The year 54 of the Konoha Calendar was a period of eerie calm following the tumultuous upheavals of the previous year.
While negotiations between the Sand and the Leaf regarding the Land of Bears dragged on, the reality on the ground was set: roughly one-quarter of the eastern region, including the Star Village, remained under the firm grip of the Hidden Sand.
Hyuga Hizashi had been released. Though labeled the primary scapegoat for the defeat, the Leaf's high command refrained from excessive punishment out of respect for the Hyuga clan's prestige.
However, the biting whispers of the common villagers remained a constant shadow.
"Father... why are they like this?"
Young Hyuga Neji stared angrily at a group of gossiping villagers, his fists clenched. Before he could rush forward to argue, Hizashi's hand caught his shoulder.
Looking at his son's impulsive eyes, Hizashi shook his head. "Neji, they aren't entirely wrong. It was my failure that cost us the Land of Bears and the Star Village."
Neji's face flushed a deep red. "But the Star Village incident was a long-planned operation by the Sand! The high command misjudged their movements, yet they let you bear the weight of it all."
"Who told you that?"
Hizashi's gaze sharpened, causing Neji to flinch. "It was... Uchiha Kaede. He's one of the few in the village who sees clearly. He said he recognizes the 'filth' of the high command's decisions."
A flicker of surprise crossed Hizashi's eyes. That Uchiha youth was certainly active, deliberately planting such seeds in his son's mind.
"I am not scolding you," Hizashi said softly, comforting the boy. "I only want you to remain calm. Do not let others manipulate your emotions, or you will be no different from the villagers you despise."
The Leaf's preferential treatment of Hizashi compared to their scrutiny of the Uchiha sent a clear message: the village's primary target of suspicion remained the Uchiha.
However, the geopolitical situation grew even more convoluted with the intervention of the Cloud.
By late Year 53, the Cloud had moved in as "mediators," stationing troops in northern Bear Country.
This move was orchestrated by Hagoromo Mato, a genius of the Hagoromo clan. Without explicit orders from the Raikage, he pushed his forces forward, causing the Sand's garrison to retreat without a fight.
Mato's "bloodless" victory spread his fame across the continent, but it left the Fourth Raikage in an awkward position.
Konoha did not view the Sand's retreat as a sign of weakness; they saw it as evidence of a secret pact between the Wind and Lightning shadows to squeeze the Leaf.
This placed immense pressure on the Third Hokage. Even Danzo understood that Konoha could not afford to break its alliance with the Cloud while the Sand loomed so large.
Meanwhile, the Raikage was privately fuming at being outmaneuvered by his own subordinate, even as the mission boosted the Cloud's morale—a rare win after the humiliations of the Land of Teeth years prior.
He cursed the Kazekage's cunning in his heart, knowing Shiraishi had retreated specifically to foster distrust between the Leaf and the Cloud.
With the Land of Bears now split three ways, a rift had formed in the Leaf-Cloud cooperation in the Land of Steam.
Shiraishi ignored the schemes of the great nations. For over a year, his focus had been on the new Dragon Vein energy reserves.
By early Year 55, the initial tuning was complete. According to his calculations, the energy required to reach this next world was far greater than what was needed for Ace.
Had his technology not advanced, he would have had to wait at least three years for a second crossing.
The final memory fragments had been synthesized, and the spatial coordinates in the "Mirror World" were now perfectly aligned.
The protocol was similar to the first breach. Breaking the spatial barrier required a massive output of Dragon Vein energy, stabilizing the connection for just over a second.
But instead of the Mithril Gloves he used previously, Shiraishi had prepared a Small-Scale Regeneration Core System.
This was a 9th-generation Regeneration Core, possessing ten thousand times the data capacity and energy storage of the first prototype.
This custom core was designed to stabilize the inter-dimensional link and perform self-updates by analyzing the data of the destination world.
The core was shaped like a six-sided prism—an evolved version of the Hiuukyou (Scarlet Control Mirror). While Shiraishi had handed the original Hiuukyou over to Shikasa, his own auxiliary puppets were now miniaturized silver-sand pyramids containing these cores.
The internal data system was nearly as sophisticated as his "Glasses System," though it lacked the self-evolving nature of a multi-world artifact.
However, it could still absorb souls to act as system processors and translate foreign power systems into native terms.
"Let the commencement begin..."
As Shiraishi's eyes linked with the base's main terminal, the sky above the sea base seemed to tear open.
The Seven Treasures Tree (Shichibo Myoshu) in his hand cast a rainbow of light into the darkness. A massive black hole formed, revealing an unknown world on the other side.
He launched two Dimensional Orbs. One merged into the rift to act as an anchor, while the other—the Regeneration Core—shot through to the other side. A violent spatial tremor shook the entire facility.
The Law of Equivalent Exchange activated.
This time, however, what emerged from the rift was not a body, but a sword.
It was a seemingly ordinary long katana with a purple hilt. On the surface, it looked unremarkable, but the fact that it had exchanged itself for a 9th-generation Regeneration Core meant it possessed immense value.
On the "Mirror" interface, a special seal appeared, identical in style to Ace's flame mark. But this one bore the character "Mercy" ( -Ji). Despite the name, the seal pulsed with a domineering, cold intent of absolute slaughter.
Shiraishi stepped forward, reaching out to grasp the hilt. The moment his fingers closed around it, an overwhelming killing intent swept through his soul.
A chilling, horrific vision of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood flashed before his eyes, momentarily staggering his consciousness.
The sword was not a mere weapon; it possessed a spiritual sentience—one honed through the path of the "Sword of Eight Thousand Flows."
A blade of slaughter...?
Shiraishi's eyes sharpened. His internal system began scanning the weapon, and he immediately noticed something strange about the energy dwelling within the steel.
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