A sensory ninja on a mission outside looked at the flashing images on the sky screen, instinctively sending his chakra toward the screen to sense it while muttering in his mind, "What exactly are these images?"
Unexpectedly, his thought actually appeared on the screen as a floating comment.
Immediately after, a stream of text comments popped up on the screen.
["There's text on the screen!"]
["So we can send messages to the screen!"]
["What the heck is this?!!"]
["Isn't it obvious? This must be Konoha's plot!! Look at those guys wearing Konoha forehead protectors on the screen!"]
["Bullshit! This has nothing to do with Konoha! Someone's obviously trying to frame us!!"]
["It's definitely fake! Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki just graduated this year—their ages don't match up at all!"]
["Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee also just graduated last year, and they're the wrong ages too!"]
["Shut up! Don't leak the village's information so easily!"]
["Oho! Looks like we've stumbled on some juicy stuff here!"]
["Wrong ages? So there really are people in Konoha who look like those on the screen, but they're only fresh Genin who graduated less than two years ago, huh!"]
["Anyone know the average age of Konoha's Genin this year?"]
["Twelve."]
["Those people on the screen look about fifteen or sixteen—could this be footage from the future?"]
["No way! This is definitely Konoha's plot!"]
["LOL! If it was Konoha's plot, why would they broadcast it for the whole ninja world to see!"]
["I bet it's aliens—only aliens would have this kind of tech that we can't even interfere with."]
The Third Hokage rubbed his forehead wearily and ordered his subordinates to summon Kakashi and Gai to bring their squads over.
At that moment, the office door swung open without even a knock.
The Third Hokage turned around, unsurprised to see his old classmate Shimura Danzo.
Danzo walked straight in without a greeting and bluntly said to the Third Hokage, "Hiruzen, you saw that thing in the sky too. No matter if it's future footage or not, Konoha will definitely become the focus of the entire ninja world. For the village's safety, hand over the Nine Tails to me."
The Third Hokage had known what Danzo wanted to say before he even spoke; after all, it wasn't the first time Danzo had tried to get his hands on the Nine Tails. And every time, he'd refused.
Knowing what Root was, the Third Hokage would never hand Naruto over to Danzo. Once Danzo had finished his spiel, the Third Hokage calmly replied, "I won't give Naruto to you, Danzo. Root isn't the right place to raise him. As for security concerns, I'll have Kakashi keep an extra eye on Naruto in the meantime."
Danzo didn't look surprised at the answer. His face remained as expressionless as ever as he said, "Aren't you afraid of an accident happening?"
The Third Hokage waved his hand dismissively. "It's too early to discuss that. At least let's finish watching everything the sky screen is showing before we talk about it."
"Don't say I didn't warn you, Hiruzen." With that threat, Danzo left the office as though just there to make his presence felt.
Not bothering with Danzo's arrogance, the Third Hokage stared intently at the screen, where a familiar figure appeared.
[A blonde woman wearing a green outfit with the kanji for "gamble" on her back stared expressionlessly out the window: 'Is everything…fate?']
[With that thought, the screen shifted.]
["Whoa! A beautiful lady! Does anyone know who that is?"]
["That's Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin and the First Hokage's granddaughter."]
["LOL! Beautiful? Do you even know how old she is?!"]
["Look, it's Konoha again! And you say it's not their plot!"]
["Tsunade!"]
The messy barrage of comments didn't affect the woman on screen. When Tsunade saw herself appear, she was stunned.
She put down her sake bottle and frowned. "What the heck is going on? I don't remember anything like this happening."
Shizune, holding Tonton, guessed, "Maybe it's like some of those messages said—this is footage from the future."
Tsunade, clueless, just shook her head. "Let's wait and see."
In the Pure Land, Senju Hashirama, still on his way, saw Tsunade's appearance and couldn't help but type a comment. When no one replied, he didn't mind, continuing on with a sigh. "Tsunade's grown up so much!"
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Mito, Nawaki, and Dan Katō—those close to Tsunade—were all shocked to see her appear on the screen, and they paused what they were doing to watch.
[In a deep canyon, five figures stood on a cliff.]
[At the front was a middle-aged man in black with long black hair, and the other four wore white robes, all of them staring at a temple-like structure below the cliff.]
[The leader spoke in a hoarse voice: "It's finally time. With the Dark Medical Ninjutsu I developed for tonight, we'll use its power to awaken Mōryō and unify the world."]
["Wow! Unify the world, huh!"]
["?! Mōryō! Could it be that thing?!"]
["What thing? Anyone know what Mōryō is?"]
["...That's top-secret in most of the big countries. You'd better ask your village's higher-ups if they know!"]
In the Land of Demons, the current priestess Shion was startled when she heard the name Mōryō.
Her attendant Asuka, who knew the duties of a priestess, quickly reassured her. "Lady Shion, don't worry, it's just a video."
Shion, however, looked uneasy. "But they all said it's future footage. The girl who appeared earlier looked like the grown-up me. Doesn't that mean Mōryō is about to reappear?"
Asuka, calm as ever, replied, "True or not, even if it's real, we can get intel on Mōryō from the footage. And with your power, Lady Shion, you'll definitely be able to seal Mōryō again."
Perhaps reassured by Asuka's words, Shion relaxed a little, while the black-clothed man, Yomi, who had just been exposed, felt extremely uneasy.
Seeing himself on the screen, he first froze, then broke into a cold sweat.
The only reason he'd survived after Mōryō's last sealing was that none of the Five Great Nations knew he'd played a part in it.
But now, with himself suddenly appearing on the sky screen, there was no way he could stay hidden like before.
Realizing this, Yomi hurriedly packed his things, preparing to flee his current hideout.
(To be continued)