Inside the city, moss covered the bluestone paths, and creeping vines climbed from the corners of the walls all the way up to the eaves…
"The greening rate is this high? Half the city is just plants…" Naruto looked around in awe, clicking his tongue.
"What greening rate? This place has clearly been abandoned for ages. No one's taken care of anything…"
Shinju said as he pushed open the door of a house.
Inside, all kinds of tools and belongings lay scattered—its owner had clearly left in a hurry.
He casually wiped a table; his fingertips picked up a thick layer of dust…
"People probably left dozens, maybe hundreds of years ago…" Shinju analyzed.
"In a city this big, there's really not even one person left?" Naruto asked.
Shinju didn't answer immediately. He spread out his chakra perception, covering the entire castle.
Only after scanning every nook and cranny did he finally reply: "Not a single person."
Naruto frowned. "What about that Otsutsuki guy? Doesn't he live here? ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞"
Shinju said, "The moon is huge. Who knows, he might live somewhere else…"
"Come with me. When I activated my chakra sense earlier, I found something strange in this city."
With that, Shinju led Naruto through the streets.
Even though the city was completely unfamiliar to both of them, Shinju's steps were steady and his direction unerring, as if he knew every inch of the place…
"His sensory ability is seriously terrifying," Naruto thought to himself.
After climbing what felt like hundreds of steps and turning through countless alleys, they finally reached a place resembling a shrine.
"Creak—"
Pushing open the shrine's decayed doors revealed a broken, ruined interior.
The most eye-catching feature was a huge, half-destroyed, bizarre Buddha statue…
Naruto: "Why does this Buddha statue have horns?"
"A demon Buddha?"
Shinju: (ー_ー)!!
"Naruto, don't spout nonsense in a place like this."
"But… I can't shake the feeling that this statue looks a bit like the Sage of Six Paths… Didn't that old man say he used to be a monk?"
Naruto: "…"
Shinju told him not to say weird stuff in a place like this, and then he himself started guessing wildly…
After searching the shrine for a while, Naruto found a line of text under the strange statue—but thanks to his weak literacy skills, he couldn't recognize it…
"Shinju, look! Aren't these words?"
Shinju lowered his head, studying the symbols for a long moment before confirming: "Ancient script, I think…"
[The ancient oath… should humanity stray from its path… the Tenseigan shall awaken… and the Moon's Fist will destroy mankind…]
"What does that mean? (꒪⌓꒪)" Naruto asked.
Shinju guessed, "Probably that long ago, the moon's shinobi and the shinobi of the world made some kind of pact: as long as the shinobi world strays from 'the path of humanity,' the moon's shinobi can use the 'Tenseigan' and the 'Moon's Fist' to destroy humanity."
"Judging by the current situation, the 'Moon's Fist' may be the moon itself, which is heading toward Earth right now…"
Naruto: "Then what's the Tenseigan? Another super-powerful weapon?"
Shinju shook his head. "I don't know. I've never seen that term in any literature. (||๐_๐)"
...
Just as they finished speaking, a faint voice echoed in Shinju's mind.
[Bearer of Six Paths power…]
Then—
"Crack—crack—crack—"
In the real world, beneath Shinju's feet came the grinding sound of stone. Soon, an entrance to a hidden passage opened!
After exchanging a look, the two stepped inside.
...
The passage allowed only a dim trickle of light. The farther they went, the darker it became, until they reached a place so pitch-black they couldn't see their hands.
Shinju transformed his arm into wood, then ignited it with Fire Release, turning his own body into a torch…
Naruto stared, stunned. "That doesn't hurt? Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"
Shinju: "It's fine."
Soon, the bright yellow flame illuminated the underground area—and they saw countless graves tightly packed beneath the earth!!
"No wonder it kept getting colder. This place is a graveyard." Naruto, naturally afraid of ghosts, moved closer to Shinju.
Shinju: "You're already grown. You've seen plenty of dead people. What's there to be scared of?"
No sooner had he said this than a figure suddenly leapt up from the far end of the graveyard!!
"Six Paths power… I sense the Six Paths power…"
"Please… help us…"
The figure spoke in unclear words as he staggered forward like a zombie toward Shinju and Naruto…
Once he got closer, Shinju could finally see that the man looked much like an Earth human—just filthy and ragged.
But his eyes were the real problem: he had no eyeballs. His empty sockets stared outward, chilling to behold.
"Hey, mister, are you one of the original inhabitants here? What happened to this place?" Naruto asked.
The moment he spoke, the strange man opened his mouth and spat out a glowing orb…
The light orb hit the ground—then burst into blinding radiance!!
White-violet light engulfed Shinju, pulling him into a genjutsu!
...
Inside it, he saw the people who had once lived inside the moon…
Just like people on Earth, they had disagreements and wars. He saw one side of a battle use a giant crystal sphere-like weapon to instantly sweep across their enemies…
For some reason, Shinju's mind conjured the "Tenseigan" he had just read about.
"That crystal sphere is the Tenseigan?"
As doubt filled his mind, the scenery shifted again!
Now, the countless graves underground vanished, replaced by souls.
Leading them was the long-haired man who had spat out the orb.
But even in soul form, they still had no eyes…
"Otsutsuki Hamura's will was twisted by the branch family. He never intended to destroy the shinobi world," the long-haired man said slowly.
"Now, Otsutsuki Toneri, the last of the branch family, intends to use the Tenseigan to make the moon crash into the shinobi continent."
"Bearer of Six Paths power—you must stop him."
"Me…?" Shinju pointed at himself.
But the dead seemed incapable of hearing him. They didn't respond—instead, they parted on both sides, opening a path.
Soon, an elderly figure leaning on a staff walked forward from the back.
Shinju focused on the old man stepping out—and instantly guessed his identity:
"Otsutsuki Hamura?"
The old man heard Shinju's words and nodded.
"Young one, since you possess Yin–Yang power, you must have met my brother…"
"This world my brother created… it cannot be destroyed… please…"
With that, the vision disappeared.
When Shinju looked again, the eyeless man who had spat out the orb shattered apart, his body breaking into fragments—as if he had completed his final task.
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