Chapter 383: The Question

"Has it really come to this, and you still refuse to see reason?!" Hagoromo finally shouted, unable to hold back any longer. His voice was filled with frustration and heartbreak, like a parent grieving over someone who refused to change.

"She's accelerating this world's destruction with her own hands! She's feeding more innocent lives to the God Tree! Hamura, wake up! Look at the people walking toward their deaths! Listen to the despair in their hearts!"

"But, Brother!" Hamura raised his voice as well, the last spark of reason still shining stubbornly in his eyes. "If we don't even understand why Mother suddenly started doing this, and we simply conclude that she's destroying the world for the sake of destruction before turning against her and drawing our blades—"

He took a deep breath and met his brother's gaze.

"Even if we win... even if we stop the sacrifices now..."

"What if... what if there's an even greater and more urgent crisis hidden behind all this?"

"What if Mother was forced to make this choice? If we stop her without understanding the truth, could we trigger an even worse disaster?"

This was Hamura's final struggle to remain rational—a conclusion born from everything he knew about his mother's character, coupled with the instincts awakened by the horrifying events they had just witnessed.

Hagoromo fell silent for a moment. The icy resolve in his eyes never faded, but when he spoke again, his voice had grown calmer—yet even more unwavering.

"Problems have to be solved one at a time. And when the world faces multiple crises, we have to decide which one demands our attention first."

He pointed toward the towering God Tree.

"The world's destruction is happening right now. It's visible. It's immediate. It's the most urgent threat before us, and it must be stopped."

His gaze then drifted toward the unknown, as though peering beyond the sky themselves.

"As for the possibility of an even greater enemy or catastrophe... if such a threat truly exists, then after stopping Mother's madness and preserving this world's foundation—and the lives that still remain—I can unite everyone in the shinobi world who is willing to resist. Together, we'll uncover the truth, face whatever lies ahead, and fight it."

His words rang with the certainty of a leader making an irrevocable decision.

"Not like this. Not by tolerating—or even helping—Mother destroy this world and sacrifice countless innocent lives in exchange for power to confront some hypothetical future threat. That would be true foolishness... and unforgivable shortsightedness."

Yet even Hagoromo's reasoning—that they should first resolve the immediate crisis before confronting any greater danger—failed to convince Hamura completely.

His suspicion that Kaguya had been forced into this choice, along with his fear that acting rashly might unleash unforeseeable consequences, still weighed more heavily in his heart.

He slowly shook his head, his resolve hardening.

"Brother... I understand your reasoning. But before we take such drastic action, I have to speak with Mother one more time."

"I need to hear the truth from her directly. I need to know what happened—why she suddenly made this decision. If... if she truly has no other choice, perhaps we can find another way. But if she insists..."

He didn't finish the sentence.

Even so, a trace of determination flashed through his eyes.

Before making his final decision, he needed a clear answer from his mother herself.

To Hamura's surprise, Hagoromo did not object this time.

He merely nodded, his face expressionless.

"Very well."

"Go."

Hamura's face immediately lit up with relief. He thought his brother had finally agreed to seek dialogue instead of conflict.

"Brother! You... you're finally willing to talk to Mother? To hear her explanation?"

Hagoromo said nothing.

He simply watched the hope spreading across his younger brother's face before calmly adding,

"I'll go with you."

Hamura's joy only grew stronger, taking it as a sign that the brothers had reconciled and would face this together.

What he failed to notice—or perhaps chose not to notice—was that deep within Hagoromo's crimson Sharingan, the coldness had not faded in the slightest.

If anything, it had become denser...

Sharper...

There was no longer even the faintest expectation that words or explanations could resolve this.

Only an icy resolve that Hamura could not possibly understand...

...and a final, almost tragic determination.

The two brothers soon returned to the ruins where the catastrophe had unfolded only moments earlier. The air remained heavy with an oppressive silence.

Kaguya had not left.

She stood alone amid the shattered remains, her lonely figure blending into the desolation around her.

This time, Hamura did not hesitate.

Stepping forward, his face filled with confusion, sorrow, and one last desperate hope of understanding, he asked, his voice trembling with emotion,

"Mother! Why... why did you suddenly issue that order? Increasing the sacrifices so drastically... demanding even more people..."

"The world needs time to recover. The people have already endured more than they can bear. This will only bring more suffering... more hatred."

"Why...? Why are you doing this?"

Hagoromo stood half a step behind his brother in silence.

He did not speak.

His crimson Sharingan remained fixed on Kaguya's back.

Kaguya slowly turned around.

Her expression remained solemn, yet when faced with Hamura's question, she neither ordered them to leave as before nor displayed any anger at being challenged.

Her gaze swept across Hamura's anxious face before shifting to Hagoromo's cold, scrutinizing eyes.

Then she spoke.

"It is..."

"...a necessary sacrifice."

Her voice was perfectly calm, as though she were merely stating an undeniable fact.

"You may not understand now."

"But one day..."

"...you will."

"'A necessary sacrifice?'" Hagoromo finally cut in, his voice as cold and piercing as an icicle.

"Necessary for what?"

"Mother... what reason could possibly justify this?"

"Why can't you simply tell us the truth? Why must the solution come at the cost of countless innocent lives?"

"To you... are their lives nothing more than a price to be paid?"

Faced with Hagoromo's far sharper accusation, Kaguya showed no anger.

Instead...

A faint expression of disappointment crossed her face.

She gently shook her head.

The movement was slight, yet it seemed to carry an immeasurable weight.

"Why?"

She repeated Hagoromo's question.

Within her pale eyes, tinged with crimson, there finally appeared something unmistakably maternal—

A deep weariness...

...and beneath it,

an even colder, unshakable resolve.

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