Chapter 289 The True Master of Talk-no-Jutsu
Meanwhile.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri passed through the teleportation array and entered the hot spring pool. After washing away the filth, he emerged from the water.
"Ōtsutsuki Toneri, you've finally arrived. You've disappointed us."
Before Toneri could even speak, someone on the shore suddenly called out his name.
He froze.
How could someone in the ninja world know his name?
No, wait.
It was not just his name. That tone suggested the other party knew far more than that.
All the words Toneri had prepared in advance got stuck in his throat.
"Disappointed? What do you mean, disappointed?"
He found himself passively asking the question, instantly falling into Shiromo's rhythm.
It had been mentioned before that among Naruto's talk-no-jutsu targets, Toneri was the most inexplicable and least convincing one, without question.
With others, at least there could be debate about whether their ideals had been overturned or whether they had secretly held doubts all along.
Toneri was different.
Naruto simply defeated him. There was no emotional resonance, no deep exchange. Yet talk-no-jutsu was completed just like that.
If you did not know better, you might think Naruto's fists came with Asura's chakra attached, turning them into personality-correcting punches.
Of course, that was understandable.
Perhaps for Toneri, strength itself was the most important thing, the source of his pride.
When he was defeated by Naruto in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, it was like Orochimaru witnessing Kabuto's entire life and realizing that even at his strongest, it amounted to nothing. And so he let go.
In short, Toneri was a classic case of "thinking without learning leads to peril."
He loved to think, but due to a lack of knowledge, the more he thought, the further off track he went.
Naruto, on the other hand, was much better off. He neither studied nor overthought, and therefore was never confused.
——
"Now that you are the only descendant of Hamura left on the moon, it is time to tell you the truth."
Shiromo continued, looking at the bewildered Toneri.
"The… truth?"
Toneri grew even more confused.
What truth?
"In fact, as observers of the Earth's ninja world, we have always been watching the development of Hamura's descendants on the moon."
"Do not blame us for failing to stop your mistakes."
"The Hyūga clan on Earth still preserves the bloodline, so there was no need to worry about it being cut off."
"We originally thought you would eventually discover your own errors. We did not expect you to head straight toward extinction."
Shiromo let out a faint sigh, causing Toneri's heart to tremble.
What?
The ninja world had been observing them?
Weren't they the ones watching the ninja world from above?
"Are you wondering whether it should have been your noble Ōtsutsuki clan observing the mortals of the ninja world? How did it become us observing you instead?"
"…"
A chill ran down Toneri's spine.
He had not said a word. How had the other party guessed his thoughts?
Had he truly been monitored and observed all along by people from the Earth?
"This matter goes back to ancient times."
"The Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, and your ancestor, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, sealed their mother together. After that, they fell into confusion."
"They did not understand why their mother had done what she did. They could not find the reason."
"The Sage of Six Paths believed it was simply evil. But Ōtsutsuki Hamura disagreed."
"Thus, they began debating whether human nature was fundamentally good or fundamentally evil."
"The debate lasted a long time. In the end, the two decided to conduct an experiment."
Ever since fabricating a few stories earlier, Shiromo had become completely at ease with this kind of thing. The lies came effortlessly.
As mentioned before, Toneri was the classic "thinking without learning leads to peril" type. He loved to think.
The moment Shiromo brought up the timeless debate that had lasted thousands of years, whether human nature was inherently good or evil, Toneri immediately sank into thought again.
Compared to low-level disputes like sweet tofu pudding versus salty tofu pudding, this high-level philosophical topic not only consumed his mental CPU but also made him more inclined to trust Shiromo's words.
"An experiment? You mean…"
Toneri's body trembled slightly.
"That's right. The experiment was you, isolated and taken to the moon."
"Originally, the plan was not to guide you at all, but simply to observe whether you would ultimately lean toward good or evil."
"However, Ōtsutsuki Hamura could not bear it. He feared that his descendants would fall and perish, so he left you a passage to the ninja world, allowing you to observe and learn from it."
"Unfortunately, Ōtsutsuki Hamura misjudged many things."
"Do you think I am about to say that your main family, who were exterminated, wished to protect the ninja world and represented good, while your branch family, who sought to destroy it, represented evil?"
"That is not the case."
"The moment you identified yourselves with the surname 'Ōtsutsuki'."
"The moment you believed you stood above the heavens, as judges of the ninja world's fate."
"From that moment on, you committed the sin of arrogance. You were already on the path to destruction. It was only a matter of time."
"Furthermore, the passage Hamura left for you had another purpose. It was meant to allow you to go to the ninja world and find partners."
"But in the name of so-called bloodline purity, believing your noble blood could not be tainted, you never once intermarried with the ninja world for over a thousand years."
"Did you never realize what the consequences of inbreeding would be?"
"You were born without eyes because of inbreeding, yet you never even considered this possibility. Am I right or not?"
Boom.
Toneri felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
With a splash, he collapsed to his knees on the surface of the hot spring.
He had been born without eyes because of inbreeding?
He had always believed his uniqueness meant that his ancestor had entrusted him with a great destiny…
"I… no… how could that be?"
For a moment, Toneri could not accept it.
The information Shiromo had just poured into his ears was more unbearable than accidentally swallowing a mouthful while swimming in a cesspool earlier.
"Why is it impossible?"
"Even if, for the sake of argument, the ninja world and your moon's descendants of Hamura were mutually observing one another, what gives you the right to judge the ninja world?"
"Yes, the ninja world has experienced many wars. The great ninja wars shook the heavens with their battle drums. Yet there has never been any sign of total national annihilation or extinction."
"Look at you instead. Hamura's descendants on the moon slaughtered one another, practiced inbreeding, and now only you remain."
"If the solution truly is destruction and recreation, then who is more deserving of being destroyed and remade? Do you not have even the slightest awareness?"
Boom.
Kneeling on the water, Toneri clutched his head.
Yes.
Who was the one that truly deserved to be destroyed?
He had planned to obtain the Tenseigan and destroy the ninja world to create a new one.
Why?
Because he saw constant wars and believed the Sage of Six Paths' world had failed.
But until today, he had never considered this: If the world created by the Sage of Six Paths on Earth had failed, then had the world created by his own ancestor on the moon truly succeeded?
Toneri was on the verge of collapse.
The onlookers who witnessed this scene stared at Shiromo with awe in their eyes.
This was the true master of talk-no-jutsu.
(End of this chapter)