A calm and elegant voice reached the ears of the two.
The disdain and mockery in his tone were unmistakable.
Immediately after, a young man in a white robe, his pale gray-white eyes gleaming, slowly stepped out of the spatial rift.
The white robe was the standard attire of the Ōtsutsuki clan, though it lacked the six-tomoe pattern that adorned Kaguya's.
Behind him stood a burly man, wielding a massive red battle-axe.
There was no doubt—Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki had arrived.
Even Kaguya feared these beings.
As Momoshiki emerged, he instinctively scanned the surroundings. The moment he took in the situation, his brows furrowed.
The eight clan members stationed here were all dead.
And Ōtsutsuki Takeshi was barely clinging to life?!
"S-save… help me!"
Takeshi, sensing Momoshiki's arrival, hoarsely cried out for aid.
His chakra had been completely drained by Kaguya, his body impaled by black rods and suspended midair. Every so often, Orochimaru would send a blade slashing through him from a distance.
This torture had lasted for hours.
Life at this point was worse than death.
Had the Ōtsutsuki not been immune to genjutsu, Orochimaru could have simply used a technique like Tsukuyomi, sparing himself the effort.
But that wasn't an option.
"A new face?"
Momoshiki completely ignored Takeshi's plea, his attention instead shifting to Orochimaru.
"He doesn't seem to be of the Ōtsutsuki clan, yet his power isn't weak…"
Momoshiki grinned, then turned to Kaguya.
"So this is why you dared to return? Because of him?"
Kaguya ignored him completely.
"Where is my father's grave?" she asked coldly.
When she was still an innocent girl, she had fled to Earth to escape the civil war within the Ōtsutsuki clan.
She had watched her parents perish before her very eyes.
One of her reasons for returning was to find their remains.
Even if all that was left was a humble grave.
But the moment Momoshiki heard her words, he burst into laughter.
"Your father? Hah! Who knows?"
The sight of Momoshiki alone filled Kaguya with a mixture of fear and hatred.
She had only been suppressing it because of Orochimaru's presence.
But now, at his words.
She could no longer hold herself back.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Kaguya's chakra surged violently.
A gray bone materialized in her palm. Without hesitation, she launched an All-Killing Ash Bone straight at Momoshiki!
A lethal move from the very start.
Although the All-Killing Ash Bones weren't particularly fast, about the same as a kunai, their devastating collapse-inducing properties, combined with Kaguya's high-purity Byakugan predicting the enemy's movements, made them one of her strongest attacks.
But despite being an Ōtsutsuki himself, Momoshiki showed no concern whatsoever toward her attack.
He didn't even bother dodging.
Instead, he casually waved his hand.
And an invisible force distorted the air.
The gray bone veered off course inexplicably.
Bang!
The bone impaled the ground behind Momoshiki, instantly reducing a large portion of the land to dust.
"Thousands of years have passed, yet you're still this naive."
"An attack like this? Hmph. Child's play."
Momoshiki's voice dripped with contempt.
To ordinary shinobi, All-Killing Ash Bones were an ultimate technique.
To Momoshiki, they weren't even worth acknowledging.
Watching Momoshiki effortlessly redirect the attack, Orochimaru finally understood.
This was why Kaguya feared him.
This man's power was on a completely different level.
"Die!"
Momoshiki's words only fueled Kaguya's rage.
Her hair billowed wildly.
She raised both hands, her palms manifesting more gray bones, ready to strike again.
But at that moment.
A hand grasped her wrist.
"Wait."
"Orochimaru?"
Kaguya turned, only to see Orochimaru looking at her with his signature sinister smirk.
"Don't get so worked up. Leave him to me."
Momoshiki's gaze sharpened.
"So it was you who used Takeshi to lure me here."
He had been meditating in his own domain when Takeshi's distress signal reached him.
And then—
He had sensed the master-servant connection between them sever.
Clearly, someone had orchestrated this.
Without overthinking it, he had come immediately.
Yet now, looking at Orochimaru.
His chakra wasn't even on Kaguya's level.
And yet, this man had defeated Takeshi and his eight subordinates?
It didn't add up.
This made no sense.
Orochimaru chuckled.
"It doesn't matter whether I did or didn't. You're here now, aren't you?"
"Haha! That's true!"
Momoshiki laughed.
"Well then… since you have the nerve to return, hand over the power of the God Tree."
Orochimaru's smirk deepened.
"That depends on whether you have the strength to take it."
Casually raising his hand.
Boom!
The Truth-Seeking Orbs on Takeshi's body instantly activated, reducing him to nothingness.
Momoshiki's expression darkened.
Just as he was about to speak, the scenery around him shifted instantly!
A space-time technique?!
Momoshiki's brows furrowed.
Was Kaguya trying to protect the insignificant mortals in the square?
His gaze swept across the barren, moon-like landscape that now surrounded them.
A sneer tugged at his lips.
Protecting mortals?
To Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, such a thing was utterly foolish.
Slowly, he raised his hands.
Various elemental chakra began swirling around him.
Sensing this, the other Ōtsutsuki clan members quickly took to the skies, distancing themselves from the battlefield.
"A mere lowly creature dares challenge the majesty of a god?"
(To be continued.)