On a building constructed entirely of rock, the short Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, levitated in mid-air, gazing into the distance.
"Lord Third!" An ANBU operative, face concealed by a simple, patterned mask, appeared behind him, kneeling on one knee. "The village is under invasion."
"I see it." Onoki glanced sideways and ordered, "Have Kitsuchi organize our forces to repel the foreign enemy. ANBU Squads One, Two, and Three, after dealing with those beasts, reinforce them. Squads Four and Five, with me!"
His figure slowly ascended, then sped off in the direction opposite to the main battlefield. From a nearby rock building that resembled a missile silo, several ANBU operatives leaped out, following closely behind him.
In a densely packed street.
The Asura Path of Pain appeared. As if pulling open the joints of a puppet, it violently ripped off its own left forearm, revealing the menacing mechanical contraption within.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several missiles howled forth.
The legendary feat of one man attacking an entire village hereby commenced.
Pfft!
The Deva Path of Pain withdrew a black receiver, and a spray of blood erupted. With its movement, a lifeless corpse slammed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Shwoop! Shwoop! Shwoop!
Several Iwagakure Jonin surrounded it.
"Prey that can finally pique my interest has arrived." The Deva Path turned its gaze to the robust man leading the group.
"Pain, what is your objective? The Five-Tails?" Kitsuchi, the Iwa Jonin, questioned in a grave voice.
"Objective?" The Deva Path shook its head slightly. Capturing the Five-Tails was not its task. "If I had to say, it's to make you feel pain."
" Bansho Ten'in!"
The Deva Path crossed its arms. Two Iwa Jonin were instantly pulled towards the black receivers protruding from its sleeves. The others' expressions changed. Just as they were about to counterattack, several missiles rained down from the sky.
Deep within Iwagakure, in a hidden stone grotto, sat a tall man. He wore a red kasa hat, a red face mask, and red armor. His entirely crimson attire was strikingly conspicuous, a complete departure from the low-profile, stealthy approach typically favored by shinobi. This was Han, the Jinchuriki of the Five-Tails.
"Finally found you." A flippant voice echoed within the silent cave.
Han's expression shifted slightly. Even among Iwagakure's own, few knew he was hidden here.
Just then, with a ripple of spatial distortion, a figure wearing a yellow, spiral-patterned mask appeared before him.
"A black cloak with red clouds? Akatsuki?"
Hiss!
Han's body began to emit scorching steam, like a boiling kettle. Without the slightest hesitation, he directly entered his strongest state—a partial Tailed Beast transformation.
RUMBLE~
As he charged forward at high speed, a tremendous roaring sound, like that of a freight train, emanated from his body.
Seeing his enemy standing still, seemingly scared stiff, a flicker of confusion crossed Han's eyes. Confidence? Or arrogance? Though puzzled, the roaring from his body intensified. Whatever it is, as long as my attack hits, it's all over!
His body, carrying a force capable of shattering mountains and splitting peaks, passed straight through the masked man.
"What?!" In shock and disbelief, Han's body collided heavily with the cave wall. Instantly, stone fragments flew everywhere, and a thick cloud of dust arose. A bright light pierced through the smoke, bringing some illumination to the dim grotto.
"So this is the 'Steam Ninja'?" Gazing at the section of the stone wall that the Five-Tails Jinchuriki had blasted through, the masked man slowly began to walk forward. "Terrifying power."
Zetsu poked its head out. "Amazing, un."
"Hah... Hah..." With each of Han's breaths, a large amount of steam billowed out. Tailed Beast chakra was repairing the wounds on his body.
Behind him, a gloved hand slowly emerged from the rock strata. "Caught you..." The hand firmly gripped one of the tails Han had manifested due to his partial Tailed Beast transformation.
Hiss!
Hearing the voice, Han instinctively flared his chakra, an intense heat radiating from his body.
A ripple of spatial distortion occurred. Several black receivers, their ends connected to iron chains, accurately pierced the Five-Tails Jinchuriki's limbs and tail. Under the restraint of the black receivers, Han instantly lost his ability to resist and vanished from the main world, pulled into Tobi's Kamui dimension.
The masked man's figure also disappeared.
Half a minute later.
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, arrived at the battlefield with two ANBU squads.
"Han's chakra has disappeared. It's presumed Akatsuki has succeeded," an ANBU operative reported to Onoki after carefully examining the scene.
"Good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Naruto Shadow Clone #2 slowly opened his eyes after receiving Kurama's telepathic report, and asked the man in the wheelchair below.
"The good news, I suppose." Uchiha Sasuke lightly tapped his cheek with a finger, making a casual choice.
"Barring any surprises, after the next Five Kage Summit, your Shinobi Squad will receive further support from the Five Great Villages."
"The Five Kage aren't fools. Further supporting the Shinobi Squad is inevitable," Sasuke said nonchalantly. "And the bad news?"
"The Five-Tails has been captured."
"From the state of the Gedo Mazo, Akatsuki has already found a way to compensate for the One-Tail's chakra. Apart from the Seven-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails, they have already collected the chakra of all remaining Tailed Beasts."
Uchiha Sasuke tilted his head back, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds above, his thoughts unreadable.
"You seem to be looking forward to it?" Shadow Clone #2 raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you?" Sasuke retorted. "Isn't the current situation also something you've deliberately guided? Otherwise, with your strength, you were fully capable of preventing Akatsuki from gathering all the Tailed Beasts. What exactly is your objective?"
Shadow Clone #2 merely smiled faintly, neither admitting nor denying. "And you? What are your thoughts?"
Uchiha Sasuke continued to gaze at the azure sky, also not giving a direct answer. "Tell me, will we become enemies?"
"No one can say for sure what the future holds..."
Land of Fire.
"Uchiha Sasuke is perceptive," Kurama commented.
"With Uchiha Itachi and Jiraiya as his teachers, it would be strange if he weren't," Naruto said, shrugging as he looked at the shimmering surface of the lake.
Shwoop!
A shadow clone appeared beside him via the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Where did you catch it?" Naruto asked curiously, looking at the White Zetsu clamped under the clone's arm.
"The Fire Daimyo's residence." The shadow clone tossed the incapacitated White Zetsu to the ground. "I'm heading out." With that, he vanished in a puff of white smoke.
"To even plant spies in the Fire Daimyo's residence, it seems Nagato is dead set on reviving the Ten-Tails," Naruto mused, looking down at the White Zetsu, deep in thought. "Kurama, help me notify the shadow clones stationed in the capitals of the Five Great Nations."
"Notify them about what?" Kurama asked indifferently. The first time he had done this sort of thing, he had resisted fiercely, but after doing it so many times, he no longer cared.
"Clean out the White Zetsu in the Daimyo residences of the Five Great Nations. These mascots can't meet with any mishaps just yet," Naruto said. If the shinobi villages represented a nation's military power, then the Daimyo represented its economic development. In the current state of the shinobi world, it didn't matter much to him if a few Kage died or were replaced. But the Daimyo couldn't come to harm, at least not yet. Their deaths would cause economic turmoil in the shinobi world. Until all his preparations were complete, they had to live, even if crippled. The transition from the old era to the new must be smooth.
"What exactly is Sasuke's objective?" Naruto pondered. Ripples spread across the lake's surface, and Isobu's massive form emerged.
"The environment here is nice."
"That's good." Naruto nodded. Isobu clearly couldn't return to the Land of Water, as Akatsuki could track him down there at any time. "Rest well and recover. I need to take care of something."
"Alright." After a surge of waves, the lake returned to its calm state.
Naruto found a shady spot under a tree and sat down cross-legged, his consciousness entering his mental space. He looked at the soul-orb floating before him and sighed faintly. The appearance of this thing was not within his control; life and death were natural parts of human existence. But he couldn't bring himself to let the souls of this world simply flow into the Pure Land; he could only temporarily store them in his mental space.
"Let's talk, Father. After observing for so long, I really want to know your judgment on the development of the shinobi world after your death." The soul-orb transformed into the likeness of Namikaze Minato.
"Your growth has exceeded my expectations, Naruto." Minato looked at his son before him, his eyes filled with deep emotion. In his time, even as the Fourth Hokage, he hadn't dared to fantasize about the next era, let alone push for its arrival.
"Souls consumed by the Shinigami really can't interact with the soul information left in the Eight Trigrams Seal," Naruto said, rubbing his temples with a slight headache.
Hearing this, Minato also smiled. "It seems we've met before then."
"The Pure Land exists in this world. Mother's soul should be there. What is your choice?" Naruto asked directly.
"Is there something wrong with this Pure Land?" Minato asked curiously. His son's strength had completely surpassed his own; his grasp of secret information must also have surpassed his.
"It just feels... off. There's no concrete evidence to prove the Pure Land has problems," Naruto shook his head.
"If I enter the Pure Land, will it affect your upcoming plans?" Minato asked after a moment of contemplation.
"No," Naruto's tone was very firm. "If you, residing in the Pure Land, become an obstacle to my plans, then regrettably, I will prioritize my ideals."
Minato nodded and made his choice. "I want to go find Kushina and reunite with her." He was already dead; he shouldn't interfere too much with the world of the living.
"I respect your choice." Naruto released the protection of his mental space.
Suddenly, Minato felt a pulling force on him. His soul-form began to emit a glow similar to that of fireflies. This was the sign that his soul was heading towards the Pure Land.
As expected, that pulling force appeared. Naruto thought to himself. This was why he felt something was amiss about the Pure Land's existence. When ordinary people died, their souls were not drawn by this force; only when individuals of a certain level of strength died did this pulling force manifest. It seemed that ordinary people and strong individuals went to two different Pure Lands after death.
"Nine-Tails, I'm sorry," Minato said with an apologetic smile, looking at Kurama lying quietly in the mental space.
Kurama merely snorted.
Just then, an immense surge of chakra connected Kurama's body to Minato's fading soul. Under this influx of chakra, Kurama's aura became terrifyingly powerful.
"Your other half." These were Minato's last words before his soul disappeared.
"I didn't expect your complete form to be so terrifyingly strong." Gazing up at Kurama, now with his Yin and Yang halves reunited, Naruto exclaimed in awe.
"Damn right!" Having recovered his full strength, Kurama, who had been lazing around for a long time, instantly became arrogant. "Even if that Akatsuki leader appeared before me now, I could grind him into the dirt!"
"As expected, merging Yin and Yang only increases chakra." Naruto observed him up and down and nodded affirmatively.
"Huh?" Kurama's laughter died abruptly.
Iwagakure.
As far as the eye could see, there was only ruin and devastation. Screams and cries echoed ceaselessly.
"Heave!" Two Iwa nin strained together, lifting a large stone slab. Seeing Kitsuchi, unconscious and with a faint breath, trapped beneath, they quickly shouted, "Medical ninja! Hurry!"
Watching her father being carried away on a stretcher towards the temporary hospital, Kurotsuchi clenched her fists tightly. For the first time, she felt such intense hatred for someone.
"I see fear in your eyes...""It seems you are beginning to understand pain... Good...""A bird in a tree can only survey the forest once it spreads its wings to fly high...""As ninja of the Five Great Villages, you cannot understand the pain of the smaller villages...""Pain is an emotion common to all...""Only through pain can people truly understand one another...""Only pain can make you genuinely detest war, fear war, and only then can the world move towards peace...""A false peace!" she had retorted. "Peace is peace. There is no distinction between false and real..."
Her conversation with the Akatsuki leader replayed endlessly in her mind. She didn't understand. Why did such people exist in the world? They were the ones who had invaded Iwagakure, plunging everyone in the village into unprecedented suffering. Yet he was so calm, so matter-of-fact about it, as if his actions were entirely justified. Why did humans with such twisted values exist in the world?
On a broken stone wall, Onoki's old and frail body leaned weakly. His numerous injuries were a testament to the incredibly fierce battle he had just endured. But even gravely wounded, his face remained resolute and composed, like an unchanging rock.
"Lord Tsuchikage, Lord Kitsuchi has been successfully rescued. Medical ninja are currently treating him," an ANBU operative reported, appearing before him.
"How is the overall search and rescue progressing?" Onoki asked, the tension in his eyes easing slightly.
"Since the sensory barrier was not breached, with the assistance of the Sensor Team, the vast majority of survivors have received treatment."
"Lord Third..."
"Speak," Onoki looked at him.
"Should we... request aid from other shinobi villages?"
Onoki's lips moved, struggling for a long moment before he finally sighed in resignation and waved his hand. "...Go ahead."
"Yes!"
"Lord Mu... To think that Iwagakure would see the day it requests aid from other shinobi villages." After the ANBU departed, Onoki let out a self-deprecating laugh, his tone filled with desolation and bleakness.