The first rays of morning sunlight pierced the gauzy mist. Mount Arakawa rose in rolling ridges shrouded in mountain haze, and a crimson figure stood on its summit, gazing far into the distance below.
From this angle, the lush forests below Mount Arakawa's slopes and the small village renamed Konoha lay in full view.
"Hmph. Konoha."
Clad in red armor, his waist-length black hair veiling his eyes as it streamed in the wind, Madara Uchiha looked down over Konoha, an inscrutable gleam flashing through his eyes.
Morning marked the start of the day, yet neither the forest nor the village stirred with any sign of living creatures. The silence was unnerving.
Across a thousand mountains, no birds flew; along ten thousand paths, no human footprints remained.
Before an extinction unprecedented and never to be repeated descended, every living creature had followed its instinct to survive and scattered, fleeing without a trace.
"Does even a 'god' like you get sentimental at a familiar sight?"
A vortex appeared in empty space. Uchiha Senmon emerged on the other side of the summit and spoke as he looked at the village that had raised him.
"Or are you remembering someone, Madara?"
"I was the one who named Konoha."
Madara Uchiha showed no surprise at Uchiha Senmon's arrival. His tone was as calm as if he were chatting with a friend.
"Everything changes. The village now is completely different from the one Hashirama and I founded. Besides, I have not the slightest attachment to the people or events of the past."
That was a lie!
Uchiha Senmon narrowed his eyes slightly.
If that were truly the case, why had Madara Uchiha brought the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path all the way back to Konoha?
Once Infinite Tsukuyomi was activated, everyone across the globe, however