Invasion Alert

Time passed. Outside, the sky had grown bright, and the sun climbed toward its zenith, bathing all of Mount Tenmoku in midday light.

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

The laboratory's instruments ran at full speed, monitoring data refreshed rapidly, and the three core metrics—puppet vitality compatibility, toxin rejection suppression, and human load tolerance—were all closing in on their final targets. Once the readings stabilized, the Living Puppet experiment that had lasted an entire year could be declared a complete success.

Rasa stood at the laboratory door, 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 the base sealed by a barrier and backup defenses laid along the mountain paths, security was tight. Nothing could go wrong.

Once the final data was secured, the records sealed, and everyone withdrawn, he would hold a trump card powerful enough to overturn Sunagakure—and perhaps the entire Shinobi World. The Kazekage's seat was as good as his.

The outcome's decided. I've got this in the bag!

Bzzzt! Alert! Alert!

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

Red warning lights flashed wildly, their glare flooding the underground corridor. The urgent alarm echoed through the cavern, and the once orderly base erupted into commotion.

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

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

The moment Rasa received the news, the air around him turned icy. The Gold Dust floating beside him froze in place, his confident smile faded, and his eyes filled with fury and gloom. Deep down, a trace of unease stirred.

An intruder?

That very morning, two trusted subordinates had sworn to him that every outside 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 slipped into his heavily guarded main base on Mount Tenmoku and even approached the Archives Room, where every piece of core experimental data was stored!

"What the hell happened?!"

Rasa's voice rang out, low and sharp. His power surged as he fixed the two men with a furious glare.

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

They exchanged a glance, disbelief plain on both their faces.

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 a breach. How... how did they do it?"

How could this happen? The mountain paths had poisoned-thread traps, sensing puppets, and multiple warning barriers... An entire defensive system, yet someone had slipped into the base's archives without a sound!

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

Ever since they had been stationed at this base, both men had worked diligently, never daring to slack off. Last night, they had checked every warning measure across Mount Tenmoku again and again. They had confirmed once more that morning that there was no unusual Chakra activity outside. The defenses had seemed foolproof, yet now an intruder had appeared inside the base as if from nowhere.

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

Seeing his subordinates lose their composure only stoked Rasa's anger, but he was a calculating man. Even in a rage, he kept his head.

Now was not the time to assign blame. The experiment was nearly complete, and all the core data was sealed in the Archives Room. He could not afford to lose it, or a full year of work would go to waste.

If word got out that he was conducting forbidden experiments to create Living Puppets, the other great nations would demand answers—and covet the results.

The Shinobi World would never tolerate something this powerful!

Within Sunagakure, his scheme against fellow village Ninja would likely be uncovered as well. His path to becoming Kazekage would end then and there.

My subordinates are useless. Looks like I'll have to handle this myself!

"Stop panicking!"

Rasa's cold command forced the two men to steady themselves. His sharp gaze swept over the passages through the base as he issued his orders.

"Report every combat-ready Ninja currently in the base!"

The younger subordinate suppressed his fear, bowed, and answered at once. "My lord, including the elite Ninja 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 gleam flashed in Rasa's eyes. He assigned their roles without hesitation.

"Listen up!"

"Send three Jonin, ten Chunin, and twenty Genin. Use the Archives Room as your center and the inner barrier to search every inch! The enemy got inside, so they must still be in the base. Seal it off with the barrier and give them no opening. Remember: kill on sight!"

"Leave two Jonin, five Chunin, and ten Genin to guard the laboratory's core area. They are not to move an inch. Even if they die fighting, they must not let anyone near it!"

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

"Someone who got in without a sound didn't act alone. They must have support waiting outside!"

"Everyone else comes with me!"

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

The two subordinates did not dare delay. They bowed, accepted their orders, and hurried through the base to relay them.

The entire base sprang into action, hurried footsteps of Sand Ninja sounding everywhere. Teams began searching and closing in on the intruder, guarding the laboratory, and sealing off the mountain—all three operations moving forward at once.

Red warning lights continued to flash, and the piercing alarm echoed through the base. Rasa stood on the main control platform, Magnet Release Chakra held in check within him as killing intent filled the platform.

He had thought victory was certain, that he was moments from reaching the pinnacle. Instead, reality had struck him squarely in the face.

Cold light flashed in Rasa's eyes as he slammed a fist against the railing.

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