She could see it—she could feel it.
The entire world was connected. Every soul, every creature, every breath of life had been ensnared by Madara's horrific Infinite Tsukuyomi. And yet, in that suspended dream, Hinata perceived something else—something wondrous. Yumegakure, the Hidden Land of Dreams, now pulsed brighter than it ever had. Its gates stood wide open, and all were welcome: beasts, humans, lost spirits alike. In that moment, its moon had become a radiant sun, a beacon to all who wandered. Once again, the strength of Hinata's soul reflected upon the very nature of Yumegakure itself.
High above, she had completed her synchronization with the breathing of two worlds. And from that height, she saw it clearly—the miracle born of Sasuke and Naruto's unity. A technique beyond her wildest imagination. An immeasurable storm of chakra-infused leaves—formed from wind nature, senjutsu, and solidified Amaterasu flame—each blade a perfected union of opposites. The torrent descended upon Madara's body, shredding through every cell, every defense. It was an annihilation so absolute it threatened to erase him from existence. That it did not was proof only of the monstrous power and prodigious skill still housed within his now broken form.
Sasuke and Naruto stood, breathing heavily, drained but alive. Their coordination had been flawless, their execution lethal. Their objective was complete.
Hinata simply wished it—and she appeared beside them, her presence calm and grounding. Kuro leapt gracefully from her arms, landing in silence. Mitsue shrank down, wrapping herself snugly around Hinata's waist, unwilling to leave her side for what she knew was coming.
"It seems you two did quite the job," Hinata said softly, eyes still scanning the battlefield.
"Everything played out as planned," Sasuke replied. "He never expected we had more cards to play."
"It's a shame he never learned to look past our little deception," Naruto added with a grin—but the grin faded quickly. He stiffened. "Zetsu's here. You sure we're not stopping this?"
Hinata nodded, her voice low. "I'm sure. Kaguya must return. Even if I don't like how we got to this point."
There was sorrow in her words, a thread of regret stitched into the calm.
Sasuke's gaze softened. "We trust you, Hinata. Maybe when this is over, you'll tell me the parts you left out."
His smile was faint but sincere. Hinata didn't look at him—she simply nodded.
Then it began.
All of them felt it—the chakra of the world shifting, converging into a single point. It rushed toward Madara's body like a river drawn to its wellspring. He had become the axis of reality, the vessel through which Kaguya would rise once more. Black Zetsu worked tirelessly, weaving the resurrection from within.
"Are you sure you want to face this alone?" Naruto asked. His voice had lost its usual lightness. The power gathering in that space was nearing Hinata's own. Perhaps surpassing it.
"No," Hinata answered solemnly. "But I know that if things go wrong... you'll both be there."
A small smile formed on her lips.
"You can count on that," Sasuke said. His tone was firm, but his eyes carried something deeper. Naruto nodded beside him, his easy smile returning as reassurance.
Kuro, unusually silent, seemed to glow faintly—her usually mischievous aura replaced by something solemn and eternal. Her true eye shimmered briefly… and she vanished.
Hinata didn't look directly at Kuro. Even now, she struggled to perceive her shadow. But she felt her through their bond.
"I'm counting on you too…" she whispered.
And with that, Hinata vanished.
She now stood alone.
And before her, the form of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki began to take shape.
<<<< o >>>>
There she was.
For so long, Hinata had imagined this moment with trembling doubt. But now that it was real—now that she stood before her—there was no fear. The breath of two worlds coursed through her veins, and the silent blessings of countless souls dreaming of an impossible tomorrow steadied her heart.
And there she stood motionless in the air: Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
Not merely a tyrant. Not merely a myth. A once-noble guardian twisted by power. A mother whose love had once been real, betrayed by the very children she had raised—because she had begun to betray the very values she had taught them.
A woman who had seen the light of a distant future… and vowed that such a future would never be.
Hinata stepped forward.
"Ancestor Kaguya Ōtsutsuki… My name is Hinata Gin. Helping to bring you back has cost much."
She watched Kaguya's soul ripple with recognition. Not just of power—but of kinship. Their blood, somewhere in the far branches of destiny, resonated.
But what shook her more… was the voice beside her.
Black Zetsu whispered, twisted and full of millennia of bile. The hatred that clung to him began to bleed into Kaguya's perception. Suspicion. Rage. Possessiveness.
Hinata saw it.
Kaguya's pale eyes, once wide with confusion, narrowed. Cold.
"You stand in my garden. You carry stolen chakra. My chakra"
Her voice was icy, crystalline in clarity. She spoke not with emotion, but with ownership. Her chakra flared, and the air twisted around them. Space warped.
Hinata didn't flinch.
The distortion was clear—she saw it all through the lens of her World of Intent.
Kaguya meant to pull her into another dimension.
Hinata's expression didn't change.
She had been waiting for this.
She would not falter.
She extended her Golden Threads—each strand woven with her power, her blood, her will, her very soul. An impossible fusion made real. They rippled outward, radiant and unyielding, and in that instant, the fractures of reality that Kaguya had begun to summon… froze.
The dimensional rift halted mid-formation.
Kaguya's technique—interrupted before it could even begin.
Hinata's form flickered like a mirage as she moved. To most, it might have seemed a blur. To Kaguya's heightened perception, it was fast—but still readable.
But Hinata had already read her—clearly, completely—through the World of Intent of her Mind's Eye.
She moved just as Kaguya prepared to evade. A portal, unseen to most, disintegrated as golden threads sliced through it preemptively. Then came the true strike.
Hinata's Katana lashed downward, not at Kaguya—but beneath her left arm.
Where Black Zetsu hid.
With precision honed by countless hours of training compressed into her soul, Hinata severed him from Kaguya's form.
A scrap of Kaguya's white kimono fluttered through the air—the part that had concealed Black Zetsu—and landed with a soft whisper.
From the folds of silk… Black Zetsu shadow bloomed.
Next to him another shadow appeared out of nowhere. Massive. Inescapable.
A darkness shaped not by hatred, but by something far older. Something primal.
It opened its maw slowly, like a smile, and spoke in a voice that belonged to a mischievous little girl—sweet, sing-song… and at this moment, dreadful.
"Don't worry… I don't bite… much."
The tone was almost playful, but Black Zetsu's reaction was anything but.
His eye—now half-smashed, barely visible beneath the fabric—flared with panic.
The monstrous shadow that emerged—Kuro the Beast of the Goddess—curled around him and the echo of the kimono. There was no escape.
In a heartbeat, both were gone.
Swallowed whole by the beast shadow.
And there she was—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, her throat resting on the reverse edge of Shinsei.
Hinata's golden threads shimmered above and below, a celestial lattice woven through the sky and earth, locking down every movement, every twitch of intention from the Rabbit Goddess. Kaguya, for all her overwhelming might, was frozen. Not by fear—but by precision. Her escape routes were sealed. Her power, though perhaps greater in raw scale, was unfamiliar with being matched.
She had never fought equals.
She had never needed to.
Born into strength far beyond her peers, Kaguya had always stood above others. What power she wielded after that was taken—not earned. Conquered—not understood. She had crushed those beneath her without challenge.
Hinata had risen differently.
Through blood. Through tears. Through loss. Through triumph. Through every failure carved into her bones and rebuilt into strength. She had shaped her power through purpose, not domination.
And now that difference was everything.
"This doesn't have to continue," Hinata said softly, yet firmly. "I know you're confused. But I have a story to tell you… and I know you wouldn't believe it if I simply spoke it."
She stepped closer. Shinsei's edge did not falter.
"But I also know… there's a way you could believe me."
Kaguya's eyes, wide and pale, watched her.
Her soul trembled, stunned not only by the technique, but by the serenity behind it. Somewhere deep, there was recognition… but it was buried beneath instinct. That old desire for control. That ancient fear of betrayal.
She wanted to flee. To counter. To shatter this moment.
But she couldn't move.
Every attempt she made—every surge of chakra, every flicker of dimensional intent—was mirrored, read, and countered by the blade hovering calmly at her throat.
She was trapped.
Not by hatred.
But by understanding.
Before her thoughts could spiral into primal panic, Hinata inhaled—slow and deliberate.
With that breath, she activated Mirage Breath.
The air shimmered. Kaguya's eyes widened as she felt it—the sudden, subtle surge in Hinata's presence. Her chakra shifted, deepened. The very threads of reality around her bent differently now.
And then it appeared.
A reflection. A construct. An illusion made real by will and spiritual force.
Hinata's mirage stood beside her, hands gently raised, as threads of golden light wove into a floating platform beneath its feet—threads that had not been there a moment before, now glowing with transcendent energy.
"Yume no Fukkatsu—Dream Rebirth!"
The name echoed through the warped air like a bell tolling through a dream.
And then they came.
Three figures manifested behind the projection. Their forms radiant, suspended upon the golden platform: Hagoromo and Hamura Ōtsutsuki—young, as they had been in the beginning. And with them, Michel… just as Hinata had always remembered him.
Kaguya's eyes flew open in a rush of disbelief. For a heartbeat, her breath caught.
And then tears began to form.
Not of weakness.
But of recognition.
Her sons.
The ones she had never expected to see again.
Hagoromo stepped forward, his face calm and open. "Hello, Mother… I know it's difficult to believe, but we're glad to see you again. We're here. We're really here."
Hamura nodded, voice steady. "Because this young woman gave us a chance—a true chance—to fix the broken pieces of our past. Please… can you give us one as well?"
Silence followed.
But something had changed in Kaguya's face.
Not fear. Not fury.
Just… silence.
And the sound of a heart she thought long dead began to stir again.