Toneri lay despondently amid the rubble, without even a shred of strength left to resist.
Hinata stepped forward and, as she had once before, removed Hanabi's Byakugan from Toneri's eye sockets.
This time, however, Toneri did not let out any heartbroken wails.
He said to Hinata, "Kill me. I cannot carry out Hamura's heavenly mandate. I have no right to go on living in this world..."
Hinata paused thoughtfully. "Hamura never intended to destroy the Sage of Six Paths' world."
Toneri laughed. "Hahaha... what would an outsider like you know?"
Whoosh! A Tenseigan Mind Sphere appeared in Hinata's palm, and she pressed it into Toneri's forehead.
Images appeared in Toneri's mind.
They were fragments Hinata had drawn from her memories.
In the images, numerous members of the lunar Otsutsuki Branch Family knelt on one knee.
An aged Hamura stepped forward and pleaded earnestly, "Princess of the Byakugan, please protect my elder brother's world!"
Hinata said, "This is the truth. You misunderstood Hamura's intentions from the very beginning."
Toneri stared in disbelief. "How could... this be? Doesn't that make everything I've done until now a joke? Hahaha, I even had diarrhea in front of the girl I love. What value does my life have? I'm done living. I'm done."
Smack!
A sharp slap silenced Toneri.
Hinata rose, cradling her stinging palm, and spoke with force that shook him to his core.
"Everyone's life has value."
"You are yourself, not anyone else's subordinate."
"So you don't need to care so much about what others think, including me."
"From this moment on, live for yourself, Toneri."
With that, Hinata turned and headed toward the distant temple.
"Live... for myself?"
Toneri murmured, then called out to her retreating back.
"Not long ago, a pitch-black demon who called himself Kaguya's child came to see me!