Chapter 391: Will She Break Free?

A sharp pain pierced Hagoromo's heart.

Exhausted from the battle and burdened by conflicting emotions, his voice had grown hoarse as he tried to explain himself to his younger brother.

Perhaps...

He was also trying to convince himself.

"Hamura..."

"I... had no other choice."

After a long pause, he looked toward the distant moon and spoke with quiet solemnity.

"Mother possesses a truly immortal body."

"It is the result of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's bloodline combined with the power of the Chakra Fruit."

"No ordinary method can truly harm her, much less kill her."

"Even if we exhausted ourselves defeating her today, she would eventually revive."

"And after awakening..."

"She might only become even more dangerous."

"The only way to stop her from continuing to destroy this world..."

"...while also preserving her life..."

"...was to seal her away somewhere beyond the reach of this world."

He looked at Hamura, sincerity—and the faintest trace of pleading—in his eyes.

"I could only do this."

"I hope..."

"...you can understand."

"And forgive me."

Hamura gave no response.

He seemed completely lost within his own thoughts.

Guilt.

Grief.

And the lingering weight of his mother's final words had swallowed him whole.

He stood there silently like a statue from which all life had vanished.

Only his tightly clenched fists and the heavy sorrow surrounding him betrayed the storm raging inside.

Beneath the Heavenly Curtain...

Across the Shinobi World...

Every viewer had been left frozen by the outcome.

Their eyes wandered repeatedly between the newly formed stone moon within the Heavenly Curtain...

...and the familiar moon hanging peacefully in the real night's sky.

Again.

And again.

As though trying to convince themselves they were not seeing things.

Their minds seemed incapable of thought.

Even breathing became difficult.

Silence reigned for several long seconds.

Then—

The world exploded into an uproar.

"S-so..."

"The moon above our heads..."

"Is Kaguya really sealed inside it?!"

A trembling voice broke the silence, asking the question that sent chills through everyone's soul.

"So that's how the moon came into existence?!"

"It isn't some celestial body..."

"It isn't a natural satellite..."

"The Sage of Six Paths actually created it with a Fūinjutsu?!"

More people finally regained their senses.

Their cries of disbelief echoed everywhere.

"Unbelievable!"

"He actually created the moon just to seal away his own mother?!"

"You're all missing the real issue!"

A much sharper voice suddenly cut through the astonishment.

"The Sage of Six Paths said it himself!"

"Kaguya possesses an immortal body!"

"She wasn't killed!"

"She was only sealed!"

"Doesn't that mean..."

"...she's still alive?!"

Still alive.

Those two words struck like thunder.

In an instant, everyone was dragged from their amazement at the creation of the moon into an even more horrifying reality.

The entire Shinobi World erupted.

From the capitals of the Five Great Nations to the smallest villages, every place watching the Heavenly Curtain was overwhelmed by cries of disbelief and panic.

"A living Kaguya?!"

"So she's inside the moon right now?!"

"My god..."

"Every night we've been looking at the moon..."

"And inside it..."

"...is the Progenitor of Chakra, the one who nearly destroyed the entire world?"

"Then..."

"Does that mean..."

"...she's watching the Heavenly Curtain too?"

"Watching everything that happened a thousand years ago?"

"Watching herself being sealed by her own sons?"

That realization sent a chill down countless spines.

Everyone had believed they were merely watching a forgotten chapter of ancient history.

Instead, they suddenly realized that the greatest enemy in that history...

Had never died.

She had never become a relic of the past.

She had been imprisoned above them all this time.

Inside the moon they had looked upon every night without a second thought.

And perhaps...

She was watching the Heavenly Curtain alongside them.

That thought alone filled countless people with indescribable dread.

Some instinctively stepped away from their windows, no longer daring to look at the moon.

Afraid...

That Kaguya might suddenly break free.

Others felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

"What is this?!"

"We've all been sitting here arguing over everything..."

"And the person we're talking about might actually be watching us from the sky?!"

"That's just creepy!"

"What must she be thinking while watching herself get sealed?"

"Anger?"

"Hatred?"

"Or..."

"...is she planning something?"

"And the biggest question..."

"What if one day..."

"...she breaks the seal?"

"What if she returns to the Shinobi World?"

Terror and overwhelming shock intertwined like two venomous serpents, tightening around everyone's hearts.

Without exception, people once again lifted their heads toward the night sky.

The moon they had once associated with peace, reunion, and quiet beauty now seemed utterly alien.

Its pale light no longer felt comforting.

Instead...

It resembled the cold gaze of an eternal prison, silently watching over every soul that now knew the truth.

Even the ground beneath their feet no longer felt familiar.

The world itself had become uncertain.

Within the Heavenly Curtain, the moon—symbolizing both sealing and a new beginning—had long since disappeared into the sky .

Only its cold light remained, illuminating the devastated earth below.

The thunderous destruction had ceased.

Yet the silence that followed was even more suffocating.

After a long time...

Hamura finally seemed to recover a fragment of himself from the overwhelming shock.

Slowly...

Stiffly...

He turned toward his older brother.

His voice was hoarse, like sand scraping across stone.

It was filled with confusion and pain that reached to the marrow.

"Brother..."

"...did we make a mistake?"

He slowly raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the world around them.

"Look..."

"Just look..."

"...at what has become of this world."

Hagoromo fell silent.

Following his brother's gesture, he finally looked upon the battlefield—not as a warrior, but as someone witnessing the aftermath of victory for the first time.

What met his eyes was no longer the orderly, if oppressive, peace that had existed under Kaguya's rule.

Instead...

There were endless ruins.

Scorched earth.

Twisted landscapes.

Dry riverbeds.

Vanished mountain ranges.

Forests that had disappeared without a trace.

A silent wasteland stretched as far as the eye could see.

It was so lifeless...

That even the wind itself seemed to have stopped breathing.

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