Chapter 36
Inside The Planetary Seal.
Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Progenitor of Chakra, sat beneath a giant tree with her impossibly long white hair cascading like a silk waterfall behind her. Resting peacefully in her lap was a child with striking crimson hair, fast asleep.
She sighed and gently combed through his hair with her pale fingers.
"Child. You have stayed long enough".
"Five more minutes…" Haruto mumbled groggily, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.
"You have said the exact same thing three times already."
"But it's just so peaceful here…" Haruto murmured, his voice trailing off.
Kaguya's hand paused in his hair for a fraction of a second, a fleeting shadow crossing her face, before she resumed her gentle caresses.
"It is a prison, child," Kaguya said, her voice dropping to a calm, solemn whisper.
Hearing the heavy tone, Haruto blinked his emerald eyes open, looking up into her pale, lavender ones. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"What do you mean, Big Sis? If it's a prison then why are you locked inside of it? And why won't you ever tell me your real name?" Haruto asked, his questions coming back-to-back.
Kaguya glanced away from his earnest gaze, letting out another weary sigh.
"I am what your children's storybooks would describe as a bad person. A villain. I was sealed away by the so-called heroes of that era," Kaguya chuckled self-deprecatingly. 'Heroes that she had raised; her own flesh and blood.' She thought bitterly.
"As for my name, you are not ready yet".
"Hmm." Haruto placed his right hand on his chin in a thoughtful posture. Then, he glanced up at her.
"What? Are you afraid of me now?"
"Eh? No. Why would I be? You are nowhere near scary enough. My mom is way scarier than you," Haruto said innocently. "Besides, I think you're quite cute."
Kaguya blinked. It took her a few seconds to fully register his blunt, honest words.
"Quite the smooth tongue you have there, mister. How many young hearts have you stolen?" she asked, her eyes narrowing playfully, though the tips of her ears—hidden beneath her long hair—flushed a deep red.
"Hey! I didn't steal anything! And why would I steal young hearts? I don't like hearts, they taste yucky!"
Kaguya groaned, dragging a hand down her face.
"Uh… That's it. Go home now, before I kick you out myself."
Right on cue, Haruto's glowing spiritual form began to slowly disintegrate into glittering particles of light.
"Eh?" Haruto looked down at his fading hands, thoroughly confused.
"Hm. It seems it is already morning," Kaguya said calmly.
Within seconds, Haruto was entirely gone, his consciousness fading from her desolate mindscape.
Kaguya looked at the now-empty space beside her for a few silent moments before sighing softly.
"Still just a foolish child," she murmured softly to herself, a small genuine smile gracing her lips.
Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. With a swift motion of her hands, she launched multiple ash-bone needles straight from her palms.
The attack struck the white being dead-on, and the figure slumped lifelessly to the ground.
Kaguya stared at the corpse with a completely deadpan expression.
Right on cue, the supposedly lifeless body stood back up, entirely unfazed. A pair of golden eyes locked onto her.
"Woman. You attacked me. Unprovoked."
The entity slowly raised a right hand. A sphere of blue chakra began to rapidly condense over the palm.
"What was it called again? Oh, that's right… Rasengan."
Kaguya's expression somehow became even more deadpan, as if she had watched this exact pattern repeat itself a thousand times before.
The massive sphere of chakra rotated in multiple directions simultaneously, humming with power. Then, the white being released the technique, launching it straight toward her.
But before the Rasengan could even touch her, it abruptly burst into harmless water, creating a sudden, localized downpour.
"Just kidding," the white being said with a shrug. "This should cool you down."
Suddenly, a small notebook titled 'Weeb's Dream' manifested in their hand. The entity flipped through the pages until reaching the desired destination, scratching something out with a flourish.
Completed List:
Pull Excalibur
Fight a Dragon God
Have a battle maid
Fight against Fate / The World
Pull off Tobi's acting
Make a powerful entrance in front of the final villain
The line over 'Make a powerful entrance in front of the final villain' was scratched out multiple times.
They carelessly tossed the notebook away, and it vanished into a small black void.
"It should also help with your thirst," the entity added, shaking their head playfully. "Tsk, tsk. Robbing the cradle at your age really doesn't suit you, Kaguya".
Kaguya, now soaked from head to toe, practically ground her teeth. Her long white hair began to lift and float ominously around her.
"Die, you fucking asshole."
She launched a fury of attacks. Massive bones as large as trees erupted from underground, accompanied by microscopic needles as fine as hair raining from above. She attacked with absolutely everything in her arsenal.
Yet, the white being dodged the brutal onslaught with infuriating grace.
"Woah, woah! Lady, watch your mouth! This is not how a Progenitor should behave. What would the kid think?"
"And whose fault do you think it is, huh?!" Kaguya snarled through gritted teeth.
"Hey, I was just joking. Don't take it to heart," the white being called out, effortlessly weaving between a barrage of hair needles falling from the sky.
"Just die already!"
Kaguya chased the entity from one corner of the planetary seal to the other, but every single time she came within an inch of landing a solid hit, the figure would simply blink out of existence and reappear elsewhere.
***
After some time.
Kaguya sat calmly beneath the giant tree once again. Beside her sat the white being, comically wrapped in layers of bandages with a massive bump swelling on their head.
"Where were you all this time?" Kaguya asked.
"Well, believe it or not, for someone who is technically retired, I was quite busy."
Kaguya narrowed her eyes.
"Hm. And here I thought you had simply vanished on another one of your little trips that inevitably last for hundreds of years."
"Ouch. That hurts. Are you still holding a grudge about me leaving you alone when you first landed on this planet?"
The white being sighed.
"I was only gone for one week. But when I returned, ten years had already passed here, and you were ruling these lands as an empress. So, I just quietly watched as you were consumed by your own power. Your fate—which I thought I had freed you from through my initial intervention—was playing out exactly the same right in front of me. I watched as you fought your two sons and I watched as you got sealed away in this place."
Kaguya gritted her teeth.
"And you did nothing. You just watched as it all played out."
"Yes. I let you face the consequences of your choices. I am pretty sure that even if I had intervened, you wouldn't have listened to me anyway, and we would have just ended up fighting each other."
"So, you waited until I was sealed, and then came to meet me like we were some kind of old friends."
Kaguya said, bitter memories surfacing. She could still vividly remember that exact moment. She had been wounded, furious, and utterly shattered by the betrayal of sons, and she had screamed herself hoarse venting all of her rage at this bastard.
"Haha. I can still feel my ears ringing from that." the white being chuckled, breaking the tension. "But hey, I made sure you were comfortable inside here, didn't I?"
Kaguya said nothing. It was a silent admission. It was because of this bastard that she possessed this much autonomy and peace inside the Planetary Seal, rather than being trapped in a mindless, frozen slumber.
"Why did you not just free me, then?"
"Hm? Well, it's not as easy as you think. Believe it or not, you are bound by your role. And this specific seal has some serious 'plot armor.' It would be quite a pain to destroy it without accidentally vaporizing both the moon and the planet in the process."
The white being turned to stare at her.
"And besides, I thought you actually liked it here. At first, I figured I'd let you out in a hundred years or so—give you some time to reflect on your actions. But imagine my surprise when you genuinely began to change, and for the better. The hatred and the anger were all still there, but you weren't consumed by them anymore. You actually managed to look at things from your sons' perspective and reflected on what you did."
The entity's tone softened slightly.
"I can tell you still haven't forgiven them. But now you at least understand their situation, their views, and their ideals. That is a level of enlightenment and wisdom very few ever manage to achieve. Believe me, Kaguya, I have seen countless individuals blinded by their power who refuse to see anything but their own desires. Only a handful have ever truly managed to change. You are one of them."
Kaguya felt a strange, unfamiliar warmth bloom inside her chest.
"It's only recently that you've actually started to feel lonely in here," the white being added, side-eyeing her with a knowing look. "Though, don't think I didn't notice you leaving a piece of your consciousness inside of him. A frog lusting after swan meat, are we?"
And just like that, before the words could even fully register, he vanished into thin air.
All the warmth that had just bloomed inside Kaguya instantly froze over, replaced by a volcanic fury.
"I am going to kill you! You bastard!" Kaguya roared to the empty void. She slammed her fist into the giant tree behind her, sending massive shockwaves that shook the entire realm.
After a few minutes of violently venting her anger on the poor tree, her breathing finally slowed and she calmed down. As she straightened up, a loose piece of paper fluttering from the corner of her eye caught her attention.
She picked it up and began to read the untidy handwriting.
"Hey, guess what's happening up on the moon right now? Yes, you guessed it. Your descendants are slaughtering each other. And guess what for? To gain more power and enact Hamura's supposed 'will' to destroy humanity. Ah, look at what a little power does to mortals.
P.S. I hope this bit of gossip has calmed your anger somewhat. Bye from your beloved observer!"
Kaguya violently crumpled the note in her fist and reduced it to ash. It was none of her business what the descendants of her treacherous sons did to one another.
Slowly, she looked down at her hands.
It was true—she had left a dormant piece of her consciousness inside Haru. But it wasn't for anything malicious. She had done it purely to ensure that the incident of the past would never repeat itself. To keep the boy safe.
And, perhaps, to silently repay what that annoying bastard of an observer had done for her over the long, lonely centuries—by ensuring Haru's safety in this cruel world.
There were so many things she had wanted to say to it. She wanted to tell the entity that the enlightenment and wisdom she had gained over the ages were not hers alone.
She had someone who had constantly looked after her. Someone who had reached down and pulled her back from the edge of the deep, dark abyss. She wanted to voice her thoughts, to finally express the sheer depth of her gratitude… but in the end, she never could.
In the end, she was still just a woman deeply afraid of being hurt again.
****
Uzushiogakure
Inside Medori's compound.
"Fufu," Medori chuckled softly to herself as she busied herself in the kitchen. Beside her, Hiyuki and Mikasa were helping with the meal preparation.
"What happened, Aunty?" Hiyuki asked calmly. She was dressed in her usual off-the-shoulder kimono, but now, a brilliant golden pendant rested against her collarbone, beautifully reflecting the morning rays.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Haruto finally woke up."
Right on cue, a swirling purple portal opened behind them, and Tenka stepped out of it.
"I woke him up. He will be ready in a few minutes," Tenka said, immediately stepping over to arrange the utensils on the dining table.
Medori nodded and began stirring the pot, softly humming a cheerful melody.
Medori was one of the village's most vital shinobi, possessing outstanding sensor capabilities and high-jōnin battle prowess. She had once served as the leader of the village barrier team, responsible for maintaining Uzushio's defensive boundaries. Her sensory range could easily encompass the entire island of Uzushiogakure.
However, she had retired from active duties following Haruto's birth.
While she was still a kunoichi at heart and remained responsible for detecting any incoming threats as a sensor, she could now comfortably do so from the safety of her home.
The active barrier team had since been placed under the direct control of the clan head, Kenji Uzumaki.
With so much free time on her hands, Medori had recently begun to explore an old hobby of hers: inventing new things.
Just the other day, Hiyuki had given her the idea of a specialized seal that could facilitate long-distance communication. It was a fascinating concept. The village did have standard radios, but they were strictly reserved for military use, notoriously redundant, and plagued by so many complications that shinobi rarely used them on active missions.
Medori had a few solid ideas on how to approach the seal's design, but she would first need to speak with the clan head to request a military radio she could completely dissect.
Suddenly, another thought struck her.
"By the way, where are those two, Akira and Sora? I rarely see them around the compound these days." Contrary to what others believed, Medori rarely used her Mind's Eye of Kagura to spy or keep tabs on her family.
"From what I heard, they are currently going through some rigorous training with Shōto-san," Mikasa replied smoothly.
"Ah… time sure flies. It feels like only yesterday that you all were walking around this house as if stepping on eggshells… and now the youngest among you are already preparing to leave the nest for their own futures," Medori said, a touch of melancholy softening her voice.
A comfortable, nostalgic silence blanketed the room. They all smiled fondly, silently reminiscing about those chaotic early days.
"I should give those two something they appreciate. Hmm. They like ninjutsu, right? I should have a few A-rank scrolls lying around that they could learn."
Even for the affluent Uzumaki clan, A-rank and S-rank ninjutsu were rare commodities, typically restricted to high chūnin or jōnin based on their explicit contributions to the village. However, after the recent invasion, Kenji had loosened those strict restraints, and the clan was now actively handing out high-ranking jutsu to any promising youth willing to learn.
The sound of soft, shuffling footsteps broke their train of thought.
Haruto wandered into the room, his crimson hair still damp from the shower as he let out a massive yawn.
"What a sleepyhead. Still not fully awake?" Tenka teased playfully.
Mikasa silently pulled a fresh towel from the hanger. As Haruto climbed onto the sofa, she stood behind him, gently drying his soft crimson hair.
"Hmmmm," Haruto purred contentedly under her care, leaning into the towel. "I just couldn't sleep very well last night."
"Oh? Did you visit your mysterious goddess in your dreams again?" Tenka asked, finishing up with the table before sliding onto the sofa beside them.
"Yes."
After the incident with Tenka, a moon symbol had manifested on Haruto's palm, continuously supplying him with a torrent of chakra for several days without pause before fading completely.
Following that anomaly, they had tried to dig into the archives to uncover the identity of this supposed 'Moon Goddess.'
Unfortunately, they had found absolutely nothing. There were no records, no historical texts, and no mentions of a goddess residing on the moon. The closest thing they managed to find was the myth of the Sage of the Six Paths—the legendary figure designated as the father of chakra, who supposedly allowed humanity to wield Chakra.
"Come, children. Breakfast is ready, let's eat," Medori called out, placing the dishes on the table. "Especially you two, Hiyuki and Mikasa. Don't you both have a mission outside the village today?"
"Yes. It's a mission to escort a supply convoy to Konoha," Hiyuki replied calmly, her fingers brushing lightly against her new gold pendant. "It will serve as a good first experience for Mikasa."