After parting with Jiraiya and the others, Zi Xu picked up speed. Before long, he was carrying Gaara and sprinting at full speed.
Kankuro and Temari had no choice but to do their best to keep up. They had no idea how long they ran, twisting and turning behind Zi Xu through forests, deserts, swamps, and valleys, until they finally stopped at a crack at the foot of an extremely secluded mountain.
Temari and Kankuro were already utterly exhausted. They had no energy to even notice where they were. Zi Xu formed some hand seals at the crack, checking them several times. Then he grabbed Kankuro and the others and charged straight into it.
"Waaah!" Kankuro and Temari screamed as he dragged them along. They thought the guy in front of them had lost his mind, but after a bout of dizziness, they didn't find themselves in a river of blood. Instead, they felt the glare of bright sunlight.
Temari tried to open her eyes, shielding them from the glaring sun with her hand. To her surprise, she found herself in a beautiful place of mountains and clear waters. A number of houses looked as if they'd only just been built, and a crowd of people were hauling around all kinds of complicated-looking precision instruments.
Looking more closely, she noticed Orochimaru leading the way, helping them put the instruments in the right places. He seemed to value the various wires and electronic screens more than anyone else present.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses with one hand while holding a little shovel in the other. He was examining a person covered in cracks, lying with his eyes closed inside a wooden coffin. If she wasn't mistaken, he'd dug up the wrong grave again.
Nearby, the Silent Clone lay in a rocking