diff --git a/examples/bzlmod/MODULE.bazel b/examples/bzlmod/MODULE.bazel
index 397129a76..2843575c3 100644
--- a/examples/bzlmod/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/examples/bzlmod/MODULE.bazel
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ local_path_override(
 )
 
 # (py_proto_library specific) We are using rules_proto to define rules_proto targets to be consumed by py_proto_library.
-bazel_dep(name = "rules_proto", version = "6.0.2")
+bazel_dep(name = "rules_proto", version = "6.0.0-rc1")
 
 # (py_proto_library specific) Add the protobuf library for well-known types (e.g. `Any`, `Timestamp`, etc)
 bazel_dep(name = "protobuf", version = "27.0", repo_name = "com_google_protobuf")
diff --git a/internal_deps.bzl b/internal_deps.bzl
index 319bdf877..8bf5df783 100644
--- a/internal_deps.bzl
+++ b/internal_deps.bzl
@@ -185,6 +185,14 @@ def rules_python_internal_deps():
         ],
     )
 
+    # Needed by rules_cc, triggered by @rules_java_builtins from Bazel
+    http_archive(
+        name = "protobuf",
+        sha256 = "da288bf1daa6c04d03a9051781caa52aceb9163586bff9aa6cfb12f69b9395aa",
+        strip_prefix = "protobuf-27.0",
+        url = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v27.0/protobuf-27.0.tar.gz",
+    )
+
     # Needed for stardoc
     http_archive(
         name = "rules_java",
@@ -234,11 +242,3 @@ def rules_python_internal_deps():
         sha256 = "0e124567fa85287874eff33a791c3bbdcc5343329a56faa828ef624380d4607c",
         url = "https://github.com/keith/rules_multirun/releases/download/0.9.0/rules_multirun.0.9.0.tar.gz",
     )
-
-    # Needed by rules_cc, triggered by @rules_java_builtins from Bazel
-    http_archive(
-        name = "protobuf",
-        sha256 = "da288bf1daa6c04d03a9051781caa52aceb9163586bff9aa6cfb12f69b9395aa",
-        strip_prefix = "protobuf-27.0",
-        url = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v27.0/protobuf-27.0.tar.gz",
-    )
diff --git a/python/private/py_repositories.bzl b/python/private/py_repositories.bzl
index 6283ad7cb..a796869c8 100644
--- a/python/private/py_repositories.bzl
+++ b/python/private/py_repositories.bzl
@@ -60,11 +60,19 @@ def py_repositories():
         urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_cc/releases/download/0.0.13/rules_cc-0.0.13.tar.gz"],
     )
 
-    # Needed by rules_cc, triggerred by @rules_java_prebuilt in Bazel by using @rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl
+    ### Needed by rules_cc, triggerred by @rules_java_prebuilt in Bazel by using @rules_cc//cc:defs.bzl
+    ##http_archive(
+    ##    name = "protobuf",
+    ##    sha256 = "da288bf1daa6c04d03a9051781caa52aceb9163586bff9aa6cfb12f69b9395aa",
+    ##    strip_prefix = "protobuf-29.0",
+    ##    url = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v27.0/protobuf-27.0.tar.gz",
+    ##)
     http_archive(
         name = "protobuf",
-        sha256 = "da288bf1daa6c04d03a9051781caa52aceb9163586bff9aa6cfb12f69b9395aa",
-        strip_prefix = "protobuf-27.0",
-        url = "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v27.0/protobuf-27.0.tar.gz",
+        sha256 = "ce5d00b78450a0ca400bf360ac00c0d599cc225f049d986a27e9a4e396c5a84a",
+        strip_prefix = "protobuf-29.0-rc2",
+        urls = [
+            "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v29.0-rc2/protobuf-29.0-rc2.tar.gz",
+        ],
     )
     pypi_deps()