Level Three Rift

Dusk swallowed Konoha's last ray of sunset, and night silently enveloped the entire Land of Fire.

The village, bustling and lively by day, gradually fell quiet. Lights came on one after another, their gentle glow making Konoha seem all the more peaceful. Yet only the few at the heart of the game knew that this stability was nothing but an illusion.

A calamity from the myriad realms, far beyond a Level Two Rift, was quietly gathering strength at Sunagakure's border, ready to erupt.

As night deepened, the barrier around Konoha's Top-Floor Secret Room slowly withdrew.

Lin Chen walked out of the office building at an unhurried pace, the evening breeze stirring his clothes. His aura was completely concealed, making him appear no different from an ordinary boy. Yet the Four-System Perfected Power flowing within him had already forged a Kage Level foundation that no one in the Shinobi World could shake.

The four systems had blended into one, without conflict or obstruction.

Chakra coating his body could ward off ninjutsu; Armament Haki condensed around him could subdue overwhelming force; circulating Cursed Energy could devour evil entities; and a Sea Kings physique could withstand natural disasters.

He had already broken free of the Shinobi World's traditional limits on strength. He feared neither ninjutsu, physical might, nor evil entities, and suffered no suppression from its rules. He was a true variable that stood above the lower-level rules of the myriad realms.

The three-day window predicted by the system was neither long nor short.

It was just enough for the Shinobi World's various factions to finish observing, positioning themselves, and lying low.

Rather than return home, Lin Chen walked at an easy pace toward Konoha's restricted archives.

In the past, entering this forbidden repository of forbidden techniques had required layers of approval and the joint authorization of several senior officials. Tonight, every ANBU on guard bowed at the sight of him and opened the barrier's gate of their own accord. Not one dared stop or question him.

With Special Grade Access in effect, every hidden location and resource in Konoha was his to use without a single word.

Inside the restricted grounds lay a vast collection of texts. Countless lost secret techniques, forbidden seals, and ancient release-technique manuals stood quietly on display, the most precious part of Konoha's heritage for centuries. Generations of ninja had devoted their lives to training, hoping to comprehend just one or two of these secret techniques and make their names known throughout the Shinobi World.

Yet Lin Chen swept his gaze across them and looked away after only a moment, showing no intention of lingering.

The Shinobi World's techniques, Secret Techniques, and forbidden techniques had long since become meaningless to him.

Others trained bitterly to overcome their limits; he needed only to plunder essence to crush opponents above his level. Others relied on ninjutsu for offense and defense, competing through chakra; he could sweep everything aside with his body and the rules alone.

The Shinobi World's accumulated heritage could no longer keep pace with his growth.

"Opportunities in this world are limited. The real treasures will always lie within the Myriad Realms Rifts."

Murmuring to himself, Lin Chen turned and left the restricted grounds.

Over the next three days, he neither trained with particular intensity nor went about investigating and making arrangements. As usual, he quietly lay low in Konoha.

The sun rose and set, morning and evening cycling past.

Everything in Konoha continued as usual. The younger generation of ninja remained immersed in preparations for the Chunin Ninja Exams. Naruto practiced basic ninjutsu hard every day, eagerly awaiting the exams and longing to prove himself and earn recognition from the villagers and his teachers. Sakura focused on refining her chakra control and organizing her tactical thinking, steadily improving her overall strength. Only Sasuke grew increasingly silent and withdrawn.

For three days, Sasuke barely slept or rested, pushing his chakra beyond its limits and reproducing advanced ninjutsu again and again. The red gleam in his eyes grew ever stronger.

Lin Chen's rise to Kage Level had become the heaviest boulder weighing on his heart, as well as the source of his craving for power and increasingly obsessive frenzy. They belonged to the same generation and had once stood side by side, yet now the gulf between them was as vast as heaven and earth. That despair-inducing gap shattered all his pride and confidence.

Kakashi saw it all, but offered little advice.

Troubled times were approaching, and everyone had their own path. Forcing the matter was useless. Experience and mindset ultimately had to be honed on one's own.

Over those three days, the undercurrents throughout the Shinobi World surged to their peak.

All five great hidden villages received a special-grade warning from Konoha: the spatial barrier at Sunagakure's border was fluctuating violently, a Level Three Myriad Realms Rift was about to emerge, and calamity-class otherworldly forces were about to invade the Shinobi World.

Unlike the scattered spillover from Level One and Level Two Rifts, the definition of a Level Three Rift was

For the first time, the five great hidden villages of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water set aside their longstanding grudges and rivalries, all entering the highest state of war readiness. Each village's Kage Level fighters held their heartlands, elite Jonin squads rushed to garrison the borders, and ANBU patrolled spatial weak points around the clock, ready for battle.

Everyone understood that the emergence of a Level Three Rift was no longer a crisis for a single village, but a world-ending catastrophe that would engulf the entire Shinobi World.

In Sunagakure, yellow sand filled the sky, and wind swept loose stones through the air.

Fourth Kazekage Rasa stood atop a dune, golden sand swirling around him as he gazed gravely toward the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.

"High-level One Piece ability users, mature calamity-class Sea Kings, clusters of Special Grade Cursed Spirits..." Rasa murmured, his eyes full of apprehension. "A Level Two Rift already produced Kage Level calamities. The terror of a Level Three Rift is unimaginable."

The senior Sunagakure officials beside him paled, fear rising within them.

They had guarded the desert for years and excelled at fighting amid wind and sand. Yet against otherworldly enemies bolstered by chakra suppression, spiritual erosion, and savage brute strength, all their ninjutsu, tactics, and terrain advantages became useless.

"Can that twelve-year-old Kage Level fighter in Konoha really stop this catastrophe?" an elder could not help asking.

Rasa remained silent for a long time before slowly nodding. "In the Shinobi World as it stands, only he can."

The five Kage Level leaders each had their shortcomings and limitations, all bound by the Shinobi World's rules and power system. Lin Chen alone transcended it all, the sole counter to otherworldly power.

At that moment, all of Sunagakure had placed its hopes of survival on a boy from Konoha.

Meanwhile, the senior officials of Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure shared precisely the same state of mind.

Apprehension, awe, and anticipation intertwined in an immensely complicated mix.

They feared that Lin Chen was so overwhelmingly powerful that no one would be able to keep him in check in the future, yet also hoped he could quell the rift calamity and safeguard the Shinobi World's survival.

The balance of the Shinobi World had been completely overturned by one person.

At a secret Akatsuki hideout.

Wind and rain howled. In the dim great hall, a faint light moved through Pain's Rinnegan as he looked down upon the turbulent aura at Sunagakure's border.

"A Level Three Rift opens, and the invasion from the myriad realms takes on a larger scale."

His low, icy voice echoed through the empty hall.

"The end of the old shinobi order has officially arrived."

Standing to one side, Konan reported softly, "Leader, all five great hidden villages are preparing for war. Every border force has been mobilized, and they continue sending requests for aid to Konoha while waiting for Lin Chen to quell the unrest. In addition, Orochimaru has secretly infiltrated Sunagakure's border, intending to collect otherworldly essence and specimens of powerful beings from the Level Three Rift."

Pain raised his eyes slightly, his tone indifferent. "Orochimaru's greed will ultimately destroy him. Ignore him."

"Focus on Lin Chen."

"The massed enemies from a Level Three Rift are enough to crush several ordinary Kage Level fighters. This battle will reveal the true limits of his strength."

If Lin Chen could quell a Level Three Rift, it would prove that he possessed the absolute strength to suppress a chaotic era alone, and Akatsuki must not challenge him in the near term. If he won at a terrible cost or suffered defeat, Akatsuki could take advantage of the situation to enter the fray, reap the spoils, absorb otherworldly powers, strengthen itself, and accelerate its plan to reshape the world.

Behind Amegakure's cold observation lay calculation taken to its utmost extreme.

In an underground laboratory in Konoha.

Dim green light filled the secret chamber, where countless test tubes, culture solutions, and living specimens stood quietly on display.

Orochimaru held a translucent black fragment between his fingertips. It was an essence crystal left behind by a Special Grade Cursed Spirit from a Level Two Rift, and the fervor in his snake-like eyes intensified.

"A Level Three Rift... Devil Fruit fragments, hordes of Special Grade Cursed Spirits, mature Sea Kings, fighters with high-level Haki..."

"What perfect experimental materials. Everything one could want."

He ran his tongue over the corner of his lips, his smile strange and obsessive.

"Lin Chen, you plunder essence to break through at incredible speed. Then I shall collect every otherworldly power and replicate your path of growth."

"The Chunin Ninja Exams, Konoha's collapse, and the Level Three Rift calamity... three grand performances on the same stage. This time, I want to see just how powerful you can be."

Undercurrents surged as every side maneuvered.

Time slipped quietly by, and the three-day deadline arrived in a flash.

At noon on the third day, the sky was cloudless, the blazing sun high overhead.

Above Sunagakure's border, the previously clear sky abruptly changed!

BOOM-!

An earth-shattering spatial explosion resounded through heaven and earth. The entire desert shook violently, and yellow sand shot into the sky, blotting out the blazing sun.

The void overhead twisted, buckled, and tore apart wildly as a gigantic pitch-black rift spanning a thousand feet thundered into existence!

Compared with the tiny cracks of Level One Rifts and the narrow passages of Level Two Rifts, this Level Three Rift resembled a massive black gate stretching across heaven and earth. The spatial barrier shattered and collapsed, and endless dark, alien auras gushed out, instantly covering the entire border of the Land of Wind.

A biting black storm swept across thousands of miles of desert. Chakra-suppressing Seastone particles scattered through the sky, while black mist of Cursed Energy that corroded vitality enveloped the land. The flow of chakra throughout the surroundings stagnated, fell into disorder, and broke off entirely.

The entire sandy battlefield had become the otherworldly invaders' home ground!

From within the rift, terrifying beast roars, fierce battle cries, and eerie Cursed Spirit shrieks rose in overlapping waves, pouring incessantly from the depths of the other world. They shook heaven and earth into a thunderous roar and blasted the yellow sand apart.

The first wave of powerful otherworldly invaders officially set foot in the Shinobi World!

Three fully developed, mature Sea Kings, each over three hundred feet long, burst through the ice. Heavy armor covered their bodies, and savage bone spikes protruded from them. Every movement shook the earth. The black mist of Cursed Energy coiling around them could corrode a Jonin's flesh, while the torrents of Seastone they spat from their mouths could instantly seal off all chakra.

Eight Special Grade Cursed Spirits floated in the air, their shapes twisted and bizarre. Their incorporeal spirit bodies ignored physical attacks. Wherever their black mist passed, sand and stone weathered, vegetation withered, and chakra dispersed. Layers of negative emotions proliferated wildly, continually strengthening them.

Most frightening of all were ten elite Commodores from the East Blue, clad in standardized black One Piece armor and radiating fierce auras!

Every one of them had mastered full-body coverage with Advanced Armament Haki. Their bodies were as tough as those of Kage Level fighters, their swordsmanship exquisite, and their combat experience extensive. The three leading Commodores had even reached the threshold of quasi-Kage Level. Combining offense and defense with seamless teamwork, they could surround and kill an ordinary Kage Level fighter together.

A beast tide, a spirit tide, and a human tide-the three torrents of alien forces appeared at once!

The elite squads garrisoned at Sunagakure's border instantly turned deathly pale, their bodies going cold as utter despair rose within them.

Such a force was beyond human strength to stop.

Even if every Kage Level fighter from the five great hidden villages gathered, they would inevitably face a bitter struggle, with a strong likelihood of death and defeat.

Across thousands of miles of desert, the wind howled mournfully as catastrophe descended upon the world!

Just as the entire Land of Wind teetered on the brink of despair, a slender figure used the Body Flicker Technique to cross a thousand miles, arriving alone in the sky above Sunagakure's border.

His white clothes fluttered in the wind, his posture straight amid the sky full of black wind and yellow sand.

Lin Chen stood in midair, looking down upon the countless powerful otherworldly enemies below. Not a ripple stirred in his eyes; only indifference and composure remained.

The system's crisp notification sound exploded in his mind.

[Ding! A Level Three Myriad Realms Rift has officially manifested!]

[Massive clusters of high-level essence unlocked!]

[Detected: quasi-Kage Level Haki essence, fully developed Sea Kings bloodlines, Special Grade Cursed Spirit cores, and elementary Devil Fruit fragments!]

[Full tenfold critical plunder activated!]

Lin Chen raised his eyes slightly and spoke softly, his words settling everything.

"Today, I empty the rift."