After the Sky Screen vanished, the entire Shinobi World remained in an uproar.
In streets and alleys, village outposts, and ninja camps, people still gathered in groups, talking endlessly.
Some feared the Sage of Six Paths' thousand-year scheme, some dreaded Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's hidden threat, some were stunned by the Uzumaki Elder's strength, and others shuddered at the thought that they had been pawns all along, life after life.
Rumors spread and speculation ran wild. The entire Shinobi World had been thrown into turmoil.
Meanwhile, in the lonely, freezing Moon Dimension, Otsutsuki Kaguya felt better than she ever had before.
She had watched the Sky Screen's final twist from start to finish. The more she thought about it, the happier she became, her gloomy, stifled mood suddenly lifting.
At first, she had been unable to figure out the Sky Screen's intentions. She had no idea what it wanted by repeatedly exposing things without distinguishing truth from falsehood.
But by the end, she understood completely. The Sky Screen was plainly smearing Hagoromo.
Kaguya shook her head to herself, then gritted her teeth, disgust written all over her face.
"No."
"There's no need for the Sky Screen to deliberately smear him."
"Hagoromo is an utterly unfilial son!"
"He was never any good to begin with!"
As the progenitor of the Shinobi World, she should have ruled it.
Yet in the end, her own sons had joined forces to stab her in the back, seal her away, and strip her of everything, imprisoning her on the moon with no way to escape.
That betrayal, that lack of filial devotion, that heartlessness had long since been carved into her bones.
The person Kaguya hated most had never been an outside enemy. It was her own son, Hagoromo!
Now that she knew Hagoromo was being smeared,