The rain kept falling, heavier and heavier.
No shattered starlight was visible in the sky, only a stretch of pitch-black clouds.
However, unlike the surface of the ninja world, within the moon hanging in the starry sky lay a world unknown to all.
Here, there were seas and lands, flowers, birds, fish, and insects, beasts both winged and grounded, even villages and stone houses. From the outside, it looked no different from the ninja world, only more ancient.
The sole distinction was its utter emptiness—only ruins remained.
At the very center of the moon's interior, beneath the false sky, a "sun" glowed with gentle light.
Inside this "sun" was vast, boundless emptiness. Islands of various shapes floated in the air, as if fallen into a starless cosmos. Everything was a hazy blur; though no land could be seen, one could touch the "sky's" edge.
Living long in such a place, unable to distinguish up from down, a sense of emptiness would well up inside.
But for Ōtsutsuki Toneri, who had lived within this "artificial sun" since birth, this narrow patch of heaven and earth was his entire world. He had long grown accustomed to this empty cold and silence.
"Father."
The young Ōtsutsuki Toneri knelt obediently on the ground. With his pale skin and blue-white long hair, he lifted his head, turning his empty eye sockets towards the man before him. "Grandpa Shōshi hasn't visited in a long time."
He didn't seem to be asking a question, merely stating a fact.
He was only three years old, born without eyes, yet he could perceive the world before him clearly through his innate, powerful bloodline.
The "Grandpa Shōshi" Toneri mentioned was a soft-spoken old man. He had simply vanished, like the other elders who had disappeared at intervals over the past three years.
"Toneri, Grandpa Shōshi won't be coming anymore."
Toneri's father reached out, gently stroking his son's hair. His tone held only calm. "You must grow up quickly. One day, I too will be gone."
"Like those grandpas?" Ōtsutsuki Toneri asked.
"Yes." Toneri's father nodded lightly. "You were born to save the world. You simply lack the strength for now. And we… we will become your strength."
"Only a sword hanging over their heads can bring a measure of sobriety to those who have strayed from the path, those who destroy the world's peace and order."
Ōtsutsuki Toneri nodded ignorantly, then asked with childish innocence, "When that time comes, will you return?"
He received no immediate answer from his father. After a long silence, he finally heard his father speak in a very soft voice, a faint chuckle within it. "We have always been here. What is there to 'return' to?"
The elder brother of Ancestor Hamura, the Sage of Six Paths, founder of Ninshū in the ninja world, had personally created that world.
The Sage's original intent in founding Ninshū was for chakra to become a force connecting people, transforming it into bonds between individuals, to create a world without war where everyone could coexist in peace.
But after the Sage's passing, humans used chakra as a weapon of slaughter. As time marched on, wars kept erupting—prolonged conflicts. Shinobi never ceased their warfare, endless, ceaseless war…
From the moment Ōtsutsuki Toneri was born, the entire branch family knew destiny favored their side. The shinobi of that world were destined to be purged. The birth of those warmongering, cruel, bloodthirsty demons was a mistake itself!
Just as Toneri's father was about to continue instilling the branch family's extremist ideology into his son—
Humm!
An intangible ripple stirred in the air, making him jolt and look sharply towards the window.
A crescent-shaped island floating in the distance was vibrating with a buzzing tremor. Without hesitation, Toneri's father shot out of the palace, colliding mid-air with two other figures.
The three exchanged a solemn glance, nodded in unison, and flew towards the distant crescent island.
Few Ōtsutsuki clan members remained alive on the moon now. All women of childbearing age had perished years ago in the war between the main and branch families. The tragedy of that battle had left only the old, weak, and infirm behind.
These three, including Toneri's father, were usually responsible for guarding the Ōtsutsuki clan's treasure—the "Energy Vessel" (Giant Tenseigan).
Humm! Humm!
Entering the island's interior through a passageway, the intangible fluctuation grew stronger, causing their white robes to flutter wildly.
Reaching the end of the passage, they entered a vast, open space. At its center lay an eye dozens of meters in diameter, encircled by several ring-shaped tracks.
This golden eye was the true form of the Giant Tenseigan. However, the orbital rings that should have revolved around it steadily like planetary rings were now twisting and churning frantically, as if disturbed by invisible fingers.
"What's happening?" A deep panic welled up in the eyes of Toneri's father. "Why is the Tenseigan showing strange activity all of a sudden?!"
Golden particles, like a dam bursting with fireflies, were erupting from the Tenseigan's pupil. The light flowed like blood through veins, crashing against objects, shattering into tiny spots of light before streaming outward.
Even though this Tenseigan was still only a semi-finished product, such an anomaly had never occurred in all the past years.
One of the elders released chakra, linking it to the Tenseigan, gradually sensing the direction in which that "ocular power" was flowing.
"Impossible!"
His eyes widened almost to the point of popping from their sockets. "The Tenseigan… is responding to someone's call… from the ninja world!"
"Impossible!" Toneri's father blurted out instinctively. "How can that be? How could those demons possibly be worthy of the sacred artifact's response?!"
The other elder's personality was noticeably more steady. Though equally incredulous, he remained calm, turning to the brown-haired elder and asking, "Can we determine the individual's identity or pinpoint their exact location?"
"No." The brown-haired elder frowned and shook his head. "The weather in the ninja world is terrible; it's interfering with my observation."
He paused, then closed his eyes again, his face gradually turning pale.
A moment later, his eyes snapped open. "The Land of Fire!" he stated gravely. "The approximate location is near the Land of Fire!"
"Those damned shinobi again!" Veins bulged on the forehead of Toneri's father, his voice filled with hatred. "They stole the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and now they dare covet the Tenseigan as well! Unforgivable!"
This Giant Tenseigan was prepared for Toneri. It was the supreme sacred artifact they had created by sacrificing countless clan members' lives and converging the ocular power of innumerable Byakugan. They absolutely could not allow the demons of that world to lay a finger on it!
If he ever discovered who was so audacious, he would ensure that person died without a grave!
"Hurry!" Toneri's father looked up sharply, his tone grim. "Set up the seal immediately! Sever the connection between the Tenseigan and the outside world!"
Hearing this, the other two elders exchanged a glance, nodded as if reaching a decision, and sat cross-legged on the ground, closing their eyes. Toneri's father did the same.
"Seal!" The three intoned lowly. Their internal chakra was drained instantly. Their faces turned deathly pale and withered, their flesh and spirit seemingly extracted. Only then did the trembling Tenseigan begin to gradually calm.
Crack.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri sat quietly in the room. He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard the door to the room being pushed open gently.
But this time was different from before. His father's breathing was hoarse and rapid, like a broken bellows, carrying an aura of utter decay.
"Father…" Toneri called out softly, instinctively.
"Cough! Cough!" A rough, wrinkled hand settled on his head. The voice was raspy. "Toneri… you've always wanted to see the ninja world with your own eyes, haven't you?"
Hearing this, the doubt that had risen in Toneri's heart was instantly cast aside. "Can I, Father?"
Toneri's father fell silent for a moment. He thought of the two clansmen who had just perished, of his own rapidly withering body, of Toneri's solitary future, of the demons in that world…
A flicker of hatred surfaced in his eyes. Finally, he nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Prepare yourself. I will take you to the ninja world in a few days."
"I will let you witness with your own eyes… the ugliness and sins of the shinobi."
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