The night was dark.
Inside the Temporary Command Post at the Eastern Border, the lights blazed.
Shikaku Nara stood before a massive sand table, where flags of different colors marked construction progress and defensive deployments. Everything was in perfect order.
Suddenly, a faint tremor passed through the ground.
The guy ropes at the top of the tent hummed as they pulled taut.
Holding a small red flag representing the demolition team, Shikaku froze with his hand in midair. He raised his head and looked outside.
An ANBU ninja responsible for perimeter sensing appeared like a phantom at the tent entrance and dropped to one knee.
"Chief, we've detected a high-intensity chakra signature three kilometers to the southeast, on the outskirts of Scorpion's Nest. Its nature... cannot be identified. It's moving toward our camp at extreme speed."
Shikaku returned the flag to its place, his movements unhurried.
"What is its target?"
"Its course is a straight line. The target... is the Joint Investigation Team's isolation camp."
Those words seemed to dispel some of the weariness in Shikaku's eyes. He neither ordered an alert nor asked for details, simply picking up the internal communicator on the table.
"Connect me to the Hokage's Office."
At almost the same moment, the Luxury Isolation Camp, a kilometer from the command post, descended into hell.
A grotesque monster burst out of the ground, sending several tents flying. Its body was a nightmare forcibly stitched together: one half was a giant scorpion covered in a purple carapace, while the other was a mass of bloated, rotting flesh oozing green slime. Several limbs of uneven lengths flailed wildly, each tipped with a sharp bone blade.
It ignored Konoha's battle-ready defensive lines on the perimeter. As though pulled by an invisible wire, it charged straight into the investigation team's