Chapter 277 – Kaguya-hime
"D–Dad? Mom?"
In the quiet of the night, inside Konoha, Naruto stood frozen, staring at the two figures before him.
For a moment, he could only blink in disbelief.
He had faced gods, demons, and death itself—but this… this was different.
His instincts screamed it was real, but his mind refused to believe.
Still, he was a shinobi now—trained, observant, calm under pressure.
"Their chakra… it's the same as the chakra sealed inside me… exactly the same."
Realization hit him like a wave.
But something didn't add up.
"Wait… didn't Gen say the Reaper Death Seal prevents Edo Tensei resurrection? Then how…"
His thoughts scattered, but before he could say more, the two figures opened their eyes—gold and violet meeting his ocean-blue.
"Naruto."
That familiar voice—warm and gentle—made his heart tremble.
Minato Namikaze smiled, soft and genuine.
And suddenly, Naruto felt that long-lost comfort of home.
Only this time, it wasn't inside his soul.
They were really here—in the living world.
"Naruto…"
Kushina Uzumaki reached out, her eyes glistening. Her hand brushed his cheek—
warm enough to make him forget the difference between the living and the dead.
"I've wanted to do that for so long," she whispered, her voice shaking.
"To actually touch you…"
Even though Edo Tensei bodies weren't truly alive, that one fleeting sensation was enough to fill the hole in her heart.
For Naruto too—it felt perfect.
"Mom…"
He bit his lip, overwhelmed, his chest tight with both joy and confusion.
"Dad… what's going on? How are you here?"
Minato scratched his head sheepishly, that same endearing awkwardness in his smile.
"It's a bit complicated—but the short version? Gen saved us."
Naruto blinked.
"Gen?"
"He discovered the secret behind the Reaper Death Seal," Minato explained, his tone soft but proud.
"Then he retrieved our souls… and found a way to summon those trapped beyond its reach."
As he listened, Naruto felt his throat tighten.
Gen—again.
Always behind the scenes. Always helping quietly, never asking for thanks.
"He was the first to recognize me… the first real friend I had."
"He found your chakra, saved the village more times than I can count…"
"And now—he brought you both back."
Naruto laughed through the tears threatening to fall.
Even if it was Edo Tensei, even if it was temporary—
this moment was real.
But just as his emotions swelled, a smack echoed through the room.
"Ow—ow ow ow!"
Naruto clutched his head, eyes wide as his mother withdrew her fist.
"M–Mom?! What was that for?!"
Kushina folded her arms, her red hair flaring like a storm.
"When I was inside your chakra, I couldn't hit you properly," she said, cracking her knuckles.
"But now I can!"
Even Minato froze, unsure whether to intervene or laugh.
"And we still need to talk about the time you stole Gen's copy of Icha Icha Paradise!"
Naruto's jaw dropped.
"W–what?! You know about that?!"
"Of course I do!" she barked. "And this time, young man, you're getting a proper lecture!"
---
Elsewhere – Under the Moonlight
Two figures sat together on a rooftop bathed in silver light—Kakashi and his father, Sakumo Hatake.
They hadn't spoken in years, yet the air between them was peaceful.
Kakashi had told his story—the wars, the losses, the regrets.
And Sakumo… simply listened.
"I never imagined so much would happen after my death," Sakumo murmured softly, eyes distant.
"I'm sorry, son… sorry for the pain my choices caused you."
Kakashi shook his head.
"You don't have to apologize. It was hard for a while, but… I made it through."
He smiled faintly, lifting his gaze toward the luminous moon.
"You know, I used to wonder why Konoha's White Fang—my hero of a father—would abandon a mission just to save his comrades."
Moonlight spilled over them, soft and clear.
"Back then, I couldn't understand it. I thought following orders was everything."
"But now…"
His single visible eye curved like a crescent, reflecting calm acceptance.
"I've met people who changed me—Obito, who taught me the cost of abandoning friends. Gen, who reminded me that compassion and pragmatism can coexist."
He turned to his father, his expression full of pride.
"A father who broke the rules to protect others? I'm proud to be your son."
Sakumo froze, speechless.
For years, he had feared this moment—that his son might still resent him.
But instead, he saw forgiveness in those words.
Understanding. Peace.
He smiled, eyes softening.
"Thank you… Kakashi."
He could finally rest easy.
"All right," Sakumo chuckled after a long silence. "You don't need to keep this old man company forever. Your team's waiting for you, aren't they?"
Kakashi nodded quietly. His gaze flickered toward a house below—where a brown-haired girl stood by her window, staring at the same moon.
Time hadn't touched her face in his memory.
Rin…
He smiled faintly, eyes full of unspoken emotion.
---
Meanwhile – On the Moon
Back inside the lunar core, Gen stood before the sealed goddess—and grimaced slightly.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's reaction was far beyond what he'd expected.
Her long white hair floated weightlessly, her chakra surging like a storm.
The Rinne Sharingan on her forehead opened, its nine tomoe spinning slowly as her Byakugan scanned every inch of the void.
"That sharp, huh?"
Gen pressed his lips together, half-amused, half-impressed.
Even though he'd only probed her prison with chakra, she had sensed him immediately.
"Then again, not surprising," he mused. "After all, she ambushed Isshiki once. Of course she'd be wary of the clan's return."
And Kitagawa Gen was as pureblood Ōtsutsuki as they came—recognized even by Isshiki and Urashiki themselves.
So it was inevitable that she'd react with hostility.
"Oh well," he sighed. "So much for a quiet introduction."
His chakra coalesced, his consciousness piercing deeper until his form fully manifested within Kaguya's sealed dimension.
As his figure took shape before her, Kaguya's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"So it really is you…"
Her voice trembled, cold and furious.
"You've come at last. I suppose Hagoromo and Hamura failed after all."
Gen fell silent for a moment, uncertain how to respond.
He'd never met either brother in person—only felt traces of their chakra through history.
"You seem quite attached to them," he said at last, his tone thoughtful.
"Your chakra… it's very similar."
"They are my children."
For the first time, Kaguya's gaze wavered.
Her voice, though still sharp, carried a note of sorrow.
"Foolish, naïve children who thought the ants of this world could ever stand against our clan…"
She laughed bitterly, her face darkening.
"Pathetic."
"Is that so?"
Gen raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
This was the side of Kaguya few ever saw—the proud goddess who once defied the Ōtsutsuki.
"Strange," he said with a faint smile. "You sound like someone who's lost faith. But then again… you did lose, didn't you?"
"Defeat means nothing," Kaguya said coldly. "Failure is irrelevant to the truth."
She paused—then her gaze hardened again.
"Tell me… what of my sons? As Ōtsutsuki, you know the law. You know what they must have faced."
Gen tilted his head.
"And you know you broke those laws yourself," he countered softly.
"So what meaning do they have to you now?"
Kaguya's expression froze.
Her eyes trembled; for a moment, her perfect calm fractured.
Tears welled up unbidden at the corners of her pale eyes, shimmering faintly before vanishing into the void.
Her killing intent rose like a blizzard.
She glared at Gen, burning his image into her mind.
Even Gen felt the pressure—like a primal force threatening to crush him.
"She's stronger than I expected," he thought grimly.
"Her bloodline's development must be far beyond mine…"
He wasn't wrong.
After devouring the God Tree's fruit, Kaguya had become a living anomaly—a "stat monster" in every sense.
Her raw numbers were terrifying.
Even when Naruto and Sasuke, at their Six Paths peaks, faced her together, they'd been nearly overwhelmed—guided only by Black Zetsu's scheming.
And that wasn't even her full power.
Much of her chakra had still been sealed.
It was no wonder she'd once stood shoulder to shoulder with Isshiki.
If Isshiki represented the pinnacle of combat,
then Kaguya was the pinnacle of potential—a god in raw form.
Two ends of the same divine spectrum.
Two of her sons—one naïve and kind to a fault, the other doomed by fate.
Gen could only sigh inwardly.
"Don't look at me like that,"
he thought, meeting her gaze with lazy calm.
Aloud, his tone remained casual, almost teasing.
"The moment you made your move, everything that followed was already decided, wasn't it?"
Kaguya said nothing.
Her Byakugan bore into him like frozen daggers, cold and unblinking.
Gen tilted his head slightly, studying her expression.
"Why don't you tell me about your original plan?" he said with a faint smile.
"It'll take a while before this seal fully reacts anyway."
He leaned back, voice soft but curious.
"I'm just wondering—how did things go so wrong between you and your sons? How did you end up helping us instead of your own kind?"
For a long while, silence.
Then, at last, Kaguya spoke.
Her voice was low, distant—like the echo of something ancient.
"The difference between me and them," she said slowly, "is that I chose to trust myself… and no one else."
As she spoke, her chakra swelled—an immense, pure force that rippled through the entire sealed dimension.
"As an Ōtsutsuki," she continued, "I understood our nature better than anyone. The universe is our pasture. Every world is but another field to harvest."
Her words resonated like thunder.
"Lower beings can never match our power. Their fate is only to become nourishment for the fruit—to die with their planet when the time comes."
Her gaze hardened, but there was a flicker of something else there—something almost… human.
"And yet… I observed them. Their desires are infinite, yet their weakness makes them miserable."
She raised a pale hand, her voice turning eerily calm.
"So I decided to make a fair trade."
"They would live in dreams—dreams where they could have everything they craved: power, wealth, love, indulgence. Every wish fulfilled."
Her tone darkened.
"In return… I would take their bodies. Their chakra. Their lives. And I would forge them into my army—my weapons. To fight against…"
She trailed off, her white eyes fixed on Gen.
The meaning was clear enough.
Gen smiled faintly.
"I see. And Hagoromo and Hamura disagreed, didn't they?"
"They never understood," Kaguya said coldly.
"They had never met our kind. They had no idea what the Ōtsutsuki truly are. That's why they clung to foolish illusions."
Her chakra pulsed again, filling the sealed realm with a deep hum.
Gen's eyes glinted with intrigue.
"Interesting," he said lightly.
"You devoured the God Tree's fruit, yet you still lost. And instead of domination, you tried to… negotiate with the weak. How fascinating."
Her lips tightened.
"I was once a sacrifice, meant to feed the Ten-Tails," she said.
"I know the despair of that fate. I know the hatred it breeds."
Her chakra intensified again, the space around her beginning to twist.
"So instead, I made a choice—to bargain with them. To build a weaponized world of my own."
Her voice trembled, emotion creeping in for the first time.
"But Hagoromo… Hamura…"
Her eyes flashed with a mother's pain and a goddess's wrath.
"Even if they betrayed me… they are still my children!"
Her voice erupted into a roar that shook the entire dimension.
"You monsters—all of you Ōtsutsuki—deserve to die!"
The temperature plummeted as her chakra exploded outward.
Her white hair whipped around her like a raging storm, and her eyes—one Rinne Sharingan, two Byakugan—burned with divine fury.
The sealed space quaked, reality bending beneath the sheer density of her power.
Gen stood motionless amidst the distortion, his cloak fluttering in the storm of energy.
Then he sighed softly.
"So that's how it is…"
A moment later, a faint smile spread across his lips—bright, confident, and disarmingly calm.
"Allow me to introduce myself properly."
He straightened his posture, his voice steady and clear.
"My name… is Ōtsutsuki Genshiki."
Then, after a pause, he added—almost playfully:
"But I also go by another name…"
He smiled, the light of the Tenseigan reflecting in his eyes.
"Kitagawa Gen."
And as his words faded, the seal trembled again—
two beings of godlike power now staring each other down,
their fates quietly beginning to intertwine.