Three Inches of the Human World, Sins Beyond Redemption!

The crescent moon shone over the Nine Provinces; some rejoiced while others grieved.

Hidden crimes, too, unfolded beneath the cover of night.

Beyond the Land of Wind, amid desolate dunes, a great number of refugees were migrating through the night. Having lost their homes to war, they had been promised shelter by the Land of Wind, which had itself lost half its territory in the shinobi war.

The people escorting them all wore the uniforms of the Land of Wind's regular army.

Though the refugees looked exhausted, their eyes brimmed with hope. Their days of suffering were finally coming to an end, and they wished they could press onward through the night without stopping...

"Whoa~~!" At that moment, the officer leading the way pulled hard on the reins.

The procession came to a halt.

The officer rode past them and called out, "Rest where you are. We'll continue at dawn!"

"Ah..." The refugees sat down on the ground, taking out the water bags and rations they carried to restore their strength.

The soldiers at the rear exchanged glances, then slipped away from the crowd under the cover of windblown sand.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

After they had gone far enough... a massive vortex suddenly appeared atop the dunes. Tens of thousands of refugees collapsed into it, without even having time to let out a proper scream.

Rustle... The dunes filled back in, as though nothing had happened.

The soldiers gathered around the site, suspicion clouding their faces.

Who on earth... had built such a mechanism in this desert? Setting aside its purpose, how much manpower and material would that have taken?

Where had those who fell in gone? What awaited them?

But in a place this remote, no one would notice if these refugees suddenly vanished!

After all... the news that