The Current State of the Shinobi World

"I don't know whether we should consider ourselves lucky or unlucky."

Ye Rong looked at the token in Tao Yu's hand, then glanced around at the collapsed gorge. She couldn't help feeling a little wistful.

If Uchiha Madara, a Chosen One, hadn't suddenly appeared, then facing that many Cockroach People...

Remembering what had just happened, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

The information they had on the Cockroach People was seriously flawed!

That had to be corrected!

Quite some time had passed, and they still hadn't discovered anything wrong with this world.

That meant the pioneers who'd run into a situation like this were probably all dead!

It made sense. Faced with attacks coming from every direction, even a Boundary Breaker would be torn to pieces if surrounded...

"Let's go. It'll be better once we enter the Land of Fire and reach the World Barrier."

"Right. From what Lord Madara said, the Land of Fire seems to have some problems too, but surely nothing like what we just faced."

"Yeah, let's hurry..."

Having just escaped death, they had no time to celebrate their survival. They quickly continued toward the Land of Fire.

At last, before nightfall, they saw the lush greenery ahead—a scene completely different from the one they'd left behind.

"Pick up the pace. We're here."

"Phew, thank goodness. Maybe it was Lord Madara's earlier attack, but we haven't run into any more trouble on the way..."

With a hint of excitement on their faces and a trace of lingering fear, they quickly reached the World Barrier.

On the way, Tao Yu had heard the cry of a sky ninja eagle, but hadn't bothered with it.

Just as they reached the border and began using a pioneer's methods to open the World Barrier, a squad wearing Konoha