Meanwhile, Shikamaru led Kiba and Hōmon southeast.
As Hōmon opened and closed his Byakugan, he could clearly see everything within a kilometer.
Kiba and Akamaru ran at the front. Akamaru kept his nose to the ground, twitching it now and then as he tracked any suspicious scents.
"Find anything?" Shikamaru asked.
Hōmon shook his head. "Aside from those puppets keeping their distance, I haven't found any humans."
Shikamaru frowned and quickened his pace.
This shouldn't be happening.
Both Hyuga Hiashi's account and Otsutsuki Toneri's description had already confirmed that a sizable human population lived on the moon.
They were a branch of the Hyuga Clan.
Yet they had been here so long and still hadn't seen anyone besides Toneri.
This makes no sense!
And there were puppets everywhere, which felt rather eerie.
Something was seriously wrong here.
But to get to the bottom of it, they first had to finish investigating this forest, then take a look at the city beyond it.
Perhaps they would find an answer there.
Indeed, Shikamaru and the others had already discovered a city shrouded in mist at the edge of the forest.
Because of the distance, they still couldn't make out exactly what the city looked like.
But that was fine. They would soon see it for themselves.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Shikamaru frowned and quickened his pace to catch up with his teammates.
The final group, Naruto and Hinata, headed due north into the forest.
Naruto moved neither too fast nor too slowly, always staying beside Hinata.
He glanced at her now and then to make sure she hadn't fallen behind or run into trouble.
Compared to before, this was already a tremendous change.
Of course, Naruto himself had yet to truly understand his own feelings.
Hinata had activated her Byakugan, veins