By all historical accounts, Madara Uchiha should have been dead for decades. How could he possibly still be breathing? The couple was deeply confused.
But with the Uchiha bloodline, it was theoretically possible to revive the power of the Sage. No wonder he could execute a Planetary Devastation.
Except, to create a sphere of that apocalyptic magnitude, you needed two shinobi who flawlessly wielded Yin-Yang Release. Did that mean this cat...?
No, that made absolutely no sense. He was clearly an alien, definitely unrelated to Hagoromo.
The husband and wife forced themselves to violently suppress their panic, discarding the more far-fetched theories. Ultimately, where this creature came from didn't matter. Right now, the only thing that mattered was figuring out how to survive the encounter.
Madara was not a gentle soul. Even up here, they'd heard horrifying legends of his brutality. And this black cat had managed to completely subdue him. He might be a vicious, terrifying entity they absolutely couldn't afford to offend.
Madara interrogated them about the true Otsutsuki armada, though as the Hamura branch, they actually didn't know much. They knew practically nothing about the main house, only that the endless starry sky harbored many formidable monsters.
Even so, the oral history gave Madara a much deeper understanding of the ancient past. Kaguya. The Shinju.
Everything the feline had claimed was completely true, and it seemed the alien armada genuinely existed.
"Meow~ So you really were an absolute idiot." Takeshi couldn't help mocking him again.
Madara stayed entirely silent. He really had been an arrogant fool, actually believing Black Zetsu's transparent nonsense, genuinely thinking he had forged a sentient will, never once realizing it was all an elaborate deception.
The crust beneath his boots was desolate, but at that moment, his heart felt even emptier. He had pursued his grand goal his entire life, only for it to unravel into a pathetic farce. Now he truly didn't know what to do.
Return to the shinobi world? He didn't want to.
The dream he'd bled for had collapsed into a joke. Going back would make him the ultimate punchline. With his towering pride, Madara would sooner rip his own heart out than crawl back and live in obscurity. He didn't have the face for it.
"Meow~ Oh right, do you two want to come live on Earth? Spending your remaining days on this barren rock is incredibly boring. Join Kuraokami and help protect the world." Takeshi casually extended the bizarre invitation.
It wasn't that he harbored a desperate desire to play savior, these gifted seeds were highly valuable assets. Bringing them in now meant shearing them for massive points later. Of course, if the couple firmly refused, he wouldn't violently force it.
Kuraokami was different from ordinary places. It was a true Holy Land precisely because it was deeply shrouded in mystery.
"Well, we..."
"Meow, you only have this one unborn child. You're just going to abandon him all alone up here? Let him grow up completely isolated? Besides, the world below isn't bad. If an alien cat like me can comfortably settle down, why can't you?"
Takeshi's blunt logic hit hard. The couple genuinely didn't know how to respond. Deep down, they violently resisted the idea. It was hard to abandon their ancestral homeland, and they highly suspected the cat wasn't a hero. On the other hand, the sealed demon still required constant guarding.
They were just about to politely refuse, but then noticed Madara's lethal aura. The cat was all cheerful smiles, but his human underling was anything but friendly.
They hesitated for a long agonizing moment, finally nodding helplessly. What else could they do? Their entire clan was reduced to ashes, and their lifespans were almost completely spent.
If they left, what would happen to everything in the castle? Takeshi quickly provided the answer.
Take it. Take it all. If the owners were leaving, why leave anything valuable behind? As payment for Kuraokami graciously taking care of their orphan, securing a few priceless artifacts wasn't too much to ask, right?
"I'm not going back. These eyes... take them. Give them to Konoha or to Shisui. Think of it as a small compensation from me."
As Madara spoke, he straightforwardly gouged out his own Rinnegan.
Mentally, Takeshi deeply admired him. Even if the Hashirama cells would rapidly heal the physical damage, the agonizing pain wasn't reduced in the slightest. Madara was a truly ruthless man.
Takeshi was only able to push him around because he held all the tactical cards. Otherwise, the man would have fought to the bitter end.
The bloody eyes were handed over. The two lunar survivors violently twitched. They couldn't see, but they could smell the fresh blood and sense what had just occurred. If their main house had possessed half of Madara's sheer ruthlessness, the branch family would have been entirely slaughtered.
Takeshi didn't bring the blind couple directly to Konoha, instead, he settled them near Yukigakure.
When he finally returned to the village, all of the higher-ups were anxiously waiting outside the walls, staring at the blasted wasteland where the battle had occurred. They were deeply shaken.
Was this really something a shinobi could do? It was too overwhelming. And up in the sky... there were two moons.
"What a terrifying ninjutsu." Minato's face was full of complicated emotion. He clearly remembered when the cat had just been a little brat who liked to lazily perch on his shoulder. Now he'd grown into a titan who could casually look down upon the entire world.
"It is... But at least the threat is permanently sealed. The outcome is good." Tsunade exhaled softly, deeply exhausted.
But a massive political issue loomed before her. How was she supposed to handle Madara? Execute him? That didn't feel right after he helped. But if she didn't, the traumatized village would never accept it.
Screw being Hokage. She desperately needed to find a reliable successor, train them up, and hand over the hat as soon as humanly possible.
Just then, a small, familiar weight suddenly dropped onto Minato's shoulder.
"Meow~ Why aren't you all sleeping? What are you doing out here?"
Good question. You're the one who flew out here, blew up a second satellite, and now you're asking us why we're awake? If Minato had actually been asleep, the cat probably would have materialized right on his bed.
Minato swallowed a mouthful of complaints.
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