1

Masashi Kishimoto
Born on November 1974, Kishimoto has
been an active manga artist since 1996.
In 1999 he created Naruto, and is
currently considered one of the most
popular manga artists alive.

Kyozuka Maruo
Being the writer of both “Quartet for
Two” and “Battle League in Kyoto” , it
seems that Kyozuka Maruo has no
problems writing relationships and
action, in books or film.

Honyakusha Eri
A long-time Japanese-English translator
with an extensive knowledge of Naruto
lore, and a love for cosplay. There’s
really no better person to handle a
translation like this.

Please visit the translator’s page:

honyakusha-eri.tumblr.com
3
 4

Masashi Kishimoto
Kyozuka Maruo
Honyakusha Eri
 5

The Moon is on a collision course with Earth and

it appears that there is nothing that can prevent
total planetary annihilation. In the midst of all
this Hyuga Hanabi, the current heir of the Hyuga
clan gets kidnapped by a mysterious foe named
Toneri. Could the two incidents be related?
Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru
Nara, Hinata Hyuga and Sai set out on a rescue WARNING
mission that could very well determine the fate This section was not translated by Eri.
of the ninja-world. The exciting conclusion to the Hence the translation here is unreliable.
Naruto manga is finally here!
 6

A former
S U
z C
member of
the “root” a u h
faction, Sai i The Hidden
m I a
now fol- Leaf Village’s
a n r
lows his Greatest Hero. t a
own path. Having been k r c
infused with Ni o t
He can make
the Nine-Tail’s a d e
beasts appear
chakra he led a r u r
from his
scrolls. lonely child- u c
hood. He wants t t
to be the next o i
hokage. o
n
s

Having an IQ
S
of over 200, h
and being i
able to keep k
his calm in a
tough situa- m
tions he is a a
great leader. r
He uses u
shadows in
combat.

The
H S
former
i
The
Leaf a
Hyuga
n village’s k
clan heir a chief u
Ed. Note: grew up
t medical r
This section was not to be a
strong
a Ninja. a
translate d by Eri. kunoichi.
Unreliable translation.
 7

Ed. Note:
This section was not
translate d by Eri.
Unreliable
translation. He wants
to punish
earth-nin T
for using o
chakra as n
a weapon e
of war. r
i

Toneri’s
Guardians and
puppets.
 Contents
Prologue
Memories……………………… page 10
Chapter 1
Natural Disaster…………….. page 15
Chapter 2
Road to Hanabi……………… page 41
Chapter 3
Naruto’s Reality…………….. page 78
Chapter 4
Record of the Pure Love War page 101
Epilogue
Towards Tomorrow………… page 144
 9

[NARUTO - THE LAST] Official Movie Novelization

Original Creator/Supervisor: Masashi Kishimoto

Novel adapted and written by: Kyozuka Mauro
Based on the movie written by: Sho Hinata
Translated into English by: Honyakusha Eri

http://honyakusha-eri.tumblr.com

This is a free translation!

Do not print! Do not sell!

Do not upload without the translator’s permission!

Prologue 10
 11

On a particular day in March while preparing to enter the academy, Hyuuga Hinata was
surrounded by a group of three bullies in a grove where snow still remained.

“Show us your byakugan, Hyuuga girl!”

“That byakugan is creepy, idiot!”
“Are you a monster? Byakugan monster!”

Just when she couldn’t take it anymore, a hero appeared before her.

“Hey! Don’t be mean to girls!”

He appeared before Hinata when she was in trouble.

The small boy wrapped in a scarf wasn’t the least bit timid in the face of three boys who were
bigger and stronger than he was. He just smiled. The bullies on the other hand, were quite
shocked.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto… the future Hokage dattebayo!”

He barked at the group of three, and grabbed at them fiercely. The bullies were completely on
their guard. Hinata clenched her first as she said in her heart “hang in there.”

Several minutes later, the boy collapsed. He was completely out cold. The kage bunshin no
jutsu he had released had been a failure, and he had been beaten up by the three bullies.

“Future Hokage, yeah right! This guy’s totally weak!”

The three stole the boy’s scarf, and after having torn it up by throwing it around and trampling it,
they left while laughing.

The boy was unconscious with his mouth half open and didn’t move even the slightest bit.
Hinata tried shaking his body just a little bit. His body shook limply, and his eyelids began to
twitch.

The moment he woke up, he immediately jumped up and put himself on guard.

“It’s not over! This time I’ll use a great… j-jutsu… ooh! Ow-ow-ow…” He grabbed his face and
fell down in agony.

“…Are you ok?” Hinata peered at the boy and saw blackish-red swelling around his mouth.
“It-it’s nothing –ttebayo…”
“This… those boys…”

Hinata held out his scarf, which had been torn up by the three bullies.

“…I don’t need it anymore.”

“I’m sorry. Um… if this is ok…”
 12

“Are you a monster? Byakugan monster!”

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto…”

 13

Hinata took the scarf from her own neck and tried to give it to the boy, but he stopped her with
his hand.

“Don’t worry about it… bye,” he murmured in a small voice as he stood up and trudged away.

“Th-thank you!”

Hinata turned towards the boy’s back, and silently cast her face downward.

“….It was nothing –ttebayo!”

The boy looked over his shoulder and smiled brightly, then energetically ran off.

The boy was weak. Despite that, he had stood up to bullies for a girl he didn’t even know.

Hinata tightly grasped the torn up scarf that the boy had worn.

The voices of cicadas could be heard from the schoolyard in the academy classroom.

“If the end of the world was coming tomorrow, who would you want to be with?”

When Umino Iruka asked this question from the front of the room, Uzumaki Naruto burst out.

“There’s no way the end of the world is coming!”

“Say for instance… if the moon was falling,” Iruka responded.

“If it was the last day on earth, it would be nice if meat was falling instead of the moon.”

The classroom was filled with laughter at the words of Akimichi Chouji, who was looking up at
the ceiling.

“Even if the moon was falling, I would protect you, Sakura-chan!” Naruto said brimming with
confidence to Haruno Sakura, who was in the seat next to him.

“Why by you? I’d rather not be protected!”

Sakura turned the other way.

“Alright. Now everyone write down a name. For the last day on earth… who would you want to
be with? Want to take your time on it? Write down that person’s name.”

The students became slightly excited and picked up their pencils.

“Your sensei won’t look at this. It will be your own secret. So I want you to write your honest
feelings.”
 14

Naruto became curious as to what name everyone was writing, and looked around. There were
many kids who wrote “Dad” or “Mom.” This was only natural in a class full of children.

I don’t know my dad or mom…

“I’m sure there has to be someone… just honestly write down whatever name pops into your
head,” Iruka whispered as he came over to Naruto and patted his head.

Whatever name pops into my head… who could I say?

Naruto couldn’t come up with anyone at all. Naruto stuck his pencil under his nose and sat filled
with worries.

Sakura wrote down “Uchiha Sasuke-kun” while blushing.

Sasuke on the other hand, was resting his chin on his hands and staring out the window.

I don’t have any friends, either… I’m completely alone.

Still unable to write anything, Naruto got upset and gradually became desperate. He then folded
his blank paper into an airplane, and suddenly tossed it out the window.

“Hey Naruto! Don’t throw away your paper!”

“But there’s no way the end of the world is coming!”

“We’re talking about what if the world was ending!”

“It’s not ending!”

The paper airplane soared through the air. Following the airplane with her eyes, Hinata took a
quick glance at Naruto and smiled, then began to write down someone’s name.
Chapter 1 15
 16

Two years had passed since the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
In the depth of autumn outside the Hidden Leaf Village, a freezing cold full moon overlooked a
deep forest. Many oddly-shaped rocks stuck out above the trees, towering towards the sky.
Accompanied by two subordinates, Hyuuga Hiashi was waiting for a certain man.

A low, heavy, moan-like voice came echoing from an uncertain direction.

“This is fate. It is the fate with which the Hyuuga clan has been charged.”

The shadow of a person appeared at the top of a rock.

It was a handsome young man. His mouth smiled, but his eyes were closed.

The two subordinates took out their kunai and prepared themselves.

“Hyuuga Hiashi, let’s hear your answer tonight. The answer that will decide the future of your
clan…”
“The Hyuuga clan’s answer is this!”

Hiashi leapt up, and extended the palm of his hand in midair as he approached the man.
However, the man didn’t move.

The distance shortened. He entered range.

The instant that Hiashi was convinced he could defeat him, the man’s body disappeared and
turned into countless balls of light that scattered in all directions.

“!”

As Hiashi landed and looked around dumbfounded, ten or so shinobi appeared around him out
of the ground. They were an eerie group wrapped in bandages that completely covered their
faces. The strange shinobi jumped high into the air, then swooped down and attacked Hiashi.
The two subordinates covered Hiashi, standing in the way.

“Hiashi-sama, quickly!”
“Yes, I’m counting on you!”

Hiashi jumped and withdrew from that spot. Bandaged shinobi chased closely after Hiashi,
leaving several to deal with the subordinates. They clung to Hiashi’s arms and legs, swarming
around him to the point that his form could hardly be seen.

“Hakkeshou kaiten!”

Hiashi created a tornado with his jutsu and sent his enemies flying with a single blow. When he
lifted his face, a tall, single enemy shinobi was holding out both hands to create a giant, glowing
bubble as he glared at Hiashi. Intense bloodlust!
 17

“Ack-!”
The thrown bubble sphere exploded. Hiashi narrowly avoided a direct hit to a vital spot, but took
a heavy wound to the shoulder. He was losing chakra rapidly. Even so, he fled from certain
death. The enemy shinobi repeatedly launch attacks with the bubble spheres.

Hiashi saw the entrance to a cave and took refuge.

However, the bubble spheres chased him inside. Several shots exploded.

The ceiling collapsed and rocks fell from above Hiashi.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-crash!

A massive number of rocks covered the crouching Hiashi’s body.

Invited by Umino Iruka, Naruto was visiting the academy.

For one day, it was decided that he would instruct the children as a special lecturer.

“Sorry to have you come here when you’re busy with missions.”
“Sensei, don’t worry about it –ttebayo!”
“Your lesson is really popular with the kids… oh? Have you gotten taller?”

In the past, Naruto had to look up to Iruka, but now he had surpassed him in height.

Feeling both happy and embarrassed, Naruto gave a strained smile and scratched his head.

“Alright, your basics are important for both ninjutsu and taijutsu.”

Teaching kids was fun. He had assembled only the boys in the schoolyard, and was instructing
them in taijutsu.

“I’ll show you an example, so watch real closely –ttebayo!”

“Yes!”

Naruto had grown up splendidly, but it wasn’t as if he had a special skill for teaching things to
people. If he was going to be able to convey something to the kids, he figured it would be not
with words, but with the fists he had trained through actual fighting, and the jutsu he had refined
in life and death situations. This was only a performance.

First, the basics of the basics, from the correct fist thrust—

“Urya!”

His fists sliced through the air. In the same way, he jabbed to the right, then delivered a finishing
thrust with his left palm.
 18

“Hiya!”

These fists, jabs, palms—they had taken down many rivals.

Meters away, the children held their breath as they were being shown the “real thing.” They
were in a state of having their hearts strongly struck as they were each trying to begin walking
down their own path of rigidness. However—

“Naruto-senpaaaaai!”
“Kyaaa, Naru-samaaaa!”
“…………”

Instantly, Naruto felt dizzy. He had assumed a taijutsu pose with complete seriousness, but the
high-pitched voices had killed the mood.

Girls had lined up by the window of the third floor of the school building, and were cheering for
the famous Naruto.

Since becoming famous in the ninja war and having been called “the hero of the village,” there
had gotten to be a lot of instances of girls calling out to Naruto. It wasn’t that Naruto himself
wished for this, but he even had fans who chased him, and sometimes several of them would
even wait for him in front of his house.

Ino, Shikamaru, and others laughed about how Naruto had become popular, but Naruto didn’t
understand why they kept coming and was completely bewildered.

The shopping district was overflowing with shoppers.

Next month, the “Rinne Festival” would be grandiosely held in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Originally, it had been a solemn festival for offering prayers to the souls of the deceased, but in
recent times, that meaning had faded. It had turned into an “anticipated event” where close
friends would hold gatherings and exchange presents.

Among the crowd of people in the shopping district was Hinata. She came out of a store with a
slight blush on her cheeks, and a happy expression. Against her chest, she held a paper bag
with red yarn sticking out of it as she made her way through the crowd.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were visiting Kurenai’s house. They had brought birthday presents
for Mirai, the child that their deceased teacher Sarutobi Asuma had left behind.

“I’m sorry, thank you.”

“She’s already two… it went by fast.”

With her complete “motherly face,” Kurenai smiled at Shikamaru’s words. Nobody would have
thought that this gentle mother was a fierce jounin. Kurenai was deeply grateful that even now,
Asuma’s students showed concern for her and her daughter like this.
 19

“Mirai looks like Asuma-sensei.”

As Chouji murmured while looking at a decorative photo of Asuma, Kurenai hugged her young
daughter and nuzzled her affectionately.

In the evening, Naruto was eating ramen at Ichiraku.

He was sitting in a line of seats at the counter with academy kids slurping hot ramen.

“Today is my treat. Eat as much as you want!”

The children called out to him as “Naruto-sensei” while they wiped their sweat.

“You’re a special lecturer, huh… yahoo, you’ve gotten pretty important,” teased Kiba, who
coincidentally happened to be present.

Accompanied by his enormous ninken Akamaru, Inuzuka Kiba was eating at a table outside. His
teammate Aburame Shino was with him.

“Naruto likes ramen… he’s always at Ichiraku.”

“Ah, ramen is great! It’s ok even for three meals a day –ttebayo!”

Naruto laughed as he responded to Shino’s dull words.

“I thought you might be here!” a familiar voice called. Naruto peered outside the shop to find
Konohamaru standing there.

“Naruto-nii-chan, there’s something important I need to talk to you about.”

Sarutobi Konohamaru was the grandson of the third hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Naruto was
grateful to Hiruzen, who had supported the fox child from the shadows. Konohamaru was also
Naruto’s adorable junior, who adored him like an older brother.

Konohamaru told Naruto that there was something he wanted to give him. Naruto headed
towards the Sarutobi residence at Konohamaru’s invitation.

An old shed stood in a corner of the huge plot of land that was the Sarutobi residence. They
opened the heavy door and stepped into the darkness. The smell of rancid mold stung their
noses.

“Hang on a sec… I’m going to light the lamp now.”

After the sound of a match being struck, the flame of a candle was lit. Konohamaru pulled out a
wooden box from a corner of the shed and placed it in front of Naruto.

“It’s something Grandpa Hiruzen left behind… It showed up while I was cleaning the shed.”
 20

Konohamaru opened the lid of the box, and inside were books, letters, and other personal items
packed in tightly.

“Well, most of it’s junk, but… there’s one thing in here that will be special to you.”
“Something special to me?”
“Look at this.”

Konohamaru held out a paper bag.

Hinata secluded herself in her room, knitting a red scarf. Stitch by stitch, she advanced in her
work, putting her whole heart into it. When she grew tired, she gazed at an old, tattered,
children’s scarf. It was the same scarf that Naruto had worn around his neck on the day they
had first met. Ever since that day, she had admired Naruto. As she grew up, those feelings
became stronger.

—What might Naruto-kun be doing right now?

When she fell into danger on her missions, when she doubted her nindou, she would always
think of Naruto. When she did so, she felt as if Naruto was encouraging her. Naruto had always
been the one who showed her which way she ought to go. She wanted to somehow convey her
growing affection and her feelings of gratitude.

She looked at the calendar and saw that there was one month until the Rinne Festival. Hinata
resumed her work.

Several days later, Naruto was walking through the shopping district in the afternoon,
accompanied by Konohamaru. He was carrying two extravagantly wrapped presents in his
hands. His fangirls had given them to him—one in front of the bath house, and one on an uphill
road in a residential area.

The Rinne Festival’s not even here yet! If they start now and keep giving them at this pace…
What’ll happen?

In contrast to Naruto’s disturbance, Konohamaru was in a good mood due to his respected big
brother figure’s popularity.

“Just as I would expect for you, Naruto-nii-chan.”

How can you say that so calmly dattebayo?!

The moment that Naruto breathed a sigh, he again found himself surrounded by the sound of
female voices.

“Naruto-kun! Have a happy Rinne Festival!”

 21

Several girls held out presents with flashy wrapping while all screaming “Naruto-kun!” or “Naru-
sama!”

“Oh, the Rinne Festival… Th-thanks…”

Naruto felt completely puzzled as he accepted a massive number of presents.

After Naruto and the others had left, Sakura walked from an alleyway with shopping bags in her
hands. At the same time, the doorbell of a craft store rang, and Hinata came out holding a bag
of red yarn. The yarn she had purchased a few days ago had run out, and she had come back
to buy more.

“Ah, Hinata!”
“Sakura-chan!”

The two girls met in the middle of the shopping district.

“Red yarn… are you knitting something? That’s unusual!”

“……..I’m knitting a scarf.”
“Hmmmm….”

A shopping district banner with “Rinne Festival” written in large characters entered Sakura’s line
of vision.

Instantly, Sakura completed the math in her head:

Hinata + Rinne Festival + hand-knit scarf = a present for Naruto!

The shy Hinata was finally going to make her move on Naruto.

“Go for it!”

“Eh?”
“You’re going to give it to him as a present, right?”
“…………”

Without answering, Hinata turned red all the way up to her ears, and looked downward. Sakura
liked Hinata’s diligence and sincerity. She didn’t want to see Hinata cry. Sakura supported her
friend’s romance.

Naruto returned home carrying tons of presents. Without event urning on the lights, he tossed
the presents onto the bed and flopped down next to them.
“Sigh… I’m beat –ttebayo.”

He gazed aimlessly through the dimness at the mountain of presents. They weren’t just on the
bed. As he looked around, there wasn’t even a place in the small room to set foot around the
mass of presents.
 22

“Go for it!”

“Eh?!”

“You’re going to give it to him as a present, right?”

 23

Suddenly, Naruto’s nose began to stir.

“A-a-achoo!”

He looked out the window to see that a light snow had begun to flutter about.

“S-snow… that’s why it’s getting cold.”

Naruto turned on his bedside lamp, and took a scarf out of a drawer. It was a carefully knit scarf
with a subdued border pattern.

Naruto pressed the scarf to his face, checking the feel of the wool, and wrapped it around his
neck.

“…Ah, it’s warm,” he happily murmured as he smiled.

Snow continued falling at the Hyuuga residence as well. Snow covered the entire surface
outside, piling up on the tree and lanterns in the garden.

The snow had stopped in early evening, the clouds had cleared, and a crescent moon was
floating in the night sky. Next to a foggy window in a room warmed by a heater, Hinata
continued to knit a scarf.

“It’s done!”

Hinata held the long scarf that she had completed over her head, and was greatly please.
Having put all of her feelings into relentlessly knitting, the scarf had ended up becoming quite
long.

“Maybe it’s a little too long…”

No, this is the result of knitting with all my heart! I’m sure my feelings will reach Naruto-kun…!

Hinata changed her clothes and left the room.

I wonder if I’ll really get through to him… it’s late today… tomorrow would be better… no, I’ll
give it to him tonight… tomorrow’s better… no, tonight… tomorrow’s better…

“Going to go confess already?”

As she was going back and forth down the corridor, a voice called to her from the garden.

“Hanabi… how long have you been there…?”

“How long have you been there, Onee-chan?”
“…If you’re there, at least come greet me.”
 24

In an awkward manner, Hinata turned her eyes to Hanabi.

“The appearance of a girl worrying about love is amusing.”

“Don’t say things too mature for children.”
“I’m not a child. Even the insight of my byakugan is no match for adults.”

Hanabi ran over to Hinata, confidently throwing out her chest.

“Anyway, look! Isn’t it cute?”

Hanabi was staring at her older sister and skillfully twirling a kunai. From the kunai, there hung a
small, pink shinobi doll. She had put a cute strap on a kunai, which was a weapon. In the past,
Hanabi had been an ultra-serious girl who boasted “my hobby is training” as her nindou.
However, since the death of her cousin Neji, who had been esteemed in the previous war,
something inside of her had changed. The former Hanabi never would have thought of hanging
a doll on a kunai. To Hinata, having her younger sister behave with the innocence of a young girl
was surely welcome, but a pink doll was overdoing it a bit. To start with, it would be hard to use.

“Turning ninja tools into toys again… You’ll be scolded when Father returns.”

“Speaking of Father, he hasn’t contacted us, has he?” Hanabi muttered.

There were times when their father, Hiashi, would be absent on missions for long periods, but
even in those cases, there was some form of communication. The mission might have needed
to be kept classified this time.

Just then, Hinata’s stomach growled.

“…….Ah”
“Did you spend all your time knitting and not eat dinner? You’ll get laughed at if your stomach
growls when you confess.”
“I’m not going to confess!”

Aside from whether or not Hinata was going to confess, Hanabi had hit the nail on the head.
During her last stride over the past few days, Hinata hadn’t put anything in her stomach aside
from some dried candies.

“Sheesh, you’ve got some nerve! ….I’m going out for a bit.”
“To confess?”
“I’m not!”

To avoid her embarrassment, she left the house half-running.

“You say the moon is falling?” the Raikage barked, sitting at a huge round table in a conference
room.
 25

The leaders of the shinobi villages of the five countries were gathered in one building as the
Gokage council in an emergency meeting called by the Hokage, Hatake Kakashi. Aside from
Kakashi and the Raikage, surrounding the table were Iwagakure’s Tsuchikage, known as the old
raccoon dog; the lone woman, Kirigakure’s Mizukage; and Sunagakure’s Kazekage, the young
leader Gaara—all of them capable shinobi.

“From the results of our measurements, it’s evident that the moon is drawing closer to Earth,”
Kakashi calmly answered.

Kakashi had brought with him an astronomer from Konoha. She wore the trademark apron and
glasses of a girl scientist.

“Even without measuring, you can tell by looking… I’ve never seen the moon so big,” the
Tsuchikage, who was a small old man, sneered at Kakashi and the astronomer.

“What about all of the recent meteorites?” Gaara asked.

Prompted by Kakashi, the astronomer began to explain.

“When two celestial bodies gradually move closer, the gravity from the two of them begins to
affect each other.”

“I’m not so great with the scientific talk…” The Mizukage looked away as she stated her
confusion.

As per the astronomer’s prediction, as the moon approached Earth, it would become distorted
and torn apart due to Earth’s gravity, and gradually crumble from the surface. As the broken
fragments drew closer to Earth, they would encircle it like the rings of Saturn, and many of the
fragments from this ring would be drawn in and fall to Earth—the astronomer explained that this
was the origin of the increase in meteorites.

“Then, what will eventually happen?” Gaara stared at the astronomer, rushing her to the
conclusion.

“If this continues, the moon will completely break apart… the ruins will rain down from above. In
this case, the end of humanity… no, practically no living thing on Earth will probably be able to
survive.”

“So, what do we do? What’s the counter plan?” The Tsuchikage pointed a finger at Kakashi,
questioning him.

“We will destroy the falling moon fragments before they arrive.”

“That’s too much of a makeshift solution! Obviously, we should stop the moon from
approaching!” The irritated Raikage yelled.
 26

“I want to ask one thing… is this a natural phenomenon? Or a man-made attack?” The
Mizukage asked the question that was on the minds of everyone present. Their gazes all fell on
Kakashi.

Kakashi had thought that both were possibilities, but he didn’t actually know at all.

“That’s rather questionable…” Kakashi confused everyone in his usual manner.

Around the same time, Naruto and others were eating ramen at Ichiraku.
There were five people, Ino, Sakura, Naruto, Chouji, and Shikamaru. Lined up at the counter,
they were slurping delicious ramen.

Outside was a snowy landscape, but thick steam shrouded the inside of the warm shop. The
five of them were sweating as they filled their stomachs with ramen that was almost hot enough
to burn their tongues.

“Oh, right… I don’t want to ruin it.”

Naruto took the bordered scarf from his neck, folded it carefully, and put it under the counter.
The scarf was unfamiliar to Sakura. The scarf that Hinata was knitting was red, and it didn’t look
like something bought from a store. It was hand-knit.

Sakura became curious and asked Naruto about it.

“Hey, Naruto… about that scarf…”

As Sakura pointed to the scarf under the counter and began her question, Ino raised her voice.

“Oh, Hinata! If you haven’t had dinner yet, want to eat with us?”

Hinata appeared in front of Ichiraku, warmly clothed and holding a gift bag.

Naruto also noticed Hinata and greeted her.

“Today is my treat.”

Hinata noticed that Naruto was there and became hesitant.

“B… but…”

Sakura stood from her seat to let Hinata sit next to Naruto.

“No need to hold back. Look, you can sit here.”

“O… okay…”

Just as the hesitating Hinata sat down next to Naruto, two of Naruto’s fangirls entered the shop.
 27

“Naruto-senpai! Did you like the presents from before?”

“…Thanks. Oh, right, you guys eat something you like. It’s my thanks for the presents. Oh, you
too, Hinata!”
“Thanks for the meeeeal! Senpai, let’s eat here togeeether!”

The two fangirls dragged Naruto away, clinging to his chest.

Watching them, Hinata quietly stood from her seat.

“I’m sorry. I’m actually already full…”

With an apologetic expression, she started to leave holding the gift bag.

Sakura furrowed her brow as she spoke to Naruto.

“Walk her home?”

“Walk her home…? Hinata…? Why?”
“Eh… because, for a girl that age to be alone on the streets at night…”
“Huh? Hinata’s strong! Anyone in the village trying to bother her would be…”

Hinata left the shop to run away.

“You idiot!”

Sakura glared at Naruto and ran out of the shop, chasing after Hinata.

“What happened just now? What was that? Did I do something?” Naruto began to ask his
friends—but Ino let forth an exasperated sigh, and Chouji and Shikamaru just silently continued
eating their ramen without any concern.

Sakura and Hinata were walking down a snowy road overlookedby a gigantic crescent moon.
“That guy really is dense.”
“…….”

Hinata was staring at her feet, walking silently.

“…You were going to give him the scarf, right?”

Hinata weakly nodded.

“You’ll be alright, Hinata. Have confidence!”

“Thanks…”

Only the sound of the two girls’ footsteps on the snowy road could be heard.
 28

“…But, why are you supporting me so much?”

“Th-that’s…”

In a completely unrequited love, she had pined for only one man since she was young—when
she watched Hinata going through the same thing, she just couldn’t leave her alone.

“Hahaha… well, let’s do our best together!”

Dodging the question, she cheerfully patted Hinata’s shoulder.

“Ah, thanks…”

Regardless of whether or not she understood, Hinata bowed to Sakura and left slightly running.
Before she knew it, the day had completely turned to night. Holding the present close to her
chest, Hinata trudged down the snowy road. She realized she was standing in front of the gate
of her own home.

You’ll be alright, Hinata. Have confidence!

She remembered Sakura’s words.

Tonight after all… I made that decision on my own, so I’ll give Naruto-kun the scarf tonight!

Becoming fully determined, Hinata turned back onto the road from which she had just come.

From above, three large shadows came flying. They were strange birds far larger than humans.
With the wings and beaks of eagles, and thick legs and claws like those of lions, they were
“eagle beasts.”

Several shinobi dived from the backs of the eagle beasts that were gliding through the night sky.
They landed soundlessly in the garden of the Hyuuga residence. They were creepy shinobi
whose limbs and faces were covered with bandages.

Without hesitating, they invaded the inside of the building, and silently ran up the stairs. The
bandaged shinobi opened the sliding screens in succession, proceeding further and further
inside. When the final screen opened, there stood Hanabi, ready with her kunai. From the
bottom of the kunai, there hung a strap with a doll.

“Who are you!?”

The next moment, Hanabi let out a small scream and lost consciousness, then fell over into the
arms of the enemy.

Sai was drawing ink paintings. He was sometimes slandered, being called “former anbu” and
“the guy with no heart,” but in actuality, he was fine and elegant. Tonight, with his artistic
 29

inclination being moved by the snowy landscape and crescent moon, he was sitting in a
bamboo thicket, working with a paintbrush. Trying to capture the rough form of the scenery, he
squinted and gazed at the crescent moon beyond the bamboo thicket.

“The moon is considerably big…”

A strange spectacle flew into his field of vision. The gang of shinobi riding on the eagle beasts
were flying at low altitude above the snow. Their faces were covered in bandages, and one of
them carried one young girl on his shoulder. The girl appeared to be limp and unconscious.

“I just cannot ignore this… Ninpou, choujuu giga!”

He drew a bird on his scroll, which materialized, jumped from the scroll, and began to flap its
wings. Riding on the ink painting bird, Sai chased after the eagle beasts and soared into the
night sky.

When they noticed this, the bandaged shinobi turned the heads of their eagle beasts, and took
refuge in the big trees of the forest. They flew at high speed through the dim forest. Sai chased
the eagle beasts while avoiding the approaching trees and bushes to his left and right.

The bandaged shinobi turned towards Sai and threw glowing bubble spheres at him. The bubble
spheres exploded when they hit, smashing the large trees. Sai continued his pursuit while
avoiding the bubble spheres and collapsed trees. He accelerated and shortened the distance
between him and the enemies. He was in range to confirm the face of the girl who was being
carried.

“…Hanabi-chan of the Hyuuga?”

Just then, a bubble sphere exploded within range, and destroyed the wing of the ink painting
bird. Its speed fell.

“One more time… Ninpou, choujuu giga!”

In the time it took for him to draw a new ink painting bird and try to switch over to it, the enemy’s
bubble sphere approached before his eyes.

“Oh no!”

Trying to avoid the bubble spheres, the two birds each were thrown against the trees. Having
fallen onto the snow, Sai was unable to move for a while, then finally turned face up, and looked
up at the sky.

An overly large crescent moon floated in the sky. Expressionless, Sai breathed a deep sigh.

“Naruto-kun! Until now, I’ve only been watching from behind you. But from now on, I want to
always be by your side, so I put my whole heart into knitting this… please accept my feelings!”
 30

Hinata bowed her head an held out the wrapped present. There wasn’t a single sound in the
snow-covered residential area.

“Fuuu…”

Hinata let out a big sigh. Alone in front of Naruto’s house, Hinata was repeatedly practicing
giving Naruto the present. It seemed that Naruto had not yet returned, as his room was dark.

As she inhaled to practice one more time, someone became present behind her.

“Hm? Hinata?”

He-he’s back… What should I do? What should I do?

Both of her knees began to tremble. But here, she had no choice but to muster her courage.

“Um…”

Hinata turned to Naruto. Before her eyes there was: a bordered scarf already wrapped around
his neck.

Ah!

Hinata had chosen red wool to look good with Naruto’s blonde hair, but this scarf with gray and
white lines looked much more refined.

“What is it, Hinata?”

“Th-that’s a nice scarf, isn’t it?”
“You think so? It was knit just for me… it’s warm.”

Naruto smiled happily. And then—

Gyurururururu.

Hinata’s stomach growled. Yet she didn’t feel hungry at all… Surely somewhere mean-spirited
gods were mocking her. To have already been outdone by someone regarding the scarf, and
then to have the sound of her stomach be heard, it was completely pitiable.

“You must be hungry. If cup ramen is ok, I have some in my room…”

“Goodnight.”

Hinata interrupted Naruto’s words as she bowed and walked off.

“Is there something you need to do? Hey, Hinata! Hinata –ttebayo!”
“……”
 31

Hinata continued walking without looking back. She was so miserable that she was brought to
tears.

Hinata was alone at the park, swaying on a swing. As she gazed at the red scarf on her lap, she
recalled what had taken place not long ago.
It was knit just for me… it’s warm.

Naruto spoke happily as he touched the scarf wrapped around his neck.

I wonder who gave him that scarf…

Naruto had a lot of fans. He would probably receive a huge number of presents. Surely there
had to have been several scarves and gloves among them. The scarf that Naruto was wearing
must have been one of those presents.

“Good for you, Naruto-kun…”

She tried to think positively, but for some reason, tears fell onto the scarf on her lap.

“Why are you crying? Your scarf will be ruined.”

Startled by a sudden voice, Hinata turned her head to see a young man standing there. He had
soft-looking white hair, and was dressed in white robes.

He was quite handsome, but for some reason, both eyes were closed.

“You… don’t need it anymore? In that case, I’ll take it.”

Hinata involuntarily gripped the scarf.

“…Who are you?”

“I am Toneri… I’ve come for you.”

Although his eyes were closed, Toneri spoke as if he could see Hinata.

“……”

Hinata didn’t want to deal with this, but as she stood up and tried to leave, her shoulder was
grabbed from behind, and her breathing stopped involuntarily. When Hinata turned her head,
there stood a big, creepy man who was over two meters tall. He wore a long cloak, and the
lower half of his face was concealed with bandages.
“!”

Hinata was surrounded by the two men. Toneri took a step towards Hinata.
 32

“I am Toneri… I’ve come for you.”

 33

Naruto was looking for Hinata. Hinata had seemed somehow odd tonight.

Sakura had gotten unusually agitated about Hinata at Ichiraku, and when Hinata had come to
visit Naruto’s house, she had also seemed strange.

In front of the park, Naruto thought he heard a girl scream and stopped walking.

When he looked, a tall man was restraining a struggling Hinata. A young man held out a bubble-
like sphere and made it strongly radiate, then Hinata’s movement stopped and she hung her
head.

“Bastard, what are you doing to Hinata!?”

The shouting Naruto went to interfere.

Naruto first leapt at the young man who had used the bubble sphere, but his form abruptly
disappeared. Having suddenly lost sight of his target, Naruto took several steps too many due
to the excess energy. He kept his footing and promptly looked back. The tall man leapt high into
the air holding Hinata under one arm.

Wh-what is that guy?

Several enemy shinobi appeared from between the playground equipment and trees, and
attacked Naruto. He flipped away a kunai from the right with his hand, and in the same way,
back-handed an enemy in the nose. They also had their faces wrapped in bandages. He
avoided a kick from the left, then spun behind him to deliver an elbow thrust to the back of the
head. They were many in number, but they weren’t the type of guys whose taijutsu ability should
be feared.

However, Naruto couldn’t chase after Hinata and the tall man like this. He formed a hand seal.

“Tajuu Kage Bunshin!”

He left the small fry enemies to his clones, and chasing after the tall man, he jumped.

Naruto jumped from roof to roof. With a roundhouse kick, he knocked down still more enemy
shinobi who chased close behind him. When he looked up, ten or so enemy shinobi were
suspended in the sky.

How long will they keep on?

The enemy shinobi all dove at once, attacking him.

“Rasen Shuriken!”
Four sharp blades that extended from the rasengan began to rotate at high speed. Naruto
jumped as if to attack, and threw it at the enemies.
 34

“How long will they keep on?”

The shinobi dove all at once attacking him

 35

Her hands slipping, she let go of the scarf. The

narrow edge hanging from the roof gave out.

“Hinataaaaaa!”
 36

Zubababababababa!

Drawing an arc, the rasen shuriken flew, and in succession, cut the enemies in half.

He then chased behind the tall man, higher and higher along the rooftops.

When he landed on a large, steeply slanted roof, he lost his balance for a moment for lack of a
foothold. This was the water tower, the height of which could only be compared to one or two
other buildings in the Hidden Leaf Village.

There was now only a small gap between Naruto and the man.

When he sensed killing intent and looked back, from the top of a roof, the tall man holding
Hinata under one arm created a glowing bubble sphere and took aim at Naruto.

“Damn it!”

He reflexively twisted his body. The bubble sphere exploded near Naruto’s feet. He was blown
away and fell from the roof. A shuriken he threw while falling cut off one of the tall man’s legs. In
the instant that the tall man flinched, he dropped Hinata.

Unconscious, Hinata rolled down the slope of the large roof. Falling from this height, the
unconscious Hinata wouldn’t survive.

Fortunately, the end of the scarf in Hinata’s hands extended and caught on the steel frame. The
scarf stretched out.

“Hinataaaa!”

At Naruto’s scream, Hinata finally woke up and narrowly gripped the edge of the scarf in her
hands.
The scarf held Hinata’s weight. It tore almost completely through.

“Hinata, don’t let go!”

Naruto ran down the slope of the roof, moving at high speed. Trying to hinder Naruto, the tall
man repeatedly fired bubble spheres.

In succession, they made impact on Naruto’s surroundings and exploded. He couldn’t move
forward.

“Uryaaaa! Rasengan!”

While slipping past the bubble spheres, Naruto closed in on the tall man, and drove the
rasengan into him.

The tall man scattered into tiny pieces. Now for Hinata. He had to save Hinata!
 37

The scarf that was supporting Hinata was at its limit.

Her hands slipping, she let go of the scarf. The narrow edge hanging from the roof gave out.

“Hinataaaaaa!”

Naruto ran down the roof. The roof tiles rang clamorously. He dove from the edge, and rescued
Hinata just before she could crash from above ground.

The scarf that Hinata had knit had torn through and become battered.

“Your scarf was ruined…”

“Yeah…”

Hinata made a painful-looking expression.

In a moment, Toneri’s form emerged in front of them. Yet again, his eyes were closed.

“The final day is approaching… Before then…”

“You!”

Naruto tried to strike him, but Toneri disappeared.

Toneri’s form again floated in the sky above them. He was like a hologram.

“Hinata… I will surely come for you.”

Toneri left these words and disappeared.

Just then, a strong light shone on Naruto’s and Hinata’s faces.

“What is that?”

Accompanied by an intense shockwave, a burning, deep red meteorite crossed straight through
the night sky. The two looked up dumbfounded as the sound of an explosion echoed in the
distance. A rising pillar of fire once again brightly lit up their faces.

The next morning, on the outskirts of Konoha, a giant crater had opened up in the middle of a
field.
Rock Lee and Tenten, who had come to investigate, were peering into the crater.

“Mmm, the destructive power of a meteorite… Do not take it lightly!”

“It makes me shudder to think of what would have happened if this had fallen into the center of
the village.”
 38

“When that time comes, we shall risk our lives to protect the village and everyone in it!”

The hot-blooded Lee tightly clenched his fist.

“Your mission is to rescue the kidnapped Hyuuga Hanabi. You will be a four man cell with
Shikamaru as commander… Also, Hinata will join you, as per her wish.” Kakashi commanded
Naruto and the others in their group of five, who stood before the desk in the Hokage’s office.
Izumo, Kotetsu, and the astronomer stood in waiting behind Kakashi.

Normally, this would probably never happen…

Feeling uncomfortable with the member selection, Shikamaru mentally expressed his
discomfort. He got stuck with nuisance missions like this every time.

He could understand why Sai, who had experience with enemy hostilities, was chosen.

It was possible that Hanabi was injured, so Sakura, who could use medical ninjutsu, couldn’t be
left out.

The problem was Naruto and Hinata.

On a mission where it was required to be composed—or even callous depending on the

situation, why bring along Hinata, who was a relative of the victim?

Moreover, the village was currently in a state of crisis with the moon approaching and the
meteorites falling. Naruto, who was the hero of the previous war and possessed the greatest
amount of chakra, ought to stay in the village.

Kakashi-san, what are you thinking?

Shikamaru shifted his eyes to see that Kakashi was also watching him.

“Shikamaru, hold out your hand.”

When he held out his hand as he was told, the astronomer formed a seal.

Before long, a small, thin disc with characters etched into it appeared on Shikamaru’s palm.

“This is a top secret clock that only the five Kage possess.”

Kakashi showed them his palm also, indicating that he had the same thing.

“What time is this?”

Naruto peered at Shikamaru’s palm.

 39

“The time limit before Earth’s destruction,” Kakashi coolly declared.

The limit to how long Earth could endure the approach of the moon—it was a watch to indicate
the time until then.

“I don’t get it…” Shikamaru opened his mouth for the first time while staring at the clock in his
palm.

“We probably don’t need this kind of thing to save Hanabi.”

“The one who is moving the moon might be Toneri, who kidnapped Hanabi.”

“Is there some basis for this?” Sai asked.

“….My gut. Your main mission is to rescue Hanabi. However, depending on how it unfolds, you
may end up carrying out two missions at the same time.”
“Two missions?”

Sakura gazed at Kakashi with unease.

“If the opportunity arises while rescuing Hanabi… What I mean is ‘if you can save the world,
save it.’”

“The world… that quite a grand ‘opportunity’ isn’t it?” Sai expressionlessly retorted.

“Two, or even three, I’ll take care of it –ttebayo!”

Naruto cheerfully struck his chest.

I see… Just what I would expect from the Rokudaime.

Shikamaru’s doubt towards Kakashi had cleared.

Even though he had said “my gut,” Kakashi had to have been holding some more concrete
evidence. Kakashi was convinced that Hanabi’s kidnapping and the approach of the moon were
somehow connected. It was because of this that he had dared to add Naruto, the strongest, as
a team member.

Hinata had been an actual target of the enemy’s kidnapping. By having her as a team member,
the enemy might reveal its movement and come into contact with them.

Basically… she’s a lure…

Kakashi’s cool-headed judgement as Hokage sent chills down Shikamaru’s spine.

In each village of each country, air defense preparations were being carefully made in order to
destroy meteorites and minimize damage. However, both offense and defense were practically
made up of “human activity.” More than any state-of-the-art air defense equipment, the “unity of
 40

comrades” was what was needed. The leaders of each village faced the air defense teams they
had lined up and appealed to them, encouraging them to fight hard.

In Kumogakure, the Raikage, who was accompanied by Killer Bee, bellowed out.

“Listen up people, very soon a multitude of meteorites will come pouring down to Earth!”

In Iwagakure, the Tsuchikage called attention to the members of the air defense team, who were
kneading chakra in a cross-legged meditative stance.

“Destroy them without leaving even a single pebble!”

In a downpour of rain, the Mizukage of Kirigakure warned everyone to be ready.

“Polish your rusted kunai!”

In Sunagakure, accompanied by Temari and Kankurou, the normally quiet Gaara gave a fervent
speech.

“If the giant meteorites come falling down, Earth will have no tomorrow… Those who wish for a
tomorrow, fight today!”

Kakashi gathered those selected for the mission in a wide space looking up at the Hokage
monument. Among those lined up in front of him, the forms of Yamato, Kiba, Chouji, Lee, and
Tenten could be seen.

“This fight is a fight to protect the world, our country, our families and comrades… and the
future!”
“Yeeeaaahhh!”

The team members raised their spirits, showing their will to fight alongside the Hokage.

Far overhead in outer space, a gigantic mass of rock began to fall towards the ground.

CHAPTER 1 END
Chapter 2 41
 42

With roaring noise, a meteorite passed over Shikamaru’s head. Leaving a trail, it disappeared
beyond the mountain range. A bit later, the sound of an explosion and a gigantic mushroom-
shaped cloud were identified—how much damage might have occurred beneath that creepy
cloud?

Shikamaru opened the palm of his hand and checked the emerging clock. The clock indicated
no delay until the destruction of humanity.

They were in the sky above the forest where Sai had lost sight of Hanabi and the enemy.
Remains from both Hanabi and the shinobi—it was possible that there might be some kind of
clue.

Shikamaru and the others were riding separately on the ink birds that Sai made, investigating.
Sai, Shikamaru, and Sakura each rode individually, while Naruto and Hinata rode on a bird
together. Hinata was a target of the enemy. Out of concern, it was decided that she would be
placed near Naruto, the strongest on the team.

Naruto’s scarf fluttered in the cold wind in the sky. Behind him, Hinata searched the ground with
her byakugan.

“!”

For an instant, she spotted something unusual on the snowy surface. The handle of a kunai was
slightly visible above the snow. Flustered, she tapped Naruto’s shoulder and told him to land. As
soon as they landed, Hinata jumped from the ink bird and pulled the kunai out of the snow.

A strap with a pink doll—

“This is Hanabi’s kunai…”

“Maybe Hanabi might’ve dropped it because she wanted you to notice it, Hinata.”

When Hinata gazed at the kunai with her byakugan, she could faintly feel Hanabi’s chakra. As if
leaving a trail, the chakra continued into the forest. Furthermore, as Hinata looked through the
trail with her byakugan, she could see the entrance of a cave far off in the northwest direction.

“A very deep cave… It continues underground… There’s a spring, and it’s glowing.”

“…Let’s go check it out,” said Shikamaru, approaching from behind.

In one room of a particular lone castle:

Hanabi was asleep in the bed of an extravagant guest room. The door quietly opened, and a
handsome young man with silver hair entered. It was Toneri. His eyes were closed as before.
He placed his hand on the sleeping Hanabi’s eyes and tried to sense something.

“This is good. Certainly the kekkei genkai… a pure and fresh Hyuuga byakugan!”
 43

The overjoyed Toneri opened his eyes—and in either socket, he had no eyeballs.

Hidden in the thicket of the forest, the entrance of the cave was open. Shikamaru and the others
proceeded into the dark inside of the cave, being careful of their surroundings. There was no
sign that the enemy would appear. As they continued to the center, they reached a huge
limestone cavern. When they looked up, they could see a large shinobi character engraved onto
the rocks of the roof.

“That character is the ‘a’ in ‘a-un,’” Sai said to Shikamaru.

“I guess that means ‘this is the beginning.’”

There was a spring filled with clear water, but it was so deep that when peered into, the bottom
could not be seen. Even with the byakugan, Hinata’s field of vision was distorted and she was
unable to see through it. The spring was at the end of the cave, with no other path that
continued inside.

“Hey Shikamaru, don’t tell me we’re going to dive into this spring?” Naruto was strangely
uneasy.

“Yeah, we are.”
“We’ll get w-wet?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t give me ‘of course’!”

Naruto hurriedly took off his scarf and began to put it into his backpack.

“So what if your scarf gets wet! You’re such a little boy…”

“It’s precious dattebayo!” Naruto scowled at Sakura’s mocking. Next to them, Hinata quietly
averted her gaze.

“It looks like you won’t need to take off your scarf.”

Sai scooped up some water from the spring with his hand.

“This water… doesn’t get you wet when you touch it.”

Shikamaru’s team swam through the dark water. With the corpses of microorganisms and such
floating about, it was as if snow was falling. The flickering might have been glowing bugs.
Beyond the dim light, at the bottom of the spring, there appeared to be a wavering like the
surface of water. They approached to find that it was indeed a water surface—a water surface at
the bottom of a spring.
 44

It might have been a trap, but there was nothing they could do but go. When Naruto and the
others looked at each other, they came to the decision to go through the spring bottom. The
next instant, the five of them plunged into darkness. Without knowing why, they raised their
voices in astonishment. It was a cylindrical space surrounded by a wall of rock. Although they
should have been steadily descending, it was pitch black, so they had no sense of up, down,
left, or right. They did not even know where they were falling.

A light came into view below them. It approached steadily. The light’s true form was a large
bubble.

“We’re going to run into it!”

The bubble burst open. They all involuntarily closed their eyes.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he was in a classroom at the academy. He had returned to his
younger form. It was a familiar classroom. Sakura, Chouji, Shikamaru, and everyone else
appeared as they had at that time.

Sakura-chan suddenly shrunk dattebayo!

Iruka-sensei began to speak.

“If the end of the world was coming tomorrow, who would you want to be with?”

“There’s no way the end of the world is coming!” Naruto responded the same way he had in the
past.

Huh? I… feel like I’ve said the same thing before…

“Say for instance… if the moon was falling.”

“If it was the last day on earth, it would be nice if meat was falling instead of the moon.”

Everyone laughed at Chouji’s words.

“Haha, no, no. Like the moon would…”

Shikamaru stuck his head out the window and looked up at the sky. He suddenly turned pale.

“It’s-it’s-it’s the moon!”

Outside the window, a moon with a diameter of less than five hundred meters was suddenly
falling.

“Aaaaaaaahhhh!”
 45

A huge panic started inside the classroom. In the next instant, the moon fell and the school
building collapsed. There was a tremendous cloud of dust. Naruto coughed violently and closed
his eyes.

Is this a dream? Have I gone back to the past? No, it’s not the past… the moon didn’t fall back
then!

When he opened his eyes, Naruto was standing in an open room. All around, his comrades
were watching over him from a distance.

“Mn?”

His arms and legs were longer than before. Before his eye was—Inuzuka Kiba!

“Naruto… prepare yourself!”

Kiba was fully ready to fight Naruto.

This is the… ch-ch-chuunin exams dattebayo!

“Hey Kiba… wait a sec!”

“Idiot! There’s no ‘wait’ in an actual fight! Gijuu ninpou: shikyaku no jutsu!”

On all fours, Kiba attacked with raging force.

“Uwaa… wait –ttebayo!”

The fleeing Naruto ran into the wall, but there was no impact. He went straight through to the
other side of the wall. Waiting on the other side was—the battlefield with Pain!

Th-this time it’s Pain?

“Banshou ten’in!”

Without warning, Pain form a hand seal, and Naruto was drawn in, caught, and slammed into
the ground. His hands were then impaled by a black pole.

“Gah!”

It was there that Hinata entered, standing up to Pain to protect Naruto, who was unable to
move.

“I won’t let you hurt Naruto-kun anymore!”

“Hi-Hinata… why did you come here dattebayo!”
“I’m not afraid to die if it means I can protect you! Because… I love you Naruto-kun!”

Hi-Hinata… it’s impossible for you… we’ll both end up dying like this!
 46

There was a zero gravity space within the giant bubble. The five members of Shikamaru’s team
were asleep while lightly floating.

This isn’t normal sleepiness… We’ve been caught in some kind of jutsu!

Only Sakura was trying not to sleep and desperately resisting, but her eyelids closed on their
own.

“Sa-Sasuke-kun…?” Sakura murmured with her eyes closed.

Sasuke stood before Sakura, gently smiling.

“It is Sasuke-kun!”

Sakura stood up to run to the beckoning Sasuke, but lightly shook her head.

No, this can’t be! This isn’t Sasuke-kun!

In an instant, the scenery around her warped.

This is no ordinary dream… It’s genjutsu!

Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, Tsunade, and others appeared, clinging around Sakura as if to test her.

When trapped in genjutsu, the chakra in the victim’s head is controlled by the enemy. However,
Sakura narrowly retained her consciousness. In the past, Kakashi had told her she was the
genjutsu type.

Her teacher had taught her a method to deal with being caught in genjutsu—

I’ve got to stop the flow of chakra for a second and get back my own chakra!

Shaking off idle thoughts, she cleared her mind in meditation. The flow of chakra stopped, and
the illusion of Sasuke and the others disappeared in an instant.

Inside the giant bubble, Sakura frantically opened her eyes.

“Hey, everyone… wake up! This is… genjutsu!”

Nearby, her comrades were drifting in a hypnotic state.

“Everyone… please! Wake up!” Sakura cried, but no one woke up.
 47

Naruto and Hinata were next to each other, touching forehead to forehead as they slept. When
Hinata had turned over in her sleep, the red scarf had spilled out of her backpack and wrapped
itself around Naruto’s chest.

Naruto had returned to the scene of Iruka’s lesson.

“Alright, it’s the last day on Earth. If the world was ending tomorrow, who would you want to
spend time with… write down that person’s name!”

All at once, the students began to write. Naruto bent forward in curiosity to see whose name
everyone wrote.

Sakura wrote “Uchiha Sasuke-kun.”

Daaamn! That really was it!

Suddenly, Hinata’s form came into view.

He peered over to find that she was writing “Uzumaki Naruto-kun.”

Eh? Why did Hinata say me?

Naruto pondered over this.

Sakura-chan wrote Sasuke. It’s because Sakura-chan is that way about Sasuke… so that
means that Hinata’s? Eh?

Hinata turned to Naruto and smiled sweetly.

“…Eh?”

Suddenly the scene changed to the battlefield with Pain. Hinata was standing up to Pain to
protect the injured Naruto.

“I’m not afraid to die if it means I can protect you! Because… I love you Naruto-kun!”

She loves me? Love… Speaking of love, there’s ramen. I love ramen…

“I love you, Naruto-kun!”

No, Hinata’s “love” isn’t that “love”!

Hinata launched her juuho soushiken, but was mercilessly taken down by Pain’s Shinra Tensei.

“Hi-Hinata!”
 48

In an instant, all of Naruto’s memories of Hinata ran through his mind like revolving lanterns.

So this means, the way Hinata feels about me… this means she… lo-lo-lo-

“Naruto! Wake up!”

It was Sakura’s voice. Sakura was somewhere calling Naruto.

“Sakura-chan?”

When he looked around, Sakura came running from the distance of the smoke-filled battlefield.

Naruto received a strong slap to the face.

“Owww!”

“This is genjutsu… a genjutsu space! It’s not real!” Sakura called while transmitting chakra into
Naruto.

He was vaguely conscious, but it somehow seemed like they were still asleep inside the giant
bubble.
The sleepy-eyed Naruto suddenly looked up.

Nearby were Shikamaru and Sai, along with Hinata, gazing worriedly at him.

“You finally woke up,” Sakura said with relief.

Shikamaru’s team had escaped the genjutsu bubble and was once again slowly descending
through the darkness. Many spheres were floating around them. Upon closer inspection, there
appeared to be two types of spheres.

One type was glowing bubbles like the one with which Naruto and his friends had previously
collided—everyone’s past memories projected on the surface. If they touched them, they would
be dragged into the genjutsu space again.

The other type was like knots of sand. Nothing happened when these were touched.

Naruto and the others avoided the bubbles, and jumped on the lumps of sand, stepping on them
like stones as they continued descending.

“Using genjutsu to trap us in a world of memories… Confined in a memory prison,” Shikamaru

explained while falling.
 49

The enemy having gone as far as to set a genjutsu trap meant that there definitely had to be
something beyond this darkness.

At that time, Naruto was thinking of something else entirely.

That was genjutsu… Then, what was that stuff with Hinata? Were those my memories? No,
they weren’t regular memories… It was like dreams mixed with memories… So does this mean
that for Hinata, I also…

His face reflexively turned red. He briefly glanced at Hinata. She jumped by kicking off of a sand
lump.

Shikamaru stopped on a large lump of sand. The others landed next to him. Far below, they
could once again see a water surface.

“Hinata, how is it?”

Prompted by Shikamaru, Hinata tried to inspect the water surface with her byakugan, but her
field of vision was again distorted, and she couldn’t see through it.

“The enemy might be waiting to ambush us on the other side… Be prepared to fight!”

At Shikamaru’s command, the team members jumped one by one into the water. However, only
Naruto hesitated, and stood on the ball of sand fidgeting. Seeing this, Hinata stopped herself
from jumping.

“What’s wrong, Naruto-kun?”

“Well… about what happened in that weird bubble just now.”
“Yeah…”

Naruto was silent for a little while, gazing at Hinata.

“…It’s nothing. Sorry… Let’s go,” he said, then dove from the ball of sand and disappeared into
the water.

“?”

As Hinata took a few steps forward to follow Naruto—

“Hinata…”
“!”

Surprised at the voice, she turned to find a man standing there. Hinata reflexively drew her
kunai.

“I said I would come for you, but you were the one to come here… I’m happy.”
 50

It was Toneri, the ringleader in Hanabi’s kidnapping, and the enemy who, with a smiling face,
had also tried to abduct Hinata.

“Where is Hanabi?”
“Relax… She is quietly sleeping in my castle.”
“Give back Hanabi!”
“That depends upon your answer… Byakugan Princess.”
“Byakugan Princess?”
“Hinata… Let us get married!”
“M-married?”

Swimming after Shikamaru and the others, Naruto turned to look behind him. Hinata was not
following. This was enemy territory. He didn’t know if something had happened. Naruto decided
to turn around and go back. When Naruto approached the surface of the water, Hinata and
Toneri were facing each other atop the ball of sand.

That bastard again…

Hinata had her kunai drawn. Even in the dimness, Hinata’s face looked pale.

“…This is fate!” Toneri took a step closing to Hinata as he said this.

Naruto leapt out of the water. He jumped between the two of them, protecting Hinata with his
back towards her.

“Hinata!”
“Naruto-kun!”
“Stay away from Hinata! You bastard, give back Hanabi right now!”
“Hmph, you again…”

Being mocked, Naruto became outraged.

“Youuu… You’re seriously pissing me off –ttebayo!”

Indignant, Naruto launched a punch. Toneri dodged and jumped to a neighboring ball of sand,
but he was not very fast. Seeing his movements, Naruto hurried after and immediately
shortened the distance between them. Struck by Naruto, Toneri went flying into the surrounding
stone wall. However, a feeling of unease was left in Naruto’s hand. It felt like he had hit an
object, rather than a person. Having been thrown into the wall, Toneri stood up awkwardly. His
joints moved at square angles—this was a doll!

“A puppet…”

Just then, the broken puppet’s mouth clattered as it began to move.

 51

“Give back Hanabi!

“Hinata… Let us get married!”

 52

“Naruto, your fists… won’t… reach me… they’ll never… reach.”

Leaving only these words, the puppet collapsed as if its strings had been cut.
“Don’t screw with me! If you’re so confident you won’t get hit, stop hiding in your puppet’s
shadow and come fight me out in the open!” Naruto yelled into the darkness.

The water’s surface came into view above the heads of Shikamaru and the others who had
gone ahead through the water. When the three of them rose to the surface and stuck their
heads out of the water, they found themselves in a limestone cave like the one where they had
jumped into the spring. The three got out of the water, and stood back to back, being cautious of
their surroundings.

“What is this place?”

Countless bubbles and balls of sand of various sizes were scattered around on the ground. This
might be where those spheres were being made.

“Where’s Naruto?”
“He was following behind me for part of the way…”
“I have a bad feeling. It’s as if we’re being watched…”

There was a sign of something in the darkness ahead. Two large eyes glowed.

“Prepare to fight!”

Shikamaru drew a kunai and put himself on guard. What appeared was a giant crab monster.

“A crab!?”

Several long, sharp, spines were sticking out of its scraggy, rock-like shell. With its right claw ten
times as large as its left claw, it looked like it could cut even a giant tree in half.

And then the bubbles. The crab rushed at the three of them while shooting a mass number of
bubbles.

“Disperse!”

At Shikamaru’s command, the group scattered in all directions and avoided the crab’s first
attack.

“Watch out for the bubbles! We’ll get caught in genjutsu again!”

It was certain that the enemy this time was a “bubble-using shinobi.”

I guess this is… awaton (bubble release)?

 53

Next to the mentally murmuring Shikamaru, Sai opened his scroll and smoothly ran his
paintbrush.

“Ninpou, choujuu giga!”

The three lions that appeared plunged into the crab’s abdomen, but one by one, they were
chopped up by its claws.

“Fuujin, Raijin!”

This time, two god statues appeared and wrestled with the crab—a pushing match of power
against power.

The god statues caught the crab by the underside, swung it around and flung it upwards. The
crab’s giant body slammed into the ceiling, making a large hole. Light shined in through the hole
—seeing that he could make shadows, Shikamaru formed a hand seal.

“Ninpou, kage nui!”

The shadows wrapped around multiple times, preventing the crab from moving.

“Sakura!”
“Shaaaaannaroooooo!”

With her superhuman fist raised overhead, Sakura leapt at the crab.

Shikamaru, Sai, and Sakura were looking down at the remains of the defeated giant crab.

“That was quite impressive…”

“Y-yeah…”

The two men had a newfound fear of Sakura’s super strength.

Right at that time, Naruto and Hinata finally caught up, and jumped out of the spring.

“You’re late, Naruto!”

“Don’t say that… I was punching out the enemy’s boss!”
“What kind of guy was he?”
“He was… a puppet.”

Naruto said the last part in a small voice.

“A puppet?”
 54

““I have a bad feeling. It’s as if

we’re being watched…”

“Fuujin! Raijin!”
 55

“Ninpou! Kage nui!”

(Shadow Stitching)

“Shanarooooo!”
 56

“Yeah, he said the real Toneri’s stronger and would never get hit… He’s definitely a sore loser –
ttebayo!”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah, that’s all!”

There was still a lack of information, but Shikamaru tried to reason.

A strong enemy who had kidnapped Hanabi, tried to kidnap Hinata, and controlled bubbles and
puppets—

Could it be that he needs live Hyuuga clan members? Speaking of the Hyuuga, there’s the
byakugan… does he want to have them search for something?

Then why was the enemy only using puppets and holograms? Toneri was reading their
movements. Rather than the puppet and the crab and such, it would be better to invest in a
more powerful main force.

“Could it be that the enemies are few in number and they rely on puppets for fighting power?”
“Perhaps there may be a reason why Toneri cannot move.”

Sakura and Sai made guesses.

“Or maybe, it’s both of those things…” Shikamaru replied with a thoughtful expression.

In a certain room of the castle:

Countless puppets were hanging on the walls, and a fire burned bright red in the fireplace. A
man—Toneri was sitting in a chair, being illuminated by the fire. Both of his eyes were heavily
wrapped in bandages. Beside him knelt a tall man with half of his face covered in bandages. It
was the man that Naruto had supposedly beaten in Konoha.

“Leave Hinata alone until I am able to go for her… leave them alone for now, including that
Naruto.”

At Toneri’s command, the tall man bowed, and promptly disappeared.

“Ungh!”

In an instant, he grabbed the bandages on his eyes and got up. He painfully shook his shoulder.

“Hehehe, the eyes are moving again… wonderful. This is an incredibly pure byakugan,” he
contently murmured, then sat back down in the chair.
 57

There was no other entrance or exit in the cave aside from the spring from which Naruto and
the others had come. However, there was a hole open in the ceiling where the crab had crashed
into it.

If we’re going to advance, that’s the only way…

Shikamaru decided.

Giant crystal pillars extending the height of the cave continued up to the hole. The group
continued through a strange space with heaps of hundreds of transparent pillars. Wind was
blowing from up ahead. The sound of waves could be heard. When they escaped the cave, the
sun was shining on an ocean-like waterfront.

“What is this place? The sun’s shining when we should be underground?”

Not only that, but when they gazed into the distance, the surface warped with no horizon in
sight. Rather than a blue sky, forests and lakes were blurrily visible overhead. It was as if the
ground was upside down in the sky.

Maybe we’ve been hit with genjutsu again… Or thrown into another dimension…
Shikamaru was filled with unease.

First comes gathering information.

Shikamaru and the others soared through the air on Sai’s birds.

“So, Shikamaru… What is that?” Sakura asked from the back of a bird while pointing at the
shining sun-like object overhead.

“Probably some kind of artificial sun… I think this an artificial space created underground.”

If this enemy possessed the power to move the moon, he may also be able to easily create an
underground space and an artificial sun.

“A puppet, and then an artificial sun? He’s an obnoxious bastard just using fakes –ttebayo!”
Naruto said as if spitting out the words.

“Hinata, any sign of the enemy?”

“It’s ok. They’re not here,” Hinata answered, investigating the forest below with her byakugan.

“But the enemy must have noticed our activity, right? Why wouldn’t they come to attack us?”

“Yeah, I don’t like that. It’s strangely quiet…” Shikamaru looked around at the dense forest
spread over the ground as he said this.
 58

“What is this place? The sun’s shining

when we should be underground?”
 59

In the forest, three puppet shinobi were looking up at the sky, peering through the giant treetops.
From inside glowing bubbles, they watched Naruto and the others riding on the birds. Even the
Hyuuga clan’s byakugan couldn’t see into these particular bubbles. Once the birds had passed
them, the puppet shinobi once again began to follow Naruto and the others.

Nighttime arrived even in the underground space. Without setting, the artificial sun was
releasing a cold light, similar to moonlight. It served the role of the sun during the day, and the
moon at night—they didn’t know if this was a machine or some kind of energy source, but it was
quite an ingenious device.

Shikamaru’s team ate their dinner around an open fire in their campsite in the forest.

“It really is quiet…” Sai murmured.

“Even though meteorites might be raining down on the surface right now…”
“I bet everyone in the village is destroying them without leaving a single piece –ttebayo!”

Shikamaru quietly looked at the clock in his palm. The time of the destruction of humanity was
certainly approaching.

“Don’t panic!” Tsunade yelled from atop a hill.

The road below her was overflowing with the people of the Fire Country carrying their
household belongings.

“This bomb shelter was built to house every citizen of the Fire Country! Proceed in an orderly
fashion! Don’t quarrel!”

After the previous Shinobi World War, Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, had passed the position of
Hokage on to Hatake Kakashi. For the safety of the entirety of the Fire Country, she was
currently commanding everyone as the one in charge of guiding the evacuation, and as the
leader in healing the injured.

“A meteorite! It’s huge!”

The crowd screamed, and began to rampage. They rushed to the entrance of the bomb shelter.
Dragging a deep red trail, a giant meteorite plunged down from the sky. It was heading towards
the village of Konohagakure. No matter what Tsunade yelled, she couldn’t stop the panic.

“Fifth gate, open!”

Standing up to the crisis in the village of Konohagakure was Rock Lee. He stuck out his fist, and
leapt at the meteorite, prepared to give his life. He steadily rose, and approached the meteorite.
 60

“Even if it costs my life, I will protect the village!”

Gradually, his whole body flared crimson, and his eyes widened, revealing the whites. It was
approaching. The giant meteorite was before his eyes.

“Uryaaaa!”

Just like that he plunged into the meteorite and broke through. The meteorite cracked, rumbled,
and finally exploded and scattered in all directions.

“Magnificent!”

Might Guy was sitting in a wheelchair, watching over Lee’s efforts from the window of a hospital
room. Without even trying to wipe away his tears of excitement, he gave a thumbs-up,
congratulating the heroic act of his favorite student. On his cast were the two characters
meaning “youth.” His white teeth sparkled.

Naruto spotted Hinata’s form from the shadow of the thicket. Hinata was sitting alone in the
forest, mending a scarf. It was the red scarf that had torn lengthwise when she had fallen from
the roof.

That scarf is really for me…?

Since the genjutsu incident in the bubble, he had been so conscious of Hinata that he couldn’t
conduct himself naturally. When his eyes met Hinata’s, he was nervous, and his smile became
stiff.
Hinata had always smiled for him, but when her eyes went to the bordered scarf wrapped
around his neck, for some reason she would avert her gaze and look down.

Is it that she’s upset by this scarf? That’s a problem… I really don’t get girls’ feelings… Well, I’ll
take this off for now.

Naruto quietly removed his scarf and put it inside his jacket.

The next morning, the members of Shikamaru’s team were soaring above the forest, riding
individually on four ink birds. Naruto and Hinata rode on the same bird. Naruto was controlling
the bird while Hinata focused on observing with her byakugan.

“Shikamaru-kun! I see a village twenty kilometers ahead.”

“Alright, let’s go check it out.”

Shikamaru waved his hand, signaling Sai and Sakura as well.

“……”
 61

Hinata had noticed that the scarf wasn’t wrapped around Naruto’s neck. He had already taken it
off when she saw him that morning.

Why…

As she looked at Naruto, he noticed her gaze and smiled—but his smile seemed a little bit stiff.

Along the hillside of a slightly elevated mountain, there was a town. It may have been a very
beautiful town long ago. Cave residences made by carefully digging into the rock extended from
the base of the mountain to the summit. Overgrowing with ivy and weeds, there was no sign
that people lived there. It was a town that seemed to have been abandoned for hundreds of
years. Rusted ninja tools and such were scattered about. They didn’t know what kind of traps
had been set, but at least it felt like it wasn’t an illusion.

“…It looks like this was a shinobi village long ago,” Sai murmured.

In the afternoon, once it had been confirmed that it was more or less safe, it was decided that
they would split into two teams, one with Naruto and Hinata and the other team with Shikamaru
and the others, to gather information. At the place where they arrived at the town, black burn
marks could be seen.

“There was a fire…”

“Maybe there was a war?”

In an abandoned house, a multitude of human bones were piled up to the ceiling.

“At any rate, this isn’t normal…” Shikamaru murmured as the light of the lantern illuminated the
mountain of skulls.

Naruto insisted to Hinata that they take a break. Hinata was acting cheerfully, but she seemed
exhausted. When they came to a resting spot, she sat down dizzily.

Hinata’s… worrying about Hanabi and pushing herself too hard.

“When you’re worn out, it’s important to eat something –ttebayo!”

“…But I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat! I’ll eat half, too.”

Naruto offered his rations to Hinata.

“I really don’t want to eat.”

It was silent for a while.

 62

“No matter how exhausted I am, if I eat ‘til I’m full and sleep, I go back to normal…”

Hinata lifted her face and stared at Naruto.

“Well, maybe it’s just that simple for me, hahaha.”

Hinata let out a quick burst of laughter, and took the rations from Naruto’s hand.

“Thank you Naruto-kun… I’ll eat.”

Naruto and Hinata walked side by side through sunlight filtered by trees. Naruto brushed off a
spider web that was caught on Hinata’s head. He scooped up spring water from an old drinking
fountain in the palms of his hands, and they drank it together. Hinata was smiling like a flower.
To Naruto, it was a kind of happiness he was feeling for the first time.

He would never lie and say that he had been unhappy up until then. After forming bonds of
mutual trust with his comrades and eating his favorite ramen, both his stomach and his heart
were filled with a sense of happiness. He was blessed with Iruka, Kakashi, and Jiraiya as
teachers. The existence of Kurama, the nine-tailed fox who had been bound to him at risk of life
and death, was also important. It wasn’t that he had never cursed his fate as an orphan and a
jinchuuriki when he was young, but all of these obstacles fueled his growth.

Naruto felt that he was happy. These were his true feelings.

But the sense of happiness he experienced in the hours of that afternoon—it was like a sweet
and sour, light-headed overjoyed feeling that Naruto had never known until now. It wasn’t like
the sense of accomplishment after finishing a mission, having friendly conversations with his
comrades, or the instant that he slurped up the broth of Ichiraku’s ramen. It was a special
happiness.

Naruto and Hinata took a break. They sat next to each other on the stone floor. Naruto was in
awe of Hinata’s face in profile. He felt the impulse to trace that beautiful outline with his fingers.

Hinata suddenly turned her head. Naruto became flustered and averted his gaze.

“N-Naruto-kun… what happened to that scarf?”

“Th-that… It’s warm here underground… so I took it off.”

It was actually almost a little cold. Their breath was even a little bit visible.

“…You must be cold dressed like that.”

Naruto glanced at Hinata’s bare arms. Her skin was white, and had a sense of transparency.

“……”
“Don’t look too much… These are mission clothes… so it can’t be helped…”
 63

Hinata shyly hid her exposed arms, and her expression as she blushed and looked down
caused Naruto’s chest to tighten.

A-anything is fine… I have to say something! I’ve got to say something! Naruto thought.

He had to put his current feelings, his emotions, his thoughts, all into honest words and tell
Hinata.

The moment Naruto opened his mouth—

Clang!

Hinata’s backpack fell over, and Hanabi’s kunai fell onto the ground, making noise. Suddenly
coming to his senses, he sat up and made some distance. He felt like Hanabi’s kunai was
scolding him for forgetting the mission and being in such high spirits.

It was silent.

“Naruto-kun, there’s something I need to talk to you about…”

“?”
“It’s about Toneri…”
“Hinata-san!” Sai’s voice broke in.

It seemed that Shikamaru had found an old building that had been converted into a shrine on
the outskirts of the town, and wanted to examine it with the byakugan.

“…We’ll go now!”

Hinata recovered her kunoichi face, and giving a small nod to Naruto, walked out with Sai.

“……”
Naruto felt like he wanted more time. If the world ended like this, he would lose his chance to
confess to Hinata. He just couldn’t bear to die with these feelings hidden in his heart. Naruto
clenched his fist and made his decision.

The team set foot inside the shrine. The enshrined statues were cracked at the front, and the
walls and pillars were beginning to crumble. The entire place was ornamented with an “eye”
design drawn with a characteristic pattern on the pupil area. It was a pattern of light extending in
eight directions from a circle in the center, like two crossed shuriken overlapping. A verse of
poetry was engraved in ancient shinobi characters on a stone monument nearby.

“It’s an ancient oath. In the case that the path of mankind is in error…” Shikamaru began to read
the verse aloud.
 64

“The eye of reincarnation (tensei) will be resurrected, and the moon’s fist shall destroy
mankind… I guess.”

“…What does this mean?” Sakura asked Shikamaru.

“Maybe it means this thing called the eye of reincarnation… is what’s moving the moon?”

“So maybe, Kakashi-sensei’s gut instinct about the moon and Hanabi’s kidnapping being
related…”

“Well, that guy’s tends to be right on… in a bad way,” Shikamaru smiled bitterly.

For a moment, Hinata heard a strange voice.

“Byakugan Princess…”

She looked at Naruto and the others, but they didn’t seem to have heard it.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

Making a strange sound, part of the stone floor at their feet crumbled, and they were
enshrouded in thick clouds of dust. After the dust clouds cleared, a hidden level revealed itself.
It seemed to continue underground.

The group descended to the lower level, carrying lanterns. In the lower level was a wide room
with several thousand “stone boxes” neatly arranged in rows.

“Could these be coffins… is this a cemetery?” Shikamaru asked in a serious voice.

“Someone’s here!”

Hearing Hinata’s voice, Shikamaru turned his lantern, shining it on an old man. The old man’s
eyes were closed. His form was shabby, but there was a quality about his appearance that
made it feel like he had been someone in a position of responsibility in the past.

“The byakugan… I sense the byakugan.”

The old man turned to Hinata and held out his hand.

“Yes, there’s no mistake… Byakugan Princess!”

The old man took a step closer to Hinata.

“Stay away from Hinata!”

Jumping between the two, Naruto stuck out the hand that was holding the lantern.
 65

The old man slowly opened his eyes—he had no eyeballs.

“!”

As he did so, the old man began to groan. He sat down on the floor, and spat up something
from his mouth. It was a glowing bubble. The bubble immediately expanded, making its light
stronger. Hinata’s byakugan reacted to the bubble’s light. Passing through the byakugan,
images were projected into Hinata’s mind.

—A great number of soldiers began a war. A battle flag with a crescent moon and sun was being
waved.
—In the center of their position, a giant orb was being prepared like a weapon.
—The next moment, the orb emitted a strong light, and she couldn’t see anything.
—The next thing she saw was the sight of countless people having collapsed. The heaps of
corpses—this was certainly a depiction of Hell.

It was there that the images were cut off, and Hinata lost consciousness.

“Hinata!”

Naruto hurried to catch Hinata as she fell over.

“Bastard! What did you do to Hinata?”

The old man whom he asked got up.

“…The tenseigan… has been revived…”

At that time, the old man’s head fell from his neck. His hands and feet also crumbled as if they
had lost their strength.

“!”

The severed head rolled onto the floor, and the mouth narrowly moved.

“You must stop… the Ootsutsuki’s… the Ootsutsuki’s…”

The old man completely stopped moving.

The group came out of the underground cemetery and returned to the middle of town.
Shikamaru and Sai were on the balcony of a particular building discussing what had just
happened.

“That man was saying Ootsutsuki, but isn’t Ootsutsuki the former surname of the Rikudou
Sennin?” Shikamaru recalled.
 66

“Ootsutsuki Hagoromo… that was the Rikudou Sennin’s name before he entered priesthood.”

The fact that he had called Hinata “Byakugan Princess” was also concerning.

“It seems like this is related to Toneri kidnapping Hanabi.”

After that, Shikamaru tried to check with Hinata about it, but she said that she couldn’t recall
anything. Shikamaru became concerned at Hinata’s pale expression when she answered.

Was what happened in the underground cemetery really that much of a shock to her?

However, Hinata was a well-experienced shinobi. There was something a bit unsettling about
the way she was so exhausted.

In Shikamaru’s line of sight was Hinata kneeling at a drinking fountain, and Naruto, who
wouldn’t leave her side. Even Shikamaru had noticed that Naruto and Hinata were rapidly
getting closer. Naruto falling in love was fine, but they were on a mission right now. It would be a
problem if the strongest member of the team couldn’t use his full power.

Maybe I should reprimand Naruto…

But romance problems were delicate. Relationships of mutual trust could be harmed or
completely lost because of rash words.

This is a tough one…

Shikamaru mentally expressed his discomfort.

That night, they decided to stay in an abandoned building that seemed useable. While everyone
was settling down to go to sleep, Naruto, who was on lookout duty, stopped in the hallway in
front of Hinata’s room. Light from a lantern was shining out of the room. When he peeked inside,
Hinata was knitting.

Knitting just goes on and on… It takes time.

Sensing someone’s presence, Hinata turned her head. Hinata always smiled at him when their
eyes met, but tonight she looked down.

“That thing you started to say this afternoon… what was it?”
“……”
“Something about Toneri…”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing… what do you mean?
“……”
“Hinata?”
67
 68

“I’m sorry. Leave me alone…”

There was nothing Naruto could do but leave. He thought about it as he returned to his own
room. Hinata was definitely acting weird. It probably wasn’t that she hated Naruto or that she
was mad at him. Naruto got the sense that she was carrying some kind of heavy burden and
suffering by herself.

In the room of the castle where the fire burned in the fireplace, Toneri slowly got up and
removed the bandages from his eyes. In his previously hollow eye sockets were glowing white
eyeballs. It was the Hyuuga clan’s byakugan.

After blinking several times as though it was bright, he opened both eyes wide, and stared at
the palm of his hand. Finally it came into focus, and he let out a satisfied smile.

“I can see… I can really see!”

Toneri suddenly grabbed a nearby puppet shinobi by the neck, and roughly drew it closer. Their
faces close, he fixed his gaze on the emotionless puppet’s face.

“So this is what it means… to see things!”

His life had not been hindered up to this point. Although his fate as a member of the Ootsutsuki
clan was to have his eyeballs taken from him at birth, he could perceive his surroundings by
gathering chakra in his mind’s eye, and was able to act more quickly and precisely than he
could by seeing with eyes. However, there was definitely a big difference between “sensing” and
“seeing.” It was on this day that Toneri first knew the joy and excitement of seeing things.

“I wanted to… show you, too, Father…” Toneri murmured in a small voice.

Long ago, when his father was still alive—

Toneri and his father lived together, just the two of them. Many puppets worked for them, but
they were really just dolls. Toneri wanted human friends. Going through the cave, Toneri’s father
took him to the village of Konohagakure a number of times. The two would often spy on their
distant blood relatives, the Hyuuga clan, from a hiding place.

—Look, that girl. Her name is Hyuuga Hinata. Focus and sense her well.

The eyeball-less father and son gathered their chakra in their foreheads, and observed the
young girl playing in the garden.

—Yes, she’s a very cute girl.

—In ten years, let’s come for her. We’ll make her your bride!

His father, who had smiled happily when he said that, was no longer there.
 69

Toneri slowly got up and removed

the bandages from his eyes.

“I can see! I can really see!”

 70

Coming to his senses after reminiscing about his father, Toneri gazed at the flames in the
fireplace.

“I want to see you! Hinata… I want to see your beautiful face with these eyes,” Toneri said as if
he was possessed.

Naruto and the other left the abandoned cave dwellings and headed towards the next town in
search of new information. The day grew dark during their traveling, so it was decided that they
would make camp in the woods. The artificial sun was coldly glowing like the moon.

Naruto, who was dozing near the campfire, abruptly woke up. Hinata was gone. Naruto quietly
crawled out of his sleeping bag.

Hinata was mending the red scarf by a spring. Giving up on greeting her, Naruto decided to
watch over her from the shadows of the trees. He had worked so well with Hinata until the
previous afternoon, but now she was acting distant. No matter what Naruto said, Hinata would
vaguely answer and leave. Here, rather than calling to her, he thought he would watch her for a
bit. Stitch by stitch, Hinata twisted the red yarn with her knitting needles. Her expression was
still not so great. Occasionally, she would look like she was pondering over something.

The knitting needles sliced through the air. Her knitting hands stopped moving. She sighed
deeply.

Hinata really is acting strange…

Without having been seen, Naruto stepped out of the shadows. When Hinata noticed Naruto,
she stopped knitting.

“To be knitting when my little sister is in trouble… I’m a terrible older sister.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself! You’re the one who’s worried about Hanabi more than anyone
else… Everyone knows that.”

If she hadn’t left the mansion that night, Hanabi wouldn’t have been kidnapped—Hinata deeply
regretted this, being the one responsible in the absence of her father Hiashi.

It was quiet in the forest. Several glowing butterflies were fluttering around Hinata.

“I’ll definitely save Hanabi, so don’t worry!”

“Thank you… You really are kind, Naruto-kun.”

A glowing butterfly suddenly lit up Hinata’s face. Hinata was smiling sadly. Naruto got a little
flustered.

“…It-it’s not like I’m just being kind because I love you. I’m really worried about Hanabi…”
 71

“!”

Hinata was shocked. Her eyes widened, and she peered at Naruto.

“Wh-what did you say just now?”

“I said I’m worried about Hanabi…”
“Be… before that…”
“Before that…”

Naruto’s stomach tightened. What he ought to say as a man, he ought to say properly.

He looked into Hinata’s eyes. Her pure white pupils were wavering. He took a breath, and all at
once, he said it.

“Hinata… I love you…”

“……”

As Hinata stared at Naruto, joy came into her eyes for just a moment, then it quickly changed to
deep sadness. She looked down without saying anything.

“Hinata…?”
“……”

The moonlight that illuminated Hinata’s face as she looked down was suddenly obstructed. The
butterflies fled. When the two looked up, an extravagantly ornamented circular stand was
floating through the night sky, and atop it stood Toneri.

“Hinata… I’ve come for you.”

Toneri smiled at Hinata.

“Toneri! Are you a puppet again!? Where’s Hanabi!?”

“Shut up… I came to hear Hinata’s answer.”

Toneri held out his right hand as if to invite Hinata.

“Answer? Hinata doesn’t have any business with you! Anyway Hanabi…? Hinata…?”

At that time, Hinata bowed deeply in response to Toneri.

“!”

Hinata turned around, and pushed the red scarf against Naruto’s chest to give it to him.
 72

“Hinata… I love you…”

“I can see! I can really see!”

 73

“Wh-what is this?”

“Naruto-kun… goodbye,” Hinata whispered in a small voice, then walked of her own accord to
Toneri’s side.

“Hey, Hinata… what are you doing?”

Hinata got onto the circular stand alongside Toneri, and they floated up into the sky.

Naruto clutched the red scarf. He couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

“Hinataaaaaaa!”

Naruto began to desperately chase after the circular stand as it flew away.

What is this, Hinata… why would you go with a guy like him?

Naruto asked Hinata over and over in his head, full of confusion.

Noticing Naruto’s screaming voice, Shikamaru, Sai, and Sakura chased after Toneri on ink
birds.

The enemy’s eagle beasts appeared, and began a mid-air battle. Sai threw exploding kunai,
shooting several of them down.

Sakura couldn’t believe what she saw with her own eyes. Toneri had his arm around Hinata’s
shoulders.

Hinata, why?

“What a minute!”

It was Naruto’s voice. Riding on a bird, he caught up to the circular stand while forming a
rasengan.

“Give back Hinata!”

“Give her back? Hinata came to me of her own free will.”

Toneri also began to form an eerily glowing sphere.

“It has been fated since ancient times. Hinata and I will be married.”
“M-married? Hinata, that’s a lie, right?”
“……”
“Hinata! Say something!”
“……”

Without answering, Hinata cast her eyes downward.

 74

“Naruto-kun… goodbye…”

“Hey, Hinata… what are you doing?”

 75

Holding his rasengan, Naruto was dumbfounded.

Naruto had first noticed Hinata’s feelings when they had fallen into genjutsu. He had known
since long ago that Hinata had said she loved him. However, Naruto had confused Hinata’s love
with the kind of “love” as in “I love ramen” or “I love shogi.” He must have caused her so much
pain. Perhaps now he was receiving his punishment for the long years of being dense—that
was how Naruto felt.

Toneri threw the glowing sphere. Naruto reflexively thrusted his rasengan at it. The glowing
sphere and the rasengan collided head-on. However, there was no explosion or anything. The
glowing sphere engulfed the rasengan, and intruded into Naruto’s body.

“Guh…”

For a moment, Naruto’s movement was stopped. His widely opened eyes lost their vitality.
Forced out by the glowing sphere, Naruto’s chakra shot out of his body. The separated chakra
took on a round form, and fell, drifting slowly. Naruto also began to fall. The scarf left Naruto’s
hand, and the moment it came into contact with the chakra ball, it violently burst into flames.

“Na-Naruto-kun!”

Hinata turned to Toneri and glared at him.

“Terrible! That’s terrible!”

Toneri stayed quiet and put his hand over Hinata’s shoulder.

“What are you trying to do!?” Hinata yelled as she pushed Toneri’s arm aside.

“It was so that you wouldn’t get hurt in a pointless fight.”

Toneri made a small bubble explode in front of Hinata’s face. Breathing in the vapor that burst
out, Hinata lost consciousness, and Toneri held her in his arms.

Toneri’s round stand ascended towards the artificial sun.

As the slowly floating ball of chakra lost altitude, it disappeared into the woods. Nothing
happened for awhile, and then—

Kaboom!

Light burst out, and a mushroom-shaped cloud rose up. The trees were cut down, and a huge
hole opened up in the ground. A jet-black darkness could be seen through the deep hole—it
was outer space. A blue celestial body was floating in that darkness. A blue, shining, beautiful
planet.
 76

He must have caused her so much pain…

…all those years of being dense…

…That was his punishment…

…That was how Naruto felt…
 77

“C-could that be… E-Earth?”

Riding on a bird, Sai looked down at the planet through the hole in silent amazement.

As Naruto was falling, the flaming scarf floated in the air, and burned up.

“Hinata…”

He fell into a deep unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 2 END
Chapter 3 78
 79

The broken fragments of the moon gradually formed one giant ring around Earth. Eventually the
fragments would be drawn in by Earth’s gravity and rain down to the surface. The thousands of
broken pieces would become ultra-high-speed meteorites and plunge into the atmosphere.

Booooom!

They struck down and burned through everything in their path.

The shinobi of each village destroyed the falling meteorites in mid-air, and endeavored to
minimize damage to the surface. Water release, wind release, wood release, particle release—
each shinobi used their own specialty jutsu, and protected their home towns and comrades.
However, the fall of the meteorites continued non-stop, day and night. The shinobi who were
part of the air defense mission were nearing their physical limits.

—Onee-chan.

She could hear Hanabi’s voice. When Hinata opened her eyes, she could see a high ceiling and
a chandelier. She had been put in a bed by herself. It was an old-fashioned yet extravagant
guest room. The bed was also not uncomfortable. However, she had a slight headache.

The last things she had seen were the burning red scarf, and Naruto falling. After that, Toneri
had cast a jutsu on her, and she lost consciousness.

“This is… Toneri’s castle…?”

She jumped from the bed as if repelled from it, and examined the inside of room with her back
to the wall. She ran to the window and observed the outside. There were bristling spires.

Confirming first off that there was no danger within the room, she then investigated outside the
room with her byakugan. On the other side of the door was a long hallway, and there was no
sign of a look-out or guard. She crept up to the door and tried turning the doorknob. The door
opened easily. Hinata proceeded while using her byakugan to stay on guard in the hallway,
which had lamps hanging on the walls on both sides.

Hinata’s feet stopped in front of a particular room.

“Hanabi!”

Hinata raised her voice without thinking. Her younger sister had been put in that room’s bed.
Hinata burst into the room and rushed over to the bed. Hanabi seemed to be unconscious. Her
eyes were heavily wrapped in bandages. Hinata used her byakugan to check beneath the
bandages, and gasped.

…Her eyes have been taken out!

 80

The one who had stolen Hanabi’s byakugan was Toneri. Hinata remembered. When they had
escaped from the genjutsu space and Naruto and the others had jumped into the spring, the
words that she and Toneri had exchanged:

“Married!”
“You and I are destined to be together according to a celestial decree from ancient times.”
“What are you saying? Hanabi…”

At that time, a dome-shaped device rose up from the sand, and another Toneri was projected
there. Perhaps the Toneri in this image was the real one.

“Your sister is in my castle,” the image of Toneri said. The form of Hanabi sleeping in a bed was
projected on the dome.

“Hanabi!”
“I have taken her byakugan.”
“Te-terrible…”
“I’m sorry… It was for Hamura’s celestial decree.”
“Hamura?”
“The ancestor of the shinobi of the moon, Ootsutsuki Hamura… Would it be easier to
understand if I said he was the younger brother of the ancestor of Earth’s shinobi, the Rikudou
Sennin? You of the Hyuuga clan inherited Hamura’s blood…”
“!”
“It’s a story from the distant past, thousands of years ago…”

The on-screen Toneri began to quietly tell the tale.

Chakra originated from a giant tree called the “Shinju.” The Shinju bore fruit only once every one
thousand years—a “chakra fruit” so to speak. Queen Ootsutsuki Kaguya ate this fruit, and
gained an enormous amount of chakra within her body. Using that power, Kaguya subdued the
conflicts of the human world. After that, Kaguya gave birth to two sons. They were the brothers
Ootsutsuki Hagoromo and Hamura.

The Shinju however, took on the form of a powerful beast in order to take back its stolen fruit,
and began to attack human villages. This was the origin of the Juubi. The two brothers, who had
inherited their mother’s chakra, worked together, and at the end of a life or death struggle, they
succeeded in sealing the Juubi inside the older brother’s abdomen. Hagoromo became the first
jinchuuriki.

Creating “ninshuu” after that, Hagoromo, who had become the Rikudou Sennin, became the
ancestor of Earth’s shinobi. Hagoromo regarded the Juubi sealed in his abdomen as dangerous.
That immeasurable power might bring catastrophe to the world. Creating the nine bijuu, he
divided the Juubi’s chakra into nine and bestowed it upon the bijuu, attempting to disperse its
power.
 81

The empty shell of the Juubi’s body from which the chakra had been extracted was referred to
as the Gedo Statue. The Gedo Statue was a chakra container—if the chakra that had been
divided into nine parts was once again gathered and returned to the statue, the Juubi would be
revived. To prevent the Juubi from ever being resurrected, Hagoromo created a new celestial
body, naming it the moon, and confined the Gedo Statue there.

The younger brother Hamura and his clan immigrated to the moon, and chose to live as guards
of the Gedo Statue. Hamura, who became the ancestor of the moon’s shinobi, was skeptical of
the world that his older brother Hagoromo had created. Hamura continued watching over Earth
from the moon for the rest of his life. He then entrusted his descendants with the command to
destroy the world that his older brother created if they ever erred in their use of chakra. For the
thousands of years to follow, Hamura’s descendants lived on the moon for generations,
protecting the Gedo Statue and observing Earth.

When he got to this point in the story, the on-screen Toneri’s manner of speech grew rough.

“For those thousands of years, shinobi have continued to use chakra as a weapon with no end
to their conflict. Eventually, the even stole the Gedo Statue and resurrected the Juubi!”
“……”
“So we have concluded that it is Earth’s shinobi that are the catastrophe that destroys the
world’s peace and order. The world that the Rikudou Sennin created has failed! I shall follow
Hamura’s celestial decree and destroy the Rikudou Sennin’s world by my own hand!”
“!”

According to Toneri, Ootsutsuki Hamura was also the originator of the tenseigan. Using the
great power of the tenseigan, he brought order and stability to the world of the moon. Even after
his death, the people of the moon treated “Hamura’s tenseigan” as a treasure. They enshrined it
as a religious object, and devoted a plan to eternally preserving it.

The tenseigan however, was not limited to Hamura’s tenseigan only. By implanting the Hyuuga
clan’s byakugan, those who inherited the Ootsutsuki’s blood could manifest and acquire a new
tenseigan. By combining the chakra of both clans, the byakugan would transform into the
tenseigan.

“That is why I had to obtain the byakugan.”

Using the powerful ocular ability of the tenseigan, even a destroyed planet Earth could be
revived. To create a world with peace where chakra is not used as a weapon—Toneri said that
Hanabi giving up her byakugan would be a sacrifice for this noble goal.
Toneri ranted to Hinata for ten minutes.

She too had fought in the Fourth Shinobi World War. She knew very well of the excessive
bloodshed. The ones continuing this foolishness were none other than Hinata and the other
shinobi of Earth.

Yet at the same time, she felt that there were problems with this way of thinking. To destroy the
world that Hagoromo created because it was evil and rebuild a world that is right—could she be
 82

so simply convinced of that? There must actually be countless phases and categories between
good and evil. At times, right and wrong are debatable, and she didn’t even know which way
was right and which way was wrong.

But it was difficult when it came to the world of humans. Toneri’s simple dualism was easy to
understand, but it was too extreme.

“I don’t believe your story! I’ll save Hanabi for sure!” Hinata yelled without thinking.
“Save her? When you don’t even know where my castle is?”

Leaving a sneer, Toneri’s image disappeared. The dome also vanished. Hinata found herself
standing on the ball of sand face to face with the puppet Toneri.

“I will come back again to hear your answer but… this is fate!”

—Hinata!

It was then that Naruto returned. He jumped in between the puppet Toneri and Hinata.

Hinata was by Hanabi’s side thinking. At that time, Hinata had been the only one who had heard
the circumstances from Toneri. In other words, Hinata had acted along with Naruto and the
others even after finding out the reason for Hanabi’s kidnapping and the reason why Toneri had
launched an attack against Earth.

She understood the words and the images that the old man had shown her in the underground
cemetery in the ruined temple.

Hinata was troubled. There had to have been another way if she had told Naruto and Shikamaru
and cooperated with them. But Hinata had kept quiet from her comrades and chose to take
action on her own. To protect the village, and Naruto.

This mission might be far beyond her own ability, but she had no choice but to carry it out.
Otherwise, rejecting Naruto’s confession, hurting him, and infiltrating Toneri’s castle would be
meaningless.

I won’t run away. I never go back on my word. That’s mine and Naruto-kun’s nindou.

Hanabi was sleeping before her eyes.

Hold on just a little longer. Hinata swore to her sister.

“Good morning.”

Toneri was standing behind her.

“I’m glad that you have accepted my feelings, Hinata. Come. I’ll show you around the castle.”
 83

Toneri’s castle was huge. There were all kinds of puppets working, including women, men,
children, etc.

“They’re all just marionettes that my ancestors left behind,” Toneri answered without interest.

Toneri never doubted his own sense of justice. The world that the Rikudou Sennin created was
wrong, and if it was wrong, then he was convinced he should destroy it. Because it was fate, he
pressed Hinata to marry him, but he hadn’t thought about Hinata’s feelings at all. He was
selfish.

Toneri said that he had lost his father when he was young, and had always lived by himself with
his puppets. Perhaps circumstances like these in his childhood had influenced his self-righteous
disposition. Puppets would only agree. They didn’t object or oppose him. Anyone might have
become this kind of lonely person if they had grown up in a world where they could get away
with anything they wished.

Toneri might not have even had the slightest bit of ugly greedy or desire for power. Hinata
supposed that he was only trying to carry out what he believed to be justice. But no matter how
much she knew about Toneri’s circumstances, she could not forget that he was an enemy who
was trying to destroy humanity.

Toneri lead Hinata to a large shrine.

“This is where the wedding ceremony will be held.”

Toneri said that after the ceremony, he and Hinata would enter a room called the “rebirth
chamber” and fall into a long sleep until the environment of the destroyed Earth stabilizes.

But if the moon was dropped onto Earth, there was no way that the moon should be safe. This
castle, the tensei chamber, and the moon, should all be caught up in the destruction.

“No need to worry. This castle is protected by chakra… a chakra powerful enough to move the
moon, the power of the Ootsutsuki’s treasure… Even if the moon is destroyed, this castle and
the rebirth chamber will be safe.”

Hinata realized that the source of that powerful chakra was the tenseigan.

“Where is it?”
“That, I cannot tell you…”

Hinata couldn’t let her true intentions be revealed yet. To destroy that—

Hinata tried to go back to her room to come up with a plan.

“Oh, right… will you knit me a scarf?”

“Eh…?”
 84

“You don’t want to?”

At this love-testing type of request, Hinata closed her eyes and thought, then finally nodded.

“I understand.”
“I see… thank you… I’m happy, Hinata.”

A moment after smiling, Toneri grasped at his eyes and began to show anguish.

“Don’t worry… It’s a sign that the byakugan is maturing into the tenseigan… It should stop if I
rest for a bit.”

Toneri walked out, leaving Hinata in the shrine.

Left alone with Toneri no longer present, Hinata searched the shrine with her byakugan.
However, no matter how much she focused, it seemed that Hamura’s tenseigan wasn’t hidden
there.

—Byakugan Princess…

Hinata recalled the images that the old man had shown her in the underground cemetery at the
temple. If she believed what she had been shown, she would have to destroy Hamura’s
tenseigan, which was sleeping somewhere in this castle, before being noticed by Toneri.

“Byakugan Princess…”

In the underground cemetery at the temple, the old man without eyeballs stepped out of the
darkness and released a glowing sphere from his mouth.

Hinata’s byakugan reacted to that light. Various images revolved around and jumped into her
head. An army, the design of two crossing shuriken, a giant eyeball, an explosion, a mountain of
corpses—

Hinata found herself alone in the temple’s underground cemetery surrounded by thousands of
stone coffins. The figures of people rose above the coffins. The number of figures gradually
increased until there was one standing on every one of the coffins. They were all armor-clad
soldiers. Hinata took a breath.

“We are the descendants of Hamura, the main family of the Ootsutsuki clan. We were
annihilated by the branch family, who misinterpreted Hamura’s celestial decree.”

The man who began to speak was in his prime, but looking closely at his face revealed that he
was the old man that had released the glowing sphere earlier.
 85

“Toneri, a descendant of the branch family, is misusing Hamura’s tenseigan to try to drop the
moon onto Earth. Hamura’s tenseigan must be destroyed. Byakugan Princess, the only one
who can do this… is you.”

All at once, the soldiers bent down and knelt. A tall old man walked in. Horns extended from his
long blond hair. Hinata thought he was the Rikudou Sennin, Ootsutsuki Hagoromo, but that was
not the case.

“My name is Ootsutsuki Hamura… Byakugan Princess… You must not allow the world that my
elder brother created to come to an end!”

Having returned to Hanabi’s room from the shrine, Hinata was knitting Toneri’s scarf. Sleeping in
the bed, Hanabi was making sounds as if she was having a nightmare. Hinata stopped her
knitting needles and grabbed her little sister’s hand.

“You poor thing… I swear I’ll bring you back home.”

As she said this, she felt as if a little bit of strength had come into the unconscious Hanabi’s
hand.

The old man she had met in the underground cemetery and the soldiers were probably
apparitions. Carrying their regrets of having been annihilated, they might have wandered about
wishing to protect humanity and Earth.

Also, the words of Ootsutsuki Hamura—he had said that Hinata was the only one who could
destroy the tenseigan.

No matter what, she had to do it. The future of Earth and humanity were at stake.

“I swear I’ll find it and destroy it… Hamura’s tenseigan!”

Hinata tightly grasped Hanabi’s hand.

Shikamaru’s team, whom Hinata had abandoned, concealed themselves in a hiding place made
inside a cave. Naruto’s consciousness had not returned after losing a great mass of chakra from
the effects of Toneri’s glowing sphere. Sakura was putting all of her medical ninjutsu into saving
Naruto. She kept up the flow of chakra into Naruto’s body, but his consciousness still wouldn’t
return. Sakura put her ear to the left side of Naruto’s chest, and listened to his heartbeat. She
heard a weak echo that hardly seemed like the sound of Naruto’s lively heart.

Naruto was in a critical state.

“Hi-Hinata… Hinata –ttebayo…”

The incoherent mutterings that Naruto occasionally blurted out were of Hinata and nothing else.
 86

Sakura had come to support Hinata’s love. This was because she felt that what Hinata had was
the same as her own unrequited feelings towards Sasuke. Yet on the other hand, Naruto had
held favor for Sakura since he was a child.

For a mere moment, just one moment, Sakura’s medical ninjutsu-casting hands stopped.

“……”

In Sakura’s mind, thoughts floated around of the clueless boy who smiled while scratching his
head, and the face of the awkward girl who in sharp contrast, would cast her eyes downward.
The two were Sakura’s childhood companions, her comrades on the battlefield, and most
importantly, her precious friends. She wanted to make the two of them happy.

“Hi-Hinata…” A small voice came from Naruto’s mouth.

So you finally get it, you dummy.

Sakura opened her mouth.

“I’ll definitely heal him! I will save Naruto!”

Sakura gathered maximum chakra in her hands.

Entrusting the near-death Naruto to Sakura, Shikamaru and Sai had gone out on
reconnaissance on the ink birds. They could see the huge hole that Naruto’s chakra had blown
open in the ground below their eyes. Beyond the hole was a jet black space. A blue celestial
body was floating there.

“That’s Earth, no matter how you look at it, isn’t it?” Sai asked, pointing to the blue, shining
planet.
“There’s no mistake. Judging by where we are in relation to it, we’re on the moon.”
“It’s actually the moon… and I thought we had just gone underground.”

The cave that descended underground had somehow connected to the moon. Furthermore, this
moon—it was filled with a giant open space, and had an artificial sun floating in the center of it.
It was an abnormal celestial body.

“There was a strange darkness where the bubbles were floating. That may have been the
passage linking Earth to the moon.”

Judging by the ruins in the abandoned buildings and shrine, there was no mistaking that an
advanced civilization and a shinobi clan possessing vast chakra had lived on the moon in the
past. Perhaps they may have been the ones who created the passageway connecting Earth
and the moon. Also, it might have been the descendants of that clan from the moon who
kidnapped Hanabi. There was no way that this was unrelated to the moon falling to Earth.
 87

“The guys who kidnapped Hanabi, and the guys who are trying to drop the moon onto Earth…
In other words, our enemies, are one in the same!”

Kakashi’s reading was amazingly on-target.

Shikamaru checked the remaining time on the clock on the palm of his hand. The time limit was
approaching. The birds gradually increased their altitude. They got closer to the artificial sun.
That was the destination of this reconnaissance.

Having seen Toneri’s circular stand return the previous night, they knew that his hideout was
inside the artificial sun. It must have been covered by some sort of jutsu or barrier that inhibited
the byakugan’s power, which was why Hinata’s byakugan couldn’t see through it.

“Where could the entrance be?” Sai asked as he looked up at the artificial sun.

“Let’s have them tell us.”

Shikamaru smirked as he threw an exploding kunai at the artificial sun. The exploding tag
detonated magnificently in mid-air, and reacting to the sound, puppet shinobi emerged in
succession from inside the artificial sun riding on eagle beats.

“What are you doing!? The enemy will notice us!”

Sai was panicking, but Shikamaru had an idea. In order to save Hanabi and Hinata, they would
have to invade the enemy’s hideout. He wanted to see how the puppets got in and out of the
artificial sun.

A round opening formed on the surface of the artificial sun, and Shikamaru observed the
enemies’ movements at the moment they came out. All of the puppets riding on the backs of the
eagle beasts seemed to be forming the same hand seal.

“Alright, that’s enough… Hey, retreat!”

Prompted by Shikamaru, the stunned Sai made his ink bird change course. However, the
enemies would not ignore them. They pursued Shikamaru and Sai wherever they went.

They retreated into a large canyon, and flew weaving through the valley. The eagle beasts were
approaching. The puppets threw glowing bubbles. They hit the cliffs and exploded. Crumbling
rocks rained down on the ink birds.

“I’m trusting you, Sai! Do something!”

“…How convenient for you.”

Despite his annoyance, Sai was expressionless. He took out his scroll, and after a bit of
thought, he moved his ink brush.

“Ninpou: Choujuu Giga!”

 88

Appearing along with smoke was a crab like the one Sakura had taken down in the cave. The
crab’s giant body was caught between the cliffs, blocking the valley.

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

Unable to avoid it, the eagle beasts collided with the crab’s shell, and exploded.

Shikamaru gave a thumbs-up, praising Sai’s cleverness. Sai nodded without any expression.

The Fourth Raikage was called a “hot-tempered man.” His appearance, his words, and his
actions, were all overpowering. As a leader on the other hand, he had the cleverness to take a
certain situation and make logical judgement in an instant. Looking up from Kumogakure’s air
defense command center, he could see that the moon was indeed growing larger as the days
passed. The surface of the moon was crumbling, and countless fragments were surrounding
Earth like a giant ring. From the ground, the night sky appeared to be divided into two parts.

“Destroying each individual meteorite will be too slow. It’s the moon that’s the true danger! I
would rather just wipe out the moon!”

“The plan is grand. Big Bro is great. But, how will we wipe out the moon? Oh yeah! 1”

His adoptive younger brother Bee, who liked rap, asked in rhyme.

The Raikage was a pragmatic leader, as well as a believer in power. On the diplomatic front, he
placed focus on the balance of power depending on the opposition. Rather than furthering the
peace collaboration between the five nations, he had developed a secret weapon of mass
destruction and hidden it away inside a hollowed out cliff. Originally having developed this
weapon of destruction for use in wars with other countries, he had decided to instead use it to
destroy the meteorites and eliminate the moon.

The doors of the storehouse opened solemnly, causing hazard lights to flash, and revealing the
form of a giant weapon, the chakra cannon. Three long gun barrels extended side by side from
a seemingly sturdy pedestal.

“The lower two are diffusion chakra cannons! They can shoot multiple targets at the same time!
With these we will destroy the ring of meteorites surrounding Earth!”

The Raikage pointed to the ring dividing the sky.

“Above is a space-time chakra cannon. It can launch a target into another dimension in one
blow. With this, we will make the moon disappear!”

“WOW, it’s huge YO! It’s huge YO! The man, the weapon, they’re both huge YO 2!”

1Translator’s note: The original line, “Keikaku soudai. Aniki wa idai. Demo. Tsuki wo kesu tte do~
yandai?” ends each sentence with the rhyming “dai” making it sound more like rap
 89

“You, prepare the chakra cannon!”

Crossing the arms that he had conditioned with dumbbells, he laughed fearlessly.

“It’s nice to have someone here to talk to at dinner… So, tell me about yourself.”

Toneri smiled in good humor from across a long, narrow dining table covered by a white
tablecloth. The top of the table was decorated with flowers and candles, and extravagant cuisine
was arranged. Puppet children and maids stood near Hinata, waiting on her.

When he was in a good mood like this, Toneri was a cheerful and good-natured young man.
Even as one whose heart was distorted by a life of solitude without even having someone with
whom to share meals, it could be that his unexpected true nature was that of an honest man.
Hinata decided to try talking with Toneri.

“…Even now can you not discuss peace or the future with the shinobi leaders?”
“What?”
“It is true that the shinobi of Earth have used chakra and carried on conflicts. But it’s different
now. We’ve joined hands to try to protect the peace that has finally come. So…”
“They’ll just start up conflicts again. Using chakra… I must destroy the world of the Rikudou
Sennin.”
“But…”
“Never speak of that again. Be silent and eat your food.”
“……”

He was just like a child, getting angry when someone didn’t quite go along with his way of
thinking. And for him to also possess such enormous power…

Visible from the window, a giant island was floating in the sky. It was a mountain with Ootsutsuki
Hamura’s face carved into it, similar to Konoha’s Hokage monument.

“…What’s that island?” Hinata asked Toneri.

“So it’s already appeared… That is Hamura’s shrine. It gets close to the castle once a year
around this time.”

“……”

Having finished her meal, Hinata went out on the castle balcony, and gazed at the single floating
island. It was too far away to see through to the inside with the Byakugan, but Hinata thought
that Hamura’s Tenseigan might be hidden inside this floating island.

2Translator’s note: The “WOW” and “YO” are actually written in roman letters in the original text,
hence why I left in the “YO,” as it seems to be part of Bee’s rap, unlike what I would do with a normal
Japanese “yo” particle written in hiragana.
 90

Shikamaru went to check on Naruto’s condition. Sakura was continuing to treat Naruto, who
was lying down in a comatose state by the campfire. With both hands positioned above Naruto’s
abdomen, Sakura poured her own chakra into Naruto’s body. Sakura’s hands glowed bluish-
white with the surging chakra, and dripping sweat soaked Naruto’s clothes—Sakura must be at
the point of complete exhaustion.

Medical ninjutsu heals the patient by pouring the user’s chakra into the patient, enhancing their
ability to recover. In other words, the consumption of the user’s chakra intensified according to
the intensity of the patient’s condition.

…Sakura’s going to be the one passed out before she heals Naruto.

The resilient Naruto had taken enough damage to lose consciousness.

“Hey, how about taking a break… You won’t be able to keep it up if you overdo it.”

Sakura continued the treatment without even turning around.

“About how much time do we have left?”

“No, don’t worry about that… We’re still ok on time, so take it easy.”

Shikamaru lightly tapped Sakura’s shoulder, and then she collapsed by the campfire.

Now alone, Shikamaru checked the clock in the palm of his hand. The time was steadily
advancing. It had been a lie to put Sakura at ease when he had said they still had time to spare.
Shikamaru clenched his hand in irritation.

Hinata and Toneri were visiting Hamura’s shrine in the floating island. Puppet maids also
accompanied them.

“Hamura would be please that you personally wanted to pay your respects, Hinata.”

Toneri was in a good mood, but of course Hinata’s objective was to search for the Tenseigan.

A giant eyeball was enshrined at an underground altar. She thought that this might be the
Tenseigan, that she had been able to find it surprisingly quickly, but—

It turned out that this was a place where those of lower social standing came to visit, and this
Tenseigan was a replica.

“I will show you Hamura’s real Tenseigan after our wedding ceremony.”

Hearing this from Toneri, Hinata was a little dejected. Raising her face, she could see Toneri’s
castle in the distance. The castle was built on top of a crescent moon shaped rock base floating
in the sky. Harbored within that crescent moon floated a small celestial body. When Hinata
looked at it with the byakugan, she couldn’t see through to the inside.
 91

It’s only there that my vision is distorted…

Something like a barrier to ward off the byakugan had been put in place.

I see… That’s it!

Hinata had finally found her target.

“Hinata!”

When Naruto opened his eyes screaming, Shikamaru, with his back turned, closed his fist
tightly.

He sighed.

They had already been hiding out in this cave for three days. Even though Sakura said he had
gotten past the worst of it, it was still worrisome that Naruto’s consciousness had not returned.
In any case, Naruto was still the strongest shinobi on the team—they couldn’t fulfill the mission
without him. And of course, he was an irreplaceable friend to Shikamaru as well.

Illuminated by the campfire, Naruto’s expression was still blank, but it was like he had escaped
from a dangerous situation.

“…Where’s Hinata?”

Naruto sat up while looking around the area.

“She’s in the artificial sun.”

When Shikamaru said this, Naruto lied back down and struck his forehead with his hand as if he
had recalled something.

“Did something… Happen between you and Hinata?” Shikamaru asked.

“Nothing, really.”

Not being good at lying, Naruto rolled over, turning his back to Shikamaru.

“Naruto-kun, you were making quite a bit of noise. You were incoherently shouting ‘Hinata,
Hinata’… along with some other pretty embarrassing lines.”

Naruto didn’t even react to Sai’s words either.

“Well, hearing how mushy you really are ended up being a good study of human psychology for
me.”
 92

It’s only there that my vision is distorted…

I see… that’s it!

 93

“Hey…”

As one would expect, Shikamaru reprimanded Sai. Naruto got up and sat in front of the
campfire. There was a moment of silence, then the flames of the campfire burst.

“…I confessed to Hinata,” Naruto admitted, gazing into the flames.

“Confessed?” Sai looked at Shikamaru.

“It means to convey romantic feelings to the other person…”

“Oh, that ‘confession’… I know that word.”
“And then, she rejected me…”

“N-not the opposite?” Shikamaru ran his mouth without thinking. He had more or less guessed
from Naruto’s babbling while unconscious, but even so, Shikamaru was stunned to actually hear
that Naruto had been rejected.

The awkward yet genuine Hinata had been in love with Naruto, and the dim-witted Naruto
hadn’t realized it in the slightest—throughout the years, surrounding friends had continued to
worry about such a vexing love situation. Now it had come to this. At a time when the world
could end tomorrow, Naruto had been the one to confess, and Hinata had refused it.

“No, I was completely rejected…”

Again Naruto dropped his shoulders.

…I don’t get it.

The guy had confessed to the girl and gotten rejected. This was an unexpected outcome from
Naruto and Hinata’s circumstances, but this was a private conversation. Finally having cooled
down, Shikamaru decided that he should end this talk. The mission was their major
responsibility—the life of a young girl and the future of the world were at stake. The discussion
of romance could wait until afterwards.

Shikamaru glanced at the clock in the palm of his hand.

“Well, the mission, the mission! Let’s go bring back Hanabi and Hinata!”
“……”

Naruto had no reaction.

“Hey, Naruto? We’re on a mission!”

“……”
Shikamaru chose stern words in response to the rejected boy’s weak behavior.

“Hey Naruto… Is it hard to see the girl who rejected you? Are you that lame? But what about
Hanabi? Are you just going to give up?”
 94

“I-I get it… I’m not really giving up!”

“You’re not giving up, but you’re not willing to do anything? Stop being a child!”

“Hanabi is one thing… But it’s not like Hinata was kidnapped against her will. She went to Toneri
completely on her own,” Naruto muttered, looking down.

Toneri gazed approvingly at Hinata as she knit a scarf.

The night that he had first brought Hinata to his castle, he had used a jutsu to peek inside her
heart while she was unconscious. In the “heart-reflecting bubble” that appeared above Hinata,
Naruto was the only thing to appear.

—Why!? Why is her heart filled with nothing but memories of that indecent, vulgar fox
jinchuuriki?

It was a truth that Toneri could not accept. That was why he had so strongly wished for Hinata to
knit a scarf for him. Toneri’s anger had subsided as he now watched Hinata silently knit the scarf
like this.

“I’m going to rest in my room for a bit. I look forward to my scarf being completed.”

Toneri left Hinata’s side. His eyes had begun to hurt again. When he returned to his room, he
fell onto the bed. He put a hand to his eyes and groaned slightly.

“I feel it, I feel it! It will be born soon… My perfect Tenseigan!”

It was pain that held the hope of his ideal future.

Meanwhile, Hinata was running down a corridor. Once the pain in Toneri’s eyes had begun, he
wouldn’t come out of his room for a while. Now was Hinata’s chance to search for the Tenseigan
and destroy it if she could.

She had figured out that the location of the Tenseigan was directly below the castle. The small
celestial body floating within the crescent moon-shaped rock base—it was only there that the
byakugan didn’t work. Her field of vision was distorted and she couldn’t inside. It was just like
how she hadn’t been able to see that Toneri’s base was inside the artificial sun. There was no
mistaking that the Tenseigan was hidden within the barrier blocking the byakugan.

When Hinata left the castle, she jumped from the edge of the rock base to the small celestial
body. From the outside, it appeared to be a simple cluster of rock, but it had an entrance, and
there were levels inside made by humans.

Hinata continued down a corridor that seemed to lead to the center. A large eyeball, twenty
meters in diameter, floated in the wide open space in the center.
 95

“This is Hamura’s Tenseigan…”

She then took her stance to destroy it.

Tall puppet shinobi with their faces wrapped in bandages, along with their subordinates,
swooped down on her. She fought them with the gentle fist technique that her father Hiashi had
taught her. She read the flow of chakra with her byakugan, and struck with her fists and palms.
However, she suddenly no longer had the freedom to control her body. Toneri had at some point
shown up behind her.

“What are you doing?”

Toneri had drawn Hinata to his hands and was glaring at her.

“You’re in the wrong! Hamura’s soul entrusted me with his true decree at the tomb of the
Ootsutsuki’s main family, whom your ancestors destroyed. You are twisting Hamura’s
teachings!”
“You have betrayed me…”
“Hamura does not wish for the destruction of the Rikudou Sennin’s world!”
“Shut up! It’s a lie! Hamura has only one decree! To destroy the world of the Rikudou Sennin!”

Restrained by the puppet shinobi, Hinata was dragged to the room where Hanabi was sleeping.
Enraged, Toneri grabbed the half-knit scarf that had been left by Hanabi’s bedside.

“Damn it! You were even knitting this scarf for that guy instead of for me, weren’t you!”

Bam!

The scarf exploded in Toneri’s hand. It was ripped apart by a powerful chakra and tossed aside.
After crushing the remains of the scarf with his foot, Toneri moved close to Hinata’s face.

“I’ll make it so you can never betray me again!”

With Hinata restrained, Toneri thrust his right arm into the left side of her chest—at her heart.
Hinata twitched for a moment, and the all expression completely disappeared from her face.

“Toneri said she was going to be his bride…”

Beside the campfire, Naruto explained the situation to Sai and Shikamaru.

“The scarf that Hinata knit for me… It burned up. And when I saw that, I felt pathetic, like… my
bond with Hinata was destroyed along with it.”

Silence fell between the three of them.

 96

“You have betrayed me…”

“I’ll make it so you can never betray me again!”

 97

“It’s surprising that Naruto-kun, who is ridiculously strong against the pain of battle, would be
this weak to the pain of a broken heart… You’re surprisingly useless, aren’t you?”
“Yeah… I’m completely worthless.”

Sulking, Naruto lied back down and turned his back.

“Look, I’m not saying that it’s particularly bad that you’ve fallen for her.”
“……”
“And you may have been rejected… But as a man, as a shinobi, are you going to fall this far?”

Naruto listened with his back turned.

“If you’re giving up on your girl, are you going to give up on being Hokage, too? Am I wrong!?
The Naruto I know isn’t this wishy-washy! Where did your nindou go? Pathetic! Shameful!
Absurd!”

“What’d you say!? Shikamaru, are you trying to pick a fight with me!?”

Having snapped, Naruto flew to his feet, and grabbed Shikamaru by the collar.

“You’re a shinobi!”
“……”

Naruto let go of Shikamaru, and stared off into the empty space.

Sai was silently gazing at the flames of the campfire.

“Hey, Naruto… Come with me for a bit.”

“…It’s ok. I get it.”
“Just come!”

Urging Naruto, Shikamaru began walking rapidly, taking the lead.

Shikamaru brought Naruto to Sakura’s side. Completely exhausted, Sakura was lying limply
near a campfire.

“Sa-Sakura-chan?”

“To save you from dying, she poured most of her chakra into you. This is the result of that,”
Shikamaru explained in a small voice.

“…Sakura-chan, I’m sorry!”

When Naruto knelt at Sakura’s side, she slightly opened her eyes, and smiled.

“Hey Naruto, a long time ago, you said that you loved me, right?”
 98

“……”
“But that… was just because I love Sasuke-kun, wasn’t it… You didn’t want to lose to Sasuke-
kun.”
“……”
“Hinata’s a great girl… She’s almost too good for you.”
“Yeah… But it’s over now. She’s going to be Toneri’s bride…”
“So you’re just going to be an idiot and believe that?” Sakura sneered.
“But Hinata went on her own…”
“There must have been a reason she couldn’t say. Why can’t you have faith in the girl you love?
You’re making a really pathetic face right now. It’s disappointing.”
“……”
“Hey, Naruto… When a girl truly falls in love, her heart doesn’t change so easily… It can’t
change…”

Sasuke’s face came to Sakura’s mind.

“That much at least… I know very well.”

Sakura closed her eyes when she said this.

“……”

Sitting beside Sakura, Naruto hugged his knees. The flames of the campfire illuminated the side
of her face—gazing at a single spot, Naruto didn’t move.

A tear ran down Naruto’s cheek. He had truly fallen in love with someone, confessed, been
rejected, and hit rock-bottom.

Naruto was trying to crawl back up. Up the stairway of maturity—from a boy to a man.

— You’re making a really pathetic face right now.

— You’re surprisingly useless, aren’t you?
— Where did your nindou go?

Having heard these things from his comrades, Naruto had been almost unable to respond, but
the strength and life were now returning to his eyes.

Pop!

A piece of firewood split open—Naruto bowed his head and wiped away his tears. Naruto knelt
on one knee next to Sakura.

“Sakura-chan, I get it… I will see Hinata again!”

“……”

With her eyes closed, Sakura nodded and smiled.

 99

Hey, Naruto… when a girl truly falls in love,

her heart doesn’t change so easily…

“…It can’t change.”

 100

“Thank you, Sakura-chan…”

Naruto stood up full of strength.

Naruto came out of the hiding place in the cave by himself. The artificial sun was giving off a
light like moonlight—the person whom he truly loved was in there.

Hinata… This big idiot finally gets it… The meaning of the scarf you gave me when you went to
Toneri… The feelings that you’ve held onto for so long can’t possibly be unraveled so easily like
the threads knit into a scarf… Hinata, wait for me… You’ve always, always loved me… And as a
man, there’s something I have to say to you…!

“Hinata! I swear I’ll bring you back!” Naruto called out, acting as if he were grabbing the artificial
sun with his hand.

CHAPTER 3 END
Chapter 4 101
 102

Moment by moment, the time of Earth’s destruction drew near. Konoha’s bomb shelter was
packed with tens of thousands of villagers. Everyone was afraid and irritated.

Iruka had gathered children around him and was reading fairy tales to them. His mission as a
teacher was to protect the children. However, Iruka did not have the power to destroy the giant
meteorites that were falling. Iruka had begun reading a book aloud, thinking he could at least
get them to forget their fear a little and calm them down.

“The two crab children clattered along…”

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

An eerie sound echoed, shaking the bomb shelter. A meteorite was approaching. The children
looked up at the ceiling with unease. Even Tsunade, who was casting medical ninjutsu on an
injured person, stopped her healing hands for a moment.

Zooooom!

A roaring sound echoed. The children were scared.

“It’s ok… That sound just now was far away. It fell outside the village… Well, I’ll keep reading!”
Iruka smiled at the children as he began reading the fairy tale once again.

The meteorite left a giant crater in town, and serious damage in the surrounding area resulted
from the flames and explosions.

“Nobody’s left? Everyone besides the mission shinobi, take refuge in the bomb shelter!”

Sporting a vest with the words “Rescue Team” written on it, Inuzuka Kiba rode on his ninja dog
Akamaru alongside his sworn friend Aburame Shino, searching for citizens that had been left
behind as they ran about the rubble.

“Hey, Kiba!” Shino pointed behind him.

It was the shopkeeper of Ichiraku Ramen. Not yet having taken refuge, he was nonchalantly
continuing his work at the front of the shop.

“Hey old man, what are you doing!?”

“Well, I’m preparing… If I skip out on prep work, I won’t be able to make tomorrow’s ramen,” the
shopkeeper muttered while washing pork bones one by one and putting them in a stockpot.
Several burning red meteorite trails were visible in the sky.

“It is meaningless to worry about tomorrow’s ramen… Why? Because, today might be our last
day on Earth.”
 103

Although this was certainly true, Shino’s roundabout way of speaking irritated the short-
tempered Kiba. He was normally used to it, but Shino’s voice sounded especially cumbersome
under such a state of emergency.

Shino’s speaking wasn’t the only thing irritating Kiba. In truth, he was pissed that he hadn’t been
chosen for Hyuuga Hanabi’s search party. For the mission to hunt for traces of the kidnapped
girl, he believed that the advanced sense of smell that he and Akamaru possessed couldn’t be
beat, but the one from team 8 to be chosen was Hinata. He had no particular association with
Hanabi, but this was the final mission of their final day on Earth—he wanted to be in the
limelight of a showy mission, not something like a simple rescue team.

Just as Kiba was about to vent his anger in a sharp sarcastic comment to Shino, the
shopkeeper opened his mouth again without even stopping his hands from preparatory work.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the end of the world or the end of the universe… Whether tomorrow
comes or not, today I will finish my work with all my efforts… Because that is my ramen way,
yes.”

“!”

Although he didn’t personally feel that way, Kiba heard the shopkeeper’s words as if they were
advice aimed directly at him.

Oh man! I’ve lost… the old man’s got me.

Prompting Shino and Akamaru, he decided to help the shopkeeper with his work.

“The old man’s ramen way may be admirable… but what logical reason do we have for helping
here?”

“Shut up! I was just moved! That’s all!” Kiba bellowed while washing pork bones, getting
annoyed with his dull partner’s words.

After that, a message from the firefighting team came in at the air defense headquarters where
Chouji was talking to Kiba and Shino. Kurenai, holding Mirai, had gone back into her burning
apartment to get Asuma’s belongings. When Chouji rushed there, Kurenai’s apartment was
about to collapse. The firefighting team of organized suiton users continued to spray water, but
the flames didn’t weaken.

“Kurenai-sensei! Mirai!”

Both Ino and Shikamaru were on missions and couldn’t come here. He was the only one who
could protect Kurenai and her child. Without hesitation, Chouji plunged into the flames.

“Kurenai-sensei! Kurenai-sensei!”
 104

The faint crying of the child’s voice could be heard. Chouji kicked down the door and went
inside.
Unable to move with her foot caught between steel beams, Kurenai was covering Mirai with her
body. Flames approached from around them. Kurenai held out her daughter to Chouji.

“Take just her… Please!”

The entire burning apartment began to rumble. Its collapse was imminent.

Creak-creak-creak craaaash!

The burning roof collapsed, spreading embers. In an instant, Chouji expanded with his jutsu and
covered the mother and daughter with his body.
“Guh!”

His back caught fire, and the smell of burning skin rose up. But Chouji didn’t move. A photo of
Asuma with cracked glass entered Chouji’s vision.

“Asuma-sensei! I will protect Mirai-chan and Kurenai-sensei!” Chouji called to the portrait of his
former teacher.

Holding Kurenai and Mirai, Chouji rolled out of the building using his Nikudan Sensha no Jutsu.
The firefighting team sprayed water on his still burning back. Mirai looked helpless beside her
injured mother, who was being taken away on a stretcher.

“Mirai, don’t worry. Your mom will get better soon!”

As he began speaking to the child, he suddenly realized something.

Ah, Mirai… That’s right, the future… Of course.

He remembered the story he had heard from Kiba at the air defense headquarters.

—Even if there is no tomorrow, today I’ll live for today… That’s just what you’d expect from Old
Man Ichiraku!

Chouji actually hadn’t quite gotten these words at first. If the world was really ending, he would
fill his stomach full of barbecued meat without leaving a thing. But now, as he said the name of
Kurenai’s daughter, he understood.

The future… It’s because we believe in the future that we can live at our best in the present…
By doing that, humans have overcome difficult circumstances and have come as far as we
have!
Akimichi Chouji was moved to tears, just a bit.
 105

Hyuuga Hiashi was wandering alone in the wilderness. He was deeply wounded, having fought
the puppet shinobi and narrowly escaped death.

He had to let Konoha know of the existence of a terrifying plan—Hiashi was walking with only
that in mind. A man was standing before him, blocking his path. The man was looking in his
direction.

Drawing his kunai, Hiashi went on his guard. He gathered his little remaining chakra and used
his byakugan.

He recognized the man’s face. It was a Konoha shinobi.

All at once, his strength left him, and Hiashi collapsed in that spot.

Dyeing the sky red, a meteorite passed overhead. The man’s face was illuminated—it was
Uchiha Sasuke.

The next morning, four ink birds rose from their camp carrying Shikamaru and the others.
Sakura, who had used up her chakra healing Naruto, was not yet at full health, but she was
recovering.

“She’s a great kunoichi. I told her to stay behind, but she didn’t listen,” Shikamaru said.
They didn’t know what was happening to either Hanabi or Hinata. Then there was Toneri. They
didn’t know how powerful of an opponent might be waiting for them. They couldn’t be without a
medical ninjutsu user.

The birds ascended into the morning sky, circling as they gained altitude. The team’s morale
was high. Naruto glared at the artificial sun overhead, revealing his determination.

When they approached the artificial sun, a formation of eagle beasts came out from inside.
Puppet shinobi were riding on them. There were so many of them that they covered the sky.

“Hey, cover me!” Shikamaru called to Naruto while descending below the enemy formation.
“Rasen Shuriken!”

Crossing blades of light extended from Naruto’s Rasengan and began to rotate. Naruto held it
overhead and threw it. The Rasen Shuriken flew, drawing an arc in the air as it cut down the
enemy formation. The torn-up eagle beasts fell from the formation.

With a single eagle beast as his target, Shikamaru guided his ink bird and hid himself under the
falling eagle beast’s abdomen. The eagle beast’s shadow covered Shikamaru’s head.
Shikamaru grinned and formed a seal.

“Kage Kubishibari no jutsu!”

106
 107

He jumped to the eagle beast whose movement he had sealed with the jutsu, and taking control
of the puppet flying it as well, he turned towards the artificial sun. When the puppet that
Shikamaru controlled made a hand seal, a door leading inside the artificial sun opened.

“Keep going!”

With Shikamaru leading the way on the enemy eagle beast, the team succeeded in invading the
artificial sun.

The inside of the artificial sun was hollow. There appeared to be several islands floating in the
vast open space. There was also another small artificial sun in the sky.

Gong, gong.

The sound of a gong, heavy and low, was echoing from the crescent moon-shaped island
floating in the middle of the open space.

“We’re entering the enemy’s hideout!”

As they approached, the structure of the floating island came into clear view. What looked like a
crescent moon was coming off of a spherical center. Another round celestial body was floating in
the hollow space in the middle.

Toneri’s old-fashioned castle stood at the top of the crescent moon sphere. When they reached
the air above the castle, they were met with heavy fire from anti-aircraft guns. It was a bubble
sphere gun firing small bubbles with intense force. It was a barrage. The birds swung left and
right, dodging the enemy bullets.

“We’re landing in the courtyard!”

Shikamaru’s and Sai’s birds landed in the courtyard of the castle, which was surrounded by
spires. Enemy fire rained down into the courtyard as well. The guns were shooting down at
them from the spires. The moment that Shikamaru jumped off, the ink bird was shot and
exploded—just in the nick of time. Finding a blind spot from the guns, he hid himself. Sai also
tumbled into it.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

A barrage was fired from above.

Zoom, zoom!

Hitting the stone wall, the bullets rebounded and passed by his ears. He knelt low to keep
himself from sticking out from the blind spot even a little. Through a cloud of dust, he could see
that Naruto and Sakura had also landed in the courtyard.

“Alright, run to the building!”

 108

“Got it!”

As Shikamaru checked with Sai, he took his gloves out of his pocket, and put them on both
hands.

“You’re making it so you can’t see the clock?”

“It’s an eyesore. I get anxious over it and can’t make good decisions… Man, what a pain,” he
mumbled as they ran out from the blind spot.

With enemy fire raining down pointed at the courtyard, they ran, ran, ran.

Naruto caught up to Shikamaru. Naruto was in sennin mode—serious mode.

“Hey Naruto, can you sense Hanabi’s chakra?”

“Hanabi is… in that tower!” Naruto looked around at the surrounding building while running, and
pointed to a particular spire.

“Take care of Hanabi!” Shikamaru looked over his shoulder to the following Sai and Sakura,
entrusting Hanabi’s rescue to them.

Hanabi’s rescue was the primary mission for Shikamaru’s team. However, now that they knew
that this was the moon, they had their other mission—they had to save the world. The enemy
leader Toneri was quite skilled. Naruto’s strength was necessary to complete the mission.

Shikamaru’s team split into two groups. Puppet shinobi came from ahead to attack Naruto and
Shikamaru as they invaded the inside of the castle. Naruto instantly knocked several puppets
flying. The limbs of the destroyed puppets whirled through the air. Without even stopping,
Naruto continued running down the hall like that.

That Naruto, he’s all fired up…

It was like the hesitant, depressed Naruto from the previous night was a different person.
Today’s Naruto was ready to fight.

The sound of a gong rung by a puppet priest echoed throughout the castle. Riding in a
palanquin carried by puppets, Toneri and Hinata were heading towards the chapel. They both
wore big turbans and black clothes, which were the traditional wedding attire of the Ootsutsuki
clan. Hinata was sitting beside Toneri with a blank expression.

“This is our long-awaited wedding ceremony. Look happier.” As Toneri commanded, Hinata
changed her expression to a mechanical-looking smile, and gazed at Toneri.

When the palanquin arrived at the chapel, priests were lined up to greet the bride and groom.
Side by side, Toneri and Hinata stepped forward to the altar. When a priest made a hand seal, a
 109

pattern emerged around the bride and groom’s feet. The double cross design—the crest of the
Ootsutsuki clan—was being drawn.

A priest placed a small piece of bread in Toneri’s mouth. The Ootsutsuki clan’s wedding ritual
was for the groom to give the bride a piece of bread from mouth to mouth.

Toneri brought his face close to Hinata with the bread in his mouth—

“Hinataaaaaaa!”

He heard Naruto’s angry voice from far away.

“…That guy again.”

Toneri closed his eyes with a sigh.

Naruto was in a rage. As dense as he was, he could figure out what was happening if a man
and a woman in formal wear were standing side by side in front of an altar. However, Naruto
had no doubt in what Hinata’s true intentions were.

—When a girl truly falls in love, her heart doesn’t change so easily… It can’t change…

I’m sure he’s forcing Hinata to do this! I will be the one to stand beside Hinata, not Toneri!

“You bastard!”

Naruto ran up to the altar, and without stopping to talk, threw a punch at Toneri. A shadow
suddenly swooped down between Naruto and Toneri. It was a puppet he had fought before—the
tall shinobi with the lower have of his face wrapped in bandages. He stretched out a glowing
bubble like a sword and slashed at Naruto. The priests rushed to him as well.

“Naruto… I’m going to just say one thing: Your fists will never reach me!”

Leaving his throwaway line, Toneri pulled Hinata by the hand and disappeared down a
passageway inside the altar.

“Wait, you jerk!”

However, Naruto was having trouble with the tall shinobi and the priests. Individually, they
weren’t very strong. But there were so many. He kept defeating them, and they kept coming.
Puppets had no fear of death to begin with. Had they been humans made of flesh, they would
have known the difference in strength between themselves and their opponent, and would have
been prepared to run away. But that wasn’t the case for puppets. They faced him with all of their
strength.

“Naruto, where’s Hinata?”

 110

I will be the one to stand beside Hinata…

…not Toneri!
 111

“Toneri ran away with her!” Naruto called to Shikamaru, who had just caught up with him as he
was knocking down priests.

“Leave this to me!”

“Thanks!”

Naruto ran to the passageway where Toneri and Hinata had disappeared. Shikamaru stood in
the way of the puppets that chased after Naruto.

“Nope, you’re not getting through… Now, the puppet show begins!”

He grinned as he formed a seal.

The number of meteorites raining down on Sunagakure had increased as well, causing even
more damage. Gaara glared at the sky from the rooftop of a building overlooking the village.

“Kuusa Bouheki!” (Air-sand defensive wall)

When he extended his hands, a vast amount of sand rose up and covered the sky above the
village, becoming a shield to protect against the meteorites.

A new meteorite was also falling on Konohagakure.

“At six o’clock! It’s-it’s a big one!”

“All hands, crane wing formation!”

At Kakashi’s order, the seven members of the suicide corps lead by Rock Lee jumped up.

The crane wing formation was a deadly formation in which the members would line up side by
side in the way that a crane’s wing spreads out, and annihilate the enemy by enclosing on it.

The giant meteorite approached. The suicide corps began to gradually spread out. The chakra
of the seven members stretched out and overlapped, making them look like a single blade. They
cut into the central line of the meteorite.

“Sixth gate, open!”

The attack by Lee’s group destroyed most of the meteorite, but one part of it retained its shape
and was still falling.

“Oh no!” Lee yelled over his shoulder.

“All hands evacuate, all hands evacuate! Everyone run!” Tenten called.
 112

“Kuusa Bouheki!”
(Air-sand defensive wall)
 113

The fragment, ten meters in diameter, would strike from above Kakashi.

“Ugh!”

The giant rock’s shadow completely covered Kakashi as he looked up. Prepared to die,
Kakashi’s surroundings began to move in slow motion.

At that moment, an electric-sounding noise echoed intermittently.

Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.

….Could that sound be Chidori?

Boooom!

There was a flash, and the giant meteorite scattered several meters above Kakashi’s head.
Within the smoke, the one standing before Kakashi was—Sasuke!

Sasuke was probably moving with some intense speed. Kotetsu and Izumo must not have seen
Sasuke.

“Sasuke!”

“If he’s not here…. Then I have no choice but to protect you,” he said. And with that, the
strongest, yet the biggest problem child of Kakashi’s students disappeared.

By “he,” he must mean Naruto… Hahaha.

“Hokage-sama!”

Kakashi turned towards Izumo’s voice to find Hiashi, who had been missing, lying unconscious.
Kotetsu immediately rushed to Hiashi and lifted him up.

Could this have been Sasuke, too?

Feeling indebted, Kakashi quickly called the rescue team.

Sakura and Sai stepped into the room inside the tower that Naruto had pointed out.

“Hanabi!” Sakura reflexively called when she found her lying on a bed.

Searching for Hanabi, Sakura and the others had gone underground, and in the end, had
traveled to the moon.

Sakura rushed to Hanabi and checked her condition.

 114

“If he’s not here…. Then I have

no choice but to protect you.”
 115

“Terrible…”

She realized immediately that both of Hanabi’s eyes had been taken out.

“She’s still a child…” Sai murmured from behind her.

But Hanabi was still alive—there might be a way to save her with medical ninjutsu. Sakura
thought of her teacher, Tsunade, who would perform treatment without giving up hope no matter
how serious the patient’s condition was.

“……?”

A scrap of a scarf that had fallen on the floor caught Sakura’s eye. She remembered the scarf
from somewhere as she picked it up.

“Hinata knit this…”

They were in the rebirth chamber. Toneri and Hinata were inside a giant, cradle-shaped device.

Toneri called this special device the “ark.”

Thousands of bubbles were floating inside the ark, and male and female pairs of all of Earth’s
living creatures were held within the small bubbles. Once Earth’s environment returned to
normal, these creatures would become the origins for a new ecosystem. In other words, Toneri
and Hinata would also sleep inside the ark in order to become the new beginning of the human
race.

“Hinataaaaaa!”

Naruto came rushing in.

“Bastard, what did you do to Hinata!? Give her back!”

“…Ok, I’ll give her back.”

As Toneri commanded with the movement of his fingers, Hinata faced Naruto and ran towards
him. She glared sternly at Naruto and thrust her juuken at him.

“Hinata, stop! It’s me! Stop it –ttebayo!”

With her consciousness stolen by Toneri, Hinata was controlled under his kugutsu no jutsu.
Naruto called out to her despite knowing that. If he were to fight seriously, it would quickly be
concluded, but Hinata would get hurt. He couldn’t do anything but dodge her fists and keep
running from her.

“Ahaha, what do you think of my wife’s ability?”

 116

“Damn it…”

When Naruto grabbed Hinata’s wrist with his left hand, he clenched his right fist. Naruto’s fist
began to radiate.

“Hinata, hold on for just a bit!” Naruto said as he slowly stuck his glowing fist into the left side of
her chest. Hinata twitched violently.

“Be patient… it will be over soon.”

Naruto’s right hand searched inside Hinata’s body. A bubble was stuck to her heart. When
Naruto grabbed it, the bubble blinked strongly. The moment that it blinked, Naruto caught a
glimpse inside Hinata’s memories.

—The torn up and discarded scarf.

—Hinata hung as a wall decoration in a line of puppets.

Naruto was enraged as he came to his senses.

“Toneri… How dare you treat Hinata like a doll!”

Fueled by his anger, Naruto pulled out the bubble and crushed it. Hinata swayed and collapsed.
It was then that Hinata’s body was forcibly taken from Naruto’s arms. Toneri had raised his hand
and drawn Hinata towards himself.

“Hahaha, Hinata is mine… I’ll take her back!”

“Hinata!”

As Naruto cried out and began to run after, Toneri turned his palm towards him.

“Down!”

Booooooom!

Naruto was sent flying with a strong force, sinking into the wall behind him.

“Ugh…”

He was being crushed to the point that he couldn’t breathe.

Hinata began to wake up in Toneri’s arms.

“Hinata, it’s too soon for you to wake up,” Toneri said as he tried to push a new bubble into
Hinata’s chest—
 117

Toneri held his eyes and began to groan.

“Urgh… Damn, the final movement…”

He fell to one knee, unable to bear it.

Having regained her senses, Hinata staggered away from Toneri, unsteadily fleeing.

Naruto tried desperately to escape from inside the wall. He had taken proportional damage, but
he wouldn’t give up—that was the gutsiness of a shinobi.

“Naruto-kun!”

Hinata ran up to Naruto. Her white pupils were wavering as she gazed at him.

Naruto instinctively understood. Hinata had come back.

Hinata wasn’t one to just close her heart and run off to Toneri.

“Naruto-kun, I’m sorry…”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize. Anyway, that guy…”

Toneri was kneeling down, not even trying to move.

Naruto pulled a kunai from his sleeve and took a fighting stance. This was their chance to defeat
their enemy. Just then, several puppet shinobi swooped down from the ceiling, picked up Toneri,
and escaped.

“Wait!”

As Naruto was about to try to chase after, Hinata called out to stop him.

“Naruto-kun! There’s no time. Let’s destroy Hamura’s Tenseigan now while Toneri can’t move!”

Urged by Hinata, Naruto began running.

“What’s Hamura’s Tenseigan?”

While running, Hinata told Naruto about Ootsutsuki Hamura, and how his Tenseigan was
moving the moon. They exited the castle, and ran through the entrance to the smaller celestial
body. The two arrived in front of the giant Tenseigan.

“So if we destroy this, the moon will stop? Alright! My rasengan…”

As Naruto began to form his rasengan, Hinata rushed to stop him.

 118

“No! There’s a curse on this Tenseigan, so if shinobi outside of Hamura’s bloodline touch it,
they’ll have their chakra extracted.”
When she spoke, Hinata took her juuken stance. Hinata gathered chakra before both hands,
and it began to glow. The flames of chakra looked like the faces of lions. Hinata jumped up.

“Hakke – Soujishi Hougeki!”

She struck the Tenseigan.

Boom!

The Tenseigan pulsed in response to the impact.

Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!

However, the pulsing gradually weakened, and the Tenseigan remained unharmed.

“I can’t destroy it,” Hinata murmured with regret.

“What should we do…”

For a moment, Naruto recalled the night before when he had grabbed Shikamaru by the collar
and seen his calm eyes up close. Naruto didn’t have Shikamaru’s level of composure or
intelligence. But when it came to jutsu skills, he didn’t lose to Shikamaru.

Right… if neither of us is enough, we’ll compensate for each other!

Hinata could touch the Tenseigan, but she didn’t have enough chakra. On the other hand,
Naruto couldn’t touch the Tenseigan, but had a massive amount of chakra… If the two of them
combined their strength, he thought they could definitely do it.

“Hinata, infuse me with your chakra! If you do that, we might be able to break this thing!”

“Ok!” Hinata answered with a smile, and the two held hands.

Naruto and Hinata jumped up high. Between their joined hands, his rasengan and her soujishi
hougeki (Twin Lions) appeared, and they were combined.

“Uooooooohhhh!”
“Haaaaaaaaaaaa!”

They hit the Tenseigan together.

Boom!

There was pulsing incomparable to what had happened before.

 119

“Hinata, infuse me with your chakra! If you do

that, we might be able to break this thing!”

Between their joined hands, his rasengan and her

Twin Lions appeared, and they were combined.
 120

Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!

Finally, Hamura’s Tenseigan gave a big explosion, and was gone.

Just as it was disappearing, Naruto saw tens of thousands of eyeballs scatter. They were all
byakugan.

“Hamura’s Tenseigan… was a cluster of Byakugan?” Naruto mumbled, dumbfounded.

In the chapel, Shikamaru was chuckling while making a hand seal. He was making the priests
fight each other with his Kage Kubishibari no jutsu. This was easy.

A newly arrived group of enemy puppets closed in on him.

“Damn, I’ll end up exhausting my chakra on that…”

Just as Shikamaru was about to fight back—

The puppets suddenly stopped moving. They crumbled like marionettes whose strings had been
cut. In addition, it became dark outside the windows.

“What? What happened?”

The outer layer of the artificial sun fell away, and the bedrock carrying Toneri’s castle was
exposed, suddenly leaving it as a floating form in the middle of the space within the moon. The
only thing that hadn’t become completely dark was a small artificial sun, barely emitting a dim
light like a nightlight.

The moon system that Toneri was operating was definitely beginning to collapse. In a panic,
Shikamaru took off his glove and looked at the clock. As expected, the clock had stopped
moving.

“Hokage-sama! The moon’s approach has stopped!”

Hearing the astronomer’s voice, Kakashi instinctively looked at his palm. The clock had indeed
stopped moving.

Kakashi had secretly taken several measures to stop the moon from approaching. Of all of
them, he had the highest hopes for Shikamaru’s team where Naruto was. It was unclear if the
work of Naruto and the others was what had stopped the moon’s approach now, but Kakashi
had a small hunch.

Naruto… Was it really you?

Kakashi spoke in his heart to his trusted student.

 121

At that time, he saw a single flare across the horizon aim for the sky, accompanied by a
rumbling-like firing noise.

Zoom, dodododododododooooooon!

“!”

The flare headed towards the ring of moon fragments surrounding the Earth. Continuing its
ascent, the flare finally scattered, and becoming an expanse like red clouds, it reached the ring.
There were infinite explosions, and the moon fragments above Kakashi and the others
disappeared at once as if they had evaporated.

“Urgent message from Kumogakure Village! Calling for a five-kage conference!” Ino reported
from the communication area.

Four monitors displayed the Raikage, Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and Gaara, the Kazekage.
Kakashi sat in front of them.

“With my village’s diffusion chakra cannons, we have destroyed all of the moon fragments!” the
Raikage proudly declared from inside the screen.

“Of course Raikage-dono would be the guy prepared with a weapon like that hidden away,” the
Tsuchikage sneered.

“Next, with our space-time chakra canon, we will get rid of that nuisance, the moon!”

“…Get rid of the moon!?” Kakashi was at a loss for words.

Naruto and Hinata met up with Sakura and Sai, who was holding Hanabi, in the chapel where
Shikamaru was. They were grateful to unite with comrades.

Hinata rushed to Hanabi’s side.

“Hanabi… Thank goodness… Thank you, everyone.”

According to Sakura, Hanabi’s eyeballs had been removed, but it didn’t seem to be a threat to
her life.

“Look, the moon stopped!”

Shikamaru showed Naruto the clock in the palm of his hand, which had stopped moving.

Naruto reported that they had destroyed Hamura’s Tenseigan, stopping the moon’s approach.
 122

“This is yours, right, Hinata?”

Sakura held out the remains of the scarf. Upon seeing it, Naruto spoke.

“That’s the scarf that Toneri tore up…”

Naruto had seen Hinata’s memories when he had pulled the glowing bubble out of Hinata’s
chest to free her from Toneri’s kugutsu no jutsu (puppet technique).

“You were going to give it to Naruto, right?”

“……..”

Hinata stared at the ruins of the scarf and nodded painfully.

“Did you really knit that for me….?”

“Ye… yeah…”
“Will you give it to me?”
“But it’s already torn up…”
“I don’t care … I mean, I want it.”

Hinata brushed the filth off of the scarf, neatly folded it, and handed it to Naruto.

“Thank you… I’ll treasure it.”

Naruto smiled at her affectionately.

“As long as the bomb that is the moon floats overhead, the earth can’t sleep peacefully!” The
Raikage strongly insisted on send the moon flying into another dimension with the time-space
chakra cannon.

“Hokage-sama, you mustn’t… Getting rid of the moon is too dangerous!” The astronomer
advised Kakashi in a whisper from behind.

“Well, let’s decide this calmly. Currently, the moon has stopped…”

Kakashi spoke into the camera, then the Raikage, from within the monitor, spoke while looking
at the palm of his hand.

“No, it appears it hasn’t stopped…”

“!”

Kakashi looked at his own palm. The time had begun to advance once again.

In the castle courtyard, Shikamaru was also staring at the clock in the palm of his hand.
 123

“Did you really knit that for me….?”

“Thank you… I’ll treasure it.”

 124

“Why did it start moving again?”

“I don’t know.”

The clock advancing meant that the moon had started moving again. However, the artificial sun
was destroyed, and there was no sign of the puppets starting to move. It was hard to think of
Hamura’s destroyed Tenseigan being restored.

“Shikamaru, look at that!”

When they looked up in the direction Sakura was pointing, a big face hanging over the roof of
the castle was peering at them—a stone statue. The giant stone statue was moving. The
statue’s hand reached for Naruto and the others.

“Scatter!”

Everyone present narrowly avoided disaster. Naruto jumped up, holding Hinata.

Kaboom!

A giant hand sunk into the courtyard. At this rate, they would be beaten. Naruto transformed into
Kyuubi chakra mode.

“Kuramaaaaaa!”
Responding to Naruto’s voice, Kurama appeared and grabbed at the statue.

“Gaaaah!”

With a roar, he threw the giant body. The statue fell to the roof, and Toneri’s castle collapsed in
one stroke. Bringing out Sai’s ink birds, Naruto and the others soared to the sky.

The statue corrected its stance, and head-butted Kurama. Kurama caught it with his chest, and
was pushed to the edge of the floating island. Open airspace extended behind Kurama. With
the outer layer of the artificial sun gone, it was countless meters down to the ground with
nothing to catch him. Moreover, there was that big hole in the surface opening up to outer
space.

The edge of the floating island crumbled, and Kurama fell, intertwined with the statue.

“Kuramaaaaaaaa!” Naruto’s scream echoed.

The two giants disappeared towards the hole.

“Naruto, Toneri’s coming!”

Hearing Shikamaru’s voice, Naruto turned his head.

Riding on an eagle beast, Toneri was coming straight towards Naruto.

 125

“Ahahaha… I don’t need Hamura’s Tenseigan anymore… With these eyes, the Earth… Naruto!
I’ll bring your world to an end!”

The pattern of two overlapping x’s had appeared in the Byakugan that he had stolen from
Hanabi. The Tenseigan had finally manifested in Toneri as well.

Toneri’s entire body was covered in chakra flames, and he was controlling chakra like a string of
beads. The glowing spheres that had stolen chakra from Naruto extended and formed a ring.

“Ginrin Tenseibaku!” (Silver Wheel Rebirth Explosion)

The beads began to spin at high speed, and formed a tornado. Naruto and the others were
engulfed in a chakra whirlpool.

While being tossed about by the tornado, Naruto and Hinata held hands and endured. Even as
they were sent flying, their joined hands didn’t let go.

The tornado finally pierced through the interior of the moon’s crust, and ascended to the
surface.

Kakashi recalled the words that Hiashi had murmured from his bed at the first aid center.

—The moon… Please don’t let the moon be destroyed…

—What are you saying?
—Most likely Hanabi… and Hinata are on the moon…

On the verge of death, Hiashi had said only that before losing consciousness.

Communication from Naruto and the others had ceased, but finding out they were on the moon
was such sudden news.

“Trouble!” the astronomer called from nearby.

“The Kyuubi… is on the moon’s surface!”

“You say that Kurama is on the moon?”

The astronomer said the Kurama was fighting with a giant stone statue on the moon.

If Kurama is there… Naruto is there, too. They really are on the moon.

What Hiashi had said was true.

“Keep watch over the moon! Don’t take your eyes off of Kurama!” Kakashi ordered the
astronomer.
 126

On the surface of the moon, the battle between Kurama and the statue was continuing. Gaining
some distance from the statue, Kurama opened his mouth and charged a bijuudama.

Kyuiiiiiin!

Gathering highly compressed chakra at his mouth, Kurama aimed at the statue and fired.

Boommm!

The statue took a direct hit to the chest and side, leaving it seriously damaged. It seemed to
have been defeated, but in the next instant, a surprising spectacle unfolded before Kurama’s
eyes. The statue began to regenerate. Rock gathered in the damaged area, and it was restored
to its original form. As the revived statue roared, meteorite began to rain down from the air,
aiming at Kurama.

The charging of the space-time chakra cannon was steadily progressing.

85%, 88%, 90%, 93%…

The tip of the cannon was beginning to glow. Killer Bee sat at the firing position.

The Raikage was now looking up at the moon that he was trying to get rid of on his own, and
shaking with excitement. There had been no hesitation to use the space-time chakra cannon. All
that remained was to wait for the chakra charge to reach 100%.

“Chakra charge 95%!” the firing assistant read the charging percentage out loud.

Just then, there was an urgent message from the Hokage.

“What is it at a time like this!?”

“Please stop the space-time cannon. Naruto and the others are on the moon. Please. There
must be an hour left in the time limit for the moon’s approach,” Kakashi said from within the
screen.

“We can’t stop! It’s too bad for Naruto, but he’ll have to be sacrificed for the Earth.”

Even if their places had been switched and he himself was on the moon, the Raikage would
probably tell them to use the space-time cannon without hesitation. That was the way of shinobi.
It was unforgiveable to handle such dangerous chakra without that resolution.

“Raikage-dono… I’m asking as well. Won’t you wait just one hour?”
“I concur as well. Naruto is the hero of the last war. He’s worth betting on.”
 127

The elderly Tsuchikage kept quiet, but Gaara and the Mizukage supported Kakashi.

“Just one hour is fine. In that one hour, I’m certain that they’ll ensure their own future by their
own efforts.”

“What makes you think they can!?”

“I believe in my subordinates! If I didn’t have faith in them, I wouldn’t send them on such a
dangerous mission!” Kakashi said resolutely.

Naruto and Hinata were thrown onto the moon’s surface as a result of Toneri’s tornado.

“Hinata, are you ok?”

“Yeah.”

Just then, boulders fell from above and exploded. Think clouds of dust enshrouded them.

“Hinata…?”

He couldn’t see Hinata. A shadow covered Naruto from above as he looked around in panic.
When he looked up, he saw Toneri riding on an eagle beast, having captured Hinata by
grabbing her hair. Toneri made a large bird cage from one of his chakra beads, and threw
Hinata inside, trapping her.

“Watch from there as I finish him!”

Toneri’s Tenseigan glowed, and rocks of all sizes came raining down on Naruto. Taking a direct
hit from a boulder, Naruto’s form disappeared in a cloud of dust.

“Na-Naruto-kun!” Hinata screamed, grabbing the bars of the birdcage.

Enshrouded in the dust cloud, something glowed. The next instant, a Rasen Shuriken came
flying out. The shuriken attacked Toneri’s eagle beast while spinning, and cut its wing in half.
Toneri made his chakra beads into a shield, narrowly protecting himself from the blades of the
Rasen Shuriken.

“Naruto! This time I’ll fight you myself!”

Making his Tenseigan glow, Toneri glided through the air and plunged towards Naruto. Locked in
battle, they flew in all directions in the air above the moon’s surface.

“I am right! I’ve always, always thought it through on my own! I can’t possibly be wrong!”

Toneri looked up at the blue Earth, and in his mind, he recalled the image of himself as a child
hugging his knees alone on the moon’s surface.
 128

“I won’t lose! To protect the future of the Earth, the village, and my friends, there’s no way I can
lose -ttebayo!”

In Naruto’s mind as well, he recalled the memory of himself as an orphaned child sitting alone
on a swing in a park.

Two young men who knew the pain of being an orphan—in the present, however, the two had
completely opposite ways of thinking.

Naruto and Toneri clashed from the front.

“Ginrin Tenseibaku!”
“Rasen Rengan!”

The two techniques hit each other, and were both sent flying. Holding on in midair, Naruto went
after Toneri once again.

Toneri connected one of his chakra beads, and stretched it vertically. The bead stretched out
into a single, shining blade. Toneri began to wave the giant blade.

“Kinrin Tenseibaku!”

The long blade of light attacked Naruto, and cut into the moon’s surface.

“I-I can’t believe it…” the astronomer complained at Konoha’s air defense command center.
“Th-the moon…”

“What is it!? Properly report it!”

“The moon has been cut in half!”

“What!?”

When Kakashi looked up, there was indeed a fissure in the moon’s surface.

There was ten minutes left until the space-time chakra cannon would fire. There was nothing
Kakashi could do but pray for the safety of Naruto and the others.

The surrounding area was covered in smoke as a result of the attack from the blade of light.

“It’s over…”

Beside Toneri, Hinata absently sat down inside the bird cage. Several tears fell from her wide-
open white eyes.
 129

“I am right! I’ve always, always thought it

through on my own! I can’t possibly be wrong!”

“I won’t lose! To protect the future of the Earth, the

village, and my friends, there’s no way I can lose!”
 130

Just then, the moon’s surface rumbled.

“!”

Toneri put himself on guard.

“It’s not over!” Naruto’s voice echoed. Several Naruto clones emerged from the chasm in the
moon’s surface that Toneri had cut with the blade of light.

“What!?”
“Chou Oodama Rasen Tarengan!”

Hundreds of Kage Bunshin swooped down on Toneri with a Rasen Rengan in hand.

“Kuh!”

Toneri made a barrier with his chakra beads and protected himself. Hundreds of Rasen Rengan
exploded simultaneously on the edge of the barrier.

Inside the barrier, Naruto emerged near the uninjured Toneri’s feet.

“!”

Disturbing Toneri’s balance, a Rasengan was released from behind him, and the barrier
exploded from the inside. Having been thrust away, Toneri narrowly defended himself using both
hands.

“Hmph… You don’t know when to give up…”

“Like I could give up… It takes time to knit a scarf!” Naruto took the scrap of the scarf that
Hinata had knit out of his pocket and held it tightly.
“The deeper the feelings you want to convey, the longer it takes to knit!”

Toneri began to focus chakra in both hands. A clump of chakra swelled up in his hands.

“I’ll end it with this!”

“Like I could stand to let it end!”

Naruto ran up to Toneri.

“It takes a long, long time to convey your feelings! That’s why I can’t let it end so easily!!”

He didn’t even need jutsu or skills anymore—just one fist was enough!

With all his might, he threw a punch head on.

Kaboom!
 131

“It takes time to knit a scarf!… The deeper the feelings

you want to convey, the longer it takes to knit!”

He didn’t even need jutsu or skills anymore—

just one fist was enough!
 132

The moon’s surface sunk in deeply around Naruto’s feet where he braced himself from the
excess impact. Toneri was sent flying at the speed of a bullet, and crashed into stone, sinking
deeply into it.

“Un-unbelievable… I, the Tenseigan King… With one punch…”

The light left Toneri’s Tenseigan.

The cage that had been holding Hinata vanished. Naruto and Hinata ran up to each other.

“Hinata!”
“Naruto-kun!”

Relieved that the fight was over, the two gazed at each other for a short time. Then, they ran to
the fallen Toneri to get back Hanabi’s Byakugan.

“Hanabi’s eyes… I’m taking them back.”

“St-stop!”

Toneri’s crying voice echoed over the moon’s surface.

Naruto took several steps closer to Toneri, who had once again lost his eyes, and was
continuing to breathe roughly.

“Well Toneri… It’s over now,” Naruto said to Toneri.

“…Not yet!”

Now without eyes, Toneri lifted his face, and laughed boldly.

Hamura’s Tenseigan had been made from collecting generations of the Ootsutsuki clan’s
Byakugan. That was why Toneri’s clan had no eyeballs. When Naruto and Hinata had destroyed
it, the Tenseigan had reverted back into tens of thousands of Byakugan, and scattered over the
moon’s surface. Those countless scattered Byakugan were now beginning to shake. The
Byakugan floated up, and flew towards one point. Towards Toneri—

One by one, the Byakugan stuck to Toneri’s body. The handsome Toneri was changing into a
grotesque monster.

“Wh-what is that?”

“These eyes… With these eyes, this time I’ll end everything!”

Just minutes earlier, the stone statue that Kurama had beaten down had stopped moving.
 133

“Hm?”

Kurama couldn’t tell if something had happened.

Now, however, the statue had once again started to move, and began striking Kurama.

“You don’t know when to quit!”

Kurama got angry and released his greatest bijuudama from below.

Taking the bijuudama at close range, the stone statue was thrown high into the air above the
moon.

Shikamaru and the others came flying in on ink birds, joining Naruto and Hinata. Hanabi was
also with them. Sai was holding her.

Toneri, who had turned into an eyeball monster with Byakugan stuck to his entire body, began to
knead chakra.

“Stop it! You’ve just been following your ancestors’ misguided teachings!”

Hinata advised him, but he wouldn’t listen.

“Shut up! I, the final member of the Ootsutsuki clan, must carry out Hamura’s decree!”

He lifted a chakra sphere above his head.

“Stop it! Stop, Toneri!”

“The Rikudou Sennin’s world has fallen into darkness! I will destroy it with the light of justice!”

The moment Naruto caught his breath, a large shadow appeared overhead.

The stone statue that Kurama had thrown came falling down. The giant statue directly hit Toneri.
Sent flying, Toneri floated high up into the air. As he gained height, direct rays from the sun,
which had been hidden by Earth’s shadow, illuminated Toneri. The Byakugan that were stuck all
over Toneri’s body began to smolder and let off smoke.

“His jutsu has absorbed energy from the sun, and overflowed past his chakra capacity limit!”
Shikamaru said. Toneri’s entire body was being consumed by the Byakugan.

“If this keeps up…”

If he continued to stay in the sunlight like this, Toneri would either melt or explode.
 134

“Toneri!” Naruto shouted as he jumped up.

“Stop, it’s dangerous!”

“Naruto-kun!”

Naruto clung to Toneri, whose body was still letting off smoke, and dragged him down to a place
in Earth’s shadow where the rays wouldn’t hit him.

“It’s time! Prepare the space-time chakra cannon to fire!” the Raikage yelled.

The delay period requested by the Hokage had passed.

The loading of chakra into the cannon resumed. The numbers on the energy gage increased.
96, 97, 98, 99—100%!

“Space-time chakra cannon, fire!”

However, there was no beam fired.

“What is it!? Why won’t you fire?” asked the irritated Raikage.

Sitting in the cockpit as the gunner, Killer Bee murmered.

“I can’t shoot at Naruto…”

“Get rid of your personal feelings! The existence of the world is at stake!”

However, Bee moved his hand away from the firing lever, and hung his head.

“Move! I’ll shoot!”

When the Raikage laid his hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, Kumogakure’s astronomer
came running from behind them.

“Raikage-sama! Shinobi characters on the moon… Kyuubi is writing something on the moon’s
surface!”
“What!?”

Kakashi peered through a telescope. In the telescopes round field of vision, he could see the
back of Kurama, on all fours writing shinobi characters on the moon’s surface.

Both missions… completed? Both missions completed!

He recalled the scene in the Hokage room where he had given Shikamaru’s team the “two
missions.”
 135

“The Rikudou Sennin’s world has fallen into darkness!

I will destroy it with the light of justice!”

Naruto clung to Toneri…and dragged him down to a

place in Earth’s shadow so the rays wouldn’t hit him.
 136

This must have meant the first mission, “to rescue Hanabi,” and the second mission, “to save
the world.”

These two things being achieved at once meant—

Kakashi let out a deep breath.

The people surrounding the telescope held their breath, and awaited Kakashi’s words.

“We are… The world is saved!”

“!”

Everyone looked at each other’s faces. The next moment, joyful voices filled the air defense
headquarters.

Soon, the cheers spread throughout the village of Konohagakure, the Land of Fire—to the entire
world.

“Hokage-sama… Did you predict all of this?” asked Izumo, who was hanging around nearby.

“…My gut turned out to be right on,” Kakashi murmured while looking at the completely stopped
clock.

Naruto and the others brought Toneri, who had returned to his normal form, to the ruined
underground crypt.

“Th-this is…”

As one would expect, Toneri was at a loss for words for the thousands of stone coffins before
him.
“Hamura’s soul led me here…”

At Hinata’s words, Toneri fell to his knees and hung his head. He kept quiet and stayed still for a
while. Finally, he raised his head and began to speak quietly.

“I… It’s because I went against my father’s final request…”

While on the verge of death, his father had worried about the future of his young son being left
all by himself on the moon. The puppets were there, so his livelihood was of no concern, but
humans need more than just food, clothing, and shelter.

—When I die, go to Earth. You can forget about the Ootsutsuki clan’s cause, and the decree.
Look for comrades, find friends, live for your own sake. Humans mustn’t live alone…

However, Toneri had remained on the moon. Being isolated was difficult, but when he thought
about his ancestors’ wishes, he didn’t feel like leaving the moon.
 137

—Humans mustn’t live alone.

Toneri’s father’s final words weighed heavily on him now.

Humans make mistakes. Making mistakes is the proof of being human.

When people take the wrong path, the ones to correct that are indeed humans.

“That’s why… I made a mistake…”

“Toneri, it’s still not too late. Follow your father’s final wish, and let’s go to Earth together. I’m
sure the people of Earth with welcome you.”

“…I will remain on the moon. I will atone for my sins here…” Toneri said as he stood up.

“Toneri…”

As Naruto called to him, Toneri turned away and smiled sadly.

“…The moon won’t fall to Earth anymore… never again…”

Leaving behind these words, he walked away.

They had to hurry with their retreat. The space connecting the moon to Earth was closing.

Naruto and Hinata continued through the space overlapped with the giant crystals, and exited
through the cave with the crab. Just before they jumped into the spring, Naruto spoke in a small
voice.

“I was alone, too, when I was a kid. Toneri and I are kind of similar. If I hadn’t had you and our
comrades in the village, I might’ve ended up like Toneri…”

In the darkness where the shining bubbles and knots of sand were floating, Naruto and Hinata
stood atop a sand knot, facing each other. They gazed into each other’s eye—when Naruto
smiled, Hinata smiled as well. They could both feel that there were no longer any reservations,
barriers, or doubts between them.

Hinata went to embrace Naruto, but hesitated for a moment.

“What’s wrong?”

“Naruto-kun, there’s something I need to ask you…”

The scene in front of Naruto’s house came back to Hinata’s mind.

—It was knit just for me… It’s warm.

 138

“I… made a mistake…”

“…The moon won’t fall to Earth

anymore… never again…”
 139

Naruto had said this so happily.

“That scarf, who was it from?”

Naruto stared at Hinata. He quietly pulled the bordered scarf out of his jacket.

“This… My late mom knit it for me.”

“Eh…”

Hiruzen, Naruto’s guardian, had received it from Kushina while she was still alive, and it had
stayed stowed away in a box. Konohamaru, Hiruzen’s grandson, had recently discovered it and
given it to Naruto.

“I see… I just…”
“No… actually I…”
“Jeez, Onee-chan! How long are you going to keep talking? We’re going on ahead!”

When Hinata turned towards the familiar voice, Hanabi was standing on a nearby sand knot.
Her younger sister was smiling while twirling her strapped kunai. Both of her eyes had been
returned to their sockets.

“Ha-Hanabi… You can see?”

“Yeah, thanks to Sakura-san.”

Hanabi clung to Sakura’s arm and smiled.

“Thank goodness…” Hinata murmured, moved to tears as she bowed deeply to Sakura. Sakura
had helped both her and her sister. She was filled with feelings of gratitude.

“Hurry up! This space is starting to collapse!” Shikamaru urged.

Naruto and Hinata looked up at the darkness overhead. Unlike when they came, they would be
climbing up into the darkness.

Countless shining bubbles and knots of sand were floating.

Naruto and Hinata held hands and jumped. Catching a foothold on one sand knot and on to the
next—they repeated their jumps, climbing up the pit.

As they passed by the shining bubbles, their memories together were displayed on the bubbles’
surfaces.

In the grove where they first met.

—Don’t be mean to girls!
Naruto rescued Hinata from the three boys bullying her.
 140

Iruka’s nostalgic lesson at the academy was also displayed in a bubble.

—For your last day on Earth, who would you want to be with?
Iruka’s voice echoed in the pit.
This time, it was the fight with Pain. Hinata’s heroic form as she fought to protect the injured
Naruto.

—Because… I love you, Naruto-kun!

Hinata slightly blushed as that memory was recalled.

The two kept climbing upwards while watching the memory scenes. However, the collapse of
the space was approaching from below. The sounds of bubbles popping and sand knots being
smashed gradually approached.

“Hinata, hurry!”
“Ok.”

As Hinata nodded, her foot slipped on the surface of a bubble. Instantly, their joined hands
separated.

“Na-Naruto-kun!”

Hinata was falling—by a hair’s breadth, Naruto’s hand caught Hinata’s arm. Naruto pulled
Hinata close, picked her up in a bridal carry, and continued ascending.

“Hey Hinata… Do you remember in Iruka-sensei’s class a long time ago when we were asked
who we would want to be with on the last day on Earth?”

Hinata nodded in Naruto’s arms.

“I couldn’t write down anyone’s name. I didn’t know my parents, I didn’t have any friends… I
couldn’t think of anyone. But now I can say for sure. I want to be with you. From now on, forever
and ever, until I die, I want to be with you, Hinata.”

“……”

Hinata was speechless. She knew what it meant for someone to be too happy to say anything.

Hinata silently buried her face in Naruto’s chest.

The collapse of the space was approaching. It looked like it would catch up to them.

“Hinata… Hold on to me.”

Doing as she was told, Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto’s neck.
 141

As they passed by the shining bubbles, their memories

together were displayed on the bubbles’ surfaces.

“From now on, forever and ever, until I die,

I want to be with you, Hinata.”
 142

“Don’t let go.”

“Ok…”

Hinata swore in her heart that she would never let go.

“Rasengan!”

With his had free from having Hinata hold onto him, Naruto launched a Rasengan at one of the
sand knots. Propelled by the fierce attack, the two began to rise out of the pit with great speed
like a rocket.

Spouting a grand column of water, Naruto and Hinata came flying out of the spring in the
limestone cavern—rising vertically, just like that. However, there was a little too much force.

Shikamaru and the others, who had already gotten out of the water, looked up at the two rising
up in the cave.

“Hey! You’re going to crash into the ceiling!”

The ceiling of the cave was approaching.

With her face hidden in Naruto’s chest, Hinata heard Naruto’s shout.

“Like I can stand…”

Naruto formed an especially large Rasengan in his hand.

“…to let it end here!”

He struck the ceiling with the Rasengan, destroying the rock.

On the outskirts of the village of Konoha, there was a snowy scenery over the woodlands.

With a tremor, the field of snow exploded, and Naruto flew from the smoke, holding Hinata.

They rose higher, higher, higher, higher into the night sky.

In the air after the two completed their ascent, just as they were about to start free falling—
everything was still.

“Naruto-kun…”
“Hinata, thank you…”

With a giant full moon in the background, Naruto’s shadow moved its face closer to Hinata’s
shadow, and finally overlapped.
 143

With a giant full moon in the background, Naruto’s

shadow moved its face closer to Hinata’s shadow…

…and finally overlapped.

Epilogue 144
 145

EPILOGUE: Towards Tomorrow

Several years later, the village of Konohagakure had recovered beautifully. Multi-story buildings
stood in a row, and the scenery of the village had also completely changed.

In one room of a multi-story house, Hinata was silently knitting a scarf. Outside the window,
powdery snow was fluttering, and the Hokage rock could be scene in the distance.

“Uryaa!”

Naruto, who had grown more dignified, was in the middle of taijutsu training on the spacious
veranda. A sharp thrust, then a kick. Bulging muscles and flying sweat. With a gleam in his eye,
he stared sharply at an empty space, and stopped his movements. He breathed roughly in the
snowy landscape.

From behind came the sound of two people’s footsteps running up to him.

“Daddy! Play with us!”

“…Dada*!”

It was his son, Boruto, and his daughter, Himawari. Little Himawari couldn’t speak fluently yet 3.

“Hey… Don’t go outside barefoot.”

Having stopped her knitting, Hinata scolded her children with the face of a gentle mother.

However, both Boruto and Himawari disregarded it. When Hinata appeared on the veranda, a
snowball from Boruto hit her in the face.

“Kya! Alright, Mom’s going to play, too!”

Having succeeded in getting their mom involved in a snowball fight, Boruto and Himawari
cheered and ran around in the snow.

“You guys… When your mom gets serious, she’s strong!”

The snowball fight between the four of them began.

The Hokage rock gently gazed upon the forms of the laughing parents and children.

3 The word for “dad” that Boruto uses is “tou-chan.” Himawari says “to-chan,” unable to pronounce the
extended vowel sound.
 146

The End

“From now on, forever and ever, until I die,

I want to be with you, Hinata.”
147