The rain kept falling, heavier by the minute. The sky showed no broken stars at all, only a solid layer of dark clouds pressing down.
Yet unlike the surface of Ninja World, a hidden world existed inside the moon itself. There were seas and land, flowers and insects, birds and beasts, and even villages built from stone. From the outside, it looked no different from Ninja World, only far more ancient.
The only difference was that it was completely empty, nothing left but ruins. At the very center of the moon's interior, beneath a false sky, a "sun" gave off a warm glow.
Inside that "sun" was nothing but vast emptiness. Islands of different shapes floated in the air as if suspended in a starless void, everything blurred and hazy, with no ground in sight but the edge of the "sky" close enough to touch. Living in such a place for a long time made it impossible to tell up from down, and it filled the heart with a sense of nothingness.
For Toneri Otsutsuki, who had lived inside this "artificial sun" since birth, this narrow space was his entire world. He had long grown used to its empty silence.
"Father."
The young Toneri Otsutsuki knelt properly on the floor, his skin pale and his long hair a mix of blue and white. He lifted his head and faced the man before him with hollow eye sockets. "Zhangsi hasn't come for a long time."
It did not sound like a question, more like a simple statement of fact. He was only three years old and had been born without eyes, yet his powerful bloodline let him sense the world clearly.
The "Zhangsi" he mentioned was an old man who spoke gently. Like the other elders who vanished from time to time over the past three years, he had disappeared as well.
"Toneri, Zhangsi won't be coming anymore."
Toneri's father reached out and gently stroked his hair, his tone calm and soft. "You need to grow up quickly. One day, I will be gone too."
"Like those grandfathers?" Toneri Otsutsuki asked.
"Yes." Toneri's father nodded lightly. "You were born to save the world, but you still lack strength. We will become that strength for you."
"Only when a blade hangs overhead will those who go down the wrong path and destroy order truly wake up."
Toneri Otsutsuki nodded in confusion, then raised his head and asked in a childlike voice, "When that happens, will you come back?"
He did not hear an answer at first. After a long silence, his father finally spoke in a very soft voice and gave a quiet laugh. "We have always been here, so how could there be any 'coming back'?"
Hamura Otsutsuki's older brother, that Sage of Six Paths, was the founder of Ninja World and Ninshu. He had personally created the Ninja World that existed today.
When Sage of Six Paths founded Ninshu, his original intent was for Chakra to become a force that connected people to one another. He wanted it to bind hearts together and create a world without war, where everyone could live in peace.
After Sage of Six Paths passed away, humans turned Chakra into a weapon for killing. As time went on, wars kept breaking out one after another. The shinobi never stopped fighting, and the wars stretched on without end.
From the moment Toneri Otsutsuki was born, the entire Branch Family believed fate had chosen their side. The shinobi of Ninja World were destined to be purged, and the birth of those warlike, cruel, bloodthirsty demons was itself a mistake.
Just as Toneri's father was about to continue instilling the extreme beliefs of the Branch Family, a sudden hum filled the air.
An invisible force surged through the space, making him jolt in shock as he looked out the window. A crescent shaped island floating in the distance was vibrating with a buzzing sound.
Without hesitation, Toneri's father rushed out of the palace and ran straight into two others. The three exchanged serious looks, nodded, and flew together toward the distant crescent island.
Very few Otsutsuki still lived on the moon. All women of suitable age had died years ago in the war between the Main Family and the Branch Family, and that brutal battle left behind only the old, the weak, and the sick.
These three, including Toneri's father, were responsible for guarding the Otsutsuki's greatest treasure. It was the so called "giant Tenseigan."
The deeper they went through the passage into the island, the stronger the invisible waves became. Their white robes whipped violently in the air.
At the end of the passage, they entered a vast open space. At the center of several circular tracks floated an enormous eye, dozens of meters in diameter.
That golden eye was the true form of the giant Tenseigan. The ring tracks that should have been rotating steadily around it like star rings were now twisting wildly, as if stirred by unseen fingers.
"What's happening?" Toneri's father's eyes filled with panic. "Why is the Tenseigan suddenly reacting like this?"
Golden particles burst from the pupil like a swarm of fireflies spilling from a broken dam. The light flowed like blood through veins, shattered against solid objects into tiny sparks, and then streamed outward again.
Even though this Tenseigan was only a half finished creation, nothing like this had happened in all the years before. One of the elders released his Chakra and linked it to the Tenseigan, slowly sensing the direction in which that Dojutsu Power was flowing.
"Impossible!"
His eyes flew wide, nearly popping from their sockets, as he rasped, "The Tenseigan is responding to someone in Ninja World!"
"That can't be!" Toneri's father blurted out. "How could those demons be worthy of the sacred relic's response?"
The third elder was clearly more steady. Though he was just as shaken, he turned calmly to the brown haired elder and asked, "Can you identify who it is, or at least locate their exact position?"
"No." The brown haired elder frowned and shook his head. "The weather in Ninja World is terrible. It's interfering with my observation."
He paused, then closed his eyes again, his face gradually turning pale. After a moment, he snapped his eyes open and said in a low voice, "Land of Fire! The general area is near Land of Fire!"
"Those cursed shinobi again!" Toneri's father snarled, veins bulging on his forehead. "Stealing the Gedo Statue wasn't enough, and now they dare reach for the Tenseigan as well. Unforgivable!"
This giant Tenseigan had been prepared for Toneri. Countless clan members had sacrificed their lives, and the Dojutsu Power of countless pairs of Byakugan had been gathered to form this supreme sacred object. There was no way the demons of Ninja World could be allowed to touch it.
If he ever learned who had dared to do this, he would make sure that person died without a trace. He raised his head sharply and said in a deep voice, "Quickly. Set up the seal and cut off the Tenseigan from the outside world."
The other two elders exchanged a look and nodded as if making a final decision. All three sat cross legged and closed their eyes.
"Seal!" they shouted together.
Their Chakra was drained away in an instant. Their faces turned deathly pale and withered as flesh and spirit were squeezed dry, and only then did the trembling Tenseigan slowly begin to calm.
kacha.
Toneri Otsutsuki sat quietly in his room, unaware of how much time had passed, when he heard the door open softly. This time, his father's breathing was harsh and ragged, like a broken bellows, carrying an air of extreme decay.
"Father…" Toneri called out softly without thinking.
"Cough, cough." A rough, heavily wrinkled hand rested on his head as a hoarse voice said, "Toneri, you have always wanted to go to Ninja World and see it with your own eyes, haven't you?"
Hearing this, Toneri Otsutsuki immediately pushed aside the doubts in his heart and blurted out, "Can I, Father?"
Toneri's father fell silent. He thought of the two clan members who had died, of his own body that was steadily drying up, of Toneri's lonely future, and of the demons of Ninja World.
Hatred flashed in his eyes, and at last he slowly nodded. "You can."
"Prepare yourself. In a few days, I will take you to Ninja World."
"I will let you see the ugliness and sins of the shinobi with your own eyes."