"Come on—enter my body!" Huang Quan shouted, his voice trembling with excitement.
With a low hum, black chakra surged from behind the sealed door, rushing like a torrent straight into his chest.
The moment Wuliang's essence completely fused into him, Huang Quan calmly stitched shut the gaping incision across his abdomen with one hand. His lips curled into a confident smirk.
"The ritual… is complete."
From the sky screen, voices burst out:
"Whoa, that surgical technique's pretty impressive. Think he's on Tsunade's level?""You kidding? No one compares to Tsunade! She's the greatest medic-nin alive!""Nah, look closer—his whole body's been modified. That so-called 'dark medical ninjutsu' was designed just to house Wuliang's soul. The chakra-transfer stuff he used before? Just a side effect."
Even Tsunade herself appeared on screen, arms folded as she watched."The stitching's clean, but his ninjutsu isn't true healing. It's more like modification and reinforcement," she muttered.
Shizune nodded in agreement. "And that explains why he calls it dark medical ninjutsu. The strain on the host must be immense."
A wild laugh suddenly shook the underground chamber.
"Hahahahaha! Awaken, my army!"
Purple chakra erupted from Huang Quan, tearing through the cavern. One by one, small earthen mounds cracked apart, revealing rows upon rows of terracotta warriors.
The clay soldiers rose in perfect formation, lifeless eyes glowing faintly under his control. Huang Quan looked upon his new army with pride.
"Their first mission," he declared, "is to storm the ancestral hall and unseal Master Wuliang's true body!"
Before he could continue, a chilling voice rang out within his mind.
"Not yet. Before that… there is another obstacle."
Wuliang's presence loomed, and on the sky screen, an image appeared: a woman in white robes, her head crowned with a strange diadem.
"The Shrine Maiden of the Land of Ghosts," Wuliang hissed. "Only she has the power to seal me away. Defeat her first."
"Yes," Huang Quan answered, face expressionless.
"When my resurrection is complete," Wuliang thundered, his voice echoing across both earth and sky, "I will crush the Five Great Nations and forge the only kingdom that shall endure—the Thousand-Year Empire!"
His words carried beyond the cavern, spreading through the sky screen to every corner of the shinobi world.
Outcries erupted from villages across the nations:
"Those puppets?! That explains the invasion of the Land of Earth fourteen years ago!""Back then, they appeared out of nowhere, then vanished just as suddenly… so the Shrine Maiden sealed Wuliang!""During the war, I thought it was some new Sand Village puppetry… turns out this was the truth all along!"
At Konoha's Hokage Building, Sakura turned to Kakashi."Teacher… is all this true? Did you know about them?"
The room fell silent. Kakashi met Guy's eyes, then spoke evenly."I fought those puppets once, yes. But I didn't know about Wuliang or the Shrine Maiden. My contact with them was brief. If the screen isn't lying, then it was the Shrine Maiden who sealed the ghost and ended their invasion."
With that, curiosity faded. The true focus now was what other future revelations the sky would expose.
Meanwhile, voices continued debating through the heavenly curtain:
"If both Huang Quan and Wuliang want world domination, which one's really in charge?""Obviously Wuliang. Didn't you see the way Huang Quan treated it with respect?""Or maybe Huang Quan's just biding his time, borrowing Wuliang's power until he can betray him.""Now that… would be interesting."
Elsewhere, on the road in the Land of Lightning, Deidara whistled as he watched the ghost army appear."Oi, Brother Scorpion, what do you make of these puppets?"
Hidden inside his crimson puppet body, Sasori sneered. "Trash. I studied them back then. They use chakra resonance to control soldiers remotely, but the response speed is pathetic. They're nothing but cannon fodder."
He paused, voice rasping with disdain. "At best, that kind of so-called immortality could be called… art."
Deidara barked a laugh. "Art is explosion, not your lifeless junk! Tch, your taste hasn't improved one bit."
The two immediately descended into another of their endless "artistic" quarrels.
At the border of the Land of Ghosts, Wuliang's terracotta warriors crashed through the defenses with overwhelming force. The stationed garrison fell almost instantly, barely managing to send out a desperate warning.
Within moments, news rippled through the great nations. The sky screen showed rapid flashes of Konoha's shinobi mobilizing under Tsunade's command.
In the midst of the chaos, a familiar figure appeared. Naruto darted through the crowded streets, catching a small girl before she stumbled. He gently set her back on her feet with a warm smile.
"Careful there. Bye!"
Without waiting for thanks, he leapt away, vanishing across the rooftops. The girl stood frozen, then burst into tears atop a nearby water tower.
Naruto soon landed on a wall overlooking the busy street. Hands on his hips, he grinned.
"The situation's dire… guess it's finally time for me to show my stuff!"
From the watching crowd came mocking jeers:
"That's the guy who dies at the start!""Show his stuff? He didn't even last!""Konoha's shinobi are pathetic!"
"Bastards! Show your faces and I'll prove how strong Konoha really is!" one hotheaded ninja snapped back.
"Hahaha! Talking's the only thing you're good at!" came the reply, before the screen censored the next insult.
Naruto scowled, his fists trembling. "Tch… I won't just die like that. Whatever the future shows, I'll smash it to pieces!"
Neji, watching nearby, almost mocked him with his usual talk of fate—but stopped himself. For the first time, even he felt the stirrings of doubt. If fate could be seen so clearly… perhaps it could also be changed.