Neji left the underground facility in a daze.
He hadn’t expected Akatsuki to still exist.
And he definitely hadn’t expected the man standing behind it all to be the very person he had already sworn his life to serve.
The shock lingered for a long ti.
Before leaving, Neji had asked what Akatsuki actually did.
The answer was... surprisingly mundane.
Most of the ti, they gathered rare experintal materials from across the world and quietly collected intelligence.
Where unrest was brewing.
Which regions were preparing rebellions.
Which villages were sliding toward instability.
Their job wasn’t to interfere.
Only to report everything to Fujimoto Tōma.
If action was ever taken, it wouldn’t be by them.
And when Akatsuki was ordered to move directly...
It was usually against people already inside the system.
Neji’s own task was simple.
Stay with Orochimaru.
Help research the Tenseigan.
Until it was done.
After Neji left, Kisa wandered over to Orochimaru and eyed Toneri.
"So this is an Ōtsutsuki," he muttered.
"Looks pretty normal to ."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
"You don’t know that yet."
Kisa hesitated.
"...You think Neji was sent here to keep an eye on us?"
Orochimaru slowly turned his head and stared at him until Kisa grew uncomfortable.
Then he smiled thinly.
"You really think we weren’t being watched before this?"
Kisa froze.
"...Wait. We already were?"
Orochimaru chuckled.
"His Majesty’s information network is far deeper than you realize.
So channels even I can’t trace."
Kisa frowned.
"You never told us that."
"What would be the point?" Orochimaru replied.
"Were you planning to rebel?"
Kisa thought about Fujimoto Tōma’s strength.
Then shook his head.
"...Nope. I still like living."
"Exactly," Orochimaru said softly.
"So things are better not knowing. Just do your job.
You’re not unhappy with your life now, are you?"
Kisa didn’t answer.
He turned and walked away.
Orochimaru faced Toneri again.
His golden eyes burned.
For a cold-blooded serpent...
That kind of excitent was rare.
High above the clouds, on a mountain peak that pierced the sky...
Fujimoto Tōma sat alone.
The world lay far below his feet.
When he had absorbed all chakra that day, he had glimpsed the road ahead.
But seeing the road didn’t an he could walk it.
Two years had passed.
And he still hadn’t broken through.
He was far stronger now.
He had mastered almost every known kekkei genkai.
Even created a few that didn’t exist before.
But all of it was still quantitative growth.
No true qualitative leap.
He exhaled slowly.
Should he do what the Ōtsutsuki did?
Travel to other worlds.
Harvest nature energy.
Force a breakthrough through sheer accumulation?
He dismissed it almost imdiately.
He had already drained an entire world once.
It hadn’t worked.
His body had limits.
Two worlds like this one would nearly saturate him.
It still wouldn’t be enough.
Better to study how the Ōtsutsuki trained instead.
But...
He had promised Ino he wouldn’t leave her side.
Tōma sighed and shifted his thoughts.
Neji should’ve reached Orochimaru by now.
"...He’s probably in shock," Tōma chuckled quietly.
Even if Neji never awakened the Tenseigan...
He could still force a fair future for the Hyūga Clan.
That modified seal alone would change everything.
Neji didn’t want power.
He wanted justice.
Space rippled behind Tōma.
"You’re here," he said without turning.
Sasuke appeared beside him and sat down.
"All preparations are complete," Sasuke said.
"Toneri’s chakra has been collected."
"Good."
"And the artifact?"
"Recovered."
"And the substitutes?"
"All sealed. No life signatures."
Tōma nodded.
"Bring the moon sprite with you.
She’ll act as my anchor."
"...Why not co with ?" Sasuke asked.
"Because that’d be boring," Tōma replied calmly.
"I want to see if I can cross ti-space using only a coordinate."
He didn’t say the real reason.
That maybe...
Just maybe...
This would spark a breakthrough.
Sasuke activated the artifact.
Toneri’s chakra flowed into it.
The stone twisted and reshaped itself into a small chanical turtle.
"Authentication complete," it intoned.
"I am the treasure tool: Plow."
Golden light flooded the air.
"Go," Tōma said.
Sasuke stepped inside.
The moon sprite followed.
They vanished.
Tōma closed his eyes.
And smiled.
"So that’s how it works."
His body dissolved into space.
Sasuke opened his eyes.
He was standing inside the Uchiha district.
Not ruined.
Not abandoned.
Alive.
"...I actually made it," he whispered.
The moon sprite looked up at the moon.
Then stilled.
No reaction from Kaguya.
Space rippled again.
Fujimoto Tōma appeared behind them, eyes closed, still processing.
Sasuke didn’t interrupt.
He scanned the surroundings.
Then froze.
"...It’s tonight."
The massacre night.
He clenched his fists.
He couldn’t save everyone.
He wouldn’t.
The tiline had to stay stable.
He would only take the infants.
The ones who hadn’t yet entered the world.
"...This is enough," Sasuke whispered.
His Rinnegan pulsed.
One tomoe.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
His chakra exploded outward.
"Izanami-level output... no," he corrected himself.
Then spoke.
"Tsukuyomi."
The sky reflected his eye.
A six-tomoe Rinnegan.
Another five-tomoe beside it.
No one noticed.
No one resisted.
Even Obito wouldn’t have.
Sasuke stood trembling.
Everything he had...
Everything he was...
Was riding on this mont.
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