Deep within the Miko's Palace in the Land of Demons, the atmosphere was so heavy it seemed ready to drip.
Shion, the fourteen-year-old Miko, sat upright in the seat of honor.
She wore lavish, elaborate Miko Garb, her long yellow hair meticulously arranged. A trace of childishness still lingered on her delicate face, but her purple eyes were extraordinarily calm-so calm they seemed almost empty.
She had already received the news.
Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's Sixth Hokage, who had plunged the Shinobi World into endless war, occupied eighty percent of its territory, and inspired awe or fear in countless people, had arrived in the Land of Demons and would soon come to visit the Miko.
The news had struck like a thunderclap.
Had Jiraiya and Dan Katō not yet said their farewells, they would not have been so alarmed.
Dan Katō was something of a teacher to the Miko, and they held the Fifth Hokage, Jiraiya, in great respect as well.
If those two were still here, there might have been some room to resist.
But both had left not long ago. Under normal circumstances, they should not even have reached Konoha yet, while Konoha's Hokage was already here.
The last they had heard of him, he had just destroyed Kumogakure.
His purpose in coming here was therefore all too obvious.
Taruho paced back and forth, fine beads of sweat covering his forehead, unable to conceal his anxiety.
"The Sixth Hokage, the man who easily took the Land of Wind, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Lightning, bringing even the three Daimyo's capitals under his control...
"Why would he suddenly come to a small country like our Land of Demons?"
Fear wound around everyone's hearts like icy vines.
The Land of Demons had no shinobi village, no vast army