Juno was dismissed in a sulking puff of fur — the fat orange cat muttering about the suffering of the overworked feline class — and Uchiha Soren checked the Flying Thunder God marker at the Fire–Whirlpool border.
A single ripple of space.
FLASH.
He appeared beside Uzumaki Minako, who waited with a serene composure that belied her racing heart.
"Minako, let's go back to Konoha."
"Mm. Soren."
Her smile was polite, measured, the kind that stayed precisely within the boundaries of propriety.
Soren understood that distance — understood she needed it — and did not push.
He simply took her hand.
Another flash.
They returned to the Hokage Tower.
Wind Country — A Powder Keg Waiting to Ignite
By noon, Wind Country had dissolved into panic.
Deep within Sunagakure, the Second Kazekage presided over a council beset by fear and ambition. Shadow-like banners shuddered above as the elders argued.
A hardline voice snarled:
"Lightning is weak. Their daimyo has fallen.
Is this not our chance? Why shouldn't we do the same? Replace our daimyo and secure absolute control?"
A wave of outrage rippled through the chamber.
"We are not bandits!"
"Sunagakure protects the Wind Country — we do not devour it!"
The Kazekage's gaze settled on the ambitious young shadow-level at his right — Mero, a rising star.
His order dropped like a guillotine.
"Mero. Kill that elder.
Take his head to the daimyo yourself.
Then demand that Sunagakure take the lead in the Lightning suppression."
The hardline elder froze.
Thud.
His body hit the floor.
Just like that, Sunagakure swore loyalty by the sword — the room silenced by the swiftness of the Kazekage's resolve.
Lightning Country — Brothers Cornered
The two great storm fronts of the Lightning Country — North Cloud and South Cloud — collided like thunder.
Cornered, furious, Kinkaku and Ginkaku finally abandoned restraint.
Chakra erupted.
Gold-and-silver-tailed forms roared into the sky.
Twin tailed-beast chakra orbs streaked across the battlefield, scorching the horizon.
One was intercepted and detonated.
The other was cleaved mid-air by two more jinchūriki.
The air itself rippled under the pressure.
When Kinkaku fully manifested, his nine red tails whipped in a frenzy of killing power.
Each lash scorched the earth into molten trenches.
But a bolt of incandescent lightning struck the ground.
The Third Raikage, A, arrived.
His entire frame hummed with Lightning Release: Armor, every movement a blur too fast for the eye to track.
He dove through the storm of tails — a streak of lightning incarnate.
With a hardened breath, A thrust out a single finger — every ounce of chakra compressed to a lethal point.
"Hell Stab — One-Finger."
The killing intent alone carved a scar through the battlefield.
Kinkaku's instincts screamed.
He twisted — barely.
The lightning spear tore through flesh.
Kinkaku's arm was severed.
The tailed cloak spasmed.
The beast's howl shook mountains.
Ginkaku's eyes bulged with panic.
He tore away from his duel, snatched Kinkaku's massive war fan, and unleashed a hurricane of slicing wind-chakra.
Gouges carved through the earth; the sky itself seemed shredded.
Raikage A only narrowed his eyes.
They're running.
Good.
Chase them down.
He surged forward, the battlefield changing shape behind him by the second.
The World Shifts
In every nation, the same realization took root:
The era of daimyo power is collapsing.
The era of shinobi dominance is rising.
Lightning's descent into chaos was not contained — it was contagious.
Old orders cracked.
New powers clawed upward.
And the Five Nations felt the ground tilt beneath them.
A situation once stable had begun mutating into something drastically more dangerous.
And the world — knowingly or not — tilted ever closer toward the era Uchiha Soren intended to forge.
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