The air grew colder and colder. More terrifying than the cold itself were the various natural disasters,
Tsunamis twenty to thirty meters high, mixed with shards of ice, roared toward coastal cities.
The earth trembled and shook without stop. Countless buildings teetered on the brink of collapse.
Power grids laid across the land were rapidly destroyed under disasters of this scale, and vast areas once again fell into darkness.
All they could do was look on in despair at the sky, as if it had sunk into eternal night.
Thick darkness, like ink that could not be diluted, layered heavy shadows over people's hearts.
———
[Gorin City]
The "rats" were running frantically.
An earthquake that had occurred not long ago had caused half a street to collapse. The lives and deaths of thousands were unknown, and under Iwamine's command, they were rushing to the scene to provide aid.
That's how it was said...
BOOM!
Another violent tremor came surging in from the southwest.
"Boss, can we really hold on?"
Faced with the question from her subordinates, Iwamine tossed aside the rubble in her hands, lifted a three- or four-year-old child from the ruins, and stood firm. The raging wind messed up her hair, but it could not shake her gaze.
Iwamine looked up at the pitch-black sky and said, "Even if we can't hold on, we still have to."
"Lord Ryosuke said that within twenty-four hours, he would find a way to solve the problem."
"I believe him… wait, what's that?"
Iwamine narrowed her eyes toward the end of the horizon.
One golden meteor after another streaked across the sky.
The heavens instantly brightened like broad daylight.
As they passed over Gorin City, one golden star remained in the sky.
Circles of golden ripples spread downward. When they fell on the skin, they brought a warm sense of reassurance. The skin tingled slightly, and bodies and minds exhausted by the darkness instantly regained their former vitality.
At the same time, the distant earthquakes… Calmed down.
———
Also in Gorin City, Lord Shirakawa stood there in a daze, staring at the sky.
The adjutant beside him asked, "My lord, what's going on?"
After a moment of silence, Lord Shirakawa let out a soft laugh.
"What else could it be?"
"To pull off a divine, godlike feat like this, who else could it be besides the lord we follow?"
Golden stars shone across the sky.
Wherever they passed, the cold was driven away.
The surging waves were forcibly suppressed, the sea unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
Deep within the earth, the colliding tectonic plates were like elementary school kids caught fighting by a teacher, bruised and swollen, they shook hands and made up, saying it was just messing around.
In short, everything quieted down.
People who had been trapped in fear and despair all looked up. Wherever people lived, there was a golden crystal floating in the sky. From afar, it looked like tens of thousands of blazing suns suspended overhead.
It drove away the night, and also drove away the fear in people's hearts.
Ripples mixed with the power of sage arts rained down from the sky. Trees that had withered in the darkness and cold turned green again, and flowers quietly bloomed one after another.
———
White Snake Sage No. 1 clenched a pipe in its mouth, gazing at the golden stars filling the sky, sensing the familiar fluctuations of sage power within them.
Among the White Snake Sage's surviving clones, only it and No. 18 remained.
No. 1 had formed the Evil God Great White Snake and gained the strength of a team.
No. 18, on the other hand, had always fought alone, finding a blessed land that still retained a large amount of natural energy, training in seclusion and recovering some of its power.
Both of them wanted to find a chance to devour the other. As long as only one remained, that one would be the true White Snake Sage.
But…
The White Snake Sage took another puff.
Sensing the proportions of the three kinds of sage arts in the air, White Snake Sage No. 1 said in a low voice,
"How long have you trained? How long have the Great Toad Sage and the Slug Sage trained? What are you competing with them for?"
"Can't you just take it easy?"
"After this operation is over, even if Ryosuke doesn't kill you, your 'sage body' will be ruined, and you'll lose the possibility of continuing to training."
"Why go that far?"
"You guys like this…"
It thought of No. 2, who had infiltrated the research institute back then and, in order to steal Orochimaru's disks, chose to walk straight toward death.
Then it thought of No. 18, who this time, in order to save this world, did not hesitate to expose its identity and proactively seek cooperation with Ryosuke.
"Doesn't that just make me seem especially cowardly and despicable?"
"Does someone like me even deserve to become the final White Snake Sage?"
White Snake Sage No. 1 stood quietly under the night sky, its face buried in smoke.
Kabuto Yakushi poked Obito and jerked his chin toward the White Snake Sage.
"Don't let its usual cold and detached attitude fool you. Look, it's still worried about Hidan on the moon."
Obito replied perfunctorily, "Deeply loyal."
Kabuto picked up a pair of binoculars and looked toward the moon, trying to find Hidan's figure.
"Do you think Ryosuke can do it? If he dies, we'll have to step up."
Hearing that, Obito jolted and snapped back to attention. "Who? Us going to fight Toneri?"
Kabuto shrugged. "If Ryosuke dies, who else can we count on? Don't we have this thing?"
He pointed at the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path in front of them.
Obito smiled, the meaning behind that smile complicated. Leaving aside the fact that his modifications to the Demonic Statue weren't finished yet, with just this little bit of Tailed Beast chakra on hand, even if he became the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki, he might not be able to beat the lunatic on the moon.
After all, Toneri's prefix was Otsutsuki.
Tailed Beasts and jinchuriki were things their ancestors had figured out. Who knew what hidden tricks might be buried in there?
"Even though I don't want to say it, but…"
Obito gazed into the distance and prayed, "Ryosuke, you absolutely have to win."
———
On the moon, Toneri stared fixedly at the peaceful, tranquil ninja world below, the corner of his eye twitching slightly.
"Absolute darkness, huh."
"Human extinction, huh."
"Ryosuke is definitely dead, urk!"
Toneri could no longer endure Hidan's sarcastic muttering. He swung around and smashed a fist into Hidan's face, saying coldly, "Ryosuke can shelter them for one day, ten days. I don't believe he can maintain this barrier for a month, a year."
Hidan shook his head.
He didn't understand Toneri.
But he understood Ryosuke, and he understood the group of people who followed Ryosuke.
Ryosuke had never wanted to stand above everyone else and be called a "god," a protector. All his efforts were simply to give people the power to resist a terrible world on their own.
And all of Ryosuke's efforts over the years would surely be answered.
Seeing Hidan still muttering under his breath, the still-irritated Toneri walked over, grabbed Hidan by the chin, and forced his face back around again, Sasuke turned his head and met the doctor's gaze.
The doctor held Sasuke's chin, turning it left and right, constantly scribbling in a notebook. Professional instruments beside them scanned his facial structure.
"That's fine."
The doctor let go, nodded to Sasuke, and said, "We need to make some preparations for the surgery. It's scheduled to begin in about an hour. You can go for a walk outside, or you can enter the operating room now."
"I'll go take a walk outside."
"Please do."
Sasuke walked out of the examination room. The disinfectant smell in the air always made him uncomfortable.
What made him even more uncomfortable was that an hour later, he would transplant Itachi's eyes and advance his Mangekyo to the Eternal Mangekyo state.
This was a choice Sasuke had to make.
Considering Toneri's abilities and the seven-thousand-kilometer defense network on the moon, Sasuke, who possessed ninjutsu nullification, was the core member of the "Door-Opening Squad."
For safety reasons, he needed to activate ninjutsu nullification at a distance of about ten thousand kilometers, ensuring the flight device wouldn't be detected.
Ten thousand kilometers, at the craft's speed, in a space environment, that would take roughly an hour of flight.
With Sasuke's current Mangekyo Sharingan, it was impossible to maintain ninjutsu nullification for a full hour, even if it was only the most basic defensive use and not for attacking.
So, he needed Itachi's eyes.
Ryosuke had said it before.
He didn't need to do things that made him unhappy.
But Sasuke was a man.
At this point, Ryosuke had become firewood, lighting the world's last flame. Innocent people across the ninja world were wailing in despair. His companions were all giving it everything they had…
If, at such a critical moment, Sasuke said it was too disgusting and refused this power, it would be far too pretentious.
If he really did that, Sasuke felt the one who would be disgusting would be himself.
Because Toneri had actively pulled the moon closer, the rocket no longer needed to cross three hundred and eighty thousand kilometers, but only fifty thousand.
After discussion at the research institute, many unnecessary protective structures were removed, reducing the construction time from nine days to five.
At the same time, the members of the Door-Opening Squad were finalized.
In addition to the tactical core, Sasuke, there were three others.
Breakthrough specialist and captain, Hatake Kakashi.
Infiltrating the interior of the moon meant inevitably encountering various obstacles and restrictions. Kakashi's Kamui could help the team break through quickly.
And his tactical experience could help the team handle unexpected situations.
Combat personnel, Uzumaki Naruto, and Rei.
These two were carefully selected combatants.
When Ryosuke fought Toneri, he had clearly sensed his own energy being absorbed. But what Toneri could absorb was only chakra and natural energy.
His ability to absorb ripple energy was average.
Therefore, if combat broke out, those who fought Toneri either needed to have extremely vast chakra reserves to handle the absorption in the short term, or be elite-level ripple users.
The former was the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto.
Under Ryosuke's patient guidance, the Nine-Tails had gone from unruly to much more reasonable.
Besides, even if it didn't like Naruto, this was still a child it had watched grow up.
Now, that child's woman was about to be snatched away by Toneri.
If the Nine-Tails really didn't care at all, it would be something the other Tailed Beasts would mock behind its back.
As for the latter, Rei.
She was one of the earliest to follow Ryosuke in training ripple energy, later practiced the Golden Spin, and with her outstanding talent, could be said to be the strongest ripple user aside from Ryosuke.
Sasuke, Rei, Naruto, Kakashi.
This was the Door-Opening Squad that would set out for the moon in five days.
In terms of raw strength, they were inferior to several Kage-level powerhouses like Tsunade and Mei Terumi. However, in terms of overall functionality and adaptability against Toneri, these four were the most suitable.
After all, their mission was to open the door, not to take down Toneri.
With an hour left before the surgery, Sasuke decided to buy a cup of tea from a vending machine. As he rounded a corner, he sensed a gaze.
Meeting that gaze, Sasuke saw Rei sitting on a bench in the rest area.
The two exchanged a look and nodded to each other as they passed by.
From beginning to end, Rei's eyes stayed on Sasuke, until he disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
"One, two…" Rei softly counted under her breath.
"Three."
Just as "three" left her lips, Sasuke turned back, plopped down beside Rei, scratched his face, and asked, "Were you waiting for me?"
"Yeah."
Rei took a canned drink and an orange out of her bag, blinked, and deliberately lowered her voice as she asked, "Oh honest young man, do you want this bottle of iced black tea, or this little orange?"
Sasuke thought for a moment. "Iced black tea?"
"Wrong."
Rei pushed both the iced black tea and the orange toward him with both hands, grinning as she said, "You want both."
Sasuke helplessly accepted them and, as usual, set the iced black tea aside first and helped Rei peel the orange.
Rei sat quietly beside him.
She was no longer the weak girl she used to be, but had grown into a bright, lively and strong young woman.
She tucked the strands of hair falling in front of her forehead behind her ear and carefully studied Sasuke's eyes.
"What are you looking at?" Sasuke asked.
"I want to take one last good look at your eyes."
Sasuke's hand peeling the orange paused. "How did you know?"
He hadn't told anyone about the eye transplant, not even Ryosuke.
Rei narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin like a kitten. "What don't I know?"
"A man's life is spent waiting for his own 'brilliant moment.' You want to help Brother Ryosuke. You want to save the world like him."
"Since that's the case, you won't be troubled by personal emotions, and at this very moment, you'll make the most correct choice."
"For you..."
Rei pointed to her eyes.
"This is the final preparation before the battle."
Sasuke handed half of the orange to Rei, "So, you came here to wish me luck with the surgery?"
Rei took the orange. "No. With the research institute's expert-level technology, it'll definitely go smoothly. I just…"
She turned around to face Sasuke directly, "Thinking that once you come out of the surgery, it won't be simply your eyes looking at me anymore, I wanted you to look at me one last time before the surgery. And I feel the same, I want to take a good look at you."
Sasuke and Rei looked at each other. After a moment, they both laughed.
———
An hour later, the surgery began.
Three days later, Sasuke removed the bandages from his eyes. The Eternal Mangekyo was unlocked.
Five days later, the simplified version of Kaitian No. 3 slowly lifted off under the cover of golden crystals. After reaching outer space, the rocket shell fell away, revealing the inner flight device disguised as a meteor.
Forty thousand kilometers… twenty thousand kilometers… ten thousand kilometers...
"Prepare for impact!" Kakashi warned.
Sasuke had already activated ninjutsu nullification.
But no one could be sure whether the moon's detection might be something else, say… radar detection unrelated to chakra?
Rei tightly gripped Sasuke's hand.
Seeing this, Naruto thought for a moment, then also reached out and grabbed Kakashi.
Kakashi looked at Naruto speechlessly. 'Is what you're doing even the same as what they're doing?'
The distance kept shrinking, seven thousand… five thousand… three thousand…
No attack.
Their hypothesis was correct.
With the external disguise and ninjutsu nullification, they successfully fooled the moon's detection. In the vastness of space, even if Toneri went blind from staring, there was no way he could discover them.
An hour later, the Door-Opening Squad landed on the moon.
As mentioned before, Toneri had never undergone ninja training, and he had never imagined anyone would land on the moon. He had no intention of concealing his tracks at all.
The four quickly infiltrated the interior of the moon.
Kakashi held a map in his hand.
Over the past few days, Ryosuke had continuously focused on Toneri, recording his movement routes and compiling them into a rough map of the moon's core.
Kakashi pointed ahead. "Straight ahead is Toneri's sleeping quarters. We need to detour a bit."
Everyone nodded.
They took a detour and carefully pushed open a door.
The moment they looked up, Naruto found himself staring straight into Hidan's eyes, Hidan, who was tied up.
"Don't worry about him. He's a research institute clone."
Sasuke spoke as he started walking forward.
"Don't go!"
"I'm the original! Sasuke, have you forgotten..."
Hidan wracked his brain trying to act familiar.
"When you were little, I killed you!"