Just as Madara was about to set off...
Ryou pointed at the sky in shock, his pupils dilated as if he had seen something terrifying: "Ancestor, look at the sky—"
Madara looked up in confusion. A golden pillar of light pierced the gloomy sky of the Land of Rain, descending with destructive power like divine punishment.
Its targets were the Gedo Statue and Madara.
"What is this?!"
In the Land of Rain, everyone outdoors looked up at the sky. A golden flash from the depths of space was descending upon the Land of Rain.
Suddenly, everyone thought it was a miracle, kneeling one after another to pray for protection.
On a remote road in the Land of Rain.
Tsunade and Kushina were being escorted toward Madara's direction by White Zetsu clones and people from Kusagakure.
Madara's sudden disappearance had made Tsunade extremely wary.
"What exactly is that guy up to?"
Kushina noticed a beam of light falling from the sky in the distance.
"Lady Tsunade, look! Look at that light!"
"Light?!"
Tsunade looked up in confusion and was immediately stunned... "Minato-sensei, look back! Look at that light!"
On the road where Minato was leading Obito and the others to escape, Obito suddenly shouted for everyone to look back. When they did, everyone was dumbstruck.
Mom, the Sage of Six Paths has been reincarnated!
Tsunade's group, Minato's team, Konoha's scout team, Danzo and Ryoma, the Rain Ninjas of the Hidden Rain Village... everyone saw a beam of light pierce the gloomy sky of the Land of Rain and descend from the heavens.
At that moment, it felt like seeing hope!
But... it could also be despair!
...Black Zetsu was instantly terrified.
Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion!
Damn it, how could I have forgotten them? The Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon, the Hamura lineage that guards the Gedo Statue and Kaguya's seal.
"Holy mother of... is this still the Ninja World?"
Ryou was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. This golden flash looked like a space-based laser capable of destroying an entire country.
On the ground, only a space-time Ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God could allow one to escape.
Ryou didn't know the Flying Thunder God, but he had his own way, which was to use the Mayfly Technique to transfer deep underground.
He created spore clones, grabbed Konan beside him, along with a few nearby the Akatsuki and Rain Ninjas, and quickly used Earth Release to head deep into the earth.
Rumble—
The flash of the Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion struck the ground. For a moment, it was as if the whole world had gone silent, followed by a massive explosion that shook the entire Land of Rain.
Everything within a radius of dozens of miles was obliterated. The shockwave of this explosion reached the Hidden Rain Village, and several of its tall towers were instantly shattered.
The Moon, Hamura Temple.
A couple dressed in ancient white robes stood before a massive golden eye.
The woman held an infant with tightly closed eyes, kneeling before the giant eye in worship.
The man seemed to be using some kind of technique to control the giant eye.
Both had empty eye sockets, with no eyeballs in their eyes.
They were the Ōtsutsuki Clan, descendants of the Sage of Six Paths's younger brother, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, on the moon.
A thousand years ago, Hagoromo and Hamura worked together to seal the Progenitor of Chakra, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Afterward, Hagoromo remained on earth to establish Ninshū, and the world revered him as the Sage of Six Paths.
Hamura, after leaving the Hyuga Clan lineage on Earth, went to the moon to guard the Gedo Statue and the seal of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Before his death, Hamura left a will, entrusting his descendants to guard the seal for generations and to be wary of Kaguya's revival.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon split into the Main Branch and the Branch House due to differences in interpreting Hamura's will, leading to internal strife.
The Main Branch believed they should not interfere with the development of the Ninja World, taking pure guardianship as their mission.
The Branch House, however, believed the world created by the Sage of Six Paths was constantly at war and was thus a mistaken world. They advocated using the giant Tenseigan to destroy the Ninja World and restart civilization.
Later, a great war broke out between the Main Branch and the Branch House. The Branch House used the giant Tenseigan to wipe out the Main Branch, but they also suffered heavy losses.
The clan's population drastically decreased. Due to inbreeding, by the time of the Third Ninja World War, only Ōtsutsuki Toneri and his parents remained in the clan.
Several years ago, Madara awakened the Rinnegan and summoned the Gedo Statue from the moon.
Toneri's parents were frantic and hurried to Hamura Temple to use the giant Tenseigan to search the Ninja World for the Gedo Statue's whereabouts.
Because Madara had been staying underground and the Gedo Statue was also underground, Toneri's parents couldn't find it.
Toneri's father became wary, believing that the people of the Ninja World would revive Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and prepared to launch the Plan to Cleanse the World.
But Toneri's mother persuaded him to wait a bit longer.
Why wait?
At least to find a wife for Toneri! If everyone in the Ninja World was gone, wouldn't Toneri be all alone in the future?
If there are no people left, what's the point of restarting civilization?
Toneri's parents looked down on ordinary bloodlines and had been searching the Main Branch of the Hyuga Clan for a suitable spouse for Toneri.
None were suitable.
Just then, the mistress of the Hyuga Main Branch showed signs of pregnancy.
Toneri's parents decided to wait until the next heir of the Hyuga Main Branch was born before deciding.
Furthermore, their time was running out. They hoped to leave the glorious task of purging the Ninja World and restarting civilization to the last descendant of the Ōtsutsuki—Ōtsutsuki Toneri!
Today, while Toneri's father was performing his daily monitoring of the Ninja World, he suddenly discovered the traces of the Gedo Statue and Madara's Rinnegan.
This was unacceptable! The combination of the Gedo Statue and the evil reincarnation of Indra meant the seal of the Rabbit Goddess was about to be undone!
Toneri's father immediately activated the ultimate Imperial Weapon, the giant Tenseigan, to launch the Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion to destroy the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue.
Seeing Toneri's father stop, Toneri's mother asked, "Gendou! Have the Gedo Statue and Indra been destroyed?"
"Aoi, don't be in a hurry. I'll observe a bit more."
The Ōtsutsuki Clan on the moon referred to Madara as Indra.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan had been monitoring the Ninja World with the giant Tenseigan, so they naturally knew of the struggle between Asura and Indra.
In every era, the reincarnations of Asura and Indra would inevitably be the protagonists of the era.
The conflicts of the Ninja World also centered around their struggle.
This generation was no exception.
The Main Branch people liked Asura, believing that he united everyone and would be the turning point to end the curse of the Ninja World.
The description of Indra was that of the inherently evil Uchiha.
Every generation of Indra's reincarnates were extreme power-seekers and dangerous individuals who loved to carry out terrorist attacks.
The Branch House treated them all the same; they didn't like any of them and wanted to purify them all.
Gendou focused on controlling the giant Tenseigan to monitor the Ninja World. As the smoke cleared, there was nothing left where the Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion had hit in the Land of Rain.
Only a massive crater remained, which on the map looked like a giant hole had been punched into the Land of Rain.
There was no aura of life; everything had returned to nothingness.
"It's done! The auras of both the Gedo Statue and Indra have vanished."
As Gendou spoke, he suddenly coughed violently, even coughing up blood.
Aoi said with concern, "Don't use Chakra anymore. Our bodies can't take it."
Gendou and Aoi were brother and sister; they were products of inbreeding and generally didn't live long.
Gendou wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at the sleeping Toneri with Chakra sensory techniques, and smiled: "At least until the day Toneri grows up! I want to leave the sacred task of purifying the Ninja World to Toneri."
"He and his wife will be married in the Temple, and they will give birth to new humans to welcome a new world."
"They will, they certainly will."
Aoi touched Toneri's cheek, her face full of maternal love.