After their bitter argument ended on such unhappy terms, Hamura never abandoned the hope of repairing the rift between him and his brother.
Time and again, he sought Hagoromo out, hoping to reopen a dialogue. He wanted to explain his own perspective and, just as importantly, understand his brother's thoughts more deeply.
Yet every encounter ended the same way.
Hagoromo was like a boulder encased in solid ice.
Cold.
Distant.
His words were as sharp as blades.
After only a few exchanges, he would dismiss Hamura's sincerity and efforts without hesitation. Every conversation ended in disappointment, leaving Hamura alone to bear an ever-growing sense of helplessness and loss.
No matter how hard he thought, he could find no way to break the icy deadlock between them.
The frustration coiled around his heart like creeping vines.
Just as those heavy emotions threatened to overwhelm him—
A sudden change erupted.
BOOM—!!!
Without the slightest warning, an unimaginably vast surge of Chakra exploded from the direction of the palace surrounding the God Tree.
Its power was so overwhelming, so boundless, that it resembled an ancient beast awakening from its slumber, its roar shaking heaven and earth.
Violent torrents of energy swept outward like tangible tidal waves.
The air screamed under the strain.
The earth trembled violently, as though it were on the verge of splitting apart.
Even the clouds gathered above the God Tree were torn into a massive, visible vortex by the sheer force of the eruption.
Even more terrifying was the presence accompanying that immense Chakra.
It was utterly unfamiliar.
Cold.
Overwhelming.
A pressure so powerful that it instinctively stirred fear deep within one's very soul.
"What?!"
Hamura and Hagoromo, who happened to be nearby, sensed the catastrophic burst of Chakra at almost the exact same moment.
Both turned sharply toward the palace.
Their eyes widened in disbelief.
That power...
It was beyond anything they had ever known.
And the unfamiliar presence carried with it an instinctive sense of danger—one that seemed to transcend life itself.
Yet the terrifying phenomenon vanished even more strangely than it had appeared.
Within only a breath or two...
The world-shaking Chakra...
That terrifying unfamiliar presence...
Everything disappeared as though extinguished by an invisible hand.
Silence returned.
Only faint ripples of residual Chakra lingering in the air and the slight trembling beneath their feet proved that what they had witnessed had not been an illusion.
"Mother!"
Hamura's heart clenched.
An overwhelming sense of dread seized him.
Without another thought, he cried out and transformed into a streak of light, pushing his speed to its absolute limit as he raced toward the palace.
Hagoromo reacted only a heartbeat later.
A complicated light flashed through his eyes—a mixture of shock, vigilance, and an inexplicable foreboding.
Without hesitation, Chakra erupted beneath his feet as he immediately pursued Hamura toward the source of the disturbance.
For the moment...
The two brothers set aside their differences.
Both raced toward the same destination.
However...
When they arrived before what had once been the majestic palace surrounding the God Tree, both of their hearts sank.
The palace...
Was gone.
The magnificent structure that had symbolized Kaguya's supreme authority and stood intertwined with the roots of the God Tree had become nothing more than ruins.
Towering stone pillars had snapped and collapsed.
Exquisitely carved halls had been reduced to shattered debris.
The grand dome had completely caved in.
Only broken walls remained standing amid drifting clouds of dust.
Residual waves of violent Chakra still lingered throughout the ruins, bearing silent witness to the terrifying destructive force that had just been unleashed.
Standing alone at the center of the devastation...
Was a solitary figure dressed in white.
Kaguya.
She remained clothed in her flowing white robes.
Against the backdrop of broken stone and drifting dust, she appeared colder...
And lonelier...
Than ever before.
Her sleeves fluttered gently within the lingering currents of energy.
Her expression had become as cold as eternal frost.
The oppressive aura radiating from her was enough to freeze the very air itself.
No one dared approach.
"Mother!"
At that moment, a mass of black, viscous substance hurriedly emerged from behind a shattered stone pillar like a startled rabbit.
It was Black Zetsu.
He rushed to Kaguya's side, his voice filled with unconcealed panic.
"Mother! What happened?"
"What was that just now?"
"The palace..."
"What happened here?"
"Are you hurt?"
Only then did Kaguya seem to notice their arrival.
Slowly...
Almost stiffly...
She raised her eyes.
Yet her gaze did not immediately fall upon Black Zetsu or her two sons.
Instead...
She looked past the ruins...
Toward the endless heavens above.
She gave only the slightest shake of her head.
It was so subtle that it was almost imperceptible.
But the tension and gravity buried deep within her eyes could not be concealed.
Something had happened.
Something enormous.
Something so serious that even Kaguya—the Progenitor of Chakra, wielder of the God Tree's power, and ruler of the world—had become visibly tense.
Something powerful enough to destroy her palace in an instant.
"Mother!"
"Has an enemy arrived?"
"What was that power just now?"
Unable to suppress his anxiety any longer, Hamura abandoned all formalities and questioned her urgently.
Beside him, Hagoromo remained silent.
Yet his expression was equally grim.
His crimson Sharingan slowly rotated as he carefully observed Kaguya, trying to discern more from the smallest changes in her expression and Chakra.
His heart was no less shaken.
That fleeting eruption of unimaginable power...
That unfamiliar presence...
And the ruins before them...
All pointed toward an answer far more dangerous than he wished to believe.
Still, he forcibly restrained the urge to question her directly.
Instead, he silently watched...
Alert...
And cautious.
Faced with her son's anxious concern, however, Kaguya acted as though she had heard nothing.
She maintained her icy composure.
Her gaze remained fixed upon the distant sky.
Her voice was colder than ever before.
Firm.
Absolute.
"This matter does not concern you."
"Leave."
Hamura opened his mouth, intending to ask just one more question.
Even if it was only—
"Mother... are you injured?"
But the instant his eyes met Kaguya's cold, stern gaze...
Every word caught in his throat.
He swallowed them back in silence.
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