Chapter 60

The Sand Hidden Camp, now reduced to rubble, was a scene of utter devastation.

The traces of Shukaku's brutal rampage were everywhere, turning a once lush forest into a barren wasteland, making it impossible to recognize the original camp.

In the air of what was once a camp and is now a wasteland, the cold chakra of Shukaku still lingered, the oppressive pressure not yet dissipating.

At the spot where Shukaku had stood, a ninja clad in a black overcoat now stood.

This person was none other than the current leader of the Sand Hidden Village, the Third Kazekage, the most outstanding and powerful ninja in the village.

On the desolate land, black sand dust was scattered. He looked at a monk lying unconscious on the ground beside him.

The monk's skin was severely burned, but he was regenerating at an abnormal rate.

Even to the Third Kazekage, this was a truly astonishing sight.

"An ordinary jinchūriki would have died long ago... Truly a resilient one," he muttered to himself.

Shukaku was a tailed beast that the Sand Hidden Village had possessed since ancient times.

However, due to the immense power of the tailed beast, ordinary ninjas would feel a soul-deep fear just from a distant glance, let alone approaching it.

Therefore, it was necessary to seal the tailed beast inside a human, using that person as a jinchūriki to contain the tailed beast's power, to be used when necessary.

This monk was the jinchūriki of Shukaku in the Sand Hidden Village.

"Kazekage-sama!"

A large group of Sand ninjas arrived, roughly four to five hundred of them, all elite ninjas from the Sand Hidden Village.

One of the jōnin approached, seeing that the jinchūriki was unharmed, and heaved a sigh of relief, looking at the Third Kazekage with admiration and respect.

The Third Kazekage nodded at these Sand ninjas.

"True to form, Kazekage-sama. Shukaku should be calmer now."

The Third Kazekage shook his head at the jōnin's assessment. "It's not that simple. Fukumaru is still unwilling to cooperate. If he were willing, I wouldn't have had to use another method to provoke Shukaku."

Fukumaru was the name of the monk.

As a jinchūriki, he had a good relationship with the tailed beast Shukaku sealed inside him, which is why Shukaku had been sealed stably for years.

However, there was a problem.

Fukumaru was a compassionate person who disliked conflict.

During the reign of the Second Kazekage, Sāmon, to militarize Shukaku's power, Fukumaru was imprisoned, and his Shukaku's power was studied to develop a series of magnetism-based jutsu.

Even so, Fukumaru never submitted to the Second Kazekage.

After the Second Kazekage Sāmon passed away and he, the Third Kazekage, took over, he inherited the will of his predecessor and pondered how to militarize the tailed beast.

This time, it was an attempt to use the tailed beast's power to catch the Leaf Village off guard and plunder the rich resources of the Fire Country.

However, the results were not good. Due to Fukumaru's lack of cooperation, Shukaku's recent mood had been very unstable. If he hadn't sensed a problem with the seal, he wouldn't have rushed here to reseal the rampaging Shukaku back into the jinchūriki's body.

"What should we do next, Kazekage-sama?"

The jōnin asked.

"Regardless of the jinchūriki, there are ways to make Fukumaru, that stubborn one, cooperate. But why are the Leaf ninjas here?"

Subduing Shukaku didn't take much effort, as his jutsu were specifically developed for this purpose.

Compared to the exposure of Shukaku's location, the sudden attack by the Leaf ninjas was the key issue, according to the Third Kazekage.

"We don't know. The Leaf ninjas just suddenly attacked."

The jōnin's expression was also grim.

The tailed beast's matter should be the top priority, and there should be no risk of it being leaked.

"Reinvestigate the personnel here."

The Third Kazekage gave this order.

"Yes!"

The jōnin nodded solemnly.

Currently, the possibility of there being a mole in the village was higher.

"By the way, what should we do with those Leaf ninjas?"

"Don't worry. When I arrived, I sent a unit to pursue and eliminate them. I'm sure we'll have good news soon."

The Third Kazekage looked into the distance with a calm gaze, confident in the Sand ninjas sent to pursue the Leaf ninjas.

The jōnin nodded and instructed to carry the unconscious monk on his shoulder.

"Then, Kazekage-sama, I'll go down and reposition the jinchūriki."

"Go ahead. I'll increase the guard strength appropriately. No more accidents this time."

"Yes!"

---

At the bottom of a cliff in the River Country, in a forest.

"Ah!"

After stabbing a kunai into the enemy's chest, Shiroishi took a heavy breath, stepped back, and then sat down, holding his blood-soaked side.

"These guys are really tough... Wind Blades, huh?"

The Wind Blade, a jutsu commonly used by Sand Hidden elite ninjas, was indeed incredibly sharp, leaving such a deep and long wound on his body, even after being enhanced by natural energy.

Shiroishi frowned, his hand glowing with a faint green light as he began to heal the wound.

Beside him, Ruri and Ayane were also sitting, out of breath, their clothes covered in dust, and they were consuming soldier pills to restore their chakra.

Around them, twenty-one Sand ninjas lay in pools of blood, with kunai and shuriken scattered everywhere.

The group was led by three jōnin, and the rest were all chūnin.

Eliminating this unit here, Shiroishi and his two companions paid a heavy price.

Shiroishi healed his side wound, checked his ninja tool bag, which was almost empty, leaving only two sealing scrolls and a bottle for collecting Shukaku's chakra.

"Do you have any soldier pills left?"

Using taijutsu doesn't consume chakra, but medical jutsu does, and his ninja tool bag was out of soldier pills.

Even if he could make them on the spot, he had to consider the possibility of another attack by Sand ninjas at any time.

"No, that was the last one."

Ayane replied apologetically.

Ruri also shook her head. The main function of soldier pills is to satisfy hunger, and restoring chakra is only for emergencies.

Even the special soldier pills made by Shiroishi can only restore a limited amount of chakra.

Shiroishi sighed and struggled to get up, walking towards the fallen Sand ninjas to see if there were any usable tools in their ninja tool bags.

Fortunately, the first body he checked had a few undamaged kunai and two explosive tags in his ninja tool bag.

Shiroishi put these all in his own bag.

Suddenly, a fallen Sand ninja opened his eyes, his hand wrapped in a spinning sharp wind, and he swung a Wind Blade at Shiroishi's body.

Shiroishi was startled, not expecting anyone to be faking death.

Without thinking, he dodged, and a few strands of hair fell.

Shiroishi's face broke out in a cold sweat as he rolled away awkwardly.

The Sand ninja, undeterred, charged at Shiroishi, his body covered in blood, his face twisted like a demon.

Boom!

A fireball hit him.

The Sand ninja had no time to defend, struggling and screaming in the flames before collapsing, turning into a blackened corpse.

Ruri took a deep breath, looking even more exhausted.

That fireball had almost drained her last bit of chakra.

Continuing to use chakra would be fatal.

"Idiot, you couldn't even tell the difference between a dead and a live person."

"Sorry."

Shiroishi awkwardly got up, dusting off his clothes.

He continued to search the bodies, being more cautious this time.

Before touching each body, he threw a kunai to ensure no one was faking death.

Fortunately, this concern was unnecessary, as only the one earlier was not completely dead.

In the end, Shiroishi collected about forty to fifty kunai and shuriken, sixteen soldier pills, and about ten explosive tags.

He brought these to Ruri and Ayane, who were too exhausted to move, and began to distribute the spoils.

Ruri and Ayane didn't hesitate, mainly because they were in a dire situation.

They divided the sixteen soldier pills, with Shiroishi and Ayane each taking four, and Ruri, who used high-chakra-consuming jutsu, taking half.

They immediately consumed the soldier pills to restore their chakra.

After recovering, Shiroishi prepared to use healing jutsu on Ruri and Ayane's wounds.

"No need, these are minor injuries. We can endure them."

Ruri picked up a white bandage and skillfully wrapped her bleeding leg and arm, not flinching despite the pain.

"Ruri is right. Our current situation is not entirely safe, and these injuries won't affect our combat ability. No need to waste chakra."

Ayane nodded, learning from Ruri to wrap her wounds with medical bandages to stop the bleeding.

"Alright."

Shiroishi didn't insist.

A cold wind blew through the valley, making them tighten their collars, feeling the chill.

To reduce the intensity of the Sand ninjas' pursuit, they took a detour into the river valley at the bottom of the cliff in the River Country.

The terrain here was complex and the environment harsh, with a thick fog covering the area.

Up close, it was white fog, but deeper in, it was pitch black, like a massive black hole swirling above them.

After resting for a while, they recovered some of their strength and began to search for an exit.

The surroundings were wet and rocky, and the environment became darker the further they went, with the deep valley filled with cold, thick fog, making their skin feel icy.

They walked forward in silence, not wanting to waste unnecessary energy. In such a situation, conserving even a bit of strength was beneficial.

Ayane, using the chakra restored from the soldier pills, activated her Byakugan.

In this dim environment, there was very little to see, but she could detect the flow of chakra to determine if anyone was ambushing them.

"Someone is coming. They are Sand ninjas."

Ayane stopped and said.

Shiroishi and Ruri just sighed, saying nothing.

"How many?"

After a moment of silence, Ruri spoke.

"Eleven."

"I have a plan to eliminate them all at once. Ayane, find a narrow pass. We'll eliminate them here."

Ruri's words surprised Shiroishi and Ayane.

But seeing the confident look on Ruri's face, Ayane chose to trust her.

"Understood."

The Sand ninjas were still some distance away, giving them enough time to find a narrow pass.

Although they didn't know Ruri's specific plan, as the core combatant among the three, Ruri wouldn't exaggerate her abilities.

Soon, Ayane found a narrow pass with only two small paths, flanked by towering, jagged cliffs, blocking any retreat.

"Is this place suitable?"

"Enough. How long until they arrive?"

Ruri's expression was serious, as if she had made a decision.

"Based on their speed, two minutes."

"Remind me ten seconds before they arrive."

Ayane nodded in agreement.

Shiroishi frowned, believing in Ruri's strength but never having heard of her practicing a more powerful jutsu, and no prior information had been shared.

Therefore, Shiroishi was skeptical about Ruri's plan to eliminate the elite Sand ninjas in one go.

But now, he could only hope her plan would work.

Time passed, and Ruri stood at the front.

Her resolute and unyielding stance, facing the storm like a flower on a hill, was truly admirable.

"They're here!"

Ayane spoke, the final ten seconds approaching.

Ruri didn't hesitate, starting to form the seals for a standard Fire Release jutsu.

She gathered her chakra and natural energy in her mouth, forcing a fusion without a safety test.

Then, Ruri felt an incredibly powerful energy surge through her body.

This overwhelming power was something Ruri had never experienced before.

As she had expected, although the natural energy guidance experiment was completed by Shiroishi, in the application of this energy, Ruri believed she had already surpassed Shiroishi, the developer of the experiment.

Therefore, she had the confidence to fuse her remaining chakra and natural energy, forming a power-amplified Sage Chakra, without a safety test.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

"Wait, Ruri—"

Shiroishi noticed the problem.

With Ruri's current chakra, it was insufficient to perform the large-scale Fire Release jutsu, Great Fire Annihilation.

If the chakra supply was insufficient, it would not only reduce the jutsu's power but also potentially harm the user.

However, by the time the sea of fire appeared, Shiroishi's voice was already drowned out.

Even if she heard, Ruri had no intention of following Shiroishi's advice.

Theories and experiments were not her forte, but in combat, she would not submit to anyone.

A tidal wave of flames surged from the depths of the valley, like a beast devouring everything, turning the once cold area into a scorching hell.

The group of Sand ninjas, not yet facing their enemies, were immediately stunned, their minds blank.

They couldn't dodge.

They couldn't resist.

The darkness was burning.

The air became distorted, a terrifying sight caused by the high temperature.

Time fell into a deathly silence, with only the sound of the sea of fire swallowing everything.

The scorching heat continued to intensify, the sea of fire expanding in the narrow space, relentlessly consuming all living things in its path.

Standing beside Ruri, Shiroishi and Ayane couldn't help but take a deep breath, only to find their throats burning as if scalded by boiling water, feeling suppressed and painful.

The rock walls scorched by the sea of fire turned red, glowing like fiery crystals.

In front of them, the eleven Sand ninjas, who had not even reached the surface, were incinerated, their bodies completely vaporized, leaving no trace.