Sand Village Fierce Battle, Tailed Beast Extraction Crisis

Su Ye and Kakashi stepped on the markers of the "Flying Thunder God Kunai" and reached Sunagakure in less than an hour. Upon landing, they were met with the pungent smell of gunpowder—the streets were filled with collapsed houses, Sunagakure ninja were retreating while carrying the wounded, and the distant Kazekage Building had been reduced to ruins by clay explosives.

"Over here!" Kakashi's Sharingan scanned the battlefield rapidly, pointing toward the desert in the northwest. Two violent surges of chakra were roiling there: one was the sand-attribute chakra of Shukaku, and the other carried the explosive aura of Deidara's clay.

The two rushed at full speed. As they crossed a sand dune, the sight before them made their pupils shrink: Gaara had fully transformed into his Tailed Beast state, half of Shukaku's body emerging from beneath the sand. A giant claw made of condensed yellow sand was swiping at Deidara, while Sasori, controlling the "Hiruko" puppet, hid behind a rock in the distance, his puppet's tail stinger coiled with poison threads, quietly aiming for Gaara's blind spot.

"Deidara, stop playing around and finish this quickly!" Sasori's voice emanated from Hiruko's mouth. The tail stinger shot out suddenly, the poison threads coiling around Shukaku's left leg like a venomous snake.

Deidara, however, laughed maniacally in the air: "Art is an explosion! Ending it so soon would be so boring!" He formed hand seals, and the mouth on his chest spat out a clay bomb: "C3!"

The massive bomb plummeted toward Shukaku. Seeing this, Su Ye immediately activated Heavenly Hand Power, swapping places with the clay bird beneath Deidara's feet! Caught off guard, Deidara lost his balance instantly and tumbled toward the desert. Su Ye caught the impending C3 bomb in mid-air, turned, and used his Rinne Sharingan to open a small Kamui dimension, tossing the bomb inside—the explosion muffled within the space, causing no damage to the ground at all.

"Who?!" Deidara steadied himself. When he saw the pale purple tomoe in Su Ye's eyes, his expression changed drastically: "The Rinnegan? You're that brat who destroyed the base last time!"

Kakashi seized the opportunity to circle to Sasori's flank, Chidori gathering in his palm: "Su Ye, I'll pin down Sasori; you stop Deidara from getting near Gaara!" Before he finished speaking, Hiruko's tail stinger suddenly turned, the poison threads striking directly at Kakashi's heart. Kakashi used his Sharingan to predict the trajectory, dodging sideways while slamming his Chidori into the puppet's shell, leaving only a shallow scratch.

"It's useless. Hiruko's shell is crafted from the core materials of the Performance of a Hundred Puppets." Sasori's voice carried disdain. The puppet's arms suddenly split open, and countless poison needles shot toward Kakashi.

On the other side, seeing that Su Ye could manipulate Kamui, Deidara changed tactics immediately, his hands quickly molding a dozen clay spiders: "C4 Karura!" The moment the spiders hit the ground, they turned into countless nano-scale clay particles, drifting toward Su Ye with the desert wind. "As long as you inhale a single one, your body will explode from the inside out!"

Su Ye's Rinne Sharingan could clearly see the trajectory of the particles. He took a deep breath and activated the power of Limbo—three black shadows separated from his body, standing in the east, south, and west respectively. The black chakra gathered in their hands formed a barrier, blocking all the clay particles outside. "Deidara, your art is ineffective against me."

Deidara was thoroughly enraged. He ripped the headband from his head, revealing the Sharingan on his forehead (given by Obito): "Then I'll show you what true art is!" He poured all his chakra into the clay, preparing to launch his final suicide jutsu.

Just then, the desert shook violently, and Gaara's Tailed Beast form began to fluctuate unstably—Sasori had circled behind Shukaku at some point, Hiruko's arms were inserted into the back of Gaara's neck, and chakra threads were forcibly extracting Shukaku's soul! "The Tailed Beast extraction has already begun; you're too late." Sasori's voice was triumphant. "Just ten more minutes, and the One-Tail will completely become the power of the Akatsuki."

Su Ye felt a surge of anxiety; he could sense Gaara's life force fading rapidly. He suddenly looked at Deidara, a cold sneer curling his lips: "Deidara, don't you want to compete with me to see whose art is superior? Do you dare to go to a different place to fight?" As he spoke, he used his Rinne Sharingan to open a Kamui portal leading to a distant valley. "There's no one else there; it's the perfect place for you to explode to your heart's content."

Deidara's competitive spirit was ignited, and without a second thought, he charged into the Kamui portal after Su Ye. Seeing this, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and immediately focused all his strength on attacking Sasori's puppet: "Su Ye has lured Deidara away; we must interrupt the Tailed Beast extraction as soon as possible!"

Su Ye landed in the valley with Deidara. Just as Deidara was about to launch his jutsu, he discovered that the surrounding space was locked by an invisible force—it was the binding power of Limbo. "You tricked me?" Deidara roared, only to find his body unable to move.

Su Ye walked up to him, the light in his Rinne Sharingan flaring: "Deidara, tell me, what is the true purpose behind Obito having you capture the Tailed Beasts? And who is the Akatsuki's next target?"

Deidara gritted his teeth, refusing to submit even in death. Seeing this, Su Ye could only temporarily bind him with chakra chains and turn to run back toward the desert—he had to help Kakashi save Gaara within ten minutes.

When he returned to the battlefield, the sight before him made his heart tighten: Kakashi was trapped by Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets (Sasori having shed the Hiruko shell), his body covered in poison needles; Gaara's body had collapsed to the ground, Shukaku's chakra was rapidly draining from him, and the container in Sasori's hand was nearly full of Tailed Beast chakra.

"Stop!" Su Ye roared, activating Heavenly Hand Power to teleport behind Sasori, his black longsword thrusting straight at his heart. Sasori hurriedly maneuvered his puppets to block, but the sword severed three of the puppet's arms. Su Ye seized the chance to snatch the container from Sasori's hand, using his Rinne Sharingan to channel the Tailed Beast chakra back into Gaara's body.

Sasori's expression finally changed: "You can actually manipulate Tailed Beast chakra..." He was about to launch his final lethal move when he heard a flurry of rapid footsteps in the distance—Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure had arrived with a rescue squad.

"Sasori, you traitor, today I will avenge the ninja of Sunagakure!" Elder Chiyo's voice was filled with grief and indignation. She began to form hand seals, preparing to activate the forbidden jutsu "One's Own Life Reincarnation."

Sasori knew the situation was lost. He glanced at Su Ye, then at Elder Chiyo, a flicker of complex emotion in his eyes, before finally maneuvering his puppets to flee into the depths of the desert. Deidara also took advantage of the chaos to break free from his restraints, using a clay bird to carry Sasori away into the horizon.

Su Ye and Kakashi immediately rushed to Gaara's side. By now, Gaara had lost consciousness, his breathing faint. Elder Chiyo knelt down, and after checking Gaara's body, her expression turned grave: "More than half of the Tailed Beast has been extracted; he only has one hour of life left, unless someone uses One's Own Life Reincarnation to extend it."

Su Ye looked at the resolve in Elder Chiyo's eyes and suddenly spoke: "Elder, there is no need to trouble yourself." He injected the chakra of his Rinne Sharingan into Gaara's body, a pale purple light enveloping him: "My Rinnegan can repair damaged souls; perhaps I can save his life."

As the chakra was injected, Gaara's fingers twitched slightly, and his breathing gradually stabilized. Elder Chiyo and Kakashi both showed expressions of surprise, but Su Ye frowned—he could sense that in the distant sky, an even more powerful chakra was rapidly approaching. It was the aura of Obito.

Obito clearly would not let this go; a greater crisis was quietly closing in.