"This is…"
Deep within the moon, at the ancestral graveyard where all the moon's Ōtsutsuki had been buried—
A faint, hazy figure quietly surfaced. His face was aged, horns still upon his head.
Those pale Byakugan eyes gazed strangely into the distance, his expression filled with doubt.
He was none other than the true creator of the world within the moon, the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths—Ōtsutsuki Hamura!
Death, for other beings, meant the end.
But for him and his elder brother, things were not so simple.
Even after death, they could continue to exist in spiritual form.
Today, he had been roused from slumber—because he sensed an eruption of powerful chakra deep within the moon.
And that chakra…
"How does it carry Mother's presence?!"
Back then, he and his elder brother had gone through great hardship, nearly tearing the entire shinobi world apart, just to seal away their mother.
Even now, though they existed only as spirits, they had never stopped watching.
Yet after observing for a long while, he realized something was wrong.
The one fighting was not his mother. And—
"Not Mother's 'Kama' either?"
Of course, Ōtsutsuki Hamura knew of the Kama technique. But after watching carefully, he was certain this boy was not.
There was no mark upon him, and his power came entirely from within, not from any external source.
"What in the world is going on?"
Hamura was confused—perhaps because his soul had only just awakened, or perhaps because what he saw before him was so unexpected.
He even wondered if the person before him could be one of the "Celestial Beings."
After all, those were their enemies!
In the past, their mother had sought to resist those "Celestial Beings," which was why she tried to hang everyone on the Divine Tree and create White Zetsu to fight them.
Yet this youth clearly radiated the same kind of power as their own—not the aura of those from beyond the skies.
"Most importantly, his eyes…"
The Tenseigan. He knew it well—formed from the power he had left behind, combined with the Byakugan of other descendants.
Normally, such a thing was impossible for the "Celestial Beings" to wield.
"So he belongs to my descendants, or…"
The more Hamura thought, the more lost he felt. After pondering for a long while, he finally sighed.
He decided to observe carefully first. If necessary, he could inform his elder brother.
While Ōtsutsuki Hamura was still deep in thought, Kitagawa Gen was already standing before the enormous Tenseigan.
"At last, it's mine!"
Though he sensed someone's gaze fixed on him, for now he only wanted to examine his spoils of war.
Besides, if he was being spied on, there was little he could do—it was, after all, someone else's domain here on the moon.
Most importantly, he hadn't felt any malice.
Otherwise, he would never have remained so calm.
"Still… this feeling isn't exactly pleasant."
Rubbing his chin, Kitagawa Gen muttered to himself.
He didn't like being watched. And he couldn't be sure just how strong this presence was.
Perhaps as unfathomable as the Sage of Six Paths—or perhaps reduced to nothing but a lingering spirit?
"It seems I remember… when Ōtsutsuki Urashiki came to the moon in the future, he didn't really do anything."
Kitagawa Gen couldn't figure it out, but he couldn't be bothered to think further. By now, he was already standing before the colossal Tenseigan.
"The Tenseigan…"
Staring at the massive eye before him, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. After all, this had been his purpose in coming here!
He raised his hand gently. As his chakra poured into it, the giant Tenseigan responded.
What had been dim and faded slowly regained its luster under the influx of his chakra.
Not only that—those countless eyes that had begun to loosen were gradually solidifying again.
"So this Tenseigan really was formed by fusing the eyes of the Main House… the sheer number is overwhelming. But still—"
With his control, it was as though he could faintly grasp every shift and movement within the entire moon.
Not only the moon itself—even outside of it, he could clearly sense everything.
He even seemed to feel that he could control the moon's very orbit!
"Amazing!"
Kitagawa Gen exclaimed from the heart. The energy of this giant Tenseigan truly exceeded imagination.
Even though it had been ruined by those few Ōtsutsuki to the point of near-collapse, under the operation of his chakra its power still remained intact!
"In that case…"
His chakra surged even more violently. The Tenseigan before him responded perfectly to his command.
With hardly any effort, the eye was already operating exactly according to his intentions.
"If you want to watch, then I'll let you watch to your heart's content."
Golden chakra once more flared across the sky. Invisible tremors spread silently outward, as though they would cover the entire heavens!
...
"Is everyone here?"
In the shinobi world, inside Konohagakure—
Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed at his aching brow. He glanced at the assembled jōnin and spoke directly.
"You all saw the disturbance on the moon. We don't know what happened, but those falling meteors could cause serious disaster. I expect all of you to be fully prepared. Understood?"
"Yes."
Every jōnin present nodded. The scene on the moon had been far too bizarre.
They had no idea what it meant, but they understood one thing clearly—if those meteors landed, the consequences would be dire.
This wasn't the first time Konoha had faced meteors falling from the sky.
Not long ago, they had watched with their own eyes as one crashed outside Konoha, slamming into a giant beast!
That time, someone had blocked the impact—and Kitagawa Gen had diverted the shockwave away.
Otherwise, they couldn't even imagine what Konoha would have become!
"Gen, this time we'll be relying on you again."
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned toward Kitagawa Gen's clone, sighing helplessly.
"The landing points of the meteors are uncertain, but I'll have people prepare your Flying Thunder God seals in advance. When the time comes—"
"I understand. I'll take people there."
Kitagawa Gen's clone nodded, though inwardly he felt somewhat awkward.
Because he knew full well—this was all his doing!
'Those damned moon Ōtsutsuki…'
He couldn't help but curse inwardly, though he knew the problem probably wasn't serious.
After all—
"Hm?"
He lifted his head and deliberately pointed toward the moon with a look of feigned confusion.
"Look, what's that?"
"Huh?"
The Konoha shinobi, already on edge, immediately raised their heads at his words.
And in the next instant, every one of their eyes widened!
In the sky, the meteors streaking down in flames suddenly halted.
It was as though some invisible force had seized them, holding them back from falling further.
Then, with a strange ripple of chakra—
Everyone watched, dumbstruck, as the meteors quietly reversed course, drifting back toward the place from which they had come!
Countless fragments of rock surged upward toward the moon, sparkling in the night sky like scattered stars.
Before long, the once "chaotic" heavens fell silent once more.
The moon still shone bright, silver light spilling across the land.
But the meteors, with their fiery tails, were gone. It was as if the entire scene had never happened at all!
"What… what's going on now?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stared in shock, his very understanding of the world shaken.
The shinobi present looked at one another, equally bewildered, none able to make sense of what had just occurred.
The Hyūga clan too had their heads lifted toward the sky. They seemed to sense a familiar power.
For Hinata and Hanabi in particular, that feeling was even stronger.
Nor was it only them—everyone in the shinobi world who witnessed the sight wore the same expression of confusion.
Even Black Zetsu, hidden within Konoha, was at a loss.
"The moon… what in the world is happening to the moon?"
That very question echoed through the minds of everyone in the shinobi world.
Even after several days had passed, the investigations continued—but they found no answers.
Meanwhile, on the moon itself, Kitagawa Gen quietly leafed through the Ōtsutsuki clan's library.
The Moon Ōtsutsuki had endured for over a thousand years. Even though countless lives had been lost in their civil wars—
Neither the Main House nor the Branch House had ever allowed their records and knowledge, passed down for millennia, to be destroyed.
Which meant these archives contained an enormous wealth of material—perhaps even the very essence of wisdom preserved from thousands of years ago!
"Looks like this will be useful to me. And in the meantime, I can wait for the Tenseigan to recover."
That Tenseigan had consumed such a vast amount of energy—especially at the end, when Gen had used it to "repair the moon" and "save the shinobi world."
The fact that the eye hadn't collapsed entirely was already a miracle!
Since he still needed to draw on its energy, he had no choice but to be cautious—at least give it time to recover.
"And besides… I should think of a way to deal with Ōtsutsuki Hamura's constant 'watching.'"
Being stared at day after day was grating. The old man never showed himself, never took action.
Just sat there observing, as though he were studying a specimen.
It left Gen more than a little irritated.
Especially now that the Tenseigan was slowly recovering, he felt he ought to do something as well.
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