Dawn had yet to break, and the air was cool.
The forest had been utterly silent.
"I refuse!"
Outside the entrance to the Underground Palace behind the Memorial Stone cemetery.
Madara Uchiha blocked Hashirama Senju's path as he approached in his Hokage robes. "Why? Hadn't we already agreed to let Yanbai repair his divine core in peace? How many days has it even been?"
A few days earlier, Toshio Hyuga had brought his clansmen to Hashirama Senju and told him that a woman suspected of being an Ōtsutsuki had abducted members of the Hyuga Clan's branch family.
Hashirama Senju had taken the matter very seriously, summoning the Three Hokage Advisors as well as Uchiha Izuna.
Based on the Hyuga clansmen's descriptions, Uchiha Izuna had drawn a portrait of "Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
At the time, those who had previously learned about Kaguya Ōtsutsuki from Yanbai realized how serious the situation was.
However, after everyone had shared what they knew, analyzed it, and weighed their options, the Nara Clan Head concluded that Kaguya had most likely abducted the six branch family members to preserve the Ōtsutsuki Clan's bloodline.
The information Yanbai had previously provided stated that prolonged inbreeding and isolation from the outside world had caused the lunar Ōtsutsuki Clan's population to decline steadily. The surviving clansmen all suffered from social or personality disorders to varying degrees.
The surviving descendants of Hamura were still innately powerful, but as long as no one directly confronted the lunar Ōtsutsuki Clan within the next thirty years, they would die out on their own.
Disagreements between the branch family and the Main Family of Hamura's descendants had led to infighting. Within a few decades, their clansmen would all be dead, leaving nothing to fear.
But now Kaguya had suddenly appeared and abducted six members of the Hyuga