In the Land of Fire, deep beneath a certain mountain peak, Natsuhiko stood inside a vast underground cavern, staring silently at the scene before him.
Kakashi hadn't been exaggerating. This place could definitely be called a cave.
But when Natsuhiko's gaze fell on the enormous pit that stretched more than a hundred meters underground—its shape clearly unnatural—he couldn't help but frown.
The location was incredibly strange, yet it looked nothing like the cave he remembered from his memories.
After thinking it over for a long time, Natsuhiko finally gave up trying to figure it out. Right now, his only priority was to explore what lay at the bottom of this cavern.
The ANBU had indeed discovered the place, but they couldn't venture any deeper. An extremely bizarre barrier sealed the entire cave, and another equally strange barrier hid the entrance from the outside world.
These barriers had kept the cave perfectly concealed. If one ANBU member hadn't been accidentally repelled by the outer barrier and noticed the anomaly, no one might have ever found it.
At the very least, in Natsuhiko's previous life, there had never been any mention of this cave in the original story.
"Could this place actually be the cave Naruto uses to cross over to the moon in the future?" Natsuhiko wondered silently.
He quickly activated his Jōgan. In an instant, every detail inside the cave became crystal clear to him.
"So many seals and barriers…"
In his eyes, the otherwise invisible seals stood out sharply. Beyond the layers of barriers and seals lay a long, winding tunnel. There were no signs of any living creatures along the path—only stone milk that had built up over countless years, with water droplets steadily falling and splashing against the ground.
Further ahead, his vision reached its limit. To see more, he would have to go in himself.
"Looks like even if this isn't exactly the place I was looking for, it's definitely hiding quite a few secrets," Natsuhiko thought.
He knew full well that the Naruto world contained far more mysteries than he could possibly imagine. After all, the existence of the Otsutsuki clan had already shattered his previous understanding of the series. They were practically high-dimensional invaders descending on a lower world.
Even with his current strength, Natsuhiko was certain that facing a true Otsutsuki would still end with him being instantly overpowered. Just look at Kaguya's despair-inducing performance—her fighting style and technique might have been laughably clumsy, but she was still an immortal who had swallowed a Divine Tree fruit. The gap between mortal and divine was simply too vast.
"Still, no matter how big the difference is, I don't sense any living beings right now. As long as I stay alert and keep a Flying Thunder God mark ready to escape, I should be fine. And these sealing techniques aren't a problem for me—I can see their exact structure!"
He already knew sealing jutsu, and now he could clearly perceive the construction of every seal and barrier. Breaking through them was hardly difficult for him.
No matter how cleverly designed these barriers were, they felt almost illusory in front of the current Natsuhiko.
He made up his mind: he had to go inside. Only by understanding what this place truly held could he learn more.
With that, Natsuhiko turned to Kakashi standing nearby. "I'll head in alone. Take the others and return to the village."
"Hokage-sama?" Kakashi's eyes widened in alarm. Beside him, Sakumo also immediately objected.
"Hokage-sama, you can't go alone! Konoha cannot lose your leadership. Even though your strength is unmatched, if something were to—"
"If something happens, you can just resurrect me again," Natsuhiko said with a casual, teasing smile.
His words left both Kakashi and Sakumo completely speechless. They realized they had no counterargument—after all, Sakumo was standing right there, alive and well.
Seeing their frustrated expressions, Natsuhiko chuckled and waved it off.
"Relax. Don't forget I have the Flying Thunder God Technique. If I want to leave, it won't be difficult. Besides, Sakumo-senpai hasn't finished his rehabilitation training yet, so coming along wouldn't help much anyway. I'll leave a Shadow Clone with you to return to the village. Just treat this as a solo mission on my part."
Though his words left them feeling helpless, they had no choice but to agree once he'd put it that way.
They were both intensely curious about what could possibly interest the man currently regarded as the strongest shinobi in the ninja world. But since Hokage-sama clearly had no intention of explaining, pressing the issue would be inappropriate.
They watched as Natsuhiko left a Shadow Clone behind and strode quickly toward the barrier. In the end, the two of them could only shake their heads.
They each had their own duties. Kakashi still needed to coordinate the ANBU and continue collecting items, while Sakumo's strength was still far from recovered. Following along recklessly wouldn't do any good.
Natsuhiko leaped into the cavern, using the long-distance vision of his Jōgam to scan the surroundings while rapidly dismantling the seals blocking his path.
His movements were swift. Not long after his Shadow Clone and the others had left, he had already entered the long tunnel he had spotted earlier.
The passage was far longer and darker than he had imagined. Even Natsuhiko felt an oppressive pressure weighing down on him inside it.
"Truly clever design. There's nothing alive in here, yet it still creates such a heavy atmosphere. Impressive."
Natsuhiko silently muttered this in his heart, and then his speed became even faster.
However, along the way, he did not forget to leave behind enough Flying Thunder God marks. Although he had not seen any living creatures, that did not mean there truly were none.
Making every possible precaution was the most important thing, and also the most crucial.
Natsuhiko did not know exactly how far he had gone, but all of a sudden, he discovered a patch of light falling in the distance.
Seeing this scene, Natsuhiko could not help raising an eyebrow. When he finally arrived at that location, he discovered that this place was already the end of the passage.
At the top of the passage was a huge opening, and this opening was directly facing the bright moon in the sky.
Clear moonlight spilled down from the sky. It passed through the opening and shone directly onto the ground. Natsuhiko walked to the place bathed in moonlight and slightly raised his head to look upward.
In that instant, he felt as though the moon was right above his head, so close that it seemed within reach.
However, Natsuhiko was also very puzzled now. In his memory, when he had come out, it had clearly been morning. How had it turned into night after arriving here?
Natsuhiko could not quite understand this question, but he also could not be bothered to think too much about it.
The world of Naruto was a world filled with supernatural powers to begin with. No matter what strange things happened, they were not worth being surprised over.
Lowering his head, Natsuhiko looked toward the summoning formation on the ground where the moonlight gathered. In truth, he had already seen this thing long ago. He simply had not dealt with it before now.
And with the current situation unfolding before him, Natsuhiko increasingly felt that he had found the right place.
Even if he did not know why there had been no description of this location in the original story, the original story had never said there was only one path from the moon to the shinobi world either.
Taking a deep breath, Natsuhiko crouched down and placed his hand on the summoning formation. Chakra surged rapidly from his body into the seal.
The moment his chakra entered, the summoning formation converted it into a far more mysterious energy. The moonlight instantly grew strange and thick, becoming almost tangible.
Even more interesting was the way the moonlight enveloping Natsuhiko suddenly gained a pulling force.
The attraction started weak but grew stronger with every passing second.
Sensing the change, Natsuhiko simply relaxed and let the force lift him. His body rose swiftly from the ground.
The clear moonlight continued to surround him. When the mysterious power reached its peak, a brilliant silver flash erupted—and Natsuhiko vanished from the spot.
He didn't know how much time had passed before he suddenly felt his body grow heavy again.
The silver protective light faded, revealing a barren, desolate landscape before him.
Natsuhiko glanced down at the teleportation formation. During the transfer, he hadn't felt any acceleration or disorientation at all.
The formation truly was extraordinarily advanced.
"If I could figure out how this thing works, transporting people between cities or moving large troops would become incredibly easy," he thought, genuinely impressed.
He had always coveted this kind of teleportation formation. If he could obtain one, he might even be able to replicate it—like the magical teleportation circles he had read about in Western fantasy novels during his youth.
Back then, most of the stories he read featured Western magic worlds. He had been captivated by the wondrous spells and the teleportation formation that linked entire cities.
He used to daydream about using them to get to school instead of walking or taking the bus.
Of course, for him at that time, it had been pure fantasy. Technology and magic were strictly separate.
But this world was different. Technology existed, yet it had developed in a strangely distorted way. Magic-like powers existed too, though they were called ninjutsu rather than spells. Maybe it didn't count as true "magic," but the world certainly possessed the ability to cross space. After all, Natsuhiko himself had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Still, using Flying Thunder God as the foundation for a mass teleportation formation didn't seem very reliable—it required markers placed by someone in advance. Plus, the technique was extremely difficult to learn. Even now, only Natsuhiko could use it in all of Konoha (Minato was still training at Mount Myoboku, so he didn't count).
He had considered releasing the technique to the village, but both Nara Shikaku's faction and Sarutobi Hiruzen had strongly opposed it. Their reasoning was practical: while techniques from the Scroll of Seals could be rewarded, they couldn't be distributed on a large scale. Any one of them falling into enemy hands would cause endless trouble.
Just looking at the Shadow Clone Technique was enough to understand that. After thinking it over, Natsuhiko also agreed with their view.
"Still, research is research. This should be the moon. If I'm lucky, I might obtain everything I want here. Once I have it, I'll summon Tobirama Senju right away. Even if I don't get what I'm after, I'll summon him anyway to study. Such a powerful ability shouldn't go to waste."
Summoning the dead to work for him was perfect—no salaries, no vacation time. They were already dead, after all. The ultimate disposable workforce.
Natsuhiko knew the idea was dangerous; it was the kind of thinking that brought a person's neck closer and closer to a noose hanging from a lamppost.
But he didn't control the means of production, and this wasn't his previous world. He wasn't worried in the slightest.
"I need to remember this. As soon as I get back, I'll start making arrangements."
Having firmly decided to summon Tobirama Senju upon his return, Natsuhiko set the matter aside for now.
His eyes swept across the desolate landscape. He was now almost certain he stood on the surface of the moon—the one far, far away from the ninja world.
The moon was still barren, with none of the classical architecture or lush greenery he remembered from the original story. The stark desolation told him he was most likely on the moon's surface.
He wasn't surprised by the environment. Even though this was the Naruto world, the moon's surface looked much the same as he remembered from his previous life.
If there was any difference, it was that this moon was significantly smaller—after all, it had been created by the Sage of Six Paths using Chibaku Tensei.
The real distinction lay inside the moon itself. That was where the true gap between this world's moon and the one in his memories opened wide.
"So this teleportation formation sends people to the moon's surface rather than straight to its core," Natsuhiko mused.
He was pondering how to get inside when a flash of movement caught the corner of his eye. Several white figures were speeding toward him from the distance.
He was now somewhat troubled, because he still had not figured out how he was supposed to enter the interior of the moon.
But at that moment, Natsuhiko's peripheral vision swept toward one direction. From there, several white figures were rapidly approaching.
Originally, Natsuhiko had still been wondering how exactly he should enter the moon's interior. If he could not get inside, then he would have no way to come into contact with the things he wanted.
But now, it seemed that the situation was better than he had imagined. After all, since people had come, Natsuhiko now had an opportunity and possibility to find the path into the moon's interior.
Thinking this, chakra immediately began surging within Natsuhiko's body. Although he had to fight as soon as he arrived, that was not bad either.
At the very least, through this battle, Natsuhiko could roughly understand what level the enemies he would face were at.
"Who are you?" the figures demanded as they closed in.
There were four of them, each possessing a Byakugan. Their visual range was clearly no shorter than Natsuhiko's. The moment he noticed them, they noticed him too—in fact, they had detected him even earlier.
After all, they were Otsutsuki who lived on the moon. This was their territory. The four of them were surface guards.
The instant the teleportation formation had activated without authorization, they had sensed the disturbance and rushed over.
At first, when they scanned Natsuhiko's chakra, they hadn't reacted much. It was large, but nothing special in their eyes.
But the moment they saw his eyes, all four became extremely wary. Natsuhiko had kept his Jōgan active the entire time, and to them, those eyes looked strikingly similar to the giant Tenseigan stored inside their temple.
"Four of them, and their strength isn't bad," Natsuhiko noted as he observed them in return.
He had to admit that even though these moon-dwelling Otsutsuki were far weaker than the true Otsutsuki clan, their base physical qualities were still vastly superior to those of ordinary shinobi in the ninja world.
Each of the four possessed an astonishingly large chakra reserve. To put it bluntly, none of them had a chakra capacity inferior to his own.
Chakra volume alone didn't determine strength, but it was a solid indicator. Even an idiot with that much chakra could spam ninjutsu and overwhelm plenty of shinobi.
"It doesn't matter who I am to you," Natsuhiko said, having already estimated their limits. Since they were enemies, there was no point in pointless chatter.
Was he supposed to politely tell them that he wanted to see their Tenseigan, and then they would actually let him see it?
The reason they had not attacked immediately was entirely because they were wary. Natsuhiko understood this very clearly. He folded his arms as an enormous amount of chakra surged into the sky.
At that moment, the surface of the moon seemed to tremble slightly under the impact of his chakra, while Natsuhiko calmly spoke in an indifferent tone.
"But you can remember my name. I am Senju Natsuhiko."
The moment the words left his mouth, he formed a single hand seal. The chakra he had already mobilized poured out.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
Ever since Natsuhiko had obtained Wood Release, his frequency of using ordinary ninjutsu had dropped sharply.
But that did not mean Natsuhiko could not use them. In fact, the power of those ninjutsu was absolutely not weak at all.
After all, his chakra was so vast, and the chakra of his basic elemental attributes had already reached an advanced level through the seeds.
In terms of pure understanding, he was even stronger with them than with something like Wood Release. Facing these current enemies, Natsuhiko had not yet reached the point where he needed to throw out his trump card immediately.
Moreover, through his Jōgan, Natsuhiko had clearly detected that the bodies of these people before him seemed to have some problems.
There were more or less irreparable injuries inside their bodies. Such injuries meant they could not fight at full strength, because once they did, they might immediately run into serious trouble.
Since that was the case, Natsuhiko could take his time. After all, he did not have any injuries at all.
Following Natsuhiko's hand seals, countless stone spikes erupted from the ground in an instant.
These spikes did not contain any senjutsu chakra, but they were not at all inferior to the ones Natsuhiko had used back in Sunagakure.
However, these Ōtsutsuki on the moon reacted very quickly. They immediately leapt up and assumed combat stances, but the way they opened their attack made Natsuhiko freeze for a moment.
"Gentle Fist?"
Natsuhiko had dealt with members of the Hyūga Clan quite a few times, so he naturally recognized the opening stance of the Gentle Fist.
Of course, if it were only ordinary Gentle Fist, Natsuhiko would not need to care. After all, the Hyūga Clan and these Ōtsutsuki on the moon already had countless connections between them.
However, their movements seemed even more profound than those of the Hyūga Clan. Natsuhiko himself was not certain whether he had seen wrongly, but he had that feeling.
"Eight Trigrams: Six Palms!"
Sure enough, when the leading man fiercely struck out with his hand, Natsuhiko immediately understood that his feeling had not been wrong.
The Hyūga's palm techniques were unleashed all at once, but these people seemed to have split apart those palm techniques.
Most importantly, there was an extremely obvious special quality within their palm techniques: the fusion of Yin and Yang. In other words, these people actually all knew Yin–Yang Release.
"Bang!"
With only a single touch, Natsuhiko's Earth Release immediately turned into powder. Under the leader's guidance, the others also attacked one after another, and their palm techniques were equally terrifying.
"Rumble!"
Along with one terrifying roar after another, countless shattered stones flew outward in all directions. As they flew, they continuously turned into powder.
Natsuhiko raised an eyebrow. This level of attack power really was frightening.
He couldn't help wondering: if the Hyūga Clan had also mastered this kind of power, would they have ended up so stifled in Konoha?
The answer was naturally no. The power of Yin-Yang Release was truly unimaginable.
The Hyūga had probably only inherited some superficial remnants. They had not obtained even the slightest part of the core essence.
"Yin-Yang Release… what an incredible power. Judging from how many of them there are, this place must have plenty of it. If my operation succeeds this time, the rewards will be even greater than I imagined.
And now's the perfect chance to test my new power!"
With that thought, Natsuhiko circulated his chakra once more. This time, his power took on a similar nature to theirs.
He had possessed Yin-Yang Release for some time now, but aside from a few experiments, he had never used it against an enemy.
It had left him feeling somewhat frustrated, but it was also reassuring—it meant no one in the current ninja world was strong enough to force him to go all out.
This situation, however, was different. He intended to test it properly. Opponents like these were rare.
Yin-Yang Release rapidly gathered inside him and merged with his chakra. In an instant, Natsuhiko seemed like a different person.
Just as he finished, the four Otsutsuki burst through the dust cloud and surrounded him. Ninjutsu clashes were always fast to start and fast to end.
"I'll ask one more time—who are you?" The leader's expression had grown far more cautious. He could see that Natsuhiko's chakra had completely changed.
The four of them raised their own chakra to its peak. It wasn't quite a life-or-death level, but it was more than enough to terrify any shinobi in the ninja world.
"And what exactly are those eyes of yours? How did you get here? I'll give you one last chance. Otherwise, we'll have to find the answers on your corpse."
"Give me a chance?" Natsuhiko laughed. "You're quite confident. But do you actually have the strength to back it up?"
Before the words even faded, his figure vanished. In the same instant, he reappeared directly beside the lead Otsutsuki.
"Careful!" The other Ōtsutsuki reacted quickly. Chakra immediately erupted from their bodies as they tried to rush forward and rescue him.
The leading Ōtsutsuki had also been watching Natsuhiko at every moment. His reaction was extremely calm. The instant Natsuhiko's chakra surged, he had already responded.
Almost the moment Natsuhiko appeared, he struck out with his palm. That reaction slightly surprised Natsuhiko.
Back in the shinobi world, there were truly not many people who could react to his Flying Thunder God.
However, he soon let go of that thought. These Ōtsutsuki on the moon possessed even Yin–Yang Release, and they also had that mysterious teleportation formation.
The fact that they could respond to an offensive like his did not seem all that strange. Still, being able to react and being able to truly deal with Natsuhiko were two completely different matters.
Almost before this man could complete his attack, Natsuhiko had already taken out a kunai. A strange light of interwoven black and white appeared over its blade.
"Yin-Yang Release: Water Blade Slash!"
The kunai swept rapidly toward the man's neck. The blade, carrying obvious Yin-Yang Release chakra, crossed his throat in an instant.
Blood surged wildly at that moment. Yet in the very same instant, Natsuhiko's figure had already disappeared and reappeared beside another Ōtsutsuki.
The kunai stabbed out swiftly once again, but this man had clearly prepared himself.
Before Natsuhiko could strike, he had already begun spinning his body. Clearly, this was a technique similar to Rotation.
However, the moment he began to rotate, Natsuhiko's Jōgan had already captured the only opening within the spinning chakra. His kunai immediately stabbed straight into it.
"AAAGH!"
The Ōtsutsuki ninja could not help letting out a miserable scream. The instant his defense had barely begun to form, Natsuhiko had already broken through it.
Only, while breaking through his defense, the kunai in Natsuhiko's hand also completely snapped. Clearly, this kunai could not withstand the intensity of the current battle at all.
But Natsuhiko did not care. Before the other two Ōtsutsuki ninja could launch their attacks at him, he had already tossed away the broken kunai in his hand.
Then he clenched his fist and punched toward the man's abdomen.
"Bang!"
The Otsutsuki was sent flying. The strike had carried Yin-Yang Release; against any ordinary shinobi, it would have punched straight through the stomach.
But this opponent was tougher than expected. The moment the fist connected, a strange Yang Release surged up and neutralized at least half the force.
The man crashed to the ground, coughing up large mouthfuls of blood. His insides felt like they were being twisted, and some organs had clearly shifted, but he had survived.
"Yin-Yang Release, huh?"
Natsuhiko vanished again, returning to his original position. Looking at the man still vomiting blood, he had already formed a few guesses.
The power of Yin-Yang Release truly was unbelievable. It could accomplish things that defied common sense.
These Otsutsuki were genuinely strong, especially with Yin-Yang Release. Even a weak version of it was far beyond what ordinary people could handle.
Unfortunately for them, they had run into Natsuhiko—someone who possessed the very same power. Their luck had run out.
"You alright?" The two remaining Otsutsuki were visibly shaken. They had never encountered this style of combat before.
If they hadn't noticed the strange seed-like objects that had silently appeared beneath their feet—each engraved with bizarre symbols—they might not have been able to prepare their defenses in time.
They had also sensed that Natsuhiko's attacks carried Yin-Yang Release—the very power they prided themselves on.
Who exactly was this man? His eyes hadn't displayed their full power yet, but the pressure they emitted was already overwhelming. He possessed their power, knew space-time ninjutsu, and moved with terrifying speed. The difficulty of dealing with such an enemy was beyond imagination.
With one teammate dead and another severely wounded in the blink of an eye, the two survivors immediately split roles: one maintained a constant guard against Natsuhiko while the other rushed to protect the injured man.
"I'm not dead yet," the wounded Otsutsuki said through gritted teeth. "Watch the ground! He's using those underground seeds to teleport!"
"Found out already?" Natsuhiko naturally heard his words, and he could not help finding it somewhat amusing.
In the end, they possessed the Byakugan. It was actually quite normal for them to notice.
However, even if he had been discovered, he did not care. After all, Natsuhiko had never planned to continue relying on this method of attack.
Now, he intended to get a little more serious, because he had already been completely drawn in by the knowledge possessed by the Ōtsutsuki.
...
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