Three-Inch Mortal Realm, Seven-Inch Underworld

With no word from Hashirama, a shadow fell over the imperial city that night.

At Sky Feather Pavilion's southeastern courtyard, everyone was at a loss.

The wind was strong. Mito sat before the stone table on the north side, her pregnant belly prominent.

Afraid she would catch a chill, Xiyang found a padded coat and wrapped it around her slight frame.

Kushina held Mito's hand, comforting her at her side.

Mito smiled and said she had been through this before, so there was no need to worry. But anyone could see how forced that smile was.

Her beloved husband was missing, quite possibly taken by Yama. At worst, he would never come back.

Even after years of cultivating her composure, she was still a woman about to give birth...

At the stone table to the south, Madara said nothing. Chiri stayed quietly beside him.

In the open space to the west.

Orochimaru finished writing the formula for Impure World Reincarnation. At its center lay a living sacrifice cultivated through cloning specifically for the technique.

To spare the sacrifice some pain, Orochimaru had placed him under a genjutsu beforehand.

Orochimaru set down the biological material he had preserved from Hashirama, then formed hand seals.

—Ninja Art: Impure World Reincarnation!

Whoosh! Wind rippled across the snow on the ground. Unfortunately, Impure World Reincarnation... failed to activate.

"..." Orochimaru lowered his hands and shook his head.

Everyone tensed and looked east. There, Yu had finished writing the formula for Pure Land Summoning. As a forbidden technique of the Six Paths, its formula was far larger and more intricate than that of Impure World Reincarnation.

Yu sat cross-legged in midair, the Six Paths Staff floating before him. He pressed his palms together.

—Six Paths: Pure Land Summoning.

Time passed, but that glimmer of a