Night fell, and the sea roared.
Inside a base on a certain island, singing and dancing were in full swing. There seemed to be a celebration underway.
"Wild Chicken, cheer up a little. Those guys won a huge victory, after all." A drunken Pot Chicken tried to coax the chicken beside him into drinking.
"A chicken must always remain vigilant and devoted to duty. Look at yourselves!"
"What a killjoy." The chicken immediately lost all enthusiasm and left alone.
He staggered down the corridor, mouthing off. "Damn bastard. Without your father's support, could you have become Chicken Chief so young? Putting on airs-ptui!"
Little did he know that a pair of eyes suddenly appeared in a patch of darkness behind him. When his shadow touched it, the eyes swiftly slipped into his shadow...
The chicken swayed into the bathroom. Just as he was about to relieve himself, his shadow suddenly crept up his body, binding his limbs and throat like a multitude of arms.
Shadow Possession Jutsu, activate!
At that moment, a man with pineapple-shaped hair and old-fashioned clothing emerged from his shadow.
Two more people instantly appeared beside him. One pressed a hand to his head, and the chicken sobered up in fright. "What are you going to-mmph, mmph..."
"Sorry. His body's so frail that I didn't dare use much force."
"Nara, don't let it happen again!" With that, Yamanaka Ichiro placed his hand back on the chicken's head. Secret Technique-Mind Reading Technique!
In an instant, he appeared inside the other's mind and saw a chicken brain. Using his secret technique, he rapidly read through the chicken's memories as though unrolling scrolls...
Outside, the other two stood guard over him with solemn expressions. Hyuga Steel Plate activated his Byakugan to watch their surroundings.
"How does it look?" Nara asked.
"Same as before. Nothing much happening. But why do these chickens' speech and habits seem a little like ours?"
"Include that in the report too. Our mission is simply to gather detailed intelligence on this world!"
"That's true."
Soon, Yamanaka Jiro finished his search. He nodded to the other two and swiftly vanished, while Nara sank back into the chicken's shadow and controlled him as he left the base.
The chicken guards ignored him along the way. In fact, they were all under Uchiha genjutsu. The team had spent half a day infiltrating the base's perimeter, leaving only its internal personnel untouched.
Nara passed through the harbor and metal buildings, then took a small metal boat to the isolated island nearby.
Moving through the crowd and watching everyone bustle about, Nara couldn't help feeling proud. They had been fortunate enough to be the first to enter the Otherworld and carry out His Majesty's mission. What incredible luck!
"Hey, Nara, you've been pretty active lately. You were actually the first to capture one of their key personnel. Looks like his rank isn't low, either."
"Heh, heh." A pair of eyes and a mouth appeared in the man's shadow, grinning. "Just luck. Thanks to His Majesty introducing the military merit system and points system, I finally redeemed the Shadow Possession Technique. Otherwise, how would I ever have gotten this chance?"
"Indeed. We have His Majesty's wisdom and might to thank."
"Enough chatting. Time to report to Lord Shinha."
After receiving Nara's report, Hatake Shinha immediately went to Madara Uchiha's side.
"Lord Hokage, Lord Izuna, we've finished investigating this world!"
Madara immediately perked up and urged him on. "Tell me! Are there any powerful fighters?"
As it turned out, this world had no special abilities. Instead, it had developed a system called technology. Besides electricity, there were metal weapons such as guns, cannons, aircraft, ships, and tanks. Once ordinary people became proficient with them, they could easily kill any powerful fighter.
However, this Chicken Country was rather unusual. It had only recently risen to prominence. Although its inhabitants were Pot Chickens, they didn't consider themselves chickens and went around provoking others and starting wars!
Their main forces were concentrated abroad, leaving their homeland poorly defended!
"No powerful fighters? How boring." Faced with the prospect of fighting those steel contraptions, Madara immediately lost interest.
"Oh, there's one other strange thing. Hyuga Steel Plate noticed that the chickens here speak and behave very similarly to us. They may be our descendants. Should we inform His Majesty?"
"Tch, what a pain. If they're our descendants, all the more reason for them to submit to us! Report it yourself if you want. As far as I'm concerned, I don't care who they are. Anyone who dares stand in my way dies!"
Cold sweat broke out on Maya's forehead, and he hastily answered, "Yes!"
Only after he left did Izuna speak up. "Big brother, do we really have to live beneath the Senju? With your strength, perhaps we could..."
"Shut your mouth!" Madara immediately snapped at him. "Izuna, I'm warning you. Don't entertain those idiotic ideas. New worlds have opened up to us, so why are you still clinging to your old thinking?"
Because Black Zetsu had previously released the Impure World Reincarnation, Izuna now counted as half alive. Freed from the technique's restraints, he had fully reverted to his true nature.
That gave Madara a terrible headache.
"Big brother, I understand all that. But look-this world has no powerful fighters, and its technology could strengthen our clansmen. If we occupied this place, wouldn't we be free of the Senju's control? We could do whatever we wanted. You could even try being an emperor."
"Shortsighted. Utterly idiotic!" Madara looked exasperated at his failure to learn, disappointment creeping into his voice.
"You... whatever else we are, we're compatriots from the same world! And you still want to carve out your own territory and split us apart? What happens when we encounter a powerful enemy? Will you be the first to surrender?
Remember, we're compatriots from the Shinobi World! Our only enemies are people from other worlds. Do you understand?"
Finally, Madara fixed Izuna with an intensely serious stare. A flash of resolve crossed his eyes. If his brother still refused to see reason, he would...
"Fine. Forget I said anything. I'll listen to you." Perhaps sensing the change in his brother's attitude, Izuna didn't argue further.
"You'd better truly understand. Hashirama hasn't treated us poorly.
In truth, I don't care about power. I only care about you and Hashirama. As long as I can enjoy all-out battles against powerful opponents and keep growing stronger, that's enough."
While Madara was lecturing Izuna, on the other side of the portal-an isolated island in the Shinobi World.
Maya had already brought the news to Tetsuhiro.
"Pot Chickens?! This feels way too familiar. Are only the inhabitants of the Chicken Coop animals here? Or is everyone an animal?"
"But one thing's certain—this must be a parallel world!" Tetsuhiro was initially utterly shocked, then overwhelmed with joy, so happy that he waved his arms and stamped his feet.
"Hahaha! It may not be that same history, but the Chicken Coop is the same wherever it is. Who wants to be these chickens' ancestor?
Pass on my command! Send the army straight in and crush them!"
Then he reconsidered. "Forget it. I'll do it myself!!!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Although there were parts Maya didn't understand, that didn't stop him from discerning His Majesty's fury toward Nippon.
But what does that matter? Wherever His Majesty points his blade, I don't care even if I have to become a bloodthirsty butcher.
Soon, news that His Majesty would personally lead the campaign spread throughout the Shinobi World and the front lines...
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