An enormous green bamboo shot out of the crater toward the sky, still growing upward at a frenzied pace.
It pierced straight through the vast dark-red barrier covering Mount Fuji, and the ice and snow melted away.
The fighter jets circling above Mount Fuji and the low-orbit satellites immediately detected the bamboo towering into the clouds like a pillar holding up the heavens.
One segment at the top of the giant bamboo shone golden, as though cast from gold, radiating dazzling light.
As the bamboo segment shattered, a celestial maiden beautiful enough to illuminate the night sky was born beneath the bright moon.
After the barrier vanished, a fighter jet descended on orders from the operations room and came roaring in, preparing to observe the situation on Mount Fuji at close range.
"That woman is-!"
The pilot merely glanced down and was instantly enthralled.
The next second, the out-of-control fighter swept straight past Mount Fuji's summit and plunged diagonally down the mountain.
"Beautiful... so beautiful..."
"Hello? Hello? Please respond! What happened?"
Chaos immediately erupted in the operations room established in Lake Kawaguchi Town at the foot of Mount Fuji.
"..."
"..."
It was not just that pilot. The dozens of survivors outside Kusushi Shrine stood dumbstruck, staring blankly at the celestial maiden beneath the moon, as though they had fallen under a mass charm spell.
"Princess Kaguya!"
Two black tomoe appeared in each of Uchiha Senmon's eyes, and only then did he break free of the moonlit maiden's spellbinding beauty.
Although there was still no direct evidence, Uchiha Senmon was already certain that the being sealed beneath Mount Fuji was the renowned Princess Kaguya.
The five treasures Akatsuki had collected to break the seal-the Buddha's Stone Bowl, the Fire-Rat Robe, the Swallow's Cowrie Shell, the Dragon's Neck Jewel, and the