In a grand obsidian amphitheater, deep within the Pure Lands, a dim spiritual light filtered through fractal networks across the ceiling like veined starlight. At its center, on a towering throne adorned with spectral runes, sat the Shinigami Supervisor, unmoving, his mechanical thoughts quiet but all-seeing.
Before him, gathered around a vast round table, stood seven figures—legends reborn. Warriors chosen not just for their power in life, but for the echoes of fear and awe their names still carried across generations. They were the elite—Special Combat Prospects, each one hand-picked to usher in the third phase of the war.
At the head of the table stood their commander: Ryusei Uchiha, the Eye Stealer. A tall, lean man with a sharp gaze and a patch over his left eye. At his side were two glass containers—one housing a pristine, three-tomoe Sharingan; the other, a pure Byakugan. He wore a long cloak marked with old blood and the symbol of his disgraced lineage. Yet his voice held no shame—only pride.
"Some of you knew me in life. Others know only the name. I am Ryusei Uchiha, once called the worst our clan ever birthed. But my victories, earned through pragmatism and raw power, placed me where I stand today. A General of the Pure Lands' assault. And this war—we will win it. The Shinigami has given us the tools. We are the storm."
He gestured to his left. A figure cloaked in shadow, his face crisscrossed with scars, eyes sharp as razors.
"This is Akihide—the Dark Hour of the Forest. Once the man who forced me to retreat through strategy alone. Now, my right hand. He ensures our power is not wasted."
A soft glow surrounded Akihide. He bowed his head once, silently.
Ryusei paused, letting the tension build, then continued:
"Each of you was chosen for your battlefield excellence. To my right sits Kyo Senju, the Reflection of Death. A sage and combat genius—ninjutsu, kenjutsu, taijutsu—his name was whispered with dread, until the day he fell."
A beam of light shone over Kyo. Towering and muscular, his chest bore many scars. None on his back.
"Beside him—Shogo Uzumaki, Edge of the Sea. Master of seals, bearer of the golden chains of his clan, and a swordmaster feared even among his own. His sensory prowess is unmatched."
Another figure was revealed—mid-fifties, red-haired, immaculate and sharp. His presence radiated steel.
"Next—Aoi of the Deep Waters. He reshaped the understanding of Suiton, his secrets lost with him. Unstoppable near water."
The glow found Aoi—an aged man with piercing blue irises, his aura dampening even the dry Pure Lands.
"Beside him—Jiro, Dust of Death. Inventor of Dust Release. His mastery of it could erase entire battalions."
A man wrapped in bandages, lanky, aloof. His air was one of total detachment.
"And finally—Ro Kaguya, the Blood Fest. A terror born of regeneration and bloodlust. With the Byakugan he tore from the Hyuga, he surpassed the limits of his bloodline."
Light touched the last of them—an old man with pallid eyes, white hair and beard, crimson robes that chilled the air.
"The current situation is as follows," Ryusei began, stepping forward. "In the first phase of the conflict, the Shinigami himself attempted direct control. His efforts met two significant setbacks."
In the center of the round table, a shimmering projection emerged—an almost lifelike image depicting the first encounter: Michel, appearing as an aged librarian, his white beard and deep blue eyes calm yet powerful, confronting the Shinigami. "This man—Michel—is tied to specific locations in the enemy territory called Silver Nodes. His power was sufficient to match the Shinigami directly."
The image shifted.
"The second major engagement involved overwhelming numbers. An army was deployed against the enemy. But this woman—" the scene displayed a radiant, divine figure with luminous silver eyes, her curved blade gleaming with spiritual brilliance. She stood atop a rising wave of sand that surged forward, swallowing entire formations in its wake. With a simple gesture, she erased dozens of Shinigami lieutenants, not with visible force, but with a sudden sonic shockwave that left no trace behind. Then, before the eyes of all present, she deflected an attack some among us have identified as equivalent to a Bijūdama—an annihilation technique on par with a tailed beast's might. Her technique was seamless, elegant, devastating. She did not simply win; she overwhelmed. And even in that supremacy, she extended her hand in peace. "Make no mistake—she is our greatest threat."
Ryusei's tone sharpened. "Her words of peace are a lie. Yumegakure no Kai siphons energy from the living world and steals the souls of our legacy. It must be destroyed."
Akihide remained silent. He had reviewed this intelligence a hundred times already.
The assembled warriors reacted each in their own way: Kyo Senju's thoughts churned beneath his composed exterior. Shogo smiled grimly at her swordplay. Aoi's placid surface belied deep currents of emotion. Ro Kaguya exuded raw bloodlust, fascinated by her unknowable power.
Ryusei continued, "The following stages of the conflict, I was appointed to restructure our forces, and I brought in Akihide to execute our strategy."
Akihide finally spoke. "Before we continue with the sequence of events to date, it's critical to clarify: the number of troops eligible for this conflict is not unlimited. Maintaining active forces is difficult without permission from the enemy realms, and as such, we are currently capped at approximately 50,000 units. Death, however, is not the end for our soldiers. Those who fall are restored to life after a 48-hour cycle. For high-chakra individuals—such as all of you, classified as Category 2—the restoration period increases to seven days. For Category 3, such as myself, the interval is reduced to three days of inactivity."
Murmurs and smiles passed among the reborn warriors. Death held no finality here.
"In Phase Two of the war, we pursued three primary objectives," Akihide continued. "First, to infiltrate enemy territories with espionage units to better understand their structure and to locate viable anchoring points for our portals—ensuring precision rather than randomness in our deployments. Second, to evaluate the effectiveness of a countermeasure devised by Lord Shinigami intended to destabilize the Silver Lady's reality-altering powers within Yumegakure and to find methods to nullify the regenerative properties granted by their plane to all enemy forces at regular intervals. Third, to directly eliminate the Silver Lady as the single most dangerous asset of Yumegakure."
"For the results of the first goal..." On the table, new images appeared—faces of notable shinobi and samurai: A, Tsunade, Gaara, Onoki, Mifune, and others like Takama, B, Darui, Kakashi, Asuma. Alongside each image, information about their combat roles and capabilities displayed in crisp holographic lines. These profiles, compiled from the intelligence gathered by infiltrated agents and the testimonies of those who survived various engagements, provided invaluable insights into the strength and composition of the enemy's forces.
Akihide leaned slightly forward. "One deserves special mention," he said, as the projection of Takama enlarged. "This man is particularly dangerous. Any soul slain by this man does not return. They cannot be restored—not by us, not by the Pure Lands. His blade severs the soul from the cycle entirely. Any engagement involving him must be treated with the utmost caution."
"The second goal," Akihide continued, "was validated. Wounds inflicted near our portals cannot be regenerated—even after retreat. Moreover, our portal interference weakens the Silver Lady's powers. That was when Ryusei Uchiha struck, leading an assault with two fellow Uchiha."
He gestured to the center of the table again.
"Now… let us review the outcome of that engagement."
< o >
High above the battlefield, the clouds parted in a swirling sky of silver and violet distortion. The Silver Lady—Hinata Gin, the Awakened—floated in the air. Her presence was radiant, serene, and yet ready for war. Her silver hair danced in the spiritual wind, and her eyes were twin iridescent mirrors reflecting the truths of both worlds.
Below, emerging from a rift etched in black flame, came Ryusei Uchiha, flanked by two Uchiha warriors. One bore a pair of blazing tomoe in each eye; the other, a matured three-tomoe Sharingan and a brooding silence. Ryusei himself had an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in one eye and a temporary Sharingan in the other—meant for sacrificial techniques.
The portal behind them flared, momentarily altering the battlefield. The Silver Lady descended quickly, the air no longer sustaining her weight—but she stopped midair and slowly floated downward.
The three rose through the trees to meet her in the sky, wrapped in red chakra, black flames swirling around Ryusei's limbs. A half-formed Susanoo, burning blue, manifested around him.
"We are here to end this illusion, Silver Lady," Ryusei declared. "Return the souls you've stolen."
The Silver Lady didn't flinch. "No soul is imprisoned here. Each chose freedom. But I still believe there's a path without slaughter. Must it always be violence with your clan?"
"No diplomacy can undo what's been taken," Ryusei growled.
The first strike came from the Uchiha to his right, hurling a fireball laced with lightning. The Silver Lady blinked aside effortlessly, answering with a pulse of silver energy that unraveled the chakra construct completely. The second Uchiha dashed in, attacking with taijutsu so fast he was a blur—yet she caught his wrist mid-strike and, with a simple redirection, flung him backwards.
Ryusei activated Amaterasu—black flames descending from above. The Silver Lady spun in place, a spiraling wave of reflective silver light bursting from her body, dissolving the flames before they could touch her.
"They never learn," The Silver Lady murmured, rare irritation rising in her voice. "All Uchiha—stubborn as stone, and twice as brittle."
Ryusei's Susanoo charged, now with a fully formed arm wielding a spectral blade. She met the blow with a bare hand—her palm surrounded by concentric rings of spiritual pressure. The blade shattered.
Her counterattack was not brute force, but elegance—silver threads spun from her fingers, touching the minds of her foes. The lesser Uchiha froze, stunned. Their vision fractured—time, distance, everything warped. Only Ryusei resisted the powerful Genjutsu, shouting as he unleashed Izanami—seeking to trap the Silver Lady in a time loop. The same Jutsu once used against him, at the cost of a Sharingan. Luckily he arrived here with one left over.
Her eyes clouded, and for a moment Ryusei breathed relief—until he felt a blade at his throat. The image of the Silver Lady in the still falling vanished like mist. Behind him, from the direction of his sacrificed eye, came her voice.
"That Genjutsu is powerful, but you must be certain to hit your mark."
Ryusei with a cry of frustration, his intention was to flood the battlefield himself and the silver lady in the flames of Amaterasu... but before he could start the action he saw his point of view spin uncontrollably... he saw his body without head the silver lady with a sad face while she faded away as if she had never existed in the first place... his head fell on the floor next to the silver lady a good distance from where his headless body fell... away from the conflict...
The Silver Lady merely sighed and walked away.. "If any of you choose to return, you may. But know this—I will not offer peace twice."
< o >
Everyone at the table sat in stunned silence after witnessing Ryusei's raw power—and even more so, the overwhelming grace and surgical devastation delivered by the Silver Lady. What disturbed them most wasn't just her strength, but the ease with which she dismantled her opponents. Was this truly her fighting without reality manipulation? They had seen her implant illusions and Genjutsu into the minds of Uchiha—clan members renowned for their resistance to such techniques. If this was only her restrained form, what unspeakable power did she wield at full capacity??
Aoi finally broke the silence, his voice calm but laced with deep currents beneath. "Now that we understand the threat the Silver Lady poses—and that this is, in essence, a war between immortal armies waged over months—perhaps you will tell us why we've been summoned. What is the objective of Phase Three?"
Akihide gave a small nod, stepping forward. "Allow me, then, to explain the strategy that will end this war once and for all."
The stage was set. Phase Three of the invasion was about to begin.