Impossible.
How could this be happening?
Why was there another Gedo Statue in the shinobi world?
In an instant, both Ōtsutsuki Hamura and Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo were left reeling.
Back then, the two brothers had joined forces to seal their mother on the Moon. After that, they split the Ten-Tails' chakra apart and distributed it among the nine tailed beasts.
But now?
Another Gedo Statue had appeared in the shinobi world.
Wouldn't that mean that aside from the Ten-Tails they had sealed back then—
there was now another Ten-Tails as well?
The more they thought about it, the more horrifying it became. Their already shaken hearts turned even colder.
After all—
Uchiha Ren's sudden rise had already thrown their arrangements into chaos.
And now, a completely unknown Gedo Statue had appeared on top of that.
Things had utterly slipped beyond their control.
"Wait… the Dragon Vein, the Gedo Statue… could it be?"
A few seconds later, Hamura stared at the scene in Ancient Loran. Especially when he saw Uchiha Ren standing where the Dragon Vein had been sealed, he seemed to realize something and cried out,
"Could Uchiha Ren be trying to revive another, unknown Ten-Tails?"
"What?!"
Hagoromo's expression changed drastically.
"That's impossible."
"Using the Dragon Vein's power to revive the Ten-Tails… that should be impossible."
As Kaguya's eldest son, the first Ten-Tails jinchūriki, the founder of Ninshū, and the man who inherited Kaguya's Rinnegan, Hagoromo knew better than anyone what the Ten-Tails represented.
After he and Hamura sealed their mother and the Ten-Tails' shell—the Gedo Statue—they split the Ten-Tails' chakra into nine parts and used Yin–Yang Release to create the nine tailed beasts, all to prevent the Ten-Tails from ever returning.
And yet now—
Uchiha Ren was trying to take a completely different path.
He was trying to use the legendary Dragon Vein to revive another Ten-Tails.
That possibility had never crossed either brother's mind.
"What do we do now?"
"What kind of monster is this Fifth Hokage?"
"The Dragon Vein's power is terrifying. If Uchiha Ren really uses it to revive another Ten-Tails, then everything we've done—every arrangement we've made in secret—will come to nothing."
The next moment, Hamura and Hagoromo looked at one another, their expressions ugly to the extreme.
After Uchiha Ren appeared, they had considered many possibilities.
But never this.
Never that he would skip the tailed beasts and try to revive another Ten-Tails through the Dragon Vein instead.
They felt like coughing blood.
Frustration.
Humiliation.
That was exactly how the two brothers felt now.
In their original plan, reviving the Ten-Tails was supposed to be the work of their foolish younger brother—Black Zetsu.
But now Ren had completely bypassed that path and was trying to revive a different Ten-Tails altogether.
"No. We cannot let this Ten-Tails be revived."
After a moment, Hamura spoke coldly.
"There's no need to question the Ten-Tails' power. If this Ten-Tails is revived, then the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, will become even stronger."
At that point, he added meaningfully,
"And when that happens… even if you and I join forces, we may still not be able to stop him."
Hearing that, Hagoromo fell silent.
Truthfully, now was still not the best time for him to act.
Once he made his move, everything would be exposed, and all their previous arrangements would become meaningless.
"They're here…"
But at that moment, both Hamura and Hagoromo lit up with joy and looked at each other.
Because if their senses were correct—
the Ōtsutsuki main family had already arrived on Earth.
"Brother, perhaps we won't need to act after all."
Hamura quickly spoke, his face cold.
"Doesn't the Fifth Hokage want to revive the Ten-Tails? Then let the Ōtsutsuki main family deal with him."
"All we need to do is watch from the sidelines."
Hagoromo nodded, his voice equally cold.
"The timing of the Ōtsutsuki main family's arrival couldn't be better."
"We can sit back and watch the show unfold."
After all—
in order to deal with Uchiha Ren, Hagoromo had deliberately exposed Earth's presence just to lure the Ōtsutsuki main family here.
Now it seemed—
that had been a perfect move.
Once the Ōtsutsuki main family descended upon Earth, they would definitely sense the Gedo Statue's presence as well.
A clash between dragons and tigers was unavoidable.
"Make preparations."
Now that the plan had formed, Hagoromo no longer bothered thinking further and said flatly,
"Once Uchiha Ren and the Ōtsutsuki main family both suffer serious losses, that will be our best chance to act."
"We'll wipe them out without lifting more than a finger."
"Understood…"
Hamura let out a cold, sinister laugh.
"This time, everything will return to the proper course."
At the same time—
Buzz!!
A ripple of space spread outward.
Then Ōtsutsuki Urashiki and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki appeared above Earth.
"At last… we've arrived."
Suspended in the void as they looked down at the planet beneath them, Urashiki bared his teeth in a grin and said murderously,
"I can feel the presence of so many ants. Looks like this will be fun."
As he spoke, savage excitement filled his face.
After all these years of searching, they had finally found the world where Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was hiding.
It would have been stranger if they weren't excited.
"Exactly."
Kinshiki stretched lazily and said flatly,
"After searching for so long, we've finally found Kaguya's nest."
"This time…"
"…we'll make Ōtsutsuki Kaguya wish she were dead."
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