The moon was getting closer.
Right now, the distance from the ground… three hundred and thirty thousand kilometers.
"All interstellar weapons, preheat."
Ryosuke looked at the big screen in the main control center. On it was a simulated path showing the moon's approach. At its current speed, it was expected that the day after tomorrow at 11 a.m., the moon would crash down.
Not fall like a rock.
When the moon reached nine thousand kilometers from the surface, it would hit the rigid-body Roche limit, be torn apart by gravity, and break into countless meteorites falling down.
The maximum range of the interstellar weapons was sixteen thousand kilometers. Experts at the Weapons Research Center recommended beginning the attack at maximum range to blow up the moon as early as possible.
That way, most of the moon's fragments would become space debris.
The remaining fragments entering Earth, small ones would burn up and be consumed by the atmosphere, and the large pieces would be dealt with by defensive weapons.
"…This is the strategy that reduces losses to the minimum." Samui said, handing Ryosuke the documents provided by the experts.
Ryosuke waved his hand and did not take them.
He trusted the experts, and he trusted Samui.
What Ryosuke worried about was something else.
"You think it's not that simple?" Samui asked.
Ryosuke said, "Hidan isn't smart.
But behind him are the White Snake Sage and Uchiha Obito. The former has a thousand years of memories, the latter is cunning and treacherous, with no bottom line.
Otsutsuki Toneri is also the kind of ruthless person who, for the sake of safety, didn't hesitate to use his own father's corpse as a puppet."
Ryosuke stared at the "slowly" advancing moon on the screen.
"It's hard for me to imagine that this group of people, coming together, would think up a plan that's just 'throw the moon like a cannonball.'"
Especially after absorbing a large number of researchers, progress in the institute's various project teams was not a particularly strict secret to people on the level of Obito and the White Snake Sage.
Just spending some time and thought would let them know that the Weapons Development Department already had interstellar weapons.
"Maybe…"
Samui folded her arms. "They think they don't have time, and have no choice but to gamble?"
Thirteen, no, twelve days later, Ryosuke would take a rocket to the moon.
Rather than waiting for death, better to take a gamble.
What if it works?
This was indeed one possible explanation.
Ryosuke also hoped so.
"While preparing for battle, we still have to continue building Kaitian-3." Ryosuke said.
Just like everyone who had fought Ryosuke would instinctively pull back their distance.
Ryosuke also had an instinctive habit.
You cannot wait for the enemy to voluntarily enter your range; you must have the ability to actively move toward the enemy.
Daylight quietly passed.
For most people in the shinobi world, what aliens or Otsutsuki, none of that had any real connection to their lives. They only mentioned it casually when eating or drinking with family and friends.
And someone would end it with, "Otsutsuki? What crap, Ryosuke blasted him apart!"
Then everyone would burst into laughter together, their hearts filled with the pride of being human.
But tonight was a little different.
Night fell. When people walked out of school or work, they all froze on the spot, as if the entire world had fallen under a genjutsu, staring blankly at the sky.
'The moon… got bigger?!'
Originally it was only a small thing in the sky, but now it was as eye-catching as a big dark mole on a wife's face that grew larger with age.
Moonlight spilled down, bright as daytime. Families with good lighting didn't even need to turn on their lamps, pulling open the curtains made everything brightly lit.
Not only that, but there were many "little flying insects" around the moon.
"It's a satellite ring composed of cosmic dust and meteorites."
Using an astronomical telescope, Ryosuke clearly saw the things surrounding the moon.
"It should be made by Otsutsuki Toneri using his gravity manipulation ability."
The moon was originally Toneri's home field. Ryosuke had used Hermit Purple to capture photos of Toneri and the giant Tenseigan in the moon's core, and he guessed that thing was most likely the source of his power.
With the giant Tenseigan's amplification, summoning meteorites and cosmic dust wasn't difficult for Toneri at all.
"What exactly is he trying to do?"
Ryosuke walked to the window, looking at the increasingly enormous moon.
Just then, the office phone rang.
Ryosuke picked up. Tsunade's voice came through the receiver.
The Kakashi team Tsunade had sent out had, two hours earlier, found the escape route Toneri used when he abducted the Hyuga family.
Toneri was strong, yes, but he had never gone through proper shinobi training and wasn't skilled at hiding his tracks.
Eventually, Kakashi's team arrived at the transfer lake water and found traces of space-time ninjutsu sealed within it.
Combined with how Toneri and his puppet could come and go whenever they wanted, it wasn't hard to deduce that as long as this space-time ninjutsu was activated, it could achieve instant travel between the moon and the shinobi world.
["…But it can only be activated from one side."]
Tsunade lightly rubbed her forehead, her tone heavy. ["It's a door that can only be unlocked from the inside."]
["Either it stays open, becoming a bidirectional passage anyone can use."]
["Once it's closed, only someone on the moon can unlock it again."]
"I understand. Thank you."
["This is what I should do, Ryosuke."]
Tsunade's voice softened. Ryosuke could hear her faint breathing.
["I feel… something's off."]
"Your intuition?" Ryosuke asked.
Tsunade glanced at the dice on her desk.
She had gambled ten times.
All ten were correct.
["I don't know what it is, but… you must be careful."]
"I will."
Ryosuke hung up.
Night ended. Day passed in busy work. The second night arrived quietly.
Moonlight occupied nearly half the sky.
The pale light shone on people's faces. Without last night's novelty and amusement, an extra trace of... Fear.
It was too big.
Not just the moon.
The meteorites and cosmic dust that had looked like mosquitoes circling the moon last night were now entirely glued together, spread out flat, further increasing the moon's surface area.
And…
The moon was still getting closer.
The meteorites and dust continued to compress.
This night, whether it was Ryosuke, shinobi from all major countries, civilians, or even daimyo and tycoons in their prison cells, many people didn't sleep at all.
No additional reminders were necessary. Anyone who wasn't an idiot, no, even someone as foolish as New Moon, knew,
Something was going to happen.
———
[5:30 A.M.]
[The Research Institute]
Seventeen interstellar cannons finished preheating, ammunition loaded, just waiting for the moon to reach the sixteen-thousand-kilometer mark.
Ryosuke waited quietly.
A sliver of pale white light appeared in the eastern sky, dawn was just about to break.
At the current speed, in about three hours, the moon would enter firing range.
Suddenly, Ryosuke frowned slightly.
On the main control screen, the moon's approach speed… Slowed down?
Ryosuke slowly stood up.
The moon's approach speed sharply dropped. In just a few minutes, it completely stopped, hanging in the sky fifty thousand kilometers above the shinobi world.
"This distance…"
Ryosuke's pupils shrank violently. He rushed to the window and looked up at the sky.
Everywhere he could see, pale moonlight filled the entire sky, stretching all the way to the horizon. And at this very moment, the sun rose.
Ryosuke couldn't see it.
No one in the shinobi world could see it.
The moon, along with cosmic dust and meteorites, had formed a massive sun-blocking shield. Its shadow covered the entire shinobi world, completely blocking the sunlight outside.
Moonlight was reflected sunlight. As the sun rose, the moonlight faded bit by bit, but the sunlight was obstructed, so the result was, the world was sinking into darkness.
———
Toneri looked down.
"Cherish the last bit of light. From today on, your world…"
"Will be absolute darkness."