Space twisted. On an island within the devastated Kirigakure—flattened, scarred, and in ruins—the figure of Yuki Yoru emerged from the void. In his grasp, completely bound by spiritual power, was Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, dragged out alongside him.
"What a mess you've made," Yoru sighed lightly, gazing around at the devastation.
Under his leadership and the efforts of Kirigakure's people, the Kirigakure had grown into the most prosperous land in the shinobi world. But now, before his eyes, there was only desolation and ruin. During his time away in the cosmos, the village had been reduced to rubble by these foes. Even Mei Terumī, Uzumaki Hiromi, and the others had all fallen in battle.
"No matter if your power shakes the heavens and crushes Mother, you've come too late!" came Black Zetsu's rasping voice. "Everything you had is already gone in this war—your clan, your village, your comrades, your beloved ones!"
"Yuki Yoru, even if you wield power equal to gods, you're nothing more than a lonely, forsaken man now. You're a failure!"
"Lonely?"
Yoru gave Black Zetsu a puzzled glance, then turned toward Kaguya.
"Does your unlucky son not understand the true nature of 'existences' like us?"
"Yuki Yoru…" Rage burned in Kaguya's pale eyes. "Even if you can restrain me, you cannot kill me! I consumed the chakra fruit—I am pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki. I am ageless, deathless, immortal! Did you think Hagoromo and Hamura never tried to completely kill me, their mother, and take my place?"
"It's true," Yoru shrugged. "Without knowing how many vessels you've left behind, it's impossible to truly kill you with what I have now. With Karma, you can resurrect at will. So even if I tore the Ten-Tails from your body… even if I drained every last drop of chakra from you… even if, like your two oh-so-filial sons, I sealed you in endless darkness for another thousand years… I still couldn't kill you."
"Yoru Minazuki... How dare you..."
Kaguya's pale eyes blazed with hatred.
Yoru gave a soft laugh, though none of it reached his eyes. He shook his head and spoke with weight in his tone:
"Stop spouting such meaningless words, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. You people of the Ōtsutsuki clan are all the same. Even after being brought to this end not once, but twice, you still refuse to repent. You cannot see where your true defeat lies."
"You rose from being Isshiki's mere attendant to someone who could overturn the game. That proves you had a heart unwilling to stay weak. The power you gained is indeed overwhelming—so far beyond the rest that in all the shinobi world, no one could stand against you."
"But in the end, you were sealed by your own sons for a thousand years… Why? Because you were too foolish. In this world, fools with nothing but brute force don't survive. Even without me, do you really think relying on that pitiful child of yours to break your seal would let you escape your two oh-so-devoted sons?"
"A thousand years ago, you couldn't defeat them. Do you think you could now, freshly unsealed and weakened after a thousand years?"
As he spoke, Yoru once again pressed his hand against Kaguya, pulling chakra from her body in torrents.
Kaguya cried out in pain. Within only a few breaths, her nearly flawless body began to collapse. Then, unable to maintain her human form, her body suddenly swelled outward—transforming into a colossal God Tree that reached skyward, towering over the land.
The colossal God Tree rooted itself deep into the earth, Kaguya's will suppressed to its very core. At the crown, a massive flower bloomed, and within its center appeared a blood-red tomoe eye—identical to the Rinne Sharingan upon Kaguya's forehead.
"You were a servant to begin with. Just think of it as a dream—that you could ever rule the shinobi world."
Yuki Yoru's voice was soft as his palm faced the God Tree's towering crown. He unleashed the power of Takamimusubinokami to its fullest.
Devour!
The entire earth trembled constantly. The God Tree seemed to sense the continuous loss of energy within its body and began to shake violently, but under Yuki Yoru's control, it couldn't cause any significant disturbance.
Streams of chakra poured into Yoru, converted by Takamimusubinokami into pure spiritual power, fusing seamlessly into his body. As the draining continued, the colossal tree began to twist and distort. Finally, just like when Obito and others had once become Ten-Tails jinchūriki, the entire tree fused into Yoru's flesh, becoming part of his body.
When the God Tree was completely absorbed, a frail figure fell from the air—along with a squirming puddle of black sludge.
The sludge writhed, seemingly trying to escape, but in the same instant, a Heilig Pfeil shot down from above, pinning it to the ground, leaving it unable to move.
"Yuki Yoru! You bastard!"
Black Zetsu's furious shrieks echoed. Never had he imagined his mother would fall like this—reduced to fuel for Yoru's strength. For Black Zetsu, this wasn't just defeat—it was the shattering of his very belief.
But Yoru ignored his howls. Instead, he walked calmly toward Uchiha Obito.
Seeing Yoru approach, Obito's dazed eyes showed a flicker of self-mockery.
"You've come to laugh at me, haven't you, Yuki Yoru? The goal I've fought my whole life for—nothing but a joke. Just like my entire life. Pathetic, ridiculous."
When Black Zetsu had betrayed him, turning him into Kaguya's vessel, Obito's spirit had nearly collapsed in that instant.
All his struggles—nothing more than lies scripted by others. The so-called Infinite Tsukuyomi, the dream world… just a tool to gather chakra. His existence had been nothing but a clown's farce.
"Everyone plays out their own life's script. Each story rises and falls differently, but no two are ever the same."
Yoru shook his head. "What is truly pitiful isn't your life—but that you lost faith in it. Among all the people I've seen, you've written your life's tale beautifully enough, Obito."
Without the Ten-Tails, Obito had not died. As a being of the Six Paths, he was unlike Madara in the original story—he could survive even without a tailed beast.
But stripped of the Ten-Tails' vast chakra and the Eye of the Moon, the chasm between heaven and earth had swallowed him whole, leaving him at his weakest.
"Kill me. End this farce once and for all."
Obito closed his eyes, awaiting death. But unexpectedly, Yoru's blade did not fall.
"What are you doing?"
"I simply won't waste one of the few Six Paths-level powers the shinobi world still has."
Yoru's tone was calm. "After all that's happened, you should understand now who our true enemies are. Against them, my strength alone isn't enough. I need your power, Obito."
"Don't be ridiculous, Yuki Yoru!" Obito shouted. "I'll never stand under your banner! Look around you—look around! The moon shattered, the Kirigakure destroyed, all of this ruin… the culprit is me!"
Yuki Yoru shook his head and raised his hand in front of Obito. One by one, figures began to coalesce out of the azure brilliance of spiritual power.
At a single glance, Uchiha Obito froze in place.
He couldn't be mistaken—the figures appearing before him were the former leaders of Kirigakure: Yuki Kiri, Terumi Mei, and even the fallen Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Shisui. They flickered briefly, like ghosts in the light.
They were souls. But their souls should have long since vanished completely upon death.
Obito was bewildered. Back then, in order to fight Yuki Yoru, he had studied the Shinigami's weaknesses and loopholes, gaining considerable understanding of such matters. These spirit-bound constructs of energy, once killed or destroyed, were supposed to truly vanish forever.
Yet now, those who should have been long gone were once again standing before his eyes!
"It seems you really don't understand," Yoru said with a faint smile. "At my level, life and death have already lost all meaning. It's simply a matter of reconstructing those whose bodies were already filled with my power."
"So, even if you destroyed everything, it wouldn't matter to me. I've always valued talent, Obito. Even after you've defied me time and again, I'm still willing to give you a chance. I hope you seize it."
"Of course, you can also choose death—true death. After all, running away is the simplest way to face anything. And you, who awakened Kamui… you've always been the one most skilled at running away, haven't you?"
Uchiha Obito fell silent.
Faced with Yoru's thinly veiled recruitment pitch, he didn't know how to respond. All his life, his eyes had only been fixed on Yoru—on his own singular goal. But Yoru's gaze had always been beyond the heavens, fixed upon those alien beings outside their world.
Even now, Yoru was the same.
Obito lowered his head. The Rinnegan in his eyes no longer carried the pride or defiance it once held.
"What do you want me to do?"
"It's simple. Do what your good ally Ōtsutsuki Toneri once did." Yoru's tone was calm. "Back then, their purpose was to guard the Gedo Statue and monitor the shinobi world. But now, I need you to watch the cosmos—watch those beings who devour entire planets."
"Whether you see it as atonement for your past mistakes or the discovery of a new purpose that's truly your own, I need you for this, Obito. Of course, none of this can begin until I deal with the Sage of Six Paths and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. You understand—those who share blood are all of one ilk."
Obito hesitated in silence, uncertain whether he should agree. But after a moment of inner conflict, he finally nodded.
"You're right… let's call it atonement for the foolish things I've done."
"A wise decision!"
…
"So, Kaguya has already entered the state of resurrection?"
Having prepared a "grand gift" for the Sage of Six Paths brothers and returned from the Pure Land, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki sensed the calm across the shinobi world.
"Yuki Yoru… truly a troublesome one."
Meanwhile, within the inner consciousness space, Uchiha Madara sat in a daze, lost in thought.
"What do you plan to do next?" After a long silence, Madara finally spoke. "In this situation… are you still intent on opposing Yuki Yoru?"
"You think I can't stand against him?" Isshiki let out a cold laugh. "Admittedly, Yuki Yoru is an interesting creature. Among the countless lower beings I've seen—billions upon billions—he would easily rank first."
"But once this perfect vessel of mine matures completely, once I finish my rebirth, crushing someone like him will be no problem at all!"
"And until then…"
"Naturally, I'll sit back and watch the show." Isshiki sneered. "That wretched Kaguya's descendants won't allow Yuki Yoru to firmly secure the seat of godhood over this world. Their goals are in direct conflict."
Whether it was Yuki Yoru or the Sage of Six Paths, let them fight like a clam and a crane—he had already assumed the fisherman's stance.
But there was one thing Isshiki had not told Uchiha Madara.
During the destruction of the Pure Land, at that very instant, Isshiki had also released a unique chakra signal out into space.
Guided by this magnetic field, those of the Ōtsutsuki clan who roamed the cosmos in search of prey would soon arrive.
Although Isshiki was reluctant to share the feast with his kin, Yuki Yoru's threat was simply too great. Even with a perfect rebirth, Isshiki lacked confidence.
After all, Yoru wasn't just overwhelmingly strong—he had also devoured Kaguya's power. His strength would surge to an absurd, monstrous level.
Kaguya had once eaten a chakra fruit herself. If all of that power had been absorbed by Yoru, then he would grow into something utterly beyond reason.
Facing such an opponent, no amount of caution could ever be excessive.