The disappearance of Yuki Yoru not only threw Kirigakure into chaos but also sent shockwaves throughout the entire shinobi world.
Uchiha Obito, leading an army of clones, had attacked Kirigakure. Shimura Danzō, now the Hokage, acted as his accomplice. Even the former Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the "Shura of the Shinobi World," Uchiha Madara, had lent their aid.
Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure—all three villages that had believed the world had finally stabilized—never imagined events would spiral into such a state!
Kirigakure destroyed. Tailed Beasts stolen.
This time, Obito's plan had been a resounding success.
"What on earth is going on? Where is the Mizukage?!"
The Kage Summit was convened once again, and the eyes of all three Kage turned toward Yuki Kiri.
The threat posed by Obito and his allies had long since surpassed what the Three Great Villages could handle on their own. Their confidence to resist had rested entirely on Kirigakure—and more specifically, on Yuki Yoru, the overwhelming figure hailed as the strongest in the shinobi world.
But now? The very village they relied on had been razed. Though the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki remained safe, the other Tailed Beasts had been seized, and Kirigakure itself had been leveled to the ground.
And even in such a crisis, Yuki Yoru remained absent.
How could the Three Great Villages not panic?
Facing their questions, Yuki Kiri showed no trace of unease. She simply repeated to the Kage what she had already told her own people.
"Lord Yoru has always been here. Uchiha Obito has never truly been a threat."
Her calm voice and unhurried composure made it seem as if the catastrophe that had befallen Kirigakure had never happened at all.
"But for certain special reasons, we still need to wait."
"Wait?!" The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, could not contain himself—his voice rising in frustration.
"Obito has been stirring chaos in the shinobi world for years for the sake of the Tailed Beasts. Now he already has eight of the nine! Who knows what he intends to unleash?!"
"Yuki Kiri, we need reassurance!"
"Exactly. Obito's threat is far too great. If even Kirigakure could not withstand them, what chance do we have?"
"Please, at least tell us something of the Mizukage's current condition…"
"He is but one step away."
Kiri's tone remained utterly serene. Her words froze the three Kage in place.
One step away? What does that mean…?
Wait!
The ever-perceptive Ōnoki, the strongest among the three, suddenly recalled the earth-shaking surge of spiritual pressure from that day. Paired with Kiri's words now, a realization struck him. His eyes widened, and he could not suppress a gasp.
"Could it be…" Ōnoki's gaze locked firmly on Kiri. Though phrased as a question, his voice carried certainty.
"It seems so. The Mizukage… has already reached the same step as the Sage of Six Paths himself, hasn't he?"
Kiri's expression remained composed, silent—but her silence only made Ōnoki more certain of his conclusion.
At her side, Chiyo and A took a moment to process what he meant. But as the thought dawned on them, their faces shifted in shock.
"Yes. Exactly as you suspect."
Ōnoki's clouded old eyes shone with a sharp gleam. With hands clasped behind his back, his voice grew heavy and solemn:
"In ancient times, after bringing peace to a world in chaos, the Sage of Six Paths spread chakra throughout the land, founding Ninshū, and ushered the entire shinobi world into the Chakra Era."
"Yuki Yoru spread spiritual power, founded the Soul Soceity and Kirigakure, and ushered the shinobi world into the Era of spiritual power. In some sense, it is the same as what the Sage of Six Paths once did."
"How could it be the same? Yuki Yoru is Yuki Yoru, but the Sage of Six Paths was…"
Elder Chiyo instinctively tried to refute, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn't find anything to say.
If she thought about it carefully—what difference was there between Yuki Yoru now and the Sage of Six Paths in the past?
The Sage had saved the world from chaos and destruction.
Yuki Yoru had thwarted Obito and the Akatsuki's schemes time and again.
The Sage spread chakra, giving the world a new energy system that made life far easier for ordinary people.
Yuki Yoru spread spiritual power, raising the shinobi world's overall power immensely. And through the use of reishi, he had even enhanced the physical fitness and lifespans of common folk.
Comparing the two—aside from the fact that Yuki Yoru lived in the present era—there really seemed to be no difference.
"You're saying… that Yuki Yoru is already on par with the Sage of Six Paths?"
The Raikage A finally grasped Ōnoki's meaning. After all, that overwhelming aura they had sensed that day had been boundless:
"But if that's true, then why would he still…"
A's words trailed off. The answer had already been spoken.
He's just one step away.
Only a single step left!
"I see."
Ōnoki drew in a deep breath, his expression solemn as his gaze locked on Yuki Kiri.
"I don't know what Obito intends to achieve, but Iwagakure holds nothing of value to him. To witness the birth of a new Sage in my lifetime… it seems living this long truly has its rewards."
"I'll waste no more words. Yuki Kiri, I will await good news from you in Iwagakure."
With that, Ōnoki gave her a long, meaningful look before his projection dispersed.
Chiyo and A exchanged glances, each understanding what he meant.
Truthfully, they had no other choice.
The power Obito wielded was simply on a level beyond their ability to contend with. Other than waiting for Yuki Yoru's return, they could do nothing.
Rather than placing pointless pressure on Kiri and Kirigakure, it was better—just as Ōnoki had said—to return to their own villages and wait for fate to unfold.
"Forgive the intrusion, Yuki Kiri."
"A Sage descending into the world… Kirigakure has truly produced an extraordinary man."
With those parting words, Chiyo and A departed one after another. Thus ended this emergency Kage Summit, convened only because of Obito's invasion of Kirigakure.
When the meeting was over, even Yuki Kiri's brows seemed to ease slightly. Lifting her head toward Hiromi in the office, she shook her head.
"It's settled for now. In truth, they've accepted the reality as well. Other than waiting, they have no options left."
"Nor do we." Uzumaki Hiromi's voice was low.
"Lord Yoru remains silent. Though the Nine-Tails is still in our hands, Obito's expression that day was no lie. If they regroup and launch another invasion of that scale—or worse, initiate the Ten-Tails revival plan—it will be a catastrophe for us."
"The real danger isn't Obito. It's him."
That man from the moon—Ōtsutsuki Toneri!
If not for that man's sudden ambush, smashing Kirigakure's barrier and toppling its command center, the village would not have been thrown into such chaos.
His power was without doubt at the Six Paths level—perhaps even surpassing Obito himself!
If not for Kimimaro stepping forward to intercept him, the disaster that befell Kirigakure that day would have been far worse.
Yuki Kiri looked out the window. All across the village, reconstruction work was in full, feverish swing.
With supernatural power aiding them, rebuilding on this scale was easy enough — but she knew that unless they solved the root problem, they could level the village a hundred times and it would still be razed again.
"In the secret intelligence Lord Yoru left behind, there were hints of a moon Ōtsutsuki presence — ranked at the top of the 'Specimen No. 9' class."
Yuki Kiri spoke slowly. "The moon-dwellers of the Ōtsutsuki are descendants of the ancient Ōtsutsuki Hamura. They share origins with the Hyūga and the Kaguya clans, but their bloodlines are far purer than either."
"When Lord Yoru fought Specimen No. 9, he must have sensed what was happening on the moon and encountered that power — that's how he obtained the relevant intelligence. Although the moon-Ōtsutsuki are stronger than the Hyūga or Kaguya, they still count as normal shinobi compared to the truly godlike. What enabled them to strike at Lord Yoru and even smash our barrier and destroy Shadow Island was a vast energy source they possess."
"With that energy source backing them, apart from Kimimaro, none of us could stand against them. Even Kimimaro would need to endlessly activate miraculous reserves of power to match them."
Kiri shook her head. "And with Uchiha Obito added to the mix… waiting for Lord Yoru to return is impractical. We must take the initiative."
"What do you intend?" Uzumaki Hiromi asked, brows knitting.
"Destroy that energy source." Yuki Kiri enunciated each word. "I don't know whether Obito could fully revive the Ten-Tails without the Nine-Tails, but that risk must be accounted for."
"If that energy source is gone, the combat strength of Toneri Ōtsutsuki will fall. Even if Obito uses the Tailed Beasts to restore the Ten-Tails to some degree, we'd only have to face one Six-Paths-level threat instead of two."
"If I recall, that energy source is on the moon, right?" Hiromi frowned. "Do you mean… we're going to land on the moon?"
"No. That's far too risky."
The moon-Ōtsutsuki had lived on the moon surface for millennia; what layers of layout and reserves they had there, they could not know. A direct moon-landing would be an enemy-deep operation.
Kiri fixed Hiromi with a steady look and laid out her plan: "What I mean is—destroy that energy source together with the moon itself."
"In other words, we obliterate the moon so that the energy source collapses with it — burn away the Ōtsutsuki's millennia of accumulation."
Destroy the moon?!
Hiromi was stunned; her pupils contracted. The idea was outrageous. The sun and moon had watched over the shinobi world for thousands of years; they carried symbolic weight, almost a rule of the world itself. Even knowing the moon had been created by the Sage with Chibaku Tensei, people still felt something profound about it.
And yet Yuki Kiri proposed to destroy the moon.
Still — thinking it through — it was actually a very good option.
The descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hamura had lived on the moon for thousands of years. No one knew how many "Sage relics" remained up there, and no one could claim they had the confidence to set foot on the moon and destroy that vast energy source directly.
Rather than take such a colossal risk, it was far better to shatter the moon itself, letting the collapse of the celestial body annihilate everything in one blow. Destruction was always the easiest path — just as Uchiha Obito had leveled all of Kirigakure with a single Shinra Tensei, they too could shatter the moon. It was nothing more than unleashing energy.
Uzumaki Hiromi glanced at Yuki Kiri. She didn't stop her, and after weighing the pros and cons, even she agreed with this course of action.
"This plan must be carried out decisively, and without drawing the attention of Obito or Ōtsutsuki Toneri," Hiromi said in a low voice. "I suggest that Namikaze Minato serve as the core of the operation."
Back during the Third Shinobi War, it was Minato who, together with Kushina, had used Flying Thunder God in combination with the Tailed Beast Bomb to deliver instant, devastating strikes. If they wanted to avoid the detection of Obito and Toneri, Minato's teleportation jutsu was unquestionably their best bet.
"That was my thought as well."
"The sooner the better. Let's begin preparations at once!"
…
On the Moon.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri stood before the towering husk of the Ten-Tails — the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path — his expression complex.
Long ago, the Sage of Six Paths had sealed the Ten-Tails, splitting its chakra into the nine tailed beasts, and left its body on the moon for Hamura's line to guard. Who could have foreseen that, thousands of years later, the Ten-Tails would be reborn here?
Perhaps this was fate.
At his side, Black Zetsu's face was full of suppressed excitement. After millennia of scheming, everything was finally coming to fruition! Even so, he forced himself to hold his emotions in check, lest he reveal something he shouldn't.
At that moment, Obito — seated atop the Demonic Statue — slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath. Beneath him, eight of the statue's eyes were now fully open. Only one remained closed, with a faint slit of light showing.
That was the space for the Nine-Tails — a slit now filled by the "Empty" vessel, a false Jinchūriki.
"You mean to revive it early?" Uchiha Madara frowned, seeing Obito's intent. "Wouldn't it be better to capture the Nine-Tails as well and complete the set?"
"We don't have time."
Obito shook his head. "I don't know where Yuki Yoru is, or why he hasn't appeared — not when Kirigakure suffered such devastation, not even when the tailed beasts were seized. But I know all too well the terrifying spiritual pressure that shook the three realms that day."
"If we don't seize this chance now, when Yoru finally resolves whatever he's doing, we may never have another opportunity!"