In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
The other four nations' Kage had already received word of the genjutsu game through spies planted in the Hidden Leaf Village.
In the Land of Water, within Kirigakure, the newly appointed Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, frowned deeply.
As the youngest Mizukage in the history of the Hidden Mist, a long scar ran under his left eye. Yet due to his short stature—barely over a meter tall—and his youthful face, he didn't appear menacing. Instead, people often felt sorry for him, as if thinking, "Poor kid."
In reality, however, this man was married and already had a child. It was just that whenever he stood next to his wife, people always got the strange feeling that *she* was the dominant one.
As a young Mizukage with great ambition, Yagura had long sought to end the Blood Mist policies instituted since the era of the Second Mizukage. Despite the overwhelming difficulty, he had been working tirelessly toward that goal.
For this reason, he closely monitored every move of Konohagakure, the foremost shinobi village, sending many spies to gather intel and uncover the root of the Leaf's enduring strength.
Thus, even from across the sea, Yagura was among the first to receive information on the genjutsu game.
"Genjutsu game... the Uchiha Clan? Why? I thought they were constantly being suppressed and excluded by the higher-ups in the Leaf. How did they suddenly pull off something this big—and with no pushback from the leadership? Could they have reconciled?"
He murmured to himself, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the desk, brows furrowed deeply.
After a long pause, Yagura ultimately decided to send even more spies to Konoha, some posing as merchants, to see if they could purchase large quantities of the genjutsu game from the Leaf.
Even with only written reports, the youngest Mizukage could easily perceive the game's immense potential for shinobi.
Furthermore, he considered the possibility that the version being sold publicly might be a watered-down version. Therefore, he instructed his men to try and acquire an "internal version" of the game as well.
Plans were also made to study and replicate the game—though such efforts would only begin after they obtained a copy.
Still, deep down, Yagura was pessimistic about replication. After all, the game clearly involved the Uchiha—the intel said it was a secret technique developed by the Uchiha Clan. That meant it was tied to the Sharingan.
Without the Sharingan, even possessing the full technical details wouldn't be enough to reproduce it.
Yagura's actions were mirrored by nearly every major and minor shinobi village. All major powers made identical moves.
Though minor variations existed, the differences were trivial.
For example, the Third Raikage, A—who, like his predecessors, was a brute—initially wanted to send men directly into the Leaf to steal the genjutsu game. Just like when they tried to abduct a jinchūriki candidate during the Second Great Ninja War.
That brainless plan was quickly shut down by his advisors.
Back then, most of the Leaf's top forces, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, were away on the front lines, leaving the village itself vulnerable. Now, in peacetime, Konoha was brimming with powerful shinobi and had formidable defenses. Sending people in now would be suicide.
So in the end, under the advisors' guidance, Kumogakure also sent a caravan and spies to Konoha. One special arrangement: the apparent merchant in charge of the caravan was actually a special jōnin from the Hidden Cloud—a desk worker with no public presence, but keen, resourceful, and cunning. Perfect for this mission.
In Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, also received the news.
Given that Iwagakure was quietly yet actively preparing for the Third Great Ninja War and was short on manpower, he opted to simply spend money to hire professionals.
Mercenaries—the pride and joy of Iwa!
When it came to the poorest of the Five Great Nations, Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage also sent personnel.
However, due to the village's poor state, he could send very few people and thus couldn't do much. But the importance of the genjutsu game was clear just by thinking about it.
After brief consideration, the Third Kazekage summoned two trusted subordinates.
Soon, a red-haired teenager with a melancholic yet strikingly handsome aura, and a slightly older, dark-red-haired man with decent looks, entered the Kazekage's office.
"Kazekage-sama," they greeted in unison.
The Third Kazekage nodded. "Rasa. Sasori. You're here. I have an important mission for you. You'll be heading to Konoha."
Both men blinked. Then, Rasa replied respectfully, "Yes, sir. Please give your orders."
Sasori said nothing. But in his otherwise calm eyes, something stirred.
He hid it well—neither the Kazekage nor Rasa noticed.
The Third Kazekage then handed them the intel on the genjutsu game and detailed their mission to investigate it in the Leaf.
He also arranged official identities as Sand emissaries for them. Conveniently, Konoha and Suna were nominally allies, making such arrangements easy.
Meanwhile, in a hidden underground space, Uchiha Madara, now so aged he relied on long periods of sleep and life-support equipment to survive, opened his eyes. Get full chapters from 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥
Though his eyes were clouded and old, they still held the sharpness and dominance of one who had once ruled the battlefield. Few could meet his gaze.
But the white, spiral-bodied creature in front of him was an exception—a faceless being with a twisted, spiral-patterned head and equally spiraled limbs. It looked bizarre and unsettling.
"You're awake! Madara-jii, you finally woke up!"
A raspy voice rumbled. "Tobi... what is it? Has the Shinobi World War begun again?"
Tobi shook his head. "No, no, Madara-jii, not yet! But something big happened in Konoha—your clan made something new!"
"It's super fun! So fun! I wanna play too—but it doesn't work on me! Ahhh, poor White Zetsu! So sad!"
He started out coherent, then devolved into whining, twisting his body dramatically like someone with a few screws loose.
Madara's aged face twitched. He really wanted to slap this weirdo with Susano'o.
But currently, he had no subordinates left. As abstract as Tobi was, he was loyal and weirdly capable. Often useful, especially for intel gathering—far better than any traditional shinobi method.
So, suppressing his annoyance, Madara asked a few more questions. Eventually, the most abstract White Zetsu managed to explain the genjutsu game situation clearly.
He even produced a copy—sealed scrolls of the released games, *Return Home* and *Fruit Ninja*.
Madara narrowed his eyes at the scroll. "Genjutsu game? Hmph... My pathetic descendants, degraded by that scheming bastard Tobirama, have fallen so far as to tinker with childish toys?"
A cold laugh escaped him.
His scorn was unrestrained.
To Madara, a so-called "hyper-realistic illusion world" was just child's play. After all, with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, his genjutsu could already create perfectly "real illusions."
Nonetheless, he figured he might as well see what this game could do. Life underground was boring, after all.
And as for needing to completely lower one's mental defenses and accept the Sharingan's illusion to use the game?
Madara had zero concern.
Because he was confident.
Even if the eyes he now used weren't his original pair, anything his descendants could devise—he could break through at will.
With that, Madara activated the scroll for *Fruit Ninja* and allowed his consciousness to enter the game.