(Note: This world is not the main timeline of the Naruto series, so it's normal for there to be contradictions in the plot or timeline.)
In the 63rd year of the Hidden Leaf Village, a time of long-standing peace, Konoha was thriving in all aspects of development.
After completing a D-rank mission, Team 7 ran into their instructor—Kakashi Hatake, who had been missing for several days—on their way to report the mission results.
"Sensei Kakashi! What kind of teacher are you?! You only led us for less than ten days and then disappeared, leaving the three of us to handle missions on our own!" Uzumaki Naruto shouted in frustration.
Kakashi, a seasoned veteran of the ninja world, didn't take his student's complaints to heart. Wearing his usual shameless expression—as if he were simply late again—he waved them off and said,"Ah, sorry, sorry. Lately, all the jonin in the village have been temporarily reassigned to other duties, so there was no choice but to let you genin handle the missions for now."
Although his excuse was just as flimsy as ever, this time at least it sounded plausible to Team 7. After all, something strange had indeed been going on in the ninja world recently.
"Is it because of that thing in the sky?" Uchiha Sasuke asked calmly, hands in his pockets, stating the obvious.
Kakashi nodded in response, his usual relaxed look fading as he glanced up at the sky. He lowered his voice and said,"Yeah... We need to figure out what it is. If we handle this poorly, it could easily lead to war."
Looking up, they saw a massive, rectangular black curtain hanging motionless beneath the clouds—suspended in the sky as if it defied gravity.
This mysterious black curtain had suddenly appeared three days earlier, causing a stir throughout the village.
According to the latest intelligence, it was visible from every corner of the Ninja Continent, and the angle from which it appeared hadn't shifted at all.
What's more unsettling: despite every method tried, no one had been able to affect the black curtain in any way—not even get close to it.
It just floated there in eerie silence—ominous, unpredictable.
Then, just as abruptly as it had arrived, the black curtain lit up after three days of complete stillness.
Pedestrians in the street stopped in their tracks and instinctively looked up. The previously noisy roads fell silent for a moment—only to erupt in louder commotion moments later.
Even those indoors rushed outside after hearing the noise, gathering in groups and discussing what they were seeing.
"Stay calm! Observe first before reacting!" Kakashi ordered, holding back Naruto, who was already shouting in alarm. He raised a hand to his forehead, ready for whatever might descend.
Similar scenes were playing out all across the ninja world—experienced shinobi shifting into high alert.
At the same time, far beyond the visible world, in the moon, the Pure Land, the summoning realms, and even interdimensional spaces with intelligent life—and stranger places, such as the belly of the God of Death—the same glowing curtain now hovered overhead.
In the Pure Land, the Sage of Six Paths looked up toward the sky before glancing back down into the misty void below. He frowned deeply."What in the world is that? The souls that were once frozen… have regained consciousness!"
With a trace of confusion and worry, he vanished from where he stood.
As the souls in the Pure Land awakened, many began questioning their state. The once-silent underworld quickly became noisy and chaotic.
If not for the natural decay of souls over time—and the fact that only those with sufficient strength in life could maintain form in the Pure Land—the outcry would have been ten times louder.
Among those revived souls, none was more prominent than Uchiha Madara, once known as the "Shura of the Ninja World."
"...Is this the Pure Land?" Madara muttered. Having recovered his awareness, he quickly made sense of the situation. Ignoring the noise around him, he vanished in a flash, reappearing in a remote corner of the realm. He scanned his surroundings and then focused his gaze on the sky.
At the far end of the Pure Land, Hashirama Senju, the "God of the Shinobi," felt the movement and chakra presence."...That feeling… it's Madara," he murmured.
Without hesitation, he took a step forward, heading off to find his old rival—perhaps to talk, perhaps just to remember. On the way, though, he too looked up at the glowing sky.
Elsewhere—in the belly of the God of Death—Namikaze Minato and the Yin half of the Nine-Tails were conducting their daily training together.
Suddenly, a brilliant light appeared in that normally pitch-black void. Minato reflexively shielded his eyes. After a few moments, he removed his hand and looked up at the glowing curtain, frowning."What… is that?"
Similar reactions occurred across every space where the curtain appeared.
Back in the ninja world, no one had any idea what was happening in the Pure Land or beyond. Even if they did, they lacked the resources to act. The situation on their own soil was enough to cause serious concern.
Thankfully, no sudden attack came from the sky. Instead, a booming voice echoed from the curtain.
"You monster!"
On the screen now glowing in the sky, a blond-haired boy wearing a Konoha forehead protector appeared, standing in a dark cave filled with flowing magma.
Sharp-eyed shinobi immediately recognized the leaf village insignia on his forehead.
Ninja from other villages quickly grew more alert and suspicious, assuming that Konoha must be behind whatever was happening. Their expressions hardened.
Konoha's leadership was just as aware of these assumptions.
Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage slowly lowered the pipe from his mouth, his expression solemn.
"Inform the village: second-level alert. Suspend all missions. All shinobi are to report and remain on standby," he ordered his Anbu operative.
No one could blame him for reacting this way. If this situation spiraled out of control, war could break out again at any moment—and Konoha would be the first to take the blame.
Right now, the village couldn't withstand such pressure. The previous generation's strongest shinobi were either dead or gone, and the newer generation had yet to mature.
Let alone fighting all four major nations at once like during the Third Great Ninja War—if even two countries allied against them, Konoha would struggle to survive.
Soon, every major village entered a state of heightened alert. Back in Konoha, villagers were ordered to take shelter in the nearest buildings in case of a sudden attack from the mysterious curtain.
Meanwhile, the intelligence unit had begun gathering and analyzing every piece of data they could find—trying to understand what exactly this strange broadcast was meant to reveal.