The Land of Rain.
Inside an exceptionally deep and secluded cave, Pain was discussing the Akatsuki's next course of action with a mysterious man wearing a spiral mask when a strange disturbance suddenly came from outside. Both men instinctively turned their heads toward the mouth of the cave.
The moment they noticed the light screen that had appeared out of nowhere—and heard the mysterious voice ringing clearly in their ears—the masked man's brows drew together slightly, a trace of puzzlement flashing through his eyes.
But before he could speak, Pain, who had always been wary of him, beat him to it.
"Madara, what underhanded trick are you pulling this time?"
It was no wonder Pain would say such a thing.
Ever since the two sides had formed their alliance, the mysterious figure before him—who called himself Uchiha Madara—had demonstrated his cold-blooded ruthlessness more than once.
Whether it was undoing the seal on Kushina Uzumaki, the Second Nine-Tails jinchūriki, and then controlling the Nine-Tails—the beast hailed as the strongest tailed beast—to unleash carnage upon Konoha, forcing the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, to sacrifice his life to reseal it...
Or conspiring with Uchiha Itachi to wipe the Uchiha clan, his own bloodline kin, completely from the map of the ninja world...
Or secretly using the Sharingan to control Yagura Karatachi, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, plunging the entire Hidden Mist into more than a decade of darkness...
Every one of those deeds spoke of the cruelty and heartlessness of the man beneath the mask.
Pain even strongly suspected that the death of his dearest friend, Yahiko, had also involved Uchiha Madara's hidden hand.
The timing of his appearance had simply been too convenient.
If not for the fact that Pain currently lacked a guaranteed chance of victory—and that his dream of reshaping the world and achieving lasting peace required every force he could possibly use in order to capture the nine tailed beasts—he would never have tolerated this man for so long, let alone maintained a cooperative relationship with such a suspicious figure.
Of course, Pain also knew perfectly well that their current alliance was merely temporary expediency. The day all nine tailed beasts had been captured would be the day he completely severed ties with this self-proclaimed Uchiha Madara.
But that did not stop him from showing open suspicion even now.
His past experiences simply made it impossible for him to lower his guard against Uchiha Madara.
"I'm not that bored."
Knowing full well how wary Pain was, Obito had no wish to damage his relationship with the Akatsuki at this stage. He shrugged and replied in a deliberately casual tone, "Besides, you should remember our plan. Until it's complete, I'm not going to create unnecessary complications."
"Let's hope so."
Pain stared at Obito for a long while before reluctantly suppressing the surging caution in his heart.
Then he slowly shifted his gaze toward the enormous light screen outside the cave. A flash of ferocity suddenly surfaced in the Rinnegan eyes that were usually as still as dead water.
"The Seventh Chosen One's journey to save the world?"
"Hmph. Nonsense meant to mislead the masses. I'd like to see who dares to cast such a large-scale genjutsu within the borders of the Land of Rain."
As that thought arose in his mind, the atmosphere in the cave grew heavier and heavier.
At the same time—
Hidden beneath the cave, Black Zetsu was also staring at the translucent light screen that had suddenly appeared over the Land of Rain, and even on his ink-black face, a rare look of deep gloom gathered.
Unlike pawns such as Nagato and Obito, whose experience was still shallow, Black Zetsu had lurked within the ninja world for over a thousand years as the third son of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the Rabbit Goddess. The breadth of his knowledge far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine.
Even though he could not identify exactly what this suddenly appearing light screen over the Land of Rain was, there was one thing he was absolutely certain of:
Its area of coverage extended far beyond what Nagato had observed within the Land of Rain. It had very likely already spread across the territories of the Five Great Nations—perhaps even over the entire ninja world.
And in Black Zetsu's understanding, no shinobi currently alive in the ninja world should have been capable of performing a genjutsu on such a scale.
The appearance of this sudden anomaly clearly signaled that the ninja world was about to welcome a new variable—one that had a strong chance of shaking the plans and arrangements he had laid over the course of centuries.
At that thought, the gloom in Black Zetsu's eyes deepened further.
Just then, strange streaks of color began flickering across the previously black light screen. It was obvious that the video itself had formally begun.
[Upon the brutal battlefield, the scent of fresh blood still hung between shattered spears and broken blades. Corpses lay strewn everywhere the eye could see, crisscrossing the field in heaps. Crimson tides of blood soaked into the scorched black earth, dyeing the entire plain a shocking dark red, while only the curtain of rain slanted down, washing the half-dried blood and mud from the armor.]
["Looks like... we've reached the end of the road..."]
A young man, kneeling on one knee and propping himself up with a longsword, spoke in a hoarse voice filled with despair. Beside him, a middle-aged man with Buddhist beads around his neck lay collapsed near a broken spear, murmuring weakly, "This journey... I'm afraid we won't be able to finish it..."
["This is as far as it goes... give up..."]
Another companion, leaning against a dead tree, echoed the sentiment. Clearly, he agreed with the others, his words steeped in utter dejection.
But just as silence and despair began to swallow everyone, a frail figure suddenly pushed herself upright from a pool of blood ahead of them. In a tone of unshakable resolve, she spoke words of encouragement to her companions trapped in hopelessness:
["We still have hope. I believe it—we'll definitely find hope!"]
—"Who would've thought this mysterious light screen would open with a war scene? But which country's war is this... Wait, why are my thoughts appearing on the screen?!"
With the appearance of that very first comment, the upper portion of the light screen—still showing that unknown war—was instantly flooded with an endless stream of scrolling messages.
—"It seems... this light screen has the ability to capture chakra fluctuations and display what people are thinking. I could sense my chakra fluctuation just now being picked up by this mysterious screen!"
—"Damn it! Which ninja village made this thing? To create such an evil object that spies on people's hearts!!"
—"Do you even need to ask? It's obviously something the shinobi of the Five Great Nations cooked up. Especially Konoha—I seriously suspect it's them. They're the strongest hidden village, so it wouldn't be strange for them to have a method like this!"
—"Hey, hey, hey! Stop throwing baseless accusations around and trying to stir up trouble between Konoha and the other villages!!"
—"Heh. The guy before wasn't framing anyone on purpose. Unless my eyes deceived me, those people who just showed up on the screen were clearly actors from the Land of Fire—Fujikaze Yukie, Koyuki, and Eito. You can't fake that."
—"Ac... actors?! Then... is this light screen showing a movie??"
—"Probably. A few days ago, I passed by a theater and saw posters of those actors. Their outfits were exactly the same as on the screen. I think the movie was called The Adventures of Princess Fūun or something like that."
—"So... this thing just appeared in the sky out of nowhere... to advertise a movie??"
—"..."
The ninja world's shinobi were adapting to the situation with surprising speed.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 172)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 116)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter119)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 66
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 52
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 55
The Way the Umamusume Look at 42
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 40
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 36
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