Naruto: End of the Shinobi World

The Heavenly Curtain skipped over Hagoromo’s arduous journey of mastering Senjutsu, fast-forwarding through the grueling training and showing only the dramatic transformation after he had succeeded.

That single decision immediately sparked a wave of disappointment and outrage throughout the shinobi world.

”What the hell?! That’s Senjutsu! The legendary Senjutsu! The Sage of Six Paths’ training process was skipped over just like that?!”

A young shinobi hungry for power beat his chest in frustration, his face full of unwillingness.

”I wanted to see how he sensed Natural Energy! Maybe I could’ve learned a little from it!”

”Exactly! The Heavenly Curtain went into detail about all the love, hatred, schemes, and betrayals, but the moment it gets to the truly valuable stuff, it hides everything!”

Countless people fascinated by the world’s various power systems—especially those captivated by the legendary art known as Senjutsu—voiced similar complaints.

Yet amid the chorus of protests, one hesitant murmur landed like a spark in a barrel of gunpowder, instantly igniting an even more terrifying line of thought.

”Senjutsu... Doesn’t that sound familiar? I feel like the Heavenly Curtain mentioned something similar before...”

”Something similar? You mean...” A companion’s eyes widened. ”The God’s Knights! Didn’t they use something called... Divine Arts?”

”That’s right! Divine Arts! It was mentioned during the Heavenly Curtain’s segment about Haruno Sakura of the God’s Knights!”

”That power system was different from Chakra too. It also borrowed an external source of power...”

”Wait! Don’t forget the phrase that came up when Sakura inherited that power!”

A shinobi with an excellent memory for the Heavenly Curtain’s earlier revelations suddenly turned pale, his voice trembling.

”...Casting the bait?”

The two words seemed to possess a strange power.

The instant they were spoken aloud, the noisy discussions across the shinobi world fell silent, as though someone had pressed a mute button.

Everyone froze.

Their pupils contracted.

It was as though the blood in their veins had turned to ice.

A chill even more unsettling than learning the world itself might one day perish crawled up every spine.

”So... are you saying...”

”The Senjutsu that Gamamaru taught the Sage of Six Paths—that lofty power said to come from ’nature’... could actually be another form of bait cast into our world by some being from beyond it? Just like the Divine Arts used by the God’s Knights?”

Once the speculation was spoken clearly, silence remained.

Only heavy, restrained breathing echoed through the air.

Disbelief and bone-deep terror spread across every face.

If Senjutsu was also the result of casting the bait...

Then what did that mean?

It meant their world might not merely be the vegetable garden of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

It could also be a pond, where other unknown and incomprehensibly mysterious ”pond keepers” or ”anglers” cast different kinds of bait.

After a long silence, someone finally spoke again, his reasoning calm despite the tremor in his voice.

”...The possibility is actually very high.”

”Think back to what Gamamaru himself said, and everything the Heavenly Curtain has revealed. Before Kaguya descended and planted the God Tree, our world was probably nothing more than an ordinary world with no supernatural power.”

”So where did Gamamaru learn something as profound as Senjutsu?”

”And what about that second power he mentioned—the one even he couldn’t fully control, the one supposedly greater than Senjutsu itself?”

He paused before continuing, despair creeping into his voice.

”Powerful, fully developed systems like these couldn’t have simply come into existence naturally inside our ’pond.’”

”That leaves only one reasonable explanation.”

”They all came from outside the world.”

”They were deliberately introduced into our world by someone.”

”Whether it’s Chakra... Senjutsu... Divine Arts... or whatever other powers may appear in the future...”

”...we may simply be fish, drawn in and sorted by different kinds of bait cast by different pond keepers.”

Those final words struck every person in the shinobi world like an enormous boulder.

The fear they already felt from learning of the world’s possible destruction was dragged into an even deeper abyss.

It turned out they not only lived in a world destined to perish...

They were not only treated as ingredients by the Ōtsutsuki...

They might also be regarded by other unknown, higher beings as...

Experimental subjects?

Objects of observation?

Or perhaps nothing more than entertainment for an idle day of fishing.

The helplessness, the sense of being manipulated, and the emptiness of their own existence brought about by that realization were more terrifying than any tangible enemy or catastrophe.

The entire shinobi world was shrouded in an unprecedented sense of fear and confusion—a profound despair born from having absolutely no control over its own fate.

With every ancient story the Heavenly Curtain revealed, the truth reached deeper into the foundations of reality, becoming more horrifying than the last.

”From... outside the world...”

As that cold conclusion was quietly repeated throughout the shinobi world, countless people felt an icy shiver shoot from the base of their spines to the tops of their heads.

Every hair on their bodies stood on end.

What unsettled them wasn’t fear alone.

It was the horrifying realization that everything they believed about their world’s place in existence had been overturned.

If Senjutsu—and perhaps every other great power system—had originated from beyond their world...

Didn’t that perfectly support the terrifying theory of casting the bait?

It meant there truly were mysterious beings from beyond their world who regarded the shinobi world as nothing more than a pond into which they could casually throw different kinds of bait.

And those beings were observing...

Selecting...

Perhaps even planning something from the shadows.

The thought that they—and their entire world—might have lived beneath the gaze of these unknown ”pond keepers” since ancient times, watched and manipulated at will by beings existing on a higher plane, left many people barely able to breathe.

Konohagakure — Hokage’s Office

The atmosphere had grown unbearably heavy.

Tsunade abruptly rose from her chair.

Bracing both hands against the desk, she leaned forward, her normally commanding, confident eyes now filled with utter disbelief.

She stared fixedly at Jiraiya, her voice rising with emotion.

”Jiraiya! Did you hear that?! Mount Myōboku... Mount Myōboku’s Sage Mode! What Gamamaru taught the Sage of Six Paths was Senjutsu! Genuine Senjutsu—something that sounds even more profound than Chakra itself!”

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