The main world.
Konoha Year 26, spring.
Above Navy Headquarters on Ocean Planet.
The sky had been clear, and the sea was as calm as a blue mirror.
Sunlight spilled over the white stone walls of Navy Headquarters, bathing everything in warm gold.
Then the sky split open.
It was not the clouds that split, but space itself.
A pitch-black rift tore open in the sky, its edges glowing dark purple, as though some invisible force had burst through it from within.
The rift grew larger and wider, finally forming a huge, irregular opening.
Deep within the opening, there was no light, no sound-only a suffocating, endless void.
Mikoto stood on the steps outside Navy Headquarters, her head tilted back as she stared at the rift. She still held a broom-she had been sweeping just a moment ago. She had forgotten to put it down. She simply stood there, staring at the sky, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
She did not know what it was. She did not know what would emerge from it. She knew only that it was not something from the Shinobi World. The Shinobi World had no such power, no such presence, no such irresistible pressure that made people tremble in the depths of their souls. It was not chakra, nor natural energy, but something on a "higher level."
Two figures walked out of the rift. They did not fall; they "walked." They stepped through empty air as though walking on level ground, one unhurried step after another. The rift slowly closed behind them, and the sky turned blue again, but the pressure did not disappear. Instead, it grew stronger.
The one in front was a tall man wearing a white robe with black tomoe patterns embroidered along its hem. His silver-white hair fell to his