The Heavenly Screen Appears

In Konoha's sixtieth year, the afternoon was almost too peaceful.

Sunlight filtered past the layered faces of Hokage Rock and spilled lazily across the village streets.

Naruto Uzumaki strolled along, wondering whether to get Ichiraku Ramen that evening or play a prank on Iruka.

Without warning, a vast shadow fell over the entire village.

"Huh? Is it going to rain?" Naruto scratched his bright blond hair and looked up in confusion.

The next instant, he—and everyone else in Konoha—froze.

The sky was no longer its familiar blue.

An immense screen of light stretched beyond sight, covering the heavens like a scroll unfurled by a god.

"Wh-what is that?!"

"Are we under attack?!"

"Quick! Tell the Hokage!"

After a brief, deathly silence, panic spread through the crowd like a plague.

Screams, cries, and the hurried footsteps of ninja shattered the village's peace.

Countless hands instinctively gripped kunai and shuriken. Villagers scrambled for cover or ran to their children.

Not much time had passed since the Third Shinobi World War. Its shadow had yet to fade, and Konoha was still at its most vigilant.

Screech! A sharp birdcall cut through the sky.

A Ninja Hawk from Konoha's reconnaissance team tried to approach the screen, only to pass straight through it.

"We can't make contact. It has no physical form!" A member of the Hyuga Lineage activated his Byakugan, but the screen seemed as deep as a bottomless sea. He could not see through it at all, nor could he detect any chakra flowing within it.

In the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, flung open the window and took the pipe from his mouth. Unprecedented shock and gravity filled his face.

ANBU ninja had already appeared behind him like ghosts and knelt on one knee.

"Evacuate all noncombatants immediately! Initiate a level-one alert! Assemble every jonin! Send out all reconnaissance squads and find out where that thing came from and what it wants!"

He issued one order after another, swift and steady, but the hand gripping the window frame betrayed his turmoil.

The same chaos was unfolding in the other four great nations. The Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village, the Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village, and the Tsuchikage of the Hidden Stone Village

all stood at the highest points in their respective villages, gazing up at the sky screen that covered the world, their hearts full of suspicion and wariness.

The sudden phenomenon brought the entire Shinobi World to a standstill and plunged it into fear.

Yet the man behind it all, Hyuga Xiu, lay at ease on the grass outside his secret base. He admired his "masterpiece" through the gaps in the leaves, an unnoticed smile curling his lips.

"Looks like it worked. Even more impressive than I expected!"

He murmured to himself, a prankster's excitement flashing in his eyes. "Panic! Suspect each other! This stagnant pool needs stirring up."

He was not from this world. He was a soul who had arrived here by accident and knew how the story unfolded.

He had no powerful Kekkei Genkai, nor a Tailed Beast to give him an unfair advantage. He was an ordinary Chunin, an obscure member of a branch family within the Hyuga Lineage.

He knew of the tragedies to come and the darkness hidden beneath the sunlight. But with his own strength alone, he might not even be able to protect himself.

The arrival of the Sky Screen System had given him a glimmer of hope. If enough people believed what appeared on the screen, he would have a chance to turn fiction into reality and change the future.

And so a mad plan had taken shape in his mind. If he could not change the world through strength, he would overturn it with information!

Using the system, he had created this supposed "Prophetic Sky Screen."

He would weave a lie vast enough to make the entire Shinobi World actors in his script, leading them step by step toward the future he had prepared for them.

Just as everyone's nerves stretched to the breaking point, the screen in the sky changed again.

Light began to flow across its surface like rippling water, then slowly gathered into enormous words formed of light: "Konoha's Shadows: The Truth Behind the Nine-Tails Incident."

"The Nine-Tails Incident?!" Everyone in Konoha was stunned.

That disaster twelve years ago was an unhealed wound in every villager's heart—and the source of Naruto's painful childhood.

The faces of Konoha's leaders changed sharply as well. Hiruzen's heart sank. He had a terrible feeling about this.

The words on the screen slowly faded, replaced by moving images of startling clarity.

[The first image showed the Nine-Tailed Fox rampaging through Konoha.]

[Then the scene shifted to a dark underground cavern. The steady drip of water rang out with peculiar clarity.]

[Tap... An out-of-place sound suddenly intruded.]

[Tap... Tap... The sound of a hard wooden tip striking stone grew clearer and clearer!]

[At last, as the sound drew near, a blurred silhouette emerged from the darkness!]

[It was an elderly man with a cruel-looking face, leaning on a cane. White bandages wrapped his right eye and arm, making him look like a disabled old man who had yet to recover from grievous injuries.]

[A line of small text appeared above his head: Danzo Shimura, leader of Konoha's Root Organization.]

Even without the screen's introduction, Danzo's face and name were enough to frighten children in Konoha into silence. There was hardly a leader among the Shinobi World's villages who did not know him.

[As the view slowly shifted, a young man came into sight opposite Danzo. He had gray-white skin, long blue hair tied into multiple braids, and stitch lines all over his body.]

[A line of small text appeared above his head as well: True Person, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit of the Ninefold Organization.]

[An inhuman smile, full of curiosity and malice, hung on the young man's face. He idly poked a white creature struggling on the ground with one finger.]

["Danzo, you're finally here! Oh, look at this! What a fascinating body. This thing called White Zetsu doesn't even have a fixed soul shape. It's like modeling clay you can mold however you want. So much more fun than an ordinary human soul!"]

[He suddenly gave it a hard squeeze. White Zetsu let out a short, strange cry, and part of his body deformed like mud!]

["Hmph!" Danzo snorted. "Stop wasting time with your toys! Did you find anything useful in his memories?"]

["Oh, how cold!" True Person let go and tossed White Zetsu aside like trash.]

["I found a very interesting 'future'!"]

["A pitiful wretch in a mask who calls himself 'Madara Uchiha' plans to take advantage of Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki giving birth. He'll release that big fox and destroy your entire village!"]

"What?" Most of Konoha's people were stunned.

They had always thought the Nine-Tails' rampage was an accident. They had never imagined someone had been behind it.