Chapter 330 — The Shattering Moon
"Did that kid Naruto… notice something?"
Kitagawa Gen's expression turned strangely stiff.
Naruto had been oddly quiet earlier—too quiet.
Gen rubbed his chin.
Did my main body say or do something… that triggered a memory in him?
Are single-cell-brained people naturally perceptive or something?
His gaze drifted to Might Guy.
He respected Guy deeply.
But even he had to admit—the man was a glorified single-cell organism.
And yet, precisely because of that simplicity… Guy often sensed things others didn't.
Just like how Kakashi—whom Naruto and Sasuke failed to recognize when disguised—
was almost exposed purely by Guy's bizarre intuition.
Gen massaged his forehead.
A minor inconvenience.
But only a minor one.
Unconsciously, he glanced at Hagoromo.
Even in spiritual form, the Sage of Six Paths felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"What are you planning now…?"
Hagoromo whispered quietly.
Hamura blinked, watching the exchange.
"Don't worry," Gen smiled calmly.
"Everything will unfold smoothly. I'll resolve it all."
Hagoromo nodded stiffly.
But the knot in his chest only tightened.
He knew it wasn't going to be that simple.
In the sky, Gen's main body called out:
"Kaguya, have you finished absorbing the chakra?"
Isshiki and Urashiki stiffened.
What did that mean?
Kaguya's gaze met Gen's.
Her eyes were complicated—trembling with emotions even she couldn't parse.
Fear.
Recognition.
Something deeper.
But after a moment, she nodded.
"I need not absorb anything further.
My chakra has always been connected to me."
"Then," Gen asked, arms casually folded, "what is your choice?"
Everyone froze.
They understood instantly—
Kaguya was choosing sides.
Isshiki panicked.
"Kaguya, don't be foolish! That man devours his own kin—every Ōtsutsuki is his prey!"
"Indeed!" Urashiki shouted. "No one is spared!"
Black Zetsu stared blankly between his "mother" and Gen.
"When did Mother even meet him? Before she arrived in this world? What about me—?"
But Kaguya exhaled softly.
"I know what I must choose."
She nodded to Gen.
And in the next instant—
Her expression changed.
All emotion vanished.
Only cold, divine indifference remained.
Her chakra erupted.
The world trembled as the very atmosphere was pulled toward her like a great tide.
Her icy gaze swept across Isshiki, Urashiki, Black Zetsu, and even Hagoromo…
Then she attacked.
"Move!!"
Hashirama clapped his hands together—
forests surged upward in layers upon layers to shield everyone.
Sasuke manifested his incomplete Susanoo armor and swung its blade.
Naruto threw a Truth-Seeking Orb into his palm—
"Senjutsu: Rasenshuriken!"
The enhanced, Yang-infused Rasenshuriken howled forth, joining Sasuke's sword aura.
But—
Madara's eyes widened.
"That attack—! That's Gen's technique!"
Indeed—
Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack.
Kaguya's signature technique.
Her chakra formed countless divine fists, detonating reality itself.
The world ignited.
The earth split into a gaping crater.
Ground heaved, molten rock surged upward.
Naruto and Sasuke's strongest attacks shattered upon impact.
The storm of fists swept toward everyone.
"Mother… does this mean you intend to kill me as well…?"
Black Zetsu whispered, despair spreading across his face.
Naruto expanded his Truth-Seeking Orbs around him, forming a defensive cocoon.
Sasuke's Susanoo cracked but he forced it to reform.
Hashirama and Madara activated their own defensive jutsu.
Isshiki and Urashiki?
They had already fled.
Kaguya had "betrayed" them too.
"This damn woman—!"
"Honestly," Gen's voice echoed from above,
"I think you two are worse."
His golden sword fell from the heavens like divine judgment.
Isshiki and Urashiki paled.
The explosion tore the sea apart.
They fled toward the ocean without hesitation.
Gen raised a brow.
"These pests really are annoyingly hard to kill."
His chakra surged—
He vanished.
Reappearing behind the fleeing Urashiki.
Kill the easiest first.
Isshiki barked:
"Find it! Hurry—I'll stall him!"
His staff clashed against Gen's sword.
The impact distorted space itself.
Even empowered by Momoshiki and Kinshiki's abilities, Isshiki was forced into a desperate defense.
Gen only smiled.
"You've grown stronger swallowing Momoshiki, but…"
His golden blade glowed brighter—
"You didn't get time to master that power."
Their clash birthed a warping void—space itself crumpled.
Ninja across the continents stared up in horror.
Not even the Byakugan could penetrate the distortion.
Urashiki coughed blood—
even witnessing the clash from afar was too much for him.
But his eyes lit up.
He had found it.
The relic.
The treasure.
Kara's legendary tool—"Karasuki," the time-traveling turtle.
With trembling hands, he smashed the clay jar sealing it.
"Take me away! Now!"
The turtle spoke mechanically:
"Identity confirmed. Honored Ōtsutsuki Urashiki. I am Karasuki."
"Then GO!"
Meanwhile, Isshiki roared at Gen:
"Aren't you curious—what Urashiki is searching for?!"
Gen paused.
Just a fraction of a second.
"Oh?"
"That relic can break time itself!
He will return to the past—
to kill you!"
Gen blinked.
Ah.
So that's what this is…
"The thing Boruto and Sasuke used to travel back to Jiraiya's era, huh?"
He smiled faintly.
"In all my memories… I don't recall being attacked by any time-traveling Ōtsutsuki."
Meaning—
They either couldn't reach his past.
Or—
They never returned alive.
Isshiki bolted.
Urashiki activated Karasuki.
Gen's blade lit the sky like a newborn star.
And the moon—already trembling under Kaguya's awakening—
began to crack.
A fracture line split across its surface.
The world held its breath.
Urashiki could not wait. He poured chakra into the relic with frantic motions while Isshiki detonated a supersonic burst and fled toward the sky without even glancing back.
There was no time to think about the future — survival was the only thought in his skull.
"I understand. No matter — not a problem."
Gen shook his head and smiled, oddly patient.
"Thanks for telling me. As a token of gratitude…"
He gathered chakra as if summoning the world into his chest. The pressure rolled outward like a brewing storm, warping the already chaotic air until everything shimmered and blurred.
"I'll use everything I have to finish you two off. By the way—"
Without warning, Gen's golden blade stretched, kilometer after kilometer, and he swung it into the void as if cutting at space itself.
"I have mastered two divine arts."
The sword descended, and the world waited for the impact — then the tremendous force simply dissipated. No hit, no shattering blow. The strike had vanished into nothing.
But the moment was a trick: time and space near Gen warped in a way that made the world seem drunk. His own vast chakra was drawn inward, sapped in an instant — and he didn't flinch. He had expected this. He had prepared his "supplement."
Far away, past the scattering storms and torn sky, he could already see it: a towering tree of staggering height, piercing the clouds around Kaguya's place.
"Open!"
Urashiki found his doorway. The space-tunnel flared into being and — without hesitation — he dove through.
At that very second the turtle relic — Karasuki — screamed an alarm so sharp that the sound cut the air like a knife. Urashiki vanished.
Across the heavens Isshiki's silhouette separated in midflight and streaked toward the horizon like a falling meteor. He did not look back. Escape was all that mattered now.
"Sorry, Urashiki," Isshiki muttered through clenched teeth. Regret flickered beneath his resolve: it stung that Urashiki would fall into Gen's hands. If he survived, he would return to their clan and make them pay. The betrayal from long ago had burned him for over a thousand years, and Kaguya's perceived treachery had only reopened the wound. He vowed revenge — to grow so powerful that he could repay every slight.
But as he pushed harder, the air itself betrayed him. Space around him stuttered and rolled as though reality had hiccupped.
"What—?"
Light exploded across the horizon: countless rivulets of gold poured outward and swallowed the sky. Isshiki's shout died in his throat. A halo of luminous gold wrapped his body, relentless and all-encompassing.
Those golden currents did not stop at the sky. They rushed upward and draped across the moon.
In an instant the moon gleamed with that burning gold — then it cracked.
A thunderous roar split the heavens. The white brilliance was so intense it turned the world into midday for a breathless instant.
Eyes across the Ninja Alliance rose, wide and unbelieving. They watched as the moon — the very satellite that had hung like a cold eye above them — began to fracture.
"—The moon is breaking?"
Naruto sweat-beaded at his temple. No one had ever seen anything like it.
And from the rip in space a single figure stepped free, calm and whole.
A fact settled like ice in every chest that could see:
Genshiki — that impossibly terrifying Ōtsutsuki — had won.