"Father, are we truly going to fulfill the heavenly mandate left behind by Ancestor Hamura at a time like this?"
Inside the extravagant dining hall, where only two people were present, Toneri Otsutsuki had already removed the bandages from his eyes, revealing a pair of faintly blue Byakugan. He set down the knife and fork in his hands and looked at his father, Shinya Otsutsuki, who had finished his meal before him, his face filled with worry.
"This is merely to give the shinobi and ambitious men on the ground a small warning from the Otsutsuki clan."
Shinya Otsutsuki coughed twice, then explained in a voice that could not hide its weakness.
"Because of our previous actions, the thief who stole the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path seems to have already locked onto our location. Those White Zetsu who tirelessly attempted to infiltrate the moon and gather intelligence are the best proof that he intends to reach out toward the moon."
"My remaining days are few, and you are still too young, Toneri. Even though the Tenseigan has already begun stirring within your eye sockets, it will still take quite some time before you grow to the point where you can contend with that thief, who has seized the power of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
"That is why I must make that thief who has set his sights on us, and that descendant of Kaguya who may also set his sights on us, understand that we still possess a trump card capable of shattering all their ambitions and returning heaven and earth to chaos and destruction. Only then will they hesitate. Only then can I buy enough time for you to mature."
At this point, Shinya Otsutsuki turned his face to the side. He pointed at Hamura's Temple, which was once again drifting past the window, and let out a faint sigh.
"In one more day, the moon's descent will come to a complete halt. If the thief who stole the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path understands difficulty and retreats, giving up on continuing to send White Zetsu to scout, then I will once again use our branch family's supreme treasure, the Tenseigan, to return the moon to its original orbit."
"As long as those two people who may be capable of reaching the moon have not gone completely mad, the sight of us manipulating the moon so freely should be more than enough to make them fear us and buy you enough time to fully awaken the Tenseigan."
"However, when that time comes, I will only be able to pray for you silently from the Pure Land, together with Ancestor Hamura."
Listening to Shinya Otsutsuki speak as if he were arranging his final affairs, even Toneri Otsutsuki, who had long understood the weakness of his father's body, could not help revealing a tide-like reluctance in his eyes. But as the last descendant of the moon's Otsutsuki clan, one who carried a heavenly mandate, he ultimately controlled his emotions well and instead brought up another matter he could not understand.
"I have firmly received Father's instructions. But if your actions fail to frighten away those two ambitious men who have set their sights on the moon… will you allow the moon to continue falling toward the shinobi world? Or will you take some other action?"
Shinya Otsutsuki fell silent.
His brows were deeply furrowed, and his expression was conflicted.
Only after a very long time did he slowly let out a breath and shake his head at Toneri Otsutsuki.
"If even this cannot make those madmen driven by the flames of ambition retreat… then I will have no choice but to find a way to send you and the Giant Tenseigan down to the ground to hide, then destroy every trace left behind by our ancestors. I will leave them nothing."
"Even if things reach that point, you still refuse to let the moon truly fall, Father?"
Toneri Otsutsuki bit his lip and looked into his father's eyes with incomprehension.
"Why? If the barbaric actions of the people on the ground threaten the continuation of our Otsutsuki clan, would it not be better to directly bring down heavenly punishment and destroy their world? We still have the Chamber of Rebirth, where we can sleep and await the stirring of a new world—"
"No, Toneri. That must not be done."
Shinya Otsutsuki stood up and walked to the side of the somewhat emotional Toneri Otsutsuki. He gripped the boy's slender shoulders tightly and said in a low voice,
"The greatest reason Ancestor Hamura led us to live on the moon was to ensure that the seal on the Rabbit Goddess would exist forever. That mission is even more important than the heavenly mandate he left behind… Do you know why?"
"Why?"
Toneri Otsutsuki, who had not yet received education on this matter, blinked and waited for his father's answer.
"Because once the moon falls into the shinobi world, the fallen Rabbit Goddess will regain her freedom."
Shinya Otsutsuki's expression was grave, and his tone was solemn.
"She is the progenitor of all chakra, as well as the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, which devours all things. Her instincts will drive her to gather and unify all dispersed chakra once more. In other words, she will devour every existence in this world that possesses chakra, whether they are humans, summoning beasts, or descendants like us who betrayed her."
"The heavenly mandate Ancestor Hamura left behind was for us to destroy the shinobi world when it had lost all hope, then recreate and guide a world without conflict. But if we release the Rabbit Goddess from her seal, then she will certainly become the final and only life in this entire world… In such a world, everyone is a loser."
"Is… that so?"
Seeing that Toneri Otsutsuki's face still carried a trace of half-belief and half-doubt, Shinya Otsutsuki pressed his brow with a headache. After weighing his words for a moment, he continued speaking to Toneri Otsutsuki.
"Toneri, remember this. The conflict between us and the people on the ground is ultimately only a struggle to decide a victor who can guide the world toward peace. But the Rabbit Goddess is an existence who will devour everything, enslave everything, incomprehensible and impossible to communicate with. No matter what situation you face, you must never treat releasing the Rabbit Goddess as a trump card. Do you understand?"
"I understand—"
Toneri Otsutsuki nodded, seeming to understand and yet not fully understand. Just as he was about to give his father a reply that could put him at ease, a combat puppet sprinted into the dining hall it should never have set foot in and reported mechanically and coldly at nearly twice its normal speed.
"Lord Shinya, Lord Toneri, someone has broken into the space-time barrier we established on the ground and is attempting to pass through the passage left behind by Lord Hamura. The interception force has already deployed, but the intruders are extremely strong. The interception force is almost unable to hinder them in any way. According to calculations, they should have already broken through to the area once inhabited by the main family."
"…So they truly are greedy fools whose minds have been burned out by the flames of ambition?"
Shinya Otsutsuki sighed. He did not show any panic or disorder because of this worsened development. He stood up and spoke his farewell to Toneri Otsutsuki in an incomparably calm voice.
"Toneri, go to the Chamber of Rebirth and wait. Afterward, puppets will come to take you down to the shinobi world to live in hiding… Remember what I told you just now. And remember the heavenly mandate you bear as the descendant of the moon's Otsutsuki branch family."
"…Farewell, Father."
Toneri Otsutsuki closed his eyes and bowed respectfully to his father. Then, following those maid-type puppets, he swiftly left the dining hall and headed toward the Chamber of Rebirth.
As for Shinya Otsutsuki, he took a deep breath and asked the puppet that had come to report in a voice calm yet faintly filled with anger.
"How much intelligence on the intruders have we gathered?"
"Yes. There are two intruders. One is a pale man with a gloomy and cold aura. The other possesses Byakugan, has half-white hair, and can use the power of the Dead Bone Pulse. The latter is extremely strong. Our ninjutsu attacks have almost no effect on him."
"Byakugan, Dead Bone Pulse, half-white hair?"
Shinya Otsutsuki snorted coldly. No longer caring about empty etiquette, he directly waved his long sleeve and shattered the dining hall window. Then, without hesitation, he headed straight toward Hamura's Temple, which had not yet drifted far away.
"Descendant of Kaguya from the ground… then let me show you with your own eyes why those who followed Ancestor Hamura to the moon to watch over the seal of the Rabbit Goddess were us, while you could only linger on in the 'blessing' known as weakness."