In truth, the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon, especially the higher-ups, were not completely unfamiliar with Shinichi Higashino.

The root of it dates back more than ten years.

At that time, an event that shocked the entire moon-dwelling Otsutsuki Clan occurred. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which they had guarded and sealed deep within the moon for generations, had somehow been summoned away without warning, completely disappearing from the moon!

This incident caused unprecedented upheaval within the clan. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was an existence of immense importance; guarding it was the mission their clan had upheld for generations.

Thus, over the past decade and more, they had repeatedly used the power of the Tenseigan (Energy Vessel) to scan the entire Shinobi World, especially Hidden Leaf Village, where the bloodlines of the Senju and Uchiha Clans, descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, converged, hoping to find the audacious thief and uncover the whereabouts of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Although their searches over the past decade had yielded no results and they had failed to find any definite clues regarding the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path or a new Rinnegan, during these repeated scans, the higher-ups and some elite members of the Otsutsuki Clan had formed certain impressions of several people in Konoha.

Among them was a youth named Shinichi Higashino, who carried giant boulders in the morning and practiced swordsmanship diligently at noon!

And today, the source of the Tenseigan’s disturbance was actually this Shinichi Higashino?

This completely exceeded the comprehension of Nobunaga Otsutsuki, Nobuhiro Otsutsuki, and every Otsutsuki Clansman present.

For a time, from Kaguya Otsutsuki and her sons to the moon’s Otsutsuki Clan, all of their gazes converged upon Shinichi.

Konoha, inside the Aji No Takumi restaurant.

Shinichi did not know that so many unimaginably heavyweight spectators were currently focusing all their attention upon him, but he already had some faint guesses in his heart.

At this moment, an unprecedented palpitation surged through his heart wave after wave. This feeling was so overwhelming, so vividly real, far surpassing any previous intuition he had ever experienced.

It was even over a hundred times stronger than the feeling he had back at Konoha cemetery, when, under the secret observation of the third Hokage, he had spoken those words to Kakashi that resembled the core meaning of the second Hokage’s dying message.

The characteristic of the Fortune Sight talent was activated!

’Could it be?!’

Wild joy surged within Shinichi’s heart, yet his expression remained calm as usual. He slowly swept his gaze across the crowd before finally fixing it upon Jiraiya before him.

"So, Jiraiya-sama, regarding your question about how to stop war and achieve peace?"

"My answer is that before true peace can be achieved, the very first step must be for the identity of ninja itself to completely return to the original essence and mission bestowed upon it by the ancestor of ninja, the Sage of Six Paths, instead of remaining merely a tool serving slaughter and war! Let us first reclaim that original ninja soul that treated connection as strength, understanding as a bridge, and salvation as its ideal!"

"Only when ninja are no longer bound by the fate of killing and hatred, liberated from it and redirected toward communication and creation, can the possibility of mutual understanding between people and nations alike... The possibility of eliminating divisions and jointly pursuing peace... Truly possess a solid foundation!"

"This is the most fundamental path toward peace! A true transformation beginning from ourselves, from the very roots of this profession!"

As his words fell, the hall descended into an even longer and deeper silence. Everyone wore different expressions, some excited, some contemplative, some confused.

Shinichi’s gaze slowly swept across every face present, but he knew the true audience at this moment extended far beyond the nearly one thousand people before him.

’Sage of Six Paths, you’re watching here right now, aren’t you?’

Shinichi was seventy percent, no, ninety percent certain that at this very moment, the ancestor of ninja, the Sage of Six Paths, was directing his gaze here. That was why the palpitation within his heart was surging so violently.

If it had been an ordinary opportunity to perform, he might have been unable to resist casually displaying his astonishing power, speed, or exquisite mastery over Fire Style in order to gain recognition from the ancestor of ninja.

But he immediately suppressed that childish thought.

Sacrificing the greater for the lesser was absolutely unacceptable!

What he wanted was not to let the other party watch a spectacle, a monkey show.

What he wanted was for the Sage of Six Paths, beginning from this very moment, to truly see the difference in him, Shinichi Higashino!

To make him realize that within this Shinobi World trapped for a thousand years in endless cycles of blood hatred and slaughter, someone had finally appeared who truly understood his original ideal and possessed both the courage and ability to walk that path!

He wanted the Sage of Six Paths, in the days to come, to continuously direct his gaze, attention, and even that unfinished expectation toward him!

Thereby, continuously obtaining the highest-quality, highest-level source of recognition for himself!

He also wanted the Sage of Six Paths to clearly realize that over the past thousand years, his two useless sons had done nothing except endlessly reincarnate generation after generation, struggle against one another, and sow the seeds of power and hatred into the bloodlines of their descendants.

As for truly pushing this Shinobi World toward a path of connection and peace, what exactly had they contributed? Endless warfare? Or increasingly refined techniques of slaughter?

Biological sons?

He did not need to become the Sage of Six Paths’ biological son, just as he was not the third Hokage’s biological son, yet that did not stop him from becoming the person most valued by the latter and the successor upon whom the deepest hopes were placed.

What he needed was to become, in the Sage of Six Paths’ eyes, the sole individual who had perfectly inherited the salvation ideal he established when founding Ninja Creed, and who possessed the ability to transcend this thousand-year deadlock, carry it forward in a new era, and complete the regrets he had left unfinished!

Moreover, Shinichi still harbored an even deeper and more distant ambition.

He had once speculated that Kage might not be the ultimate peak of the ninja profession system. Or rather, Kage was only the peak of the ninja profession system within the current era and existing order.

There might exist a level, or title, above Kage within the ninja profession system.

And if such a title truly existed, then it could only have one name, Ninja Creed!

A title symbolizing the origin and orthodoxy of the ninja profession system, carrying the original ideals and supreme authority of the Sage of Six Paths!

Therefore, every sentence he spoke next was critically important. Every word had to strike directly at the core, directly at the deepest regrets and expectations within the heart of the ancestor of the ninja.

A moment later, Jiraiya took a deep breath and spoke in an incomparably solemn tone: "So Shinichi, what should we do? How can we make ninjas return to the essence you described?"

This was also the shared confusion within the hearts of many people.