"Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, you don't want to be killed like this… do you?"
Naruto stepped forward slowly, stopping a short distance in front of Kaguya. His tone was calm, and there was even a faint smile on his face, but his eyes were sharp and unwavering.
Kaguya narrowed her eyes slightly. She lifted her chin and looked down at Naruto from her height, her expression cold and guarded. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Naruto took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, as if organizing his thoughts. "I don't know if you've ever heard a saying from the human world," he began, "but there's one sentence that fits this situation perfectly."
"The enemy of my enemy… is my friend."
Kaguya's gaze flickered.
Naruto continued, his voice steady. "Back then, when you came to Earth, you were supposed to be sacrificed to the God Tree, weren't you? That was your role as a guardian. But instead of accepting that fate, you attacked Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. You survived, the God Tree absorbed Isshiki, and you ate the chakra fruit."
Naruto looked directly at her. "From that alone, I can understand something very clearly, Kaguya. You wanted to live. You didn't want to die as a disposable tool of the Ōtsutsuki clan. You're not a mindless puppet—you're someone who thinks for herself."
"You didn't want to exist only as a function of the Ōtsutsuki clan," Naruto said softly. "You wanted to live as a true life-form. That's why you became interested in the humans of this planet—beings whose form and emotions resembled your own. You met the king of that era, fell in love with him, and even gave birth to children."
Naruto's tone softened unconsciously. "From that alone, it's obvious. Compared to the other Ōtsutsuki, you understand love far more deeply than they ever could."
At his words, Kaguya let out a short, bitter laugh. It was sharp, hollow, and filled with self-mockery.
"Love?" she repeated quietly. Then her voice grew colder. "When I was pregnant, the man I loved gave the order to have me killed. After I gave birth to my two children, those same children sealed me away."
She shook her head slowly. "You call that love?"
Kaguya's eyes darkened. "In my opinion, perhaps the Ōtsutsuki clan was right all along. In this universe, there is only absolute power. The so-called concept of love… doesn't exist at all."
Her voice carried deep sorrow.
Black Zetsu, who had been clinging to her sleeve, seemed to sense her emotions. He spoke softly, filled with concern. "Mother…"
Hearing his voice, Kaguya's expression softened. She lowered her gaze and looked at Black Zetsu, her eyes becoming gentle in a way they hadn't been moments before.
"Perhaps, in your eyes," Kaguya said calmly, "Black Zetsu is an unforgivable existence—someone who lurked in the shadows for thousands of years, manipulating the course of ninja history."
"But to me," she continued, "even though he is a manifestation of my will, he is still a part of me that separated long ago. Just like Hagoromo and Hamura… they are all my children."
Her tone carried a quiet sadness.
"But what about Hagoromo and Hamura?" Kaguya asked. "They never understood why I gazed at the stars every day. They never understood my fear. In the end, they even joined forces to seal me away."
Her eyes shifted slightly. "Only Black Zetsu continued to think about reviving me… for thousands of years."
Black Zetsu trembled with emotion at her words.
Kaguya gently reached out and touched the mass of Black Zetsu clinging to her sleeve. A rare, faint smile appeared on her face. "In my heart… Black Zetsu is my true child."
Naruto watched silently, then shrugged helplessly. "But you never explained any of this to the Sage of Six Paths or his brother back then," he said. "They had no idea what you were facing or why you were doing what you did."
"So from their perspective," Naruto continued calmly, "stopping you wasn't wrong at all."
Kaguya snorted coldly. "As a mother, I wanted to shoulder all the danger alone and protect my children. And in the end, my children were the ones who hurt me."
She laughed loudly, tilting her head toward the sky. Her laughter was filled with grievance, bitterness, and deep resentment.
Naruto remained silent.
Yes—Kaguya's feelings toward Hagoromo and Hamura were undoubtedly those of a mother. During the time she ruled the land, the two brothers had grown up peacefully and safely.
If not for the Great Toad Sage revealing the truth of the God Tree to Hagoromo, perhaps the brothers would have continued living within the world Kaguya had woven for them.
Being betrayed by one's own children was an unbearable pain for anyone.
Naruto sighed. "Kaguya… from a certain perspective, what the Sage of Six Paths did wasn't wrong either," he said gently. "The God Tree was constantly draining the vitality of the planet. If it hadn't been stopped, all life on Earth would have eventually died."
"So I don't think all the blame can be placed on him," Naruto continued. "And later on, he did begin to understand your worries. Even though he didn't know how powerful your enemies truly were, he still realized that you weren't acting without reason."
Kaguya let out a cold laugh. "And what good did that understanding do? Didn't he still seal me away? Didn't he still let history repeat itself?"
Naruto shook his head. "There was no other choice. Sealing you back then was a necessity of history—just like releasing you now is."
"When we sealed you," Naruto added, "I deliberately inserted the Sword of Bonds into the seal and had Sasuke send the Chibaku Tensei straight to the moon."
Sasuke, standing nearby, glanced at Naruto. He remembered that moment clearly. At the time, he had thought Naruto simply wanted to make the seal easier to locate in the future.
Now, he realized Naruto had already planned this far ahead.
Sasuke felt a faint ache in his chest.
Naruto… just how much have you been carrying on your own?
Naruto continued, "Originally, I sent you to the moon so that if Ōtsutsuki Urashiki came, he might find you and attempt to release the seal. That way, I could observe what kind of reaction would occur."
"Unexpectedly," Naruto scratched his head, "that guy didn't find you at all. To be honest, I was pretty depressed about that."
Naruto truly found it puzzling. With Urashiki's abilities, locating a sealed Kaguya shouldn't have been difficult. Instead, Urashiki went straight for Toneri.
Thinking back, Naruto realized it was probably because Toneri's Tenseigan on the moon drew Urashiki's attention so strongly that he never bothered searching the moon carefully.
"Is that boy… Ōtsutsuki Urashiki… here as well?" Kaguya asked, surprised.
Naruto nodded. "Yes. He's here."
Kaguya sneered faintly. "So after a thousand years, that child has finally grown up."
Naruto smiled. "Time moves forward, and people move with it. Urashiki has never had a good opinion of you. He's always called you a traitor. As for Momoshiki and Kinshiki… there's no need to even mention them."
"You should understand," Naruto said quietly, "what would happen if you were captured by them."
Kaguya fell silent.
Of course she understood.
If she were defeated, she would be sacrificed to the God Tree, her chakra reclaimed, and her existence erased once more.
Seeing her silence, Naruto pressed on. "Kaguya, you and I have both killed members of the Ōtsutsuki clan. That alone puts us on the same side."
"You are the progenitor of chakra on Earth," Naruto continued. "Without you, there would be no Sage of Six Paths. Without him, there would be no ninja. And without that… there would be no us."
Black Zetsu suddenly grew excited. "That's right! Without Mother, there would be no ninja history at all!"
Naruto rolled his eyes slightly. Black Zetsu instantly shrank back into Kaguya's sleeve, terrified.
The pressure from Naruto's Rinnegan was no joke.
Kaguya looked at Naruto steadily. "What are you trying to say?"
Naruto answered without hesitation. "Cooperate with me."
"We're both going to be targeted sooner or later," he said firmly. "So instead of waiting to die, why don't we join forces?"
For a moment, Kaguya found it almost ridiculous.
Join forces?
She suddenly laughed—freely and without restraint. "Hahaha…"
She looked at Naruto as if he were a child inviting an adult to fight alongside him. "You're too naive, Naruto."
"You can't even imagine how powerful the true members of the Ōtsutsuki clan are," Kaguya continued. "A thousand years ago, everything I did was just a desperate attempt. Even after creating countless White Zetsu, I wasn't sure I could win."
"I just wanted… more power," she said quietly.
Her voice gradually weakened.
Naruto nodded. "And this moment is no different from that one."
"Joining forces with me now will also give you more power," Naruto said with a confident smile. "How will you know the outcome if you don't fight?"
"After all," he added lightly, "I already killed Momoshiki and Kinshiki."
Naruto stood tall, his smile bright and unshaken.
For a brief moment, Kaguya was stunned.
That confident, radiant smile…
Why did it remind her so much of the king she had once met, so long ago?
Dear Readers
For 60 Advance Chapters Join My Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/NF25
-------
Please Support My Patreon