing. On a whole different level.

"And I'm not stopping with just blue," Hagoromo added in a whimsical tone, bringing the young goddess out of her thoughts. "Meaning that red never existed, either."

Yuno glanced up at the sky once more, and couldn't hold off the amazement from settling on her features. Gone was the red tint, too. The sky was now green. Just like everything else in the world around her...

"In an instant..." Yuno whispered in wonder as she stared at the green hues dominating all of her surroundings. It was simply stunning in its scope.

"It's almost like painting. Except in reverse," Hagoromo mused while admiring his work in appreciation. "I think this would classify as fine art." His lips twitched back into a smirk. "I'm sure that some people would be dying to take even one glimpse at it."

"And you're not even being serious now..." Yuno muttered, more to herself, as she looked at her husband's frivolous expression. It seemed to suit him down to a tee, epitomising his whimsical and fickle nature.

Hagoromo grinned at his wife. "I was only going to remove the twelve basic colors for this demonstration," he said in a faux innocent manner. "But if you expect me to go all the way, my dear, then I must comply."

Yuno blinked at his words, though by the time she opened her eyes, the world was already changed once again. Yet, this time, the change was almost staggering.

The young goddess was left momentarily speechless as she stared in silent awe at the black and white world welcoming her sight, no matter how far she looked.

"Ta-da!" Hagoromo declared with a bit of dramatic flair in his voice as he spread his arms out. "Color doesn't exist anymore."

His words managed to rouse her from her momentary daze, and she idly noticed that amidst everything else in the now colorless world, only her husband and herself remained in possession of their hues.

"Except for us..." the girl noted absentmindedly.

"Of course. We are above the influence of mere concepts after all," Hagoromo pointed out amusedly. "But if you ever want the full manga experience, then I can arrange for it. You just need to say the word." He ended his sentence with a knowing wink, sending his wife over the proverbial edge.

Yuno couldn't hold back anymore. She'd reached her limit once she heard him say that last part. It was just too much for her to even try and take seriously anymore. She didn't know why she'd been trying to take it seriously so far, when he himself hadn't been doing so.

In hindsight, she was probably just trying to understand. Yet therein lay the problem. There was nothing to understand. He was God. Period. Logic didn't apply to him. Or rather, he had his own unique brand of logic that he applied. After all, he could just make things happen, if he so much wanted to. That was all there was to it. It was just like he'd said earlier. He was making the rules.

Yuno was suddenly overcome by a series of uncontrollable giggles halfway through her thoughts. Just what was she even thinking about? Hindsight? For what? There was no need for any of that. She just had to embrace the irrationality and absurdity to understand what he was doing. That was the key to grasping his seemingly illogical logic.

Her giggling grew in intensity at that thought. It didn't take her too long to figure it out, yet she still couldn't help but laugh at herself a little. It should have been obvious, after all. She should have reached this conclusion minutes ago!

"This is so surreal," Yuno said between her giggles as she looked at her husband with a wide smile. "But it's so real at the same time..." Another series of giggles escaped her lips in melodious merriment. "What a whimsical and fickle God I have for a husband."

"Don't worry, my dear. I'm sure that you'll get used to it quickly," Hagoromo reassured while ruffling his wife's rose locks affectionately. "If you haven't already done such by now." He added with a knowing smile.

Stifling the last of her giggles in the soft fabric of the snow haired deity's robe, the young goddess put on a playful pout as she glanced up at her husband's amused face, and just looked at him without saying anything.

Hagoromo chuckled at her cute act. "Anyway, I should probably do something about the world, before we move on to the next thing," he said airily with a casual wave of his hand.

Yuno wasn't sure what to expect next once she heard him say that, so she decided to throw that concept out of the window, before her husband did it for her. She'd seen enough for today to do otherwise.

"Shatter."

Hagoromo's words rang out softly from his smiling lips, unmaking the current reality before the rose haired girl's very eyes. If she'd found the previous display to be surreal, then what she was currently witnessing was simply something else...

The world changed under his power in but an instant, crumbling apart all around them like the pieces of a broken glass, only to reveal beneath the untouched image of a vivid scenery. As if everything so for had been just an illusion.

But she knew better that to assume such a thing. Her husband was one again merely toying around with reality. Purposely slowing down his act, simply to show her how effortless and amusing it was all to him.

Yuno smiled knowingly at her beloved, and then proceeded to fix her ruffled hair. "So, what now?" she asked curiously after a few moments of silence.

Hagoromo pondered on his wife's question for a moment, before looking at her with a smirk forming on his lips. "Well, I've said two days ago that once we wrap things up here, I'd be taking you on our honeymoon," he replied. "But before we get to that, there is one more thing that I'd like to take care of."

Feeling his mirth briefly spiking through their bond, Yuno looked up in curiosity at her husband's amused expression. "What is it, darling?" she asked.

"I want to prepare the foundations for an idea I've had recently," Hagoromo elaborated. "I believe that it will be quite amusing and entertaining to put it in practice."

Yuno's curiosity was piqued even more by her husband's answer, though a surprised yelp escaped her mouth when she felt herself be suddenly swept up in his arms, before giggling happily as Hagoromo brought the both of them up to their feet.

"What idea?" Yuno further inquired with a smile as she grasped the young man's right hand, interlocking their fingers together. She felt pretty excited about whatever it was that her beloved had in mind right now.

"Religion," Hagoromo said with a grin as the two of them began walking side by side toward what seemed like a random direction to the rose haired goddess.

"Religion?" Yuno curiously parroted, visibly intrigued by the idea.

"I'm sure you noticed how, regardless of the world, religion is a very powerful tool," Hagoromo elaborated, getting a nod from his wife. "It can be great motivation and inspire man to take action where other things might have otherwise failed. It can be used to guide people while also keeping them orderly and subservient. And for all of that, one just needs to ensure faith and devotion first, because once that is done, the potential for amusement becomes as clear as day."

"I see," the rose haired goddess replied as she contemplated on her husband's words.

Honestly, it didn't really matter to her what it was that they were going do, because the simple fact that she would be by his side while her beloved did whatever he intended to do was enough to make her more than happy.

She would be content with simply following him in whatever he wished to do, because if he was going to have fun, then she would also have fun herself. As long as they were together, she wouldn't be needing anything else.

Yet, that didn't mean she wouldn't welcome any chance to make her enjoy even more her eternity spent alongside her beloved.

"How exactly are we going to go about with this?" Yuno questioned once she was done with her previous musings.

"Simple, my dear," Hagoromo responded shortly. "First we need to acquire some loyal followers, and after that it will be quite the easy task. I've already devised a basic structure for the religion, so we can leave for our honeymoon as soon as we get the devoted subordinates required to organize and maintain the faith in our absence."

"Okay," Yuno nodded in understanding. "But who do you have in mind for that?"

Hagoromo stroked his chin in contemplation. "Hmm, the first one is quite the interesting fellow, and we will be meeting him soon. He's actually not very far away from ours," he replied. "The second one is my own nephew, Toneri. He's the only surviving descendant of my brother's lineage. And the last one I am going to resurrect before our departure."

"Sure~!" Yuno voiced happily as she continued to walk next to her beloved toward the dense forest that was visible in the distance. "Since you hold them in such regard, I'm a little curious to meet them too."

Immortality.

A state of existence regarded as a blessing by many, but also as a curse by enough due to the potential misfortunes that it is often associated with.

Some might welcome the idea of immortality with open hands for its perceived benefits, while some might look at it in loathing because of the negative outcomes that it could possibly bring.

For the one known as Hidan, though, immortality has always had a sort of neutral aspect to it, as it had given him over the years both good and bad things.

His immortality had helped him become a better follower of his Lord Jashin, for it had taken away any and all worries of himself during his fighting, and had allowed him to completely revel in the violence and slaughter that he brought in the name of his god.

Among the unfavorable implications of his immortality, the only ones that he could find were the fact that he would never get to experience glorious death in battle as the ultimate expression of piety to his Lord, nor would he be able to be graced by his splendor in the afterlife.

However, as of recently, the highly religious man had been made aware of another negative aspect related to his immortality, and in quite the unpleasant way to boot after experiencing dismembering and decapitation toward the end of his last battle.

Spending several months buried at the bottom of a pit, beneath numerous boulders and with the only company consisting of maggots that unsuccessfully attempted to chew at his face, had been a very big annoyance to Hidan.

One that was slowly driving him insane.

Contrary to what others might have thought of him, he wasn't that much of a nutcase. Or, at least, that's what he liked to think.

But that aside, the anger he'd been feeling at the fucker who had dismembered and buried him alive hadn't exactly helped his mental state, either. Though, after a couple months or so, he slowly began to forget about him, because his mind had become more and more occupied with thoughts about his Lord Jashin. His religious nature had inevitably brought his focus back on the commandments of his faith, just as it was expected of him.

So, for the next months he had fervently prayed to his god as he asked for guidance. Yet after the last thirty-one days, during which he had continuously repeated the mantras of his religion, a treacherous thought began worming its way inside his mind.

Has Lord Jashin abandoned me?

However, the voice that resounded in his mind not even a moment later dispelled any and all of his previous doubts.

"Hey, darling, is the person we are looking for immortal or something?" Yuno asked merrily as she glanced at the pile of boulders that were halfway filling a sizable hole in the earth several feet away from her.

She had sensed the faint chakra signature located at the bottom of the hole, and noticed that despite its constant fluctuation, it didn't seem to weaken any further past a certain point.

"To some degree," Hagoromo replied while glancing in the same direction as his wife, his focus on the presence buried beneath the many large rocks. "Because as long as his body is not completely destroyed, he would be able to continue living even if he were to sustain injuries that should be fatal to a regular human."

"That doesn't sound too impressive," Yuno pointed out, eliciting a chuckle from her husband.

"And it isn't. Yet his true worth lies within a different aspect," Hagoromo said, walking closer to the the hole, only a couple feet away from its edge. "You will see immediately what makes him so valuable."

"Okay," Yuno nodded, her voice as cheerful as earlier, and followed after her husband, stopping right next to him. Veins engorged around her temples and her pupils became more prominent, signifying the activation of her dōjutsu as she focused her attention on her beloved.

A simple flick of the wrist from Hagoromo was all that it took for the numerous boulders filling the pit to be flung through the air as though they weighted less than a pebble, revealing in the process a rather morbid sight.

The torn off limbs of a human male lay scattered around his torso, their aspect surprisingly healthy despite the fact that such a thing should have not been possible given their detached state.

But the most peculiar thing was actually the man's severed head, which resided a few feet away from the body, and despite its condition, it seemed to be very much alive.

It possessed medium-length grey hair that was slicked back and distinctive purple eyes which were opened widely and seemed to be staring above in reverence as they were met with the first rays of light after many months of darkness.

Moments later, a bloodied smile that spoke of nothing less than utmost elation formed on the visage of the man's severed head as his eyes continued to keep their intense focus on the luminous sky.

"Lord Jashin... this pitiful servant has finally been deemed worthy to hear your glorious voice..."

The words that left the man's mouth were spoken in a tone that overflowed with veneration, and upon being heard by Hagoromo, they prompted him to take a few steps toward the edge of the hole.

As soon as his form became visible to the grey haired male at the bottom of the pit, tears started flowing freely from the man's widened eyes and he began to choke on his own blood as he wept in joy at the miracle taking place above him.

He had been blessed to see the magnificent form of his god.

Silvery, lustrous sweeping hair that framed a face in possession of regal features currently set in a stern expression.

Violet eyes with a ringed pattern that looked familiar to the man met his own as they stared at him with a neutral gaze.

Flawless skin, pale like the moonlight, covered in a flowing, white robe adorned with numerous magatama designs and reaching until very close to the ground delighted his sight.

"Lord... Jashin..." the grey haired man wheezed, tears still streaming down his face as he was overcome with emotion, unable to find the words to express his elation at being blessed with such a privilege.

"Hidan," the silver haired deity spoke in a commanding tone. "Why do you think it is that I have shown myself to you at such a time?"

Hidan's eyes widened, before a resolute expression settled on his features.

"To punish me for letting my faith waver..." he replied without any hesitation in his voice.

"No," Hagoromo refuted calmly, prompting a look of confusion to appear on the decapitated man's face. "I haven't come to punish you for a justifiable insecurity on your part."

Hidan's puzzlement only continued to grow as he tried to make sense of what he had just been told.

Noticing the grey haired man's trouble at understanding his previous words, Hagoromo spoke once more, intent on clarifying the matter to him.

"Hidan, what do you know regarding of the incipience of Jashinism?"

"That it had been created centuries ago in order to offer worship for you, my Lord, as the God of Slaughter," Hidan immediately responded.

"And what if I told you that such is not the truth, but merely a twisted version of it?"

Hidan's eyes visibly widened at that, and the confusion present on his features became even more prominent than before. "My Lord, what do you mean?" he asked.

"Jashinism used to literally be the Art of Killing. It was first cultivated roughly a millennium ago by a group of people who reviled the Sage of the Six Paths for his pacifistic insistence," Hagoromo explained, his voice slowly taking on an amused note that elicited a faint giggle from the rose haired girl standing a couple feet behind him. "But as time passed, jashinists—who were so focused on hating the Sage—began to view him as the God of Slaughter, since only the God of Slaughter could beget the Art of Killing."

It was quite the ironic twist how those people had slowly turned over the passage of time from reviling him to fanatically worshipping him. Though, he reckoned that such an outcome was supposed to be frequent given the circumstances, if what he learnt from his wife's world's history was of any indication. Cults simply losing themselves due to a lack of proper understanding and excess of zeal on the followers' part seemed to be a rather semi-frequent occurrence.

"Then... that means..." Hidan muttered as his mind eventually pieced together what he was told so far, bringing him to a startling realization.

"Yes, Hidan. I am the Sage of the Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo," the regal-looking young man spoke as he gazed at the stunned expression present on the severed head's face. "Or rather, that is who I used to be in the distant past, for now I have Ascended as the new God of this world."

Hidan's previous bafflement returned in double upon registering those words. He was unable to wrap his mind around the apparently conflicting facts that have just been revealed to him.

He might have been less than desirably intelligent, however, he had heard at some point of the myths and legends about the Sage of the Six Paths and how the Sage had supposedly promoted an era of peace.

So, then, how could such a person also end up being considered the God of Slaughter and be worshipped for a little over a thousand years?

The grey haired man didn't know the answer to such a question and neither was he able to come up with one.

"I..." Hidan voiced apologetically. "I don't understand, my Lord..."

"Do not fret over your shortcomings, Hidan. Your true value does not lie within your intellectual capability, but rather in the strength of your belief," Hagoromo assured, before proceeding with his clarification. "As for your confusion, the only thing you have to understand is the fact that after I have gifted mankind with my teachings, they had rightfully revered me, for they had been blessed with ninshū in return for their piety. Yet, upon the passing of time, perversions began, and aspects of myself came to be worshipped, rather than my entirety. Jashinism is merely one of them. The aspect of conflict."

A look of understanding finally crossed Hidan's visage after he listened to Hagoromo's explanation, but with his newly attained clarity of mind, he noticed that he was still left with something causing him struggle as he tried to make sense of it.

"My Lord, I thank you for blessing me with the truth about your glorious existence," Hidan spoke deferentially. "But there is still one thing that I have trouble understanding."

"What is it, Hidan?" Hagoromo questioned, his tone even.

"Lord Hagoromo, why do you tolerate the heathen?" the grey haired man asked. "With your power, could you not simply kill all disgusting heathens?"

An amused glint entered Hagoromo's eyes as he listened to the dismembered and decapitated man's words.

"I am God, my faithful Hidan," Hagoromo responded candidly. "Would you wish, for one such as I to step on ants, when I can have my faithful refine their souls in trials of fire? Of vanquishing the heathen foe? And in the process having the honor of becoming my blessed?"

Another muffled giggle briefly caught Hagoromo's attention once he was done speaking, and when he also felt his wife give her input over their soul bond, he was unable to keep the small, amused smile from slightly upturning his lips.

He had known long before their actual meeting that obtaining Hidan's allegiance and complete loyalty would be an easy task to accomplish, however, now that the man was essentially helping the process on his side, it seemed to be an almost effortless action.

"Of course not, my Lord," the grey haired man quickly replied, impassioned at the words that he just heard. "Please, forgive this pitiful servant for his ignorance."

"Worry not of that, Hidan, for as I have stated before, your defects certainly pale in the face of your devotion," Hagoromo spoke, his voice genuine and approving. "However, I would like to hear about what it is that troubles you, my faithful. Ever since you have first shown me your eyes, I was able to clearly see the insecurity lurking deep beneath them."

Hidan's features visibly softened when he registered that. Hearing his Lord express such care about his person brought him great happiness.

"Throughout my life, my Lord, the heathens have mocked me, for my faith, my eternal loyalty to you..." Hidan explained, revealing the one thing that had been weighing down on his soul for a long time. "At times, I had wondered to myself, if you existed, why had you not deemed this servant worthy of your words?"

"My devout Hidan, throughout history, there have been countless faithful. These wretches began their path, their hearts full of reverence towards I, yet they eventually ended up always worshipping the blood they spilt, rather than their true god," Hagoromo responded after a few moments of contemplation. "But you, my priest, when your head was decapitated, you did not utter foul language and, for thirty one days, all you had done, was repeat the name of my aspect over and over again, even when with each word, maggots, and dirt were inhaled in your orifices," the white haired deity slowly brought his palms together in a prayer-like gesture. "As such, I have deemed you, worthy."

Following Hagoromo's words, a bright shine started emitting from Hidan's remains, before they began to rapidly crumble into dust, the last of them being his severed head, whose features were set into an expression of utter reverence.

Hidan stared in awe at his luminous arms and torso while he slowly floated upward, feeling completely weightless ever since his body had completely crumbled to ash mere moments ago.

He noticed that he was clothed in a robe reminiscent of the one worn by every Akatsuki member, however, it completely lacked the cloud motifs, and currently unknown to him, it possessed a much different symbol on its back.

Then, his eyes were drawn to the silver rosary hanging around his neck, and he gently grabbed the symbol attached to one of the beads as he began to study it.

It was a familiar looking eye, with a pupil resembling the yin-yang motif and three concentric rings surrounding it, whereas on each ring, there were three magatama arranged similarly to what he had seen in a Sharingan's pattern.

And despite this symbol being quite unfamiliar to him, except for the general rippled eye design, he felt that he would soon get to understand what it actually represented.

Moments later, the speed at which he was rising began to increase, but he didn't try to fight against the force that was gently pulling him out of the deep pit, and simply watched in fascination how his flickering form was becoming more and more solid and distinctive the closer he got to the surface.

The previous words of his Lord echoed inside his mind as he continued with his ascent.

He might have not been the sharpest tool in the shed, however, by the time he reached halfway through the depth of the hole, he was able to understand the gist of what was happening to him.

Not only had his Lord freed him from his impotent state, but it seemed that he would also reward him for his faith and loyalty.

The grey haired man could not be any happier at that thought, and a look of joy lit up his features as he continued to gaze in absolute reverence at the one who had, for the second time, given meaning to his life.

After Hidan's soul completely emerged from the pit, it hovered toward Hagoromo, stopping a couple feet in front of him.

As soon as the man felt ground beneath his feet once more, he immediately knelt before his God and opened his mouth to speak, though was interrupted by the pair of arms that gently grasped his head.

"I have seen the extent of your faith and loyalty," Hagoromo spoke, his gaze meeting the grey haired man's own. "and I have acknowledged it."

Hidan remained speechless as he listened with fervor to the words of his Lord.

"Rejoice, my faithful priest," Hagoromo added as a faint glow engulfed his palms—dark for his left and light for his right. "For you shall now be reborn anew, as a direct instrument of my wrath."

As soon as his Lord was finished speaking, Hidan felt his senses flare to life as his spirit was once more given flesh to be housed within, before a sensation of empowerment quickly washed over him.

It lasted only for a brief moment as it quickly dissipated in the depths of his being, yet he was still able to feel its lingering presence mingled with his chakra as it converged toward the center of his forehead while also knowing for some reason that if he were to focus inwardly on that place, then he would be able to make it resurface.

But that was not the sole thing that he somehow knew without having any recollection of ever learning it by himself.

Etched deeply into his memory were nine creeds, which he immediately recognized as being the teachings and beliefs of his Lord's faith, as well as the knowledge that the silvery eye hanging from the rosary around his neck was the holy symbol of the same very religion.

Tears fell from Hidan's overjoyed eyes as he gazed in veneration at the pair of violet, ringed orbs that reflected approval and acknowledgement.

"My Lord..."

There were no words that the grey haired man could find to express what he felt for being granted such a blessing, so he just stood still, his eyes never leaving those of his God as he let all of his emotions show clearly on his face.

"There is no need for you to say anything, my faithful Hidan," Hagoromo uttered in a gentle tone as he stopped holding the reborn man's head and lowered his arms. "Simply rise, and henceforth begin your new life as the Head Inquisitor of my faith. The one true faith, Esotericism."

Hidan did as he was told and quickly stood up, his eyes catching sight in the process of the other person—a young woman with pink hair and delicate features—standing a few feet behind the pale-skinned deity.

A sweet, seemingly innocent smile formed on the rose haired woman's lips when she noticed the reverent man's attention focus on her, however, despite the apparent benign nature of her gesture, it seemed to have a rather odd effect on him.

An expression of unease quickly settled on Hidan's visage as he looked at the young woman's smiling face, and he quickly averted his gaze as he glanced back at Hagoromo, who simply gave a small chuckle before speaking.

"The beautiful lady whom you have just noticed is my dear wife, Ōtsutsuki Yuno."

The snow haired man turned to face the kimono-wearing smiling girl, who walked up to him and hugged his right arm as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"She might seem unnerving upon a first glance, however, as long as you don't do anything to aggravate her, there is nothing to ever be afraid of when it comes to such an angelic being," Hagoromo added, causing Yuno to hug his arm closer to her chest as a faint red dusting colored her still smiling face.

Despite understanding that the words offered by his Lord had been intended as a reassurance for him, Hidan couldn't help but feel even more anxious once he read deeper into them.

And that, when coupled with him taking a better look at the girl's terrifying cerise eyes, told him that he's better pay great heed to those words, lest he experienced something unimaginably horrible.

"Of course, my Lord," Hidan quickly replied, his previous anxiety slowly leaving him as the girl dropped the beatific yet eerie smile from her face and adopted a more neutral expression instead.

However, now that his mind became more clear, on top of having enough time to ruminate on the things he had been told so far, he abruptly came to a rather disconcerting realization regarding the wife of his God.

Was she another god?

He wasn't sure, as he was unable to sense anything from neither of the two. But what he knew was that he didn't seem to feel particularly fond of the idea that another deity existed.

His Lord was the Absolute, so anyone else claiming to hold the same grace as him would commit the greatest heresy. Yet, the fact that she was His wife left Hidan conflicted, because he couldn't figure out what his stance should be on this matter.

And it seemed that, at some point, his internal struggle had also become quite visible on his features, because Hagoromo had taken notice of it and was already on the verge of speaking in order to alleviate the grey haired man's confusion.

"It appears that I've been a bit vague with my earlier introduction of my wife, and that must have left you quite confused," Hagoromo said. "I might have referred to Yuno as my wife, however, that is simply because there is no other defined word that could even come close to describe the nature of our union."

Hidan was quickly pulled out of his musings and he began listening with utmost attention to the words of his Lord.

"We are bonded together down to the level of our very souls. She is a part of myself as much as I am a part of herself. And whereas my domain of governance is all of creation, hers is represented by three important aspects upon which she reigns absolute. Devotion, loyalty, and fidelity," Hagoromo explained. "That is the true nature of our bond. Duality in divine unity."

The grey haired man's eyes widened by the end of the speech and, as he subsequently recalled the first commandment of his Lord's faith, it all clicked inside his mind. He no longer felt confused or conflicted.

"Thank you for curing me of some of my ignorance, my Lord," Hidan spoke in a grateful tone. "Now I can clearly understand the position that Lady Yuno holds within your glorious faith."

The man then bowed deeply, causing Yuno to let out a muffled giggle against Hagoromo's sleeve while the young man himself smiled in amusement.

"Now then, Hidan," Hagoromo spoke, prompting the reverent man to straighten himself and listen in obedient expectation. "Before I shall get to explaining your new body and power, there is one more gift that I have for you."

The white haired deity clapped his hands, surging his unfathomable power as he intoned.

"Kuchiyose: Shinigami."

Immediately following his words, the grey haired man watched in fascination as a large, translucent gaunt specter coalesced behind Hagoromo.

It possessed long, shaggy white hair, a demonic visage with two red horns, a tantō in its mouth, and purple colored skin. A white garment was draped around its form and it held a set of prayer beads in its left hand.

Yuno seemed to be looking in curiosity at the entity floating a short distance behind herself and her beloved's backs, but she decided to keep the question that had just sprung in her mind for later, since she didn't want to interrupt the eerie atmosphere.

After the daunting specter finished materializing, it slowly hovered toward Hagoromo and passed through him, before it promptly stopped a couple feet in front of him and Hidan.

"This shall be your new weapon, Hidan," the silver haired God spoke as he brought his left hand through the Shinigami's stomach and touched Hidan's forehead.

The grey haired man watched in silence as the translucent entity in front of him was rapidly absorbed within his body, before an odd sensation enveloped him as he felt something settle down deep within his being.

"I have turned the Shinigami into an ethereal weapon and bound it to your soul," Hagoromo voiced as he lowered his hand, glancing at the man's surprised expression. "You should be able to summon it with a mere thought and in any shape that you find convenient or preferable at the time."

"Thank you, my Lord," Hidan finally spoke, a pious expression on his face as his eyes shone in anticipation.

He quickly focused on the presence that he had previously felt stir within himself and gently guided it outwards with the help of his chakra as his mind envisioned a certain weapon type that he had been fascinated with ever since his early years in the service of his God.

A split second later, and a very familiar looking weapon materialized in his hands.

It was a three-bladed scythe identical to his previous one, with the sole difference being the fact that it seemed to be slightly translucent, despite having a seemingly solid structure.

The grey haired man shifted the newly formed weapon in his left hand and began making several test swings with it as he marveled at how weightless it seemed to feel.

It was akin to holding a feather, and after he threw it in the distance out of reflex, he was amazed even further when he noticed how with a simple thought on his part, an extensible cord, similar in appearance to the scythe itself, rapidly connected to it and gave him ample control over its flight trajectory, just like the retractable metal cord had done for his old weapon.

"Besides the rather obvious attributes of this weapon, there is one more feature it possesses that I'm sure you will find to be very interesting," Hagoromo voiced, drawing Hidan's attention from his current swinging of the scythe.

Seeing the anticipative glint in the man's purple eyes, Hagoromo smiled in amusement as he continued speaking.

"With each swing, alongside the inflicted physical injury, your weapon will also chip away at its target's life force, and it will keep on doing such, until a mortal wound is eventually delivered, moment when it will drain the victim of their very soul."

The gleeful expression that formed on Hidan's face as soon as he registered those words clearly made his thoughts known to the young man.

"There is a bit more to this soul siphoning than what I've mentioned before, but I'll leave it as a surprise for you to figure out by yourself," Hagoromo added, his tone gaining a slightly mysterious note to it.

"Yes, my Lord," the grey haired man quickly responded with a bow of his head.

A couple moments later, and Yuno's voice suddenly broke the brief period of silence as she decided to address her earlier curiosity.

"Darling, I've got a question about that Shinigami thing from before," the young goddess spoke as she glanced up at her beloved's face. "You've never mentioned anything of the sort during your story, and I'm a little curious about its origins. Would you mind explaining it to me?"

"Of course not, my dear," Hagoromo replied as he shifted his attention from Hidan to the rose haired young lady hugging his right arm. "That Shinigami entity from earlier was one of the first things I created after mastering the yin-yang release. At that time, I wanted to test my newly developed technique, the Creation of All Things, and the result of that had been the birth of a semi-sentient being—which was able to forcibly remove and store souls—amongst a few other things."

"A few other things?" Yuno repeated, her tone filled with even more curiosity.

"Yes," Hagoromo responded with a nod. "Besides the Shinigami, I've also created five tools, which came to be known as my treasured tools throughout history, as well as three other items, of which you might know by the name of the Three Imperial Regalia."

A look of realization settled on Yuno's features when she registered her husband's words. "Wait..." she spoke, trying to make sure that she had it figured correctly. "You mean the Kusanagi Blade, the Yata Mirror, and the Yasakani Jewel?"

"Indeed," Hagoromo confirmed. "Although, in the case of the sword, the one created by me is actually called the Totsuka Blade, whereas the Kusanagi itself had been created a few centuries ago by some humans."

"Oh, I see..." Yuno muttered, inwardly revising her previous theory.

It made sense to her, since there were bound to be some discrepancies even between seemingly similar historical facts, given the whole different universes affair and all.

Besides, it wasn't like the versions of the Imperial Regalia from her world amounted to magical artifacts or anything of the kind, so it was pretty much redundant to even try to make a comparison.

Hidan, on the other hand, seemed to have abandoned listening to the two's discussion at some point, but that most likely because he wasn't able to understand the topic that they had begun speaking about during the past few minutes.

And instead of trying to wrap his mind around a subject he knew would only bring him confusion and a potential headache, he had opted to simply return to his previous enthusiastic swinging of his scythe as he made sure to get his body once more familiarized with the feeling of wielding his trusted sharp weapon.

"Actually, now that you've reminded me, perhaps I should retrieve those artifacts from wherever they have ended up in the past few centuries, since they would simply be gathering dust with no one else capable of utilizing them around," Hagoromo spoke up as a thought entered his mind.

When he left his world two weeks prior, he had not bothered with tying in the less important loose ends, since he had been certain that his clone would have taken care of that as part of properly doing its job.

But given the fact that said clone had only managed to be a great disappointment and shame to him, this time around he had to make sure that things were seen through to the end.

There were several items that might prove to be useful to him at some point into the future, such as his treasured tools, so he would make sure to retrieve them, however, there were also a few things that were more or less useless in the chakra devoid world. Though they would still have to be disposed of, just to be on the safe side of things.

After all, it wouldn't do to leave potentially troublesome artifacts like those masks in the Uzumaki temple near the Leaf Village for anyone curious enough to meddle with, would it now?

A split second later, and a shadow clone popped into existence next to him, before just as fast as it appeared, it also vanished within the space-time fissure that opened in front of it.

"Hmm," Hagoromo sounded in contemplation as he glanced at the closing portal before him.

"Anything wrong, my love?" Yuno asked in concern not even a moment later as she carefully studied her husband's thoughtful expression.

His emotions through their bond didn't indicate that he was being troubled by anything, though, she just wanted to be completely sure that he was alright.

"Don't worry, my dear, it's none of the sort," Hagoromo assured her with a gentle smile and matching voice as he gazed at her worried face. "I was simply wondering whether I should still retrieve the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror or not, because I might not actually have any use for them, and they are anyway in a rather safe place."

"What do you mean?" Yuno asked, her previous worry already gone now that she was convinced that her beloved was fine.

"Well, they are currently in the possession of one Uchiha Itachi, who is no longer among the living, so they are basically placed into safekeeping within the Pure Realm," Hagoromo elaborated.

"Oh, I see," Yuno replied, not exactly caring about who this Itachi guy was. "And you say that they would be pretty much useless even if you were to retrieve them?"

"Yes," Hagoromo answered. "The sword is a rather decent fūinjutsu, but anyone moving fast enough can easily dodge it, and the mirror is essentially a poor imitation of a truth-seeking orb with zero versatility as well, given how it is shaped akin to a round shield."

"Then, I say that you should just let them be," Yuno spoke after a moment of contemplation on the matter. "Besides, if you actually want them at some point, then you could easily get them, anyway."

"Alright then," Hagoromo agreed with a smile.

"Though what about the Yasakani Jewel?" Yuno quickly added. "Do you have that one in your possession?"

"Indeed. That Regalia is in my possession," Hagoromo responded. "Why, are you curious about its ability?"

"Yep~" Yuno answered cheerfully. "I remembered reading something about the history of the regalia, and despite them being different given the obvious discrepancy between our worlds, so far the principles behind the first two of them still seemed to somewhat apply."

"Oh?" Hagoromo voiced in curiosity. "That sounds quite interesting, my dear. Please, share with me your observations."

"Sure," Yuno replied happily as she began her explanation. "From what I know, the three items of the regalia are supposed to represent the three primary virtues; valor for the sword, wisdom for the mirror, and benevolence for the jewel. The first two fit the theme pretty well, so I assume that the Yasakani Jewel's ability has to be a supporting one."

"That's very accurate, my dear. A splendid observation," Hagoromo praised as he offered his wife a smile, causing a faint blush to spread over her cheeks. "These were the aspects I had in mind when I designed those regalia."

Yuno snuggled closer to her beloved as she attentively listened to what he was telling her.

"And regarding the Yasakani Jewel, it is actually a necklace made of six magatama, and its ability is that of 'rejection'. More precisely, the Six Rejections of Reality; hubristic pride, greed, gluttony, lust, malicious envy, wrath, and sloth," Hagoromo elaborated. "The necklace essentially rejects any negativity within its area of effect, thus allowing those under its influence to see past the darkness of their hearts. Although, its ability is momentary, since it only persists for as long as the regalia is in use."

"Wow... that's a really powerful ability," Yuno voiced her thoughts after a brief period of contemplation. Based only on its potential alone, this necklace easily ranked among the highest tier of tools in her beloved's possession. "Have you ever used it?" she asked.

"Yes," Hagoromo replied, his voice gaining a somber note to it. "I've used it several times during my time spent as a wandering priest in the hope that it would help me set the straying humans back on the 'right' path. As you know, I was quite foolish back then," a humorless chuckle escaped his lips. "The power of the Yasakani Jewel might have allowed sinful people to see the world free of their respective sins, however, such a thing rarely changed them by itself, unless they truly wished for such a change. As I've said before, I've been very foolish during those times. Idealistic and naïve."

As soon as he was done speaking, Hagoromo felt his wife's slender arms gently wrap around his torso as she embraced him in a comforting hug.

"Didn't I tell you to stop talking like this about yourself, my love?" Yuno whispered in his right ear as she rested her head on his shoulder. "You've done your best in what you had thought to be the right thing at that time, and that is everything that matters to me. Anything else is irrelevant, and it should be the same for you as well."

A content smile formed on Hagoromo's lips at his wife's words and actions. "I know, my dear," he spoke, returning her hug with his right arm as he tenderly placed it around her lithe waist. "You are completely right with what you've said, though, I still can't help but chastise myself whenever I become witness to any past mistakes during my reminiscing. It serves as a constant reminder of the realizations brought upon by my true enlightenment. Those of which I must never forget."

"Mm-hmm," Yuno mumbled in reply, before she started nibbling on his ear, eliciting a chuckle from the young man.

"Anyway, let't return to the previous topic regarding Hidan, because the faster we are done with the preparations for the religion project, the faster we get to enjoy what comes after that," Hagoromo voiced with a knowing smile.

"Yep~" the rose haired girl responded as she stopped from her ministrations and made herself more comfortable in her husband's embrace.

"Hidan," Hagoromo suddenly spoke, raising his voice enough to make himself heard to the grey haired man in the vicinity.

The scythe wielding man quickly ceased the previous swinging of his weapon and acrobatic moves, and immediately rushed to the pale-skinned deity.

"Yes, my Lord," Hidan spoke in a deferent tone as he dismissed his weapon, causing it to vanish from his hands without any trace.

"Moving onto the subject of the body and power I gifted you with, there are several boons that my blessing has granted you," Hagoromo began as he fixed the pious man with his gaze.

Hidan adopted an attentive expression as soon as he registered the words of his Lord.

"First of all, I made sure to improve your inability to die to the extent of actual immortality, because your previous instance of it was very limited in many aspects and could hardly be called such."

Excitement and gratitude quickly colored the man's visage as he continued to listen.

"With this new body of yours, things like dismemberment, decapitation, or even mangling beyond recognition will no longer pose any threat to you. You will easily recover from such things in no time, as your body cannot be stopped through conventional means anymore."

Hidan's eyes shone in anticipation and an almost disturbing grin was beginning to form on his face at that piece of information.

"Although, inflicting these kind of wounds on you in the first place will in fact be much harder, since all of your physical parameters have been accordingly increased," Hagoromo continued, slightly amused at the grey haired man's reaction to each successive reveal. "But in the case that such a thing does actually occur, the fact that you now possess complete control over your body will make recovering a much more simple process. After all, what would decapitation achieve when you will be able to simply walk to your head, grab it, and then manipulate your muscles and tendons to easily reattach it while your improved healing factor quickly removes any traces of the wound itself?"

"You mean I can do the kind of stuff that Kakuzu would do to patch me up, but actually on my own?" Hidan asked in excitement, causing the snow haired deity to chuckle.

"Among many other things, yes," Hagoromo responded with an amused smile.

"Sweet!" the grey haired man exclaimed with a grin.

"Secondly, regarding the aspects related to your empowerment," Hagoromo continued with his explanation. "I'm certain that ever since your rebirth, you'v been able to sense a lingering presence within yourself that had mingled with your chakra and concentrated around the area of your forehead."

Hidan quickly nodded in affirmation.

"That, my faithful priest, is a fragment of my power which I have granted you as a reward for your piety," Hagoromo revealed. "And its purpose is to allow you to reach a height of power that will make the enemies of faith tremble in fear."

An expression of slight confusion settled on the reverent man's features as he wondered about the meaning of his God's words.

"What do you mean, my Lord?" he asked in curiosity, prompting Hagoromo to give him a pleasant smile as he replied.

"You will understand soon, but before I get to that part, there is one more thing left to cover regarding your abilities. It has to do with the ritual that you would eagerly employ on the heathen."

Hearing this, once again immediately got Hidan's complete attention as he excitedly wondered about what it could be.

"I know how, in the past, you have found the many requirements for said ritual to be rather bothersome, because they would take away from the time you could have spent on punishing the heretics. So I rectified that."

The grey haired man's eyes widened at those words as he began to realize what the changes to the ritual had been.

"For the activation of your ritualistic technique, you no longer have to draw the symbol of faith using the blood of the heretic," Hagoromo explained. "You can now activate your technique by simply ingesting the blood and offering a short prayer. Following that, the cursed technique will only end with the target's death, or if you so choose to prematurely end it on your own for whatever reasons."

"Thank you, my Lord," Hagoromo voiced in gratitude and joy as he knelt in front of his God. "You are too kind to this pitiful servant."

"Rise, my faithful, and know that you deserved these boons."

"Yes, my Lord," Hidan immediately complied and straightened himself as he stood up from the grassy soil.

"Now, to answer your question from earlier," Hagoromo began as he once more held the grey haired man's complete attention. "The latent power that you can feel deep within your being can be drawn upon in order to achieve an even more powerful form than that of your ritualistic transformation."

Hidan's eyes widened for a second time in surprise at the registered words.

"Though, in order to do so, you will require a certain fuel, one which has to do with the ability of your new weapon," Hagoromo added as he smiled in appreciation at the look of understanding that crossed his devout servant's visage.

"You mean souls, my Lord?"

"Indeed," Hagoromo responded. "You've done well on your deduction. It seems that when it comes to matters related to the faith, you do have your moments of brilliance. But I digress."

"Thank you, my Lord," Hidan bowed his head, happy at the praise that he had received from his God.

"So, as I was saying, your weapon is capable of storing a number of one hundred souls within itself. Anything beyond that amount will be automatically funneled to Naraka," Hagoromo elaborated. "This is an imposed limitation on my part and it has the purpose of making your battles more enjoyable. Although, rest assured, for in the case that you will be required to enter your most powerful form when facing against truly worthy adversaries, this restriction will also be lifted to ensure you access to your maximum fighting potential."

Hidan listened carefully to what the young man had to say as he raised his head.

"Moving on, your second stage of ritualistic empowerment requires the usage of those souls as fuel, alongside with the chakra I have gifted you with, in order to bring forth a power that will be sure to inflict terror on the heretics."

Hearing this prompted an excited grin to appear on the grey haired man's face as he started to imagine the glorious massacre he would be able to bring upon the heathens with such a power at his disposal.

"Though, keep in mind that the power of one soul amounts to only two minutes of that empowered state, and after the last soul is finally depleted, it is advised that you stop maintaining the form, because from that point onward, it will use your own soul as fuel."

This piece of information quickly brought Hidan out of his brief reverie as it made him contemplate on how he would never do such a thing. Not because of any fear of death, but because it would deprive him of being able to offer his service to his gracious God.

"However, in this case, since it is for testing purposes, I shall grant you the required amount of power to achieve your transformation for a few minutes," Hagoromo added, immediately getting drawing his servant's attention. "That should allow you to get familiarized with the empowered state for the first time when you will use it in actual combat."

"I am most grateful for your generous offer, my Lord, but I can't accept such a gift of your power just for the purpose of testing my technique," Hidan refused as politely and eloquently as he could, earning himself a smile from the snow haired deity. "Your power is too precious to be used like this."

"You are the epitome of what a devout follower should be, Hidan," Hagoromo spoke in a praising tone as he gazed in the man's purple eyes. "But this time I must insist on the matter, for I find myself rather curious about your second stage transformation and I wish to see how it manifests."

"Of course, my Lord," Hidan quickly acquiesced. "If that is your will, then I'll gladly obey."

"Good," Hagoromo voiced, before preparing a portion of his energy for immediate use. "Then, focus on that power within yourself and guide it outward. The rest I shall take care of, since there will also be no need for you to say the lengthier prayer to activate it either."

Hidan did just as told and began focusing on the power that he could feel originating from his forehead.

A moment later, a mark depicting a ringed eye with nine tomoe and the symbol of yin-yang for pupil appeared in the middle of his forehead, before it started glowing in a bright light.

Hagoromo summoned a water mirror in front of Hidan, allowing him to see the white, shining seal that became visible on the center of his forehead.

"That's the symbol of the faith..." the religious man muttered in fascination as he brushed his fingers over the radiating seal.

"Yes, Hidan, but in reality that is a seal which I have engraved onto your very soul," Hagoromo explained, casing the man's eyes to widen in surprise. "It is both what keeps your soul anchored to the mortal plane in the case that your body somehow gets completely obliterated, and what allows you to channel the power I have gifted you with in order to enter your heightened form."

"I understand... Thank you, my Lord."

"Now then, allow the power accumulated within yourself to envelop you completely."

The grey haired man did as told and allowed the chakra that had built up within his body to be released through his tenketsu as a pleasant feeling of empowerment rapidly enveloped his being.

The seal on his forehead stopped glowing and black wisps of chakra were released from all over his body, the process rapidly growing in intensity until he was surrounded in a dark haze that completely obscured him from view.

The pitch black chakra enveloping him began to shape itself akin to a cloak, revealing in the process the rather macabre and terrifying sight of what lay beneath the slowly dispersing dark mist.

Hellish yellow eyes belonging to a skull devoid of any flesh stared through the ragged ends of a dark cowl that flowed down into a black, wispy cloak held together by a pair of lustrous, matching pauldrons.

A multitude of golden coins strung together on a golden thread decorated a partially visible ribcage as they were interlaced between the ribs, and bony fingers attached to equally fleshless forearms held in their grip a great scythe whose handle closely resembled a spine toward the area where it met the razor sharp blade.

Hidan lowered his hands and weapon, marveling at the result of his transformation.

The ethereal cloak covering his skeletal form was constantly releasing thin wisps of dark energy as it billowed at the slightest gust of wind, revealing even more of the ivory bones hiding beneath it.

"Oh?" Hagoromo sounded in appreciation as he inspected his servant's new appearance, noting the presence of the faith's symbol both on the man's skull and on the hood covering it. "This transformation is quite ripe with symbolism in its aspect," he said, before glancing at his wife. "Don't you think the same, my dear?"

Yuno seemed to be of a similar mind to her husband as she looked with a critical eye at the transformed Hidan standing in front of her.

"Yep!" she agreed with a nod as her gaze stopped on the man's fleshless face. "It has the whole grim reaper theme down to a tee."

Hagoromo let out an amused chuckle at her words, before shifting his attention back on Hidan. "So what do you think of your transformation, Hidan?" he asked. "While in this form you are essentially impervious to any form of damage, although, powerful enough attacks will still be able to bypass this defense and harm you. And those which do not bypass it will still drain you of your energy the stronger they are."

"It feels incredible, my Lord..." the cloaked skeleton unclenched its jaw and breathed out in something akin to exhilaration after only a moment of thought.

"You can test it for a longer while, if you want," Hagoromo added with an appreciative smile.

He'd surmised that his servant's transformation would have been an unique one, as it was bound to reflect his true nature, however, to see it with his own eyes was much better, especially since it had also been quite surprising with its reaper motif.

"Thank you, my Lord, but I'll have to respectfully decline," Hidan quickly replied with a bow of his head. "I already imposed enough on your grace as it is."

"Very well," Hagoromo spoke as he stopped infusing his chakra through the seal. "Then, in order to end the technique, simply focus on the power flooding you and will it back inside the seal once you feel the influence of my chakra dissipate from within you."

Hidan did as instructed by his God and guided the power coursing through him back in its latent state within the seal on his forehead.

A moment later, and the dark cloak covering his form turned back into a black haze which once again completely obscured him from sight.

As the black shroud dispersed, the body of the grey haired man was revealed identical to how it had been prior to the transformation, however, he seemed to be struggling to stand upright and was heavily wobbling on his feet.

By the time the entirety of the dark mist was gone, Hidan finally lost his footing and collapsed face first to the ground as he let out a grunt of pain at the contact with the hard soil.

"Ugh!" he moaned as he slightly turned his head to get the grass out of his mouth. "What hit me...?"

The response he received from the pair of deities standing before him was along similar lines.

Yuno giggled cutely as she watched him struggle to stand up with no success as his arms failed to support his weight, whereas Hagoromo simply smiled in amusement as he materialized his ebon shakujō in his left hand.

"Do not fret, Hidan," Hagoromo assured as he gently tapped the downed man on his head with the hooped end of his ceremonial staff. "It is only normal for you to feel this degree of tiredness, since you have just returned from a state of great empowerment and your body requires time to adapt to such a drastic increase in power."

The effect was instantaneous and the grey haired man seemed to immediately regain his vigor as he quickly raised himself from the ground.

"But rest assured, because the more you will make use of this transformation, the less you will feel this side effect, until the point where you will no longer be affected by such exhaustion," Hagoromo added, dismissing his shakujō as he looked at his reinvigorated servant. "Though, do not expect me to restore your strength each and every time, since you won't be able to grow should I do so. This time I only did it because we are to leave for someplace else as soon as possible."

"I understand, my Lord," Hidan spoke in deep gratitude as he bowed before his God. "And, once again, I thank you for bestowing such a blessing on me," he grasped his pendant in his right hand and brought it over his heart as he continued speaking. "I swear to fulfill my duty as the Head Inquisitor of your faith to the best of my ability."

"Rise, my faithful," Hagoromo voiced pleasantly as a placid smile settled on his lips. After all, everything had gone according to the plan so far. "Now then, it is time to finally leave for the next objective."

"Okay, darling~" Yuno agreed in a cheerful tone and with a matching smile as she continued to gaze at her beloved.

"Where are we going, my Lord?" Hidan asked as he straightened himself and began dusting off his robe.

"We are going to visit my nephew."

"Nephew?" the religious man parroted in curiosity.

"Yes, Hidan," Hagoromo replied. "He is a direct descendant of my brother and he is currently living alone inside the moon."

"That sounds kinda boring" Hidan voiced his thoughts, unabashed. He seemed to become thoughtful for a moment, before he continued. "So, how are we going to get there? Are we going to fly? Or will you bring down the moon itself, my Lord?"

His suggestion was met with a chuckle from Hagoromo and a giggle from Yuno.

"Neither of that," the white haired deity revealed, a smile playing on his lips. "Instead, we shall be using this to get us to the moon in less than the blink of an eye."

Following his words, the air in front of them cracked open as a fissure in the fabric of time and space was formed.

"A portal?!" Hidan exclaimed in excitement as soon as his eyes registered the dark rift which opened in front of him. "That's super awesome!"

And with that he proceeded to rush toward the portal while yelling at the top of his lungs, before he dived right through the pitch-black void within.

"He sure is a lively one, right, honey?" Yuno asked with a smile.

Hagoromo chuckled in response to his wife's words. "That he is," he agreed with a smile of his own. "Though, it is a rather good attribute, because it means that things will hardly get dull when he becomes involved. All in all, he shall provide for us some fine amusement."

Yuno let out a giggle as she unlatched herself from her beloved's right arm, linking arms with him instead as they walked together into the portal before them.

The Celestial Decree.

The will of Ōtsutsuki Hamura, shaped by his loyalty for his brother and their shared wish of creating a peaceful world for mankind to thrive.

Yet, just as with Hagoromo's own teachings and values, so had it also lost its meaning with the passage of time.

The descendants of Hamura on the moon had become split by their different interpretations of their ancestor's will, and thus began warring against each other for their dissimilar views.

Those to emerge victorious were the members of the branch family, who believed that Hamura wanted them to destroy the Earth if the humans were found to be unworthy of Hagoromo's teachings.

Though, their victory did not come without a costly price.

They had been left on the brink of extinction, and their sole descendant was entrusted with their mission of carrying through their millennium old plan of punishing mankind for their weaponizing of chakra.

At that time, the young Ōtsutsuki Toneri had barely been approaching his early teens, but that had not deterred him from accepting the collective will of his deceased clansmen.

He had wholeheartedly decided to see through the branch family's Thousand Year Plan to its very end, and with the aid of the various tools he was left with after their passing, the task did not seem to be all that daunting anymore.

The thousands of automatons left in his possession would make for a great help in his mission, however, the treasure of his clan was the true key to the success of his plan.

With the power of the Tenseigan, he would be able to accomplish what his ancestors had entrusted him with and wipe off mankind from the face of the Earth.

Or so he had thought initially, because roughly two weeks prior, he was faced with a revelation which had brought him quite the shock, thus making him reconsider the things he had been trying to accomplish with his plan.

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the elder brother of Ōtsutsuki Hamura, had returned from beyond death and was once more walking the earth.

And not only had he come back among the living, but he also seemed to have had a significant change of heart, because the first thing he had done after stopping mankind's latest petty war, had been to take away all of their chakra, without as much as batting an eyelash.

Toneri had heard stories about how the elder brother of Hamura had gifted part of his power to the humans and nurtured them toward an era of peace, so it was very surprising to see the resurrected man act in such a manner toward the people for whom he had once cared so deeply.

Though, the young teen eventually rationalized that this change on Hagoromo's part must have been due to him witnessing how mankind had treated his teachings over the course of history with their constant warring and weaponizing of chakra.

It must have definitely been a heavy blow to the Sage to see what had become of his legacy after the passing of a millennium.

But beyond this initial surprise on his part, Toneri was filled with admiration toward the legendary Sage when he realized that his action of taking away chakra from the humans had actually been a form of punishment for them.

And despite thinking that they deserved much more than what Hagoromo had given them as punishment, he soon realized that it was no longer exactly his business anymore, because with the elder brother's return, most of the things he had been entrusted with kind of fell apart.

The Celestial Decree of Hamura spoke about observing mankind for a thousand years and deciding if they were worthy or not of Hagoromo's gift. And if not, then they were to be punished for their misuse of it.

However, now that the Sage himself was back, Toneri wasn't exactly sure of what to do, because it was clear to him that the elder brother still had some plans for the humans.

Not that he would have done anything even if he knew what to do, because for one, he was aware that his authority was greatly superseded by the legendary Sage's presence, and for two, he was neither stupid, nor suicidal.

He had seen the brief display of Hagoromo's might during his intervention in the last shinobi world war, and it paled even when compared to the feats he knew to have been achieved by Hamura himself.

So in the end, he decided to simply wait and see how things would proceed from that point onward, because there was honestly nothing else that he could have done.

He might have felt rather disheartened and disappointed at the fact that he hadn't managed to accomplish the Thousand Year Plan, however, there was truly nothing he could have done about it.

And yet, after two weeks of waiting, he was once again faced with surprise, one even bigger than the last time, when they had suddenly come to Earth in search for the chakra obtained by Hagoromo after the conclusion of the war, prior to his departure.

But instead of finding him, those two Ōtsutsuki had actually encountered his clone, a meeting that had not ended on a too great of a note, and that mainly due to the attitude of the clone itself, which had clearly diverged from what it was supposed to be, given the orders imparted to it by its creator.

Though, what had followed after that would have definitely made anything else prior pale in comparison, because with the eventual return of Hagoromo back from wherever he had been gone to, things had taken on a very dramatic turn.

Toneri might have been more than slightly surprised to find out that the legendary Sage had also been accompanied in his return by a young woman about whom he had referred to as his wife, however, that had been quickly replaced by shock and disbelief after a relatively short time.

Not only at the revelation of the tragic history between the Sage's family and those two invaders, but also at how their encounter had unfolded. The Sage was more than determined to exact retribution upon the one responsible for his father's death and Lady Kaguya's suffering.

Hagoromo alongside that woman, Yuno, inevitably faced those two Ōtsutsuki in combat, although, after several minutes into their fight, Toneri had been brought to a rather startling realization.

That woman was more than scary, and the things that she had done to her opponent, Kinshiki, had managed to actually incite his pity for him.

Yet, her actions had become even more vicious and merciless after Hagoromo had allowed himself to be temporarily incapacitated in order to be able to make his final assessment on the situation.

And despite the fact that she had been eventually overpowered by the one formerly known as Momoshiki, everything had changed when that individual had tried to lay his hands on her.

Toneri might have not viewed Hamura's brother as a frightening person, however, the things that he had been given to witness from that point of the fight and onward had made him completely reconsider his opinion.

Calling their altercation a battle after Hagoromo had reentered it would have been a huge understatement, because in truth, what had followed after that point had been a one sided massacre on the legendary Sage's part.

The display of power he witnessed was enough to cement in his mind the simple fact that Hagoromo was the God of this world, and that trying to harm his wife in any manner was equal to a self imposed death sentence.

The events past the conclusion of their meeting were unfortunately left unknown to Toneri, but that was due to the fact that he had felt too overwhelmed by what he had witnessed to continue watching through his projection technique.

He might have felt awe and admiration toward Hagoromo's actions, however, he couldn't lie to himself and say that he had not been afraid after being shown such an unfathomable extent of his power.

Witnessing someone get punched so hard that they would end up crashing into another planet tended to leave quite the impression on most people. Amongst many other things that he had also seen.

And that was the exact reason for why Toneri had spent the past two days in the silent confines of his room as he tried to recover from the shock of these recent events.

He wasn't exactly sure about what would happen next, however, right now he wasn't in the mood to think about it either.

The apprehension currently filling him was much less than that of two days ago, yet was still enough to make him not want to leave his castle within the moon.

And in the end, whether he left or not didn't exactly matter, because he wasn't really trying to hide from Hagoromo. Not that he could have done such a thing anyway, because it was impossible to hide from someone who could manipulate the fabric of space-time at will. But rather he was simply feeling less tense inside the familiar setting of his palace.

Besides, he was certain that should Hagoromo actually wish to meet him, then he would visit him anyway.

Toneri felt a tinge of excitement flood him at that thought.

It seemed that despite his current apprehension, the admiration he held for the legendary figure was enough to get him thrilled at the prospect of meeting him in person. And for good reason as well, because he was essentially one of the two remaining members of his extinct clan, on top of actually being his many, many times great uncle.

The young teen was suddenly brought out of his deep musings when he heard a high pitched yell that seemed to have originated from the front hall of his palace.

A moment later, his eyes visibly narrowed at the very unusual occurrence, before he quickly stood up from his bed as he went to investigate the source of this commotion.

Hidan jumped out the other end of the portal he had just entered a few seconds earlier, his echoing voice closely following him as he continued to yell in excitement while still being in midair.

As he landed on the ground a moment later, his brow slightly creased in mild confusion when he finally took in his new surroundings.

"Man, the moon sure is weird," he commented while glancing around himself.

He seemed to be surrounded by a bunch of large floating rocks, just like the one on which he landed only a couple seconds ago.

The lighting and atmosphere of the place was also equally odd with how artificial it seemed to be, however, he quickly discarded that train of thought when his eyes finally settled on the sight that stood only several dozen feet away from his landing position.

It was some sort of weirdly designed palace with an architecture that seemed to be too complicated for him to even bother trying to understand, though, he could easily sum everything he was currently looking at with one word.

Fancy.

The grey haired man's attention was once more drawn away from the imposing building before his eyes when he noticed a dozen or so blasts of yellow energy rapidly approach his position from the direction of the castle.

Realizing that it wouldn't feel particularly nice if he were to stand still and take those blasts head on, he quickly leapt from the spot, landing a moderate distance away from the significant explosion that rocked the large island a second later.

Feeling some of his previous excitement return, he quickly looked for the source of the attack and immediately spotted the small, fancily-dressed army that was only growing in numbers as it surrounded him.

However, upon a closer look to the individuals comprising said army, and after also remembering the earlier words of his Lord, he felt disappointed as he realized that he was actually facing a bunch of puppets.

"Man, this is no fun," Hidan whined childishly as he continued to stare down the still growing army of automatons. "Puppets are really no fun, y'know?"

Not really expecting to receive an answer to the words he had anyway spoken more to himself, the grey haired man materialized his trusty scythe and made a mad dash toward the puppets in front of him, his weapon grazing the earth and kicking up dust as he sprinted across the floating island.

The puppets fired another volley of energy blasts at the rapidly approaching man, to which Hidan responded by leaping high into the air and using his extensible scythe to maneuver himself behind the nearest line of opponents, bisecting them in one swift and fluid motion as he landed.

An eager smile found its way on his face as he realized that despite them being a bunch of lifeless dolls, he could still make it work, because no matter what it was, cutting up some stuff was always bound to make for at least a bit of fun for him.

Dodging another salvo of yellow tinted blasts, Hidan dashed to the group of puppets to his left as he let out an excited yell, before he swung his scythe in a wide arc, intent on cleaving them in half as well.

However, much to his disappointment, most of the automatons managed to react in time and jumped away from his strike, and he ended up cutting through only one of them, which was the closest one to him and had the least time to move.

"Heh, not bad for a bunch of dumb puppets," the scythe wielding man commented as he prepared to jump once more into the fray. "Though, I wonder where's the guy controlling you lot."

A moment later, he bolted off from his spot just in time to avoid a series of blasts that converged on his previous position, before he threw his scythe at the group of puppets approaching from his front, watching with glee as the sharpened triple blades cleaved with ease through their targets.

Rushing through the falling remains of the destroyed automatons, Hidan dodged more blasts coming from his rear, however, despite his nimbleness and sharp reflexes, due to the sheer number of opponents that he was facing, one yellow orb of energy still grazed his left ear, leaving it slightly singed.

"Hey, you stupid dolls, that actually stung!" he exclaimed, jumping to the side in order to evade another series of incoming blasts as he also made sure to take down any puppets that he passed by during his brief flight.

By the time he landed, the burn on his ear seemed to have already healed, and after he readied his scythe, he was about to once again launch himself randomly toward some nearby automatons.

However, before he could have done so, he had to stop himself when he noticed that the entire army of puppets surrounding him had suddenly went still as if waiting for further instructions.

He looked around in slight confusion as he searched for the cause to this strange occurrence, and after several moments of inspecting his surroundings, he eventually noticed the unfamiliar presence by the entrance of the imposing palace behind him.

Quickly turning around to face the newcomer, the grey haired man rested his large scythe on his right shoulder as he took in the appearance of the person who was slowly walking toward him amidst the countless, unmoving puppets.

It was a young pale-skinned boy in his late teenage years, with shaggy white hair, and attractive if not somewhat feminine facial features. His eyes were closed, and on his collarbones he had six magatama designs tattooed akin to a necklace.

He was clothed in a white, high-collared kimono tied with a black sash, over which he wore a pale green, longer and wider sash tied at the right shoulder. On the back of his kimono was depicted the yellow sun and moon emblem of the Ōtsutsuki branch family, and beneath his robes, he wore a pair of black, fingerless gloves, long, dark colored leggings, and black sandals.

"Who are you?" the boy in his late teens calmly inquired as he stopped several feet away from what he had labeled as a definite intruder.

However, as he regarded the grey haired man in person, the youth only felt his previous questions about him further grow, because while he could clearly sense the Ōtsutsuki chakra lying deep within the man, he was certain that he was not of his kin—or at least not entirely.

This man might have possessed the particular chakra of an Ōtsutsuki, yet it was not of his own, but rather it was simply clinging to it in await, something which left the teen quite confused as he tried to figure out what this all was about.

The aforementioned intruder, on the other hand, was looking with a blank expression at the newcomer as he wondered if his Lord's nephew might in fact be a niece.

He definitely didn't doubt the words of his God, however, the person currently standing a few feet in front of him could easily pass for a girl with how feminine his features seemed to be.

Deciding that it would much easier to just ask, Hidan opened his mouth and spoke.

"Hey, you're a guy, right?" he questioned in an uncharacteristically serious manner for the current situation as he eyed the boy up and down several times.

The question seemed to quickly snap the white haired boy out of his contemplation, prompting him to slightly furrow his brow as he replied.

"Yes, I am indeed a male, however, you have yet to answer my previous question. Who are you, and how did you come to possess Ōtsutsuki chakra mixed with your own?"

Hidan's response was to simply continue staring at him for a couple more seconds, before a grin formed on his face.

"You could've definitely fooled me with that face of yours and this army of dolls that are dressed up like they're ready to have a tea party."

Despite their obvious teasing nature, it seemed that the grey haired man's words had not been received too well.

"I am not going to ask so nicely the next time," the boy spoke once more, the beginning of a frown visible on his features as his tone also took on a discernible edge to it. "Who are you?"

"Hey, hey, you don't have to be such a stick in the mud, ya know?" Hidan replied in a slightly chiding tone. "Learn to take a joke, will ya?"

"Maybe if you learned some manners. Perhaps then I would consider your proposal."

"Tsk," Hidan clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Man, you're really no fun."

"I'm still waiting," the teen reminded.

"Okay, fine, you don't have to nag me on this," the scythe wielding man complained. "Anyway, I guess that you are definitely the nephew that my Lord has spoken of, so all I can tell you is my name and the fact that you'll have to wait until he and Lady Yuno get here if you want to have any other questions answered."

A look of realization dawned on the youth's face as he registered the man's words.

This man's presence here definitely made sense to him now and his possession of Ōtsutsuki chakra was no longer a mystery either.

Since he obviously was his loyal servant, Lord Hagoromo must have given it to him at some point as a gift for his services.

However, what had struck the boy most out of what he had just been told, was the part regarding the upcoming arrival of the legendary Ōtsutsuki and his wife, because the simple thought of meeting those two in person filled him with enough excitement to overcome the apprehension that he also felt at the idea of standing before two veritable deities.

"I'm Hidan, by the way," Hidan added after several moments of silence, pulling the white haired teen out of his musings. "Nice to meet ya, daifuku."

"What did you just call me?" the pale skinned youth asked in a dangerous tone as his earlier frown returned on his beautiful visage.

"I called you daifuku," the grey haired man replied nonchalantly. "What, you never heard of it? I know you've been living alone inside the moon and all that jazz, but seriously man... that's like some basic kind of stuff, right?"

"I assure you that I am familiar with the term," the boy responded evenly. "However, if you call me that again, then you might find yourself regretting it."

His tone took on a warning note toward the end, which was accentuated by the simultaneous movement of the puppets surrounding them—they brought their hands in front of themselves in a position that quickly reminded Hidan of imminent energy blasts he might have a hard time dodging from his current position.

"Hey, hey, hey, what did I say earlier about learning to take a joke?" the scythe wielding man voiced with his arms raised in a disarming gesture.

"And what did I say about you learning some manners?" the teen refuted coolly.

"Heh, point taken," Hidan replied with a grin, which became wider toward the end. "Daifuku~"

"I suppose that I'll have to beat some manners into you, then." Was the calm response that the man's previous words garnered from the youth, before countless yellow orbs of energy slowly blazed to life between the palms of each and every one of the puppets.

"Hey—" the grey haired man tried to reason with the boy in an attempt to avoid being bombarded with numerous blasts of chakra, however, was interrupted by a very familiar voice which sounded from a short distance behind him.

"I see that both of you have become quite well acquainted with each other."

"I see that you both have become quite well acquainted with each other."

Hidan quickly swerved his head to look in the opposite direction, and noticed the sight of his Lord as he stepped out of the still opened portal while accompanied by his wife.

From the corner of his eyes, he also noticed that the army of puppets had stopped charging their attacks and that the pale skinned teen seemed to have had a one-eighty switch in his personality with the expression that had just made its way on his face.

"Lord Hagoromo. Lady Yuno," the boy spoke with admiration in his eyes as he gave a slight bow to the approaching duo. "It's a great honor to meet you in person."

"Hello, Toneri," Hagoromo replied in a pleasant tone as he and his wife stopped a few meters away from the youth, who didn't seem surprised that they knew his name.

"Hi!" Yuno gave her own cheerful greeting, before she hugged her beloved's arm.

"So, your name is Toneri, eh?" Hidan mused out loud with a casual grin as he finally dismissed his scythe now that he was sure no fight will occur with his Lord's arrival. "I still think I like daifuku more, though."

This comment elicited a giggle from the rose haired girl, and another slight furrowing of the brow from the pale skinned teen himself.

"Now, now, Hidan, there will be enough time for jesting later on, but right now I would like for you to be more serious," Hagoromo voiced as he briefly glanced at the grey haired man.

"Yes, my Lord," Hidan immediately replied with a lowering of his head.

Returning his attention back on his nephew, who had a pleased smile forming on his face, Hagoromo spoke again. "Before we get to the main point which would be the reason for my visit, there is something that I believe you would like to ask me. More specifically, something pertaining to our clan and its fate over the past thousand years."

A momentary silence followed as Toneri immediately began thinking about what it was that the elder brother of Hamura had hinted toward with his previous words.

Several moments passed, before he finally came to a realization as his eyes slightly opened, allowing the others present to partially see the empty orbits beneath the eyelids.

Hagoromo and Yuno didn't seem to be surprised by this fact, however, Hidan looked like he might have wanted to make a joke about it, though, had to refrain himself as per his Lord's words from earlier.

"About the Celestial Decree," Toneri began in a serious tone as he closed his eyes. "I have been wondering about it lately, Lord Hagoromo. Could you please tell me the first version you had spoken to your brother a thousand years ago?"

"Very well, my nephew," Hagoromo replied. "What I told my brother a millennium ago was to simply wait and observe mankind for the upcoming thousand years. However, from what I learnt, it seems that my words had become distorted after my brother's passing."

An expression of shock settled on Toneri's features as soon as he registered what the snow haired young man had just told him.

So, the branch family had been mistaken all this time? And they even massacred the main family as a result of their misunderstanding?

It was revolting as it was shameful, and the teen couldn't find anything to say in the defense of their actions.

"Although, with my intervention from two weeks and a few days ago, you could say that the decree had been voided, because I have taken the matters into my own hands once more."

Toneri looked in confusion at the young man, his previous emotions still visible on his visage as he tried to make order through his thoughts.

"My nephew," Hagoromo began in a more gentle voice when he noticed the expression present on the boy's face. "Getting lost within actions of the past is nothing but a folly. Especially now that the world has been changed and its slate has been wiped clean," he slowly raised his left hand, palm facing upward. "The past is no longer relevant beyond simply being a reminder of the mistakes that should not be repeated. You need not to feel repulsed, ashamed, or regretful at that which no longer has any meaning. It will only keep you shackled and burdened if you do so," he offered the boy an assuring smile. "So come, Toneri. Shake off your bindings and come join me in the truth that I am offering you."

Yuno had to stifle a giggle at her husband's words when she understood what he was aiming at with them, which prompted her to bury her face in the sleeve of his robe as she hid her smile from any of the onlookers, exception being her beloved himself, who was aware of her general mood due to their bond and made sure to send her the mental equivalent of an amused smile.

Hidan, on the other hand, looked like he had abandoned the conversation for the past few minutes, since he had once again been overwhelmed by the discussed topic, and instead he had opted to mess around with the unresponsive puppets that he was placing in awkward positions to amuse himself.

Toneri, however, looked like he had been deeply moved by Hagoromo's words and slowly took steps forward as he approached the silver haired young man.

"Lord Hagoromo..." he spoke in a soft and impassioned voice as he kept his hollow eyes fixated on the young man's violet ones. His previous words had struck deeply within him and cleared away all of the doubts from his mind. And the closer he reached to him, the more relieved and free he felt.

"Cast away the burdens of your past, my nephew," Hagoromo said once more when Toneri got within an arm's length of him. "Leave behind that which no longer carries any meaning and dedicate yourself to me. Do so and you will experience the clarity and joy of the truth."

"Yes, Lord Hagoromo," the white haired boy spoke in reverence as he stopped in front of the young man and knelt. "I will."

"Very well," Hagoromo responded as he placed his extended left hand on Toneri's head, before it was joined by his right one, which his wife was still holding, albeit a bit more loosely than earlier. "Then, rejoice my nephew, because you shall become the one to spread the only truth and oversee those who choose to uphold it henceforth."

His words were immediately followed by the lighting up of his palms, an action which managed to draw Hidan's attention from his previous activities, as they were engulfed in distinct glows—dark for his left and white for his right, before a familiar looking seal appeared on the teen's forehead for a few moments.

Toneri didn't have more than a few seconds to ponder on what he had been told, before he suddenly felt a sensation of empowerment envelop him and reach deep within his being.

It didn't take him long to realize that what he currently felt was in fact Hagoromo's chakra that was blending with his own in a very similar manner to what he had sensed earlier in Hidan.

The overwhelming chakra rapidly converged toward the center of his forehead, before it seemed to settle down and slowly vanish, until it was just barely out of his grasp and would require a conscious focus on his part to be brought back to the surface.

An odd tingling sensation in his eyes quickly brought the teen's attention away from the chakra he had been gifted with, and when he opened them, shock was immediately etched into his features as he realized that his sight had been restored.

Yet, that was not all that he could feel to have been changed about him.

Knowledge of the nine creeds that held the truth his Lord had spoken of were present in his mind, just as knowledge of the symbol of his faith was also there.

"Thank you, Lord Sovereign," Toneri finally broke the silence as he spoke in an almost fanatical tone. "Thank you for bestowing your grace and power upon me. I hereby vow to follow and uphold your will until I take my last breath."

"You can rise, Toneri. Your life as the Head Overseer of the Esoteric faith begins henceforth," Hagoromo replied, his lips forming into a welcoming smile as he removed his hands from atop the boy's head. "And worry not about your eventual demise, for it will never come to be. I have made you immortal, so even if your body were to be destroyed, the seal which I have engraved directly into your spirit will keep you within the world until you are returned to flesh once more."

"I cannot find the words to express my gratitude in the face of your grace, my Lord," the pale skinned teen spoke with a bow of his head.

"That is of no consequence, my nephew," Hagoromo replied evenly. "I do not need to hear words to know what you are feeling." His smile stretched further. "My eyes see everything, after all."

"Of course, my Lord."

"Now then, Toneri, apart from your immortality, as you have already noticed, I have given back your sight which had been sealed when you were born," Hagoromo revealed. "However, the eyes which you now possess are not merely the Byakugan, but rather a step beyond."

Toneri's eyes widened in realization.

"Indeed. I have gifted you with the Tenseigan, the dōjutsu wielded in the past by my brother."

The boy simply remained speechless upon hearing Hagoromo himself say it.

Hidan was scratching his head in slight confusion as he probably wondered what the Tenseigan was, whereas Yuno wondered why she and her beloved didn't possess said dōjutsu as well."

"Hey, darling, why don't we also possess the Tenseigan?" the rose haired goddess asked in curiosity.

"Because there is no need for us to awaken it," Hagoromo answered as he glanced at his wife. "The Tenseigan is a mutation of my brother's Byakugan in an attempt to match the great power of my mother's kekkei mōra variant. And since we already possess the same kind of Byakugan as Kaguya, there is no point in having the Tenseigan."

"Oh, that makes sense," Yuno spoke with a smile. "Thank you for the clarification, darling."

"You are welcome, my dear."

Hagoromo returned his gaze on his nephew, before speaking. "Now then, I assume that you would like to see the power of the Tenseigan for yourself, correct?"

This quickly snapped Toneri out of his previous stupor.

"Yes, Lord Sovereign," he immediately replied. "If it's not too much, then I'd like to test the dōjutsu myself."

"Very well."

Following his words, a rift suddenly opened in the air in front of him and Yuno, in which they promptly entered.

A moment later, they were also joined by Toneri and Hidan, the former slightly frowning at the latter's grinning face after noticing the handiwork he had done to a few dozen of his puppets.

"I'm really looking forward to our future time spent together as partners, Toneri," the grey haired man spoke in a boisterous tone, bringing an arm around the youth's neck in a somewhat uncomfortable hug.

Toneri's response as the portal closed behind them was to simply sigh, because while the man was still being mildly annoying, he had at least dropped that stupid nickname from earlier.

"How come there's oxygen on the surface of the moon?" Yuno questioned a few moments after exiting the portal along with the others. "Was it pulled from the Earth when you created the moon a thousand years ago?"

"Indeed, my dear," Hagoromo replied. "However, that alone wouldn't have been enough to keep the breathable atmosphere stable."

"Because of the very weak gravity, right?" she added.

"Precisely," Hagoromo responded. "But to circumvent that, my brother created a tool that essentially functions as both a terraforming device and power source. The Tenseigan Energy Vessel."

"Tenseigan Energy Vessel? What's that?" Yuno asked once more in curiosity.

Hidan seemed to be curious about it as well, and Toneri gained a reminiscent look in his eyes at the mention of his clan's sacred treasure.

"Hmm, I'd say that it depends on whom you ask," Hagoromo said. "To me, it is an important family heirloom made by my brother, however, for Toneri, it is the sacred treasure of the clan. A treasure honed through the suffering of every clan member who had given up their eyes to be sealed within it alongside Hamura's own, in order to increase its power."

Hagoromo briefly glanced at his nephew, noticing the pensive smile that formed on his face at his words. "But, in essence, it is a very powerful, room-sized generator that can produce the energy equivalent of the sun," he continued as he gazed back at his wife. "It is what powers everything inside the moon, including Toneri's army of puppets, which he can easily control with only his mind."

"I see," Yuno voiced in understanding. "Thanks for the explanation, honey."

"You're welcome, my dear."

"Eh..." Hidan uttered with a look of confusion present on his face, more to himself than to anyone else listening, however, when he noticed that he had managed to draw everyone's attention, he scratched his head as he gave a sheepish chuckle.

This earned him a chuckle from Hagoromo and a giggle from Yuno, though, in the case of Toneri, his previous display seemed to have garnered a more different reaction.

"Seriously, Hidan? You weren't able to understand that much?" the pale skinned teen voiced in mild disbelief. "I can't help but wonder how you've survived long enough for Lord Hagoromo to find you..."

Hidan gave another laugh at his partner's words, before he spoke casually. "Oh, that's easy. I was sort of immortal even back then—hey!" he abruptly stopped when his mind finally caught up with the full meaning of Toneri's words. "That was totally an insult!"

"Your astuteness never ceases to amaze me," the white haired boy replied with thinly veiled sarcasm, causing an expression of outrage to manifest on the grey haired man's face.

"Hey, you wanna say that to my face?!" Hidan challenged angrily, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"I just did, you dolt," Toneri replied smoothly, eliciting a brief look of confusion on the less intelligent man's face, which quickly morphed back into one of outrage.

"Hey, fu—" Hidan tried to say, but was quickly interrupted mid sentence.

"Shut up, and pay attention to what Lord Hagoromo has to say," the short haired youth spoke in a harsher tone, before he looked away from the grey haired man and back to Hagoromo.

Hidan decided to put an end to the argument for the time being, in favor of listening to his Lord, however, he promised to continue it at a later time, preferably when they were alone, so that if things escalated, then he'd be able to also have a good fight.

"Before you can test your new eyes, Toneri, I'll first have to transport this moon to my core dimension and replace it with another one from a random dimension, as I would like to keep the things that are inside it intact," Hagoromo spoke as he began infusing chakra to his third eye.

Toneri and Yuno seemed to easily understand what those things that he didn't want to get damaged were, however, for Hidan it seemed to be a lost cause, since the look of excitement on his face probably had to do with just the moon swapping part of the sentence.

"Oh, and one last thing. Don't worry about the atmosphere disappearing after I swap the moon. You no longer have to breathe in order to live. However, if you still wish to do it out of habit, then simply infuse some wind natured chakra in your lungs."

"Okay," Yuno replied with a smile.

"Of course, Lord Hagoromo," Toneri spoke as he also seemed to be quite anticipative of what he knew that would come.

"Yes, my Lord," Hidan replied with a grin as he stared intently at the snow haired deity, waiting for whatever that was supposed to happen, to happen.

"Now then," Hagoromo uttered as the skin in the center of his forehead split open, revealing his crimson Rinne Sharingan.

A moment later, and he surged his chakra in preparation for the technique—something that only Yuno was able to sense due to the sheer magnitude of power, though, had Toneri used his Byakugan, then he would have been able to see the chakra building up in the young man's third eye.

Yuno couldn't help but feel amazed at the incredible speed with which her beloved had realized the exchange of cosmic bodies.

It had been instantaneous, and only the fact that she could sense his chakra made it possible for her to notice the actual change caused to the world by his Amenominaka.

Another moment passed, followed another one, and then by a few more, until Hidan finally couldn't take it anymore and made his thoughts known.

"When will the moons be swapped, my Lord?"

Toneri seemed to be sharing the same question to some extent, as well.

Hagoromo gave his faithful priest an amused smile.

"The moon has already been replaced," he revealed casually, getting shocked expressions from both Hidan and Toneri. "You should already be able to notice the atmosphere dissipating due to the lack of proper gravity."

"Incredible..." the pale skinned teen breathed out in astonishment.

He had seen the technique before during Lord Hagoromo's fight with Momoshiki, however, now that he was able to be there in person it felt even more surreal to have the world change right before your eyes and be unable to even realize it.

"Maaan~, I totally missed it when I blinked earlier," Hidan whined childishly as he poked his foot against the dusty surface of the replaced moon.

"You wouldn't have noticed it even if you paid attention, you idiot!" Toneri interjected as soon as he recovered from the previous shock. "The transfer had been instantaneous. The only one capable of sensing it must have been Lady Yuno."

Yuno confirmed the boy's words with a nod, however, Hidan didn't seem to be too interested by these details.

Instead, he seemed to be annoyed at Toneri's initial response of calling him an idiot.

"Hey, you did it again!" the grey haired man exclaimed with a tick mark on his forehead. "You wanna settle this with a fight, or what?! Huh, daifuku?"

Toneri was about to give another harsh retort to the man's stupidity, however, he stopped himself before he could have opened his mouth as an idea entered his mind.

He promptly ignored Hidan's insistent stare and shifted his gaze to Hagoromo.

"May I begin?" he asked politely, to which the silver haired deity simply smiled.

A smile of his own appeared on Toneri's visage as he directed his chakra to his eyes, which turned into the Byakugan for a split second, before they changed once again, the pupil becoming a deep blue, whereas the irides turned a lighter shade of blue with an intricate, white floral pattern.

"The Tenseigan looks kinda weird," Hidan stared intently at Toneri's eyes for a few moments, before commenting with a grin. "And it's also a bit girly, but I guess that it suits you."

He gave a chuckle at his own joke, before reassuming his previous grin.

"I think it looks pretty nice, doesn't it, darling?" Yuno asked cutely.

"Yes, it does," Hagoromo replied, before glancing at his nephew. "It is just as I remember it when my brother first showed it to me. It definitely suits you, Toneri."

"Thank you, Lord Hagoromo," the pale skinned boy glanced at the rose haired girl. "Lady Yuno."

"C'mon, man!" Hidan suddenly voiced, sounding rather bored and impatient. "Do something interesting already."

Yuno giggled in her husband's sleeve in response, and Hagoromo himself smiled in amusement at what he knew that would come.

Toneri remained silent and simply went through a few hand seals, and as his hands stopped in the tiger seal, he was quickly engulfed by a cyan colored shroud of chakra, which had six magatama symbols on the collar, dark markings over his eyebrows and lower eyelids, and a single rabbit-like horn extending from his forehead.

"How does the Tenseigan Chakra Mode feel, Toneri?" Hagoromo inquired as he inspected his nephew's heightened form.

"It's... simply amazing..." the teen spoke as he took a few steps around, his hair and clothes billowing in a nonexistent breeze.

"I'll say it, dude, you look pretty badass right now," Hidan gave his own input as he studied his partner's transformed appearance.

Yuno, on the other hand, chose to remain silent and simply watch the proceedings as she laid comfortably on her beloved's right arm.

Toneri extended his right hand, and in front of his opened palm nine gudōdama manifested.

He focused his chakra into one of the orbs, causing it to glow the same color as his shroud and grasped it in his hand.

"Ginrin Tensei Baku!" he uttered, hovering several meters in the air as he aimed his hand in the distance, before a powerful, massive silvery typhoon was released from the truth-seeking orb.

The vortex of wind easily tore through the moon's crust and continued to dig deeper until it emerged on the other side, leaving behind a fairly wide tunnel through the celestial body.

Hidan let out a whistle at the destruction caused by the technique, whereas Hagoromo and Yuno simply watched in silence.

"That was flashy but still pretty weak!" the grey haired man commented, completely unabashed. "I've seen Pain do more impressive shit on a whim, so if that's all, then you leave me kinda disappointed."

Toneri's response was to allow a rather sinister smile to form on his lips as he raised the same hand upwards, prompting all of the gudōdama to merge together, before he infused most of his chakra in the resulting orb as a golden light momentarily enveloped everything in the vicinity.

"The fuck, man?!" Hidan yelled angrily. "Cut it out with the light show! I can't see jack shit from down here!"

However, as the light began to die down, the grey haired man's next words were caught in his throat when he noticed the gigantic golden sword that was rapidly forming in the teen's hand, reaching to such heights that he couldn't even see where it actually ended.

"Kinrin Tensei Baku!" Toneri voiced as he gripped the sword's handle, swinging it downward as if it weighted as much as a feather.

Hidan didn't have much time to admire the beautiful sight of the descending golden edge, because he soon realized that it was heading straight toward his position.

"Fuuuck—" he shouted as he tried to move his body away from what could be best described as certain death for most, or a truckload of pain for him.

Fortunately, due to his great reaction time and sharp reflexes, he was able to evade the approaching blade in time, before it actually sliced cleanly through him, and he only lost a few strands of his hair as the glowing edge whizzed past him in its trajectoryi.

Hidan watched with his mouth agape as the golden sword cut cleanly through the moon in mere seconds, before it emerged from the other side, where it finally dissipated.

Moments later, cracks formed alongside the place where the sword had sliced through the moon, and the two halves began to slowly distance one from the other.

"Hey, you glittery asshole!" Hidan yelled after he managed to recover from most of his previous shock. "You were definitely aiming for me with that huge ass sword from before, weren't you?!" he glowered at the still floating teen. "That would've hurt like a bitch if I didn't manage to get away from it!"

"Whatever do you mean, Hidan?" Toneri responded in an innocent tone as he landed back on the bisected moon's surface. "I was aiming at that crater over there," he pointed in the distance at the clean cut canyon that he had made through a sizable crater. "You just happened to be in the way of my attack, so it would've been your fault had you failed to dodge it in time."

The grey haired man looked like he might have wanted to continue with the argument, however, to his better judgement, he decided to drop it for now, lest he actually incurred the teen's wrath for real the next time.

He wasn't exactly dying to experience the cutting edge of one of those gigantic swords.

"Fine!" he relented. "I'll let this one slide, so you better be thankful to me for it. Ya hear me?"

"Yes, yes, Hidan," Toneri agreed offhandedly as he powered down from his Tenseigan Chakra Mode and deactivated his dōjutsu.

"Is that all for now?" Hagoromo asked after a few moments of silence. "Or would you like to test anything else?"

"No, Lord Hagoromo, that would be all," the pale skinned boy replied, before a brief smile formed on his lips. "I've had enough fun with my last technique."

This earned him a giggle from Yuno and a chuckle from Hagoromo, whereas Hidan simply grunted in indignation as he kicked a pebble in the abyss between the separated halves of the moon.

"Ah, yes, the Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion," Hagoromo spoke with a smile. "A very powerful attack, indeed. It reminds me of my own technique."

"Oh?" Yuno sounded curiously as she didn't recall hearing about such a thing in the tale her beloved had told her.

Her curiosity seemed to be mirrored on both Hidan's and Toneri's visages as well.

"I suppose that I can show it to you," Hagoromo decided. "But first, allow me to restore the moon to its proper state."

Following his words, he clapped his hands, and not even a split second later, the two halves of the moon were quickly brought together and mended anew as if nothing had ever sliced through them several minutes ago.

He didn't say anything about Hidan's and Toneri's expressions of amazement at the casual way in which he had made the moon whole once again, and instead began to hover above the surface, stopping a significant distance away, but still within the visual range of the onlookers.

White streams of energy began to emanate from his left arm as he extended it to the side, hand slightly opened.

Dark substance began to coalesce atop his palm in the form of a thin blade of pitch black, and he grasped onto it as he brought his arm upwards, above his head.

A moment later, his voice echoed down to the moon's surface as he infused his power into the gudōdama he was holding.

"Shinken (Divine Blade)—

The thin sword began glowing a dazzling white, and with a swift movement, Hagoromo swung his hand down at the space in front of him while uttering.

Tenchi Shūen (The End of Heaven and Earth)."

And with his words, the world around him was cast in a blinding white as a colossal tide of radiant energy surged through the cosmos in the direction of his swing.

The light instantly engulfed all that stood in its path, covering the darkness of the universe akin to a never-ending veil of white that seemed to reach far beyond what could be seen.

To those watching from afar, it might have easily seemed as if some divine entity had decided to enact a curtain call for that part of the cosmos.

"Holy fuck!" Hidan exclaimed, his mouth half opened as he was staring at the humongous wave of pure white that covered the space as far as his eyes could see. "This thing is on a whole other level from what you've shown us earlier, Toneri. You can't even compete with it, man..."

Toneri could only nod in response, as he was left dumbstruck by the sight he was currently witnessing. The sheer power that he had managed to glimpse in the attack was both terrifying and awe-inspiring, and he was certain that it was but a sliver of what his esteemed uncle was actually capable of.

Yuno, on the other hand, was watching the unfolding events with excitement clearly discernible in her eyes as she admired the overpowered technique that her husband had unleashed upon the unfortunate world.

From what she had been able to sense, the attack could have easily split the universe in half, had her beloved been a little serious about it. Because, as things currently were, it was obvious to her that he had used his technique as more of a show than anything else.

A few seconds passed before the power of the technique began to subside, allowing the seemingly unending wave of white energy to disperse and reveal its effect upon the world.

Hagoromo was gazing at the fading remnants of chakra with an amused smile as he inspected the damage caused by his attack.

In the wake of the enormous slash, an endless void, darker than even the cosmos surrounding it was left akin to a permanent scar.

His artistry for theatrics and the dramatic seemed to have shined through once again.

Letting out a small chuckle at that particular thought, the Sage glanced at the massive tear in the fabric of space-time for a few more moments as he idly wondered if he had accidentally sliced through something of major importance in whichever other universes that his technique might have passed through.

Chances were that it did, though he didn't exactly feel like checking for such a thing at the moment. He would take the time to assess for any possible damage sometime later, as right now he had some more important matters to attend to.

And besides, if he had truly caused any damage of major importance, he was quite positive that he might get contacted by some entity in that regard.

So, for the time being, he would just fix reality by manually reconnecting the space-time continuum that he had previously severed with his attack.

With that in mind, Hagoromo opened a rift in the space before him and stepped inside the void as he headed back to the surface of the moon.

"That was the single most awesome thing I've ever seen in my life," Hidan declared with a rather disturbing grin on his face, being the first to break the silence that had settled among the spectators on the moon after they had witnessed Hagoromo's technique.

"I'll have to agree with you on this, Hidan," Toneri replied, still barely out of his previous stupor.

"Hey, Toneri, do you have any clue about why the space is different where our Lord has cut through it with his sword?" the grey haired man asked curiously as he lightly nudged his partner with his elbow.

"Actually, no," the teen promptly replied. "That's something I've been wondering about myself."

Both of the men's attentions were brought to the rose haired girl when they heard her giggle in response to their previous words.

"It's pretty simple," Yuno spoke with her usual cheerful smile. "Darling's technique has cut through the fabric of the universe itself," she giggled again. "I guess that he really went for the flashy bonus here."

She gave another giggle as she looked at their dumbstruck expressions. "Don't think about it too much," she advised. "Just accept it as it is. It's easier on the mind."

"Dude..." Hidan looked at his partner with an unsure expression. "I don't know how to respond to that."

Toneri glanced back with a similar expression. "Me neither..."

i"I mean, Lord Hagoromo actually sliced through the fucking reality, man," the grey haired man added. "I can't even understand how that shit works to begin with."

"Yes, Hidan, I get it," the pale skinned teen replied in a slightly tired tone. "Now be silent, because I'm about to get a headache."

"Uh... Okay, I guess?" Hidan half stated, half asked.

Several moments passed, and the two men's attention, as well as Yuno's were brought to the portal that suddenly opened in front of them.

Out of the portal stepped Hagoromo, who was immediately joined by his wife, who headed straight for his right hand to which she quickly latched onto.

"Honey, I think that you should give those two a brief explanation about the stages of gudōdama empowerment because they look pretty confused" the rose haired girl spoke with a giggle.

"Oh?" Hagoromo sounded as he glanced at his nephew and his faithful priest. "Is that so?"

They both nodded at that.

"Very well, but first let me deal with that hole in the universe above us," he spoke as he formed a half tiger seal with his left hand, focusing his chakra.

A moment later, and the tear in the space-time continuum began to rapidly stitch itself closed until it was completely mended within a few seconds.

"Alright, now let's begin," the snow haired deity spoke as he glanced at the two men, who were looking at him with widened eyes. "In essence, the standard truth-seeking orb is formed by combining all five basic nature transformations, which allows it to reduce anything it touches to nothingness, the only exceptions being chakra itself and the user, who are immune."

Toneri and Hidan merely nodded almost mechanically in acknowledgement, prompting Yuno to giggle once again.

"Darling, I think you broke them with the show you put up earlier."

"Nonsense, my dear," Hagoromo replied with a casual wave of his hand. "They are just mentally fatigued after a very eventful day."

Yuno simply giggled without saying anything else.

"So, as I was saying, beyond that level it is possible to further empower a gudōdama by applying yin-yang release to it—such as in my, my wife's, and your case, Toneri—which allows for the orbs to nullify anything that they come into contact with, be they of spiritual or physical origin, this time with the exception of the user and senjutsu chakra."

The two nodded once more, prompting Hagoromo to continue with his explanation.

"And beyond that point, one can bring the technique to an even greater level by directly infusing the orbs with their chakra, just as Toneri and I have done, which, depending on how powerful the user's chakra is, allows them to cut through higher planes of existence, or different dimensions altogether.i In you case, Toneri, your chakra is only strong enough to achieve the former, however, that is still powerful enough to be considered overpowered."

"I... see..." Toneri was the first to speak of the two. "Thank you for the explanation, Lord Hagoromo."

"Yes, my Lord," Hidan followed in suit after a moment. "Thank you for telling us that. I might have not understood all of it, but I still got enough of it to get the general idea of how it works."

Toneri could only sigh at his partner's reply.

"Any other questions?" Hagoromo asked as he deactivated his Rinne Sharingan, allowing the skin on his forehead to stitch back together and cover it.

The two shook their head in response.

"Very well," Hagoromo spoke as he opened a portal in front of him. "Then, it is time to finally get back to Earth and finish the last of the preparations."

And with that, he entered the portal alongside his wife, leaving Toneri and Hidan behind as they had yet to move from their spot.

A couple seconds passed, before Hidan started to walk toward the portal, only to stop in front of it when he heard his name called by his partner.

"Hidan."

"What?" the grey haired man asked as he turned his head to look at Toneri.

"I... apologize for aiming at you with my sword earlier" the white haired teen voiced, sounding quite genuine.

After that he also walked to the portal, but was stopped in a similar fashion when Hidan suddenly addressed him.

"Toneri!" the man spoke with a grin as he brought the pale skinned boy in a one armed hug. "You're pretty nice, bro! Don't worry, I'll forgive you."

"Let go of me, Hidan!" Toneri hissed as he tried to pry off the man's arm from around his neck.

"C'mon, tell me the truth," Hidan replied in a cheerful tone. "You actually like me, right?"

"Hidan, shut up, or I'm going to use you as target practice for my scattering chakra rosary!" the white haired teen threatened.

"Aww, man, don't be shy," the grey haired man continued in his lighthearted voice. "And what's a scattering chakra rosary?"

"Keep talking and you'll find out soon," Toneri spoke ominously.

"Gah, you're no fun, man!" Hidan commented. "Loosen up a bit, will ya?"

This quickly earned him a pointed look from the boy, whose eyes were already reflecting the Tenseigan pattern.

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up!" the man quickly relented, feeling mildly disappointed, but glad that his partner had deactivated those scary eyes.

"Good. Now get in the portal!" Toneri ordered as he stepped in the portal alongside Hidan, who had yet to release him from his friendly hold.

The grey haired man grinned as the portal closed behind them.

He might have lost this battle, but so far he was slowly winning the war. He would become best buddies with his partner in no time.

"So, what do you think is gonna happen now?" Hidan asked in a whisper as he stepped out of the portal alongside his partner.

Toneri glanced around himself, noting that they were back in the destroyed Valley of the End, before he turned to look at the grey haired man.

"How about you stay silent for five minutes and simply watch if you are so curious?" the teen retorted as he stopped walking and shifted his attention to the white haired young man and the rose haired girl standing several feet in front of him.

"Heh, I can do that," Hidan spoke in a cocky tone as he also stood still and released Toneri from the one-armed hold, before he moved his attention in the same direction as his partner, not noticing the small smirk that settled on the boy's face.

Meanwhile, Hagoromo and Yuno seemed to be having a discussion of their own as they stood atop the surface of the large lake that occupied most of the valley.

"Who is this last preparation going to be, darling?" Yuno asked with a cute smile. "Another one with baggage?"

Hagoromo's response was to let out a chuckle as he hugged her closer to him. "Indeed," he replied with an amused smile. "My smile from earlier gave it away, didn't it?"

Yuno giggled at that. "Yep~"

Hagoromo gave another chuckle as he brought his hands together in a manner similar to praying, readying his chakra.

"Well then, let us begin," he spoke as both Toneri's and Hidan's gazes were fixated on him.

A moment later, and a whitish flame came forth into existence before him as it grew in size and intensity until it reached a little over half his height.

The chakra rapidly began to settle and acquire distinctive features, soon revealing the flickering form of a boy with a youthful appearance, messy-grey hair, pink pupil-less eyes, and a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye, all the way down to his cheek.

The youth was clothed in a grey, sleeveless shirt, a short-sleeved mesh armor over which he wore a green poncho, along with a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a green apron over his dark green pants.

He also wore a pair of brown boots, whereas on his back, he carried a staff-like pole weapon taller than himself in size, with uneven sized hooks and a green flower decoration on the larger end.

The young looking male glanced around himself in confusion for the better part of the minute after his summoning, before his eyes finally settled on Hagoromo, more specifically his violet, ringed orbs.

"Oh? So you recognize the Rinnegan?" the silver haired deity mused as he materialized his shakujō, watching how the silent boy stared at him with wide eyes and an expression of almost shock. "This simplifies things by quite the significant margin, then."

The grey haired youth continued to remain silent as he simply stared at the person in front of him as if he was looking at something not belonging to the world as he knew it.

"Yagura of the Bloody Mist," Hagoromo began in an even tone, finally jolting the boy from his stupor. "Do you know who I am?"

Yagura felt a pang of guilt stab at him from the inside at the mention of his nickname, however, he was too absorbed in the question that the entity in front of him had calmly posed to dwell that much on that emotion.

"God..." was all that he could get out in a whisper before the piercing gaze of those violet eyes that stared right through his soul.

Hagoromo smiled at his response. "Then can you guess why it is that I have brought you back from that dark place?"

"To... judge me?" Yagura asked unsurely.

"Not quite," Hagoromo replied, earning a confused look from the boy. "I have seen how the guilt you felt for your actions, whether willing or unwilling, during your reign as the Fourth Water Shadow has weighted down on your spirit so much that you have been incapable of moving on to the Pure Realm."

Yagura didn't say anything and simply listened in silence as he once more felt a stab of guilt on the inside at those words.

"Which is why I have decided to offer you a chance at redemption in my eyes," Hagoromo continued. "Should you agree and dedicate yourself to my will, then you shall be given the truth that will wash away your guilt. And if you deny, then I will simply send you to the Pure Realm."

The grey haired boy stared with wide eyes as he took in what he had just been told.

This meeting had been so far almost surreal to him as he had never dreamt of such a thing. And it had only become more incredible during the last part when he had been given the choices to decide his fate.

At a first glance neither of them seemed to be an unsuitable choice, however, to him, being sent to the place where all the people that he had made suffer were, would be so much worse than having to spend an eternity with his guilt in the purgatory.

He was definitely not ready yet to face the anger of those whom he had unjustly wronged, so he could only choose one thing.

He knelt before God and lowered his head.

"Your will is my will. Order me and I shall obey, my Lord," he uttered in deference.

Hagoromo smiled and briefly glanced at his wife, noting the smile also present on her visage, before he gazed back at the kneeling Yagura.

He raised his arm holding the ebon shakujō and lightly tapped the boy on his head with the hooped end, causing him to shine for a moment, before a familiar looking symbol appeared on the youth's forehead.

Yagura's spirit stopped flickering as it was once more given flesh, and the grey haired boy could only remain unmoving in muted silence at the otherworldly sensations that roused his being.

The truth that he had been promised followed soon and as it settled in his mind it slowly began to disperse the encroaching guilt that had been plaguing him for so long.

"Rise, Yagura," Hagoromo spoke after a minute of silence. "Henceforth, your new life as the Overseer of this world shall begin."

"Yes, Lord Sovereign!" Yagura voiced out and immediately rose to his feet, noticing that he was being approached by the other two males who had been standing in silence until now.

"So, another one joins the party, eh, Toneri?" the grey haired man spoke in a boisterous manner as he nudged his companion in a friendly manner, before glancing at Yagura. "I'm Hidan, by the way, though I guess that you can call me senpai~"

"Hidan, stop fooling around and be more serious," Toneri reprimanded, before he shifted his attention on Yagura as well. "I am Ōtsutsuki Toneri, and I shall be your supervisor from now on."

"Pleased to meet you both," Yagura replied in a polite tone. "As you might have already heard, I am Yagura, the Fourth Water Shadow."

"Hey, Toneri, I think you'll be getting along pretty well with this guy," Hidan commented with a grin. "You both look girly, are tight wound to the point where it looks painful, and are polite to a fault."

Yagura didn't respond, but that was probably because he didn't want to get involved in the craziness that the man seemed to exude, however, in Toneri's case, things were a bit different.

"Hidan, I believe that you have only kept silent for four minutes and forty-four seconds, and thus, you have failed your little, self-imposed challenge," the pale skinned teen spoke with an eerie smile. "So, unless you shut up and stop acting like a child for the next hour, I'm going to have to punish you for it."

"Man, you counted that?" Hidan asked in disbelief, before an expression of outrage crossed his features as he registered the last part. "And since when has this been a punishment game?!"

"Since the moment you've decided to open your mouth and give me a headache," Toneri replied smoothly, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Now shut up, unless you want to find out how it feels to impact against the moon's surface; from the Earth, and beyond the speed of sound."

"Alright, fine, sheesh..." Hidan relented and started grumbling to himself. "Man, you really know how to take the fun away from almost everything..."

"Now then, my loyal and faithful followers..."

The three males' attention was immediately drawn to their God when they suddenly heard him address them and they quickly knelt before him.

"I have given you the necessary tools and knowledge, so now it is time for you to begin rebuilding the world and tailor it to my will," Hagoromo spoke as he dismissed his shakujō. "I have something important to attend to for now, although, I shall not be gone for too long. Yet I expect you to be diligent in my absence and bring forth that which I have envisioned for this world."

"Yes, my Lord!" Hidan voiced with a lowering of his head.

"Understood, Lord Hagoromo!" Toneri followed after only a moment.

"We shall do as you command, Lord Sovereign!" Yagura was the last one to reply.

"Very well," Hagoromo opened a rift in front of himself and Yuno. "Then, I shall be taking my leave," he walked within the dark void alongside his wife, speaking one last word before the portal closed itself shut. "Farewell."

The three males remained in their kneeling positions for a few more moments as they wondered about how to begin with their assigned missions, however, they were quickly brought out of their thoughts when they heard a soft but powerful voice echo from everywhere yet nowhere at once as it resonated throughout the world.

Essence — The Sovereign is in all, and everything, there are no equivalents; he is the one and only peerless existence.

They listened with widened eyes as they instantly recognized what was being spoken.

Attribution — The Sovereign is unshackled, there are no concepts that could restrain the Sovereign, for he is above all, and everything; can mortality truly affect one who has no end, or beginning, who existed before Chaos itself?

"The Nine Creeds..." Toneri whispered softly as he placed his hands in a prayer fashion and began to listen in reverence.

Authority — There is no power except the Sovereign. Every breath you breathe, the exhalation of oxygen, of magic of life, is dependent on the grace of the Sovereign.

Yagura felt the words resonate within himself and he lowered his head in submission as he continued to listen to the voice of God.

Lordship — The Sovereign is the only aspect of worship, to worship any other is idolatry, for to worship anything other than the great Creator and Aider, is infidelity.

Hidan held his pendant tightly in one hand, keeping it pressed to his lips as he repeated the commandments inside his mind.

Justice — The Sovereign is Justice. There is no Justice above him, for he incarnates Justice. For such, discard the delusions before Enlightenment, since Justice is Sovereign, there are none other.

Arcs of lighting started to dance across the sky, illuminating it in a show of deadly brilliance.

Recompense — The Sovereign acknowledges the irredeemable falsities of a faction of souls. Suffer not for the heathen to live. For they can only serve the Sovereign with their cessation.

The wind started to slowly pick up, until a fairly strong breeze was sweeping across the lands.

Revelation — The Sovereign offers all Revaluation; man, of his own will, can either embrace the truth, or Recompense. For the Sovereign is truth, Just as he is Justice.

The clouds cleared from the sky, revealing to anyone looking a sight that was bound to leave them speechless.

The sun and moon were both visible, and the day was rapidly turning from dusk to dawn.

Reality — The Sovereign's Eyes That Govern Over All of Creation dictate reality, for beware, for the heathens, live in a delusional dream. Anger not in their presence, simply cleanse, and awake them.

The earth began to slowly tremble, not so harsh that it would cause any damage, but intense enough to be felt by everyone.

Predestination — The Sovereign sees, he knows, and he acknowledges.

As soon as the voice faded, so did the lighting dancing across the sky, the blowing winds, and the shaking of the earth.

Several moments passed, before the three kneeling males slowly stood up and started walking together toward a seemingly random direction.