Land of Rice, Inari City.
The city was no longer the peaceful place it had been.
The streets were nearly deserted. Every ninja in the city had been mobilized, and Karin led Guren, Hotaru, and the other Land of Rice leaders through the streets, keeping order and reassuring the residents who peered out from their homes.
Fortunately, no residents had been hurt, and the buildings showed no signs of damage.
Everyone in the city had shut themselves indoors. Their windows were closed tight, with only a few frightened eyes peering through gaps in the paper screens at the sky outside.
Every gaze turned in the same direction—High Heaven Palace.
The palace that had once towered into the clouds, its sweeping eaves rising tier upon tier, was now a field of ruins.
A crimson barrier had risen around the wreckage, enclosing the entire palace.
Dust-covered figures gathered atop the ruins within the barrier. The mood was grim.
Apart from the Second Hokage, whose body had been brought back through Impure World Reincarnation, all of them bore injuries of one sort or another. Wariness lingered in their eyes. They clearly had not yet shaken off the battle...
"Hey, Fifth Hokage! You too, youngster from the Sand Village! Stop standing around and help me reinforce these seals!"
At the center of the ruins, Tobirama stood before rows of bandage-wrapped Uchiha, gazing with satisfaction at his thoroughly sealed "trophies."
The reincarnated Uchiha were swathed in layer upon layer of bandages. Their resentful eyes glared at the inherently evil Senju brat before them.
The corners of Tobirama's mouth lifted. A rare look of contentment crossed his usually stern face. Then he glanced at Jiraiya in the corner, and his expression changed at once.
"You handled yourself well enough in battle, but the moment there's a