Stepping out of the cave, Uchiha Fugaku lifted his gaze to the sky.
On the moon, it was daytime. A radiant sun hung in the distance, releasing just the right brilliance. Under this balanced light, the plants and animals of the moon thrived—warm, but never scorched.
Swish—
With a flicker of his body, Fugaku vanished into the forest, using Body Flicker to conceal his movements as he sped toward that distant sun—like Kua Fu chasing the heavens.
But this sun was no true star. It was a man-made sun, and within it lived Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
Hours later, Fugaku arrived at the forest beneath the glowing sphere. Resting in the shade, he restored his chakra to its peak before staring up at the artificial sun—the Moon Palace, home of the Byakugan clan.
From its towering gates, countless humanoid Ōtsutsuki puppets rode birdlike constructs, flying in and out. The sight was like a hive swarming with bees.
"How do I slip in unnoticed…?"
To kill Toneri, infiltration was the surest path—an assassination from within the man-made sun.
But the task was daunting.
Within the Moon Palace, only Toneri remained alive. Every other presence was a puppet.
Disguising himself as Toneri was impossible. All the puppets were his eyes—one glance at a duplicate would be an insult to Toneri's intelligence. The only choice was to impersonate a puppet.
"The humanoid ones, I can mimic with Transformation Jutsu. But the flying constructs… they're shaped like birds. Impossible to disguise myself that way."
Fugaku exhaled sharply. Even with his mastery, no jutsu could truly make him a bird. Transformation would change only appearance, not grant flight.
Without flight, how could he reach the suspended palace?
"…Transformation plus the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique. That could work."
Breaking a thick tree branch, he transformed it into the likeness of a flying puppet. Then he cast the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique on it—a jutsu unique to Iwagakure, forbidden to outsiders.
But Fugaku, with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, had copied it long ago—from the Third Tsuchikage himself during Akatsuki's attack.
Swish—
The puppet floated skyward.
Fugaku cloaked himself in Transformation Jutsu, taking the form of a humanoid puppet, and leapt atop the flying construct. Guiding it, he joined the swarm ascending toward the Moon Palace.
At the gate, he slipped inside with the others.
"Successful infiltration?"
But just as relief brushed his thoughts, a sudden pulse rippled through the air.
The puppets around him stiffened—then turned, their eyes flashing with hostility.
Arms unfolded into weapons, yellow orbs of light gathering and launching at him.
"Exposed!"
That wave had been a detection scan, separating true puppets from fakes. His disguise was perfect for humans, but against constructs, flaws remained.
Swish—
Fugaku blurred away, dodging a hail of golden blasts.
Drawing twin kunai, he channeled wind chakra into them—transforming them into glowing azure blades.
Slash, slash, slash!
He cut through the swarm in a flash. In the next instant, the entrance lay littered with bisected puppets.
But this was Toneri's fortress. Reinforcements swarmed—flying, running, pouring in by the dozens.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Yellow spheres rained down like a storm, impossible to evade.
"Shikotsumyaku—Bone Armor!"
From within his body, dense white bone erupted, encasing him in an unbreakable exoskeleton.
Bang, bang, bang!
The blasts hammered against him like torrential rain, but the armor held. As an advanced Kaguya technique, its defense rivaled even the armor of a full-body Susanoo.
Boom!
Fugaku charged into their ranks. One punch sent a cluster of puppets flying, shattering midair into fragments. Blades bounced uselessly off his bone shell as he retaliated with crushing kicks, each swing obliterating multiple enemies.
In moments, the entryway was a graveyard of broken constructs.
"Descendant of the Sage of Six Paths… what are you doing here?!"
A furious voice rang out.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri emerged, flanked by four specialized puppets. His eyeless face twisted with anger and shock. This was the moon, sealed off from the shinobi world—yet somehow Fugaku stood here.
"Fall back!" Toneri commanded. Ordinary puppets were useless against this foe.
Seeing the wreckage of countless constructs, his expression soured further. These puppets were his clan's lifeblood, accumulated over generations—now reduced to ruin.
"How did you get here?" Toneri demanded again.
"You closed the passage to the shinobi world, so I came on my own," Fugaku replied coldly.
He had planned an assassination, but stealth had failed. Now, only force remained.
"The spatial path is closed. How could you possibly reach the moon?"
"…I flew." Fugaku pointed to the sky.
Toneri's face darkened. Days earlier, a mysterious crater had appeared—he had guessed a living being had landed. Now the truth stood before him. The sheer impossibility left him shaken: someone had flown from Earth to the moon.
"Why have you come?"
"You intend to destroy the shinobi world. I can't allow that. So before you move… I'll end you."
Murderous intent poured from Fugaku like a storm. To evolve the Rinnegan, he needed Toneri's bloodline. And for one who would annihilate the world, death was justice.
Boom!
Fugaku stamped the ground, stone cracking like spiderwebs as he launched forward.
The four guardian puppets rushed to block him.
Crash!
One punch shattered a puppet into fragments, Fugaku tearing through the gap, straight for Toneri.
"The moon is not a place for you to rampage!" Toneri snarled.
Here, he could channel the power of the Giant Tenseigan. Raising his hand, green energy blazed.
Zzzzzzzt!
A massive emerald beam roared forth, tearing across the battlefield.
Fugaku met it head-on, fist crashing into the torrent.
BOOOOM!
The impact split the air with a thunderous crack. The beam shattered like glass, fragments of green energy scattering in every direction.
Where they struck the earth, gaping craters yawned. Where they struck the palace walls, holes burned straight through its mighty structure.