[The man in black, Yomi, appeared in a flash behind the four men. He spread his hands and shouted, "Reinforcement processing—inject chakra." Immediately, several black tentacles emerged from the ground and connected to the back of the four men's necks. With a surge of purple chakra, Yomi retracted the tentacles. "Processing complete."]
[The four men, now infused with chakra, leapt down the cliff and charged straight at the temple below.]
[The four guards at the temple gate immediately noticed the intruders and drew their swords as they shouted and rushed forward.]
["Go, Ittai, Shina!" Two of the invaders leapt over the guards, signaling the other two to handle them.]
[A man with a cloth covering his lower face stood firm, then shouted, "Fire Style Ninjutsu—Fire Walk!"]
[In an instant, surging flames snaked out like fiery serpents, encircling the four guards. The guards stood back to back, looking at the surrounding fire, and one of them shouted encouragement to his comrades.]
[Unfortunately, the verbal morale boost was useless. The last invader leapt high into the air, swung his arm down at the surrounded guards, and shouted, "Wind Style Ninjutsu—Gale Strike!"]
[Three fierce tornadoes combined with the blazing flames on the ground, forming a giant fire tornado that instantly engulfed the four guards.]
[With the guards dealt with, the four invaders and Yomi stood in front of the temple. Yomi pushed open the door, entered the temple, and sighed, "The moment has finally arrived!"]
[His eyes fixed straight ahead, Yomi ordered the four behind him, "Wait here. Ahead lies the rift between this world and the other world—only I, who bear the name Yomi, can enter."]
["Huh? What's with this weird authentication mechanism? Only people named Yomi can enter? So if I change my name, can I get in too?"]
["What's this 'other world' they're talking about?"]
["From the name Yomi, I bet it's the afterlife or something."]
["You can just walk into the afterlife like that? So if I change my name now, I could see my dead dad?"]
["Don't be naïve. That's obviously impossible! Yomi probably just has some special ninja technique."]
In the Pure Land, Uchiha Madara, who'd been watching the screen coolly, raised an eyebrow: "The afterlife? Could that mean the Pure Land? Does this place have a direct route back to the ninja world?!"
Though he already had a resurrection plan in place, Madara would much rather return to the ninja world by his own power. Since he had nothing better to do now, he decided to keep watching the sky screen and study ways to return.
[Yomi walked into the temple alone, descended a staircase, and arrived in a mist-filled underground chamber. In the center of the space stood a transparent pillar of light enveloping a stone door covered in dozens of seals.]
["Looks like some kind of sealing technique—anyone recognize it?"]
["Never seen anything like it."]
[Yomi walked through the pillar of light, stood before the door, and muttered to himself with a mysterious air, "Wait for me… Mōryō!"]
[He extended his hand toward the door, chanted an unintelligible spell, and the seals on the door instantly ignited and vanished. The stone door shattered, revealing the darkness and sinister aura beyond.]
["Ahhh… It's been a long time… Am I back in this world?" A heavy voice layered with echoes emanated from behind the broken door.]
[Yomi dropped to one knee respectfully. "Long time no see, Lord Mōryō."]
[Perhaps from being sealed too long, Mōryō's voice sounded uncertain: "You are…?"]
["Have you forgotten me? I'm Yomi." But Mōryō still seemed unable to recall, so Yomi prompted, "I was the survivor among the ninja who once borrowed your power to create the Ghost Army."]
["Pfft! Mōryō doesn't even remember him at all."]
["So there was a mastermind behind that incident!"]
["I thought the Ghost Army was just Mōryō's doing, but there's this guy Yomi behind it too."]
["The village's search teams are already on the move—this guy's done for."]
["What's all this about? Can someone explain it?"]
["Don't expect free info—ask your village higher-ups!"]
["I was wondering what this 'other world' was, but it's just a special sealing space."]
In a meeting room inside the Hokage building, Kakashi's Team Seven and Gai's Team Three were all on standby. Though they weren't familiar with each other before, the sky screen had given them a shared topic.
Normally, knowing they might one day fight side by side would at least get them talking a little, but the atmosphere in the room was downright weird.
The reason was simple: Lee had declared his love to Sakura the moment they met.
Though Sakura had already seen Lee's thick brows on the screen, she was still startled by him in person. Of course, she immediately rejected his confession with a look of utter disbelief.
Naruto glared at Lee like he wanted to eat him alive, while Neji, last year's top graduate, and Sasuke, this year's top graduate, sized each other up with curious and competitive gazes. Only Tenten occasionally chatted with Sakura, easing the tension a bit.
Gai tried to step in to help the two teams bond, but his even thicker eyebrows and his hideously bright green jumpsuit made Team Seven keep their distance.
Seeing this, Kakashi could only sigh helplessly and focus on the sky screen again.
["Why did you summon me…" Mōryō asked Yomi, still sounding unsure if he'd remembered who Yomi was.]
[Yomi, completely unguarded, revealed his goal: "The stars have aligned again. Now is the time for us to join forces and create a thousand-year empire."]
[But Mōryō's current state was obviously poor—his soul was sealed here, and he said to Yomi, "But where is my body? As just a soul, I won't last long."]
["Please use my body," Yomi replied. "With Dark Medical Ninjutsu, I can transplant your soul into my body." As he spoke, he opened his clothes and pulled out a scalpel. "Let's begin the operation."]
[Before he finished speaking, Yomi sliced open his own chest with the scalpel, revealing a dark structure inside that resembled the sealed space where Mōryō had been imprisoned.]
["Yikes! What the heck is this Yomi guy? No organs inside him?!"]
["Is he even human?!"]
["Dark Medical Ninjutsu—just hearing the name sounds shady!"]
["I want to see what this Mōryō guy can do—he wants to build a thousand-year empire in the ninja world?!"]
(To be continued)