Ten minutes.
Neither long nor short, yet for the entire shinobi world, those ten minutes stretched endlessly.
On the bridge in the Land of Waves, the tension that had existed moments ago had faded into a strange and heavy silence.
Kakashi lowered his lightning-cloaked hand and looked up at the sky, his expression solemn. The shock in his chest refused to settle.
Across from him, Zabuza Momochi held his massive blade on his shoulder. He did not move, as rigid as a stone statue.
Only he knew that beneath the bandages, the muscles of his face had already tightened.
"Zabuza sir..."
Haku's voice trembled ever so slightly.
Your dream is my dream.
The sentence looped endlessly in his mind like a curse.
It was his deepest secret. The reason he existed. The only purpose he had chosen for himself as Zabuza's tool.
Yet now, that secret had been declared to the entire world in an impossible way.
As if an invisible eye had seen straight into the most fragile corner of his soul.
The feeling of being completely exposed left him shivering with fear.
"Calm down, Haku."
Zabuza's voice remained hoarse and cold, as though he was soothing a tool, perhaps even soothing himself.
"This is just some large scale genjutsu. Whoever did this is trying to shake our resolve. Do not be fooled by a petty trick like this."
His words sounded confident, but he knew the truth.
A genjutsu that could cover the entire shinobi world, one even he could not dispel, no matter how he tried, was no longer a genjutsu.
This was something closer to a miracle.
Back in the Hidden Leaf Village, in the Hokage's office...
The atmosphere was suffocating.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table, his expression as dark as a storm.
Below him stood the two senior advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, as well as the ANBU commander and the heads of various departments. No one dared take a casual breath.
"Inoichi, have you found anything?"
Hiruzen asked, voice low.
Yamanaka Inoichi, clan head of the Yamanaka and the commander of the intelligence division, stood stiffly with cold sweat trailing down his face.
"No, Lord Hokage. My sensory network has been expanded to its limit. Across the entire Land of Fire, I found no suspicious chakra source. That sky screen... it seems to exist completely outside of our world. We cannot sense it, nor touch it."
"What about the analysis unit? Ibiki?"
Hiruzen turned to the grim figure beside him.
Morino Ibiki, famed for interrogation and psychological warfare, felt powerless for once.
"Lord Hokage, my report remains the same. We have attempted every method of classification and analysis. Nothing matches. It is neither ninjutsu, sealing arts, nor any bloodline power known to us. Since it appeared, it has not released the slightest trace of energy."
The entire room seemed to freeze.
Unreachable.
Unanalyzable.
Uninterferable.
It meant that even a village as powerful as the Leaf could only watch helplessly as the sky itself broadcasted whatever it wished.
"A device capable of transmitting to the entire world..."
Koharu's voice was icy.
"If it were to show anything other than this so-called moving scene... if it exposed our confidential information... the consequences would be catastrophic."
Shivers ran down the spines of everyone present.
It would be a disaster unlike any other.
Meanwhile, in a hot spring inn somewhere in the Land of Fire...
"Whoa! Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"
Jiraiya lay against the wall of the women's bath. For the first time in his life, he was not peeking. Instead, his glowing eyes were glued to the sky.
"A world ranking? This is even better than anything I have written! Fantastic! I really picked the right place to do research this time. Inspiration is overflowing!"
He treated the entire event not as a crisis, but like a child finding a new toy. His excitement was boundless.
Back in the Hidden Rain, within the base of the Akatsuki...
On the fingers of the massive Gedo Statue, Illusory projections appeared one by one.
"Hey hey, did you all see that? What is that giant screen in the sky?" Deidara shouted excitedly.
"You are being too noisy, Deidara," Sasori rasped.
"Instead of wasting time, we should consider how this affects our plans."
"A device that broadcasts to the entire world might be exploited," Kakuzu muttered, calculating possibilities with glinting eyes.
"What does the leader think?" Kisame asked, turning toward the central figure.
The Deva Path of Pain stared at the sky through the rippling rings of the Rinnegan, emotionless from the beginning.
"Zetsu has confirmed it is of unknown origin. It cannot be tracked or destroyed."
His voice was cold.
"Until its purpose becomes clear, all members are to remain silent and act only when necessary."
"Understood."
The entire Akatsuki responded as one.
In Evan Chen's small apartment in the Leaf...
The ten minute countdown was ending.
His initial nerves had faded. In their place rose a growing thrill, the sense of holding an entire world in the palm of his hand.
With a thought, he opened the database prepared by the system.
The first video, Tears of the Demon of the Bloody Mist, waited quietly in the archive, ready to be played.
He could even preview it.
The clip opened on the brutal graduation exams of the Blood Mist era, showing a young boy slaughtering every other student in the arena.
"Zabuza..." Evan whispered the name.
This would be the first gift he offered the shinobi world.
[Countdown finished. Begin projecting the Top Ten?]
"Begin."
He gave the command.
Instantly, the sky that blanketed the entire world flared with blinding light.
The small text,
[Top Ten will be revealed in ten minutes]
faded away.
In its place appeared a striking new title.
[TOP 10: Twin Deaths in the Snow, Tears of the Demon of the Bloody Mist]
Across the world, countless shinobi were stunned.
"Twin deaths? Two people die?"
"But the last part... the Demon of the Bloody Mist..."
"I have heard that name before..."
"Of course you have. It is him. The rogue from the Hidden Mist, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist!"
Veteran shinobi immediately connected the title with the infamous monster of the Water Country.
In that moment, countless gazes seemed to converge on the distant bridge in the Land of Waves.
On the bridge...
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed sharply.
The Demon of the Bloody Mist. Zabuza.
He looked instinctively toward his opponent, his heartbeat quickening.
The ranking involved the enemy standing right in front of him.
Twin Deaths in the Snow.
Tears of the Demon.
What did this mean?
Was this… a prophecy?
As for Zabuza himself, the moment he saw the title, he froze.
The calm arrogance on his face shattered, replaced by disbelief and shock.
His own title.
The notorious name, the Demon of the Mist, was hanging in the sky for all to see.
What was happening?
A sharp, suffocating humiliation rose inside him, as if he had been stripped bare before the world.
Beside him, Haku saw the phrase twin deaths and instantly turned pale.
Two deaths...
One was him.
The other... was Zabuza.
Fear crashed over him like a freezing wave.
He stepped forward on instinct, placing himself between Zabuza and the sky, as if his fragile body could shield his master from judgment.
At that moment, a loud, innocent voice broke the suffocating silence.
Naruto pointed at the sky, then at Zabuza, yelling:
"Tears of the Demon? That guy cries?"