Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
The Shinobi World was in turmoil amid the Shinobi Alliance's swift and decisive preparations for war.
The once-defined national borders were broken down, and ninjas, shouldering the mission of mining resources and cultivating land, traveled between countries like migratory birds, their Chakra light illuminating the wilderness day and night.
Even the Land of Demons, known for its neutrality, could not escape unscathed from this storm.
The core technology of the Reform Society Network, like a spark, merged with cutting-edge technologies such as the Chakra's chakra rods and Rinnegan 'Konoha Sealing Jutsu under the impetus of the Shinobi Alliance, giving birth to the second-generation communication network.
Shinobi Alliance Network.
This breakthrough, which transcends technological barriers, has its core licensing rights firmly controlled by the high-ranking officials of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Like the scepter of the New Order, it symbolizes the dual monopoly of power and technology.
The Land of Rain.
Nagato, having lost his Rinnegan, appeared increasingly frail.
The Akatsuki crumbled like a pile of sand under the impact of the truth. After their former beliefs collapsed, the members wandered in confusion.
When the Shinobi Alliance Network's construction team stepped onto the border of the Land of Rain.
This once neutral hub has lost the right to engage in equal dialogue with the Five Great Shinobi Villages and can only become a marginal player in the wave of new technologies.
In the mountains and forests of the Land of Demons.
Ninjas from the Council's ninja village, each wearing a unique Forehead Protector, erected Chakra relay towers among the towering ancient trees.
The technicians from the Reform Society, dressed in silver-white engineering uniforms, worked seamlessly with the Earth Release ninjas from Iwagakure.
The former uses sophisticated instruments to locate energy nodes, while the latter uses Earth Release techniques to stabilize the tower's base, weaving the signals of the Shinobi Alliance Network into a giant net covering the continent, like stars fallen to earth.
"Sigh, I never thought we wouldn't escape the Land of Demons in the end!"
Shion stood before the shrine, gazing at the fleeting blue light that streaked through the distant mountains, a barely perceptible sigh escaping her lips.
Hoshino stood quietly beside her, his gaze fixed on the distance.
"There's nothing we can do about it! After all, our future enemies are no longer those who contend on the same continent, but devourers that transcend time and space."
Upon hearing this...
Shion turned to look at Hoshino, her unique senses as a shrine maiden allowing her to perceive subtle changes in the person before her.
The once vibrant young man now seems to have an unapproachable barrier, like a deity enshrined in a shrine.
While still compassionate, he now possesses an added air of unassailable authority.
"You've changed," Shion said softly. "Are you still the same Hoshino you used to be?"
Hoshino paused for a moment, then turned to look at Shion.
There was no fear or awe in her eyes, only pure curiosity and concern, just as she had always trusted him without reservation.
" The Shinobi World is changing, and we all have to make choices," Hoshino said calmly. "But there are some things I hope will never change."
Shion nodded gently, her gaze once again turning to the distant mountains and forests.
The mountain breeze carried faint footsteps and the clanging of machinery, yet it did not disturb the millennia-old tranquility of this land.
Whether they like it or not, the Land of Demons has been caught in this storm and will perish, along with all the other countries on the continent.
"Come with me!"
Shion turned and walked deeper into the shrine, with Hoshino following closely behind.
The old wooden door creaked behind me.
A deafening crash of breaking chains echoed from the depths of the altar, and jet-black Chakra gushed forth like boiling asphalt.
Shion gently stroked the bronze bell left by her mother with her fingertips.
The rusty bell suddenly gleamed, and the Tomoe pattern seemed to move as if it were alive.
clang--
With the first clear sound, the altar floor cracked open, revealing a bottomless vertical shaft. The inner walls were covered with the incantations of the First priestess, which lit up one by one like candlelight amidst the sound of bells.
The sealed space, undisturbed for many years, is now opening its doors.
The low-frequency vibrations emanating from the bottom of the well grew clearer and clearer, and jet-black Chakra swirled out from the wellhead, finally breaking some ancient shackles.
Hoshino saw a huge black shadow rise from the bottom of the well; it was the phantom of a giant snake that had broken free of its chains.
"Remember, priestess! This is your choice, don't regret it!"
The phantom solidified, and just as it was about to materialize, it suddenly turned and sped off towards the Land of Swamps in the southwest.
"It went to find its original body. Once its spirit and body are united, it will come back to me."
Shion watched the disappearing shadow with a calm expression.
The fate that has lasted for thousands of years is not something only the priestess wants to end; the Moryo want it too.
After all... they share the same origin.
clang--
The bell cracked with a clear ringing sound, the cracks spreading like a spider web across the bronze surface, and the fluorescence from the Tomoe pattern flowed into Shion's bloodstream along her wrist.
That was a sign that the Priestess Power was breaking free from its shackles.
What spewed from the cracks in the altar floor was no longer pitch-black Chakra, but a pale purple energy with a pearly luster, like the tears of an ancient priestess, condensing into a swarm of light particles in the air.
"This is the fate of a priestess!"
Shion's voice trembled with relief as the bell shattered into seven pieces and embedded itself between her brows.
The incantation burst forth with blinding light from the inner wall of the shaft, and the blood pacts that had slumbered for thousands of years suddenly transformed into streams of light, disappearing into her body like migratory birds returning to their nests.
In Hoshino's perception, the energy intensity contained within Shion's body was increasing exponentially, and had begun to exceed the range of Kage Level.
Shion's silver hair turned completely white in the energy storm, and the Tomoe patterns on her shrine maiden outfit transformed into a flowing galaxy.
"Before each generation of priestesses dies, they seal their power into a bell, not to prolong the seal, but to await the opportunity to break free from their destiny."
As the last fragment of the bell merged into her brow, Shion's aura erupted like a volcano.
Her figure rose taller in the light, and behind her emerged the superimposed phantoms of Kyudai of priestesses, each holding the same bell as hers, as if a resonance spanning a thousand years.
" Moryo, let us witness this final ceremony together."
Shion's voice is no longer a single tone, but a harmony of the Kyudai of priestesses.
A resounding echo came from the depths of the shaft, and purple fluorescence surged from the cracks in the ground, turning the Shinobi Alliance Network relay towers along the way a deep purple.
" Hoshino!"
"Come with me to the Land of Swamps! The cycle of a thousand years should come to an end!"
The shrine's dome suddenly shattered. Moonlight poured down like a waterfall, mingling with the purple fluorescence surrounding Shion, forming a pillar of light that stretched straight to the sky in the center of the altar.
"Let's go, to witness the final chapter of Yin and Yang."
Hoshino quietly Earth Flow Shion's side, and the Priestess Power that constituted part of her body intertwined with Shion's purple energy.
"Um!"
Shion nodded slightly, her silver hair billowing in the energy storm like an unfolded moonlight folding fan.
The moonlight from the shrine's dome suddenly solidified, creating a light tunnel connecting heaven and earth beneath their feet.
In an instant, the two transformed into two streaks of light, shooting towards the Land of Swamps like arrows.
The mountains along the way automatically cracked open, rivers flowed backward to form bridges, and even the relay towers of the Shinobi Alliance Network emitted beeps to make way for this light that transcended time and space.