324.Piercing the Moon
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Inside the Castle.
Sasuke led his three teammates as they meticulously searched through the rooms of the enormous castle, collecting scrolls and ancient texts inscribed with writings, as well as various objects emitting chakra reactions.
At that moment, the four of them were walking down a corridor lined with floor-to-ceiling windows.
"That—!!"
Karin, the most sensitive to chakra fluctuations among them, suddenly gasped in shock.
The other three turned their heads in unison, their eyes locking onto a distant temple floating in the air.
"Uncle and the others seem to have gone there," Sasuke muttered. "Did something happen?"
Meanwhile, Neji activated his Byakugan and couldn't help but exclaim, "So many people!"
"What?"
Sasuke hurriedly stepped toward the window, pressing his face against the glass and squinting to get a better look at the distant temple.
"Hundreds of shinobi have emerged from a door that appeared out of nowhere," Neji swallowed hard. "And… they all seem to be members of the Uchiha clan."
"Impossible! Unless—"
With a sharp kick, Sasuke shattered the stained-glass window and leaped through the broken frame without hesitation.
"Wait, Sasuke!"
The other three followed, jumping down from the castle and sprinting after him toward the floating temple.
---
In the room where the Hyūga team was stationed.
Hinata sat quietly by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the scenery outside.
Tōka and Ruka sat on the other side of the room, conversing in hushed tones.
"Sasuke-kun…" Hinata suddenly stood up and walked around a partition wall onto the suspended balcony.
"Lady Hinata!"
Tōka and Ruka immediately rushed after her. "What's wrong?"
"Sasuke-kun and the others… they suddenly left."
Hinata pointed toward the four figures dashing across the landscape outside the castle.
Tōka and Ruka exchanged a glance before simultaneously activating their Byakugan.
"That's—!!"
Their eyes widened as they caught sight of the floating temple in the distance.
"How…?" Hinata, belatedly activating her own Byakugan, let out a stunned gasp.
---
"Sasuke!!" Karin shouted. "We won't make it in time!"
"Tch."
Sasuke came to a halt at the edge of a cliff, tilting his head up to stare at the temple suspended in the sky.
A golden light radiated from the temple, gradually shifting into a deep, blood-like crimson.
The red glow intensified, spreading until it dyed the surrounding sky in its hue.
"Such terrifying energy…" Karin trembled beside Sasuke.
"That's…" Neji's voice was grave. "The combined ocular power of hundreds of advanced Sharingan, all linked together."
"What the hell are they doing…?"
Sasuke could clearly sense the ever-growing surge of ocular power emanating from the temple.
"They're converging the ocular power of every single person onto one individual," Neji's voice shook slightly.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Suigetsu let out a strained laugh. "You've gotta be kidding me. The Uchiha clan was hiding this many people all along? That's seriously messed up."
"Damn it!" Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. "I don't know the specifics either!"
Though he had a vague idea of what was happening, he couldn't be certain.
The blinding red light saturated everything in its glow, and the massive floating temple began to tremble faintly.
"Uchiha…!"
Standing on the castle's balcony, the three Hyūga could only watch in stunned silence.
"What's going on…?"
Toneri, locked alone in his room, felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
"It's starting!!"
Karin suddenly screamed, covering her ears and crouching down.
"It's starting."
Neji narrowed his eyes into slits.
"It's starting."
Sasuke didn't even blink, his gaze fixed unwaveringly ahead.
---
The crimson light that had dyed half the sky abruptly contracted, vanishing into the temple as if it had never existed.
Silence.
Then, in the next instant—
A massive red beam erupted from beneath the temple, piercing downward in the blink of an eye and connecting with the surface of the moon below.
Sasuke immediately leaned over the cliff's edge, watching as the red beam stabbed into the moon like a colossal sword.
Yet, within mere seconds, the beam rapidly shrank before dissipating entirely.
The moon's surface remained completely unscathed, as though nothing had happened.
"What the hell just happened?"
Suigetsu looked around in utter confusion.
"No idea." Sasuke kept his eyes on the temple. "Neji."
Neji reopened his eyes. "Those people are still there… Wait, I didn't notice earlier—there's a door that appeared out of nowhere. People keep entering and exiting through it."
"Damn it!"
Sasuke paced restlessly along the cliff's edge, barely suppressing his burning curiosity.
That bastard uncle… He didn't even bother to call me!
---
Inside the Temple.
Kaito summoned more people from the gate to assist the clan members who had temporarily exhausted their ocular power, helping them return.
"I think we need to have a proper talk."
Indra was the last to step through the gate, leaving behind only those words.
"I'll make time to speak with you in detail later, elder."
Kaito waved his hand as the gates of the Underworld Palace slowly closed, fading into transparency before vanishing from sight.
Then, he turned to Chiri, his tone apologetic.
"I'm sorry, Elder. You may have to remain here alone for a while."
"It's fine. I've long grown accustomed to solitude." Chiri smiled faintly. "Back in the Great Mountain, I spent years guarding the castle tower alone."
"You have my deepest gratitude." Kaito bowed respectfully. "Thank you."
"No need for formalities." Chiri gently patted his shoulder. "You've worked hard to achieve your goals as well, Kaito."
"Not at all. I've enjoyed every moment of it." Kaito straightened up, his smile bright.
"As long as you're happy."
Chiri turned and walked toward the stone statue, seating himself calmly before it.
"I understand what must be done next. You all may go."
"Then we leave this place in your hands, Elder Chiri!"
"Thank you for your hard work."
"We're counting on you."
With one last glance at Chiri's composed figure, the four Uchiha stepped out of the temple's gates.
"That brat Sasuke…" Izuna chuckled as he spotted the boy below. "He's probably furious."
"There are some things he shouldn't be too involved in," Kaito said coolly. "The living and the dead belong to separate worlds. A Onmyoji stands at the boundary between them. Sasuke is the only pure living member of the Uchiha clan—he shouldn't get too close to the realm of the dead."
---
That night, countless people across the shinobi world witnessed an unprecedented phenomenon—the moon, ever-constant in the night sky, was momentarily "pierced" by a beam of red light.
The light lasted only a brief moment, so fleeting that most didn't even notice it, preventing widespread panic.
However, the major villages, having confirmed the anomaly, were thrown into unprecedented tension.
As for the Kage still in the Land of Iron—aside from Tsunade, who had some prior knowledge—the others began suspecting this to be another sinister plot by the Akatsuki.
Thus, with unspoken agreement, they concluded their negotiations with unprecedented efficiency before hurrying back to their respective villages under the cover of night.
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