Chapter 20

The sight was so shocking that the hundred-odd Sand ninja around them froze, dumbstruck on the spot.

Seizing that fleeting instant, Xuan Zhe flickered and vanished.

Only then did someone react, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Lord Kazekage is dead!!!"

Lord Kazekage was dead.

Those words spread through Sunagakure like a plague in the blink of an eye.

Fear swept through every corner of the village like wildfire.

"Jiraiya, how much longer are we fighting? I'm almost out of chakra!"

At Sunagakure's entrance, Gamabunta barely had the strength left to leap out of the way. He could only swing his wakizashi desperately, weathering the ninjutsu bombardment raining down from every direction.

Every swing sent blood gushing freely from his wounds.

His size was an advantage, but it also made him a sitting duck.

Summoned beasts didn't have the Nine-Tails' freakish recovery speed.

"Sorry, just hold on a little longer!"

Jiraiya answered with an apologetic look, but his eyes kept darting toward the entrance.

What was taking Xuan Zhe so long?

If he didn't come out soon, I really wouldn't be able to hold on.

Suddenly, a wave of sand surged up beneath them and wrapped around both of Gamabunta's legs.

"Huh!?"

Gamabunta's pupils contracted sharply, and he looked down.

A red-haired kid was controlling the flowing sand, trying to trap him.

"You little bastard!"

Gamabunta flew into a rage and thrust his blade straight at Rasa beside his feet.

The kid's sand had been getting in his way all this time.

Every time he landed, it entangled him, and breaking free took ages.

At first, he had been able to handle it.

But as his wounds grew worse, Rasa finally caught his chance.

"Sand Binding Coffin!"

At the very last instant.

Rasa acted first, clenching both hands.

The waves of sand wrapped around Gamabunta's legs twisted violently, like someone wringing out a towel.

"Argh!!"

The agony of his bones being twisted apart made Gamabunta stumble and crash awkwardly to the ground.

"Gamabunta!"

Jiraiya cried out involuntarily.

"I really can't hold on this time. I'm pulling out."

With that, Gamabunta turned into a cloud of smoke and fled back to the summoning realm.

"Capture Jiraiya!"

The Sand ninja tightened their encirclement, a dense mass of figures pressing closer.

Jiraiya's mind raced through possible responses.

Had it been someone from the Anbu or Root, they would certainly have retreated in this situation. But he was different. He wanted to hold out a little longer.

"Out of my way, small fry."

A voice suddenly rang out behind them.

Rasa reacted even faster-the killing intent rushed at him from behind, and instinct drove him to form a sand shield instantly.

The sword energy burst apart midway, scattering into a sky full of cold flashes, like a net of blades harvesting lives.

The Sand ninja, whose attention was fixed entirely on Jiraiya, had no time to defend themselves.

That single attack left them dead or wounded.

He blocked it?

With his attack stopped by a sand shield for the second time, Xuan Zhe gave Rasa another look.

Once he noticed the red hair that somewhat resembled the Uzumaki Clan's, he had a good idea who this was.

"Nothing special."

Xuan Zhe spoke flatly. Without striking again to finish him off, he swept straight past him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rasa caught sight of it-

A bald head hung at Xuan Zhe's waist, still dripping blood.

"Let's move."

Xuan Zhe patted Jiraiya's shoulder and was already racing toward the Land of Rivers.

"Time to run!"

Jiraiya reacted instantly, turning to follow.

"They killed Lord Kazekage!! After them!!!"

Rasa snapped back to his senses and roared at the surviving Sand ninja.

Three days later.

On the battlefield along the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers.

A streak of blue lightning rampaged through the Sand ninja like a frenzied beast.

Whoosh-

Three white-robed puppets flew toward it in a triangular formation, pulled along curving paths through the air by Chakra Threads to block the lightning.

All three puppets opened their mouths at once, spewing out clouds of purple smoke.

"Poison?"

Hatake Sakumo had no choice but to halt his attack. Covering his mouth and nose with his left hand, he swiftly retreated.

"A new poison?" Shikaku Nara turned to Orochimaru, the frontline commander, and asked, "Lord Orochimaru, should we pull back for now?"

Orochimaru was just about to nod.

After years of fighting Sunagakure, this sort of thing was nothing new. Every time Chiyo developed a new poison, they had to rely on Tsunade to formulate an antidote.

"No need."

Just then, two figures suddenly appeared at the side of the battlefield.

One raised something in his hand and shouted toward both the Sunagakure and Konoha forces.

The battlefield, which had been thundering with battle cries, became frighteningly quiet.

Thousands of eyes turned toward the voice in unison.

At some point, two white-haired figures had taken their places atop a large rock at the edge of the battlefield.

Xuan Zhe held a bald head like a basketball, lifting it high so the Shinobi on both sides could see it clearly.

"L-Lord Second..."

When the future Third Kazekage saw the head held in Xuan Zhe's hand, his legs gave out, and he collapsed into a sitting position.

"Is it real... is that really Lord Second?"

"Impossible... even White Fang couldn't do it..."

The Sunagakure Shinobi were all stunned.

To a village, its Kage was its most precious existence.

The spiritual pillar in every Shinobi's heart.

Especially during wartime.

The sight shocked the Konoha Shinobi no less than it did Sunagakure's.

Hyuga Hiashi said, "No way... he really took the Kazekage and..."

Chōza Akimichi spotted Jiraiya behind Xuan Zhe. "The one behind Lord Xuan Zhe... is that Lord Jiraiya? What's he doing there?"

Inoichi Yamanaka gaped, his face filled with shock. "He actually pulled off something even White Fang failed to do?"

"Then that means Black Blade is even stronger than White Fang."

Shikaku Nara looked at Hatake Sakumo in front of him, then at Hatake Xuan Zhe in the distance. After looking back and forth between the brothers several times, he sighed. "White Fang and Black Blade, both brothers are monsters... no, I should say Black Blade and White Fang!"

Seeing that both sides had stopped fighting, Xuan Zhe and Jiraiya jumped down from the rock and slowly walked into the center of the battlefield.

With every step Xuan Zhe took, the hearts of the Sunagakure ninja trembled violently.

He carried Shamon's head, letting it swing like an ordinary trophy.

"After seeing this, you probably can't keep fighting."

As though passing a ball, Xuan Zhe tossed the bald head to Chiyo.

Shamon's head was like a bucket of ice water poured over Chiyo.

No matter how fierce the fury in her heart, it could no longer burn.

They absolutely could not keep fighting.

Chiyo understood that perfectly.

This was no longer a matter she could decide as the head of the puppet division.

"Go back and prepare a ceasefire agreement."

Orochimaru stepped forward and delivered those words coldly.

Everyone from Konoha turned and withdrew to camp.

On Sunagakure's side, they stared at Shamon's head in Chiyo's hands for a long time.

Only after a long while did they recover their senses and slowly retreat to their camp.

Inside Konoha's main camp.

"Jiraiya, I thought you'd died in the Land of Rain."

At the other end of the camp, the two Hatake Clan brothers known as "Black Blade" and "White Fang" sat facing each other.

Not seeing his old subordinate, Hatake Sakumo frowned and asked Xuan Zhe, "Where's Shinnosuke? Did something happen?"

Xuan Zhe crossed his legs and slouched back in the wooden chair, drawling, "He's dead."

"In that fight in Sunagakure, Shamon caught him with Sand Binding Coffin. He couldn't move."

He casually pulled out a flask of rice wine he had swiped on the road through the Land of Wind, tilted his head back for a few swallows, then tossed it to Sakumo.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had just finished clearing the battlefield and happened to overhear this as they passed.

Shikaku Nara paused and gave his two companions a look, signaling them to stay put.

Hatake Sakumo instinctively pressed, "You didn't intervene?"