"We're already at the eighth match?!"
"Are we going in or not? If we don't go now, we might not get another chance. Are we really giving up?"
"Was all the effort we put in over the past year for nothing?"
Here, ninja from different factions argued with one another, seemingly hoping to glean some insight into the situation from the others.
Yet as the discussion continued, the ninja who had no choice but to face reality finally fell silent.
Some of the ninja Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had frightened away had returned to the Plaza, but clearly, their courage had not returned with them.
They no longer had the nerve to enter the arena.
Ever since the existence of the Ōtsutsuki had been made public, every capable ninja in the shinobi world had ostensibly been preparing for battle. But after witnessing beings on an entirely different plane of existence firsthand, their instinctive response was to turn a blind eye.
As though none of it would happen so long as they refused to face it.
Back when Konoha held the Shinobi World Conference, they had revealed the existence of the Ōtsutsuki while also screening footage of the battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.
If Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's power, which far surpassed those two legends of the shinobi world, had filled their hearts with despair,
then after Konoha's Naruto Uzumaki appeared and effortlessly crushed Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, they could no longer muster even the thought of opposing him.
Everyone knew that ninja had never been people who lived out in the sunlight, and the shinobi world was likewise rife with schemes and intrigue.
Yet their long and all-too-short history had proven one truth time and again—no scheme could withstand reality.
Just as they were doing now: they had clearly set foot on the battlefield