At the same time that Arisu's reputation was rising and his name was shaking the ninja world, a tragedy on the other side of the continent was quietly coming to an end.
The Land of Whirlpools was gone.
Fortunately, Arisu had seen it coming.
He had prepared in advance and ordered White Zetsu to secretly take away a large number of Uzumaki clan infants and send them to Mount Myoboku to be carefully raised.
———
[At The Mountains' Graveyard]
"The Land of Whirlpools is gone, but a large number of refugees have scattered to various countries. I've already sent White Zetsu to select suitable infants."
Uchiha Madara's body was hunched, and his voice was old.
At his side, Uchiha Izuna and Senju Tobirama sat shoulder to shoulder, with a long tube behind them.
The two of them were also surviving on the chakra of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, barely clinging to life until they finally witnessed the outbreak of the Second Great Ninja War.
"So it still started..."
A trace of mixed emotion flashed through Izuna's eyes.
Only a few decades had passed since the smoke of the First Great Ninja War had cleared.
"As long as conflicts of interest exist in this world, war will never stop.", Tobirama spoke in a deep voice, without the slightest surprise.
In his view, it was the same even for the First Great Ninja War.
Even if he and Madara had not started it, someone else would have.
"Forget it. There's no need to worry about the ninja world's mess anymore.", Madara casually waved his hand.
Then he raised his head, and a fanatical light suddenly burst from his cloudy eyes.
"When the Infinite Tsukuyomi is realized, all pain, hatred, and war will completely disappear! Everything will become perfect!"
Hearing this, both Izuna and Tobirama's expressions changed slightly.
They did not oppose the Infinite Tsukuyomi. They simply differed from Madara in their ideals.
They hoped that when the Infinite Tsukuyomi was activated, people would have the right to choose.
Those willing to immerse themselves in dreams could obtain eternal happiness, while those unwilling to give up reality could remain in this world.
At that time, the three of them would use White Zetsu's power to build a true utopia without conflict upon these ruins.
At that moment, Madara suddenly frowned. His fingers stopped as they moved across an intelligence scroll.
"Strange. When did Konoha produce someone like this? I've heard of Sakumo Hatake before, but this 'Arisu'... why have I never heard of him?"
Even though he had long since left Konoha, Madara had never relaxed his surveillance of the village.
He needed to place a chess piece in Konoha as a supervisor for his plan.
Because of that, any genius who showed promise in Konoha could not escape his intelligence network.
Yet this Arisu seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
Why had there not been a single mention of someone so talented in previous reports?
"Arisu... Arisu...", Uchiha Izuna quietly repeated the name. Suddenly, something occurred to him.
"This name is exactly the same as our great-grandfather's."
Senju Tobirama also frowned.
These old men who had lived since the era of the First Hokage had all grown up following that Uchiha great-grandfather. They were among the very few people in the ninja world who knew his real name.
"It's probably just a coincidence. Nothing strange about it.", Tobirama said.
"He's just a civilian genius without any notable background.". Madara quickly looked away and shook his head.
"Without the Sharingan or the inheritance of Sage Arts, relying only on ninjutsu, his achievements will ultimately be limited. He won't amount to much."
———
[Pure Land]
Recently, Uzumaki Itsuki had a huge headache.
Because the entire Uzumaki clan had come up recently.
Everyone had come to the Pure Land. The whole clan was here.
Uzumaki Itsuki stood at the entrance to the Pure Land with a bitter and ugly expression, watching clan members continuously arrive.
"Heavens, why? Were my descendants, the Uzumaki clan, really wiped out like this?", Uzumaki Itsuki said bitterly.
Uzumaki Ashina wiped away his tears and comforted him, "It's okay, Grandpa. At least we're all together in the Pure Land. The human world is full of danger. The Pure Land is better."
Senju Hashirama also looked apologetic, "Ashina, I apologize to you. Konoha must have done its best too."
However, the last Uzumaki clan leader let out a cold snort.
"Senju Hashirama! Konoha is a bunch of hypocrites. They never came to save us Uzumaki!"
"Didn't they say the Uzumaki clan were Konoha's old friends? The moment things got dangerous, Konoha disappeared."
"Especially Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, kind faces but ruthless hearts!", The Uzumaki clan leader said angrily.
Hashirama looked embarrassed and did not know what to say. He could not help asking, "Konoha didn't send support?"
The last Uzumaki clan leader crossed his arms.
"No!"
Hashirama became even more embarrassed.
Thinking about how he had even carved the Uzumaki clan crest onto the backs of Konoha ninja uniforms to show their friendship, only for Konoha to do nothing when disaster struck, made it worse.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: 'Don't worry. If anything happens, come to Konoha. The Uzumaki and Konoha are brothers for life!'
The Uzumaki clan: 'Alright! Brother, I trust you!'
———
The Uzumaki clan: 'Big brother, something happened! Hurry and save us!'
Hiruzen Sarutobi: 'Where am I supposed to find people for you in the middle of the night?'
———
"Alright, alright. Clan extermination is a pretty normal thing. Look at me. My clan was wiped out back in Senju Syura's time."
"When your Senju and Uzumaki clans exterminated my Hagoromo clan, did you ever think your own ninja clans would be wiped out one day too?"
As soon as the last Hagoromo clan leader heard that the Uzumaki clan had been exterminated, he immediately rushed over to watch the show.
"Hagoromo Clan Leader, your skin is itching again, isn't it? You dare come here and make sarcastic remarks.", Senju Syura walked over and said.
Senju Hikari also came over.
"Please accept our condolences, Uzumaki clan. Our Senju clan will always be the Uzumaki clan's brothers!"
"Alright, alright. If there's nothing else, let's go drink and have a proper gathering!"
Senju Shuichi and the first-generation Uzumaki clan leader walked over as they spoke.
This first-generation Uzumaki clan leader was the child who had told Shuichi back then that he was going to the island.
"Um, I want to ask something. Is Uchiha Izuna really dead?", Hashirama asked the last Uzumaki clan leader.
The last Uzumaki clan leader frowned.
"Didn't Uchiha Izuna die a long time ago? Didn't he die on the way to peace talks with Kumogakure?"
"Ah, but we haven't seen him in the Pure Land.", Hashirama said blankly.
At this point, so many years had passed. Why had Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Izuna, and Tobirama still not arrived?
"Yeah, I've been wondering too. Not only have Madara and Izuna not come, but my grandfather has been dead for nearly fifty years, right? Yet he still hasn't come either?", Uchiha Tajima also walked over and said.
Uchiha Chen looked shocked.
"My god, don't tell me the clan elder is still alive?"
Several people gathered together and discussed the matter, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Could it be that they did too much evil and got sent somewhere other than the Pure Land?", Hashirama could not help saying.
"Impossible. Which one of us doesn't have plenty of lives on our hands? Compared to us, how many people did they even kill? I wiped out the Hagoromo clan and still came to the Pure Land.", Senju Syura said.
"If all else fails, let's ask the Sage of Ninshu. He's the administrator of the Pure Land.", Senju Hikari suggested.
In everyone's minds, the Pure Land was basically a giant retirement server.
The Sage of Ninshu was the administrator, while the Sage of Six Paths was the server owner.
"Who's close with the Sage of Ninshu?", Uchiha Tajima asked.
Senju Shuichi pulled out his phone.
"I'll call my dad and ask. My dad knows the Sage of Ninshu's son."