The allied forces erupted in earthshaking cheers.
More than two thousand ninja surged like a black tide toward the white tower in the center of Amegakure from every direction.
They stepped over their comrades' corpses and trampled through burning ruins, their eyes gleaming with greed and fanaticism.
Take Amegakure!
Kill that rogue ninja!
Execute the traitor Orochimaru!
Countless thoughts churned through their minds, making them ignore the faint unease deep inside.
On the tower terrace.
Liuyu stood there alone, his white robes snapping in the wind.
He looked down.
The densely packed allied ninja swarmed toward him like ants. They brandished weapons, unleashed ninjutsu, screamed and roared, destroying everything in their path.
How...
Ugly.
Liuyu slowly drew the Zanpakuto at his waist.
Kyoka Suigetsu.
He did not activate Shikai or recite a release command. He simply pointed the blade downward and gently touched its tip to the terrace floor.
Then he closed his eyes.
"Forest of Menos."
He spoke softly.
"Open the gate."
Three thousand meters beneath Amegakure.
The sealed entrance to the Forest of Menos burst open with a thunderous roar.
It was no ordinary spatial rift, but a passage to another plane, filled with despair and emptiness.
Terrifying reiatsu poured from the passage, making the ground throughout Amegakure tremble.
The charging allied forces involuntarily slowed.
"A-an earthquake?"
"No... this feeling..."
Mahiru abruptly raised his head and looked at the sky.
The reishi barrier above Amegakure began to twist and distort.
Countless fine black cracks appeared across the once-transparent barrier.
The cracks spread.
Like shattered glass.
Crack-
The sky shattered.
The dark clouds had not dispersed, nor had sunlight broken through.
Space itself fractured piece by piece, like a mirror struck by a sledgehammer.
Beyond the broken fragments lay neither blue sky nor stars.
There was only