Consciousness slowly returned...
The moment he opened his eyes, Aoi Ren frowned deeply. He noticed that the Kazekage's chambers, once well-kept, were now covered in a thick layer of dust.
He pushed the doors open and was utterly stunned by the sight before him.
The entire Kazekage Residence had fallen into ruin, bearing scars and marks left by rampant ninjutsu battles.
Stepping outside, he saw that the Village Hidden in the Sand had lost all its former prosperity.
Along the broken streets, beggars wandered aimlessly. Wounded and disabled shinobi lay dying on the ground, yet no one stopped to offer help.
"What on earth is happening here?" Aoi Ren instinctively questioned the System.
"Haven't I returned to the main world yet? Am I still inside that trial world?"
"Negative. Host has been confirmed to have returned to the Main World."
"But then... what happened to this place?" Aoi Ren looked around in bewilderment.
It wasn't just the residence; the entire village looked as if it had endured a catastrophic war.
Yet, strangely enough, when he had breached the village gates back then, the Sand Shinobi had offered no resistance at all.
They hadn't even fought a single battle here...
Ding! Small reminder...
The System's cold voice echoed abruptly. "Within trial worlds, time in the Main World remains frozen due to differences in space-time flow."
Aoi Ren nodded in understanding. "That's correct, yes."
"However, if the Host fails to return to the Main World immediately after the trial concludes, time in the Main World will resume flowing normally, synchronized with the duration of the Host's remaining stay in the trial world."
The System's words left Aoi Ren completely dumbfounded...
In other words, from the moment he had driven the Allied Shinobi Forces out of the Land of Rain — marking the end of the Second Great Ninja War — time in the Main World had begun moving forward alongside him!
Realizing this, Aoi Ren couldn't help but swallow hard. "System... exactly how long did I stay behind after completing the mission?"
"One year and three months."
His eyes widened in shock. "That long?! No wonder everything has changed so drastically!"
He was still standing there in a daze when a hand suddenly grabbed his arm tightly.
He turned to see Masaru Hyūga, looking weathered and aged, kneeling before him with snot and tears streaming down his face, wailing loudly, "Captain Ren! You really are alive!"
---
Ten minutes later, Aoi Ren finally understood exactly what had transpired over the past year...
Back then, after conquering the Sand Village, Aoi Ren had simply taken over the Kazekage's residence to enter seclusion and meditate.
No one had thought much of it at the time, since his periods of isolation never usually lasted more than five minutes.
Everyone had happily begun discussing the terms of the Sand Village's surrender...
But as time passed — one day, two days, then a month, two months... a full three months went by, and Aoi Ren still had not emerged from the residence.
Finally, in the fourth month, Masaru Hyūga had smashed the doors open...
Only to find the room completely empty.
That was when Konoha had turned against the Sand Village, and full-scale fighting had broken out right here in the streets.
"Lord Tobirama was the one who struck first!" Masaru recounted, his voice trembling with emotion.
"As soon as Lord Tobirama suspected you might have been harmed or assassinated, he rushed here to the Sand Village without a moment's rest."
"When he couldn't find you anywhere... he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear instantly behind Lord Sāmu and killed him with a single strike!" Masaru swallowed nervously.
"In all the years I've served him, I have never seen Lord Tobirama that furious or agitated before!"
Hearing this, a warm feeling spread through Aoi Ren's heart. You old geezer... if you cared about me this much, you could have just said so...
"And then what happened?"
"After that... the Village Hidden in the Sand was wiped out completely."
Masaru delivered this earth-shattering news as casually as if he were reciting a menu.
It seemed Masaru had grown and matured a great deal over this past year...
As for the destruction of an entire village, Aoi Ren could only silently press his palms together in apology.
"Sorry about that... I unintentionally made you the scapegoat."
One big misunderstanding... and it cost an entire ninja village its existence.
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