The space around his right eye spun violently, swallowing his entire body whole.
Obito was gone.
Sakumo withdrew the short blade resting against Kisame's neck.
He walked to the edge of the water wall and looked down at the now-calm surface of the lake, his expression complicated.
"Obito… it really was that kid," Shisui murmured as he came to stand beside him, voice low.
"What did he go through… to end up like this?"
There was a faint trace of regret in Sakumo's tone.
Tobirama released the Suiton (Water Release) binding on the great sword Samehada.
The living blade let out a low, restless hum, clearly wanting to return to its master—
But Tobirama pinned it in place with chakra, firmly suppressing it.
"Now isn't the time to get sentimental," Tobirama's voice cut cleanly through their thoughts.
"Deal with the spoils of war."
Everyone's gaze turned toward the center of the lake.
The massive Three-Tails, Isobu, having lost the control of its jinchuriki, lay sprawled across the water.
Its three huge tails slapped mindlessly at the surface, stirring up wave after wave.
Its single crimson eye looked around blankly, as if it still hadn't fully recovered from being forcibly extracted.
Shinju leapt down from the top of the water wall, landing lightly on the lake's surface, and walked up to the Three-Tails.
Faced with the towering Tailed Beast, he showed no hint of tension.
He simply reached into his tools pouch and took something out.
It was a pitch-black metal cube, about the size of a palm.
Its surface was covered in dense sealing formulas, glowing faintly with threads of blue light.
These formulas were extremely intricate—
A fusion of the Uzumaki clan's sealing arts and Tobirama's knowledge of space-time ninjutsu.
Kisame, who had been knocked unconscious by a blow from Sakumo's hilt and then tied up, was now under Shisui's watch.
He had just regained a sliver of consciousness when he opened his eyes to this scene.
He saw the boy holding the small cube in his palm.
"Begin the seal," Shinju said quietly.
He infused chakra into the cube.
The blue formulas on its surface flared to life, projecting countless chains of blue chakra that shot out into the air.
Those chains wove together into a massive net that descended, completely wrapping around Isobu.
Sensing the danger, the Three-Tails let out an enraged roar and began to thrash wildly.
The lake was churned into chaos.
The chakra chains tightened.
Isobu's colossal body was forcibly compressed, shrinking rapidly within the blue radiance.
All of its chakra, all of its life-force, was swallowed whole by that tiny cube.
The process didn't last long.
Within minutes, the lake had returned to its previous stillness.
The gigantic Three-Tails was gone.
In Shinju's hand, the black metal cube had transformed into a pure blue energy crystal.
Within its depths, a miniature image of a slumbering Three-Tails floated quietly.
Kisame's eyes flew wide open.
He stared at the boy, then at the crystal in his hand that looked like some kind of toy.
He had spent his life dealing with Tailed Beasts.
He knew better than anyone how terrifying they were.
Sealing a Tailed Beast required a long, complicated ritual and the combined efforts of many powerful shinobi.
Yet this boy had casually used a tool Kisame had never seen before…
And sealed a complete Tailed Beast as easily as if he were putting something into his pocket.
This wasn't ninjutsu.
This was a miracle.
The muscles on Kisame's face twitched.
On that shark-like face, a fear born from the depths of his heart finally surfaced.
He realized that Akatsuki—
Those who fancied themselves the revolutionaries of the shinobi world—
Had provoked something they could neither comprehend nor resist.
An existence utterly beyond them.
Rain Village, inside the tall tower.
Nagato sat in his wheelchair with his back to the door.
Konan stood beside him, her expression grave.
The door burst open, and a figure stumbled in, disheveled and exhausted.
Obito.
His black cloak was ragged and torn.
The scarred right side of his face was exposed, and the left sleeve of his cloak hung empty.
Overall, he looked like he could collapse at any moment.
"I failed," Obito said, bracing himself against the wall just to stay standing.
Konan frowned. "The Three-Tails?"
"It was taken," Obito panted, chest heaving. "And Kisame was captured."
Nagato's Rinnegan remained utterly still; he didn't turn around.
"Who were the opponents?"
"Konoha," Obito replied after catching his breath a little.
"Or rather… an organization called 'Shinting'."
"Their leader is Minato's son, Shinju."
"Minato's son?" Konan's eyes flashed with surprise.
"He also brought several allies," Obito continued weakly. "And almost all of them are living legends."
"The Second Hokage, Tobirama."
"The White Fang of the Leaf, Sakumo."
"And 'Shunshin' Shisui, Uchiha Shisui."
The moment those names left his lips, the room fell into absolute silence.
Tobirama? Sakumo?
Both of them had been dead for many years.
By all logic, they shouldn't exist in this world anymore.
"Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation)?" Nagato's tone finally shifted.
"No. It's different. Completely different," Obito immediately rejected the idea.
"They're living, breathing people, with their own will and their full power from when they were at their peak."
Nagato fell silent.
He didn't know what to say.
He could only think.
Akatsuki's information network spanned the entire shinobi world.
They had always believed they held most of this world's secrets in their hands.
But the intelligence Obito brought back today had pierced that confidence like a blade.
This "Shinting"…
Already existed far outside their understanding—
Summoning peak-era powerhouses from beyond the grave with a method even more outrageous than Edo Tensei.
Nagato closed his eyes and felt a pressure unlike anything he'd known before settle heavily on his shoulders.
By the lake.
Shinju played with the Three-Tails crystal in his hand, feeling the overwhelming chakra sealed inside it.
He walked over to Tobirama and held the crystal out.
"Tobirama-sama, a fine research subject, don't you think?" Shinju said calmly.
"Perhaps… we can try creating an 'artificial perfect jinchuriki'."
Tobirama took the crystal and examined it, razor-sharp eyes studying every detail.
As a developer of ninjutsu, he was deeply intrigued by this entirely new technology.
He nodded once, said nothing more, and put the crystal away.
"Time to head back."
Shinju glanced at the tightly bound Kisame.
"We still have a guest to entertain."
Tobirama raised his hand.
Several specially crafted kunai engraved with the formulas of Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) floated up around him.
He selected a coordinate, and his chakra surged into motion.
A space-time tunnel unfolded beneath their feet.
Sakumo hoisted the unconscious Kisame onto his shoulder.
Shisui picked up Samehada.
Together, they walked into the tunnel.
A flash of light—
And the group vanished from the battlefield.
All that remained was the ruined lake and shattered forest, silently bearing witness to the fierce clash that had taken place here.
And because of the outcome of this battle, the balance of the shinobi world once again began to shift violently.
[Shinting] Headquarters, inside a brightly lit laboratory.
Shinju and the others appeared on the teleportation array at the center of the room.
Kisame was sent off to a specially constructed cell.
The walls there could absorb chakra—more than enough to imprison a kage-class shinobi.
Holding the Three-Tails crystal, Tobirama went straight to his private research lab.
For him, a new research topic was far more attractive than interrogating a prisoner.
After giving Shinju a brief report, Sakumo and Shisui also left to handle their own duties.
Soon, only Shinju remained in the lab.
He walked over to a massive one-way glass wall.
On the other side was the cell holding Kisame.
Kisame was already awake.
He neither struggled nor shouted.
He simply sat cross-legged in the middle of the cell, eyes closed, as if adjusting his condition.
Shinju's gaze didn't linger on him for long.
His eyes shifted to the great blade Samehada, placed on another lab table.
The sword writhed restlessly, as if yearning for its master's chakra.
Shinju looked at the living demon blade, then at Kisame in the cell.
A new, audacious enhancement plan slowly took shape in his mind.
(End of Chapter)
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