Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 197: Village Reaction
Raiken remained standing after introducing the guest to everyone in the meeting hall, calmly watching everyone's reaction. This news shocked them, but Raiken had handled something big before, so he didn't panic.
He waited for the murmurs to fade, then raised his hand a little. Everyone became quiet, while Hokage Hatake Sakumo just looked at him and didn't say anything.
"I will start from the beginning," said Raiken, "because what I am about to tell you connects everything, and none of it will make full sense if I give you the pieces without the full story.
He looked around at the clan leaders, senior shinobi, and other representatives, looking into their eyes.
"Every major clan in this world, such as the Uzumaki, the Senju, the Uchiha, the Hyuga, and the Kaguya Clan from the Land of Water. All of them descend from the same person, this is our ancestor, the woman sitting in this hall right now, Otsutsuki Kaguya."
Everyone looked at Kaguya with wide eyes, they moved from her to Raiken, Madara, and the Hyuga Clan.
"The Uzumaki and Senju descend from her son Hagoromo, also known as the Sage of Six Paths," continued Raiken. "Asura and Indra are the sons of the sage, the Uchiha descend from Indra. The Hyuga descend from her son Hamura, and the Kaguya Clan in the Land of Water carries her name directly because their kekkei genkai, Shikotsumyaku, traces back to her bone structure and her physical ability." He paused. "The wars between these clans, every generation of conflict between the Senju and the Uchiha, between the Uzumaki and everyone who targeted them, were conflicts between branches of the same family who had simply lost the memory of where they came from."
No one spoke right away. Everyone sat quietly, letting the new information digest.
Nara Shikajin, who had been taking notes since Raiken started, paused and glanced at the ceiling before returning to his writing. Sakumo's expression stayed the same, while Hikaku watched Kaguya closely, as if comparing what he heard to everything he knew about Uchiha history.
A former Hyuga member sitting near the back spoke first. She had been at the gate when the group arrived and had watched Kazuma and his guards the whole time.
"The people from the moon," she said carefully. "You said they are the main family of the Hyuga. What does that mean exactly?"
"It means the Hyuga Clan on Earth was never the complete picture," replied Raiken. "When Otsutsuki Hamura chose to stay on the moon after sealing his mother, he took part of the clan with him. Those who remained on Earth eventually became what we know as the Hyuga Clan. Those who went to the moon with Hamura stayed there and have been living there ever since, maintaining their own society and their own records separate from anything happening on Earth."
The former Hyuga woman looked at Kazuma. He met her gaze calmly, as if he had known this moment would come.
"Did they have the Birdcage Seal?" she asked. It was clear from her tone that this answer meant much more to her than just history.
"No," said Raiken.
Hyuga member looked excited because that means, there exist a clan without a birdcage seal.
"The Birdcage Seal was not something Hamura created," continued Raiken. "It was developed by the earth branch of the clan over generations as a response to the threat of the Byakugan being stolen in wartime. The moon branch never needed it because they never faced that threat. The main family on the moon has been living without it from the beginning."
The former Hyuga members glanced at each other, sharing a quick, silent conversation.
"The second thing I need to explain is Uchiha Madara," continued Raiken.
Every eye in the room that had been focused elsewhere shifted back to the man sitting beside Raiken, arms folded, his expression carrying the specific flatness of someone who had decided to let another person do the talking and was committed to that decision regardless of what was said about him.
"The records state that Uchiha Madara died," said Raiken. "The records are not entirely accurate."
Murmuring started again, and Raiken waited it out.
"During the last war, Madara managed to fool everyone, and he had stayed under the radar while looking at the world Hashirama had built."
"He wanted to see whether the peace Hashirama built would hold without him in it," said Raiken. "Whether what they had created together was actually stable or whether it only functioned because of the particular balance between the two of them."
Madara stayed silent, but his jaw tightened for a moment.
"I found him," continued Raiken, "and I went to him with a proposal. The elemental nations are not the only thing in this universe that has an interest in this world, and what I am about to tell you next is the reason every person in this room needs to understand why Madara is sitting here as an ally rather than an enemy."
He let the word 'ally' hang in the air for a moment before continuing.
"The Otsutsuki Clan that Kaguya came from is still out there. Not all of them came to this world with her, and not all of them were sealed when she was. There are members of that clan who have been monitoring this planet and who will eventually come to harvest it the same way they harvest every world they visit, draining it completely until nothing is left." He paused. "Kaguya herself came here on that mission. She chose a different path because of what she experienced here. But the clan she came from does not share that change of perspective, and they are not going to arrive asking for a conversation."
"Wait, come again," said them.
Raiken decided to explain Kaguya's mission to come to Earth.
Everyone was quiet again, but this silence felt heavier than the ones before.
"Madara is the strongest shinobi this world has produced apart from myself," said Raiken, which caused a brief ripple of reaction that he did not acknowledge. "I invited him to face the enemy that would come, I believe in 20 to 40 years they would come to Earth."
Hikaku, who hadn't spoken until now, looked at Madara for a long moment. Madara met his gaze with the same calm he'd shown since he arrived.
Something passed between the founding generation and the current one that didn't require words.
"How did you find him?" asked one of the clan leaders from the side of the room.
"That is a separate conversation," replied Raiken pleasantly, which was his standard answer for questions he had decided not to answer, and everyone in the hall understood it as such.
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[Message: I can enjoy my raw milk while looking at Raiken doing his job]
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[Message: I feel bad about the incoming Otsutsuki, dealing with Raiken and Madara]