"Achoo!"
Lazily sprawled on the sofa, with a fizzy drink in his left hand and fries and chips in his right, Hanazuki looked around.
"Did I catch a chill? No, it feels more like a snake has its eyes on me—a snake obsessed with science, at that."
In his lush inner world, where plants flourished, Black Nine-Tails stretched comfortably and glanced at the dwindling pile of snacks nearby. He couldn't help shouting, "Hey, kid, we're running out of snacks! Hurry up and make some more for me!"
"Quit nagging. All you do is eat all day. Maybe you should stop calling yourself Kurama and change your name to Orange Kurama. You do nothing but eat and sleep, so you might as well change species from fox to pig while you're at it..."
Before he could finish, Black Nine-Tails' tails shot upright. His blood-red fox eyes glared into Hanazuki's red ones.
"Didn't I lend you my chakra? If I hadn't worked so hard to convert it for you, would you be able to use Fire Style: Great Spiral Ring with your own chakra?"
"Didn't I already pay you six months' worth of snacks in advance? You ate them all in ten days, and now you're getting offended because I called you a pig!"
Half the courtyard in Forest Courtyard was piled high with wrappers and empty bottles. Soaking in the pale blue Heart Lake, they gradually dissolved into chakra.
The gentle breeze now carried all kinds of chip flavors. Hanazuki sniffed and his expression shifted slightly.
"Tomato flavor. I didn't think you had such good taste."
"Ugh, people who eat tomato-flavored chips are heretics."
"Are you trying to pick a fight, Orange Pig?"
After a brief silence, the countless wrappers and empty bottles vanished. Wisps of pale blue chakra floated in the air, and the crimson eyes that had been holding back now turned strangely cold.
Black Nine-Tails dropped his playful air, as if he could sense Hanazuki's mood. Leaning against a tree taller than he was, he smiled.
"What's wrong? In a bad mood?"
"I ran into a ninja on the battlefield whom I respect. It got me thinking."
"Compared with her, those old geezers who know nothing but living off their past achievements, who send children who should still be playing to the battlefield without a second thought, who never stop spouting the Will of Fire while keeping a tight grip on power—they're getting more and more insufferable."
His lips curled upward. His gleaming fangs showed more and more clearly, until he threw back his head and laughed.
"Ha ha ha ha! Is that why you let that old woman go? I was wondering why you'd let an enemy escape. So you were moved by the moment."
"Hey, Uchiha brat, why put up with it? With your Mangekyō Sharingan and my chakra, what couldn't the two of us do together?"
His blood-red, slit-pupil eyes held a strange allure. He simply couldn't understand why Hanazuki, despite having the power to topple the entire shinobi world in a short time, still chose to stay hidden.
"Idiot. What's the point of a brief reign? True strength lies in leaving a mark on the wheel of history that can withstand the passage of time—and controlling where history turns."
"You're the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, and I'm someone who surpasses the Sharingan. Of course, our combined power is formidable, but we're not absolutely without natural enemies."
"Don't tell me you haven't sensed the intense malice lurking in the forest. That's what our so-called natural enemy looks like."
A cold glint flickered in his intricate crimson eyes. The malice was coming from the direction of Uchiha Obito's home.
Already eager to see how his successor is doing, Uchiha Madara...
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the border of the Land of Wind.
Pale moonlight spilled over the dazzling Gold Dust. The ceaseless fog was held back by fierce winds and poisonous smoke.
"Rasa and Chiyo are here, the Third Kazekage has disappeared, and Sunagakure's string of defeats has left it severely weakened. Even its only remaining combat force has no choice but to guard the Land of Wind's border."
"You spread the flames of war across the entire shinobi world and indirectly set off the blood mist of the Third Shinobi World War. Do you still have time to get sentimental?"
Deep in the fog, unable to gain the upper hand, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—handpicked by Kirigakure in the Land of Water for this Shinobi World War—retreated in full, leaving behind only a few corpses from Sunagakure and Kirigakure.
"A pack of bloodthirsty sharks. Whenever they see an opening, they bite off a chunk of flesh without hesitation."
Worry lined her aged face. The Third Kazekage had been missing for so long that he was probably dead. With Sunagakure leaderless, it was time to choose a new Kazekage who could steady the situation.
"Compared with the other great nations, Sunagakure simply doesn't have enough manpower. Even if puppets make up for the shortage, it still has very few top fighters capable of making the other great nations back down."
Standing atop the fortress, Rasa looked back, his face clouded with worry. The Sunagakure that had raised him seemed to sway in the breeze, on the verge of collapse.
"Top fighters? If we want to protect the village, we have no choice but to unleash that monster. The One-Tail, Shukaku of the Sand."
Pakura said nothing. Ever since Sunagakure's previous Jinchuriki died, the demon with its vast chakra had been sealed away at the Temple of Wind in the Land of Wind.
"A Jinchuriki, then? If impoverished Sunagakure is to stand against its enemies, this may be our only option. But finding someone suitable for Shukaku won't be easy."
Rasa murmured to himself, while Chiyo looked up at the sky. A few stars glimmered in the dark.
"The quieter the night, the more I feel my age. Your era is coming. At this point, all these old bones of mine want is to see my grandson."
"Where are you, Sasori?"
Meanwhile, far beyond the Five Great Shinobi Countries, on an offshore peninsula, at the Graveyard of Mountains.
Deep underground in a vast cavern, a white-haired, red-eyed old man scrutinized the scene before him. At last, he made his decision.
"This child, Uchiha Obito... His eyes are promising. They're full of love. When that love is lost, the power he gains will be more than enough to make him an agent of my will."
"Eh? I thought you'd pay more attention to that kid. He's an Uchiha prodigy with talent—he can use the Flying Thunder God with ease at just ten years old!"
White Zetsu was completely baffled. He pointed to Uchiha Hanazuki, whose name appeared near the top of the Uchiha member list.
"He doesn't have Uchiha eyes, much less the love the Uchiha cling to. The Uchiha who inherits my will doesn't need talent. What I need is the hatred born from that obsessive love."
White Zetsu nodded slightly. So that was it. He seemed too smart and talented to fool.