Kaguya's gaze settled on Ri.
The third Space Spike stopped moving.
Not because Black Zetsu had given up.
But because all the chakra of the same origin inside the Lunar Surface began converging on Ri.
An unfamiliar pattern surfaced beneath her white skin.
It ran deeper than Black Zetsu's commands.
It did not demand an answer from Ri, nor did it require verification of her name.
Kaguya was entering her body directly through the origin of its cells.
On the reality side, the medical buoy recorded a rapid weakening of Ri's autonomous fluctuations.
Someone among the Five Nations demanded that the Moon Gate be closed immediately.
If they severed the narrow return passage, Kaguya might be unable to reach reality through Ri.
The price was that Ri would also be left on the Lunar Surface.
The Land of Rivers did not abort on her behalf.
The conditions set before her entry specified that the same consciousness would decide whether to return.
Unless the passage into reality was expanding out of control, neither side could close the route first simply because the risk had increased.
Gen sent the briefest possible question through the narrow passage.
"Abort the return?"
Ri did not answer.
That was not consent.
Nor was it refusal.
As agreed, the narrow return passage remained open. Her silence was not treated as a decision to abort.
One of the Five Nations' representatives demanded a timeout.
Gen refused to add a condition Ri had not agreed to before entering.
They could close the passage in an emergency when it began absorbing external chakra.
They could not interpret her inability to respond as a loss of identity merely because waiting made them uneasy.
Inside her own body, she was searching for a place from which she could still speak.
Kaguya's chakra