"Where do we find him?"
"Don't worry, I've already sent other companions to inform him."
Having learned the outcome, Tobi left the mission hall. In a corner, he used his ability to transform into the guise of a villager and then walked naturally towards the residential area.
Deep within the moon, the Great Elder of Hamura's descendants had finally located the Gedo Statue with the aid of the Giant Tenseigan.
A smile appeared on the Great Elder's face. He hadn't expected the Gedo Statue to be pushed to such an extent, forcing it to actively establish a connection with the Tenseigan. With this, he should be able to forcibly summon it using the marker left behind years ago.
The Great Elder began to form a series of hand seals. He was activating the Giant Tenseigan.
As the complex seals were completed, he shouted, "Activate!"
Dense arrays of fuinjutsu script appeared before the Giant Tenseigan. The symbols began to spin, slowly opening before gradually vanishing into the air. The unsealed Giant Tenseigan emitted a dazzling light.
The Great Elder was panting slightly.
For years, whenever a clan member passed away, their eyes were placed within it. This had made the Giant Tenseigan increasingly powerful, to the point that even he now found it somewhat difficult to control.
But as long as they could recover the Gedo Statue, it was all worth it.
The Great Elder composed himself and quickly formed new hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
The Great Elder clapped his hands together forcefully and spread his arms.
The Summoning Jutsu, enhanced by the Giant Tenseigan, directly targeted the Gedo Statue in the Land of Whirlpools.
With a tremendous roar, a massive cloud of smoke erupted.
The Gedo Statue instantly vanished from the coast of the Land of Whirlpools.
Amidst the swirling dust in the Land of Whirlpools, Konan's paper clone ceased its movements.
The explosive tags dancing through the sky lost their target.
They gradually reverted to blank sheets of paper and fell into the sea.
This paper clone looked up at the dark sky before dissolving into scattered sheets of paper, carried away by the wind.
...
A tremor shook the ground as the Gedo Statue was transported to the area outside the shrine.
Its body was battered and broken, the protrusions on its back having been blasted off.
It was scorched black all over, and its size had been reduced by half.
The Great Elder gazed at the now-ruined Gedo Statue, his heart surging with emotion.
Finally...
Within his lifetime, he had brought it back.
More than twenty years ago, he had been the one guarding the Gedo Statue when it was inexplicably stolen. To save his son, his father had him feign illness and leave, taking his place.
In the end, his father sacrificed himself to protect him.
Now, he had finally returned it to the clan.
Tears welled in the Great Elder's eyes, and his lips trembled.
Father, did you see?
He took a deep breath. This was no time for celebration.
When the Gedo Statue was stolen, their clan had tracked it for a long time, only finding a few clues related to a summoning jutsu. Now that it was back, they had to guard against the risk of it being stolen again.
Just then, the Second Elder, having sensed the disturbance, rushed over.
He was shocked at the sight of the Gedo Statue.
"Great Elder, did you summon it back?"
The Great Elder spoke while forming hand seals. "There's no time to explain. We must seal it together to prevent it from being stolen again. I'll handle the stone seal; you use the soul seal."
The Second Elder leaped over to the Giant Tenseigan. "Understood, Great Elder."
The two began forming hand seals simultaneously.
The Great Elder finished first, immediately using the Giant Tenseigan to activate a massive-scale sealing jutsu.
"Seal!" he roared.
The light of the Giant Tenseigan spread out like ripples.
The surface of the newly transported Gedo Statue rapidly petrified, turning into a colossal stone statue in moments.
On the other side, the Second Elder began his jutsu. "Soul Seal!"
The giant eye trembled, and purple fuinjutsu script crawled across the Gedo Statue's body.
The initial scan and two consecutive uses of sealing jutsu had consumed a vast amount of power.
The light of the Giant Tenseigan dimmed considerably.
The Second Elder looked at it, concerned. "Great Elder, is it all right for the Tenseigan to expend so much chakra at once? The two of us alone can't supply enough chakra. Its recovery will be very slow."
The Great Elder looked at the stone statue of the Gedo Statue and replied, "It's fine. Toneri is still young. By the time he grows up, the Tenseigan will have long since recovered. However, we can move the eye to the center of the array to speed up its recovery."
The Second Elder thought for a moment. "That is a good suggestion, but it would require reducing the number of puppets."
The Great Elder waved it off dismissively. "Most of the puppets are idle anyway. It won't matter if we don't maintain them."
Seeing the Great Elder's resolve, the Second Elder said no more.
"Then let's do that."
The Great Elder nodded, and the two once again focused their power.
Their chakra connected to the Tenseigan.
"Seal!"
The Giant Tenseigan shrank to a small point of light and descended deep into the central core underground.
Although the elders could no longer use the Tenseigan, it could still maintain the operation of the entire barrier...
The Great Elder let out a sigh of relief, staring at the Gedo Statue, now a stone sculpture. To think some people in the shinobi world could damage it to this extent. It seems I will have to warn Toneri to be more careful.
...
In a hidden tomb deep in the mountains.
Obito descended underground to the place where the Gedo Statue had originally been kept.
His fingers flew through hand seals.
The Rinnegan in his eye pulsed with powerful energy.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Slap!
Obito slammed his hand on the ground, but there was no reaction.
"What's wrong? Why can't I summon it?" he asked the figure beside him, his brow furrowed.
Black Zetsu looked up at the sky. "It seems someone beat you to it."
Obito glared at Black Zetsu. "What are you talking about?"
Black Zetsu said impatiently, "The Gedo Statue has already been summoned away by some other power."
Obito's brow tightened further. Without another word, he phased into his pocket dimension. Black Zetsu knew he had gone to see the truth for himself, but what he had said was fact.
Obito moved swiftly through his own world.
He soon arrived at the coastline where the Gedo Statue had been.
Besides the scattered ash of exploded tags and some traces left by the statue, there were no other clues.
Obito's face was ashen as he surveyed the ruins, his mind in turmoil.
Although he had obtained the Rinnegan, his goal of becoming the perfect jinchuriki had hit a major obstacle.
Who could have taken something so massive?
Thump... thump...
Like a heartbeat, the Rinnegan in his left eye seemed to sense something.
He looked up at the sky. Is that... the moon?
Black Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground and began to explain...
"Lord Madara told you long ago. The body of the Ten-Tails, the Gedo Statue, was sealed on the moon."
"But the moon doesn't just hold the sealed Gedo Statue."
"There is also a group of Hamura's descendants who guard it."
Obito paused. After hearing Lord Madara's explanation back then, he had looked into related myths himself. So Hamura was the Sage of Six Paths' younger brother.
"Are there still descendants of Hamura living on the moon today?"
Black Zetsu's expression was cold. "I thought they had all died out long ago. I never expected some to have survived. Only they would be able to summon the Gedo Statue."