Chaotic Sunagakure

On the battlefield, Hidezawa and Shisui were locked in an ongoing fight with Sasori.

It had to be said that when Sasori used the Third Kazekage in tandem with his puppets, he was truly a perfect blend of offense and defense.

High-intensity, high-density Iron Sand, combined with his unimaginably refined puppet-control techniques, made it genuinely difficult for ordinary people to find any worthwhile opening.

However, both Hidezawa and Shisui noticed that Sasori still seemed to be treating them like a cat toying with mice.

Looks like he's looking down on us?

Hidezawa raised an eyebrow, but that was not necessarily a bad thing. Besides, neither he nor Shisui had gone all out yet!

He had not used the Cursed Seal or Yin Release, and Shisui had not activated his Mangekyo. They were basically still probing each other.

But Hidezawa no longer intended to keep playing around like this, because the moment he saw Sasori, a "little plan" had already formed in his mind!

Originally, he had wanted Shisui to "suffer a little," but now he had found a better target.

"Time to put in some effort, so he doesn't get away."

With that thought, Hidezawa instantly activated the Cursed Seal!

He did not need to worry too much about gathering the natural Chakra within the Cursed Seal. Like Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, it could recover on its own.

Its duration was still a problem, since the technique was only LV3, but the boost it provided had already become an inevitable choice whenever Hidezawa faced a powerful enemy.

"Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction!"

Forming hand seals, Hidezawa pressed his hand against the sand. In an instant, the earth began to shake violently.

"Hmm?"

Sasori's expression immediately changed, but before he could react, the sand beneath his feet began to collapse!

A vast stretch of sand rapidly caved in, silently forming a massive pit. Sasori was already trapped within it.

"Now!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Hidezawa pulled out the signal flare he had seized from Pakura and ignited it into the sky.

The flare burst into brilliant colors overhead, while Sasori's expression beneath the pit became utterly grim.

"You—"

Sasori looked up at Hidezawa with a dark, menacing gaze.

"Brat, are you looking to die?"

"Hidezawa, this..."

Shisui ran over as well. Though he somewhat understood why Hidezawa had done this, he still felt that it was somewhat inappropriate.

"Isn't this too risky?"

"Do you remember what I said earlier, senpai?"

Hidezawa did not answer directly. Instead, he smiled at Shisui. Shisui froze for a moment, not knowing what to say, and Hidezawa patted him on the shoulder.

"Leave it to me. Don't worry."

Only then did Hidezawa turn his gaze toward Sasori. Sasori had already risen into the air with the aid of the Third Kazekage. Hidezawa smiled.

"It seems you have misunderstood me. I was merely thinking that, since you are so proficient in puppet techniques and can even create a puppet possessing a person's bloodline limit from before their death...

"With accomplishments like that, only Lady Chiyo of Sunagakure seems capable of matching you. So I thought the two of you would surely be happy to meet."

Hidezawa's words made Sasori's expression grow even uglier. He truly wanted to strangle this brat in front of him.

He could be absolutely certain that this brat was doing it on purpose. He knew perfectly well that once those Sand Ninja arrived, the situation would likely spiral out of control.

"Still, do you think the two of you can keep me here?"

Sasori was filled with rage as he spoke coldly to Hidezawa and Shisui.

"You should be more concerned about how you'll deal with those Sand Ninja!"

"Senpai, we need to step it up."

Hidezawa ignored Sasori and turned to Shisui.

"Make this as big as possible, and don't let him leave. Understood?"

"Mm."

Shisui nodded. Things had reached this point, and he had no other choice.

Hidezawa had forcibly set off that signal flare. Once the people from Sunagakure arrived as expected, there would be no way for them to run.

Even if each of them was powerful, facing the siege of a large group of ninja meant that one mistake could get them killed!

Only by forcibly keeping the man who had killed the Third Kazekage here and making him fight Sunagakure like dogs tearing at each other could they have a chance.

With that thought, the Sharingan in Shisui's eyes slowly began to turn.

And the power of Yin Release within Hidezawa's body quietly began to bloom.--

"Move faster!"

Elsewhere in the Wind Country, countless squads were rapidly converging on a single location.

Sunagakure was already on high alert. Iwagakure was constantly applying pressure from outside, while Kirigakure infiltrators within their borders continuously harassed them.

Most importantly, Pakura—the hero of their village who had dealt Kirigakure a heavy blow—had actually gone missing.

No one in Sunagakure could accept something like that.

They had been waiting for news all this time, but several days had passed without any useful intelligence. It was becoming unbearable.

Now that they had finally seen a signal flare, how could they possibly miss it?

Yet as they hurried onward, they suddenly realized that the situation seemed to have exceeded their expectations.

Along the way, the Sand Ninja discovered that the closer they got to the flare's launch point, the stranger the entire desert became.

The piercing booms, the eerie roars, and the dunes trembling across the ground all seemed to tell them that a great battle was raging ahead.

"What the hell is going on?"

Filled with anxious speculation, they pressed forward. When they finally reached a closer position, they were completely dumbfounded!

"Th-this is... what?"

Countless black figures raced through the sky. They were clearly all puppets!

The densely packed puppets seemed to blanket the entire sky. Among them was a unique puppet surrounded by black Iron Sand.

The Iron Sand repeatedly pierced into the ground from above, forming enormous structures resembling barriers. The high-density Iron Sand transformed into iron spikes and continuously attacked.

Below, a huge green figure seemed concealed amid the puppets and the blowing sand, while countless broken puppets littered the ground.

What made their hair stand on end even more was the roaring stone dragon in the distance, seemingly over fifty meters long, which was also relentlessly attacking.

The sand trembled, the earth roared, and the sight before them left the Sand Ninja reinforcements utterly stunned!

"Quick! Send a distress signal!"

At last, one of the Sand Ninja came to his senses. He practically roared at his teammates.

"Send it immediately! And make sure the village is informed! We may have found... the Third Kazekage's whereabouts. Report it at once!"

"Yes!"

Although they had been shouted at, the Sand Ninja quickly came to their senses.

Leaving aside what the puppets filling the sky represented, and without even considering the destructive power of that stone dragon with a body comparable to a Tailed Beast's—

The black Iron Sand constantly launching attacks alone was enough to make them understand how grave this matter was!

The Third Kazekage—the missing Kazekage, the one known as the strongest Kazekage—had appeared here?

No matter what, this intelligence had to be sent back to the village, and it had to be done quickly!

It was not just them. The other Sunagakure squads immediately reacted as well.

In that instant, countless signal flares, along with swift hawks specially used to carry messages, rose continuously into the sky.

The scorching heavens became even more dazzling in an instant.