Intruder Alert

Time passed. Outside, daylight had grown bright, and the sun climbed slowly toward its zenith, spilling noon light across all of Mount Tenmoku.

Inside the base, the experimental adjustments had reached their final step.

The laboratory's instruments ran at full speed as monitoring data refreshed rapidly. The three core readings—Puppet viability compatibility, toxin rejection suppression, and human tolerance thresholds—were all approaching their final targets. Once the readings stabilized, the year-long living Puppet experiment could be declared a complete success.

Rasa stood at the laboratory entrance, a smile creeping onto his face. He relaxed more and more, even humming a tune.

The Konoha investigation team had been misled into leaving the Land of Rivers. There was no longer any threat from outside. With a barrier sealing the base and layers of defenses along the mountain paths, security was tight. Nothing could go wrong.

Once the final data was locked in, the records sealed, and everyone withdrawn, he would hold a trump card capable of overturning Sand Hidden—and perhaps the entire Shinobi World. The Kazekage's seat was as good as his.

The outcome was settled. The advantage was mine!

Bzz! Alert! Alert!

The next instant, a shrill alarm shattered the calm inside the base—and Rasa's comfortable fantasy along with it.

Red warning lights flashed wildly, bathing the entire underground corridor in harsh light. The urgent alarm echoed through the caverns, and the once orderly base erupted into commotion.

"The internal barrier is showing an anomaly! The barrier around the archives triggered an alert. Someone bypassed the outer defenses and infiltrated the base!"

The Sand Hidden Ninja stationed at the barrier control console sounded shaken, but forced himself to stay calm and shouted for someone to report the situation to Rasa.

When Rasa received the news, the air around him turned icy. The gold dust floating at his side froze in place. His confident smile faded, his eyes filled with rage and gloom, and a thread of unease rose within him.

An intruder?

That very morning, two trusted subordinates had sworn to him that every external threat had been eliminated. The Konoha team had left the Land of Rivers, and the entire area was secure.

Yet only a few hours later, someone had infiltrated the heavily guarded main base on Mount Tenmoku—and even approached the archives where all the core experimental records were stored!

"What the hell happened?!"

Rasa's furious demand came out low and cutting. His power surged, and he fixed the two men with a glare blazing with anger.

The two subordinates behind him felt their heads ring and their minds go blank. Under the pressure of Rasa's Chakra, their hearts clenched and their bodies went rigid.

They exchanged a glance, both wearing the same look of stunned disbelief.

The middle-aged Ninja's legs trembled, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead. The sternness with which he had berated the younger Ninja was gone; his voice shook with fear.

"N-no, that's impossible... None of the outer warning mechanisms reacted. They're all working normally, and the barrier showed no sign of intrusion. How... how did they do it?"

How could this happen? The mountain paths were covered with poisoned-thread traps, sensing Puppets, and multiple warning barriers... It was an entire defensive network, yet someone had slipped into the base's archives without a sound!

The younger Ninja had gone deathly pale and could not stop trembling.

Ever since they had been stationed at this base, both men had worked diligently, never daring to let down their guard. They had repeatedly checked every warning system across Mount Tenmoku last night, then confirmed again that morning that there was no unusual Chakra activity outside. Their defenses should have been airtight. Yet now they were being told an intruder had appeared inside the base.

This was more than an oversight. It was a fatal mistake that could bring everything crashing down!

The sight of his two subordinates losing their composure only fueled Rasa's anger. But he was a calculating man, and even in his fury, he kept his head.

Now was not the time to assign blame. The experiment was almost complete, and the core data was sealed in the archives. He could not afford to lose it. If he did, an entire year of work would go to waste.

If word got out that he had conducted forbidden experiments and created living Puppets, the other great powers would demand answers—and covet the results.

The Shinobi World would never tolerate the existence of something so formidable!

At home, his plot to sacrifice fellow village Ninja would likely be uncovered as well. His path to becoming Kazekage would end on the spot.

My subordinates are useless. It seems I'll have to handle this myself!

"Stop panicking!"

Rasa's sharp rebuke forced the two men to steady themselves. He swept a cold gaze over the base's passageways and immediately issued his orders.

"Report every combat-ready defender in the base!"

The younger subordinate suppressed his fear, bowed, and answered at once. "Sir, including the elite troops you brought this morning, we have ten Jonin, thirty Chunin, and sixty Genin in the base. All are ready to fight!"

Plenty of manpower!

A sharp glint crossed Rasa's eyes as he assigned their roles.

"Listen up!"

"Deploy three Jonin, ten Chunin, and twenty Genin. Center your search on the archives and use the inner barriers to sweep every inch of the base! The enemy got in, so they must still be inside. Seal them in with the barriers and give them no chance to escape. Kill on sight!"

"Leave two Jonin, five Chunin, and ten Genin to guard the laboratory's core area. They are not to leave their posts. Even if they die fighting, they must not let anyone get a single step closer!"

Rasa then looked toward the passage leading outside, his expression dark.

"Someone who slipped in without a sound did not act alone. They must have support waiting outside!"

"Everyone else, come with me!"

"Once we're outside, spread out and seal off all of Mount Tenmoku. Search every mountain path, narrow pass, and blind spot. Miss nothing."

The two subordinates dared not waste a moment. They bowed in acknowledgment and hurried through the base to relay his orders.

The entire base sprang into motion. Hurried footsteps from Sand Hidden Ninja sounded everywhere. Teams began sweeping the interior, guarding the laboratory, and sealing off the mountain outside, all at once.

The red warning lights kept flashing, and the piercing alarm echoed through the base. Rasa stood on the main control platform, holding his Magnet Release Chakra in check as killing intent radiated from him.

He had thought victory was assured and the pinnacle was within reach. Instead, reality had dealt him a crushing blow.

A cold light flashed in Rasa's eyes. He slammed his fist against the railing.

"I'd like to see who dares steal from right under my nose!"