Shinichi did not grow smug after gaining Six Paths-level power. Instead, he felt an inexplicable unease and a sense of foreboding.
He knew that although the shinobi world seemed peaceful and calm, undercurrents still churned beneath the surface, with minor clashes breaking out constantly. The apparent peace between the great shinobi villages could not conceal their deep-seated conflicts and lurking threats.
Looking back to the aftermath of the First Shinobi World War, the wounds between the villages had yet to fully heal. Though that war had ended, the rifts it left behind continued to deepen.
Great shinobi villages such as Konoha, the Sand, and the Stone seemed to have resumed normal operations, but countless hidden currents still ran beneath the surface.
With hostile forces infiltrating their ranks and antagonism festering between shinobi, any small clash could spark another war.
Late at night, when everything was quiet, Shinichi often lay in bed, lost in thought. He felt a subtle pressure, as though an invisible force were drawing the shinobi world toward an unpredictable future.
Even his Six Paths-level power could not free him from that atmosphere of unease.
After all, turmoil in the shinobi world was not merely a contest of strength. It also involved countless intricate political struggles, exchanges of interests, and shifts in people's loyalties.
He realized that although he possessed immense power-the Sharingan, unlimited chakra, and other extraordinary abilities-none of it was enough to resolve the shinobi world's fundamental problems.
The shadow of war had not vanished completely. As time passed, it only grew more unpredictable.
The peace they enjoyed might be nothing more than a temporary illusion, a flawlessly disguised calm.
Countless times, Shinichi had wondered where that nagging unease came from. Was it some impending war, or a change he foresaw in the future?
Perhaps his