Tsunade's face was cold as frost.
The last trace of hope in her heart vanished completely.
An Uchiha Hikari with the Mangekyō Sharingan—
Her threat level had to be raised yet again.
"After her! Don't let her escape!"
"Trying to run? Not happening!" A roared, Lightning Release chakra erupting around him as he transformed into a streak of blue lightning and gave chase.
Among everyone present, his speed was unmatched.
Ōnoki, Tsunade, Rasa, and Mei reacted instantly as well—flying, leaping, or surging forward by their respective means.
The elite shinobi accompanying them moved according to contingency plans: splitting into flanking units, setting ambush points, launching long-range interference.
A pursuit led personally by the Five Kage—targeting the newly unsealed "future calamity," Uchiha Hikari—erupted across the barren mountain range.
Though she possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan—the pinnacle of Uchiha ocular power—Hikari's condition was far from ideal.
She had been sealed for centuries. While the sealing technique preserved her body, she was nowhere near her peak.
Her chakra reserves were dangerously low after such prolonged dormancy. In the face of relentless pursuit by the Five Kage and their elite forces, there was no opportunity to recover.
She had only one strategy:
Run.
The Uchiha were renowned for their lack of weaknesses—balanced in speed, taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and precise chakra control.
Hikari elevated escape into an art form.
Like a wraith without substance, she darted through jagged ravines, dense forests, and narrow streams, exploiting terrain to obstruct lines of sight and attack trajectories.
The Mangekyō's enhanced perception allowed her to strike from vicious angles. While her attacks couldn't seriously injure a Kage, they forced momentary evasions—buying her precious seconds.
But the gap in strength was overwhelming.
Her pursuers were the Five Kage—the pinnacle of shinobi power—and their most coordinated elite units.
Wounds began to accumulate on Hikari's body.
Her chakra dwindled further.
Her breathing grew ragged. Sweat beaded along her brow.
I can't stop… I absolutely cannot stop.
Driven by a desperate refusal to be caged again, she pushed forward.
Her eyes scanned wildly—
And locked onto a destination ahead.
A deeper canyon, perpetually shrouded in thick mist. The terrain was treacherous, labyrinthine.
Perhaps—
Her only chance.
But at the canyon entrance, a twelve-man elite interception squad emerged from concealment.
The entire shinobi world had converged for her.
Explosive tags detonated in formation.
Poisonous mist surged outward.
Earth Release and Water Release techniques erected layered barriers.
Two jōnin specializing in taijutsu charged her head-on, fighting with complete disregard for their own survival—stalling at all costs.
Ahead: a suicidal wall.
Behind: the Five Kage closing in for the kill.
Hikari's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
True desperation.
I will not die.
I will not be captured.
No one will control me ever again.
I will be the one who controls all.
Then—
Just as she was about to either crash into the intercept squad or be crushed by the Kage from behind—
Something changed.
From deep within the mist-veiled canyon—considered a natural death zone—came a faint sound.
Clear.
Unmistakable.
Then, drifting upward, came a sing-song melody.
Light. Cheerful.
Horrifically out of place.
"La-la-la~ La-la-la~
Little lamb who's lost your way~
Come inside, don't be afraid~
The toy castle's gates are open~"
With the eerie nursery rhyme came a distortion.
At the canyon wall, what appeared to be solid rock rippled like water struck by a stone.
Colorful, unstable waves of space spread outward.
At their center—
A doorway appeared.
Large enough for one person.
From within, warm golden light spilled outward, carrying the cloying scent of candy.
Through the shimmering threshold, one could glimpse something impossible—
Spinning rainbow carousels.
Mountains of plush dolls.
Gingerbread houses crowned with sugar frosting.
A child's fever dream.
Beautiful.
And deeply, fundamentally wrong.
The Toy Kingdom?
The Five Kage.
The interception squad.
Even Hikari herself.
All froze for the briefest fraction of a second.
The Mangekyō in Hikari's eyes flared violently.
No hesitation.
She poured every last drop of chakra into her legs.
Her body blurred into a streak of black light—
And hurled itself into the radiant, distorted doorway just as the intercepting jōnin's final strikes and the Kage's killing techniques converged.
"Stop her!!"
Tsunade's roar overlapped with A's thunderous shout.
"Boom!"
"Crash!"
"Whoosh—!"
Lightning Release.
Dust Release.
Boiling acid.
Golden sand storms.
Devastating techniques slammed into the doorway and surrounding cliffside.
The canyon erupted in smoke and chaos.
But the doorway—
It existed somewhere else.
All attacks struck its surface only to cause ripples of color—before being absorbed as if by a sponge.
Then, as soon as Hikari vanished inside—
The portal shrank.
Faded.
Dissolved like a soap bubble in sunlight.
Gone.
Silence fell over the canyon.
The Five Kage stared at the empty rock face.
Their expressions darkened one by one.
An operation involving the greatest concentration of visible power in the shinobi world—
Had failed.
At the final moment.
In the most absurd, incomprehensible way possible.
Uchiha Hikari had escaped.
Into what appeared to be—
The Toy Kingdom.
The very domain shown in the Heavenly Curtain.
"Toy… Kingdom…" Ōnoki hovered in the air, Dust Release fading from his hands. His face was grim.
"She actually got away!" A smashed his fist into the cliffside, rock shattering under the impact as Lightning Release chakra crackled violently.
Tsunade clenched her fists, knuckles white.
Hikari inside the Toy Kingdom was worse than Hikari on the run.
Because that place—
Was a domain they did not understand.
And perhaps—
Could not even enter.
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