["Come on, come into my body!" Yomi shouted excitedly, and Mōryō didn't hesitate. With a hum, black chakra surged from behind the door and rushed straight into Yomi's body.]
[Once Mōryō had fully entered, Yomi skillfully stitched up the opening in his chest and abdomen with one hand. Then, with a confident look, he said, "The ritual is complete."]
["Oh, nice surgical technique. I wonder how this guy compares to Konoha's Tsunade."]
["There's no comparison—Lady Tsunade's medical ninjutsu is the best in the ninja world!"]
["Judging from his body structure, this so-called Dark Medical Ninjutsu was probably created to house Mōryō's soul. The chakra transmission stuff was just a bonus."]
Since Yomi didn't bleed after slicing himself open, Tsunade, watching the sky screen, commented, "His suturing technique is decent, but his medical ninjutsu is clearly in a different class from mine. It leans toward modification and enhancement."
"It must have a huge impact on the recipient, which is why he calls it Dark Medical Ninjutsu," Shizune added thoughtfully.
["Heh heh hahahaha! Awaken, my army!" Yomi laughed maniacally, calling on Mōryō's power.]
[Purple chakra shot from his body, shattering all the small mounds in the underground chamber, revealing countless clay soldiers.]
[The clay soldiers stood up under Yomi's command, and he looked at them proudly before ordering, "Our first target is the shrine where Lord Mōryō's body is sealed."]
["Before that, there's one more enemy we must defeat," Mōryō interjected. The screen then showed a white-robed woman with a strange headdress: "Defeat the priestess of the Land of Demons—only she has the power to seal me."]
["Yes, sir." Yomi responded expressionlessly.]
["When I am fully revived, I will destroy the Five Great Nations and establish the only country in this world—a thousand-year kingdom!" Mōryō's voice echoed through the underground chamber and, via the sky screen, spread to every corner of the ninja world.]
["These puppet soldiers?! So fourteen years ago, it was this Yomi and Mōryō who invaded the Land of Earth!"]
["Back then those puppets just showed up out of nowhere, then vanished again. So it was the priestess of the Land of Demons who sealed Mōryō?!"]
["That was during the war, right? I always thought it was some new puppet technique developed by Sunagakure. So this is the truth!"]
["Looks like a lot of people know the inside story!"]
["Anyone who fought in the Third War from Wind, Earth, or Fire would know about this, though Mōryō and the priestess would've been classified info."]
["Well, it's all been exposed by the sky screen now—haha, free intel!"]
Hokage Building, meeting room.
Sakura looked at Kakashi and asked, "Kakashi-sensei, did you know about all this?"
The young Konoha rookies all turned to him. Kakashi exchanged a glance with Gai before saying, "I did fight those puppet soldiers before, but I didn't know about Mōryō or the priestess of the Land of Demons. Back then I only had brief contact with them. If the sky screen is telling the truth, the priestess probably sealed Mōryō and stopped the puppets from attacking."
Satisfied, they stopped asking. Right now, getting any intel from the screen that might be about the future was the priority.
["So both Yomi and Mōryō want to rule the world—who's actually in charge here?"]
["Must be Mōryō. Didn't you see how respectful Yomi was to him?"]
["So Yomi found himself a big boss to serve, huh!"]
["No way a would-be world conqueror would be that dumb. He's probably just using Mōryō's power. I bet there'll be a betrayal later on."]
["Guess we'll just have to wait and see."]
In the Land of Lightning, Sasori and Deidara were on a mission.
Deidara watched the screen curiously. When the ghost army appeared, he asked Sasori, "Sasori-senpai, what do you think of these puppets?"
Sasori, hidden in Hiruko, sneered at the screen. "Nothing special. I studied them before. They use chakra resonance for remote control, but they're slow and basically cannon fodder. The only interesting part is their undead nature—that's art in its own way."
"No! Art is explosion! Sasori-senpai, your taste is as awful as ever!" Deidara immediately retorted, and the two launched into their usual artistic argument.
[At a border camp in the Land of Demons, Mōryō's clay soldier army attacked the garrison. The soldiers were instantly overwhelmed, leaving only a few survivors to pass on the intel.]
[The nearby great nations received the message immediately. As Tsunade narrated off-screen, the screen showed Konoha's troops mobilizing one by one.]
[Naruto's figure dashed across the crowded streets. He scooped up a little girl he'd bumped into and leaped to a rooftop.]
["Be careful now. Bye," Naruto said gently to the little girl before leaving without looking back, leaving her crying alone atop the tall water tower.]
[With a few more leaps, Naruto landed on a wall at the street's edge. Looking at the panicked crowds, he crossed his arms and confidently declared, "It's an emergency—I'm gonna show what I'm made of!"]
["Hey, it's that guy who died at the beginning!"]
["Oho, so he was all fired up and then got himself killed, huh!"]
["Konoha's ninja are weak!"]
["Bastard! Identify yourself and I'll show you what Konoha's ninja can do!"]
["Hahaha! Say what you want—at least you've got guts!"]
["You *****!"]
The sky screen automatically filtered out some overly aggressive comments, but the Konoha ninjas' faces were still red with anger.
Naruto himself was fuming. "No way I'm gonna die so stupidly! No matter what future they show—I'll smash it all to pieces!"
Neji scoffed, about to say something about destiny being unchangeable, but then remembered how the older version of himself in the footage was sad about Naruto's death. He held his tongue.
After all, even Neji—so convinced of the power of destiny—couldn't suppress the desire to change the future when it was laid out so clearly before his eyes.
(To be continued)