Dark looked at this strange, unfamiliar land, completely unsure of what had happened. A normal explosion shouldn't have caused something like this.
But just by looking at the scene, he already knew what was coming. Unless something unexpected happened, his bounty was about to skyrocket.
And honestly, this whole mess wasn't just his fault. It wasn't entirely Haido's fault either.
You could say that even Orochimaru and Shanks on the other side hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
Normally, even if Haido had blown up the Gelel Stone mines, the explosion wouldn't have been this powerful.
But the Gelel Stone mines were a fusion of the world's life energy and spiritual force—essentially the same as the Dragon Vein nearby.
Amado had discovered that the Land of Wind had two "Dragon Veins"—the Gelel Stone mines and the one beneath the ancient kingdom of Roran.
And what happened to Roran's Dragon Vein? Just look at what Orochimaru and Shanks did.
At the ruins of Roran, a massive crater over 30 kilometers wide had appeared. Around it, countless smaller craters spread outward like ripples.
High above, at the edge of the crater, Shisui was holding up a half-dead Shanks. Both of them were staring at the sky.
Caught in the middle of the explosion, they had seen firsthand what had happened in that moment.
"The ground flew up!!!"
Shisui turned to look at Shanks. Shanks' face was so swollen he looked like a pig's head, and he seemed completely drained.
"I don't know either… I was just messing with the Dragon Vein."
Shanks shook his head.
"Those rocks weren't normal. They had the will of the world infused in them—something's seriously wrong. The Dragon Vein in Roran's ruins definitely didn't have this kind of thing."
Shanks mumbled, his swollen face making it hard for him to speak clearly. Blood was still dripping from his nose.
Taking a direct hit from the Gelel Stone explosion was no joke. And this was Shanks—any normal person would have been obliterated.
"So… you're saying this wasn't part of your plan, Captain?"
"No, I just wanted to use the Dragon Vein in the ancient kingdom of Roran to awaken the world's consciousness.
If Roran has a Dragon Vein, then there must be more across the Shinobi World. As long as we awaken all of them, we can truly bring the Shinobi World into a new era."
Shanks explained. But doing that wasn't easy—it required withstanding the power of the world's consciousness. And even Shanks had no idea how serious the consequences could be.
Seeing the uncertain look on Shanks' face, Shisui understood immediately.
"Captain… does this mean we're about to be hunted down by the entire Shinobi World?"
Shisui now realized just how big of a mess they had made. And judging by the situation, this explosion might even affect the entire Land of Wind.
"Probably… not? The one who blew up the Dragon Vein was Orochimaru. I just used the world's consciousness to trigger a reaction—just a little push."
Shanks sounded completely confident. This was Orochimaru's doing—what did it have to do with him?
Basically, Orochimaru was the one who lit the fuse.
That's exactly why Shanks didn't do it himself. Since Orochimaru wanted to use the power of the Dragon Vein and wasn't afraid of dying, why not let him be the fuse?
And if the explosion did happen and caused some unimaginable disaster, well… that wouldn't be Shanks' problem.
At the very least, he wouldn't have to take full responsibility. He had already factored everything in—whether it was enduring the backlash from the world's consciousness or anything else.
Even if the world's consciousness struck back, he could handle it.
Like right now—his drained, exhausted state was just the result of using the world's consciousness to unleash the power of the Dragon Vein.
After Orochimaru drew out the Dragon Vein's energy, it looked like he was fighting Shanks, but in reality, even Orochimaru knew that the Dragon Vein had taken 90% of Shanks' attacks.
And those attacks weren't just physical. Because both Orochimaru and Shanks had drawn the attention of the world's consciousness.
That attention was like a kind of gravity—once Orochimaru used the Dragon Vein's power, the world's consciousness would start descending upon him. At the same time, Shanks himself would naturally attract its focus.
That was why Shanks had initially questioned whether Orochimaru could handle it.
The raw power of the Dragon Vein—Orochimaru could use that just fine. But what was truly terrifying was the growing pressure from the world's consciousness over time.
"Then… is it possible there's more than one Dragon Vein nearby? Could those stones be another form of Dragon Vein energy?"
Shisui suddenly spoke. Detonating one Dragon Vein to trigger the awakening of the world's consciousness—that seemed fine. It was within Shanks' ability to handle.
But if there was another Dragon Vein right next to the one they had just blown up… then they were basically asking for death.
"..."
Hearing Shisui's words, Shanks fell silent.
At that moment, the battlefield was in complete chaos.
Shanks and his group were at the center of the explosion—the area where the blast was the most intense. The entire ruins of the ancient kingdom of Roran had been obliterated.
But the explosions elsewhere weren't small either. Whether it was pirates or ninjas, both sides had taken heavy casualties.
And this was just near the battlefield. The ones who had made it here were all strong fighters. As for the places affected by the explosion of the Gelel Stone mines? The damage there would be even worse.
"It's time to go!"
Just as the two were still processing everything, a crow flew toward them. Shisui immediately realized how serious the situation was.
It was a message from Itachi.
"The sages from the Three Great Sacred Lands are coming."
"I'm going to sleep."
As soon as Shisui finished speaking, Shanks cut in. Moments later, the sound of snoring filled the air.
Looking at his captain, who seemed completely out of place in this chaotic scene, Shisui could only sigh in his heart.
"Backlash from the world's will?"
Sometimes, Shisui felt helpless. He knew Shanks was an incredibly smart person, but everything he did always seemed full of surprises.
Even if Shanks could handle the consequences, others couldn't.
And these grand plans of his—none of them seemed reliable. Of course, using the Dragon Vein to awaken the world's will was bound to come with some unexpected results.
After all, there was no way to test something like this beforehand.
"It's time to lay low for a while."
Carrying Shanks, Shisui quickly disappeared from sight.
On the other side, Jiraiya had already entered Sage Mode. Around him, the sages from all three great sanctuaries had appeared.
"What a strong presence of life… How is this even possible?"
The Slug Sage looked at the massive crater in the ground. She could sense an overwhelming amount of life energy coming from it.
Beside her, the White Snake Sage spread out her senses. As her perception extended, she eventually detected a terrifying force at the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Roran.
What was even more alarming was that within this force, she could sense Orochimaru's presence.
"Orochimaru… he actually succeeded…"
The White Snake Sage trembled slightly. Ryuchi Cave had a form of Sage Jutsu that involved dragon transformation, but it was incomplete—just a rough prototype.
Originally, in the course of history, Kabuto had eventually mastered Ryuchi Cave's dragon transformation Sage Mode.
But that version was incomplete. That was precisely why Orochimaru, a genius in ninjutsu, had never been interested in Ryuchi Cave's Sage Mode—he wanted something better from the White Snake Sage.
But the White Snake Sage didn't have it. If she did, she would have learned it herself instead of staying a snake.
Yet now, she could truly sense the presence of a dragon.
"Did you find something?"
"This incident is likely connected to Orochimaru. If I'm not mistaken, he must have used something to fully transform into a dragon."
The White Snake Sage frowned and looked at the other two sages.
"Knowing Orochimaru's ruthless nature, this disaster was definitely his doing."
She spoke with confidence—not confidence in Orochimaru, but in the nature of those from Ryuchi Cave.
If the three great sanctuaries were to be categorized, Mount Myoboku represented absolute lawful good, Shikkotsu Forest was truly neutral, and Ryuchi Cave was pure chaos.
Even the White Snake Sage herself was by no means a kind soul.
"Orochimaru, huh?"
Jiraiya opened his eyes. This was exactly the kind of thing Orochimaru would do… but it also felt like more than just his doing.
"Jiraiya, did you discover something?"
The Great Toad Sage asked slowly.
"This surge of life energy—it's not just going to change the geography of the Land of Wind, is it?"
Jiraiya's instincts were sharp, and he fully understood the way Shanks thought. Everything Shanks did was always for the greater good.
"This is pure, primal life energy—energy that belongs to the entire world.
So, it's not just affecting the land. It will also speed up the growth of all living things. Based on the current situation, even ordinary people caught in the blast will, in a few months, develop physical strength on par with a genin."
The Slug Sage explained to Jiraiya. As the sage most attuned to life energy, she could sense it more clearly than anyone. After all, Shikkotsu Forest specialized in the study of life energy.
"If that's the case, then Shanks must be involved in this as well."
Jiraiya nodded.
"Slug Sage, I'll leave the people affected by the explosion to you."
"As for gathering the rest of the information, leave that to me."
With that, Jiraiya quickly left.
At the same time, the Slug Sage split into smaller slugs, scattering in all directions.
The Great Toad Sage and the White Snake Sage remained where they were, looking at the surrounding minerals. The stones had formed layered structures, almost like walls.
Both sages could sense a strange power within them.
"Old toad, looks like we'll need more people for the next stage of our sacred land's training."
"Sigh… I don't know what the future holds, but one thing's clear—Shanks is far more troublesome than I thought."
The Great Toad Sage sighed. Since Jiraiya was involved, it was certain that this matter was connected to Shanks.
After spending so many years with Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sage understood what he meant.
This life energy could greatly enhance the physical abilities of ordinary people, narrowing the gap between them and ninjas.
By reducing that gap, it essentially gave normal people a significant power boost.
Of course, ninjas benefited as well.
But that was exactly why it was hard for anyone to criticize Shanks. The spread of this life energy increased combat power—if an average person originally had 1 point of strength, now they had 11.
For ninjas, the boost was the same—an extra 10 points.
If a low-ranking ninja had 10 points before, now they had 20.
Looking at raw numbers, everyone got the same increase.
But looking at the multiplier, it was a different story.
This was a simple power-up at the basic level. And this method further reduced the gap between ordinary people and ninjas.
Even if the ninjas figured out the truth, they couldn't really blame Shanks.
At least, the Great Toad Sage couldn't outright call him a criminal.
"I've noticed it too, but things are going to get even more complicated at Ryūchi Cave."
The White Snake Sage had already shifted focus away from the ninja world and Shanks.
Orochimaru never had the best relationship with Ryūchi Cave. In fact, the snakes there weren't as united as the toads of Mount Myōboku.
Now that Orochimaru had transformed into a dragon, it was only a matter of time before he showed up at Ryūchi Cave.
He wouldn't be coming for revenge, but given his personality and his connection to Ryūchi Cave, he was definitely going to cause trouble.
Thinking about it gave the White Snake Sage a headache.
This massive explosion had not only gone beyond Shanks' original plan, but it had also thrown the Land of Wind—and the entire ninja world—into chaos.
Even Obito and Black Zetsu were caught off guard.
Nagato's moves had made Obito and Black Zetsu realize something. When Nagato appeared in the Land of Waves, he hadn't even tried to hide his presence.
It was easy for Obito and Black Zetsu to gather information about what had happened.
But the current situation was serious.
It had completely disrupted their plans.
A week later, a shocking headline dominated the ninja world's news.
Obito picked up the newspaper.
"Worldwide Chaos!!"
"A massive explosion in the Land of Wind has affected an area of over 10,000 square kilometers… A giant crater has appeared…"
"The explosion sent large amounts of land into the sky, and it still hasn't come down… The ninja world is at risk of being hit by falling debris at any moment…"
Obito and Black Zetsu were completely stunned when they read this report.
An area of over 10,000 square kilometers was affected, and countless chunks of land had been blasted into the sky, threatening to crash back down at any time.
This was total destruction on a world-ending scale.
At that moment, both Black Zetsu and Obito had the same thought—Had Nagato gone too far into the darkness?