Anbu Base, Deputy Commander's Office.
While handling official business, Kageyama Kogetsu sensed a chakra somewhat similar to his own and immediately looked up toward the Hyūga compound.
"This kind of chakra…"
Kogetsu's eyes sharpened; the Black Eye surfaced, a black-and-crimson space–time vortex bloomed behind him, and he rose and stepped in.
In the next instant, Kogetsu appeared high over the Hyūga district, Byakugan sweeping toward where Hyūga Hinata was…
"So it's Ōtsutsuki Toneri. I knew it—Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki shouldn't have arrived yet."
"And the one beside him should be Toneri's father, right?"
Toneri looked completely like a late-born child—about the same age as Sasuke and Naruto.
The adult beside him showed clear signs of age, white spiky explosion hair, a white long robe with a single beige mantle draped over it, and a very peculiar aura.
The only thing father and son shared was the absence of eyes, relying on chakra-forged "mind eyes" to sense—set upon their foreheads.
A bit like Gaara's Third Eye, but formed purely of chakra, not sand and chakra combined.
"I was planning to head to the moon in a while. Since I've bumped into them, no day like today."
Kogetsu returned to the Anbu base, cited an urgent personal matter, and took two days' leave from Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Night fell, and after silently watching Hinata for most of the day, Toneri and his father finally left.
Hidden in the dark and tailing them, Kogetsu couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Kinda creepy—secretly peeping at a little loli for half a day…"
"What would the headline be?"
"Shocking—father and son do that to a little girl in broad daylight…"
Kogetsu followed the pair to a lake within the Land of Fire. Through an underwater cavern—a space–time passage—he arrived on the moon.
Standing upon the moon's vast, barren expanse, Kogetsu took a deep breath…
"The moon Hagoromo and his brother made with Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei is so odd. Not a blade of grass, yet the air has oxygen—thin, like a plateau."
"Whatever. In this world, science doesn't matter; chakra may as well be omnipotent."
After a quiet jab, Kogetsu deliberately leaked a trace of aura. Toneri couldn't sense it, but his father snapped his head around and barked:
"Who's there? Come out!"
Kogetsu revealed himself at once, gaze curious.
Sensing Kogetsu's green vest and Leaf headband with his mind's eye, Ōtsutsuki Ryōsui sneered, voice icy.
"So it's a man of Earth. You've got some skill to trail us to the moon."
"But your curiosity will get you killed!"
As he spoke, Ryōsui flicked his sleeve. Puff—an Ōtsutsuki combat puppet burst from white smoke, scooped up Toneri, and sped away.
"Heh… a mongrel Ōtsutsuki dares to strut like this?" Kogetsu laughed coldly, utterly dismissive.
"I am a descendant of Ancestor Hamura. Ancestor Hamura and the Sage of Six Paths were real brothers—true-blood Ōtsutsuki!"
Blue veins bulged at Ryōsui's brow; spittle flew as his composure shattered. He stamped, the ground exploded underfoot, and he shot forward.
But the killing strike, launched in rage, hit nothing.
Ryōsui braked hard, shocked, and looked skyward…
"Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Hamura Ōtsutsuki were indeed pure-blood Ōtsutsuki."
"You, even with all your inbreeding to keep the bloodline 'pure,' are still hybrid Ōtsutsuki."
The Sage's two sons weren't born of Kaguya and a mortal—they were born under the blessing of the people, mainly as vessels for the Divine Tree's extraordinary fruit.
In other words, Kaguya bore them asexually; she herself remained untouched.
Though Urashiki seemed to acknowledge Toneri as kin, Kogetsu felt Toneri still fell short.
No matter how far his blood regressed toward the source, he couldn't reach Hamura's height.
"Die, you cur!"
Ryōsui, livid, stomped again; the ground blasted open, rock and dust rolled like waves, and a shell shot skyward…
Yet this strike too missed. When Ryōsui landed, Kogetsu stood serenely where he'd started.
"Hey—let me show you what a true Ōtsutsuki is…"
Kogetsu straightened his Leaf headband, the Black Eye and Byakugan both surfacing. His long-hidden aura and chakra surged; a violent gale howled out, sand and stones whipping, heaven and earth going dim.
"This… this aura… impossible!" Ryōsui roared, incredulous.
He'd never felt Hamura's exact presence, but Kogetsu's aura was far purer—and far stronger.
"I sense powerful chakra over there. Offer that to me and serve under me—how about it?"
Kogetsu looked toward Hamura's shrine, where countless Byakugan merged into a golden Tenseigan.
"Hmph, even if you are Ōtsutsuki, you can't covet our clan's legacy!"
"Hamura's blood serves Hamura alone!" Ryōsui said, face set, voice resolute.
"Hah, refuse a toast to drink a forfeit? In that case, I'll take it myself."
"Be honored—you'll be the first to witness the power I've hidden!"
Before the words finished, Kogetsu vanished, speed terrifying—a streak of light across the void…
Hamura Divine Fist · Consecutive Sky Seals!
Ryōsui snapped into a stance akin to Gentle Fist, palms flashing; one transparent shockwave after another tore through the air…
It resembled the Hyūga's Eight Trigrams Air Palm but hit harder—and in a relentless stream.
Gentle Fist · Wind God Kick!
Too lazy to dodge, Kogetsu adjusted his posture and snapped out a flurry of kicks.
Wind-nature chakra poured out, forming blazing white blades—each blade a mass of razor-fine wind edges, akin to a Rasenshuriken.
The crossing white blades wove a net and shredded the incoming shockwaves.
Ryōsui's face changed; he flashed aside. A dirt mound behind him was instantly hacked to rubble and collapsed.
Whip-crack—Kogetsu blinked in front of him and lashed a roundhouse.
Ryōsui blocked with both arms and was blasted away, bouncing over the moon's jagged ground like a kicked balloon.
Daikokuten!
Golden light flickered in Kogetsu's right eye, and spear-long black rods rained down from the air…
Ryōsui used iron core and waist to roll backward in rapid succession. The rods drove deep into the ground, falling in his shadow…
Dodging a few, he ignored the pain in his forearms, pushed up off the ground, and, while weaving between them, slapped others aside with open palms.
"Heh. Not bad for an old fossil."
"How about this one?"
Kogetsu smiled coldly and invoked Daikokuten again. A giant boulder, like a small peak, appeared overhead—and crashed down.
Hamura Divine Fist · Divine Sky Strike!
Ryōsui raised both palms and clapped upward—an incarnate blue chakra fist roared to meet the falling mass…
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