Konoha Year 49, the border of the Land of Rain, a storm was brewing.
In Konoha Year 49, the Third Shinobi World War, which had lasted nearly three years, had entered its final stage, but fighting and conspiracies in local regions still continued.
In the war-ravaged land of the Land of Rain, the forces of every side interlocked like jagged teeth, and undercurrents surged.
The forces of Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Konoha, along with the local Amegakure (Hanzo) and the newly risen Akatsuki, were staging the final, brutal slaughter here.
At this moment, in a hilly region of the Land of Rain near the border of the Land of Rivers, perennially shrouded in dampness and water mist, the atmosphere was especially tense.
Sunagakure and Kirigakure had been facing off here for a long time, with constant small-scale clashes, and both sides had paid a heavy price.
And in this cruel war of attrition, a female ninja of Sunagakure, with her powerful strength and steadfast will, had become the nightmare of Kirigakure ninja, and also the hero in the hearts of Sunagakure's villagers—she was Pakura of the Scorch Release.
Pakura was about twenty-three that year, precisely the age when a female ninja's physical strength, experience, and chakra control combined most perfectly.
She had long, dark-brown hair, usually tied into a crisp ponytail, with a few strands hanging over her forehead, accentuating a face that combined the soft contours of an Eastern woman with the resolute lines of a ninja.
Her skin was wheat-colored from years of carrying out missions in the field, healthy and lustrous.
Most striking were her deep brown eyes. Usually, her gaze was as sharp as an eagle's, carrying the calm and vigilance unique to a seasoned ninja, but in the occasional look she cast toward her companions or