Promise

Watching Hyuga Lan use the power of Magnet Release with such proficiency, Sasori felt his heart burning with jealousy. The techniques Hyuga Lan displayed were already in no way inferior to those of the Third Kazekage when he was alive.

Facing such an enemy, Sasori and Chiyo felt completely devoid of the confidence needed to hold him back.

Just as Sasori and Chiyo were racking their brains for a countermeasure, they had no idea that Hyuga Lan had already made up his mind to retreat.

In truth, the moment he saw Sasori and Chiyo appear, Hyuga Lan knew that it would be difficult to achieve his goal of taking Rasa away today.

Not to mention whether more reinforcements from the Sand Village might arrive, Sasori—a master puppeteer and expert in poisons—was a headache in his own right.

If he were to engage in battle and suffer even a momentary lapse that led to being poisoned, he might well repeat the fate of the Third Kazekage.

The Third Kazekage Human Puppet was one thing; losing it would be a minor loss, but if a subordinate as valuable as Pakura were to come to harm, he would have nowhere to turn to vent his grief.

Therefore, while his condition was still favorable, a timely retreat was the best choice. After all, as long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood; as for Rasa, there would be plenty of opportunities to deal with him later.

Although Hyuga Lan had decided to retreat, he did not want to let Rasa off so easily.

He stared at Sasori and spoke, "Sasori, if you want to get back what you desire, then use Rasa as an exchange."

Without waiting for the other to respond, he turned around. The massive black wings on his back snapped open, whipping up a gale in the surrounding area before his figure rose into the wind, shooting straight into the sky like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Whoosh, whoosh...

The sound of air being torn apart echoed from above. Within just a few breaths, Hyuga Lan's figure had turned into a black speck on the horizon, vanishing from everyone's sight.

Seeing Hyuga Lan depart so decisively, Chiyo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but when she noticed the unsettled expression on Sasori's face, her heart tightened once more.

Now that the pressure brought by Hyuga Lan was gone, the atmosphere between Sasori, Chiyo, and the others remaining on the scene grew increasingly tense.

"Sasori, do not be bewitched by that man and continue to persist in your delusions. Stop now."

Facing Chiyo's earnest persuasion, Sasori looked at her with disdain.

"How could an old stubborn fool like you understand my convictions? If you know what's good for you, hand over Rasa, or I will deal with you as well."

Chiyo naturally found Sasori's demand impossible to accept. Whether for public duty or personal reasons, she could not agree to let Sasori take Rasa; if she did, her grandson would be beyond redemption.

Soon, Chiyo and Sasori began to fight while retreating.

***

A few days later, an announcement issued by the Sand Village shocked everyone.

Pakura and Sasori were listed as S-rank missing-nin by the Sand Village, with a bounty of fifty million ryo offered for the elimination of either.

The Sand Village had originally wanted to place a bounty on Lan, but due to suspicions that Lan was the Third Kazekage, they feared that publicly placing a bounty on a former Kazekage would turn the village into the laughingstock of the shinobi world. Consequently, they shifted to conducting a secret investigation into him instead of issuing a bounty.

Even so, this was enough to astonish the shinobi world.

For the financially struggling Sand Village to offer such a massive bounty, it could only mean that these two had done something that had pushed the village to its breaking point.

After some investigation, others learned that the rebellion of Pakura and Sasori had caused the Sand Village to suffer heavy losses among its Anbu members, and that the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been struck by a potent poison and remained in a coma.

When intelligence reports detailing the heavy losses suffered by the Kirigakure and the Sand Village due to internal issues reached the desks of the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, the Fourth Raikage A, and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, all three were stunned.

These three supreme leaders of their respective villages found it hard to believe, and subconsciously wondered if Kirigakure and the Sand Village had colluded to target them—otherwise, how could such an absurd situation have occurred?

It was only after their subordinates brought back more confirmed information that they realized such a coincidence could actually exist in the world.

Kirigakure had suffered a massive blow to its overall strength due to the rebellion of several bloodline clans, including the Kaguya Clan and the Yuki Clan.

Meanwhile, the Sand Village had not only lost many Anbu elites but also faced the defection of Pakura and the poisoning and incapacitation of their Kazekage.

Whether these two major villages would pursue peace talks was no longer important; with their current strength, they were certainly incapable of launching a war.

Realizing this, Onoki and the Fourth Raikage A could not help but feel a sense of regret, secretly cursing that the internal strife in these two villages had come at such an inopportune time.

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, felt extremely fortunate, sighing that heaven was truly blessing Konoha.

Now that the threats from Kirigakure and the Sand Village were gone, the Stone Village and the Cloud Village alone were not enough to truly threaten the survival of Konoha Village.

Especially since it had been less than a year since the Third Shinobi World War, it was a time when people were yearning for stability. As long as they could withstand the initial waves of attacks and show the Stone and Cloud villages that their chances of victory were slim, peace talks would become the only way out.

The top priority now was to block the potential first wave of offensives from the Stone and Cloud villages. Thus, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered all Konoha shinobi currently outside the village to return immediately to prepare for the coming crisis.

Of course, those recalled naturally included Hyuga Lan, who had been sent to sabotage the peace talks between Kirigakure and the Sand Village.

Because the Sand Village and Kirigakure had suffered such severe losses due to their own internal problems, whether or not they held peace talks no longer affected the overall situation.

Hyuga Lan's mission was, in a sense, automatically completed, so he received a notification from Hizashi to return to the village as soon as possible and await further orders.

Looking at the message sent from Konoha, Hyuga Lan's expression beneath his mask remained calm and unruffled, as if he had long since anticipated this outcome.

He was a deep participant in the recent upheavals in Kirigakure and the Sand Village; in fact, had it not been for his influence, the situation in the two villages would not have turned out this way.

It could be said that the current development of the shinobi world's situation had been guided, to a large extent, by him.

Having awakened the Tenseigan and significantly increased his strength, it was easy for him to trigger a butterfly effect in this world. The story arcs of the shinobi world that existed in his memories were likely to change drastically due to his actions.

Knowing the trajectory of the shinobi world's story had once been a major "cheat" for him as a transmigrator, but the utility of this cheat might become increasingly negligible in the future, and at times, it might even prove counterproductive.

He was now living in the real shinobi world, and those characters from the anime were living, breathing existences to him. Therefore, he must never be overly reliant on the original plot, or he would likely suffer a heavy loss.

Hyuga Lan's subsequent plans were inseparable from Konoha Village, so after receiving the message from Hizashi, he began giving Pakura his final instructions before departing.

"Right now, Kirigakure and the Sand Village shouldn't have any time to pay attention to you. You must take advantage of this period to collect funds for me.

I don't care what methods you use; you must purchase all the supplies on this list for me in the shortest time possible."

With that, Hyuga Lan tossed a scroll to Pakura.

Pakura opened the scroll and scanned it, discovering that it contained nothing but precision experimental instruments. These items were not only exorbitantly expensive, but some were even in a state where they were impossible to find regardless of the price.

The man had truly presented her with a massive problem, yet she considered that Hyuga Lan had just helped her deal with Rasa.

Although he hadn't managed to capture Rasa to exact her revenge, severely wounding the man had at least allowed her to vent her anger, and this favor was one she had to repay.

"I will get this done. By the way, once these things are purchased, how should I deliver them to you?"

Hyuga Lan did not want her to know about his secret base, so he replied, "You only need to notify me; I will naturally send someone to retrieve them."

Using the power of the Tenseigan to activate the Third Kazekage Human Puppet for a task as simple as retrieving items was certainly not a problem.