"Achoo!"
Lying lazily on the sofa, Hua Yue looked around, a bottle of soda in his left hand and fries and chips in his right.
"Did I catch a chill? No, it feels like a snake's got its eye on me—and a snake obsessed with science, at that."
In the lush, verdant depths of his inner world, the Black Nine-Tails stretched contentedly and glanced at the nearly empty pile of snacks. Unable to hold back, he shouted, "Hey, brat! We're running out of snacks. Hurry up and make me some more!"
"Give it a rest. All you do is eat. Maybe you should stop calling yourself Kurama and change your name to Orange Lama. All you do is eat and sleep, so you might as well change species from fox to pig, too..."
Before Hua Yue could finish, the Black Nine-Tails' tails shot up. His blood-red fox eyes met Hua Yue's red eyes in a furious glare.
"Didn't I lend you my chakra? If I hadn't worked so hard to convert it for you, could you have used Fire Style: Great Spiral Wheel with your own chakra?"
"Didn't I already pay you six months' worth of snacks in advance? You finished them all in ten days, and now you're getting offended when I call you a pig!"
Half the courtyard in the Forest Courtyard was piled high with snack wrappers and empty bottles. Soaking in the pale blue Heart Lake, they slowly dissolved into chakra.
The once-gentle breeze now carried the scent of all kinds of chips. Hua Yue caught a whiff, and his expression shifted slightly.
"Tomato flavor. Didn't know you had such good taste."
"Tch. Anyone who eats tomato-flavored chips is a heretic."
"Are you picking a fight, Orange Pig?"
After a brief silence, the wrappers and empty bottles vanished. Wisps of pale blue chakra floated in the air, and the restrained crimson eyes turned inexplicably icy.
The Black Nine-Tails also dropped his playful attitude. As if he could read Hua Yue's mood, he leaned against a tree taller than himself, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"What's wrong? In a bad mood?"
"I met a ninja on the battlefield who was worthy of respect. It got me thinking."
"Compared to her, those old fools are more and more repulsive the longer I look at them. They know nothing but living off their dwindling reserves, sending children who should be playing off to war, and spouting the Will of Fire while keeping a tight grip on power."
His lips curled up, revealing sharp, glinting fangs. Then he threw back his head and laughed.
"Ha ha ha ha! So that's why you let the old woman go? I couldn't figure out why you'd spare an enemy. Turns out you were moved by the moment."
"Hey, Uchiha brat, why hold back? With your Mangekyō Sharingan and my chakra, what can't we accomplish if we work together?"
There was something strangely alluring in the fox's blood-red, slit pupils. He simply couldn't understand why Hua Yue, despite possessing the power to bring down the entire Ninja World in a short time, still chose to remain in the shadows.
"Idiot. What's the point of ruling for a little while? True strength means withstanding the passage of time, leaving your mark on the wheels of history, and shaping its course."
"You, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, and me, whose power surpasses the Sharingan's—of course we'd be powerful together. But we wouldn't be invincible."
"Don't tell me you haven't sensed the dense malice hidden in the forest. That's what I mean by a natural enemy."
The intricate crimson eyes flickered with cold light. The malice was coming from the direction of Uchiha Obito's home.
Already eager to observe your successor, Uchiha Madara?
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
At the border of the Land of Wind, pale moonlight spilled over dazzling Gold Dust. The relentless fog was held back by fierce winds and poisonous smoke.
"Rasa and Chiyo, the Third Kazekage's disappearance, and Sunagakure's repeated defeats have severely weakened the village. Even our only combat force has been forced to guard the Land of Wind's border."
"You set the blood mist rolling, spread the flames of war across the entire Ninja World, and indirectly sparked the Third Shinobi World War. And now you're capable of feeling sympathy?"
In the dense fog, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—carefully selected by Kirigakure for this war—finally withdrew, unable to gain an advantage. They left behind only a few corpses from Sunagakure and Kirigakure.
"A pack of bloodthirsty sharks. Wherever they spot an opening, they'll bite off a chunk of flesh without hesitation."
Worry lined Chiyo's old face. The Third Kazekage had been missing for so long that they could probably declare him dead. With Sunagakure leaderless, they needed to choose a new Kazekage who could steady the village.
"Compared to the other great nations, Sunagakure has far too few people. Puppets can make up for the lack of numbers, but we have very few top fighters who can make the other nations back down."
Standing atop the fortress, Rasa looked back, his face clouded with worry. Sunagakure, the village where he had been born and raised, seemed to be teetering on the brink of destruction in the wind.
"Top fighters, you say? If we want to protect the village, there's only one choice now: unleash that monster. The One-Tail, Shukaku of the Sand."
Pakura said nothing. Ever since Sunagakure's previous Jinchūriki had died, the demon with its vast reserves of chakra had been sealed away at the Temple of Wind in the Land of Wind.
"A Jinchūriki, huh? If poor Sunagakure wants the strength to repel its enemies, this may be the only way. But finding someone suitable for Shukaku won't be easy."
Rasa murmured to himself, while Chiyo looked up at the sky. In the dimness, only a few stars glimmered.
"The later it gets, the more keenly I feel my age. It's your era now. The only thing these old bones of mine wish for is to see my grandson."
"Where are you, Sasori?"
Meanwhile, far beyond the Five Great Nations, on an overseas peninsula known as the Graveyard Mountains...
Deep inside a vast underground cavern, an old man with white hair and blood-red eyes studied the matter before him, then made his decision.
"This child, Uchiha Obito. His eyes are promising. They're full of love. When he loses that love, the power he gains will make him a perfect agent for my will."
"Huh? I thought you'd be more interested in this kid. He's a talented Uchiha prodigy who can already use the Flying Thunder God with ease at ten."
White Zetsu was baffled. He pointed to Uchiha Hanazuki, whose name was near the top of the list of Uchiha clan members.
"He doesn't have Uchiha eyes, and he doesn't have the love the Uchiha cling to. The Uchiha who inherits my will doesn't need talent. He needs hatred born from that unwavering love."
White Zetsu nodded slightly. So that was it. He seemed too smart and talented to fool?
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