In the end—
Ren had miscalculated.
He had assumed that after Kinshiki and Urashiki died, Hagoromo and Hamura would finally reveal themselves.
But they didn't.
Not only did they refuse to appear, they didn't leak even the faintest trace of aura.
They seemed determined to hide like turtles in their shells until the very end.
That actually impressed Ren a little.
As expected of the Sage of Six Paths.
The founder of Ninshū.
Even when forced past the limit, he still endured.
Of course—
that was all.
After becoming the complete Ten-Tails jinchūriki and killing Urashiki and Kinshiki, Ren no longer placed Hagoromo and Hamura in his eyes.
If those two dared appear—
he would suppress them with overwhelming force and absorb their chakra.
At the same time, after Ren's aura faded, the entire shinobi world entered a state of complete unrest.
The Fifth Hokage had grown stronger again.
That pressure had forced countless people to kneel without even realizing it. There was no way the world could remain calm after something like that.
More importantly—
the two powerful auras that had suddenly descended upon the shinobi world were gone.
Everyone could guess what had happened.
The Fifth Hokage had probably killed them.
The more people thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
"No. I have to train harder. I'm joining Konoha."
"Uchiha Ren is getting stronger and stronger. I need to get under his protection."
"Our village should submit to Konoha too. Only under the Fifth Hokage's shelter can we receive better treatment and survive what comes next."
Across the shinobi world, countless independent shinobi, small villages, and minor forces began making the same decision.
They would join Konoha.
They would cling to the Fifth Hokage's banner.
At this point, even a fool could see the truth.
Uchiha Ren had risen completely.
In a certain sense, he had already surpassed the legendary Sage of Six Paths.
If they didn't submit to Konoha now, then when?
As the world's direction shifted, the atmosphere in Iwagakure and Kumogakure worsened sharply.
After seeing Konoha's momentum toward unifying the world, many shinobi in those two villages felt as if they had become enemies of the entire shinobi world.
It was suffocating.
There was nowhere to advance.
No room to retreat.
Rumor had it that Ōnoki and A both flew into rages inside their respective offices. Ōnoki, perhaps regretting his cooperation with Madara, was even said to have coughed up blood from sheer frustration.
With that, the shape of the shinobi world became clearer.
Konoha's unification of the world was no longer a fantasy.
It had become the natural tide.
And the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, had reached a level of prestige unmatched in history.
As for the first Ten-Tails jinchūriki, the first man to unravel the truth of chakra, the founder of Ninshū—
the Sage of Six Paths—
he was being quietly replaced.
More and more, the shinobi world knew only the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren.
The Sage of Six Paths was becoming a name from the past.
Inside that hidden dimension—
Buzz!
A terrifying wave of energy shook the secret space, causing visible cracks to spread through the air.
The entire dimension trembled as if it might collapse at any second.
"Brother, calm down."
Hamura's expression darkened as he sensed the instability around them.
"If this space breaks, Uchiha Ren may discover us."
"Shut up."
The moment Ren's name was mentioned, Hagoromo's face twisted further.
Once upon a time, he had been the Sage of Six Paths.
He was the first Ten-Tails jinchūriki.
The first to understand chakra's true nature.
The ancestor of the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki.
The founder of Ninshū.
When had he ever needed to act according to someone else's mood?
Yet now, a junior had climbed above his head and trampled his authority.
For Hagoromo, it was unbearable humiliation.
The shinobi world was supposed to be his garden.
His domain.
And now Uchiha Ren was on the verge of taking it from him.
How could he accept that?
"Brother, I know you're angry."
Hamura took a careful breath and lowered his voice.
"But we have to think about the bigger picture."
"Uchiha Ren's momentum is already established. Unless we can kill him in one strike, we should follow the plan."
Then he added pointedly,
"You haven't forgotten how Urashiki and Kinshiki died, have you?"
That sentence landed like cold water.
Hagoromo's rage cooled at once.
Yes.
He had been confident.
But after watching Urashiki get tortured and killed without any ability to fight back, even Hagoromo and Hamura had felt a chill in their hearts.
The enemy before them was no longer someone they could handle casually.
And that truth—
was what made it so bitter.
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