The morning mist in Konoha was so thick it resembled an unyielding bowl of milk soup. The top of the 300-story Hokage Tower was still shrouded in a white haze when a string of silver-gray maglev cars tore a hole in it. The anti-gravity runes on the bottom of the cars glowed with a pale blue light. The tires didn't even touch the ground as they darted swiftly through the aerial corridors between the buildings, looking like a swarm of beetles flying close to the glass.
Princess Kaguya stood on the edge of the rooftop, her bare feet touching the cold alloy floor, looking down at the endless stream of "iron boxes" below. A thousand years ago, when she was sealed away, the Shinobi World were still using ninja tools to travel, but now even seven or eight-year-old children could ride hoverboards in the air—this scene made the Chakra in her fingertips tremble, not out of fear, but out of a sense of unfamiliarity that permeated her very bones.
"This is called a 'maglev commuter car,' with a minimum speed of 200 kilometers per hour, faster than the Lightning Release: Body Flicker Technique from back then." Tian Yu's voice drifted from behind, her slender body wrapped in a fluorescent vest printed with " Mount Myōboku Ecology," and she was holding a steaming paper bag in her hand. "I just bought it from the ' Ichiraku Restaurant branch' downstairs. Try this, it's called 'Cheese Bacon Hokage Cake,' a hundred times better than the millet cakes from a thousand years ago."
Kaguya looked down at the pancake offered to her; its golden crust was still sizzling with oil. The moment she bit into it, the creamy aroma of cheese mixed with the salty fragrance of bacon exploded, numbing her tongue, yet she couldn't resist taking another big bite. The Tian Yu was right; food from a thousand years ago only offered the taste of sustenance. Where would such strange and wonderful aromas come from?
"Don't just focus on eating, look over there." Tian Yu pointed to the east of the city, where a launch tower piercing the sky could be vaguely seen in the morning mist. The silver-white ring at the top was slowly rotating, and the pale purple runes flowing along the edges looked like living vines. "That's the ' Star Gate Prototype,' led by the Mizukage, Tian Yukihime. Yesterday, they just sent an entire engineering team to the far side of Mars —that red star you used to occasionally see. Now, the Shinobi World can build houses on it."
Kaguya looked up abruptly, her pupils contracting slightly. She remembered that star; a thousand years ago, she often sat atop the God Tree gazing at it, and back then, it seemed as distant as a dream. But now, the people of the Shinobi World could actually stand on it? She subconsciously touched the " Chakra Sensing Bracelet" on her wrist—a gift from Tian Yu yesterday, said to display real-time Chakra fluctuations. At that moment, a line of text appeared on the screen: Star Gate energy stable, rune energy conversion rate 92%.
"Did Tsubasa make this bracelet too?" she asked. Tenten, Tianyu had mentioned the name " Tsubasa " to her many times, saying that he was the "pillar" of the Shinobi World and that many incredible things were his creations.
"That's right." Tian Yu patted his belly, pulled a palm-sized metal cube from his vest pocket, pressed it, and the cube "clicked" open, turning into a miniature holographic projection. Inside was a man in a black combat suit, standing in front of a huge silver-white spaceship, speaking. "Look, this is the ' Firmament One ' space carrier that Tsubasa unveiled last year. It's ten kilometers long, and the most powerful feature is its 'space jump engine,' capable of jumping a light-year at a time—what does that mean? For example, if you wanted to fly from the Ōtsutsuki Clan Planet to the Shinobi World back then, it would take decades. Now, riding this, you can get there in a day."
Kaguya stared at the spaceship projected on the screen, her heart clenching as if gripped by something. Space tourism on the Ōtsutsuki Clan Planet relied on "space-time travel by Star Level experts," a slow and arduous process that constantly threatened to deplete their power. But this " Firmament One " could actually traverse the galaxy through "space jumps"? She suddenly remembered how, a thousand years ago, the Ōtsutsuki Clan always described the outside world as a "low-dimensional, backward place," but now...
"Not just this, look at this too." Tian Yu pressed the projector again, and the image transformed into dots of light scattered throughout the Shinobi World, each connected by a pale blue line. "These are 'space teleportation arrays.' Before, traveling from Konoha to Sunagakure took four hours by the fastest hovercar. Now, just stand in the teleportation array, recite an activation incantation, and you're there in three seconds. Last year, Kazekage Nara Shikanei got married, Sunagakure's relatives all came directly from the teleportation array; they didn't even need to send their gifts in advance."
Kaguya gently touched the light spots in the projection with her fingers, and a subtle Chakra fluctuation came from her fingertips. She could feel that the rune arrays of these teleportation arrays were very complex, but much more stable than the "space tunnels" of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. Back when she and Isshiki used space tunnels, they were always afraid of being torn apart by spatial turbulence, but the teleportation arrays in the Shinobi World were used casually even by ordinary villagers.
"And this, the ' Black Armor Third-Generation Mecha.'" Tian Yu's projection changed again, this time showing a group of ninjas in silver mechas practicing in the desert. The cannons on the mechas' arms fired Chakra beams, instantly flattening a small mountain. " Orochimaru and Tsubasa collaborated on this. The Chakra conversion rate has been increased by 170%. Ninjutsu that ninjas used to have to Hand Seals to release can now be released by pressing a button on the mecha. It can even withstand the Tailed Beast Tailed Beast Bomb —last year when the Eight-Tails was throwing a tantrum, three battalions of the Black Armor Unit subdued it without harming a single person."
Kaguya stared at the mecha projected on the screen and suddenly thought of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's "battle armor." Those biological armors relied on absorbing Chakra, and wearing them for extended periods would damage the body. Yet these mechas could perfectly resonate with a ninja's Chakra? She couldn't help but ask, " Tsubasa... how did he come up with all this? I really want to meet him in person."
"What else could it be? He's been smart since he was little, but he was forced into it." Tian Yu sighed, put away the projection, grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth. "Decades ago, the Shinobi World was still fighting a civil war. Tsubasa was born on the day Konoha was founded. He was baptized by Natural Energy from a young age, fell ill and was bedridden for six years, spent all of his family's money, and incurred a lot of debt and favors."
"After waking up at the age of six, he became an apprentice of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, who was known as the God of Shinobi. Possessing the Sage Body, he trained relentlessly and mastered all of Hashirama Senju's Ninjutsu in less than a year. He then built the Senju Clan Compound's former palace estate and also established the Divine Weapon Pavilion, the Medicine King Hall, and the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Tower to the Phoenix Pavilion for the Ten Family. From then on, the Ten Family began to rise to prominence. He arranged marriages with seven clans, one of whom was my mother, the Sealing Master Tian Yueqing."
"After that, he quelled the First Shinobi World War and became the Third Hokage. He was only Jūni years old at the time. Later, he led the Konoha to rebuild their homes and began scientific research to take off. Konoha became a force to be reckoned with throughout the Shinobi World."
After giving birth to more than a dozen of us brothers and sisters, she went into seclusion to break through to the Golden Core Immortal Venerable realm. However, she was abandoned by the World Will and died. Only her soul escaped. The Shinobi World was thrown into chaos once again, and the nobles joined forces to attack Queen Tian Flying Swallow and Konoha Ninja Village.
"When the Oni Clan invaded Konoha was on the verge of destruction, Tsubasa reappeared to save everyone from dire straits, thus unifying the Shinobi World. The entire Shinobi World began to focus on developing technological power, leading to the present-day appearance you see."
"The desert was transformed into an oasis. The Chakra water purification device brought clean water to the desert. Traveling was too slow, so they developed hovercraft. Later, they felt the Shinobi World was too small, so they began researching how to develop unclaimed planets in space."
Kaguya watched as Tian Yu proudly recounted his father's greatness, and she felt a pang of emotion. The memory of him impersonating her son, Hagoromo, both amused and amused her; he was truly an interesting person.
When Tian Yu saw Kaguya laughing, she paused, then pointed to the tall buildings in the distance. "Look at those 300-story buildings, they're all 'sealed earthquake-resistant buildings.' Last year, when Konoha had an earthquake of magnitude 9.2, these buildings didn't even shake. And there's the 'Virtual Entertainment Center' downstairs right now, where you can experience all sorts of ' Ninjutsu simulation games, it's so much fun!' Even Tsunade, the Yang Shadow Tsunade, loves playing ' Medical-nin Challenge ' there—she even told me last time that the virtual patients in the game are almost as good as real patients."
Kaguya looked in the direction the Tian Yu pointed. A huge holographic screen was hanging on the exterior wall of the tall building, playing a video: a group of children in school uniforms wearing "neural connection helmets" were practicing the Clone Technique in a virtual scene. Some of the clones fell on their butts as soon as they appeared, making the people outside the screen laugh.