When he first learned this cruel truth, he simply could not accept it. The shock was so great that he had nearly dissolved into the origin itself, becoming nothing more than nourishment for it.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan's ancestor had been the first to discover the existence of the End of Era Calamity.
Later, the ancestor of the Tenseigan lineage was cultivated by that first True God at an immense cost.
After an unknown number of eras passed, several more True Gods were eventually born.
As for the Evil God, he had not originally become a True God through such a bizarre path. But after learning about the End of Era Calamity, something within him seemed to change completely. His behavior grew increasingly erratic until he eventually became the Evil God who toyed with the universe.
When he was pleased, he would casually grant people immortality and unimaginable power.
But when he was displeased…
Entire galaxies would be destroyed.
He even spread his faith throughout the universe, turning countless civilizations into his believers.
The End of Era Calamity was cruel beyond imagination.
To beings trapped within it, existence was nothing more than a puppet show.
They lived their lives, climbed to the peak of their power, and then—
Everything returned to the beginning.
They would unknowingly repeat the same life again.
And again.
And again.
Only the True Gods remembered.
"That kind of power cannot be resisted."
The ancestor's calm voice echoed through the hall.
"Once, there existed a being of extraordinary talent who attempted to forcibly resist the power of the restart."
"In the end… he still failed."
A faint trace of admiration appeared in the ancestor's tone.
"In truth, we True Gods also tried to resist the End of Era Calamity."
"But before that power, we were nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot."
"We were defeated in mere seconds."
"But that person…"
"He endured for an entire minute."
The man's eyes immediately lit up. He looked at his ancestor with undisguised anticipation.
But the ancestor merely shook his head.
"You think that if you attempt it a few more times, you might succeed?"
"Wrong."
"Completely wrong."
His voice became heavy.
"That person provoked the backlash of a mysterious power."
"He was erased."
"Completely erased."
"Even the restart of an Era cannot restore his existence. He is gone forever."
"As for his name…"
The ancestor paused slightly.
"I cannot remember it."
"We only vaguely remember that such a person once existed."
"But his name… no one can recall it."
The hall fell silent.
After a long pause, the man spoke again.
"And us…?"
The ancestor replied calmly.
"It does not care about us."
"Then… what about that thing called a System?"
The man asked hurriedly.
The Shinigami ancestor glanced at him and slowly spoke.
"Across the hundreds—perhaps thousands—of End of Era Calamities we have experienced, some extraordinary individuals did indeed reach extremely high realms of power."
"But when the restart arrived…"
"Something terrifying occurred."
"The System simply dissipated."
The man frowned deeply.
"Then why are these people so special?"
"And where exactly do these Systems come from?"
He refused to give up any remaining hope.
After all, merely learning fragments of the truth earlier had already shaken him to his core.
Now his ancestor had revealed far more than he ever expected.
He had to seize this opportunity.
Because the truth of the world…
was far more horrifying than he had ever imagined.
"In our endless years of observation," the ancestor finally said, "we discovered a pattern."
"In every End of Era Calamity, a special kind of individual appears within the Ninja World."
"Some of them possess something called a System."
"Others do not."
"But all of them share one common trait."
"They behave completely differently from the people of this world."
The man froze.
The ancestor continued calmly.
"We suspect that they do not originally belong to this world."
"So we call them…"
"Transmigrators."
"The existence of these people strengthened a certain belief among us."
The man instinctively asked,
"What belief?"
The ancestor's aura suddenly grew deeper.
"That beyond this world…"
"There are other worlds."
He continued slowly.
"We have also discovered that our world exists between illusion and reality."
"Only by breaking the End of Era Calamity…"
"Can we become the one true reality."
"And coincidentally…"
"This Era is currently in a True State."
"And only in a true state does the possibility of breaking the End of Era Calamity become the greatest."
These True Gods stood at the very pinnacle of the universe.
After discovering the uniqueness of the Ninja World, they had once attempted to personally cultivate certain individuals.
But every attempt ended in failure.
Eventually, they realized something.
The most suitable method…
was letting things develop naturally.
At their level, very few secrets remained hidden within the universe—not even the fundamental laws governing existence.
Through thousands of eras of restarts, they had investigated countless mysteries and proposed countless theories.
Yet even now—
They still had not discovered a way to stop the End of Era Calamity.
The only thing they knew for certain was this:
The key to breaking the calamity was connected to the Ninja World.
Or more precisely—
To those Transmigrators.
The man hesitated before asking again.
"Ancestor… is it impossible to break the End of Era Calamity during a False State?"
The ancestor shook his head.
"If it cannot be done in a True State, then it is even more impossible in a False State."
"In a False State, our power is greatly weakened."
"Our ability to interfere with the End of Era Calamity decreases by more than tenfold."
"Under such circumstances…"
"It is simply impossible."
After a moment, the ancestor added quietly,
"This Era may be the most promising one."
"Because…"
"I have not observed a System on that individual."
His gaze turned distant.
"The End of Era Calamity seems especially hostile toward Systems."
"Every System holder eventually collapses when facing it."
"Their power originates from the System itself."
"They are like rootless duckweed."
He paused slightly before finishing.
"It…"
"Either hates such things."
"Or perhaps…"
"It likes them."
The man fell silent.
For a moment, the surroundings became completely quiet. It seemed he was slowly digesting the overwhelming amount of information he had just heard.
After a long pause, he finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind.
"Who… is it?"
The ancestor's answer was calm and simple.
"It… is unknown."
Their conversation remained hidden from the outside world.
At the same time, Ōtsutsuki Shiki had already begun his journey toward the Ninja World.
More than nine years had passed since the signing of the Ten-Year Agreement, and the deadline was fast approaching. The remaining time would be spent traveling through space, which technically did not violate the agreement.
The news of the Ōtsutsuki army's departure quickly spread throughout the surrounding star systems.
Ōtsutsuki Shiki had no intention of concealing his movements.
In his eyes, strength was everything.
It was not that he underestimated Naruto or the shinobi of the Ninja World. However, based on the strength the Ninja World had previously demonstrated, only one individual truly stood out. The rest were no different from the inhabitants of ordinary planets.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan possessed several methods of interstellar travel.
One was conventional technological spacecraft.
The other was a unique creation of the clan—the Star Shuttle.
Star Shuttles had a crystalline exterior and could freely change their size. Even ordinary Star Shuttles were capable of superluminal travel and contained vast internal spaces.
More advanced Star Shuttles were even more extraordinary.
These vessels were essentially small worlds, capable of directly traversing space itself.
Such advanced Star Shuttles were extremely rare—even within the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
The mobilization of Ōtsutsuki Shiki's army was quickly discovered by the scouts of the Shinigami Clan.
In truth, there was hardly any need for reconnaissance.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan had made no effort whatsoever to hide their movements.
Nevertheless, the intelligence was still transmitted.
The Ninja World currently lacked a developed interstellar intelligence network, so it naturally had no knowledge of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's activities.
Because of this, the information delivered by the Shinigami Clan was extremely important.
When Naruto received the news, he immediately made a decisive decision.
Within one month, the battlefront defenses of the Ninja World had to be completely established.
The final war was approaching.
(End of Chapter)
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