In the Land of Wind, inside Sunagakure, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, stared fixedly at the red-haired boy standing beneath the massive character for "Wind" on the sky screen.
The boy had dark circles around his eyes, the kanji for "love" carved into his forehead, and a huge sand gourd strapped to his back.
"That... that's Gaara?"
Rasa shot up from his seat so abruptly it nearly overturned. His eyes widened to the point of bulging, his face filled with such disbelief that it bordered on absurdity.
"He became the Fifth Kazekage? How is that even possible?"
The words practically exploded out of him.
That was Gaara. His own son. The jinchuriki of the One-Tail. A child feared by the entire village, reviled, avoided, treated like a monster even by the people who ought to have protected him.
How could those same villagers ever agree to raise him to the position of Kazekage?
But before the shock had even settled, a colder, more poisonous thought slipped into Rasa's mind like a venomous snake.
His breathing stopped for half a beat.
"Wait... where am I?"
That single question made his voice tremble ever so slightly.
Ten years from now, he should still have been in his prime. There was no reason for him to step down under normal circumstances.
Which meant there was only one explanation.
By then... he was dead.
And not from old age, either.
The thought hollowed him out with icy dread.
Could Gaara have killed him? Had Shukaku gone completely berserk? Or had the boy he had always regarded as unstable and dangerous finally lost control for good?
Rasa's face turned deathly pale.
Without realizing it, he looked toward the direction of Gaara's residence.
For the first time, the danger he associated with his youngest son seemed even greater than he had imagined.
***
The Land of Water, Kirigakure.
The shock that swept through the Hidden Mist was no less intense than the chaos in the Land of Wind.
Standing beneath the immense character for "Water" on the screen in the sky was a mature woman with a graceful figure and long reddish-brown hair.
"That's Mei Terumi!"
"She became the Fifth Mizukage? Then what happened to Lord Yagura?"
"Lord Yagura is a perfect jinchuriki. He's unbelievably strong. How could he possibly...?"
The entire village erupted into an uproar.
For the people of the Hidden Mist, that image was not just surprising. It was unsettling in a way that crept into the bones.
They were living under the suffocating rule of the Blood Mist era. Their current Fourth Mizukage was a figure cloaked in fear and authority. Yet on the sky screen, the future Kage was not him, but another woman entirely.
That alone was enough to make people uneasy.
And in a village with such a bloody history and such a grim atmosphere, one particular suspicion spread faster than the others.
If the future Mizukage was someone else, then had the Fourth Mizukage already met with disaster?
The speculation moved through the village like fog, cold and quiet, making Kirigakure's already oppressive air feel even darker.
Mei Terumi herself lowered her head slightly.
Her eyes flickered with uncertainty.
A future laid bare before the whole world should have been a gift of information, but to her it felt more like a blade held against her throat. The more the sky revealed, the more danger seemed to gather around every village.
***
On the screen above, the atmosphere inside the Five Kage Summit had become so tense it felt as though the pressure itself was bleeding out of the heavens and into the world below.
"Fifth Hokage!"
The Fourth Raikage, A, was the first to erupt.
His huge frame bristled with rage. He slammed a broad hand down onto the conference table hard enough to crack the thick wood with a deafening crash.
"This is all because of the mess Konoha created! You will take full responsibility for it!"
Across from him, Tsunade sat stiff-backed, her face dark and cold as she struggled to rein in her temper.
"Raikage, I understand how you feel," she said, each word forced out with visible restraint. "But now is not the time to argue over responsibility. The most urgent priority is dealing with the crisis in front of us."
"You understand?"
A surged to his feet like a thundercloud given flesh.
Even through the sky screen, the oppressive force of his anger was enough to make people's skin crawl.
"You understand nothing!"
His voice crashed down like thunder.
"The Two-Tails jinchuriki from our village, Yugito, and my brother Killer Bee were both taken by those bastards! And you say you understand? What exactly do you understand? Have you ever felt what it's like to lose someone important to you?"
Those words struck Tsunade like a knife.
In an instant, the images of Nawaki and Dan rose in her mind - her dead younger brother, her lost lover. Her face drained of color, her breathing faltered, and for a moment she could not answer him at all.
Seeing Tsunade stagger beneath the weight of the Raikage's fury, Onoki floated there in his usual arrogant composure and spoke in a tone at once calm and deliberately provocative.
"Though the Raikage's tone is harsh," the old Tsuchikage said, "his reasoning is not without merit. Konoha should indeed bear the greater share of responsibility here."
"Now isn't the time for internal conflict." Mei Terumi frowned, finally speaking up to mediate. Her red lips parted slightly, but the worry in her eyes could not be concealed. "If we continue dividing ourselves now, then when the real enemy comes, we may all pay the price."
Gaara, the youngest Kazekage, sat with a calm that far exceeded his years.
When he spoke, his voice was low and steady, carrying an almost chilling clarity.
"I don't believe this is the outcome the Fifth Hokage wanted," he said.
He paused before letting his gaze pass meaningfully over everyone present.
"Everything happening now originates from darkness left behind in the past. And I believe that kind of darkness has existed in every village gathered here today."
Those words caused more than one expression in the room to change.
"What matters most now is not assigning blame," Gaara continued. "It is unity. It is exchanging intelligence. If we fail to do that, then none of us will escape what is coming."
His measured words lifted some of the pressure bearing down on Konoha alone by shifting the problem to the entire ninja world.
But the Raikage was in no state to listen.
He had already lost too much - at least, that was what the future implied - and his temper would not allow reason to cool it.
He sneered, eyes as sharp as a drawn blade as he stared at Tsunade.
"Easy for you to say. The person whose life or death is unknown right now is my brother. Konoha owes us an explanation. That is my bottom line."
Again and again, Tsunade was pressed back.
Again and again, the blame was thrown at her face.
At last, the fire in her snapped.
She slammed both hands onto the table and surged to her feet.
Bang.
The entire corner of the table on her side shattered beneath the force of that blow.
"Fine," Tsunade said, laughing in naked fury. She leaned forward without a trace of fear, glaring straight into the Raikage's murderous stare. "You want an explanation? Then I'll give you one right now!"
Her counterattack was fiercer than anyone expected.
Even the Raikage froze for the briefest moment, clearly stunned that the woman in front of him had met his aggression head-on with even greater force.
But that stunned silence lasted only a heartbeat.
The next instant, his anger flared even hotter.
"What kind of attitude is that, woman?" Veins bulged across his forehead. "Cloud is the victim here!"
Neither of them would yield.
One was the strongest kunoichi in the world, the other a Kage famous for overwhelming strength and a volcanic temper. When those two stood opposed, the atmosphere in the summit hall froze to the edge of violence.
***
Back in the present day, inside the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, A stood motionless.
For the first time, genuine bewilderment - almost disorientation - crossed his bronze face.
His massive body swayed, just slightly, before he caught himself by gripping the edge of the table.
"Yugito... Bee..."
He said their names as though testing whether they were real.
Those two were not merely valuable military assets or living strategic weapons. They were not just the village's jinchuriki.
They were his people.
His comrades. His family.
Especially Killer Bee.
Bee was more than a subordinate. More than a jinchuriki. He was the brother A had fought beside for years.
And according to the future shown in the sky, both of them were gone.
"They were all taken... while I was Raikage..."
The thought struck him with a force no enemy's fist ever had.
A crushing sense of failure swallowed him whole.
If that was truly the future, then what kind of Raikage had he become? What kind of useless leader could not even protect the two people most important to him?
A burst of violent Lightning Release chakra exploded from his body.
Crackling arcs tore through the air, shredding papers and documents all across the office.
The smell of scorched parchment filled the room.
Near the Cloud and Lightning Gorge, Killer Bee had been training alone.
When the scene in the sky revealed his future disappearance, even his usual carefree face went still.
He didn't grin.
He didn't rap.
For once, the man who always seemed impossible to shake simply stood there, staring upward in silence.
The giant screen hanging over the whole world reflected in his sunglasses.
And for the first time in a long while, even Killer Bee felt something cold move through his chest.
The future... was coming for all of them.
And from the look of it, nobody in the ninja world would be spared.