Shigure — was still stunned.
Could the Great Sage really modify reality itself?
[Great Sage: Yes. By integrating Six Paths power with Yin–Yang Release, I can inject life force into all things, create matter from nothing, and—after calculation—achieve higher-order effects. Reality modification is well within range.]
Shigure listened to the Great Sage ramble endlessly…
But in his mind, only two explosive words remained:
Yes.
Possible.
If it could be done, then there was no need to hesitate.
Time to test this newly evolved ocular technique—
A version of Kotoamatsukami (Betsu Tenjin) after being fully reconstructed through Great Sage calculus.
Shigure looked up at the barrier sealing him in the sky.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
A heartbeat later, he felt his chakra and Six Paths power drain violently—
as if a flood sluice had opened inside him.
His breathing hitched. For an instant, he felt almost hollowed out.
On the outside, Senju Hashirama, though restrained by the White Vine Seal, could still move his head.
He looked upward—
A small hole pierced through the barrier.
Then, like fragile glass, the entire sealing formation shattered and dissipated into the wind.
Hashirama froze.
This kid… what did he just do?
The sealing jutsu crafted by Uzumaki Ashina, the progenitor of sealing arts…
Broken as casually as breathing.
The world once feared the Uzumaki specifically because of this power—and Shigure had undone it instantly.
If this boy had been born in his era…
Even he, the God of Shinobi, might have been overshadowed.
Shigure simply smiled.
This was the Great Sage's optimization.
[Great Sage: Hmph.]
The cost was enormous, yes—but so was the effect.
Kotoamatsukami was already the pinnacle of illusion, famed for altering another's will unnoticed.
But after refinement by the Great Sage, it had become something else entirely.
No longer mind-altering—
but reality-altering.
Even the forbidden Uchiha technique Izanagi, which rewrote death and fate, could not compare.
Now, Shigure could directly overwrite phenomena, bypassing cause and effect—
turning reality into what he imagined.
If his power grew enough someday…
He might create a star, a realm, or an entire world with a single thought.
But this strength demanded something far greater than chakra—
Six Paths power.
He would need the chakra of the tailed beasts; not for the beasts themselves,
but for the Six Paths fragments housed within them.
Once he gathered all nine, his Six Paths authority would ascend dramatically.
With the barrier gone, Shigure looked toward Hashirama, Hanzo, Kakuzu, and Kimimaro.
Breaking the seal cost him much—
but there was one more thing he wanted to test.
If reality could be modified, then—
His eyes locked onto Hashirama.
"Kotoamatsukami!"
Hashirama's body stiffened.
His gaze went unfocused, pupils dilating slightly as the world around him blurred.
Shigure waved a hand, releasing the White Vine Seal.
Hashirama slowly straightened.
He looked down at his hands… flexed them…
felt warmth flow through him—
Then exhaled a long, steady breath.
"This is…?"
His voice trembled.
Because the sensation wasn't an illusion.
It was real.
A faint smile appeared on Shigure's face.
"It actually worked. And the Six Paths power consumed… it's even less than when I broke the barrier?"
What was going on?
He looked at Senju Hashirama, who now stood before him—
not as Edo Tensei, but truly alive.
A moment earlier, Shigure had simply tried using Kotoamatsukami to release the Edo Tensei control on Hashirama…
But he discovered something shocking:
He wasn't just releasing control.
He was reviving him.
And the Six Paths cost was unexpectedly small.
Why?
Shigure quickly reasoned it out:
Hashirama already had his soul present because of Edo Tensei.
All Shigure needed to do was create a real body that matched that soul—
a perfect vessel.
That required far less Six Paths power.
He frowned slightly, deep in thought.
Meanwhile, Hashirama stood frozen, feeling sensations that Edo Tensei bodies could never imitate—
the breeze on his skin,
the warmth of the air,
the pulse of life moving through muscle and bone.
This was no longer the dull numbness of a reanimated corpse.
This was being alive.
Hashirama looked down at Shigure, disbelief filling his eyes.
Before he could speak, Shigure rose into the sky, body flashing toward Kirigakure.
Passing over Zabuza's group, he left a single command hanging in the air:
"Go find Sasuke. Protect him."
And then he was gone.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and Hashirama most of all, were left stunned.
Hashirama touched his chest in a daze.
He was breathing.
He was alive.
He had been dead for decades—
and now… he stood among the living once more.
The shock nearly overwhelmed him.
The one most shaken, however, was Orochimaru.
He could feel it clearly—
the chakra overflowing from Hashirama was not Edo Tensei chakra.
It was living chakra.
A reanimated body should never have a heartbeat or a breath.
Orochimaru's eyes widened.
"Did that boy… use some unknown ninjutsu… to resurrect the Shinobi God…?"
Even he, with all his obsessions about immortality, could not comprehend what he was sensing.
What was he supposed to do now?
In the Forest
Elsewhere, deep in the forest, Sasuke stood before Itachi.
Itachi's calm eyes examined the cracks of Edo Tensei on his arm.
"Edo Tensei… Orochimaru's technique."
He looked at Sasuke.
"Sasuke, he used me to lure you here."
But Sasuke didn't care about any of that.
His eyes burned with a single question.
"Itachi… tell me the truth about the Uchiha Massacre. What really happened that night?"
Itachi gave a weary, helpless smile.
"Just for that… you knowingly walked into a trap?"
Sasuke nodded without hesitation.
"Of course."
Itachi could only sigh.
Kirigakure
Inside Kirigakure, the streets were already painted with blood.
Nagato stepped on the chest of one fallen Mist ninja, and lifted another by the throat—paralyzed, barely breathing.
"I thought the Mist would be different from Konoha's shinobi. But your strength is disappointingly weak."
A blade of water came slicing behind him—one of the Water-Style sword arts practiced by the Ninja Swordsmen.
Nagato didn't look back.
"Shinra Tensei."
The repulsive force exploded, shattering the water blade instantly.
"Your swordplay is interesting…but it ends there."
From the fifty Mist-nin who originally attacked, only five remained—all severely injured, yet still refusing to retreat.
Dozens more surrounded them—many from bloodline clans of the Yuki, Kaguya, and other hereditary families.
And all of them were prey in Nagato's eyes.