Boom! Boom!
After the violent explosions, Otsutsuki Toneri lay sprawled on the ground, his face dazed and filled with regret.
"I should have taken Hinata and Hanabi back first... damn it!"
Naruto paid him no mind, striding toward the palace ruins.
The puppets that once served Toneri now supported Naruto, silently following him.
Soon, Naruto stood before the colossal Tenseigan.
Looking up, he saw a massive eye radiating golden light.
Toneri sneered weakly, "Haha... that Tenseigan is cursed. Even if you kill me, you can't stop the destruction of the Earth."
He gasped for breath, then added, "Anyone not of Hamura's bloodline who touches it will have their chakra instantly drained!"
Naruto tilted his head slightly.
Drain my chakra?
We'll see about that.
Smirking, Naruto stepped forward and calmly pressed his hand against the massive Tenseigan.
Toneri's expression collapsed into panic.
"This... this is impossible!"
"Why aren't you being drained?!"
Crackle—
In the next instant, arcs of golden lightning surged across the surface of the Tenseigan.
The curse energy was effortlessly absorbed into Naruto's body, nullified without resistance.
Even if it hadn't been absorbed, such minor spells would have been useless against him.
Thump, thump—
A heavy heartbeat echoed from within the massive eye.
Then—
Boom!
The Tenseigan shattered into a million shards of blinding light.
Thud—
Toneri collapsed to the ground, free from the restraints, but his face was twisted with despair.
Above them, the moon, which had been on a collision course with Earth, halted its advance.
The artificial sun faded, its light extinguished.
The source of their power—the Tenseigan—was no more.
"Our clan... sacrificed all our Byakugan for the Tenseigan..." Toneri muttered hoarsely, his empty eye sockets exposed.
"You... how dare you...!"
Staggering forward, he tried to reach Naruto—but something incredible happened.
Dozens, hundreds of Byakugan eyes—the remnants of the Tenseigan—rushed toward Naruto, gathering around him like a storm.
"Impossible!"
"Byakugan: Puppet Reincarnation!"
Toneri tried desperately to reclaim them, but the eyes slipped completely from his control, merging into Naruto's body as streams of pure energy.
Naruto calmly closed his eyes, feeling the power flow through him.
When he opened them again, his eyes had changed.
First a soft lavender... then burning gold... and finally, deep sapphire blue.
"This is... the final evolution of the Byakugan," Naruto murmured.
"An existence on par with the Rinnegan."
He allowed the Tenseigan's power to settle, then, using only a fraction of his newfound strength, waved his hand.
The moon shifted, returning to its original orbit.
"Seven types of ocular powers... not bad."
Whoosh, whoosh—
Green chakra burst around him as Naruto entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
Clenching his fist, a black chakra orb materialized, pulsing ominously.
Naruto walked toward Toneri.
Terrified, Toneri tried to flee—but vines of wood chakra, summoned by Naruto's will, ensnared him midair.
"No! What are you doing?!"
Naruto didn't answer.
He glanced at the chakra orb in his hand—
Swoosh—
—and drove it straight into Toneri's chest.
At the same time, the power of the Mori Mori no Mi activated.
Soft white light filled Toneri's empty eye sockets.
In a few moments, a new pair of Byakugan blossomed in his eyes.
Toneri, stunned, looked up at Naruto mechanically, then—slowly—fell to one knee.
"Naruto-sama..."
Naruto placed a hand over Toneri's forehead, reinforcing the wooden restraints with an extra seal.
"The moon isn't fit for destruction," he said.
"Consider this... a gift."
Inside the sealed space of Naruto's mind, the Nine-Tailed Fox's ears twitched.
In his human form, Kurama let out a sly chuckle.
"Hmph, that's it? Pretty stingy for a gift~"
Naruto smirked.
"Then I'll just destroy the passage."
He raised his hand.
A sphere of dense chakra formed and shot out toward the portal.
An artificial sun hung high in the sky, radiating light.
The earth below seemed to regain its lost vitality.
The Nine Tailed Fox (Kurama) survived.
But Naruto had already severed his connection with her.
In the end, no one knew which debtor would truly suffer.
"Take me there," Naruto said, looking at Toneri standing at his side.
"Yes, Naruto-sama,"
Ōtsutsuki Toneri bowed respectfully.
He rose slowly and walked out of the hall.
"The moon's a nice place. You should renovate it — it's been abandoned for hundreds of years."
"I'll leave the puppets to you. As for how to remake them... never mind. I'll find someone to draw up the blueprints later."
Toneri listened quietly, his face full of respect.
Outside, Naruto formed seals with his hands.
Boom. Boom.
The ground shook violently.
A massive stone statue rose from the earth — towering, almost as large as a Tailed Beast.
The statue had two horns on its head and six black magatama marks across its chest.
A red swirl emblem was carved onto its back.
It was the image of Ōtsutsuki Hamura.
As long as the Rinnegan existed, the statue of Hamura could never truly disappear.
Even if shattered, it would quickly restore itself.
In the original legends, it was said to be able to fight the Nine-Tails evenly.
While it couldn't defeat Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands, if used properly...
It was a walking war machine.
It had no life, no pain, no thoughts — only pure instinct to obey and destroy.
Naruto landed atop the statue's head, forming a single-handed seal, and pressed his palm down.
He poured the power of Yomi into it.
It was the same demonic force that once controlled countless terracotta warriors.
In a flash, the stone statue darkened.
The soil shifted, layering the giant in a hard, obsidian-black armor.
"As a guardian, this should be more than enough," Naruto muttered.
With that, he rose into the air again, letting Toneri lead the way forward.
Inside the palace, puppet servants dressed like maids poured out.
They bowed deeply toward Naruto's departing figure.
"Farewell, Master!" they chorused.
Naruto blinked, startled.
He had almost forgotten there were still servant puppets left.
Thanks to the Rinnegan, he didn't need to actively control them — they operated under their own programmed logic.
The moon remained calm.
But back on Earth, it was a different story.
Both Ryūchi Cave and the Shikkotsu Forest were trembling.
"What?!" someone cried out.
"We just got back — and Mount Myōboku was hit by meteor showers?! It's practically gone now!"
The three snake aunts' pupils shrank in disbelief, their faces pale.
The White Snake Sage took a long drag from her pipe, her wrinkled face twisted with fear.
"Uzumaki Naruto..." she rasped.
"I can feel it... That's the Rinnegan's power. Uzumaki Naruto has awakened the Rinnegan?"
Silently, she took the intelligence scroll from Tamatsuki-hime.
She closed her eyes, channeling chakra to read the scroll's contents through Princess Tamatsuki's perspective.
After a while, the White Snake Sage slowly opened her eyes.
Before anyone's eyes, her wrinkled, ancient skin began to rejuvenate — smoothing out at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In a blink, she looked no older than the three snake aunts.
"White Snake-sama!" the three gasped.
Normally, the White Snake Sage disguised herself as a crone.
Now, freed of restraints, the full extent of her sage power returned to her body.
"Prepare yourselves," she said coldly.
"I'm going to Konoha... to meet that mysterious boy myself."
"Pass down my orders. All snakes are to stay inside Ryūchi Cave. Until I say otherwise, no one is allowed to set foot in the Ninja World — not even if summoned by a contract holder."
"And tell the other Sacred Beast Lands..."
"Times have changed."
Across the world, the Ninja Continent lay cloaked in thick fog, meteorites continuing to rain down upon the ruined Mount Myōboku.
Mighty gusts of wind tore through the skies.
As the fog thinned, vast islands and new continents slowly emerged.
Meanwhile.
In the depths of the Shikkotsu Forest, the Great Slug let out a cry of shock.
"Naruto-sama's power...?"
"No... this involves the power of the Ōtsutsuki as well."
"What happened?"
Just as the Great Slug pondered, a surge of chakra announced a new arrival.
It turned and saw the real body of the White Snake Sage materialize before it.
The Slug spoke in a deep voice, "I never thought you would leave Ryūchi Cave yourself."
The White Snake Sage replied gravely,
"The old seals are broken. Mount Myōboku is no more."
"All those stinking toads have fled to the Ninja World."
"Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo has awakened."
The Slug asked, "What do you intend to do?"
The White Snake Sage's eyes swept across the towering trees of the Shikkotsu Forest.
"Tell me..." she said softly, "is it possible that Uzumaki Naruto already wields a power... greater than Kaguya Ōtsutsuki once did?"
The Slug didn't answer.
Instead, its body began to expand.
All across the Wet Bone Forest, countless smaller slugs started converging.
"Mount Myōboku was only the beginning," the Great Slug muttered.
"I must go to Konoha myself... there are things I need to see with my own eyes."
With those words, the White Snake Sage's figure slowly vanished.
Meanwhile, the Great Slug's body continued to grow larger and larger.
——
In the Pure Land.
The sleeping Sage of Six Paths suddenly awoke.
He opened his eyes, the Rinnegan flashing as he gazed at the white expanse around him.
A surge of divine and spectral power erupted from him.
His perception swept across the realms — until it reached the surface of the moon.
But then, the Sage of Six Paths froze.
He couldn't perceive through the moon's barrier.
"This... Impossible..."
He clenched his hands.
Now wasn't the time for reckless action — he was at a critical point and couldn't afford to move rashly.
He could only pray the seal on the moon remained intact.
"Uzumaki Naruto... Ashura..."
"What on earth is happening in the Ninja World?"
In the power that blocked his senses, the Sage felt a faint, familiar presence.
"Could it be...the moon?"
He vanished from the plains of the Pure Land and appeared above countless sleeping souls, his expression grim.
——
At that moment.
Inside the moon, deep within the original sealed space.
"So close..."
"Right in front of me... are you coming inside?"
On an ancient iceberg deep in the moon's interior, a pale-skinned woman stirred.
Long blue-white hair framed her face, her lashes trembling slightly.
A pair of pure white eyes slowly opened.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
She rose from where she had lain, her cold, perfect face showing no emotion.
Floating silently, she gazed into the distance.
"My chakra... All of it...!"
Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.
"Hagoromo! Hamura!"
She could feel it — the familiar warmth she had longed for.
Buzz—
Kaguya turned sharply, sensing something approaching from afar.
Outside.
Naruto had arrived at the gateway leading into the moon's core.
"Naruto-sama, it's right inside," Toneri said respectfully.
"Hamura decreed that no one may enter here."
"..."
Naruto raised his hand to stop Toneri from saying more.
"Everything is fine. Go back and begin executing the plan."
"Yes, Naruto-sama," Toneri bowed and departed without hesitation.
Naruto stood alone before the sealed gates.
Layer upon layer of sealing chakra wrapped the entrance tight.
"The power of Chibaku Tensei," Naruto muttered.
"And a powerful sealing art... No wonder it's so difficult for Kaguya to break free."
A short time later, deep within the sealed space.
A figure appeared before Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
She stared at the stranger — that strange, yet somehow intimately familiar feeling burst inside her.
For a moment, she was stunned.
Then, her long white hair rippled, and her expression softened.
Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.
Slowly, Kaguya floated toward Naruto.
The nine-magatama Rinnegan on her forehead opened.
BGM—Kakuzu!
...
TN:
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