The samurai of the Land of Iron tightened their grips on their sword hilts, yet none of them dared to make a single unnecessary move.
Mifune stood to the side. He understood very clearly that today's talks would decide the direction of the entire shinobi world.
"Today, I mainly want all of you to see clearly… our shared future."
A crisp snap of fingers echoed through the empty venue.
Without the slightest sound, the hard metal floor split open, and a precise silver-white device rose up from below.
When it reached about half a person's height, it stopped. A bright pillar of light shot from its top, straight to the ceiling.
The beam expanded in midair. Countless light-points gathered, constructing a clear, three-dimensional projection.
A vast cosmos of stars—within it, a blue planet floated quietly.
Then, a streak of light tore through the darkness and fell toward that planet.
The scene zoomed in.
A woman with long white hair and a forehead that seemed… abnormal, without eyebrows.
She wore a white robe, her expression indifferent, descending upon a primitive wilderness.
"This is…" Onoki recognized the mark on the woman's forehead. It resembled the figure described in legends about the Sage of Six Paths.
The projection continued.
A towering tree erupted from the earth. At its crown, it bore an enormous fruit.
That woman—Otsutsuki Kaguya—ate the fruit.
In an instant, her forehead split open, and a red eye filled with tomoe opened.
The hall fell into dead silence.
The Rinne Sharingan—something that existed only in the oldest myths.
With absolute power, Kaguya quelled the chaotic age and was revered as the "Rabbit Goddess."
But she also became tyrannical.
She used Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Moonlit Prison) as a means of reclaiming chakra, transforming humanity into White Zetsu.
As A watched human beings wrapped by Shinju roots and ultimately lose themselves, turning into monsters, fury rose from the bottom of his heart.
This was completely different from the shinobi world history he knew.
The scene shifted—Kaguya's two sons appeared.
Hagoromo and Hamura, inheritors of their mother's terrifying power.
Unable to accept her actions, they chose to oppose her.
A heaven-shaking battle erupted—mountains crumbled, the earth split, sun and moon dimmed.
The projection displayed every detail with perfect clarity.
That world-destroying force made even the Kage-level elites present feel small.
In the end, the brothers joined forces, using Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation) to seal Kaguya together with the husk of the God Tree, forming the moon.
At that moment, everyone held their breath.
So the moon… was born like this.
The legends they had believed in all their lives—the Sage of Six Paths "creating the world"—had only ever been part of the truth.
Gaara's gaze locked onto the scene where Hagoromo split the Ten-Tails' chakra into nine portions.
Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu…
The birth of the nine tailed beasts unfolded clearly before his eyes.
Even his understanding of being a jinchuriki changed completely.
They weren't merely chakra monsters—
They were fragments born from that "Rabbit Goddess."
At the end of the projection, the image froze on the moment Black Zetsu was born from a crack in the seal.
Like a black stain, carrying Kaguya's will, it began a thousand-year conspiracy to revive its "mother."
The light dispersed, and the venue returned to normal.
But no one's heart could return to calm.
Everything they had just seen utterly overturned decades of their lives—overturned the entire shinobi world's history, and even its worldview.
The source of chakra… the origin of the shinobi world…
All of it was tied to an alien race from beyond the stars.
"Kage of each village," Shinju said, "all the fighting we've done—whether wars between villages or battling Akatsuki—has only been internal 'self-consumption' on this planet."
"And the true enemy… the harvesters who see us as a 'chakra nursery'… have been watching all along—from the moon, and from even more distant stars."
He swept his gaze around the room, taking in the stunned expressions of the four Kage.
"Black Zetsu's thousand-year scheme was only the tip of the iceberg. The Otsutsuki clan isn't just Kaguya alone."
"They are a massive interstellar race. They live by planting God Trees on planets and harvesting chakra fruits."
"To them, this planet is nothing more than a field waiting to be reaped."
Every thousand years, they send their kin to inspect the 'nursery' and reclaim the chakra fruit.
If they discover the fruit has been stolen, or that chakra has been used by native life…
They will erase all life on the planet without hesitation and re-seed it from scratch.
"Kaguya's descent was only a beginning. According to Black Zetsu's memories… new Otsutsuki will arrive here soon."
The sharpness and calculation in Onoki's eyes seemed to drain away.
He had lived so long and endured three great shinobi wars, believing he had seen through all conflict in the world.
But today, he finally realized—
He had been a frog at the bottom of a well.
A's tense muscles loosened.
He had always seen Kumogakure as the strongest, and himself as the fastest shinobi.
But against enemies who could traverse the stars and treat worlds as food…
What were speed and strength worth?
Mei looked at Shinju's back, her gaze so complex it was almost painful.
She had been thinking how to leverage Kirigakure's advantages to secure the greatest benefit in the new order—
But now, only one thought remained:
This youth wasn't thinking about village supremacy at all.
He was thinking about whether the entire world would live or die.
"So you mean… all of us, the entire shinobi world… is facing annihilation?" Gaara spoke first.
"Not 'will face.' We are already in it," Shinju corrected. "Akatsuki collecting the tailed beasts, reviving the Ten-Tails, launching Mugen Tsukuyomi (Infinite Moonlit Prison)—all of it was part of Kaguya's revival plan."
"If I hadn't intervened, this world would likely already be a paradise for White Zetsu… waiting for the Otsutsuki main family to come harvest it."
A chill ran down the spines of the four Kage.
Only now did they understand they had just brushed past the edge of doomsday.
And the one who stopped it—
Was the very youth they had once regarded as the greatest threat.
"Then what should we do?" This time it was A who spoke.
There was less rage in his tone now, and more weight.
He was pragmatic. If the threat was already at their doorstep, then figuring out how to respond was what mattered most.
Shinju had been waiting for those words.
He turned, facing the Kage again.
"Fighting separately will only get us picked off one by one. Our history has proven that countless times. Internal strife only weakens us, letting the true enemy profit."
"To oppose a threat from the stars, we must twist all our力量 into a single rope."
"I propose abolishing the old system of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Villages…"
"And establishing a unified force that transcends national borders—the 'Shinobi Guardian Allied Army.'"
"This allied army will integrate the strength of all shinobi. We will share all intelligence, technology, and resources, build a unified command and combat structure, and resist the enemies of the future together."
"This army will be commanded and reorganized uniformly by [God Court]."
It was a proposal that shattered the heavens.
Abolishing village and national boundaries, creating a unified military—
That meant completely rewriting a thousand years of shinobi order.
If this had been proposed before today, it would've been dismissed as madness—maybe even sparked a Fourth Great Shinobi War on the spot.
But now… everything was different.
Absolute power stood before them.
A world-ending crisis from beyond the stars hung over their heads.
The future blueprint Shinju laid out was both the only hope—
And the only path forward.
Onoki let out a long sigh.
Refusing would mean Iwagakure facing the Otsutsuki alone in the future.
That was no different from suicide.
A fell silent.
He thought of Kumogakure, and his younger brother, Killer Bee.
To protect them, he would pay any price…
Even if it meant handing over the power in his own hands.
Mei didn't hesitate at all.
The way she looked at Shinju was filled with trust.
Gaara, as the new generation Kazekage, carried the least burden from the old era.
He had supported Shinju from the beginning—now he was even more certain.
"Sunagakure agrees," Gaara stated first.
"Kirigakure agrees," Mei followed.
A and Onoki exchanged a glance, both seeing helplessness and resolve in each other's eyes.
"Kumogakure agrees."
"Iwagakure… agrees."
With the last Kage's statement, a resolution that would change world history was passed unanimously in the Land of Iron.
Shinju announced that the "Shinobi Guardian Allied Army" was officially established immediately, with [God Court] taking full responsibility for unified command.
(End of Chapter)
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