The mountain forest in the Land of Hot Water, where the fierce battle with Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's "vessel" had once taken place, had long since lost its former peace.
Space warped slightly, like ripples spreading across water after a stone was tossed in. Shinichi stepped out of the center of the distortion with a yawn, his eyes bleary, looking as though he might lie down right there for another nap.
"Tch, what a pain." He stretched luxuriously, his bones giving a series of soft cracks. His voice was full of the resignation of someone dragged into work against his will. "I've barely had a few quiet days since becoming the 'Hokage's wife,' and now I'm off on another business trip.
"Next time I go out, I'm bringing my signed, limited-edition collector's copy of Icha Icha Paradise, no matter what. At least it'll keep me entertained on the road."
He surveyed his surroundings. The once-lush woodland was now a scene of devastation, its enormous craters, snapped trees, and scorched earth bearing silent witness to the brutality of that battle.
A faint scent of smoke and destruction still seemed to linger in the air, though time had diluted it considerably.
Shinichi strolled about casually, as relaxed as if he were walking through his own backyard.
He made no deliberate effort to sense anything, but his extraordinarily keen perception had already brought everything around him under his scrutiny.
He could even distinguish clearly between the marks he had left back then and those formed by nature.
"Mm, that destructive power is still a sight to behold."
He rubbed his chin and offered a noncommittal appraisal of his old "masterpiece." Then his perpetually half-lidded, dead-fish eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze turning toward an inconspicuous corner in the middle of the clearing.
An extremely faint trace