At This Very Moment, With Millions Held Hostage

"Wake up! Yashamaru!!"

Yashamaru stirred awake in the pool of blood and immediately looked down at the child in his arms.

Not long ago, the child of his beloved sister had been right there.

"Who did this?!"

Rasa's face darkened. If only his son had been kidnapped, he wouldn't have taken it out on his trusted subordinates.

But Gaara wasn't just his son. He was also the vessel of Shukaku, Sunagakure's most important weapon!

Chiyo's expression was grim, too. She said in a low voice, "The moment the alarm sounded, Anbu deployed the barrier. There's been no response, so the intruder is still inside Sunagakure!"

"Kazekage, we must recover Shukaku. We cannot afford to lose him!"

Of the Five Great Nations, only Konoha had the resources to keep a sensory barrier covering the entire village active around the clock. It was already impressive that Sunagakure could maintain sensory barriers at a few important locations.

By the time they arrived, the shinobi guarding the area and the Barrier Team had all been killed.

Judging from the wounds, it looked as if they'd been ambushed from behind by a shinobi with exceptionally good concealment.

Yashamaru came to his senses, too. A faint glimmer flickered in his eyes, unnoticed by anyone. "Iwagakure! An Iwagakure shinobi used the secret technique: Camouflage Concealment Technique to sneak up on me and knock me out. They took Gaara!"

"If they could knock you out... why didn't they kill you?"

Having recently been led away by a diversion, Rasa was now unusually sensitive to anything that didn't add up.

Yashamaru was badly wounded, but the fact that he was still alive was highly suspicious.

Yashamaru didn't know how to answer. With a helpless look, he raised his Kunai.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect Gaara. I'll atone with my life."

Swish—Bang!

He plunged the Kunai toward his chest without hesitation, but a Chakra Thread knocked it out of his hand.

"Calm down, Kazekage."

Chiyo furrowed her brows. "Now isn't the time to assign blame. Kazekage, quickly mobilize the sensory unit to search the village. Do you need an old woman to tell you that?"

"...I understand, Elder Chiyo."

Rasa strode out at full speed. Chiyo walked over to Yashamaru and held out her hand. "Don't resist."

She wasn't trying to save Yashamaru out of kindness. She only wanted him alive so she could check whether his mind had been affected by genjutsu.

A moment later, she withdrew her hand, confirming that there were no signs Yashamaru had been affected by genjutsu.

With Yashamaru offering no resistance, Chiyo saw the last thing he had witnessed before passing out.

A masked Iwagakure shinobi had appeared like a chameleon, wounded him, and taken the Jinchūriki of Shukaku.

That was only to be expected.

Did they think they could spot traces of a Sharingan genjutsu without the Byakugan?

Uchiha Sora was only a poor genjutsu user compared to monsters like Shisui. Compared to everyone else, he was unquestionably a genjutsu master.

"Take him away for now. We'll deal with this when it's over. Don't kill yourself. Understand?"

Rasa hadn't been Kazekage for long. Chiyo was clearly more capable of handling emergencies, and her standing was greater than the Kazekage's.

As she considered the cause of this chain of events and the roles Orochimaru and Sasori had played in it...

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!

A series of enormous explosions rang across Sunagakure. Flames shot into the sky!

Chiyo hurriedly used the Body Flicker Technique to reach a rooftop. She looked out at the smoke rising from multiple explosions in the village, and heard the wails of countless villagers.

Were they trying to create chaos so they could escape...

She raised a hand and barked an order. "Forget the explosion sites. Everyone, secure the perimeter of the village barrier!"

First it was Iwagakure's secret technique. Now it was the Explosion Release Corps...

Wind, fire, earth—the three neighboring nations had been old rivals for years. Chiyo knew their methods well.

But that wasn't certain. Explosive Tags could cause the same kind of damage.

Who exactly was trying to steal Shukaku...

--

A few minutes later, a signal came from one direction: they had encountered the enemy.

The Kazekage glanced back at the chaos in the village, then decisively rode a layer of Gold Dust into the air.

More than ten Sunagakure shinobi lay scattered across the top of the wall.

Shisui cradled Gaara, who was sleeping peacefully, and wiped the blood from his short blade before sheathing it.

When they left the barrier's range, Shukaku had sensed his chance and tried to rampage. But the moment a little chakra surfaced...

Shisui's ocular power entered the sealing space and gave him a brutal lesson.

Gaara had never slept so soundly since the day he was born.

Even as Shisui carried him while killing people, he sucked his thumb and drifted through dreamland, feeling as safe as if he were in his mother's arms.

The two of them looked rather unusual.

Shisui wore a spiky wig and a wooden mask.

Uchiha Sora had a golden ponytail, and thick bandages wrapped around the upper half of his face.

The Transformation Technique would give them away as soon as they started fighting. At a time like this, the simplest disguises were more effective.

The gaps in the bandages didn't obstruct his vision. Seeing Rasa flying toward him, Uchiha Sora formed Hand Seals. His surging chakra seemed almost tangible.

"Stick to the original route. I'll catch up afterward."

Without a moment's hesitation, Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique to leave with the child in his arms.

Rasa was moving fast. He had already spotted the two of them.

Whoosh!!

A massive Gold Dust spear shot toward Shisui. Rasa didn't care in the slightest whether it might hit his own son.

To Rasa, Gaara's death wouldn't matter much. Shukaku would be reborn in the desert in a few years, and Rasa had the power to suppress him there. They could simply find another Jinchūriki then.

But he couldn't let them take Shukaku away. Sunagakure couldn't withstand such a loss!

BOOM!!!

A gigantic fireball smashed the Gold Dust spear apart and shot straight into the sky.

Uchiha Sora lowered his voice and sneered. "Kazekage, if you don't want your son so badly, why not let us take him?"

Rasa had no interest in wasting words with him. He rode his sand platform after Shisui, sending one Gold Dust spear after another hurtling toward him.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

One enormous fireball after another shattered the Gold Dust spears, while also blocking Rasa's path.

Rasa knew he had to deal with the man obstructing him first.

FWOOSH!!

At Rasa's wave, the Gold Dust beneath the wall surged upward like a waterfall flowing in reverse, sweeping toward Uchiha Sora.

But Uchiha Sora acted as if he hadn't seen the Gold Dust creeping toward his feet. He continued launching fireballs into the sky.

As the fireballs rose, they trailed thick smoke behind them, forming a dense black cloud over Sunagakure.

Swish!

Only when the Gold Dust climbed up his ankles did Uchiha Sora stop launching fireballs. He blasted the Gold Dust away and leaped to the other side.

The Gold Dust moved quickly, coalescing into a giant hand that reached for Uchiha Sora.

"Hey, your village is in chaos. Shouldn't you, the Kazekage, be doing something about it?"

Rasa controlled the Gold Dust and sneered. "I can go once I've dealt with you."

"Is that so?"

Just as the giant hand was about to seize Uchiha Sora, Rasa suddenly froze. He sensed something and looked up at the sky.

Thud—

A heavy, muffled sound rang out.

The sky above Sunagakure rippled, as though a pair of invisible hands were tearing through the clouds.

Then...

The dark night sky lit up with countless blazing fireballs.

Huge clusters of fireballs plunged from the sky like meteorites, trailing smoke behind them, like a volcanic eruption at the end of the world.

The Uchiha Clan were born with an affinity for Fire Style chakra.

With fragments of Akainu and Rayquaza within him, Uchiha Sora's understanding of Fire Style approached that of the legendary figure himself. Giving it everything he had, he completed this technique that resembled a natural disaster.

Rasa's pupils contracted, and his body trembled.

What... was this?!

At that moment, that demonic voice rang out again.

"Meteor Volcano. A friend taught me this technique."

"Choose. Do you protect your village, or pursue us? This is a choice only you can make."

Rasa took a deep breath, then glared viciously at Uchiha Sora. "You despicable bastard... Don't think you can threaten me, you shithead!!"

Swish!!

The giant hand of Gold Dust swept past Uchiha Sora at point-blank range. He said calmly, "It's not a threat. I sincerely hope you choose to save those people."

"After all, I don't want to be the one responsible for killing tens of thousands of people..."

Even as he spoke, a faint, devilish smile appeared on the lower half of his exposed face.