[I once prayed to the gods in the vast shrine, but the one who answered me...]

Whether in the Ancient Sun Land secret realm or the Eternal Samsara secret realm, Princess Yao's identity and the divine artifact bestowed upon her by the Sun Wheel Queen undoubtedly made her the key to preventing and resolving the City of the Sun Wheel's descent into Endless Samsara.

And after learning that she had already caught vague glimpses of Sun Wheel City's nightmarish future, Arata had thought he had been dealt the perfect opening hand. With her help, he should have been able to clear this secret realm in no time.

Yet events had taken two unexpected turns, neither of which he could readily resolve.

First, Arata had overlooked just how deeply Princess Yao revered the sun.

He had merely suggested that the sun might be the source of the problem, and she had immediately protested vehemently and demanded an apology.

That was perfectly understandable. After all, he had offended her faith first, and saying a few words would hardly have cost Arata anything.

But that was precisely where the problem lay.

It was the second thing he had overlooked: the Uchiha Clan's nasty inability to bend when confronted with a problem.

After all, from the standpoint of the greater good, he had come to help Sun Wheel City resolve its impending crisis—to save its countless residents from falling into Endless Samsara!

That was one reason Arata had chosen to open the [Ancient Sun Land] secret realm first, even though the objective in the [Eternal Samsara] secret realm was more straightforward and offered clearer leads.

Yet he had been met with hostility from the key figure almost as soon as he arrived, which naturally left him somewhat uncomfortable.

More importantly, the root cause of the impending disaster was divine punishment sent down by the sun. He had neither slandered nor