The Rōran Ruins, the Land of Wind.
Purple light surged upwards from the center of the altar, like a spring that had been pierced through. The light was not dazzling, but it bathed the entire ruin in an unreal purple-white hue.
All the runes on the broken wall lit up, their flowing patterns like living blood vessels, spreading in all directions along the dilapidated tower.
The energy of the Dragon Vein was continuously drawn from the depths of the earth and poured into the enormous vortex that was forming above the altar.
The vortex spun slowly, with a crack at its center. The crack was extremely narrow, yet so deep that its bottom could not be seen, as if it had simultaneously cleaved the sky and the earth in two.
Madara Uchiha stood at the edge of the altar, his long hair whipped back by the wind stirred up by the Dragon Vein energy.
Behind him, Obito was kneeling on the ground, inserting a black dagger into a groove on the east side of the altar.
The White Snake Sage stood on the other side, his hands Hand Seals. Several White Snake slithered out from his sleeves, spreading out along the patterns on the altar, reinforcing the platform's frame like a living seal.
"How much longer?" Ban asked.
"In just one more moment, the platform will stabilize." A hint of excitement lingered in the White Snake Sage's voice. "This natural fissure is wider than we anticipated. The Dragon Vein's energy is sufficient to sustain it for three hours. Within those three hours, anyone who jumps in can travel to any era they desire."
"Any era you want to go to?" Ban repeated, a slight smile playing on his lips, before falling silent.
"Don't be too happy yet. What we're cultivating isn't pure Dragon Vein energy. The more people you bring, the greater the risk."
"I'll go alone," Ban said.
" Lord Madara, isn't Lord Obito coming along?"
"He stayed," Ban said, without explanation.
The White Snake Sage's voice rang out again, this time tinged with a somber tone.
" Lord Madara, don't forget what you promised me."
Shinsei unified the Land of Fire and then extended his reach to the various ninja villages. Once he unifies the Shinobi World, his next step will be the Three Great Sage Lands.
If Ryūchi Cave continues to stand idly by as before, it will be completely eradicated. My act of opening this spatial rift for you is both to help you and to protect myself."
Ban didn't turn around; his gaze remained fixed on the center of the whirlpool. After a while, he suddenly asked, " White Snake, have you ever regretted it?"
The White Snake Sage's voice paused.
"What are you regretting?"
"If you hadn't targeted Shinsei back then, hadn't sent people to Konoha, Fudo the seed of the Dragon Vein, things wouldn't have come to this," Madara said. "Your Ryūchi Cave could have remained hidden inside the mountain. Now, you can only stand here."
The White Snake Sage remained silent for a long time. The wind blew in from outside the ruins, carrying fine sand and the acrid smell of the Dragon Vein. When the voice sounded again, it lacked its previous gloom and instead carried a rare hint of weariness.
"I was indeed mistaken. That boy has grown too fast. So fast that I didn't even have time to retract the knife I had extended."
Ban sneered and didn't press the matter further. Suddenly, the vortex in the center of the altar accelerated its rotation, and a purple beam of light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire Rōran Ruins as if it were daytime.
The surrounding Natural Energy seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, frantically converging towards the vortex.
The White Snake Sage's Senjutsu drained all the Natural Energy within a radius of several miles and poured it into the center of the platform. The air became thin and scorching hot, as if the earth itself was burning up.
Madara took out a scroll from his robes. The moment the scroll was unfurled, nine enormous balls of Chakra surged out from the seal.
They were of different colors and sizes, like nine different colored moons caught in the same storm. The Chakra of the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails.
They are not the original forms of those Tailed Beast, but rather pure energy extracted and stripped away. Each ball is astonishingly large, carrying the frenzied aura of its respective Tailed Beast, roaring and colliding within the vortex.
The White Snake Sage looked at the strange Chakra with envy in his eyes. "Did you steal this Chakra from another world?"
"I've been collecting this for a long time." Madara Uchiha Hand Seals, and the nine Chakra energies were bound together one by one by the energy of the Dragon Vein. They gradually calmed down from their frenzy and were rearranged by some kind of rule, like nine puzzle pieces being placed into nine slots.
Looking at the raging Dragon Vein energy, the White Snake Sage sighed, "It's a pity the Tailed Beast have too little Chakra to become the true Ten-Tails."
Madara Uchiha.
" The Ten-Tails cannot appear in this world. A complete Ten-Tails will summon Kaguya. But if it is incomplete, it will not."
I will use the Dragon Vein as the skeleton and the chakra of the One to Nine-Tails Chakra as the flesh and blood. I will let them fuse together to create a new Tailed Beast.
Then I will become its Jinchūriki. It can travel to parallel worlds and provide me with an endless Chakra. It is more stable than the Ten-Tails, and purer than the Ten-Tails."
Obito suddenly looked up, and the White Snake Sage let out a low sigh.
"Is that still Tailed Beast?" asked the White Snake Sage.
"It's the first Tailed Beast of the new world," Madara said.
Nine Chakra clusters began to merge under the influence of the Dragon Vein. Purple light and nine-colored rays intertwined, and a deafening roar came from the vortex.
The earth trembled violently, and the ruins crumbled piece by piece. Just as the fusion was halfway through, Ban suddenly raised his head and looked towards the northeast. A white light was rushing towards them from the horizon.
"He's here."
Shinsei has arrived. The night in Rōran was cleaved open by that light, as if someone had torn a white line through the purple sky.
There was no large army or squads of ninjas behind him. He was all alone. Shinsei with incredible speed, leaving a trail of white wings behind him, like a star shooting from the direction of Konoha.
Little Nine nestled in his arms, a white dragon head emerging from his shoulder, emitting a low hum towards the purple energy in front of them.
Shinsei had already seen it. He saw the purple pillar of light piercing the sky, the Rōran Ruins drained of their Natural Energy, the nine Tailed Beast Chakra fusing together, and Madara standing beneath the vortex. He also saw Obito, and the faint white snake shadow coiled in the shadow of the altar.
"Ban!" Shinsei called out.
Ban raised his head. He stood in the center of the storm, watching the rapidly approaching white light, a very faint smile on his face.
Then he turned and walked towards the Dragon Vein vortex that was halfway merged.
"If you want to stop me, then jump in with me," Ban's voice carried on the wind. "Otherwise, stay outside and watch."
Shinsei didn't stop. He flapped his wings and swooped down toward the Rōran Ruins.