The Terror of the Third Kazekage

In the underground laboratory behind Konoha Mountain, Orochimaru stared intently at the solution in the test tube. After observing it for a while, he put it aside and began to make records.

At that moment, a small snake in the laboratory suddenly disappeared, which he noticed immediately.

Seeing this, he temporarily put down his work, "Summoning Jutsu!"

After a large snake appeared, it obediently opened its mouth, and Shuichi, covered in slime, immediately jumped out. "Phew..." This way of escaping is indeed useful, but it still feels a bit disgusting.

"Looks like everything went smoothly, Shuichi-kun."

Seeing that Orochimaru had completed the backup so quickly, Shuichi was also surprised by his enthusiasm for the experiment; it was already past midnight and he still hadn't rested. "Sensei, aren't you tired? I was planning to wait for several hours."

"Don't worry, I'm in better shape than ever before." Orochimaru's eyes were slightly bloodshot, but his face was full of excited smiles.

"Alright." Shuichi didn't say anything more; this was no different from him playing games all night in his previous life.

Knowing that the Shinobi World War was imminent, and that Orochimaru would soon find out about this information, he said directly, "This mission went smoothly, but teacher, the Shinobi World may soon undergo significant changes. According to the information I have, the Third Kazekage is either dead or missing."

"What?" Although his expression didn't change, Orochimaru was still greatly surprised. "Such a powerful person disappeared from his own village?"

"Hmm, I reckon the Third Hokage Kazekage will be gathering the Jonin soon, so I'm just giving you a heads-up." Shuichi finished speaking and, noticing Orochimaru's expression, asked with some curiosity, "Just how strong is the Third Kazekage?"

Orochimaru snapped out of his daze. "Go ask the Third Hokage about this; he knows the answer."

The next morning, after returning home and tidying up, Shuichi straight to the Hokage's Office. After being informed by the Anbu, he saw the Third Hokage already busy at work.

If it were his past self, he would probably have rushed in shouting, "Something terrible has happened!"

However, Shuichi is now an excellent ninja. After arriving in front of the Third Hokage, he didn't say anything and directly handed him the mission report and all the intelligence he had obtained.

The Third Hokage took the document and immediately opened it to examine it. The more he looked, the more grave his expression became, until finally he seemed somewhat incredulous. "Sunagakure could actually have something like this happen, and it really is the Third Kazekage?"

"Yes, the intelligence should be accurate. I think there's a high probability that the Third Kazekage is dead," Shuichi added to his analysis. "Because I only recorded information about his travels and actions; much of the other information shows that he was very concerned about his village. If there were problems with the village, he would have intervened long ago. Furthermore, Sunagakure wouldn't use the mission quota to set up a scheme, so..."

The Third Hokage's expression was extremely serious. The sudden disappearance of a Kage who commanded the entire village had completely overturned the norm of the Shinobi World, and he had to assess the impact of this event on Konoha as soon as possible.

"Third Hokage, I'm a little curious, just how strong was the Third Kazekage?" Shuichi asked, seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen was almost finished thinking. "I'm very interested in the top ninjas in the Shinobi World, could you tell me about them if you could?"

After hearing this, the Third Hokage realized that a decision couldn't be made hastily regarding the Kazekage's disappearance. He didn't mind discussing it with Shuichi, as it would be helpful for the growth of every ninja.

"He fully deserves the title of the strongest Kazekage in history. He is a powerful figure who gives every village a headache. His use of Magnet Release is almost flawless. He is the Strongest Spear and the Strongest Shield Sunagakure."

Shuichi: "... Isn't that the Third Raikage's title in Kumogakure?"

The Third Hokage: "Indeed, although I have never fought the Raikage, I know a lot about him. And in some ways, the Third Kazekage is in no way inferior to him, and I think Iwagakure Ōnoki thinks so too."

"Wow, that strong?" Shuichi surprise, "Is he stronger than you and all the other Kage from the other villages?"

"It's not quite like that," the Third Hokage explained. "We all carry the burden of the entire village, so even if we meet on the battlefield, we won't force a fight." He continued, "The position of Kage is too important, so we all play conservatively in our battles, without any clear winner or loser."

That's easy to understand. If a suitable leader is lost, the ninja village is likely to experience internal strife, like Kirigakure, which suffered greatly in the future, and Sunagakure, which is about to decline.

"The reason the Third Kazekage is considered the strongest in Sunagakure's history is related to his fighting style. There are other people in Sunagakure who are proficient in Magnet Release, such as the Jonin Rasa Jonin, but their destructive power is completely incomparable to the Third Kazekage's..."

The Third Kazekage didn't have a lot of Iron Sand, at least less than Rasa's Gold Dust, but they used it differently.

Rasa's method of use involves mixing Gold Dust with ordinary sand and attacking enemies by weight and range. His technique is well-suited for large-scale frontal battles, but his attack speed is his biggest weakness. If Jonin -level ninja is fast enough, he simply cannot catch them.

Magnet Release has a limited range of control; the farther the object being controlled is from the user, the lower its speed and power will be.

"The Third Kazekage was different. His chakra intensity was the highest of all time, and he enveloped himself in all the Iron Sand to form a weapon, unleashing its full speed and power through Magnet Release..."

The thought of that scene made Shuichi gasp. He clearly remembered how much Iron Sand the Human Puppet in the original story had.

By tightly encasing himself in all the Iron Sand to form a massive iron pillar, his control over the iron can be maximized. Combined with the strength of his own chakra, this multi-ton object could probably move faster than Jonin.

This thing is a heavy tank that can fly. Ordinary Ninjutsu is like tickling it. Every time it dives down, the Iron Sand at the front can transform into any spiked weapon, and no one can stop it wherever it goes.

"Moreover, its agility makes it impossible to defend against. If someone uses defensive Ninjutsu, it will take to the air and circle around, finding the enemy's weakest point to launch another attack..."

If you react quickly enough to dodge this attack, the real horror is yet to come. The Third Kazekage will then unleash a barrage of Iron Sand, turning the area into a death trap. A single grain of Iron Sand the size of a fingernail can pierce through a ninja's entire body, leaving no angle to dodge.

Then it's an endless cycle: gathering the Iron Sand back to its side, taking off again, searching for the next target, and diving down to attack.

Shuichi felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of such a scene. If he were an ordinary Jonin, he wouldn't know what to do. His Ninjutsu wouldn't hit the opponent, and even if it did, it wouldn't break through their defenses. Even if he could dodge the first impact, he might not have time to avoid the subsequent ranged attacks.

This was a situation that ordinary ninjas couldn't solve. Unlike Namikaze Minato, who later relied on absolute speed to kill enemies, the Third Kazekage perfectly combined super strong attack power, defense, and speed, giving him an overwhelming advantage against ordinary ninjas. Even Jonin would be defeated by him in just a few seconds.

The same is true in the Third Hokage's account. During the Second Great Ninja War, elite squads of several hundred ninjas from various countries encountered the Third Kazekage and could only scatter and flee, otherwise they would have been wiped out in minutes. Once his chakra was almost depleted, he could easily fly away, recover, and then launch the next wave.

"Therefore, once he makes his move, each village must send several top-tier ninja to contain him," the Third Hokage concluded. "Perhaps he isn't the strongest Shinobi World, but in terms of killing efficiency, he is absolutely the most powerful killing machine on the battlefield, a fact acknowledged by the other village kage as well."

"Alright." Shuichi. This was a completely different species from the Human Puppet that Sasori used. It was probably because it required Chakra Threads to control it. Puppeteer couldn't handle this kind of combat style, and it didn't even have 30% of the power of the original body.

"I really have to thank Sasori. Now my safety on the Sunagakure front has greatly improved," he thought to himself.

Shuichi was quite familiar with the Sunagakure's experts. Rasa's Magnet Release: Gold Dust, Chiyo's puppets, and some sand control techniques posed little threat to his speed. As long as he didn't engage in a direct confrontation, he could easily escape.

The only hidden danger is the Third Kazekage. Once Shuichi is discovered, the Third Kazekage will definitely hunt him down immediately, as he is Konoha genius who has not yet matured. That would be a terrible situation.

Now that his opponent is most likely dead at Scorpion's hands, he breathed a sigh of relief.