They might react differently to commands, but they would all carry them out to some extent. As Shadow finished speaking, the lower Great Hollow let out a roar and tried to flee on instinct.
In the next moment, Whirlpool, standing behind Shadow, raised her left hand marked with a Void Hole. Dark chains etched with red runes burst forth, twisting through the air as if alive.
They moved like venomous snakes and wrapped around the roaring lower Great Hollow. A scream tore out from it, filled with pain that reached the soul itself.
Dark red patterns similar to the runes spread across its body. The bloated form stiffened at once, and the surging power inside was forcibly sealed.
"Interesting."
Shadow narrowed his eyes beneath the shadows, having already recognized the core consciousness. Chiyo of Sunagakure.
Only Chiyo, whose son and daughter in law had been killed by Sakumo Hatake, could harbor hatred this strong, beyond life and death. Shadow would have preferred to follow the rule of survival of the fittest, but there were too few spirits with the potential to reach mid level Great Hollow, so he chose to keep this one for now.
"It seems things are going very smoothly on Hanzo's side," Shadow thought. "Even Chiyo has been killed."
With the current soul reserves, nurturing two mid level Great Hollow was already the limit. He sighed inwardly, thinking that the quality of this batch was still lacking.
There were simply too few spirits with the potential to evolve into lower Great Hollow. If there was another chance in the future, he would need to gather spirits with stronger obsessions.
As he was thinking, he sensed something and suddenly looked up. At the same time, the Shadow outside withdrew his consciousness from the Box of Ultimate Bliss and gazed toward the heavy clouds in the distance.
He saw two figures, one large and one small, standing on a platform floating in the sky. His mouth curved into a laugh when he saw the pale blue and white hair and the boy with closed eyes.
The Otsutsuki Clan on the moon.
Good timing indeed.
In the depths of a sky packed with heavy leaden clouds, the cloud layer silently split open with a crack. A strangely shaped circular platform flying Ninja Tool hovered quietly several thousand meters above the ground. A halo of Chakra flowed across its surface, pushing away the pouring rain and forming a dry space untouched by the outside world.
On the platform stood two figures, one tall and one small. Both wore spotless ancient white robes that clashed sharply with the bloody mud of the battlefield below. Without question, they were the father and son who had descended from the Moon to the Ninja World.
The five year old Toneri Otsutsuki still carried childish confusion on his face. His tightly closed eyelids trembled slightly as he curiously sensed this completely unfamiliar world below. What he perceived, however, was nothing beautiful.
Below him was naked death and cruelty far beyond what his young mind could bear. A purple poison dragon condensed from deadly toxins rampaged under the control of a vague figure, leaving only death in its wake. Wherever it passed, life was erased.
Skin rotted and peeled as if soaked in strong acid, muscles melted off bones like dripping wax, and even the skeletons dissolved and snapped apart under the poisonous fog. The entire process was terrifyingly fast, and in moments dozens of living people became pools of sticky sludge that gave off sharp purple smoke mixed with metal and bone fragments. Countless corroded remains froze in their final poses of painful ZetsuWang struggle.
Even the ground beneath was eaten away, sinking into foul poison pits that bubbled and burst, spraying toxic mist. The mist hissed as it corroded the air and rain alike, spreading a stench that filled the battlefield. The scene was relentless and without mercy.
"Fa, Father…" Toneri Otsutsuki's face turned pale as he instinctively grabbed the corner of his father's robe. His voice shook as he spoke, begging that they go back because he did not want to see any more. His words trailed off as fear overwhelmed him.
"No," his father replied in a cold voice filled with chill certainty. "You must look, Toneri Otsutsuki." He ordered him to see clearly, because this was the Ninja World.
The father's aged face was as hard as carved stone as he raised his hand and pointed toward the wider frontline in the distance. Trembling, Toneri Otsutsuki followed the direction and extended his senses further. What unfolded before him was even worse.
Bottomless craters scarred the land like flesh gouged from the earth, and broken trees stood as twisted branches pointing at the sky. Hundreds upon thousands of figures fought in the rain, hacking at each other as Kunai, Shuriken, and Ninja Blade flashed with cold light. Every slash and thrust threw up glaring sprays of blood.
Fireballs from Fire Release Ninjutsu fell into crowds and instantly ignited several Ninja, turning them into screaming human torches. Blades of wind from Wind Release Ninjutsu sliced through, cutting sealing Ninja and even the boulders behind them cleanly in half. Spears of earth from Earth Release burst from the ground, pinning running Ninja in midair as blood streamed down sharp stone edges.
Ninja from different factions rolled and tore at each other in the mud like beasts, using every possible means to kill their enemies. Konoha Ninja and Sunagakure Ninja were already driven mad with slaughter, and Nagato, Kakuzu, and the one called Ouyacheng Yan were also there. Missiles from Nagato's Asura Path, arrows from Ouyacheng Yan's Ninja Tool, and Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear Black Threads tore through the battlefield.
Screams, explosions, the roar of Ninjutsu, the clash of blades, bones snapping, flesh being pierced, and the final short cries before death all blended together. The sounds twisted and magnified in the rain like countless flies buzzing by the ear or needles stabbing into eardrums. It was nothing less than hell itself.
Toneri Otsutsuki's body shook violently as he clutched his father's robe, his fingers turning white from the force. Waves of nausea and dizziness slammed into his fragile mind, and disgust and fear nearly drowned him. He could barely remain standing.
"Do you see it, Toneri Otsutsuki?" his father asked calmly, his voice flat and distant. His tone carried a lofty contempt as he spoke of those driven by Greed and desire Wang who endlessly created death and destruction. They slaughtered each other to satisfy desire, and spread suffering to satisfy Greed.
Pain, ZetsuWang, hatred, madness, loathing, anger, fear, and death were listed one by one. This, he said, was what Ninja were, and their Greed, hatred, and war had twisted this world into something deformed. Each word was like a sharp spike stabbing into Toneri Otsutsuki's confused mind.
"The source of all this is Sage of Six Paths," his father continued. This was the world Sage of Six Paths created, the world where Chakra was spread. That power was used by Ninja to breed endless hatred and war, turning a pure planet into a filthy dumping ground.
His voice rose with undeniable conviction as he spoke of their lineage. As descendants who inherited Hamura's blood and will, their mission was to destroy this twisted world and correct the mistake of Sage of Six Paths. All twisted and fallen Ninja would be erased, cleansed, and remade.
As these words poured into Toneri Otsutsuki's ears, ideas of filth, error, and removal slowly took root alongside his physical disgust and fear. He repeated to himself that the world created by Sage of Six Paths was wrong, twisted, and deformed. His trembling grip gradually steadied, and the pain on his young face eased.
An expression of agreement and resolve far beyond his age appeared on his face. Disgust and fear transformed into a sense of sacred duty that bore heavy responsibility. His father was right.
The world created by Sage of Six Paths had failed, and his mission was to destroy it and recreate it. Feeling that Toneri Otsutsuki's hand had stopped shaking, his father smiled. His first purpose in bringing him to the Ninja World had been achieved.
As for the second purpose of this journey, his voice grew hoarse but gentle as he spoke again. He told Toneri Otsutsuki that he would take him to meet his future wife. On the Moon, there were no longer any female clanspeople, so to continue the bloodline and keep it pure, they had to find the recorded Byakugan princess.
This was the second reason for the trip. Hearing the word wife, even the innocent Toneri Otsutsuki felt his calm face flush with embarrassment. At the same time, a small sense of expectation rose within him, because in his understanding a wife was someone who could also be a playmate.
"Let us go," his father said at last. He cast one final cold glance at the battlefield below, his contempt and disgust undisguised, as if he were looking at trash. He then prepared to withdraw his gaze and control the flying Ninja Tool to leave.
Suddenly, an overwhelming and terrifying chill surged through him. The sensation was sharp and unmistakable, the feeling of being locked onto by something. Almost instinctively, he raised his hand to form seals and looked further downward.
What he saw was a black robed figure at the center of the battlefield between Sunagakure and Konoha, its presence deep and unfathomable. Beside that figure stood a slender silhouette that raised a hand toward them.