As he finished speaking, he raised his hand, and something was already resting in his palm. It was a strange box that radiated a sense of ill omen, its surface covered in twisted dark red patterns.
Each of its six faces bore a distorted expression. Joy, sorrow, anger, fear, hatred, and pain.
This was the fully transformed Box of Ultimate Bliss. It was also the present Las Noches.
A sharp notification rang out, and waves of intense emotion surged among Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others. The lie about the Void Realm was accepted as truth, yielding a massive gain of Reality Points.
Shadow's thoughts remained calm as the count of Remaining Reality Points settled at 62627. His gaze was steady, without the slightest ripple.
"The day the Void Realm returns to the world," he said quietly. "I have waited far too long for it."
His low and hoarse voice was not loud, yet it pierced through all noise and reached directly into every soul present.
"From this day onward," he continued, "all that has passed will return to where it belongs."
With those words, Shadow lifted the Box of Ultimate Bliss higher. He began the act of manifestation, reshaping the space linked to the Time Space Cave into the Void Realm.
He used the Box of Ultimate Bliss as the core, linking it completely to the Void Realm. Then he implanted all the rules of the Void Realm into the Ninja World.
The cost was immense, but his decision did not waver. "Manifest," he thought.
The required Reality Points was deducted, leaving Remaining Reality Points at 12627. In the next instant, a deep hum echoed as if it came from the entire world.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss opened in Shadow's hand, and a pillar of pitch black light shot straight into the sky. The massive beam tore through smoke and clouds, piercing the heavens.
Above Konoha, the dawn-tinted sky was swallowed by darkness. The black spread outward from Konoha at terrifying speed, devouring the sky in all directions.
It swept across the entire Land of Fire, toward Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Lightning, and the Land of Water. The darkness surged across the whole Ninja World without pause.
Moments earlier, people across the world had been watching dawn or dusk. Farmers at the border of the Land of Fire opened their windows to greet the morning, while fishermen in the Land of Water loosened their ropes to sail.
Travelers in the Land of Wind desert looked up at the evening glow, and samurai in the Land of Lightning yawned as the sun rose. Different places and different times all shared the same sky.
In the next second, deep darkness fell without warning. Mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, seas, villages, all were covered.
The sun, the moon, and the stars vanished at once.
"Why did it get dark?"
"Where did the sun go?"
"What is happening?"
"Mom, the stars and the moon are gone!"
The Ninja World fell into brief night, and then the sky returned to normal. Yet everyone could feel that something fundamental had changed.
An indescribable presence spread through the world, and every living being that sensed it felt a deep instinctive shiver in their soul. Abnormal changes began to appear everywhere.
At this moment in Konoha, within the Uchiha Clan Grounds, Hiruzen Sarutobi's anger froze into pure shock. He stared at the sky, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
Other Konoha Ninja raised their heads as well, trembling uncontrollably before the endless darkness that had swallowed the heavens.
"This is the beginning of our return to the Ninja World," Shadow said as he looked down at them. "When my lord descends upon the world, all who defy him will die."
"Until then, struggle as much as you like," he continued calmly. "I hope the world will not be too boring when my lord arrives."
As he spoke, he raised a finger. Uzumaki, White Fang, the Puppeteer, and Kyougan raised their fingers as well, lightly touching the air before them.
With sharp tearing sounds, black cavities opened in space. Five Rifts appeared, and the five figures stepped into them.
They vanished completely, leaving only devastation and death behind.
Silence fell.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stiffly lowered his gaze, looking at the blood-soaked Uchiha Clan Grounds and the fallen Konoha Ninja. The weight of responsibility crushed down on him without mercy.
His face shifted from iron-gray to pale, then flushed with a sickly red. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as his body swayed.
"Third Hokage!" Yunchuan Hyuga rushed to his side and caught him, his own body covered in wounds.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned against him and slowly closed his eyes, breathing heavily. When he opened them again, his spirit was clearly dimmer, his back bent further, and exhaustion covered his aged face.
He looked like a frail old man nearing the end of his life, not the Third Hokage known as the professor of Ninjutsu.
"Yunchuan," he said hoarsely, gripping Yunchuan Hyuga's hand to stop his own trembling. "The Ninja World is about to undergo great change."
"Konoha cannot stop. You must…"
Before he could finish, darkness took his vision. His strained mind finally broke, and he lost consciousness.
The last thing he saw was Yunchuan Hyuga's anxious face.
"Teacher, perhaps choosing me as Hokage was a mistake," he thought. "I am truly exhausted."
His awareness sank into darkness.
Far from there, in a neutral land wrapped in ancient mystery, disaster was also stirring. On the highest mountain of the Land of Demons, the shrine of the priestess stood shrouded in mist.
Inside the quiet shrine, the priestess Miroku sat in meditation. Her breathing was calm and steady, her expression serene.
At the moment before dawn, her eyes snapped open in terror. Blood spilled from her mouth, staining her robes red.
She raised her hand to stop the attendants and whispered that she was fine. Yet her gaze was fixed toward Konoha, her body trembling with fear.
"The rules of Death have changed," she murmured. "Even destiny has shifted."
The sealed demon would awaken earlier than foretold, and all signs pointed toward Konoha.
On the battlefield at the border of the Land of Hot Water, chaos reigned. Explosions, screams, and the clash of steel echoed endlessly.
Nurui moved like a walking corpse through the mud, his eyes empty. His Kunai was chipped and dull, and every swing was driven only by instinct.
He wanted only one thing. To live.
His blade pierced a young Konoha Ninja fighter, and blood splashed across his face. He felt nothing but cold numbness.
A Shuriken whistled through the air, and though he tried to dodge, a blade pierced his heart. Strength drained from his body as the world blurred.
The one who killed him was just another terrified soldier. Nurui understood this, and despair swallowed him whole.
"I do not want to die," he tried to say, blood filling his throat. Fear consumed everything.
As his body fell into the mud, hatred was all that remained in his fading mind.
At the edge of Death, something changed. Souls rose from the fallen bodies and rushed toward him.
A cold presence erupted, and a twisted black figure formed above his corpse. A pale bone mask covered its face, red light burning in its eyes.
A Great Hollow was born.
Its roar shook the battlefield, drowning out all other sounds. From afar, Jiraiya felt the chill and leapt to observe.
"What is that?" he muttered.
Above the battlefield, space tore open once more, and a figure stepped out of the black cavity. Its gaze settled on the newborn Great Hollow.