Madara Uchiha's Expectations
The battle at the Valley of the End. You have taken Hashirama Senju's flesh and blood and transplanted it into yourself, and from then on you have been trapped in an endless wait.
Quietly lying dormant, silently enduring the years, he allowed the Yin Power of the Uchiha and the Yang Power of the Senju Clan to slowly blend within his body, allowing the Chakra Indra and Asura, two generations of sworn enemies, to gradually merge and collide.
It was a long and drawn-out struggle with no end in sight.
You endured until your twilight years, when your body was decaying and your lifespan was nearing its end, before finally opening those Rinnegan on your deathbed.
But by then, you were already too old to stand up straight, your body exhausted and withered, you no longer had the strength to nurture these supreme Dōjutsu.
With no other choice, you could only transplant the eyes that held the Nagato Uzumaki of your life's obsession to Nagato Uzumaki, a complete stranger, allowing the body of an outsider to protect this hard-won Six Paths Power for you.
A demon who dominated the Ninja World and was unparalleled in killing, in the end, couldn't even protect the eyes he had opened.
Natsu let out a soft breath, her tone light but carrying a heavy sigh, "That's what it truly means to be too late."
The corridor fell silent instantly.
Ban lowered his eyes to look at his outstretched palm, his five fingers slightly clenched and extended, his strength steady and his muscles powerful.
At this moment, his body was full and strong, with Chakra surging through his meridians. Every inch of his flesh and blood exuded the vitality and robustness of his peak period, showing no signs of aging or decline.
For the first time, he clearly realized that his fate had already been quietly rewritten.
The awakening of the Rinnegan requires the depletion of a massive amount of ocular power and life force; it is an extreme transformation and tempering process.
In the original timeline, he barely touched the threshold in his twilight years, with only the afterglow of his final moments remaining.
But right now, he is still in his prime, with a strong physique and profound knowledge.
When he opened his eyes two or three years later, it wasn't a dying moment at the end of his life, nor a hasty conclusion, but the beginning of a brand new journey for him.
In the past, the Rinnegan was the final chapter of his life's regrets; in this moment, it is the starting point for breaking through and being reborn.
Natsu straightened up, no longer leaning against the stone pillar, and slowly walked towards the Training Ground.
"So there's no need to rush, just let things settle down slowly."
"This Rinnegan was nurtured by you day after day, slowly cultivated from the depths of your bloodline. It has been rooted in your own body from beginning to end."
"When it truly opens its eyes, the scenery you see will be completely different. It won't be a desperate glimpse of a world lost in the moment of death, but rather the era of Madara Uchiha, which has just officially begun."
Ban quietly followed behind him, taking a few steps in the afterglow of the setting sun, when her cool voice suddenly rang out softly, "Thank you."
Natsu didn't turn around, but casually raised her right hand and waved it lightly behind her, her tone light and frank. "No need to thank me, we're all family."
He paused for a moment, then added with a hint of playful anticipation, "But once your Rinnegan fully formed, I'll have to study it thoroughly. If Tobirama were still alive and saw you reach this point, he'd probably be so angry he'd smash all the Scroll of Seals in the room."
Ban remained silent for a moment, the evening breeze brushing against his brows and eyes, and a slight smile appeared in his usually cold and expressionless eyes.
"I'm really looking forward to it."
In the top-floor office of the World Economic Herald, Morgans was slumped in a leather chair, passing the boring afternoon.
He crossed his legs, a steaming cup of coffee between his fingertips, and casually flipped through the stacks of news articles from various places on his desk.
The pen tip glides across the paper, revealing nothing but mundane, uninteresting news.
More than two years have passed since the end of the Summit War, and the entire ocean is unusually quiet.
The Four Emperors retreated to their respective territories, secluded themselves to recuperate and heal the wounds left by the battle;
The navy tightened its defenses, holding its G-2 Headquarters and refraining from easily venturing out to provoke trouble.
Even Uchiha Natsu, who was extremely popular in the West Blue, seemed to have completely vanished from the face of the earth and remained silent for a long time.
For Morgans, who makes a living from sensational news, this Four Blues world is even more unbearable than a complete crop failure.
Just as he was getting bored and about to doze off, the Den Den Mushi on the corner of the table suddenly started ringing urgently.
Morgans answered the call casually, without any expectation whatsoever.
The intelligence officer's voice coming through the receiver was trembling violently, his words were broken, and he couldn't even maintain a steady tone, clearly indicating that he had encountered a scene that would shatter his understanding of the world.
After hearing only two or three sentences, Morgans suddenly sprang up from his relaxed seat.
The warm coffee spilled and overflowed, covering the entire desk and soaking half a stack of news articles, but he was completely unaware.
Its fluffy feathers instantly bristled, making it round and plump, like a furry ball stunned by a thunderclap.
"Tomorrow, every front page must feature Jack the Drought!"
Unable to contain his shock and excitement, he almost roared orders to his subordinates outside the door.
"No more of those bland Navy wanted poster updates! Our top headlines will feature the new generation of Uchiha!"
"That sword strike at Coral Port cleaved more than just the crumbling walls of the dockside warehouses; it firmly shook the very fabric of the New World!"
Jack the Drought, one of the All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates, was defeated and disappeared; his whereabouts are unknown.
The person who made the move was not the Four Blues Uchiha Natsu, but a group of young people under his command whose average age was less than fifteen.
Although it was Uchiha Kei brought this battle to a close, the entire ocean never makes a fine distinction between what happens behind the scenes and what's on the front lines. Everyone will know that this awe-inspiring achievement belongs entirely to the Uchiha Clan.
Morgans's hand holding the quill trembled uncontrollably; the quill tip flew across the paper, ink dripping down in a flurry of strokes, his writing flowing smoothly like clouds and water.
When writing the scene where Uchiha Kei activates his Semi-Complete Susanoo and sends the mammoth's body flying with a single sword strike, he used too much force and almost broke the pen.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his surging emotions, and checked the intelligence details word by word.
Coral Port, ruins of an old warehouse, the Ancient Zoan Mammoth Fruit, Uchiha Susanoo, a single sword strike severely injuring the Three Disasters... any one of these keywords alone would be enough to top the trending searches on the internet.
When all these weighty labels are piled up, it's no longer ordinary news; it's a super storm sweeping across the entire New World.
He didn't even need to embellish it.
The truth itself is more shocking and outrageous than any fabricated drama.
Before dawn, while darkness still enveloped the sea, the giant printing presses of the World Economy News Paper were already running at full speed.
The rumbling of machinery pierced the dawn, and freshly printed newspapers quietly brewed a tremor that would soon sweep Four Blues.
Morgans personally finalized the layout, using the newspaper's largest bold font to firmly pin the headline to the top of the front page.