Far away, the orb housing Arthur inside was sitting in a dark space on top of a mantle.
The current location did not exist on any map. It was a void in the geography of the shinobi world, a coordinate scrubbed from existence by the highest levels of seals that superseded Blood Prison. Not even the Kages of the Five Great Nations knew where this place was.
Only a select few held the key, of which one of those few was the same person who designed the orb to begin with.
Alex walked down the long, sterile corridor as his footsteps echoed rhythmically against the metal grating of the floor. He soon stopped before a massive blast door, covered in talismans that pulsed with a suppressive light.
There was a camera in the corner. He looked at it as it seemingly scanned his profile. Then after a second, the seals parted like curtains and the metal slid open with the hiss of depressurization. Inside, the room was pitch black, save for a single pedestal in the center with the glass orb.
Alex walked up to the mantle and stared into the glass.
"You did good, Arthur... You really did. You united the nations against you, revived the dead, and nearly broke my world." Alex took a second to let the moment sink in. "You did what I thought was impossible."
A grin slowly spread across his face. It wasn't the polite smile he often wore for the Hokage or his friends. It was now jagged and manic-looking.
"But how did you do it?!" he suddenly yelled. "How did you beat death?! You died by their hands, didn't you? In the Land of Tea! It was confirmed! The sky flagged it!"
Alex then gripped the edges of the pedestal as his knuckles turned white.
"You were dead! And yet, here you are. Was it just a glitch or are you simply that much more stubborn than everyone?"
He let the laughter spill out, filling the void, before slowly forcing himself to calm down. Then he took a deep breath, smoothing his black hair back as his composure returned.
"It doesn't matter now, I guess. I don't see you escaping this one. This cage was specifically built for you that loops your own consciousness and feeds on your dreams. You'll be trapped there forever until the story ends. Or... until I feel like letting you out to play again."
Alex soon turned on his heel. He walked toward the exit, satisfied that the ultimate variable had been solved until, "Crack…" He froze before quickly spinning around as his Byakugan flared and activated instantly.
He stared at the orb.
There, on the smooth surface of the glass, was a faint line, barely the width of a hair.
Alex scanned it frantically. There was no chakra leak. The seal integrity inside was reading 100%, and Arthur was still suspended inside his dream prison.
So why had the shell suddenly cracked now of all times?
Something cold settled in Alex's stomach, a doubt he hadn't felt in a long time. He stared at the orb as the silence of the vault pressed in on him. When nothing happened, he turned and left.
"You really are a problem."
✟
Thousands of miles away, the landscape shifted from the mountains to the lush, vibrant canopy of the Land of Birds. Toki sat in her private carriage as her serene expression watched the rice paddies roll by.
She had played her part perfectly at the summit. The Feudal lords were chasing shadows in the Land of Rain and Fire, tearing each other apart with accusations, while the true heart of the infection beat steadily within her borders.
The carriage soon arrived at an undisclosed location near the capital.
Guards helped her dismount before eventually moving her through empty streets. When she got to what seemed to be an open landscape, she dismissed her guards and proceeded alone.
Five minutes of trekking on foot, she stopped at a nondescript boulder. She pressed her hand against it, causing it to dissolve and reveal stairs descending underground. Then she stepped through into a tunnel that eventually led her to the true capital: the Hidden Light Village.
Not long, she reached Sun Stream Plaza where she opened the massive double doors of the inner sanctum. The room was vast, dominated by two things: white hooded figures standing in two separate lines and a throne raised on a dais.
Toki walked to the center of the room and dropped to her knees. She bowed until her forehead touched the cold marble floor. "I have returned, my lord…"
When she raised her head and looked at the person's eyes, they were not the eyes of a defeatist; they shone with a deep, crimson light that everyone in the room dreaded to disrespect.
It was Arthur Bennett.
But how? He was sealed, was he not?
Back during that fateful moment in the war, inside the crater, Arthur had been nearing the completion of his grand transformation. Then, Alex had thrown the orb as the light of the Limited Tsukuyomi threatened to pull him in.
But in that fraction of a second—in the space between the light touching him and the seal closing—Alex's barrier had been cracked by the immense pressure of Arthur's transformation. Exactly where Ryugetsu had been standing just outside it.
Arthur had used the only technique that could save him: The Spiritualization jutsu.
Such a technique allowed the user to detach their own spirit from their physical vessel and leap it elsewhere. So as the Infinite Tsukiyomi's light was swallowing Arthur's physical body, his spirit had ejected, slipped through the microscopic crack in the barrier, and slammed into Ryugetsu.
But that technique wasn't in his arsenal. So how did he use it?
Simple: he had unearthed it from the memories of the monks a thousand years ago.
Now the orb everyone thought was his prison was only a partial containment. The Arthur Bennett inside that was a glass husk, housing only his body and soul with no driver.
The real Arthur was here the whole time!
And right now, he was using the transformation technique to warp his structure to that of what he originally looked like. Of course, his current body was physically that of the old man, Ryugetsu.
While his memory was intact, there was a lot lost in the transfer. For instance, the Flying raijin marks he had placed all over the world could no longer be sensed because they were placed by his original chakra signature, which was now sealed in the orb.
The connection to the Blade of Chaos? Severed. The sword recognized only the soul, which none of the clones could use.
What about his reserves? Decimated. He was working with Ryugetsu's capacity now, which was a fraction of his original power.
Arthur was nerfed beyond comparison.
But he was still Arthur Bennett, the same man who had infiltrated almost every nation in less than a year; and the same man who had tricked the world into thinking he was dead on more than one occasion.
Even in the most unprecedented scenes, he had still tricked the whole world.
He knew unforeseen events like Alex's intervention could happen. That was why he always had a Plan B, and a Plan C, and a Plan D that involved burning the board entirely.
It was okay that he was like this. He had the knowledge and the blueprints in his spirit to rebuild.
No matter how hard they tried, no matter who they thought could win against him, there would always be a loophole. There would always be a backdoor.
Now in the throne room, Arthur eyed Toki down and asked, "Did your meeting go according to plan?"
"Yes, my lord. All the Feudal lords have been misled as to where your hidden villages are located. They do not suspect the Land of Birds."
"Good… You may leave."
Toki bowed again and began backing out of the room with reverence. But when she reached the doors, an unsuspecting character walked in. It was Sasuke Uchiha.
Shisui, standing in line, suddenly stiffened. Sasuke was not cleared to enter. Everyone, even Fugaku, knew this.
"Why are you here, boy?" Arthur asked, not moving from his relaxed posture.
Sasuke stopped at the foot of the dais and looked at Arthur—at the man who had saved him from Orochimaru, who had promised him power, and who had given him a purpose beyond revenge against Itachi.
His eyes narrowed. "There's something I wanted to ask you, Arthur. I remember you brought up a name that I've been interested in. Madara Uchiha. Who is he exactly?"
The air in the room dropped ten degrees as a blur of motion erupted from the right side and intercepted Sasuke.
Thud!
Sasuke was pinned to the floor as his arm twisted behind his back and his face pressed against the marble.
"Father!" he gasped, struggling against the grip. "What are you doing?!"
When Sasuke looked at his eyes, they were not the usual paternal eyes Sasuke remembered. They were glassy and devoid of attachment.
"Learn your manners, son," Fugaku said, "when you're in his presence."
Sasuke ceased his struggling, shocked by the sheer killing intent radiating from his own father. He didn't understand this devotion; he didn't understand what he had done wrong. He had just asked a question.
Only after replaying the conversation back did he know that it wasn't what he did; it was what he said.
Arthur watched the scene with disinterest as he rested his chin on his fist. The he said three words that felt like the whole world heard.
"It's lord Arthur..."