"That's good then, but Aoba-kun, you absolutely mustn't spoil Hanabi too much, or she'll start getting carried away again."
Seeing Aoba say that, Hinata didn't continue asking.
She knew Aoba's personality. He must have agreed to keep something secret for Hanabi.
"Mm," Aoba just smiled.
"What are you saying? I wouldn't get carried away," Hanabi, with a lollipop in her mouth, expressed her dissatisfaction at her sister's words.
But in truth, she was a little proud.
At her sister's age, she definitely wouldn't have been able to do what she just did.
So she won.
———
Because they had to prepare enough food for Aoba and Hinata to eat on the journey, Hyuga Ayako and Hyuga Natsu still spent some time getting everything ready.
But it didn't take too long. In about an hour, everything was finished.
They stored it all in specially made sealing scrolls, ensuring that when taken out, it would still be steaming hot.
After all that was done, Aoba prepared to take Hinata and leave Konoha first, planning to find a more secluded place before ascending into the sky.
"Onee-san, when you come back, remember to tell me what the moon is like."
Before leaving, Hanabi said this to Hinata in a cute tone.
"Mm," Hinata rubbed her little sister's head, then took Aoba's hand.
Even though they bickered sometimes, the sisters had a very good relationship.
Seeing this, Aoba spoke to the people who came to see them off.
"In that case, we're heading out."
"Be careful."
"Mm," Aoba nodded, held Hinata's hand, and disappeared from the spot.
When they reappeared in a dense forest far from Konoha, a wooden dragon rose from the ground, carrying the two of them straight toward the sky.
Its speed was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, they had already risen into midair.
Standing atop the massive wooden dragon's head, Hinata looked down below.
Her field of vision kept changing. The forest grew smaller and smaller, and the wide rivers within it looked like thin ribbons.
She looked into the distance again and faintly saw the outline of Konoha.
Her small mouth opened slightly, and her delicate face carried a hint of excitement.
"Does it feel spectacular?"
Seeing her like this, Aoba couldn't help but smile and ask.
"Mm."
Hinata nodded seriously. This was her first time looking down at the ground from such a height.
"When we get to the moon and look back at the ninja world, it'll be even more spectacular."
Aoba squeezed her small hand, then suddenly changed the topic.
"Hinata, just now, because Uncle Hiashi and the others were there, there's something I didn't tell you."
"What is it?"
Hinata withdrew her gaze and looked at him curiously.
"Hinata, will you marry me?"
"Huh?"
The wooden dragon pierced through the clouds, but the sound of wind caused by its high-speed movement was completely blocked by chakra within a ten-meter radius around them.
So there was no issue of not being able to hear due to noise.
Hinata clearly heard the words that came from Aoba's mouth, but she seemed a bit slow to react.
She looked a little dazed.
Aoba pinched her soft, tender cheek.
"You don't want to?"
Hinata's body trembled slightly. She suddenly came back to her senses, her eyes quickly filling with a layer of mist, her lips trembling gently, "I do!"
In the end, she directly wrapped her arms around Aoba's neck, stood on tiptoe, and took the initiative to kiss him, pressing her whole body against his.
She was no longer the little girl who would blush just from a kiss.
Aoba naturally responded to the girl's deep affection, slowly and thoroughly.
Though he did feel slightly short of breath. With girls of Hinata and Tsunade's size, kissing like this really did make breathing a bit difficult.
The airtight kiss left Hinata a little dazed. The hands wrapped around his neck unconsciously tried to move elsewhere.
Following Yakumo, Hinata had learned some bad habits.
But Aoba gently held her, then said, "But Hinata, for the wedding, it might be held together with everyone else. Would you mind?"
"I don't mind."
Hinata puffed her cheeks slightly. Although she said she didn't mind, she still opened her mouth and lightly bit his lip.
But after biting him, when she tried to pull away, she found that her lips and tongue had already been sucked in, and she couldn't leave…
———
As time slowly passed, the wooden dragon had already been flying in the vast expanse of outer space for quite a while.
There was no wind and no sound in the space outside the ninja world.
It was also impossible to tell the direction of the sun. Aside from the ninja world getting farther and farther away, and the moon getting closer and closer, it felt like all sense of time had disappeared.
But through comparison, Hinata still had a rough idea of how much time had passed.
After leaving the ninja world, the wooden dragon had flown for about another hour.
Gulp! Gulp!
After rinsing her mouth with the water she carried, Hinata took a couple more sips, soothing her slightly blocked throat.
Then she looked toward the moon, which was getting closer and closer. From the ninja world, it had looked like a white jade plate, but up close, it was extremely barren.
Her expression was full of surprise, even a bit of disbelief.
"Aoba-kun, is this really the moon?"
Because it completely shattered her beautiful notion of the moon. Most of it was full of craters, like a gray wasteland.
She didn't even know how she was supposed to describe it to Hanabi when she got back.
"This is the moon."
Aoba looked at Hinata, whose cheeks were still slightly flushed, and couldn't help but smile.
Hearing his laughter, Hinata's face reddened even more, and she didn't quite dare to look at him.
Aoba didn't tease her further and reminded her,
"When we land later, we might be surrounded and attacked. Hinata, do you want to move your body a bit?"
"Mm…"
Hinata nodded lightly. The chakra inside her body felt like more than she could use up right now, so it would be better to release some of it.
———
At the same time, inside a massive palace on the moon—
Otsutsuki Toneri, who had been sitting alone in the great hall for years, suddenly sensed something. He abruptly raised his head and opened his hollow eyes, looking toward the sky.
Though he had been born without eyes, because of that, his sensory ability was extremely strong.
And precisely because he had no eyes, he was the only branch family member of the Otsutsuki clan who didn't sacrifice his eyes and successfully survived.
"This is… someone from the ninja world?"
Otsutsuki Toneri frowned slightly, feeling puzzled. Judging by the direction, they had come from the ninja world.
Why would people from the ninja world suddenly come to the moon?
Could it be they had set their sights on the moon's resources?
"The ninja world… has become impure again."
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