Unknowingly, two more months passed, but the passage to the moon remained undiscovered.
To be honest, Uchiha En was getting anxious. He wondered if he should step up his efforts, perhaps even mobilize Konoha personnel to search.
Just as Uchiha En was calculating how to find the passage, he suddenly received a report from his subordinates: Uchiha Oto had been injured during a mission.
Uchiha En frowned upon hearing this. Uchiha Oto, like Uchiha Aya, was a senior he knew from the Land of Bears battlefield and a veteran of the Third Squad.
After the Police Force reform, Uchiha Aya became the captain of the Third Squad of the Police Force, while Uchiha Oto voluntarily gave up the position of vice-captain and joined the Anbu.
In her own words, being a police officer in the Village wasn't her goal; she wanted a more exciting life.
Uchiha Oto possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, which leaned towards Genjutsu. Few Ninja in the Ninja World mastered Genjutsu, and relying on this Sharingan, Uchiha Oto successfully entered the ranks of Elite Jonin, completed many difficult missions, and even attained the rank of Squad Captain in the Anbu. She was doing quite well, so how could she suddenly be injured?
Uchiha En immediately rushed to Uchiha Oto's home.
Coincidentally, Uchiha Aya was also there.
"Oto, the Clan Head is here to see you," Uchiha Aya said.
Uchiha Oto, lying pale in bed, tried to get up upon hearing this.
"Oto-senpai, stop moving and just lie still!" Uchiha En used the Body Flicker Technique to move over, gently pressed Uchiha Oto back onto the bed, and simultaneously sensed her condition.
Uchiha Oto had dozens of injuries, large and small, which looked like they were inflicted by some kind of sharp weapon.
The most severe injury was a penetrating wound on her chest, less than 1 cm from her heart.
"Oto-senpai, what kind of enemy did you encounter? How did you get such severe injuries?" Uchiha En asked with a serious tone.
"W-we encountered a group of puppets," Uchiha Oto said, enduring the pain in her chest.
"Puppets?"
"Yes, not long ago, the Village received a mission stating that in a very remote Village in the Land of Fire, a large group of puppets suddenly appeared for unknown reasons. They rampaged through the nearby Villages, causing extensive damage.
The villagers living there, having no choice, pooled their money and posted an A-rank mission in Konoha.
Hokage-sama assigned this mission to our squad. I didn't take an A-rank mission seriously at first.
When we arrived, we found that the number of puppets wasn't large, only a dozen or so, which made me even less concerned.
Who knew these puppets were incredibly bizarre? Their combat strength was roughly equivalent to a Special Jonin skilled in Taijutsu, but they were impossible to kill. No matter how many times they were destroyed, they would infinitely regenerate. My Genjutsu was also ineffective against puppets, and I'm not good at Taijutsu to begin with.
Our squad covered each other and managed to escape the battlefield with great difficulty. Every member, including me, was injured, and two members sacrificed their lives."
After hearing Uchiha Oto's words, huge waves churned in Uchiha En's heart.
Puppets capable of infinite revival, throughout the entire Naruto storyline, are only those controlled by Dragon Vein Chakra or those controlled by the Tenseigan.
Since the Dragon Vein Chakra has already been sealed, the only possibility is that these puppets are controlled by the Tenseigan.
"Oto, did those puppets not pursue you when you escaped?" Uchiha Aya asked.
"T-they did at first, but after we ran beyond a certain range, they stopped chasing," Uchiha Oto replied.
Uchiha En remained silent for a moment upon hearing this, then said, "Cai-senpai, I'll leave Oto-senpai in your care. I need to go see Hokage-sama."
"Alright!" Uchiha Aya readily agreed.
Uchiha En used the Body Flicker Technique several times in succession and arrived directly at the Hokage Office.
Seeing Uchiha En arrive, Minato Namikaze said, "En, you're here! I was just about to look for you!"
"It's about Oto-senpai, isn't it? I already know. Hokage-sama, please leave the follow-up to Asana and me!"
"You're going personally?" Minato Namikaze was stunned, clearly not expecting Uchiha En to take charge himself.
"Yes, this incident is unusual. It might involve something complicated, and I need to go investigate."
"Is this related to the passage you've been searching for?"
"Yes, there's a high probability it is. Also, lend me Shisui! I might need him for this operation."
Minato Namikaze nodded in agreement. He knew Uchiha En had been searching for a certain passage for over a year. Now that a clue had finally surfaced, Uchiha En was bound to go.
Afterward, Uchiha En used the Body Flicker Technique to travel to Konoha Hospital, called Asana, and then waited for Shisui to return. The three of them then left the Uchiha Clan compound together.
"En-senpai, where are we going?" Shisui asked Uchiha En on the way.
"To find a passage," Uchiha En replied.
"A passage? What kind of passage?"
"Shisui, do you think there are humans living on the moon?" Uchiha En didn't answer Shisui directly but countered with a question.
"On the moon? Probably not," Shisui replied after thinking for a moment.
"No, you're wrong. There are people living on the moon, and they are distant relatives of our Clan, actually." Uchiha En then gave Shisui a history lesson, providing him with knowledge about the history of the Ninja World.
After listening to Uchiha En's narration, Shisui quickly calmed down after his initial shock.
After pondering for a moment, he asked, "En-senpai, if that's the case, are the people living on the moon descendants of Otsutsuki Hamura?"
"Yes, as I just said, Otsutsuki Hamura is the younger brother of the Six Paths Sage. Back then, the Six Paths Sage and Otsutsuki Hamura worked together to seal Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
To guard the Gedo Statue, the husk of the Ten-Tails, Otsutsuki Hamura left some of his clansmen on Earth and led the majority of his clan to the moon. The clansmen who remained are the current Hyuga Clan.
"However, some unexpected changes might have occurred on the moon."
"What kind of changes?" Shisui pressed.
"Based on my investigation over the past year, although I haven't found the path to the moon, I confirmed one thing: after Otsutsuki Hamura died, his descendants argued over different interpretations of the Ōtsutsuki's dying wishes, eventually splitting into two factions due to differing ideologies.
The Branch Family of the Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon believes that the world created by the Six Paths Sage, having endured a thousand years of war, violated the original intention of its creation, and thus this world is a failure and should be destroyed.
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