Shukaku Appears

The bright night sky, the bustling streets filled with lights, and the constant chorus of hawkers—the entire night market seemed perfectly normal.

However, Pakura felt an indescribable sensation; it was the vigilance she had honed over many years as an elite ninja.

"As expected of 'Scorch Style' Pakura, to think you could detect my genjutsu."

Suddenly, a low, ethereal voice echoed. Pakura noticed that the noisy street had fallen abruptly silent. The pedestrians on the road, including her disciple Maki who was holding her hand, had all frozen in place, as if time itself had stopped for the entire world.

Pakura's expression turned grave as she watched a slender, shadowy figure walk toward her step by step. The figure was clearly obscured by a genjutsu, making it impossible to discern their face or clothing, or even their true identity; she could only vaguely identify the person as a man.

"Who are you? What is your objective?" Pakura asked in a deep voice.

The person who had arrived was naturally Yusuke. Utilizing his Sharingan, Yusuke had dragged Pakura into a genjutsu space. In this space, no matter how much time passed, only an instant would have elapsed in the real world.

Yusuke's genjutsu was somewhat similar to Itachi's Mangekyo genjutsu, Tsukuyomi, but it was far less powerful.

Itachi's Tsukuyomi could inflict mental damage on a target within the genjutsu space, potentially leading to a mental breakdown or even death in severe cases.

Yusuke's genjutsu space, however, could only create illusions and could not inflict any substantial harm on the target. But for Yusuke, this was already enough.

During the brief moment he cast this technique, Yusuke also applied a genjutsu to himself that would cause others to suffer from cognitive errors, ensuring that those around him would not notice the fact that he was using his Sharingan.

"Rest assured, I have no designs on Sunagakure; I simply want to show you something interesting," Yusuke said, his voice simulated by the genjutsu.

Pakura let out a cold snort. "A coward hiding in the shadows. Say what you have to say."

In Pakura's view, this mysterious person had the ability to cast a genjutsu on her in the middle of a crowded Sunagakure market, so they were certainly no simple character. The fact that the person needed to approach her in this manner meant they undoubtedly had ulterior motives.

As soon as she finished speaking, Pakura suddenly found the surrounding environment shifting rapidly, with scenes unfolding like a movie.

Through the genjutsu, Yusuke simulated two scenarios: first, Pakura accepting a classified mission from Sunagakure's high command to secretly head to Kirigakure for peace talks; second, Pakura arriving in Kirigakure's territory, only to be ambushed and killed.

Throughout the performance of these scenes, some of the settings and characters were not entirely clear, but Pakura understood exactly what Yusuke was trying to convey.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Pakura thought of the recent conflicts she had with the high command, and her heart filled with suspicion. She doubted the authenticity of these scenes, but she was even more suspicious of how the stranger had obtained such intelligence.

Although she was already three parts convinced, Pakura did not show it on her face. Instead, she sneered, "Are you using this genjutsu just to show me these non-existent things to sow discord between me and the village?"

Yusuke laughed. "Whether it is true or false, let us wait and see. I believe time will prove everything!"

For Yusuke, he had already conveyed the information he wanted to Pakura, and there was no need to waste his breath explaining the authenticity of these events. Once Pakura received the mission from the village's high command, she would naturally verify it herself.

As Yusuke's voice faded, the genjutsu scene before Pakura's eyes slowly receded, and the noisy sounds of the night market returned to her ears.

"Teacher, Teacher, why aren't you saying anything!" Maki, who was holding Pakura's hand, called out to her repeatedly.

Pakura snapped back to reality, her expression returning to normal as she smiled and said, "It's nothing, I was just lost in thought for a moment. By the way, Maki, how long have you been calling me?"

Maki laughed. "I didn't expect Teacher to have moments where you space out! I had just called you, and you came back to your senses immediately."

Pakura nodded, though she was inwardly astonished by the power of that mysterious person's genjutsu. She had spent nearly ten minutes in the illusion, yet in the real world, it had been only a split second.

"Huh? Teacher, what is that in your hand?" Maki noticed a small scroll in Pakura's hand and asked curiously.

Pakura was startled, only then realizing that a scroll had been placed in her hand at some point.

I was so careless! Although it was because I was under a genjutsu, if the other party could place a scroll in my hand without me noticing, they would have been fully capable of killing me under those circumstances. With a heart full of doubt, Pakura tucked the scroll into her clothes, intending to check its contents when she was alone.

Just as Pakura's attention was on the scroll, Yusuke had already walked past her, brushing shoulders with her.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly; for Yusuke, this contact with Pakura had gone very smoothly.

Pakura was a dark piece he had thought of on the spur of the moment. Whether or not he could eventually turn her into his collaborator, he had lost nothing.

It's fortunate that she let her guard down while in Sunagakure, otherwise, it wouldn't have been easy to restrain her with genjutsu! With his back to Pakura, Yusuke strolled slowly toward the other end of the night market street.

At noon the next day, nearly twenty-four hours had passed since the second stage of the Chunin Exams began.

Because the Desert of Demons was vast, all the genin teams had entered from different entrances. So far, the two teams from Konoha had not managed to rendezvous.

Under the surveillance of Yusuke's two Phantom Crow Clones, he knew the situation of both Konoha genin teams like the back of his hand.

The situation of the team consisting of Mizuki, Gekko Hayate, and Uzuki Yugao was relatively stable; the strength of the three members was top-tier among genin.

All three were highly skilled in taijutsu. At the early stages of a ninja's career, many ninjas could not yet master ninjutsu and genjutsu proficiently, so in many cases, taijutsu was the key factor for victory.

In less than a single day, the three had already seized the scroll their team needed and were currently hiding in a concealed location. Now, they only needed to minimize combat and hold out for three days.

On the other side, the team of Itachi, Anko, and Kurama Naki had encountered a bit of trouble. They had been attacked by a seed team from Sunagakure. During the battle, Anko had overused her chakra, which caused the Heaven Curse Seal to erupt, temporarily rendering her unable to fight.

However, relying on Itachi's powerful comprehensive abilities and Kurama Naki's unexpected genjutsu, the team still managed to defeat their opponents. Unfortunately, the scroll the opponents carried was the same type as their own, so the team could not rest yet and had to continue searching for other teams to seize a different scroll.

Seeing Anko's situation, Yusuke felt a pang of self-reproach. This was indeed his oversight; once the second stage of the exam ended, he would have to help her deal with Orochimaru's Heaven Curse Seal.

The Heaven Curse Seal currently on Anko's body was still an incomplete version, which could serve as a vessel for Orochimaru's resurrection.

But for Anko, it was completely useless. Not only could she not use it to boost her chakra like Sasuke, but it would also erupt when her chakra was low, causing her to lose the ability to fight due to excruciating pain.

In a teahouse in Sunagakure, Yusuke chatted with Hayama while broadcasting the situation observed by his Phantom Crow Clones to him in real-time.

Just then, a Phantom Crow Clone that had been wandering back and forth in the Nara Desert sent back a message that it had discovered traces of the one-tailed Shukaku. Yusuke felt a surge of joy and immediately ordered all Phantom Crow Clones to concentrate in that area to conduct a carpet search.

By evening, after Yusuke had roughly pinpointed the location of Shukaku, he left a Fire Clone at the inn and rushed toward the Nara Desert himself.

After Yusuke arrived in the area near where Shukaku was hiding in the Nara Desert, nearly a hundred Phantom Crow Clones circling in the sky dove down and flew back into his body.

Looking at the endless sea of sand before him, although Yusuke knew that Shukaku was hiding under the sand layers nearby, he was not entirely certain of the exact location.

It seems I'll have to use some methods to force Shukaku out from under the sand, Yusuke thought to himself.

Having conceived a method, Yusuke quickly formed hand seals with both hands. As the seals were completed, he pressed his right hand onto the sand beneath him.

"Scorch Release: Ten-Direction Scorched Earth."

Circles of black seal incantations spread continuously from where Yusuke's right hand pressed against the sand, covering an area of nearly five or six hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

Under the influence of Yusuke's ninjutsu, the golden sand grains on the ground began to glow with a faint red hue, and a massive amount of heat rose from the layers of sand.

Yusuke had used his ninjutsu to heat the sand across this five-to-six-hundred-meter radius, causing the temperature beneath the surface to rise sharply.

Because the range of this ninjutsu was so vast, it consumed nearly seventy percent of the chakra within Yusuke's body. However, this did not affect him much; after all, with the Yin Release Chakra of the Nine-Tails acting as a battery inside him, his combat effectiveness remained undiminished.

"Yaha!!!"

Suddenly, an extremely high-pitched and ear-piercing shriek rang out, giving Yusuke quite a start. Fortunately, the Nara Desert was still a considerable distance from Sunagakure, or this noise would have attracted the entire Sunagakure army.

The yellow sand, now heated to a faint red, suddenly churned violently as a massive, obese tanuki leaped out from the sand layers, roaring at the sky once more: "I'm burning to death!!!"

This tanuki stood several dozen meters tall, smaller than the Nine-Tails Yusuke had seen before. Its figure was very round, its body the color of yellow sand and covered in purple markings. Behind it was a tail that was even longer and thicker than its own body.

Watching this obese, giant tanuki spring from the sand, Yusuke thought to himself, So this is Shukaku of the Sand? Judging by its cry, it's quite lively.

After emerging from the sea of sand, Shukaku immediately locked its gaze onto Yusuke.

"Ah!!! Are you the one who made the sand so hot?" Shukaku let out a loud shout before pointing a massive arm at Yusuke to demand an answer.

However, before Yusuke could respond, the hot-tempered Shukaku immediately launched an attack.

"Wind Release: Air Bullet!"

Shukaku slapped its belly, opened its mouth, and a massive sphere of wind-attribute chakra surged directly toward the area where Yusuke stood.

Although the Air Bullet was not as powerful as a Tailed Beast Ball, it had the advantage of being simple to condense and fast to fire. For Shukaku, firing an Air Bullet was as easy as slapping its stomach.

Facing this type of pure-damage area-of-effect ninjutsu, Yusuke instantly transformed into a Phantom Crow Clone to evade. The high-impact Air Bullet passed straight through the intangible Phantom Crow Clone, kicking up a massive cloud of dust on the sand.

As always, thank you all for your support!!!

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