Rainbow Squad

Dust motes fluttered like fireflies. As the technique was fully executed, the faces of the four Otsutsuki appeared.

Even in a state like Impure World Reincarnation, the innate arrogance between their brows remained.

"Mm... I'm still alive?!"

"No, that can't be right. We should be dead..."

"Is this... the surface?"

One of the younger-looking Otsutsuki opened his eyes first and gazed around in confusion.

The familiar pool... the familiar fluctuations in space-time.

Wasn't this the Earth-Moon Passage Qing had proposed they build?

How had they ended up here?

And who was this Byakugan boy in front of them?

"You, boy... are you from the Hyuga Clan on Earth?!"

A hint of wariness flickered in the young man's eyes, but it soon gave way to shock.

He lowered his head and felt the deathly chakra within him. "This flow of chakra is exactly like the resurrection technique Aoshiki once described..."

"Is this the technique called Impure World Reincarnation?"

His three companions also came to one after another, feeling the contradiction of their own bodies.

Almost at the same time, they recalled a piece of information from their memories.

Long before the final battle between the Otsutsuki Main Family and Branch Family on the moon, they had often looked down upon the Shinobi World, witnessing countless exceptionally talented ninja.

Senju Hashirama's Wood Release and Madara Uchiha's Susanoo had both been recorded by them.

But the one Aoshiki had praised most highly was always that white-haired, red-eyed man.

Senju Tobirama.

In fact, he had said that even the combined talents of Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha couldn't compare to Senju Tobirama.

The various forbidden techniques that man had developed had earned the admiration even of those of them who lived on the moon.

And the technique that had left the deepest impression on them was Impure World Reincarnation.

The very technique that had brought them back in this state.

According to legend, it summoned the souls of those who had returned to the Pure Land and bound them to sacrifices, turning them into weapons of war.

And now, they had experienced this "masterpiece" firsthand.

"Young man, has no one ever told you that the souls of the dead must not be desecrated?"

The most composed and powerful among the four let out a cold laugh. As he spoke, a terrifying pressure like that of an abyss erupted.

Boom—!

The entire cavern shuddered, and rubble pattered down from the ceiling. Ripples spread across the pool as the firefly-like lights warped in the tremors.

The vast chakra tried to forcibly break through the shackles of Impure World Reincarnation.

"If you're trying to imitate Senju Tobirama and use us as puppets in battle, you'd better wake up from that dream."

His pure white eyes fixed on the black-robed man, his voice icy.

"Though I don't know how you found this place, there's only one thing we need to do..."

He looked toward the pool of deep green water, his heart full of anxiety. In his last memory, the civil war on the moon had been locked in a brutal stalemate.

And Aoshiki had taken that devastating killing blow head-on...

His life or death was unknown.

At that moment, only one thought filled his mind.

Even if the Main Family was on the brink of life and death, he had to return to the moon and find Aoshiki...

"Even after crossing the boundary between life and death, your first thought is still to go back to the moon and help..."

"Long time no see... Chi."

Hyuga Qinglan felt the familiar chakra before him, though it was nowhere near its former peak. His usually cold lips suddenly curled into a faint smile, a mixture of helplessness and nostalgia.

He slowly removed the black robe that had concealed most of his face. Purple chakra wove across his features, revealing a look that left all four of them stunned.

"And..."

"Rainbow Squad."

Meanwhile, far away on the outskirts of the Rock Battlefield,

one of Hyuga Qinglan's Shadow Clones stood nonchalantly in a sticky pool of blood. He casually flicked the blood from his kunai before precisely plunging it into the heart of a surviving Iwagakure supply soldier.

Though they shared a consciousness, this clone was clearly more prone to grumbling, with a touch of languor rarely seen in the original.

"'Rainbow Squad'... The original really still remembers that painfully embarrassing code name."

As he skillfully searched the corpse for sealing scrolls, he rolled his eyes inwardly.

Chi, Orange, Ao, Blue, Zi.

Aside from Ao, which was his own code name, the other four had once been the Main Family's most elite members. The squad had originally been formed to prevent the Otsutsuki Branch Family from going berserk and destroying the world.

But in the Shadow Clone's eyes, those so-called Main Family elders were all hopeless old fossils.

If they'd listened to Aoshiki's advice back then and eliminated the Branch Family threat in advance, they wouldn't have ended up with their bloodline extinguished and the entire family wiped out.

"Purity of bloodline," "the teachings of our ancestors"...

That rigid arrogance was what had buried them, just like the Hyuga Clan elders.

Endless greed and infighting. It was sickening.

After failing to persuade them, he had chosen another path and headed for Earth to find a way to keep them in check.

He had even specially collected the cells of Rainbow Squad and arranged for them to be stored at the Earth-Moon Passage.

Ao had then waited for an opportunity to travel to Earth and strike a deal with Senju Tobirama: ally with Konoha, reincarnate the Otsutsuki Main Family, and attack the moon again.

It had been a beautiful plan. Unfortunately, no one could outwit fate.

The war had broken out before he could put it into action.

Thanks to the Main Family's resources, they had been able to hold their own at first. Even after the Giant Tenseigan was created, the battle hadn't deteriorated to the point of an outright rout.

But at the very end, just as they were sweeping forward in victory, a beam of golden light suddenly struck him, and he lost consciousness.

That move might have been the full-power version of Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.

The Shadow Clone Qinglan lifted his eyes toward the moon in the sky.

He had no idea where his own body had been sent.

Perhaps it had been reduced to dust. Perhaps it still existed.

He would probably have to learn what had happened on the moon afterward from them.

"I'm just a Shadow Clone. Why am I worrying about all this ancient history..."

Muttering to himself, the Shadow Clone wiped the blood splattered across his face. He had just started to reach into his ninja pouch for a water bottle when he heard a voice, unnaturally excited, drift without warning from the shadowy woods behind him.

"The Rock Battlefield... I knew I'd come to the right place."

"I've already acquired an Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai and taken one of the Uchiha's Sharingan. I was going to stop there, but then I found another Byakugan user all alone..."

"Heh heh heh... I really must thank the dear Third Hokage and Orochimaru. If they hadn't ordered the pursuit, I wouldn't have had the chance to hunt down these perfect specimens in a secluded place like this, where no one would notice."

Amid the rustle of footsteps, a short figure slowly emerged from the trees.

He wore a high-collared white robe that concealed most of his face, revealing only a head of disheveled silver hair and a pair of eyes filled with madness and greed.

"The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan... I'll take this pair!"

The instant the words fell, he was already upon him with the Body Flicker Technique.

And the target of that pale little hand...

was Hyuga Qinglan's pure white eyes!