"You're saying Son Gokū wants me to revive his jinchūriki?"
"Yes. And he'd like you to revive Hān as well."
"Reviving them isn't a problem," Naruto replied calmly.
"But from that point on, they'll be like Kaede—they'll become subordinates of my world system and will never be able to return to Iwagakure."
"That doesn't matter. As long as they're alive, that's enough. I already agreed on Son Gokū's behalf."
Naruto paused, then asked curiously,
"Based on what you told me before, Son Gokū and his jinchūriki were already close to reconciliation. I understand reviving Rōshi, but why insist on reviving Hān as well?"
"They can keep their jinchūriki alive," Mū said bluntly.
"So mine sure as hell isn't allowed to die."
"…"
Inside the sealing space, Mū's mouth moved stiffly as he spoke with Naruto.
The other tailed beasts stared blankly ahead, their consciousness clearly elsewhere.
After a bit more discussion, Naruto withdrew.
The Signal
His awareness in the Mirror World informed him that Sasuke had arrived.
Naruto looked toward the entrance.
Sure enough, Sasuke was standing at the laboratory door.
"You were looking for me?"
After greeting a few familiar faces, Sasuke walked over.
"You kept asking when your revenge could begin," Naruto said.
"Now the timing is right."
Holding a remote, Naruto walked up to a massive electronic display and pressed a button.
The screen lit up instantly.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
The footage was split into six live feeds, each showing fierce battles.
Both sides wore Iwagakure and Konoha forehead protectors.
In one feed, he saw Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura flash past the camera.
"This is a real-time feed from the communications unit," Naruto explained.
"Konoha and Iwa are going at it hard along the borders of the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire."
Sasuke stared coldly at the screen.
After a long silence, he asked,
"When can you revive my parents?"
Naruto's eyes flickered.
"If you're in a hurry, I can revive them right now."
"No," Sasuke said after a deep breath.
"I'll revive them after I kill Danzō."
He clenched his fist.
"When do we move?"
"Soon," Naruto replied.
"But not yet."
As he spoke, Naruto sent a thread of consciousness back into the Mirror World.
Iwagakure
"Old man, we could've wiped out those Konoha bastards in one push!
Why did you order a withdrawal back to the Grass Country defense line?!"
"Charging blindly only gets you killed," Ōnoki snapped.
"Don't forget who we're dealing with. Danzō, the so-called 'Darkness of the Shinobi World,' will use any dirty trick. Kumo learned that lesson already."
He floated over to Akatsuchi, then continued,
"And the reason for the withdrawal is because we received intel that Kumogakure was mobilizing troops. If—"
He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"…What is that?"
Ōnoki's eyes went wide.
Black soil and Kurotsuchi followed his gaze.
Massive trees erupted from the ground.
They twisted, expanded, and spread as if alive, tearing apart buildings and streets.
In the blink of an eye, an entire forest swallowed part of Iwagakure.
ROOOAAARR—
A violent roar echoed through the village, accompanied by an oppressive surge of chakra.
"Wood Release?! Damn it—Rōshi is over there!"
Ōnoki launched himself toward the forest.
But before he could leave the tower, three shinobi appeared on a nearby rooftop, shouting.
"Lord Tsuchikage! Someone broke into Hān's sealed sanctuary!"
"That's impossible!" Ōnoki barked.
"I'm the only one who knows the real entrance! And the barrier team—those are the village's highest-level seals! Why didn't they detect anything—?!"
Midair, Ōnoki froze.
A horrifying possibility crossed his mind.
By the time he looked back, the forest had already gone silent.
An ominous feeling crept into his chest.
Moments later, more shinobi arrived—this time Kitsuchi and members of the barrier team.
"Father!"
Kitsuchi spoke gravely.
"It was the Second Tsuchikage. He broke into the sanctuary.
With him was Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage of Konoha—both dead since the First Shinobi World War."
"They took Hān with them."
"Wood Release… the First… Tobirama Senju…"
Ōnoki's face went pale.
"Edo Tensei."
Not long after, bloodied Iwa shinobi were dragged out of the forest.
They confirmed it:
Orochimaru had summoned Hashirama Senju using Edo Tensei.
The Sky Fortress
Meanwhile, high above the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire,
a silver-white airborne fortress hovered silently among the clouds.
Inside a grand hall, Sasuke stood before a massive crystal sphere.
Five people in white uniforms sat embedded in wall-mounted chairs, each wearing a silver helmet connected by cables.
One of them raised a hand to his earpiece.
"Lord Sasuke, we've locked onto your target."
"Good," Sasuke replied calmly.
"I see it now."
He nodded and turned away.
Passing through several corridors, he entered a metal chamber at the rear of the fortress.
He pressed a red button on the wall.
CLANG—
A hatch opened.
Violent winds rushed in.
Sasuke stepped forward and leapt.
After about ten seconds of free fall, he stabilized.
Glancing up at the fortress, he pulled out a palm-sized display device—
—and plunged straight into the sea of clouds.
Judgment from the Heavens
Inside a watchtower on the ground, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu studied a deployment map.
Three shinobi stood tensely around a sand table.
BOOM—!
A thunderclap exploded without warning.
Everyone felt their hearts seize, as if something unimaginably terrifying was about to descend.
Koharu stepped outside.
The moment she looked up, her vision was flooded with blinding light.
"What's going on? The weather was fine—why is it suddenly going to rain?"
"Look at the sky!"
"What… is that?!"
On the cliff along the Grass Country border, several Iwa shinobi peeked out from behind rock cover.
They stared upward in horror.
A gigantic, ferocious humanoid stood atop black storm clouds.
With its left hand, it drew a bow—
And fired thunderous lightning arrows into the Konoha defensive zone again and again.
Minutes later, the giant vanished.
A lone figure descended from the sky.
Someone raised binoculars.
"Uchiha! He's wearing the Uchiha clan crest!"
"Let me see!"
Another shinobi snatched the binoculars—
—and locked eyes with a pair of crimson pupils.
"Sharingan! It's Uchiha Sasuke!"
Fallout
Hours later, Danzō received reports that Orochimaru had infiltrated Iwagakure and abducted the Four-Tails and Five-Tails jinchūriki.
He was ecstatic.
He immediately summoned the three-man Flying Thunder God Formation team.
But before a counteroffensive could even begin, urgent reports arrived from the border.
Soon after, half of Konoha's commercial district heard Danzō's furious roar.
The report was brief:
All defensive forces annihilated.
Both advisors dead beyond recognition.
Enemy: Unknown.
Two days later, the news spread across the shinobi world:
Iwagakure had lost two jinchūriki to Orochimaru.
Konoha's entire border defense force had been wiped out by Uchiha Sasuke.
Danzō leaked Iwa's jinchūriki loss.
Iwa leaked Sasuke's massacre through the bounty exchange network.
Strangely—
Konoha and Iwa quietly signed a ceasefire.
Kumo, which had been lurking at the borders hoping to profit, withdrew all forces.
The shinobi world returned to an uneasy, unnatural calm.
The Rain Village
In the Rain, Obito, wearing a single-eyed spiral mask under the name "Uchiha Madara," stood atop a tower.
White paper butterflies gathered before him, forming Konan.
"Pain doesn't want to see you."
"I'm here to tell him to seize the opportunity," Obito replied.
"Konoha has already prepared a trap using a jinchūriki."
With that, he vanished into a warped vortex.
Konan lowered her eyes and burst into countless paper scraps.
Later, atop another tower, footsteps echoed.
The Deva Path emerged.
"His intel is likely accurate," Konan said.
"Sasori's sources inside Orochimaru's circle confirmed it—Orochimaru has his eye on the Nine-Tails guarded by Jiraiya. The trap should be meant for him."
"There's more."
"Someone infiltrated the village earlier and left an anonymous letter."
Konan handed Pain an envelope.
Pain opened it.
The moment he read its contents—
His eyes narrowed sharply.
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