As Rei Kaguya's words fell, his vision suddenly changed along with the emergence of a purple sphere of light from the long-haired man's chest.
The past that had been buried by the victors in this dark tomb began flowing backward and surfacing. The memories of those ancestors who had once held their ground in an unknown place for the continuation of the shinobi world surged into Rei Kaguya's mind like a tide.
At the very beginning, it had only been a small difference of opinion regarding how the heavenly mandate left behind by the recently deceased Hamura Otsutsuki should be interpreted.
Then, as conflict and war gradually spread across the shinobi world, that difference became dispute. The distinction between main family and branch family appeared.
Finally, as if echoing the endless conflicts on the ground, the Otsutsuki clan, which originally had no external disturbances and no internal struggle for benefits, began a grand and irreconcilable civil war.
At the end of that war, the branch family offered up the Byakugan of all its members and created the supreme treasure known as the Tenseigan, which possessed unmatched power. They slaughtered the members of the main family to the last, drawing a bloody full stop to the Otsutsuki clan's debate over the heavenly mandate Hamura had left behind.
And the endless grave mounds before Rei Kaguya's eyes also changed with the flowing images, returning to the forms of main family members staring at him.
At their head stood an old man wearing a white robe patterned with tomoe, several black Truth-Seeking Balls floating behind him.
The second Six Paths of the shinobi world, Hamura Otsutsuki.
"The one I was waiting for is not you, child of the Kaguya clan."
Hearing Hamura Otsutsuki repeat the long-haired man's words, Rei Kaguya raised his brows in speechless irritation and answered without the slightest courtesy.
"But since I am already here, there is no reason to keep leaving this problem for the people who come after me to worry over."
"If destiny is not on your side, then the difficulty of completing it will be very, very great."
The chakra left behind by Hamura Otsutsuki let out a sigh and looked at the confident Rei Kaguya with complicated eyes.
"Even so, are you still unwilling to stop here?"
"I do not have the habit of peacefully leaving something I can clearly complete myself for someone else to do. Especially when I know I can do it, and do it well."
Rei Kaguya looked straight into Hamura Otsutsuki's eyes and spoke word by word.
"Just like you and the Sage of Six Paths, Ancestor Hamura. When you decided to rebel against Kaguya Otsutsuki, I doubt you ever thought about something like that either."
"You even know about Mother…"
Hamura Otsutsuki let out a long sigh.
"Are you truly that unwilling?"
"I not only know that you and the Sage of Six Paths sealed Kaguya Otsutsuki together, I also know that even if I had done nothing from the moment I was born, all the difficulties in this world—including the third child Kaguya Otsutsuki left behind, as well as those fools on the moon who misinterpreted your will, Ancestor Hamura—would be completely resolved within twenty years by the reincarnations of the Sage of Six Paths' two sons."
Rei Kaguya casually played with his long hair, only the tips of which still remained black. His tone was calm, and his gaze was cold.
"But what meaning does that have? They will not truly and thoroughly change this world. Nor will they be able to stop the arrival, in the more distant future, of other Otsutsuki members from the depths of the universe like Kaguya Otsutsuki… I have not yet grown so numb that I can sit by and watch such a despairing world be born without being moved."
Hearing Rei Kaguya speak of a future even more distant, one that neither he nor his elder brother, the Sage of Six Paths, had been able to see, Hamura Otsutsuki fell silent.
Only after a long while did he say faintly,
"You have already made up your mind to walk this road to its end alone, Kaguya… Rei?"
"Please bear witness?"
Rei Kaguya whistled, the corner of his mouth rising slightly.
"If you can make those children who have already become extreme change their minds… be careful. When facing a wielder of the Tenseigan, you must not be careless."
Hamura Otsutsuki raised the Six Paths staff in his hand and slowly placed it on Rei Kaguya's shoulder.
…
When Rei Kaguya opened his eyes again, he sensed the condition of his body while looking at Orochimaru, who had already been waiting beside him long enough to start yawning. He asked casually,
"How long was I standing here in a daze, Orochimaru?"
"Quite a long time. Long enough for your hair to become completely white."
Orochimaru made a cold joke with no real punchline. Then he pointed at the pile of ash before them, which had been formed from the long-haired man's body, and asked,
"The first communicable target we encountered after coming to the moon has completely vanished into smoke and dust. Have you thought about what we should do next, Rei-kun?"
"We simply wait for a while. Our Otsutsuki friend will come out to greet us on his own… For the disadvantaged side, even if they occupy geographical advantage, as long as they take the initiative to act, they will inevitably reveal an opening the enemy can exploit."
Rei Kaguya narrowed his eyes. At the same time, he raised a hand and touched his forehead, where a clear protrusion had appeared even without entering Sage Mode. With some regret, he said,
"Damn. I got too caught up discussing destiny and heavenly mandate. I forgot to ask Hamura about senjutsu and natural energy…"
"Will there still be another chance?" Orochimaru's eye twitched as he asked, somewhat speechless.
"There should be, right?"
Rei Kaguya gave a rather uncertain guess.
"After all, I do not think I will lose to a distant relative who needs to pretend the moon is falling as a bluff and may not even have truly experienced a life-and-death struggle."
Boom—
A massive sound came from above them. Along with an incomparably violent tremor, the two looked at each other and simultaneously saw the divine light of "just as planned" in each other's eyes.
Then Rei Kaguya suddenly shot up from the ground and rushed to meet the attacking enemy, while Orochimaru, following the intelligence collected by the snakes he had scattered long ago, swiftly slithered toward the area where they had discovered something abnormal.
Boom!!!
When Rei Kaguya charged out of the dust-filled sky into the air, what entered his vision was an army formed by an incomparably enormous stone statue of Hamura Otsutsuki serving as commander, alongside countless humanoid puppets capable of flying through the sky.
The moment they noticed Rei Kaguya rising into the air, the flying puppets, which had been indiscriminately bombing the ruins below, turned their attacks toward him and fired ninjutsu at him like torrential rain. The gigantic Hamura statue also violently smashed through every obstacle in front of it and charged toward Rei Kaguya with earth-shaking force.
"Even now that I have shown myself, you still refuse to personally appear and meet the enemy? Is it because you believe these dead things without life or spirit are enough to deal with me, an inferior man from the ground? Or…"
"Do you simply not dare to show yourself before me after I have already revealed the form of the Six Paths, unknown Otsutsuki?"
White specks of light drifted from Rei Kaguya's body. A white robe composed entirely of chakra rapidly covered his original clothing. Flame-like flowing chakra wove tomoe-shaped patterns across the robe. A horn whose meaning was unclear—whether symbolizing a sage or an Otsutsuki—grew from his forehead. Three jet-black Truth-Seeking Balls and a Six Paths staff appeared almost simultaneously behind him and in his hand.
Noble.
Solemn.
Sacred.
Majestic.
Not to be looked upon directly.
Not to be overstepped.
Not to be questioned.
This was the power of the Six Paths.
"Now I really can say that I am the third Six Paths, and now the only one."
After examining his state, in which he had received a small portion of Hamura's power and fully crossed the threshold of the Six Paths, Rei Kaguya floated in midair and turned toward those puppets and the stone statue, which were still charging at him fearlessly.
He slowly raised his hand.
"Dead Bone Pulse: Silent Killing Ash Rain."