"Failed again..." Black Zetsu asked softly.
"...It was expected."
"If even they couldn't stop Sawada Hiroki..."
"Then let Sawada Hiroki do as he wishes—we have no way to stop him anymore. Since he wants to revive Kaguya Otsutsuki, let him."
"Is that so? You're no longer worried about the Shinobi World being destroyed?"
"Working with you is no different from working with Sawada Hiroki. If I could stop Hiroki, I would certainly try. If I can't stop him... then that is fate's choice."
"Rather than worrying endlessly, why not see whether he can defeat her? Besides, isn't this what you wanted?!"
"Heh heh..."
Time continued to pass.
In a world with the extraordinary power known as chakra, a few years were enough to bring earth-shaking changes.
Konoha had completely changed.
The wooden little buildings that had once been filled with the style of the Warring States era had become increasingly rare. In their place stood reinforced concrete buildings rising one after another.
The sources of these construction materials varied widely.
The high-strength waterproof cement used to pour the foundations had just come off Amegakure's production line that morning; the specialty steel used to build the framework was smelted in the Land of Fire from iron ore mined in the Land of Iron the previous afternoon and shipped over at midnight.
Through the "Flying Thunder God Logistics Network" laid down by Minato Namikaze, these heavy construction materials could cross thousands of miles in an instant and appear at Konoha's construction sites, as easily as food delivery.
To accommodate its growing population, Konoha's walls had expanded outward three times in just a few years.
And in what was now Konoha's outskirts, a massive project was underway in full swing.
It was "Konoha First Airport."
Beside the airport, two long railways stretched all