"How… did he come back?"
It took a long while before Kabuto Yakushi could steady his breathing. Even lying on the cold floor, he still felt as if that man's presence had pinned his soul in place.
"That wasn't Edo Tensei," Kabuto said hoarsely. "I've seen reanimations up close. This… this was different. Real. Heavy. Like a living legend walked into the room."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. He slowly wiped the sweat from his temple, forcing the tremor out of his fingers.
"Rinnegan," he said at last. "That's the only explanation that makes sense."
Kabuto's pupils tightened.
"If that's true…" he whispered, "then Nagato is dead. And Uchiha Madara was revived."
Orochimaru didn't deny it. His expression grew darker, the kind of calm that only came when a storm was already overhead.
"Madara wouldn't return for nothing," Kabuto ventured. "Is it… to deal with the Fifth Hokage?"
"It's not a question." Orochimaru's voice was cold and certain. "It's the reason."
He turned slightly, gaze drifting toward the lab's far wall as if he could see through stone and distance—through nations, through battlefields, through the shifting shape of the era.
"Uchiha Ren is growing too fast," Orochimaru said. "First the Rain Village. Then Ryūchi Cave kneels. Every move he makes pushes the world closer to a single throne."
Kabuto swallowed, his throat dry.
Orochimaru's lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile.
"So let's do what we do best." He tapped the scroll in Kabuto's hand. "We keep refining Edo Tensei. We don't rush onto the stage."
Kabuto nodded quickly. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed.
"Madara has appeared… and the world is finally becoming interesting again."
At the same time—Konoha.
A disaster struck the Hyūga Clan.
Hyūga Hinata, the main family's eldest daughter, vanished.
At first, the clan assumed it was something harmless—an eight-year-old slipping away for a while, wandering off to calm her nerves, hiding somewhere after training. They sent people to search with the quiet efficiency of a great clan that had handled countless small incidents before.
But as the hours passed, the searches widened.
They checked every street. Every market. Every training ground. Every familiar route between the Hyūga compound and the village center.
Nothing.
No footprints.
No witnesses.
No traces of a struggle.
Hinata hadn't been taken loudly.
She hadn't been taken messily.
She had simply… disappeared.
That was what made it terrifying.
Because if someone could remove the Hyūga clan head's daughter from Konoha without leaving a thread to pull—
Then Konoha's "safety" was an illusion.
The Hyūga Clan's response was immediate.
They mobilized en masse—Byakugan scouts sweeping rooftops and alleyways, patrols tightening at every gate, informants sent out in all directions. The search expanded beyond the village, then beyond the borders of the Land of Fire, until it stretched into neighboring nations.
The commotion was enormous.
The result was still the same.
Nothing.
Hinata was gone as if the world itself had erased her.
As the hours turned into days, the Hyūga Clan's unease turned into dread.
Hiashi Hyūga couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't random.
This wasn't a kidnapping for money.
This was deliberate.
A hand reaching into Konoha to snatch something precious—quietly, cleanly, confidently.
Left with no other choice, Hiashi personally sought the village's help.
And Konoha did not hesitate.
Tsunade, now acting as the Hokage's chief aide, issued orders immediately. ANBU were deployed. The Uchiha were tasked with running down every rumor. The Nara were brought in to map possibilities and analyze routes and patterns. Every clan with eyes and ears in the shadows was pulled into the net.
The search spread wider.
And still—
No clue.
No trace.
No direction.
It was as if Hinata had never existed.
Konoha's atmosphere changed.
People still walked the streets, still trained, still laughed in places—but the village felt colder. A quiet fear settled in the background: If the Hyūga's heir can vanish, who's next?
Hiashi suffered the worst of it. He slept little. He spoke less. His mind ran the same circle endlessly.
Who did this? Why her? What did they want?
Then a message arrived that briefly steadied the village's spine:
The Fifth Hokage had returned.
Uchiha Ren—fresh from Ryūchi Cave—was back in Konoha.
Hokage Tower, top-floor conference room.
Ren sat at the head of the table, cloak still carrying the faint scent of distant natural energy. His expression was controlled, but the pressure in the room sharpened the moment he arrived—like a blade drawn halfway from its sheath.
Around him sat Tsunade, Hiashi Hyūga, Fugaku Uchiha, Shikaku Nara, and other key figures.
Hiashi rose first, voice rough with exhaustion.
"Fifth Hokage-sama… please. Hinata is only eight. Whoever did this—"
He stopped, jaw tight, as if continuing would break something inside him.
Ren didn't offer empty comfort. He didn't waste time.
"Not a single lead?" he asked.
Hiashi shook his head, the motion stiff.
"None."
Tsunade leaned forward, her tone grim.
"Nothing from the village. Nothing outside it. We even tested the waters in the other major villages—no movement. No rumors. It's like she vanished into thin air."
Fugaku and Shikaku exchanged a look. Neither spoke, but the meaning was clear.
This wasn't normal.
This wasn't something a conventional enemy could pull off.
Ren lowered his gaze, fingers tapping once—slow, measured—against the armrest.
His mind moved quickly.
The great villages were keeping their heads down. They didn't have the nerve for this.
Akatsuki was broken.
Obito and Black Zetsu… had no obvious reason to target a child like Hinata right now.
So what remained was something outside the board everyone was staring at.
Something that didn't play by the rules of the "shinobi world."
Ren lifted his eyes.
When he spoke again, his voice was calm.
Almost casual.
But every word landed like a stone dropped into deep water.
"Hinata isn't in the shinobi world anymore."
The room froze.
Hiashi's face went pale. "What… what do you mean?"
Ren looked directly at him.
"She's on the Moon—sealed away from this world."
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