At the same time, somewhere far underground.
Gin who was meditating in a secret room suddenly opened his eyes. In the darkness, he faintly sensed a shadowy figure standing right before him.
"Who?!"
Gin was shocked. Although he didn't know exactly where he was, he knew this place was guarded by the First Place of the Gold List. Who was brave enough to sneak in here without permission?
"Hehe..."
Low laughter echoed in that empty room. Dim light suddenly glowed in the room, and a body appeared just like that as if born from darkness, giving a very strange impression.
Not only that, the entire skin and clothing of that person emitted a luminous glow, but even so, Gin still couldn't see their face clearly.
In that person's embrace was a black cat.
The cat's eyes were so dark, as if inside them was an endless abyss of death that could make anyone get sucked in with just one glance.
"You are... First Place of the Gold List! Owner of the Sacred Ruins Trial Tower!"
Gin unconsciously voiced the most basic guess in the depths of his heart. But as soon as he spoke, he himself was stunned.
Strange, why did he have such thinking? The First Place he met before didn't look like this, but wore a black robe...
But then, he jolted in shock. Did First Place always have to wear a black robe?
Why did he have such narrow thinking? Could it be because the Gold List never showed their true face?
All signs showed that this legendary and mysterious First Place had extraordinary power, even able to rival the mysterious Gold List itself.
The black-robed man he followed before only used crude methods to hide his face. Combined with decent power and a black cat in his embrace, people didn't dare question his true identity. Besides, this was First Place; who dared test whether he was real or fake?
What if he was real? Once angering him, their life was at stake.
However, the person before him, though standing so clearly, their face still couldn't be seen, and the black cat in their embrace was far more terrifying. If both were compared, the difference appeared very clear.
The person before him was exactly like the description from the former Admiral who now became Chairman of the World Council Parliament, Kizaru.
"So, the previous one... was fake?" Gin asked hesitantly.
"Just a little boy who likes seeking commotion—no need to think about it." Kaiser answered flatly, which indirectly confirmed Gin's suspicion.
Gin immediately knelt and bowed his head: "My respects, Master!"
He had infinite respect and awe for this mysterious First Place because thanks to him Gin could have his current power. Now he was confident he could fight experts on the Strongest List.
Kaiser nodded slightly and said calmly: "My coming here is to give you an opportunity (destiny)!"
Opportunity? Gin was stunned, but he remained silent.
Kaiser gently patted Blacky's (the black cat's) head.
Suddenly Blacky opened his mouth, and a crystal-colored light sphere flew out, directly entering Gin's body.
Gin felt his head dizzy and swollen from the large amount of suddenly entering information, making him fall into a dazed condition. He unconsciously began absorbing that information.
After some time, Gin opened his eyes wide. He finally absorbed all the information in his brain. His eyes were full of shock. This was another training system standing independently outside the Three Realms.
"Armor... Fusion! Monster Controlling Mantra!"
Just as he wanted to ask, he realized that secret room had returned to pitch darkness. That luminous figure from earlier had somehow already left, giving an illusion as if everything was just a dream.
"This First Place, and that Gold List in the sky... what exactly are their goals?" Gin couldn't hold back the curiosity in his heart. But he immediately dismissed that thought.
Competition between two great entities transcending the heavens wasn't the business of small people like him. He had no right to interfere; just do his duties well.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
While Gin was absorbing information in the secret room, in the vast underground hall...
The terrifying Gedo Mazo stood upright behind the throne. A withered thin figure sat on that throne with several pipes dangling on his back, supplying chakra to maintain his life.
This person was the mastermind behind Akatsuki, Uchiha Madara.
A shadowy figure suddenly appeared on top of Gedo Mazo's head, standing there as light as a weightless feather.
It was Kaiser who was holding Blacky. However, Madara didn't realize their presence at all.
Kaiser seemed isolated from this world; he closed all external perception so even Madara who was that strong couldn't find him.
"This boy has very deep thinking, planning the Mugen Tsukuyomi project so long. Truly extraordinary—he's an ambitious hero." Kaiser praised Madara from the depths of his heart, then his gaze fell on the Gedo Mazo beneath his feet.
"Juubi..." Kaiser stroked Blacky and smiled: "What do you think of it?"
Blacky meowed arrogantly, appearing to look down on the strongest Bijuu in the shinobi world. For him, not only in the Three Realms, even while following Kaiser traversing various dimensions, it was very difficult to find existences that could directly match him.
"The Juubi's resurrection doesn't need me to do it. But the Bijuu fragmented from it are quite interesting—let's use them!" While speaking, Kaiser directly inserted his hand into Gedo Mazo's body.
Gedo Mazo's body was the Juubi's shell, but Kaiser's hand seemed to penetrate space, not touching that monster's physical surface at all. Gedo Mazo's surface rippled like water, and his hand just passed through.
"Caught you!" Kaiser smiled thinly and pulled his hand back.
As he pulled his hand, a tiny red-gold fox with nine tails was pulled out with it.
"Who dares disturb uncle's sleep—!" Kurama's (Kyuubi's) voice sounded very unfriendly.
Though he only had half chakra (the other half sealed in Minato's body), he was still the strongest among the nine Bijuu. His nature was very fierce and arrogant, though slightly softened after being with Naruto.
Since being pulled from Naruto's body into Gedo Mazo, his mental condition kept weakening. He realized if Akatsuki succeeded in gathering all Bijuu, they might never see the outside world again.
Being mysteriously pulled out from Gedo Mazo shocked Kurama; was there something wrong with Gedo Mazo?
However, in the next second, he saw Kaiser standing right before him.