"What... what is happening?!"
Mei Terumi hesitated for a moment, then approached the large ice block.
At this moment, inside the ice block, only some still hissing ashes remained, as well as the longsword that was rusting rapidly under the sunlight.
"Is it the sunlight?"
Kisame squinted his eyes, feeling somewhat unsure.
Taking advantage of the moment while Mei and Kisame were distracted by the sudden change, Haku quietly made his way to the giant rock, found the five stone slabs buried within, and destroyed them.
"Did I make it in time?"
After completing everything, Haku let out a sigh of relief.
No matter how much time had passed, the destruction of the shinobi world hadn't occurred, so in his mind, he believed he had made it in time.
Mei Terumi and Kisame, full of doubts, searched the entire small island, and finding no other suspicious individuals, they took Haku back to the fishing boat at sea.
Mei said, "The Akatsuki's exam this time was really bizarre. I'm worried they have other motives!"
Haku, knowing everything, could only remain silent.
Kisame stared at Haku and said, "The mission failed, and it might be dangerous for you to return to the Hidden Leaf. How about coming back to our village with us instead?"
Haku shook his head, "I probably haven't been exposed yet."
"It would be best not to have such lucky assumptions!" Mei paused and said, "The Akatsuki can't be judged by common sense. Their arrangements this time must have some deeper intent. And that samurai we just faced—he was absurdly strong and had an immortal body. Where did the Akatsuki recruit him from, I wonder?"
Suddenly, Kisame said, "What if that monster was something the Akatsuki created?"
Mei was stunned, then furrowed her brows, "You mean that samurai we just fought was a human weapon created by some means of the Akatsuki?"
Kisame looked at Haku and expressed his hypothesis, "They recruit individuals with potential, putting them through a test while also testing their self-made human weapons—killing two birds with one stone."
"These people are insane!"
Mei did not question Kisame's idea, but rather thought it made a lot of sense, as the Akatsuki, in her eyes, could very well pull off something as crazy as this.
After all, this was the organization that dared to ambush the Fourth Raikage—what would they fear?
She then had a thought and said, "If that's the case, then Haku returning alive means he passed their test, doesn't it?"
Haku looked astonished and was at a loss for words.
He hadn't imagined Mei and Kisame would fill in so many gaps by themselves.
...
Land of Fire.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
A series of figures darted out from the dark, oppressive primeval forest, each one looking disheveled.
There was no doubt that these battered figures were members of the joint forces who had entered the forest several days earlier. However, they now had fewer people.
"We finally made it out!"
Feeling the sunlight shining down on them, many people felt a surge of emotions.
At that moment, the Fourth Raikage struck the ground with a punch, creating a large pit, his face full of anger and frustration.
The Cloud shinobi gathered around the Fourth Raikage, their expressions equally grim.
Guided by Yugito Nii's chakra, not only had they failed to rescue her, but they had also fallen into the Akatsuki's trap.
Fortunately, the joint force was strong enough to forcefully break through the trap and escape.
"Upper Moon Two!"
Kakashi, unlike the others who were sighing, frowned as if deep in thought.
After this operation, he felt that the people with the 'Upper Moon' characters engraved in their eyes might not actually be true members of the Akatsuki.
Initially, he thought these mysterious 'Upper Moon' individuals were part of Akatsuki based on the 'Upper Moon Five' and 'Upper Moon Six' members wearing the Akatsuki's signature red cloud cloaks during the Battle of the Street.
But could that really be considered definitive evidence?
Kakashi couldn't help but doubt in his heart.
In the Battle of the Street, it was clear that these 'Upper Moon' individuals were targeting another faction within the Akatsuki.
And this time, although the joint forces were lured in by Yugito Nii's chakra and seemed to have fallen into an Akatsuki trap, if looked at from another angle...
If the 'Upper Moon' and Akatsuki were not on the same side, then the joint force might have been intentionally lured by Akatsuki to the 'Upper Moon' territory—using another blade to get rid of them.
The evidence was that, except for 'Upper Moon Two' who fought them and the mysterious strong individual hiding in the shadows using space-time ninjutsu, no other Akatsuki members appeared during the entire battle.
If this really was an elaborate trap arranged by Akatsuki, it was way too strange.
At that moment, Chiyo of the Sand Village approached Jiraiya and said, "We can't let Raikage run wild any longer; we must retreat as soon as possible!"
Jiraiya nodded.
In truth, the joint forces had already successfully escaped the 'Infinite Castle' days earlier.
However, after escaping, they had discovered the cave where the anchor point had been destroyed by Yugito Nii's Tailed Beast Bomb, and the Fourth Raikage had insisted they search the forest for Yugito.
But after several days of fruitless searching, they had nothing.
This was another reason why Kakashi doubted the connection between 'Upper Moon' and Akatsuki—the fact that the Akatsuki-controlled Yugito Nii used a Tailed Beast Bomb-level attack on a base clearly belonging to the 'Upper Moon.'
Soon, Chiyo of the Sand Village, Jiraiya of the Hidden Leaf, Kitsuchi of the Stone Village, and Zabuza of the Hidden Mist teamed up to pressure the Fourth Raikage.
Facing the pressure from the four villages, the Fourth Raikage had no choice but to compromise, and the joint forces began their journey back.
...
Land of Hot Water
Riding on the back of the Two-Tails, Uchiha Shinji traveled rapidly toward the Land of Water in the light of dawn.
[Anchor point successfully severed.]
[All five anchor points have been successfully severed. World destruction countdown halted.]
[Congratulations.]
While Shinji was contemplating how to deal with the potential presence of the 'Lamp Bearer' from the Demon Slayer World guarding the anchor point in the Land of Water, the familiar prompt from the Lantern rang in his ears.
He immediately commanded the fully Tailed Beast-transformed Yugito Nii to stop, then stood there, stunned.
"It's... over?!"
Even after confirming with the Lantern, he could hardly believe it. He had managed to prevent an apocalyptic crisis.
He gazed in the direction of the Land of Water, mumbling to himself, "Did Haku succeed?"
He knew that Haku had Mei Terumi and Kisame from the Hidden Mist following behind him. However, the anchor point in the Land of Water was the last one. By all rights, the 'Lamp Bearer' from the Demon Slayer World should have been there guarding it.
And the 'Lamp Bearer' was very likely the new Demon King, which meant that just Haku, Mei Terumi, and Kisame wouldn't be able to handle it.
The only explanation was that the mysterious Lampbearer from the Demon Slayer World did not appear at any of the anchor points...