"How is this possible?"
"Am I under a genjutsu?"
"What are they doing?"
Several more squads of Konoha ninja arrived, but upon seeing the scene before them, they all froze in place, their expressions stunned.
Screams, wails, the clang of metal, the explosions of ninjutsu… wove together into a desperate and chaotic symphony of death.
However, what horrified them most was that these sounds were not from the enemy, but from their own comrades.
Watching their fellow ninja fight and kill each other with tears streaming down their faces, the newly arrived Konoha reinforcements felt as though they were witnessing the most absurd play of their lives.
But after seeing that the number of Konoha ninja had exceeded the 'Puppeteer's' current manipulation limit, 'Shadow' sighed. "It seems it is time to end this."
Upon hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"Just who are you?" he asked, his face ashen.
"I have no name. If you must call me something, I don't mind if you call me 'Shadow,' or you can consider me 'Death.'"
The black cloak around 'Shadow' billowed without wind. He slowly ascended into the air. The red sun above shone on him, casting a deep shadow on the ground.
"After all, death and I are the same meaning to you."
He looked down at Hiruzen and the others, and said softly, "Perhaps death is more merciful."
With that, he raised his hand. At some point, he had been holding an object.
It was a bizarre-looking box emitting an ominous aura. Its surface was covered in twisted, complex, dark red patterns, and its six faces—top, bottom, left, right, front, and back—each had a distorted face.
Joy, sadness, anger, fear, hatred, and pain.
It was the completely modified 'Box of Ultimate Bliss'—now the 'Hueco Mundo'!
[Ding!]
[Your lie, 'Empty Realm,' has been determined as 'entering the game,' 'making the fake real,' 'stealing the sky and changing the sun,' and 'pulling the wool over one's eyes.' Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others have experienced a strong emotional fluctuation, reaching a state of 'deep belief.' You have gained 20,000 Reality Points.]
[Evaluation: You have used a lie to adorn a barren and uninteresting reality with a golden outline, allowing prostrate believers to enter heaven after death.]
[Remaining Reality Points: 62,627]
"The day the Empty Realm returns to the world…"
"I have waited for this day for too long."
A low, hoarse voice sounded. It wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through all the noise, reaching everyone's ears and going deep into their souls.
"From now on," he said, "all that has passed shall return to where it belongs."
As his voice faded, 'Shadow' raised the hand holding the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Materialize: The alternate dimension connected to the 'Space-Time Anomaly' is transformed into the 'Empty Realm'.
Materialize: The 'Box of Ultimate Bliss' is connected to the 'Empty Realm' and will act as its core!
Materialize: All rules of the 'Empty Realm' are implanted into the 'Ninja World'!
[Expend 50,000 Reality Points. Do you wish to materialize?]
Looking at the power that could twist the rules of the world, his shadow-shrouded face was calm. He thought, "Materialize!"
[50,000 Reality Points deducted.]
[Remaining Reality Points: 12,627]
Buzz!
In an instant, a grand hum, as if from the entire world, echoed.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss in 'Shadow's' hand opened. A pillar of ink-black light shot out from the box and soared into the sky!
Boom!
The unimaginably vast black beam of light was like an inverted waterfall, instantly tearing through the smoke and storm clouds in the air and piercing the sky!
Above Konoha, the sky, which had just been stained red by the dawn, was instantly consumed by darkness.
The darkness didn't stop. It spread out in all directions with Konoha as its center!
Wherever the darkness passed, the sky was turned into a pure, dead, and bottomless black. The dawn that had just risen was gradually consumed by this seemingly boundless darkness!
The darkness spread at an unimaginable speed, extending across the entire Land of Fire!
And toward the Lands of Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water—spreading wildly across the sky of the entire ninja world!
One second ago, people all over the ninja world were looking at the dawn and sunset on the horizon.
A farmer at the border of the Land of Fire opened his window, ready to greet the morning light.
A fisherman in the Land of Water was untying his boat, ready to set sail in the morning light.
A traveler in the desert of the Land of Wind looked up at the sunset on the horizon.
A samurai in the Land of Lightning yawned as he watched the sun rise and pierce through the sea of clouds.
Different places, different times.
But in the next second, a profound darkness descended without warning. The sky was like a curtain soaked in ink. "Night" covered mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, oceans, and villages!
The morning sun, the evening sun, the moon, and the stars were all instantly obscured by that darkness.
"The… the sky turned dark?!"
"Where's the sun? The sun is gone?!"
"What's happening? What's going on?"
"Mom! The stars and moon are gone!"
The entire ninja world fell into a brief night, and soon after, the sky returned to normal.
But everyone in the ninja world could feel it…
The world was different.
An indescribable aura spread. All living beings who clearly felt that aura felt an instinctive shudder deep in their souls!
And small and large anomalies were appearing everywhere in the ninja world!
At this moment, in the Uchiha compound in Konoha.
When the black light shot into the sky and obscured it, the anger on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face froze. In its place was an indescribable horror.
What is this?
The other Konoha ninja also instinctively looked up. They watched the seemingly endless darkness that had swallowed the entire sky, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
"This is the beginning of our return to the ninja world."
Looking down at the speechless crowd below, 'Shadow' said softly, "When my Lord returns to the world, those who have transgressed and disobeyed shall all die."
"Before that, please struggle to your heart's content. I hope the world will not be too boring when my Lord descends."
As his voice faded, he raised his finger. 'Swirl,' 'White Fang,' 'Puppeteer,' and 'Wicked Eye' also raised their fingers and gently tapped in front of them.
Szzzt! Szzzt!
Accompanied by the sharp sound of fabric being torn, the black hollows opened, and five fissures appeared in the space in front of the five of them.
And those five figures stepped into them, completely disappearing from everyone's sight, leaving behind only a scene of desolation and death.
"…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression stiffened. He withdrew his gaze and looked at the Uchiha compound, where a river of blood flowed, and at the dead and wounded Konoha ninja…
He thought that everything that had happened was due to his constant indulgence, his indecisiveness, and his hesitation…
His face went from ashen to pale, then a morbid red flushed over it.
He bit his teeth hard, but scarlet blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth, and his body swayed.
"Third Hokage!"
Hyuga Kawa, who was also covered in various wounds, came up behind him. When he saw Sarutobi Hiruzen sway, he quickly reached out to support him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen leaned on him, his breathing heavy, and slowly closed his eyes.
A moment later, he raised his eyelids. But his aura was even more dispirited, and his eyes were even cloudier. His straightened back was more hunched than before, and a look of exhaustion appeared on his already aged face.
He looked as if he had aged more than ten years.
He didn't look like the Third Hokage, known as the "Professor of Shinobi," but rather like a frail old man on the verge of death.
"Kawa."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice was hoarse and faint. As if to stop his body from trembling, he firmly pressed Hyuga Kawa's hand and said, "The ninja world is about to undergo a great change…"
"Konoha must not stop. You must…"
Before he could finish his sentence, he felt his vision go black. The single thread of his spirit, which was already stretched to its limit, finally snapped.
In the moments before he passed out, he saw Hyuga Kawa's anxious face.
'Sensei, perhaps you made a mistake when you chose me to be Hokage…'
'I am truly, truly, tired.'
This thought involuntarily came to his mind, and then his consciousness fell into darkness.
The great nations of the ninja world were only the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, the Land of Water, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Lightning. But besides them, not all small nations were classified as neutral.
For example, the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers, the Land of Grass… Although these countries were small, they were still in danger of being destroyed by the great nations.
Only small countries like the Land of Snow, the Land of Iron, and the Land of Hot Water, which were in very remote locations and had special significance, could be neutral.
And the Land of Demons was also a neutral nation, far from the conflicts of the five great nations and shrouded in mystery and ancient legends.
The tallest mountain in the Land of Demons was shrouded in mist. The air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood and fresh herbs. A shrine dedicated to the previous Priestesses was located here.
Inside the shrine, the scent of sandalwood wafted. The candlelight flickered in the quiet air, casting a warm and tranquil glow.
The giant statue of a female deity had no face. On a prayer mat in front of the statue, a woman wearing a pure white priestess robe and with a serene, ethereal temperament sat with her eyes closed.
She was the current Priestess of the Land of Demons, Miroku.
Miroku's breathing was long and steady, as if it had merged with the pulse of the world. Her face was so delicate it didn't seem to belong to a mortal, and it held a sense of otherworldly peace.
However, just as dawn was about to break and all was silent, Miroku, who was in a seated meditation, suddenly opened her eyes.
Her eyes, which were originally as calm as spring water, were now filled with shock and fear.
"Pfft!"
A large mouthful of crimson blood suddenly spat out from her mouth.
The warm blood splattered on her pure white priestess robe, like bright red plum blossoms blooming on snow!
Her slender body shook violently, and she nearly fell off the prayer mat.
"Miroku-sama!"
The few attendants serving in the corner of the shrine instantly woke up. Upon seeing this, their faces showed incredible horror and worry as they rushed forward to help her.
But Miroku suddenly raised her hand to stop them. The bells tied to her wrist made a crisp sound, and she said, "I'm fine."
With that, she used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her face was ashen, and her eyes were fixed on the distance—in the direction of Konoha!
Her body was trembling uncontrollably from fear. Cold sweat had already soaked her hair and back.
Her usually calm and gentle face was now filled with undisguised solemnity.
The demon 'Mōryō,' sealed and suppressed by the past Priestesses, was actually a manifestation of the first Priestess's malice. She had separated it from her body to prevent herself from being lost to her immense power.
Therefore, Mōryō had no physical body and was a demon that could grow stronger by absorbing human malice. It had caused evil several times in history, and only when a Priestess sealed it within her body before she died could it be suppressed.
Over time, every Priestess since had taken on the responsibility of sealing Mōryō from birth.
And the power of the two was inversely proportional.
According to Miroku's previous predictions, Mōryō should have had the power to break free in a few years at the earliest.
But…
"The rules of death have been changed?" Miroku's voice was as low as a whisper. "Has a predetermined fate also been changed?"
Mōryō, sealed in the Land of Ghosts, would probably break free several years ahead of time, which would lead to a great disaster.
The source of all this was now pointing to Konoha.
And the key to sealing Mōryō, according to her precognition, was also in Konoha.
On the border battlefield of the Land of Hot Water.
Deafening explosions, the roar of ninjutsu, the crisp sound of clashing metal, and desperate, tragic screams intertwined into a never-ending symphony, echoing wildly in the faint light of dawn.
This place had become a meat grinder. Konoha ninja and Kumogakure ninja were mixed together, rolling, fighting, and falling in the mud.
Every inch of land was soaked with blood, and the bodies were piled up, their postures distorted, their lifeless eyes staring blankly at the gray sky.
Nuruai moved across the chaotic battlefield like a walking corpse. His face was covered in dried blood, and rain slid down his cheeks.
His eyes, which were once young and passionate, now only held a dead numbness and a fear hidden deep within.
The kunai in his hand was already blunted. Each swing was an almost instinctive struggle for survival. He no longer thought about Kumogakure's honor or about killing enemies to gain merit.
He only had one thought in his mind, a thought so humble it was almost nonexistent.
—To survive.
Pfft!
The kunai stabbed into the chest of a Konoha ninja. It was a young face, and his eyes were filled with the same fear and unwillingness as Nuruai's.
Nuruai didn't even get a good look at his opponent's face. He just instinctively killed him and pulled out his kunai.
Warm blood splattered on his face, but he didn't feel a trace of warmth, only a numb coldness.
He had witnessed his familiar comrades fall and turn into cold corpses beside him. He had heard their screams before death and felt their lives fade away.
He didn't know how many people he had killed or how much longer he could live.
Fear was like a parasite, gnawing at his nerves and wearing down his courage.
Swoosh!
A shuriken flew through the air. Nuruai's pupils shrank, and his body instinctively dodged to the left.
Pfft!
A soft sound, like fabric being torn. Nuruai's body stiffened, and he slowly, rigidly lowered his head to look at his chest.
The tip of a glistening kunai protruded from his left chest, right where his heart was. Blood stained the front of his Kumogakure flak jacket.
If I hadn't dodged, it might not have been fatal…
Time seemed to have frozen at this moment.
Nuruai didn't feel intense pain, only a bone-deep coldness that quickly spread from his chest to his entire body.
His strength drained away like a receding tide, and his body swayed uncontrollably. The world in front of him began to blur.
The sounds of shouting and explosions seemed to be muffled by a thick pane of glass, becoming distant and unreal.
He slowly turned around and saw the person who had made the strike.
It was a Konoha ninja whose face was covered in mud and unidentifiable. His eyes were filled with the same fear of death and the madness of wanting to survive as Nuruai's.
"Heh…"
Nuruai wanted to pull a mocking smile, as he had imagined he would on his first day on the battlefield, when he faced the enemy who would kill him.
But the person who killed him was not the hero he had envisioned, like Jiraiya, but a pitiful wretch just like him, struggling to survive on the battlefield.
His death was also so hasty and ridiculous, not as glorious as he had fantasized.
And next, he would die, just as he had countless times in his nightmares.
But this time, he wouldn't wake up.
This time, it was real.
Cold rain hit his face, mixing with the blood pouring from his mouth. He clearly felt his life slipping away, like sand flowing through his fingers, impossible to grasp.
Nuruai couldn't smile.
He could only feel fear drowning him!
A hundred, a thousand times more intense than any previous nightmare!
It was the most primal and instinctive fear of death and nothingness!
"No, I don't want to die…"
A sound like a broken bellows came from his throat. Every indistinct word he uttered came out with a spatter of blood. "I… I just want to live. Why? What did I do wrong…"
Why?
Why me?
Why do I have to die at the hands of a stranger who also just wants to live?
"Argh!!"
The Konoha ninja screamed in fear and rushed over, repeatedly plunging his kunai into Nuruai's heart.
Fear, despair, pain, hatred…
Finally, the light in Nuruai's eyes faded, and his body fell backward limply.
Plop!
He fell heavily into the cold mud, splashing up a puddle of murky blood. The rain washed over his body, which was gradually losing its warmth, and the wound on his chest.
Nuruai looked at the sky, which was consumed by darkness. The only thing left in his consciousness, which was flickering out like a candle in the wind, was hatred.
Hatred for this meaningless war, and hatred for this cruel and cold world!
And so, at the edge of death, on this battlefield soaked with blood, a strange phenomenon occurred!
A bone-chilling, cold wind started to blow on the battlefield without any warning!
It carried a hatred, pain, and unwillingness that cut to the bone, as if countless spirits were silently roaring and wailing!
On the battlefield, the souls within the bodies of the recently deceased Konoha and Kumogakure ninja were drawn by some force. They slowly rose from all directions and from countless corpses, surging toward Nuruai's lifeless body!
Buzz!
Under the terrified gaze of the Konoha ninja, a bone-chilling aura surged out from the body.
A black, twisted figure gradually coalesced. A pale, bony mask replaced its face, and a crimson, blood-like light glowed in the eye holes of the mask.
A Hollow was born.
"Ugh… ah…"
It made a low, hoarse sound that wasn't human. Then, it suddenly raised its head and let out a roar toward the sky.
"ROAR!!"
A deafening roar filled with malice, like a peal of thunder, exploded on the battlefield, instantly overpowering all the fighting and explosions!
In the distance, Jiraiya, who was in his Konoha tent, suddenly looked up after sensing that chilling and terrifying aura.
In the next moment, his figure vanished from the tent. He stood on a high point, looking at the battlefield in the distance.
"What is that…?"
Looking at the tall and bizarre black figure on the battlefield, a look of surprise and confusion appeared on Jiraiya's face. "What is that thing?"
And in the sky above the battlefield, a fissure was torn in space. A figure walked out of the black hollow and looked at the 'Great Hollow' below.