Naruto Live: The Death of Naruto in the Beginning Moviee

Huang Quan's figure—dressed in black—flashed and appeared behind the four figures. Spreading his arms wide, he shouted, "Enhance the treatment protocol! Inject the chakra!"

Immediately, several black tentacles surged up from the ground and connected to the backs of the four people's necks. A surge of purple chakra pulsed through them before the tentacles quickly retracted.

"The treatment is complete," Huang Quan said.

Without hesitation, the four chakra-infused individuals leapt up and charged toward the temple built into the cliffs below.

At the temple entrance, four guards spotted the intruders right away. Shouting, they unsheathed their swords and moved to intercept them.

"Go! Yitai, Setsuna!" Two of the attackers veered off, leaping past the guards, and signaled for the other two to deal with them.

One of them, a man whose lower face was hidden behind a scarf, remained still for a brief moment. Then he shouted, "Fire Style Ninjutsu—Fire Run!"

At once, flames erupted like a writhing serpent, surrounding the four guards in a ring of fire. The guards moved closer, back to back, as one of them shouted to rally his teammates.

But words couldn't extinguish flames.

The last attacker leapt into the air, raised an arm high, and slammed it downward. "Wind Style Ninjutsu—Gale Force!"

Three tornadoes howled into existence, merging with the blazing fire below to form a massive flaming twister. It engulfed the four guards in an instant.

With the path clear, the four intruders joined Huang Quan at the temple doors. Pushing them open, Huang Quan stepped inside, his tone tinged with emotion. "At last… the moment has arrived."

He looked straight ahead, then instructed the others, "Wait here. What lies beyond is the boundary between this world and the next. Only I, Huang Quan, am permitted to enter."

"Huh? What kind of weird authentication system is that?" someone muttered. "Only people named Huang Quan can pass? What if I just change my name?"

"What does he mean by 'that world'?"

"Judging by the name 'Huang Quan,' maybe it's… the underworld? Like the realm of the dead?"

"Could the afterlife really be like this? If so… If I change my name, could I see my dead father again?"

"Don't be ridiculous. That's impossible. Huang Quan probably has some kind of secret jutsu."

Elsewhere, in the Pure Land, Uchiha Madara's cold eyes stared upward. His brows twitched ever so slightly.

"The world after death... it's not the Pure Land? And there's a direct passage back to the Shinobi World?"

Although he had already set plans for resurrection in motion, if there were another path, Uchiha Madara would rather rely on his own strength to return. With nothing better to do, he continued to gaze at the sky, using the time to explore the possibilities of reentering the world of the living.

Back in the temple, Huang Quan descended a staircase alone. At its base lay a fog-filled underground chamber. At its center stood a stone door, covered in talismans, shrouded by a transparent beam of light.

"This feels like a sealing technique… Anyone recognize it?"

"Never seen anything like it."

Huang Quan stepped into the light and approached the door. Studying the talismans, he muttered to himself, "Wait for me… Wait for me… Wuliang…"

He raised a hand and began chanting an indecipherable incantation. The talismans on the door flared with light, then burned away. The stone crumbled, revealing something hidden behind it—something radiating an ominous, malevolent energy.

"Heh… How nostalgic… Am I back in this world again?"

Black chakra spread outward as overlapping voices echoed from beyond the shattered door.

Huang Quan dropped to one knee. "It's been too long, Master Wuliang."

The voice that responded was uncertain, hesitant—perhaps weakened from being sealed for so long. "You are…?"

"Have you forgotten? I am Huang Quan," he replied. Wuliang still looked confused. Huang Quan added, "I'm the last survivor of the shinobi who once harnessed your power to create the Ghost Corps."

"Pfft! This perfect 'Wuliang' doesn't even remember him?"

"So there was someone pulling the strings from the shadows!"

"I always thought the Ghost Corps were controlled by ghosts, but turns out there's a guy named Huang Quan behind them?"

"The search teams are already dispatched. That guy's not escaping now."

"What's all that on the sky screen?! Someone explain what's going on!"

"Don't expect free info. Go ask your village elders!"

"I thought this was some otherworldly realm… Turns out it's just a specially sealed space?"

Meanwhile, inside a meeting room at the Hokage Building, Team 7 (led by Kakashi) and Team 3 (led by Gai) were waiting on standby. Since the two squads didn't know each other well, the sky screen gave them a chance to get acquainted in advance.

Logically, given they might be future allies, at the very least some friendly interaction should happen. But the room was thick with awkward tension.

The reason? Simple.

The moment they met, Rock Lee confessed to Sakura.

Even though she had seen his bushy eyebrows on the sky screen before, Sakura was still blindsided by the sudden confession—and immediately rejected him in utter shock.

Naruto glared daggers at Lee, looking like he wanted to eat him alive.

Neji—the top graduate of the previous class—and Sasuke—the newly crowned genius—locked eyes with quiet curiosity.

Only Tenten tried to lighten the mood, chatting with Sakura occasionally.

Gai had attempted to foster some friendly rapport between the squads, but with his eyebrows even bushier than Lee's and wearing a pair of hideous green tights, Team 7 kept a wary distance.

Seeing this, Kakashi sighed and turned his attention back to the sky.

"Why did you call me…" Wuliang asked, unsure whether he truly remembered Huang Quan.

Huang Quan seemed completely unconcerned by the being in front of him. "The stars have aligned again," he said. "Now is the time for us to join forces once more—to build a Millennium Kingdom."

But Wuliang, still weak and sealed, reminded him: "Where is my body? As only a soul, I'll vanish before long."

"Then take mine," Huang Quan said.

He began unbuttoning his shirt and pulled out a scalpel from inside his clothing. "Use the forbidden medical techniques. Transfer your soul into my body."

Without waiting, he cut open his chest with the scalpel, revealing a strange, hollow cavity—like a dark, sealed vessel—inside his torso.

"HOLY—! What the hell is that?! Does Huang Quan not have any internal organs?!"

"Is he even human?!"

"Dark medical ninjutsu? Just the name gives me the creeps!"

"I want to see what this so-called 'Mage' can really do… building a thousand-year empire in the ninja world?!"