For the Fourth Raikage, A, and the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, the experience of using the Magic Lantern Body Technique to attend the "operational meeting" organized by the Akatsuki could be said to have had absolutely nothing to do with pleasantness.
The attitude displayed by the Fourth Mizukage, Rei Kaguya, during the meeting—an attitude that completely did not regard Iwagakure, Kumogakure, or even Sunagakure and Konoha as competitors on the same level—could be considered one of the greatest reasons for their displeasure.
Another part of their displeasure came from the fact that, when facing the other party's condescending attitude, they had neither the confidence nor the capital to deliver a powerful enough response or rebuttal.
To have their face ruthlessly torn away by another, yet still have to grit their teeth and accept the fact that they had no choice but to owe him a favor—such a thing was extremely unfamiliar to great figures like them, who had already grown accustomed to their status, authority, and lofty position as the Kage of a village.
"But no matter how unaccustomed they are, they have no choice but to pinch their noses and accept the conditions I put forward… This is the confidence and backing brought to me by a unique Otsutsuki bloodline."
Inside Orochimaru's research facility, Orochimaru, who was making the final adjustments to the material closest to success, could not help laughing when he heard Rei Kaguya's evaluation of the matter.
"According to the history I know, aside from you, Rei-kun, only Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, those two descendants of the Otsutsuki, had the qualifications to say such arrogant words before the Five Kage, no?"
"But aside from the three of us Otsutsuki descendants, the shinobi world has never again produced a shinobi capable of fighting the entire combined shinobi world alone… Compared to the equally mediocre majority, that upper limit—one other people outside the descendants of the Otsutsuki can absolutely never touch, an upper limit great enough to influence the future of the world—is itself an enormous danger."
As Rei said this, he cast a meaningful glance at Kabuto Yakushi, who was busily working inside the research facility.
Kabuto Yakushi, already accustomed to his peaceful life as both instructor and researcher, did not notice Rei Kaguya's gaze. Orochimaru, who did notice it, said with a completely unconcerned expression,
"There is no need to say such boring things to me. I am merely a windmill turning in accordance with the winds of change that alter the era. No matter where the winds of change blow, I will only rotate according to their direction and obtain the things I want from within them. As for why the wind blows that way, I do not have much interest, Rei-kun."
"If you only think about what to do, but not why you must do it, it is very easy to walk into a dead end and become a zombie that cannot even tell whether it is still moving forward."
Rei Kaguya folded his arms before his chest and advised him calmly.
"Are Jiraiya, Shisui Uchiha, and Itachi Uchiha not already there? Under your influence, those people have begun thinking about why things must be done, have they not?"
Orochimaru grinned.
As he pressed the button that injected Rei Kaguya's own chakra into the culture vessel before him, he spoke with teasing amusement.
"If I even finish that sort of thing as well, would pitiful Jiraiya not have his final value as an existence stolen away from him? Although seeing his expression after realizing he has become useless would be rather enjoyable too, if even Tsunade has gotten onto the right track, then only he among the Three Sannin becoming trash would be a little too laughable."
As they spoke, that Byakugan, cultivated from the cells of the Hyuga clan member with the highest Byakugan purity in the present day, then recombined with Rei Kaguya's own chakra and Hashirama Senju's cells, began growing toward its final completed form.
"That is true. Refinement and division of labor are also important signs of civilizational progress. A person's energy and time are limited, after all. Once the field of knowledge deepens to a certain extent, crossing between fields will inevitably scatter one's focus…"
Rei Kaguya looked at the Hashirama cells rapidly growing into a humanoid form, as well as the Byakugan growing together with that lifeless flesh, and nodded in approval.
"Mm… From the look of it, you truly do not need my help."
Hearing that deep and reassuring voice, Rei Kaguya and Orochimaru both turned their heads at the same time, looking toward Hashirama Senju, who was walking into the laboratory while scratching the back of his head with a hint of relief.
"Lord First… Are Jiraiya and Tsunade worrying meaninglessly again?"
Orochimaru, who understood the personalities of those two old friends very well, was the first to ask.
"Well, I cannot say it is meaningless worry."
Hashirama Senju laughed heartily, though with a hint of helplessness.
"After all, a disaster like the moon's descent that threatens the entire shinobi world would, according to ordinary common sense, certainly require gathering every power that can be used before there is any chance of resolving it. And as it happens, in their eyes, I, this old man, can more or less still be considered someone worth relying on. So it is very normal for them to think of borrowing my power to resolve this crisis."
"Then what is your intention?"
Rei Kaguya did not directly reject the idea of having Hashirama Senju offer assistance with his Edo Tensei body. Instead, he asked him very seriously and sincerely.
"If you are willing to provide help, Lord First Hokage, then I can cooperate with Orochimaru and temporarily manufacture a body for you capable of displaying more than ninety-five percent of your peak strength for a new Edo Tensei… Although I do not believe I am weaker than you at your peak, there is no reason to refuse an extra helper like that."
"Then, do you want me to go with you, Fourth Mizukage?"
Hashirama Senju withdrew his smile and asked in complete seriousness.
"…Is that your answer?"
Rei Kaguya narrowed his eyes.
"If this were a battle where no one knew how to resolve the problem, and no one knew who the enemy they were about to face was, then even without Tsunade's request, I would take the initiative to ask you to provide me with a body capable of unleashing more of my power, and fight together with you for the sake of protecting the shinobi world."
"But you are not ignorant of the enemy. In fact, you have already completed all your preparations before setting out."
Hashirama Senju grinned and said openly,
"Since the later generations of the shinobi world are already so promising, what need is there for an old fellow like me, who has long since died, to compete with you for the leading role on the stage? The world of the living should be protected and guided by the living. The dead only need to quietly watch the living advance from the underworld and earnestly pray for them."
"The difference between you and Madara Uchiha truly makes one unable to help wondering why the two of you could become friends, First Hokage."
Rei Kaguya reached toward his own eyes as he shook his head and commented.
"Fate and bonds are mysterious things like that."
Hashirama Senju optimistically spread his hands, speaking like someone with experience.
"People with similar personalities may not necessarily become friends, and people with opposing goals may not necessarily become mortal enemies who cannot coexist. Take you and Madara, for example. If the two of you had been born in the same era, even if both your goals were to have yourselves dominate the shinobi world and achieve world peace, the relationship between the two of you would probably be so terrible that even describing it as fire and water would be insufficient, no?"
"That is indeed true."
In the culture vessel, the pair of Byakugan soaked in Rei Kaguya's chakra finally took complete shape.
Even before taking them out, Rei could sense the purity they possessed, almost perfectly compatible with himself. At the same time the Byakugan were completed, Rei Kaguya himself did not hesitate to remove from his eye sockets the pair of eyes he had only transplanted as a temporary measure. Blood flowed from both eyes as he said calmly,
"The land of the shinobi world is far too narrow. At most, it can only accommodate one voice giving orders. If Madara Uchiha and I had lived in the same era, we would likely have remained irreconcilable enemies from beginning to end. The shinobi world would have gradually become a broken ruin amid our war, until one of us completely fell."
"But fortunately, he was born before me, and by the time I was born, he was already old."
"That way, the shinobi world can move from the era of divided shinobi villages to the era of great unification without being beaten into ruins, and even without needing to shed too much blood."
After connecting the Byakugan that had just grown inside the culture vessel, Rei Kaguya regained the vision he had just lost almost at the same instant.
The Byakugan that had grown using his own chakra as nourishment fused almost perfectly with his body. They did not bring about any wild surge or explosive increase in chakra, but for the first time since the power of his Dead Bone Pulse crossed the critical threshold, they allowed him to perfectly control his body and aura.
If, before this, Rei Kaguya in Hashirama Senju's eyes had still been a shinobi with imperfections and flaws, someone who could be defeated by grasping those flaws, then now, Rei Kaguya had become a complete and flawless enemy.
There was no longer any possibility of defeating him through opportunistic methods.
"The bloodline of Hamura Otsutsuki is finally complete."
Sensing his body, which had now reached perfection within the category of "man," Rei Kaguya took a deep breath and clenched his fist, unable to hide his excitement.
Then, before his eyes, a long-absent line of text visible only to him appeared.
[Achievement Completed: The Age of Dojutsu]
[Achievement Description: Obtain a pair of special eyes capable of matching your own strength, and thereby become a complete "Six Paths."]
[Special Rune Obtained: Eyeball Collection]
[Eyeball Collection: Due to the special nature of the era, this rune has mutated from a secondary rune into a unique rune above Keystone Runes. After obtaining this rune, the host may seize the eyes of others to further strengthen his own ocular power and evolve special dojutsu in a designated direction.]
[Current Dojutsu Rank: Byakugan (High Purity)]
[Current Additional Ocular Power: 0]
"Eyeball Collection… Hah. Mutated under the blessing of the era of contact lenses, has it? You truly put effort into localization."
While Rei Kaguya silently mocked the performance of this suddenly appearing rune in his heart, he activated the Byakugan and looked from afar toward the moon, whose falling speed had gradually slowed.
"In that case… I will be taking that Giant Tenseigan, formed from the Byakugan of countless members of the Otsutsuki branch family."
…
At the same time, inside the space-time barrier the Otsutsuki clan had left on the ground.
Obito Uchiha moved as though entering an uninhabited land, passing by battle puppets manufactured by the Otsutsuki clan one after another. He passed through the cave they guarded with heavy forces, passed through the ruined city where the Otsutsuki clan had once lived, and arrived before that lake of space-time barrier, where countless emerald-green light spheres floated, capable of allowing one to leap from the shinobi world to the moon.
"Are you truly going, Obito?"
Black Zetsu's voice emerged from his body, carrying worry and the desire to hold him back.
"The White Zetsu clones we sent have already proven that, for those Otsutsuki who live on the moon, the infiltration of living beings cannot escape their eyes. And if you personally step into their dwelling on the moon, Kamui's power may not necessarily allow you to return to the shinobi world…"
"I know. But this is also a rare opportunity."
Obito Uchiha leapt into the lake.
While swimming through that special water and avoiding contact with any of the green light spheres that emitted captivating radiance and flashed with the matters he longed for in his heart, he said with a calm expression,
"Although White Zetsu's clones failed to investigate the internal situation of the Otsutsuki clan's dwelling clearly, they let us know that their population has dwindled, forcing them to rely on large numbers of puppets to handle various tasks. At the same time, they also confirmed that before us, no other force from the shinobi world has stepped onto that land, including the Hyuga clan, and including our greatest competitor, Rei Kaguya."
"So this is a rare chance for us to act freely without Rei Kaguya laying out arrangements in advance, and to possibly obtain power great enough to defeat him…
"Whether that means taking the Otsutsuki clan's secret treasure one step ahead of him with Kamui's power, then making them clash with the Rei Kaguya who arrives later, or finding a way to control the Otsutsuki clan's last remaining members and using hostages to force them to join hands with us against our enemy, or even going all-out and using the complete fall of the moon as a trump card to force Rei Kaguya to retreat—it can all be done."
"…"
Obito Uchiha's calm yet insane words caused Black Zetsu's clone to fall silent.
At the same time, he realized a possibility he had never considered before.
If the moon truly smashed down onto the earth, would it, as the prison sealing Mother Kaguya Otsutsuki, still be able to continue functioning?
If Mother's seal were undone, then with the power Mother possessed, even without the support of the Ten-Tails, she would still be capable of sweeping across the entire shinobi world and taking back the Ten-Tails' power.
Before the overwhelming strength of the Rabbit Goddess, Obito Uchiha? Nagato? Madara Uchiha? Rei Kaguya?
All of them would be ants she could suppress with a raised hand.
Moreover, with the earth destroyed by the falling moon and its ecosystem completely collapsed, aside from Kaguya Otsutsuki, who was originally an outsider from the stars, was there truly anyone who could fight in the environment of outer space?
"Then our best course is to act directly with the goal of making the moon fall into the shinobi world."
Black Zetsu steadied himself and displayed an enthusiasm that even Obito Uchiha found somewhat astonished. He spoke with incomparable seriousness.
"To the Otsutsuki clan, we are the thieves who stole the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. White Zetsu's failed infiltration is also enough to make them realize that we have set our eyes on them. For people like them, imprisoned by obsession and duty for a thousand years, even the threat of extinction may not be enough to make them lay down that obsession."
"In that case, going all the way without hesitation is the correct choice."
"Moreover, Obito, you possess Kamui's separate dimension. Even if the shinobi world collapses, you can still move freely in the shinobi world through the Kamui dimension. Once the Tailed Beasts killed earlier revive, we can still complete the Eye of the Moon Plan and achieve the world's salvation!"
Still complete the Eye of the Moon Plan?
Black Zetsu, what nonsense are you saying?
If the moon has already fallen onto the earth, then even if I gather all nine Tailed Beasts, how am I supposed to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi and reflect it across the world?
Are you… truly a portion of Madara's will?
As he maintained his intangibility and leapt out from the boundary lake dividing the earth and moon, Obito Uchiha thought about that question with such seriousness for the first time.