When the fortress came to a complete stop and the lift descended, Neji's iconic figure in white appeared at the hatch, plunging the edge of the Forest of Death into a stunned, deathly silence.
Standing on the lift, Neji looked down at the shocked faces below, his gaze eventually settling on the Third Hokage. His face was still somewhat pale, yet he stood straight as a pine, his silver hair drifting gently in the wind.
"Lord Hokage," Neji said. His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly across the entire area, calm with the poise of one in control of power. "I have fulfilled my mission. The Sky Fortress is hereby formally handed over to Konoha. In peacetime, it can remain above the clouds as a relay communications hub. Konoha's orders can reach the borders of the Ninja World in an instant. In wartime..." He paused, his gaze sweeping across the enormous cannons below. "It can become an aerial fortress. Wherever the Chakra Supercannon points is where Konoha's will shall prevail!"
Silence.
A deathly silence.
Then came frenzied cheers like a roaring mountain and crashing sea, along with incredulous cries of amazement!
Konoha's shinobi, whether high-ranking officials or ordinary ANBU members, looked at the towering fortress and the white-clad youth standing atop it, their eyes burning with an unprecedented light!
At that moment, Neji's name, along with this steel fortress that had conquered the skies, was etched forever into Konoha's history—and was destined to shake the entire Ninja World!
Surrounded by the crowd, Neji gave a detailed report of the battle and led them through the fortress's core areas, especially the central chamber modified by his Crystal Clone, filled with profound runes and slowly absorbing natural energy, as well as its astonishingly powerful weapon systems.
When Neji described how