"Damn it, why did I have to arrive at this time?"
Inside a modest home in Amegakure, Jia Yi's face twisted in frustration.
This was the 59th year of the Hidden Leaf Village. The Konoha Twelve were about to graduate from the Ninja Academy.
Once they did, Orochimaru's plot to destroy Konoha would begin.
Immediately after that, the leader of the Hidden Rain Village—Pain—would initiate the Akatsuki's plan to capture all the Tailed Beasts.
At that point, Amegakure would be branded as the enemy of the entire ninja world.
And he? He didn't even have chakra. How was someone like him supposed to survive the Fourth Great Ninja War?
This is the Naruto world—where entire clans and villages are wiped out with ease!
[Ding! Examination System successfully bound.]
"…?"
Jia Yi froze upon hearing the system notification.
What? I've already transmigrated into the Naruto world, and now I have to take tests too?
It wasn't until he read through the system interface that he relaxed.
The exam system wasn't meant to test him. Instead, it dragged others into an isolated exam space and forced them to take tests.
To ensure fairness, the entire ninja world would be able to watch the exams via live broadcast.
Each test had five questions. Answering at least three correctly qualified the examinee. The better their score, the greater the reward.
Conversely, failing would result in severe punishment—and a mandatory retake exam.
And make-up exams weren't free—they required a fee.
As the system host, Jia Yi could personally choose part of each test's content, while the rest was selected randomly from a massive database.
He also received a portion of the rewards or make-up fees from each examinee.
Realization struck him like lightning. His eyes lit up.
If he could pull Nagato (Pain), Konan, and the others into the exam space—showing them future knowledge through cleverly selected questions—he could rewrite the fate of this world.
No Eye of the Moon Plan.
No manipulation by Black Zetsu, Madara Uchiha, or Kaguya.
The Naruto world could bypass war entirely and enter an era of true peace.
Hell, he could even use the Akatsuki to rise to power! Make everyone as strong as dragons!
And maybe… bring home the angelic Konan to warm his bed.
A twisted grin spread across his face.
No hesitation.
Jia Yi immediately activated the Exam Space and waited for the selected participants to be summoned.
---
Meanwhile, at the tallest building in Amegakure…
Nagato sat in his mechanical chair. Konan stood silently behind him, calm and composed.
Before them stood the masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara.
Behind him loomed a half-white figure with plant-like appendages.
Obito and Zetsu.
They were here to push Pain—Nagato—to accelerate the Eye of the Moon Plan.
To that end, they had already recruited powerful missing-nin like Kakuzu, Sasori, and Uchiha Itachi into the Akatsuki.
Now, the organization had gathered ten S-class rogue ninjas.
A force strong enough to challenge the Five Great Nations.
Obito wasn't willing to wait any longer.
He wanted to create a new world—for Rin.
"I've received intel," Obito began, "that Orochimaru is preparing to attack Konoha. We can use the chaos to extract the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
Zetsu's eerie voice echoed beside him, his leafy tendrils twitching as he spoke.
Nagato remained impassive, his Rinnegan eyes glowing faintly.
Though his expression was unreadable, Obito and Zetsu weren't easy to intimidate.
Still, just as Nagato was about to speak—
A blinding light burst out in front of them.
The light coalesced rapidly into a massive portal, pulsing with unknown energy.
Instinctively, Konan stepped forward, spreading her paper wings protectively. Thousands of explosive tags fluttered behind her like feathers—ready to detonate at the slightest threat.
Elsewhere in Amegakure, the Deva Path (Tendō) of Pain—about to depart with Itachi—stopped in his tracks and darted toward the light.
Uchiha Itachi silently watched him go, eyes narrowing.
Over the past months, Itachi had come to understand the terrifying depth of the Rinnegan.
Pain moved like a god. Unshakeable. Cold. Unmoved by anything.
But now?
He had moved. Swiftly. Without a word.
And then…
The rain in Amegakure stopped.
Itachi frowned beneath his cloak. With quick hand signs hidden inside his robes, he cast Clone and Transformation techniques simultaneously.
His real body followed Pain's path, while a clone strolled casually away.
Across the village, five more figures stirred awake—each with Rinnegan eyes and black receivers embedded in their flesh.
The other paths of Pain.
All five surged toward the top of the village. Chakra flared as they sprinted through the rooftops.
"Intruder?"
The rest of Akatsuki sensed the spike in energy and rushed to the scene.
One after another, S-rank criminals gathered—ten deadly silhouettes now arrayed around the portal.
Tendō Pain raised a hand, ready to unleash Shinra Tensei at a moment's notice.
Asura Path flexed both arms, revealing missile launchers primed to fire.
Human Path tensed his fingers, prepared to rip out a soul with a single touch.
Animal, Preta, and Naraka Paths all flanked their comrades, surrounding the portal.
Nagato no longer hid behind illusion or secrecy.
His gaze locked onto the swirling light.
No one—absolutely no one—should have been able to cast a technique like this unnoticed.
Could it be… the Sage of Six Paths himself?
Only a handful of beings in existence possessed the Rinnegan: him, and the supposed Madara standing across the room.
Madara Uchiha—the Ghost of the Uchiha. The Demon of the Battlefield.
Even he shouldn't be capable of such silent, space-bending sorcery.
Obito, still maintaining his Madara act, found himself exposed under the scrutiny of the entire Akatsuki. He prepared to phase away—but it was too late.
"Another Sharingan?" Deidara sneered. "Tch. These damn red-eyed freaks…"
Captured by Itachi and forced to join, Deidara's hatred for Sharingan users ran deep.
Obito's exposed eye only deepened that resentment.
"Madara?" Itachi asked, voice unreadable.
Unlike Deidara, Itachi believed Obito was truly Madara. The one who helped him annihilate the Uchiha clan.
The thought that the "leader" might have someone else pulling the strings made him uneasy.
Still, he turned his attention to the mysterious figure in the wheelchair—Nagato.
If he was being protected this fiercely, his importance was obvious.
High above, Itachi silently perched atop a beam, observing everything.
"There's no caster within a hundred miles," Zetsu announced grimly, rising from the ground.
He'd scoured the terrain with tens of thousands of White Zetsu—but found nothing.
Either the caster was impossibly far… or they existed beyond known logic.
The moment he saw the gate of light, a strange sense of dread coiled in his ancient soul.
It felt like centuries of preparation were about to unravel.
"Tch. All this panic over a damn door?" Kakuzu grunted, letting one of his masked creatures emerge from his back.
It slithered toward the portal, twitching—
SWOOSH!
A flash of pure white light engulfed the room.
In the next moment, all of them found themselves standing in a vast white void.