With the successful recovery of the One-, Two-, Three-, Seven-, and Eight-Tails, the remaining four great ninja villages in the Shinobi World—Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Cloud Hidden (though the Eight-Tails had been taken, Cloud Hidden had no other Tailed Beasts; "other villages" is meant here), and the relatively weak Takigakure (the Seven-Tails was gone, though the other villages didn't know it)—were gripped by unprecedented fear and vigilance.
They might not have known the specific methods used by the "Sasuga" organization, but the successive disappearances of Jinchūriki and the loss of Tailed Beast Chakra were undeniable facts. Almost immediately, every village made the same decision: hide their remaining Jinchūriki completely.
The Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Roshi; the Five-Tails Jinchūriki, Han; the Six-Tails Jinchūriki, Utakata (if he was still alive); and any possible replacements or secret weapons were all moved to top-secret locations unknown to anyone, protected by layers of barriers and traps. Conventional methods of scouting and infiltration were almost entirely useless.
The "Sasuga" organization's Tailed Beast recovery plan had run into a major obstacle.
The base's research and development center.
Faced with the predicament, Orochimaru wasn't discouraged. Instead, he wore an excited smile, relishing the challenge.
"Hiding them? Heh heh heh... How naive." His long tongue swept over the corner of his mouth. "A Tailed Beast's massive, distinctive chakra is like a lighthouse in the dark. No matter how well they hide it, they can't completely block its faint resonance with Natural Energy."
For the next three months, Orochimaru was practically glued to the laboratory. He mobilized the "Sasuga" organization's vast resources and combined the secrets of Sealing Jutsu he'd obtained from the Book of Sealing, the energy-sensing technology he'd developed through his research on the Box of Ultimate Bliss, and some of the data on the nature of chakra provided by Shuoyue's "Eighty Gods Mirror." He threw himself into frenzied development.
The workbench was piled high with precision sensors, rune-inscribed stone tablets, and energy cores. Failed experiments flashed and fizzled, and the occasional explosion rang out. But Orochimaru never tired of it.
At last, one night, amid a tangle of wires and streams of glowing energy, a strange device about the size of a briefcase began to hum steadily. Its front featured a complex, multi-layered concentric-circle sensor, with a special crystal embedded in its center that resonated intensely with Tailed Beast Chakra. A screen on the side displayed rough readings of the energy's direction and strength.
"It's finished." Orochimaru's hoarse voice carried a hint of exhaustion, but more than anything, fervor. "The 'Hunting Fang'—a Tailed Beast energy detector. It can detect the faint, specific-frequency signals emitted by Tailed Beast Chakra within a radius of a hundred miles and provide a rough estimate of their direction and distance. It can't pinpoint an exact location, but it's enough to define our search area."
Almost simultaneously, in the weapons workshop on the other side of the base,
Uchiha Sakuya was also facing a problem. A frontal assault on a heavily guarded forbidden area in a ninja village was obviously unwise, while infiltration was inefficient and extremely risky. He needed a way to deal with the guards, break through barriers, and even suppress a Jinchūriki directly—remotely, efficiently, and by surprise.
Traditional Kunai and Shuriken had limited range, while large-scale ninjutsu could give away their position. He needed a completely new weapon.
For three months, he'd used the unparalleled insight and creativity of the "Eighty Gods Mirror," combining it with the various chakra compression and propulsion techniques he'd learned from the Book of Sealing (such as principles behind some Wind Release and Fire Release techniques), as well as inspiration from modern technological weapons (perhaps from things he'd seen on missions or materials from Orochimaru). He'd carried out countless rounds of design, simulation, refinement, and trial and error.
Finally, an oddly shaped metal creation with sleek lines sat on the workbench before him.
It was a matte, dark gray to avoid reflecting light. It wasn't shaped like a traditional Ninja Blade or Kunai, but more like a complex mechanical device with a grip and a long, narrow barrel. The grip was ergonomically designed, with miniature chakra-conducting and pressure-amplifying runes engraved inside. The barrel was as smooth as a mirror, lined with exquisitely fine acceleration rails infused with Wind Release chakra.
The weapon's core lay in its firing mechanism and ammunition. It used specially made metal pellets, engraved with miniature Sealing Jutsu formulas that could be infused with different types of chakra (Lightning Release to pierce defenses, Fire Release to cause explosions, Yin Release to disrupt). To fire, the user inserted a pellet into the back of the barrel and poured chakra into the grip. The formulas inside instantly generated a highly compressed, controllable stream of chakra, like an invisible firing pin, "blowing" the pellet out of the barrel at tremendous speed!
Its range far exceeded that of a Shuriken, and it was faster and quieter (depending on how the chakra flow was controlled). By swapping out pellets with different properties, it could serve a variety of tactical purposes.
Sakuya picked up the weapon he'd poured three months of effort into and walked over to the testing range.
He aimed at a specially made target a hundred meters away and loaded a standard steel pellet. Then he channeled chakra.
Whoosh! A faint sound, like tearing silk, cut through the air. The hard target at a distance was instantly pierced through! The damage was concentrated, and the penetration was exceptional!
He replaced it with a pellet engraved with Explosion Release runes.
Boom! The target at a distance erupted in a violent explosion!
Then he loaded a pellet engraved with genjutsu runes.
When it hit the human-shaped target in the distance, the energy readings around it instantly went haywire.
Perfect.
Sakuya looked at the weapon in his hand and gave it a name: "Handgun."
The name meant "hand-held fire gun"—simple and fitting.
He immediately gave the order to mobilize all the base's resources. Using the rare metals and chakra-conducting materials they'd plundered from various countries, they began mass-producing Handguns and special pellets of various types.
Before long, the core members of the "Sasuga" organization and the orphan warriors who'd undergone rigorous training were each issued four standard Handguns and a matching supply of pellets.
Two were normally worn in holsters on either thigh for quick draws. One was concealed at the small of the back as a backup. The last was hidden elsewhere according to personal preference, such as inside a sleeve or on the lower leg.
High-intensity target practice and tactical coordination drills were also underway. These children, who'd struggled for survival from a young age, learned incredibly quickly. They soon mastered the Handgun and combined it with their own ninjutsu, developing all kinds of unexpected tactics.
With the deployment of the Hunting Fang detectors and Handguns, the "Sasuga" organization's combat strength underwent a qualitative leap. Its members were no longer merely a group of powerful fighters who relied on bloodline abilities and forbidden techniques; the organization was becoming more modern, professional, and terrifyingly well-equipped.
The net to hunt down the remaining Tailed Beasts had been quietly cast. With "eyes" (the detectors) and "fangs" (the Handguns), "Sasuga" would become even more elusive, efficient, and deadly. In the face of its overwhelming technological and military superiority, the Shinobi World's attempts to hide the Tailed Beasts seemed feeble and futile.
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