Battle Imminent!

Aoba gave him no chance to catch his breath. In a flash, he had already closed in on Baki.

He gripped a Kunai crackling with lightning, his gaze as cold as ice. "Baki, it's over."

Just then, a thunderous boom erupted in the distance, accompanied by a powerful surge of chakra.

Aoba and Baki both froze, their gazes turning toward the source of the sound in unison.

In the distant woods, flames soared into the sky, and Yuhi Shinku's furious roar could faintly be heard. "Ebizo, are you really going to tear off all pretense of friendship?!"

Aoba's heart tightened. A conflict between Konoha and Sunagakure was already unavoidable.

And before the battle spiraled completely out of control, he had to deal with the enemy before him.

"Baki, let's end this quickly!"

Aoba shouted lowly as the Kunai in his hand stabbed viciously toward Baki's throat.

The night was as black as ink. In the desert outside Sunagakure, the wind swept up fine sand with a low, mournful howl, as though recounting the ancient desolation of this land.

Moonlight spilled across the dunes, casting them in silver-white, yet it could not disperse the tense atmosphere hanging in the air.

Kawaki Aoba stood behind Yuhi Shinku with his eyes closed, concentrating as he sensed the chakra fluctuations around them.

Though the range of his perception was not particularly vast, no one could match him when it came to detecting the smallest details.

That faint chakra fluctuation was like an inconspicuous grain of sand in the desert. Had he not been fully focused, it would have been nearly impossible to detect.

Aoba's brows drew together slightly, and a fine layer of sweat seeped across his forehead.

Sensing chakra was no easy task, especially in such a hostile environment, where every ounce of