Shihōin Naraku knew perfectly well that Ōtsutsuki Isshiki wanted to find a vessel compatible with Karma.
But that was no easy task. Otherwise, he would not have failed to find a suitable candidate for over a thousand years.
As a result, he could only make do with living as a parasite inside Jigen.
Still, Isshiki's wait would bear fruit. In another ten-odd years, he would get his wish and find someone capable of bearing Karma.
That person was Kawaki.
For now, however, Isshiki could only slowly seek out people to experiment on, again and again, hoping for a miracle.
But Naraku would not give him that chance.
The next day.
Sunagakure, Land of Wind.
Gaara had just finished an administrative meeting that had lasted the entire afternoon. The intense concentration left a slight ache between his brows.
He was about to rest for a moment when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Lord Kazekage! An urgent message!"
A Sunagakure ANBU knelt on one knee at the doorway, holding a scroll sealed with a Konoha-pattern Sealing Tag in both hands.
"Come in."
The ANBU quickly approached and presented the scroll with both hands.
Gaara recognized the Hokage Mark on the sealing tag at a glance, and his brow shifted almost imperceptibly.
Naraku was sending a message at a time like this...
And through an emergency channel, no less. It certainly could not be about arrangements for the Chunin Ninja Exams.
He took the scroll and lightly flicked a fingertip, undoing the sealing tag.
The scroll detailed the new discoveries made near the Underground Base by the Search Team led by Sasuke Uchiha, including several ninja corpses they had unearthed.
One of them had already been confirmed as a ninja from Sunagakure.
Gaara's pupils contracted sharply for a moment before returning