Morning. The revelry of Kumogakure had not yet ended.
Singing and dancing, peace prevailing, banquets were being held in the streets and alleys. Elegant people with smiles on their faces came from all parts of the country, discussing the future of this village and the nation.
Thanks to the powerful integration ability of the Chimera Virus, Kumogakure had achieved something they had long desired.
Namely, transforming ordinary people into Ninjas!
The genetic material carried by the tuned virus possessed the Chakra genetic code of the original organism. The recipient would complete the first combination of physical and spiritual energy under the virus's stimulation.
The significance of this great innovation was no less than when the Sage of Six Paths, who founded Ninshu, first distributed Chakra to his disciples.
"Ninja World Revolution?"
A flyer was blown up by the wind and landed on the face of the acting Raikage, B. He reached out to take the flyer and read the words on it.
"Sorry, Sensei. I'll go tell them to stop this behavior immediately."
Omoi, the disciple at B's side, saw his poor expression, hurriedly took the flyer, and lifted his foot to go reprimand the Ninjas who were scattering the flyers.
"No need, Omoi. Let's go back." B raised his hand to stop his disciple and pulled her to turn and leave.
But unlike the joy permeating the village, deep beneath the village, in the dark, foul-smelling sewer, a rat's body began to distort after crossing a long distance to arrive here.
Sharp teeth extended from its body. A crimson eye opened above a fissure like a giant mouth, its greedy gaze scanning left and right.
Winding appendages began catching rats everywhere, stacking their flesh and blood, ultimately forming a small signal transmission and reception center.
The people reveling above ground knew nothing of what was happening beneath them, because they had removed the Chakra reaction of the Chimera Virus from their detection barrier. Every person in the village was a carrier of the virus, and everyone was an evolver of the coming new era!
Then, the new era... began!
A man feasting voraciously at a table suddenly felt his internal organs churning. After a retch, he knelt on the ground and vomited.
"Haha, that fool ate too much!" The people around him joked, trying to help the man up.
But as four or five people approached, the piercing sound of twisting flesh and convulsing bones rang out. Amidst a spray of copious blood, over a dozen tentacles grew from the man's body, instantly piercing those who had come to help him.
The lively atmosphere of the party halted. Those splashed with blood all experienced varying degrees of mutation, losing their senses and attacking those around them.
In an instant, the entire banquet scene was transformed into a bloody slaughterhouse.
The wails of the Ninjas intensified. The longed-for evolution did not arrive... instead, they awaited even more severe mutations.
Kumogakure, which moments ago had been singing and dancing, lit up with neon and wine, became a hell on earth in the next instant.
B, rushing out with his disciple and subordinates, saw this scene and his eyes lost focus. "Omoi, go tell Darui to gather the Ninjas who haven't received the enhancement agent yet and leave the village immediately. Do not return!"
"Sensei!"
Omoi, sensing something, cried out in grief.
"Leave. The Land of Lightning... is finished!" B's mouth curved, and he laughed wildly in a low, desperate voice, his laughter maniacal and eerie.
Ignoring the dissuasion of the Eight-Tails within him, he forcibly entered Tailed Beast form and charged toward the rampaging village.
Then, countless mutants began to rapidly fuse, gathering flesh and blood, disregarding everything, forming a foul-smelling giant tree at the center of the street.
Faces familiar to B were hung upon it. With the breeze, the heads collided, swaying like wind chimes.
"Bastards!"
Clad in a Tailed Beast Cloak, B opened his giant mouth. High-density Chakra was mobilized, gathering in front of his body to form a Tailed Beast Bomb, which he spat out in fury.
The mere sound of bubbles bursting as they boiled transformed into a thunderclap that shook the entire world, tearing the dome, shooting into the sky, echoing violently in everyone's ears.
The white light of the Tailed Beast Bomb's explosion swallowed everything, annihilating the streets, the village, and the blood-soaked ground beneath the fierce torrent of Chakra.
And the person who had been lurking in the shadows early on, waiting for the moment when B's attention would slacken, also struck at this time.
"Heh, you let your guard down, Killer B?" Kabuto used Earth Release to burst out from underground, his hands forming hand seals to activate a technique.
Over a dozen white phosphorus great serpents coiled around B's Tailed Beast Cloak, opening their sharp fangs and biting down viciously on B.
"Finally come out, you rats in the gutter!" His Chakra surged even more fiercely. The Tailed Beast Cloak condensed the skull of the Eight-Tails on the surface of B's body, opening its giant mouth.
Unfortunately, he was facing a prepared Kabuto.
The erupting Chakra not only failed to burn away the white phosphorus serpents coiling around his body, but was also absorbed by the sealing techniques on these serpents' fangs, tearing open multiple hollows reaching his body.
The serpent fangs pierced through, venom was injected, the seal unfolded. Under the suppression of multiple forces, B's resistance gradually weakened until he lost consciousness completely. Kabuto hoisted him up and rapidly evacuated Kumogakure.
Leaving behind only the mutants of the Chimera Virus, which began to slowly spread throughout the Land of Lightning.
…
On the other side, the three of them, having evacuated from the Land of Earth, raced back without a moment's rest and finally arrived at Konoha, heading straight for Konoha Hospital.
"Shizune-nee, look what I brought back for you!"
The pink-haired girl shook the test tube filled with gray liquid in her hand, a radiant smile on her face.
Then she saw a figure in a protective suit, having just completed disinfection, walk out of the isolation area. After removing the face shield, a face covered with dark circles appeared.
"!!!"
Sakura's radiant smile froze. She turned to run away, but Tsunade's hand was faster. Her five fingers spread open, clamping down on Sakura's head.
"Brought back what? Could it be that someone abandoned their frontline duties and ran off to use their own body to create a virus antibody?" A suppressed voice squeezed out word by word through Tsunade's teeth. "Come with me!!!"
Sakura was about to ask how Tsunade knew, but when her Observation Haki touched the dodging and hiding Katsuyu behind her, she immediately understood the whole story.
"Katsuyu, you betrayed me!" The girl being dragged away roared at her reluctantly.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan. I will pick a picturesque final resting place for you in Shikkotsu Forest!" Katsuyu, its face full of apology, put its hands together and bowed in Sakura's direction.
Naruto and Sasuke dumbfoundedly watched this chaotic family. The two looked at each other and helplessly shrugged.
Just then, the sky outside Konoha suddenly darkened. A massive Chakra Mass gathered outside the village's barrier, instantly snapping the nerves of the Barrier Squad's Ninjas.
Alarms echoed through the streets and alleys of the village, sending the residents of Konoha, already experienced in attacks, fleeing underground.
The shadow of a white-haired youth in a black cloak with red clouds was projected onto the sky, his cold eyes overlooking his former homeland.
"Long time no see, Tsunade!"
With the power of the Chimera Virus, Hiruko's various abilities had swelled to an incredible degree. His gaze fell on the location of the hospital in the northern part of Konoha.
"So it really is you... Hiruko!!!" Tsunade released Sakura's head and leaned against the window, gazing at the distant sky.
"Yes, the timid Hiruko, the cowardly Hiruko, the Hiruko who could only be your Sannin's shadow!" The corners of the white-haired youth's mouth, hidden beneath his bandages, writhed, as if he were smiling.
"But I'm different now! See, I've gained the power to catch up to you!!!"
He raised his hand casually, a massive Chakra Mass gathering in his palm, and fired a blast toward the sky.
The Chakra Mass exploded. The flames and storm blasted open the shadow in the sky, allowing the scorching heat and sunlight to fall together on the streets and alleys of Konoha, demonstrating the power of the wielder of this strength.
"Hiruko, you fool, what are you trying to do!" Seeing her former friend turned into this, Tsunade closed her eyes, unable to bear it.
The Hiruko of today was a far cry from the shy boy in her memory, transformed into a mad destroyer.
And this atmosphere of tension, of having to turn blades against a former companion, pained Tsunade's heart deeply.
"Heh, hahahaha!"
The giant shadow covering the entire village laughed hysterically.
"A new era is coming! This is a declaration of war! On behalf of the Akatsuki, I hereby declare war on you Konoha!"
Hiruko extended his fist toward the people of Konoha and clenched it tightly, then his figure began to slowly melt away.
"The Land of Water, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Lightning have already fallen into our hands. If you don't want to be eliminated by the times, then struggle with all your might, Tsunade!"