Sixteen years old, the Fourth Mizukage

"Cough… cough, cough… Toneri, how do you feel? Can you sense any signs that the Tenseigan is beginning to stir?"

Inside a magnificent palace in the secret realm, Ōtsutsuki Shinya stood beside an extravagant bed. While coughing constantly, he nervously asked his son, Ōtsutsuki Toneri, whose eyes were covered in bandages and who had already been bedridden for three full days.

"I can… sense it… But it is too far away…"

Ōtsutsuki Toneri gasped weakly. Still young, he struggled to raise his thin right hand and grasped Ōtsutsuki Shinya's somewhat cold fingers. Haltingly, he said, "Father, the purity of the Byakugan you brought back is already enough. But my body and chakra are still insufficient to quickly incubate the Tenseigan. I am very sorry… for failing your expectations and the risk you took…"

"This is not Toneri's problem. It is my dereliction of duty as a father and clan head."

Ōtsutsuki Shinya held Toneri's hand in his own and murmured with a complicated heart full of self-blame.

"That is not true…"

Ōtsutsuki Toneri had just wanted to comfort his depressed father when another emotionless voice sounded in the room.

"Lord Shinya, the puppet troops we left on Earth have captured an outsider attempting to infiltrate."

Ōtsutsuki Shinya came back to himself. He turned his head toward the subordinate wearing a veil to conceal his true puppet body, and asked in an icy voice, "An accidental intruder? Or… prepared in advance?"

"The outsider is proficient in a special Transformation Technique and attempted to infiltrate the barrier by transforming into one of us. However, the target it transformed into was ultimately a living being. Because of this, we discovered it immediately and successfully captured and sealed it."

The combat puppet reported intelligence that made Ōtsutsuki Shinya subconsciously clench his fists.

At the same time, the already poor atmosphere in the room instantly fell to freezing point.

"I understand… Withdraw for now. I will go interrogate that intruder shortly."

"Yes."

The combat puppet vanished silently from Ōtsutsuki Toneri's room, just as silently as it had arrived.

Ōtsutsuki Shinya took several deep breaths in a row before finally calming his emotions again. Then he smiled at the bedridden Ōtsutsuki Toneri and said, "No need to worry, Toneri. They are merely some insignificant little insects. I will deal with them properly. You only need to rest well and recover."

"…I understand, Father."

Naturally, Ōtsutsuki Shinya could hear the wavering in Ōtsutsuki Toneri's answer.

But at this moment, how could Ōtsutsuki Toneri be the only person wavering?

After a long sigh, Ōtsutsuki Shinya left Toneri's room. Carrying a heavy heart, he walked toward the dungeon the moon's Ōtsutsuki clan used to imprison captives.

A short while later, in the dungeon, Ōtsutsuki Shinya saw the White Zetsu clone that had already been subdued by the combat puppets and covered in dense seals.

"Lord Shinya, this is the outsider who attempted to infiltrate the barrier."

The puppet responsible for escorting the White Zetsu clone to the dungeon stood beside Ōtsutsuki Shinya and coldly introduced the intelligence gathered through the previous battle.

"Its combat strength is not strong, but it has mastered a special Transformation Technique that is very difficult to see through. It can also release spores invisible to the naked eye that attach to objects possessing chakra, absorb the target's chakra, and grow…"

While Ōtsutsuki Shinya listened to the combat puppet's report, he looked at White Zetsu's distinctive appearance and furrowed his brows tightly.

"White Zetsu… So the one who stole the Gedo Statue has set his sights on us first?"

As descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hamura, the moon Ōtsutsuki, who had borne the mission of watching over the sealed Ōtsutsuki Kaguya from birth, were naturally not unfamiliar with White Zetsu, the "soldiers" created by the Divine Tree.

But at this moment, Ōtsutsuki Shinya did not feel even the slightest joy because he had found a clue to the Gedo Statue's whereabouts. What accumulated in his heart was only ever-expanding repression and regret.

It was not that Ōtsutsuki Shinya had never considered the possibility that his actions would be discovered.

But he had not expected his actions to attract the attention of the most dangerous enemy so quickly, much less for the enemy to follow the vine to the melon so swiftly and find the true residence of the Ōtsutsuki clan, which had remained hidden for thousands of years.

Was it the endless wars of the shinobi world that had made the people on the ground sensitive?

Or was it the long peace and waiting after defeating the main family that had made him, the heir of the branch family, dull?

Perhaps both.

But it was too late to say anything now.

Since he had already been exposed, then the only choice was to collect as much intelligence about the enemy as possible, then prepare for war with all his strength.

Cough. But in that case, he had to turn around and hope the enemy lost patience and came knocking as soon as possible… Truly, the affairs of the world were unpredictable.

Ōtsutsuki Shinya let out a long sigh. Slowly, he raised his right hand, gathering emerald-green chakra into a round sphere in his palm.

Then he stepped forward and struck the emerald-green Puppet Heart Sphere into White Zetsu's chest.

The White Zetsu clone, already weakened by the combat puppets' attacks and sealing techniques, went blank-eyed.

The originally somewhat ferocious expression on its face suddenly turned sluggish.

Ōtsutsuki Shinya also withdrew his hand from the other party's chest at the right moment. While coughing, he asked, "Speak. Tell me your purpose, your master, and everything you know about the shinobi world, product of the Divine Tree."

"Yes…"

The White Zetsu clone's eyes were hollow.

In a tone even more puppetlike than the puppets beside Ōtsutsuki Shinya, it began telling Ōtsutsuki Shinya the information it knew about the shinobi world.

Although it was only an individual temporarily created for infiltration and reconnaissance, the White Zetsu clone still knew some information that was no secret to Obito Uchiha's forces, but was extremely important to Ōtsutsuki Shinya in the heavens.

For example, the space-time dōjutsu Obito Uchiha specialized in.

The location of the Gedo Statue.

The existence of the Rinnegan and its current owner.

And various pieces of intelligence about Rei Kaguya, who was regarded by Obito Uchiha as his lifelong enemy and was now suppressing the shinobi world's situation with absolute strength.

"Madara Uchiha, who stole the Gedo Statue… His successor, Obito Uchiha, who can open another dimension… Nagato, the holder of the Rinnegan… And Rei Kaguya, who can use a power close to the All-Killing Ash Bones…"

"You wicked people of the ground… Just how close must you go toward reviving Ōtsutsuki Kaguya through your endless disputes before you are willing to stop?"

Repeating the names of the most dangerous people in his mouth, Ōtsutsuki Shinya's expression was heavy as he ended the life of the White Zetsu clone that had already lost its value.

Then he turned and swiftly hurried toward Hamura's Temple, which randomly drifted within the secret realm.

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