Toneri lay on the shattered lunar rock.
The golden chakra cloak had already dispersed.
His eyes—the pair of stolen Tenseigan—now stared weakly up at the sky.
A hand covered Toneri's face. The icy touch made him instinctively want to struggle.
But his body wouldn't listen.
The Tenseigan that had gathered countless pairs of eyes and carried the Otsutsuki branch family's thousand-year obsession…
Toneri felt it.
The power in his eyes was draining away.
That omnipotent sensation—connected to the world, controlling attraction and repulsion, ruling over all things—was being ripped out.
Shinju withdrew his hand.
Floating in his palm was an eyeball that glowed a幽 blue light. That eye had been completely separated from Hanabi's life force.
Beside him, the medical-nin immediately stepped forward and carefully transplanted Hanabi's own Byakugan back into her eye socket.
Green healing chakra lit up, stabilizing the girl's vitals.
"Your 'destiny' is a lie."
Toneri lay on the ground. He had lost his sight, but his hearing had become unnaturally sharp.
"From the very beginning, your sect was wrong."
"After Otsutsuki Hamura left Earth, he left your branch family behind to guard the Gedo Mazo (Outer Path Demon Statue). His final wish was protection. To protect the sins his mother committed… to protect the world he and his elder brother created together."
"Not destruction."
Destruction…
"Not destruction."
Destruction…
That was the faith drilled into him since childhood, the only meaning behind his existence.
For that goal, he endured a thousand years of loneliness. For that goal, he launched a war without hesitation.
And now this man was telling him everything was wrong?
"Lies! You're lying!" Toneri roared, trying to cover up the shaking in his heart. "Hamura-sama's decree was to judge that shinobi abuse chakra and will eventually destroy the world! We're carrying out heavenly punishment! We're clearing away the wrong and correcting everything!"
"Oh? Is that so?"
Shinju didn't argue with him.
Toneri only felt his consciousness forcibly dragged into a brand-new world.
He saw the streets of Konoha—people coming and going, calm smiles on every face.
Children chased each other around the academy field.
In the Sand Village, the Kazekage—the red-haired boy—was discussing the construction plan for a trade route that would run through both nations with Konoha.
Enemies who once fought to the death had become the closest of allies.
The Mist Village no longer carried the terror of the "Bloody Mist." A new Mizukage led the villagers in rebuilding their home.
In the Stone Village, old shinobi put down their weapons and guided the younger generation in using earth techniques to improve the soil in the fields.
In the Cloud Village, shinobi were helping ordinary people set up communication equipment that would connect the entire continent.
War was gone.
Hatred was being erased bit by bit.
Shinobi were no longer mere tools of slaughter. They used their power to build villages, protect civilians, and blaze open the future.
Chakra hadn't become the root of the world's destruction—instead, it became the bond that connected everyone.
"This… impossible. This is all genjutsu!" Toneri murmured. His faith was collapsing.
"Keep opening your heart. Feel it."
Shinju's voice sounded again.
This time, Toneri felt something completely different.
He "saw" a void.
Within that void, a will hung high above all.
He saw the beginning and end of time, the birth and collapse of space, the cycles of countless stars—life and death, over and over.
A realm he couldn't reach even with the limits of imagination… was nothing more than a toy within reach before that will.
That was Shinju's power.
Far beyond the Tenseigan.
Before such power, his so-called "heavenly punishment," his proud Tenseigan, the "destiny" he clung to for a thousand years…
all became a laughably ridiculous joke.
Toneri spat out a mouthful of blood. In that instant, his mental defenses were completely shattered.
His body stopped trembling—then went limp like a pile of mud.
His eyes were hollow, drained of all light.
He lost. Completely.
Shinju looked at the Toneri whose heart had fully collapsed, and finally spoke his true purpose.
"I'm offering you a trade."
Toneri's empty gaze shifted slightly, as if he'd regained a trace of reaction.
"This place—the moon—will become the forward base of my organization, the Divine Court. I need a manager. Someone familiar with this place, and familiar with the Otsutsuki."
"You will become the moon's administrator. You will oversee everything here, and provide me with all intelligence you have on the Otsutsuki main family."
Toneri's breathing turned rapid.
The Otsutsuki main family…
Even the branch family only heard of them in ancient legends.
"As compensation," Shinju continued, "I will grant you new power. Not the Tenseigan—something that truly belongs to you. And I will let you witness with your own eyes how a truly peaceful world is born in my hands."
"You will become a witness to history."
New power…
Witness the birth of a new world…
To a loser who had lost everything—whose very reason for living had been denied—those words carried a fatal temptation.
He had seen the world the other man described. He had felt that unreachable power.
Resistance was meaningless. Death had no value.
Maybe following this man, watching the future he spoke of with his own eyes…
was the only meaning left in a life that had long since veered off course.
After a long time—
Toneri lay prostrate on the ground. Using all his strength, he lowered the head that had been proud for countless years.
"I… obey."
Shinju turned and walked toward the scientific unit not far away. Orochimaru stood there, staring at the Tenseigan in Shinju's hand with feverish eyes.
"This thing—take it and use it as the core energy source for the 'Kaguya No. 2' spaceship."
Shinju tossed the massive Tenseigan over as if throwing away an ordinary glass marble.
Orochimaru caught it steadily, a fascinated smile spreading across his face.
With this, their plan to explore the stars would achieve a qualitative leap.
The moon expedition ended here, with Shinju's side declaring total victory.
Earth—Land of Fire.
Konoha, flourishing.
Shinju stood atop the monument of the Fourth Hokage, looking down at the new Konoha that had expanded several times over.
This was now the center of the entire shinobi world—the capital of his empire.
The shinobi world had welcomed a unity and peace it had never known before.
Under his rule, all disputes had been quelled.
All troubles on the ground… were finished.
His gaze shifted toward the deep, boundless starry sky.
More ancient enemies were waiting out there.
The Otsutsuki main family.
The so-called "gods" who devoured life by the planet and plundered chakra fruits…
were the true threat to this world.
(End of Chapter)
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