When Toneri saw Aoba's Mangekyō Sharingan, he immediately knew he was in trouble.
But it was already too late.
Once Kotoamatsukami was activated, it was almost impossible to evade.
Under normal circumstances, the target wouldn't even realize they were under genjutsu.
Toneri did become aware of it, but he was powerless to resist.
Using the last remnants of his ocular power, he barely held out for one second.
Then, his vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.
When Toneri awoke again, he was no longer Toneri Ōtsutsuki, he was Toneri Hyūga.
Aoba had even stayed up all night crafting a backstory for him. Toneri was a direct-bloodline descendant of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, there was no way Aoba would let him fall into the hands of the Hyūga Clan.
Realistically, if Hinata weren't interested in Naruto, pairing her with Toneri would have been a perfect match.
But since Hinata was the heroine, a purely political marriage like that wouldn't be appropriate.
So instead, Aoba focused his efforts on studying Toneri.
In Aoba's version of events, Toneri was a Hyūga who had lived outside the clan.
Upon returning to Konoha, he had grown dissatisfied with the Hyūga clan's rigid hierarchy and chosen to leave again.
"Aoba-sama, my eyes… are they okay?"
After their battle the previous night, Toneri believed his eyes had undergone some kind of unusual mutation.
"We don't know yet. We'll need to conduct further research."
Among all humans alive today, Ōtsutsuki Toneri had the bloodline closest to the original Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Black Zetsu was also a direct descendant, but since he wasn't a normal lifeform, he didn't count.
Aoba's only regret was that Toneri lacked the natural ability to evolve into the Tenseigan.
On the moon, the Ōtsutsuki Clan had a Main Branch and a Side Branch and Toneri's lineage belonged to the Side Branch.
Back then, the Side Branch had been so heavily oppressed that they rebelled and overthrew the Main Branch.
However, this cost them their ability to awaken the Tenseigan.
The war devastated their population, and in the end, Toneri was the only survivor.
This was why he came to Earth searching for a wife, there were no females left on the moon.
In Aoba's version of events, Toneri's past remained a mystery.
Because he had lost his memories, the Hyūga Clan only identified him through his Byakugan.
This was a deliberate setup for the future, a foreshadowing for the reveal of the Tenseigan on the moon.
After all, Aoba was already preparing to go to the moon.
The power of the Giant Tenseigan was something he had been eyeing for a long time.
Even though Toneri was from the Side Branch, he was still an absolute genius.
He was on the verge of unlocking the Tenseigan, but due to a genetic flaw, he was unable to take the final step.
The real issue was that his entire clan had been wiped out.
Had they survived, they might have been able to help him complete his genetic sequence.
The reason he sought out Hinata was that, while she had a low chance of awakening the Tenseigan, her genes complemented his perfectly.
This meant that their child would break Toneri's genetic limitations and gain the ability to awaken the Tenseigan.
Of course, Toneri was just a ninja.
His talent was exceptional, but he had zero understanding of genetic science.
However, Konoha's laboratories had already made significant breakthroughs in genetics.
Now that Aoba had Toneri, he immediately ordered the lab to analyze Toneri's and the Hyūga Clan's DNA.
The goal?
To reconstruct the complete genetic blueprint of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, by attempting to merge genes from different branches of the same bloodline.
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Currently on Chapter 345 - The Power of a God