Raikage's headless corpse lay on the ground. Su Xiao glanced at it and then ignored it, walking over to Raikage's head and picking it up.
Raikage's hair stood straight up, and there was no unwillingness on his face. He had lost today—not to schemes or a sneak attack, but because Su Xiao had beheaded him fair and square. He had simply been outmatched, so there was nothing to resent.
Su Xiao carried Raikage's head and looked toward Bubu Wang above.
Bubu Wang leaped down from above. Before long, a rumbling sound came from the passage leading from the first floor to the second. A-Mu had withdrawn.
A-Mu was covered in blood, with several poisoned Senbon sticking out of his body. Senbon were metal needles roughly twenty centimeters long.
Behind A-Mu, a male and female ninja were in pursuit. Several mechanical puppets were near the two ninjas, and the female ninja held a metal folding fan half as tall as a person.
Behind them was a young ninja carrying a large ochre-yellow gourd and sporting red hair.
They were Kazekage Gaara and his two guards, Kankuro and Temari.
In fact, Gaara had arrived to provide support long ago, but A-Mu had held them up, preventing them from reaching Raikage in time.
The three rushed down the stone stairs. Upon seeing the scene before them, the female ninja Temari's pupils constricted as a memory surfaced in her mind.
A man had grabbed her by the back of the neck and forced her to call for help from Gaara, who was in the middle of battle. Because she had been captured, Gaara had endured the enemy's attacks to save her, allowing the enemy to injure him and ultimately carry him away.
"Akatsuki member... Byakuya."
Temari practically spat out those words through clenched teeth.