Within the Heavenly Screen—
Perhaps to make her words more convincing, Sakura continued:
"Light is a Devil Fruit user. The power system she wields already belongs to something beyond this world."
"She is too dangerous for this world."
"I believe my master—and the others within the organization—will understand that. They'll agree to take her away."
Her explanation was directed at Sasuke and Orochimaru.
But it was also clearly meant for Light:
I'm not deceiving you. I will take you with me.
Sasuke listened in silence and gave a faint nod.
Orochimaru, seeing the discussion settle, smoothly redirected the focus to the most urgent matter at hand.
Rubbing his hands together, his eyes rekindled with research-driven fervor.
"In that case, we shouldn't linger here any longer."
"It's time to begin the experiment… to 'revive' Naruto."
Sakura and Sasuke both stiffened at the word.
"Let's go," Sakura decided immediately.
The three of them wasted no further time on the battlefield soaked in blood, secrets, and absurdity.
Their figures blurred one after another as they departed swiftly toward Orochimaru's hidden laboratory.
Left behind on the shattered battlefield—
Four dolls lay alone among dust and broken stone.
After a long while—
A figure reappeared silently.
Light.
A knowing, playful smile curved her lips as she glanced in the direction Sakura and the others had gone.
Clearly, through the dolls' surveillance, she had heard everything.
"The outside world… what kind of pond might it be?"
She softly repeated Sakura's metaphor, her eyes flickering with anticipation—and a trace of guarded caution.
Still, Sakura's clear stance had reassured her.
She bent down gracefully and picked up the three humanoid dolls scattered on the ground, storing them away.
Finally, she walked toward the dusty teddy bear.
She stopped before it, looking down.
The sunlight stretched her shadow over the doll.
"Your name is… Neji, isn't it?"
She spoke softly, as if addressing the doll—or herself.
"The Hyūga Clan… such a familiar yet unfamiliar clan…"
Her head tilted slightly. A cruel smile emerged.
"Tell me… if someday I'm in a good mood, and I lift the 'restriction' on you…"
"And that little Uchiha brat suddenly remembers you. Remembers that everyone forgot you…"
Her eyes sparkled with perverse amusement.
"What kind of expression would he make?"
"Shock? Guilt? Rage? Or… realizing he was a complete fool?"
The thought clearly delighted her.
A light laugh escaped her lips.
Then—
Still smiling—
She slowly lifted her foot.
And stepped down toward the teddy bear that represented Hyūga Neji.
"The Hyūga Clan… has geniuses?"
"Heh."
The Heavenly Screen abruptly went black.
And then—
It vanished entirely.
The sky returned to normal.
Across the shinobi world, countless eyes remained fixed upward, struggling to process the sudden disappearance.
"It's… over?"
"This episode just ended like that?"
"Was Neji about to be stepped on?! Why cut it there?!"
"That 'Light' is despicable!"
"Will Sakura really succeed in reviving Naruto?"
"Orochimaru's research… will it work?"
"Toy Kingdom… the outside world… Devil Fruits…"
Questions, anger, anticipation, dread—all intertwined.
This episode had delivered too many revelations.
Too many powerful enemies.
Too many unsettling variables.
And too many unresolved threads:
Naruto's death—and "rebirth."
The true nature of the Sage of Six Paths.
Neji's imprisonment within a toy—and the crisis of erased cognition.
Karin, Wangcai, and the Operation Fruit.
Orochimaru's forbidden resurrection research.
Light's threat and ultimatum.
The God's Knight Order behind Sakura.
The broader cosmological structure of the world.
The Fishpond Theory.
The possibility of "Baiting."
And above all—
The Pond Owner.
All of it lay before the shinobi world like scattered fragments of a heavy, incomplete puzzle.
No one could assemble a reassuring future from it.
Some voices murmured:
"Isn't this just another Demon Child like Karin?"
"They're different personalities, but both are equally dangerous."
"Our world really is cursed with disasters…"
"Wait. Karin is already too powerful. We can't deal with her."
"But Light—based on her age in the vision—she's only a child right now, isn't she?"
"That's right! And the Toy Kingdom—Sasuke and Neji hadn't even heard of it. Only Naruto stumbled upon it while wandering."
"And during a Great Ninja War, such a 'pure land' wouldn't remain undiscovered."
"What does that imply?"
"It means that place was built after Light gained her Devil Fruit power!"
The implication ignited something dangerous.
"In other words… Light probably hasn't eaten the Devil Fruit yet."
Silence fell.
Then—
A collective, restrained inhale filled with greed and excitement.
What Light had displayed—
Turning people into toys erased from awareness.
Surveillance and teleportation through dolls.
It was a power that touched the rules of existence.
Against someone like Karin, who had already matured into a terrifying entity, the world felt only despair.
But against a child—
Who might not yet possess that power—
That was different.
"If we find her before she eats the Devil Fruit…" someone rasped.
The rest went unsaid.
Control her.
Or seize the destiny meant for her.
"Find her! Before she becomes uncontrollable!"
Similar whispers and growls echoed through underground intelligence markets, bounty hunter gatherings, and even the private chambers of daimyō.
The search directions quickly narrowed.
Light's early life, judging from her words, suggested she had once been controlled—enslaved, even.
Where would such a child most likely be found?
No one understood that better than they did.
Because the first step every major organization took—
Was internal investigation.
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