Main World.
Winter, Year 26 of Konoha.
Heavenly Court, entrance to the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm.
A pale golden curtain of light slowly flowed overhead, bathing the entire void in a warm, sacred glow. There was no sky, no ground, only endless emptiness and the lush, leafy Devil Fruit Tree standing at its center. The door to the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm-that dark gray door with no handle and a pale golden glow along its edges-stood quietly in the void, like a silent eye.
Sasori stood before the door, his two-meter-twenty frame casting a heavy silhouette in the light. He wore deep purple Battle Armor, and the golden gear emblem on his breastplate glimmered faintly. His hands rested behind his back, his gaze fixed on the tightly closed door. He had waited a day. One day outside, one year within the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm. A thousand people, a thousand Celestial Pivot Warriors, had spent an entire year behind that door. No sunlight, no wind or rain, no cycle of day and night. Only low-concentration Chakra, all-encompassing pressure, and deathly silence. Only flames, frost, lightning, gravity, Genjutsu... extreme environments that could be switched between. Only training, training, and more training.
Tiegu stood behind Sasori, his two-meter-ten frame just as burly, just as silent. He was the commander of the Dubhe Battle Group's 1st Company, and the man responsible for this expedition into the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm. He wore the Dubhe Battle Group's standard-issue armor, bearing several fresh scratches-marks left by his struggles against the extreme environments within the realm.
"My lord, it's time." Tiegu's voice was low.
Sasori did not answer. He simply watched the door in silence. The door to the Soul-Searching Illusionary Realm slowly opened. It did not spring open; it slid open. Like a heavy sluice gate, slowly raised by