"Without the pressure of life-and-death battles... without worthy opponents to temper her abilities... no matter how great her power or talent may be, her understanding of how to use that power in the most efficient and lethal way would inevitably stagnate—or even regress."
"She may never have needed to think about how to defeat a powerful enemy while expending the least possible effort."
"So that's it!"
Many people suddenly understood.
"That's why she can't immediately defeat the two brothers! It's not because she's lacking in power—it's because she doesn't know how to fight! She's being outmatched by two sons who keep breaking through their limits and coordinating more perfectly with every passing moment!"
"Then... does that mean..."
"...Kaguya might actually..."
Someone hesitated before voicing the unthinkable conclusion.
"So what will happen to Kaguya in the end?"
"Surely the two brothers won't... kill her?"
A young shinobi asked with a trembling voice.
"Probably not."
"No matter what, she's still their mother."
"If the Sage of Six Paths actually struck to kill... that would be far too ruthless."
Many instinctively rejected the possibility.
"Lord Hamura is too kindhearted. He'd never be able to kill his own mother."
"The real question is the Sage of Six Paths."
"He's the decisive one..."
More and more eyes focused on the figure whose Rinnegan blazed with violet light as he launched the fiercest attacks.
Just as everyone continued arguing over Kaguya's fate and the brothers' resolve—
A voice suddenly cut through the discussion.
It carried equal parts helplessness and sharp clarity.
Like a bucket of ice water, it instantly quieted the crowd.
"Hey..."
"Hasn't anyone noticed?"
"We've all been so busy watching gods fight..."
"...that they've practically destroyed the entire world."
Everyone froze.
Then they looked back toward the Heavenly Curtain.
This time, instead of focusing on the dazzling techniques and catastrophic clashes, they looked beyond the battlefield itself.
They looked at what the battle had left behind.
The endless forests reduced to ashes.
The rivers that had changed course, bringing devastating floods.
Towering mountain ranges flattened into wastelands.
Jagged new peaks thrust violently from the earth.
The ruins of once-flourishing civilizations.
The cracks twisting across the sky , where even the sun and moon seemed on the verge of shattering.
Every scene silently testified to the irreversible devastation this war had inflicted upon the world.
"This..."
"This isn't stopping Kaguya from destroying the world..."
The same voice spoke again, filled with bitter irony.
"They're helping her."
"They're tearing the Shinobi World apart together."
Those words became the final straw.
The excitement and hope many had placed in the brothers' rebellion collapsed in an instant.
"Exactly!"
Someone immediately shouted.
"They keep saying they're going to stop Kaguya and save the world!"
"But look at what's actually happening!"
"The mountains are shattered!"
"The land has been torn apart!"
"The entire Shinobi World has become a wasteland!"
"The destruction they've caused is far worse—and far faster—than Kaguya's sacrifices ever were!"
"So what are they really doing?"
"Stopping destruction..."
"...or creating an even greater one with their own hands?"
"Kaguya's sacrifices were like a slow-acting poison."
"At least there was still time."
"At least some people could survive."
"But this battle..."
"It's overturned the entire table."
"It's dragging everyone into hell together."
"We hoped someone would rise up and stop all this..."
"But the ones who stood up..."
"...have brought an even more immediate apocalypse."
"So what exactly are we supposed to believe now?"
Confusion.
Doubt.
Anger.
Even despair.
As they watched the world cry out beneath the Heavenly Curtain—breaking apart, reforming, only to be destroyed again—their initial awe had long since been replaced by a far deeper fear.
They had once placed their hopes in those who resisted tyranny.
They had believed in the Sage of Six Paths and his awakening.
Yet now, the rebellion they had celebrated...
Appeared to be bringing about consequences even more catastrophic than the tyranny it sought to overthrow.
Would this battle between mother and sons ultimately become the dawn of a new era?
Or was it itself an unavoidable catastrophe destined to drag the entire world into complete ruin?
The future of the Shinobi World seemed to hang by a single thread.
With every collision of overwhelming power...
With every mountain reduced to rubble...
It swayed ever closer to the brink.
No one had an answer.
Then—
The furious battle within the Heavenly Curtain suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
It was as though an invisible hand had pressed pause.
Or perhaps history itself wished this final moment to be remembered with absolute clarity.
The war that would determine the fate of the world had reached its conclusion.
The final scene was both dramatic and deeply tragic.
During the fierce struggle against Kaguya and the Ten-Tails, Hagoromo seized a fleeting opportunity.
The violet light of his newly awakened Rinnegan blazed to its absolute limit, as though he had perceived the very core of the Ten-Tails' Chakra.
Rather than confronting it head-on, he used the unique power of the Rinnegan—an ability that seemed to transcend the laws of nature themselves—to directly interfere with and seize control of the Ten-Tails' chaotic consciousness and turbulent Chakra.
"Seal!"
As he shouted, intricate Fūinjutsu spread outward in radiant patterns.
Hagoromo extended one hand.
The colossal Ten-Tails, whose enormous body had overshadowed the sky and possessed the power to destroy the world, let out an unwilling howl.
Its body rapidly shrank.
Twisted.
Compressed.
Finally, it transformed into a raging torrent of Chakra that was forcibly drawn into Hagoromo's body.
He had sealed the Ten-Tails within himself.
With the loss of her greatest weapon, Kaguya—already being pushed onto the defensive by the brothers' flawless teamwork and superior tactics—immediately found herself at a severe disadvantage.
The Chakra surrounding her became visibly unstable.
Even her aura began to falter.
"Mother!"
"Please stop!"
"Don't keep fighting!"
"I'm begging you!"
Seeing the rare signs of exhaustion and weariness on his mother's face, Hamura felt as though his heart were being squeezed in agony.
Unable to bear it any longer, he pleaded with her once again, his voice breaking with grief.
But Kaguya's eyes held nothing except boundless fury at having the core of her power taken from her—
And an unyielding determination never to submit.
She let out a furious scream that echoed through the sky .
"Give the God Tree back to me!!"
Before her words had fully faded, she ignored the tremendous strain on her body and gathered what remained of her strength.
Like a moth throwing itself into the flames, she charged straight toward Hagoromo with reckless, desperate resolve.
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