Just as Rasa was mentally faltering due to the sheer disbelief of his suspicion.
Crack... crack...
A faint, rustling sound suddenly pierced the ears of the group.
The sound was especially grating and chilling in the shelter, which was so quiet it seemed to swallow the wind itself.
Rasa, Pakura, and all the surviving eyes snapped toward the metal door that had just been sealed shut!
The next moment, an indescribable fear shot through their bodies, making them nearly stop breathing.
Through the faint light filtering through the door cracks, they could vaguely make out the figures outside—the shriveled corpses that had been frozen like statues in various poses of despair.
They were moving!
Their movements were incredibly stiff and slow, like rusted machinery, their joints emitting subtle, grinding "crack-crack" sounds.
Heads covered in shriveled skin, with deeply sunken, empty eye sockets, rotated in a grotesquely unnatural manner.
Finally, those hollow sockets turned toward the shelter.
"We... found... you..."
A raspy sound, like dried, broken vocal cords rubbing together, was squeezed from the opening mouths of the corpses.
The voice was not loud, but it layered and echoed from all directions, filled with a malice that made their hair stand on end, drilling clearly into their ears!
Inside the shelter, silence instantly fell. The color drained from everyone's faces.
The corpses were talking?!
Outside the door, the previously stiff, frozen corpses suddenly sprang into action. They were no longer slowly turning; they were rushing the metal door!
Bang! Bang!!
Heavy impacts and piercing scraping sounds hammered the metal door.
The faintly glowing white sealing cloths wrapped around the door began to show distinct tears under the frantic ripping and scratching of countless desiccated fingers!
"They're coming! They're coming again!"
The already terrified civilians shrieked even more desperately, huddling and trembling, staring hopelessly at the door that looked ready to be ripped apart at any moment.
All the Sunagakure ninja who still had energy immediately rushed to the door, their faces solemn or nervous, swiftly performing hand seals!
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Chunks of earth rapidly rose from the sides of the doorframe and the floor, reinforcing the shaky metal door, attempting to seal it completely.
However, outside the door, it was not just the corpses; sharp cutting sounds rang out.
Boom!!
Several fierce wind blades brutally slashed the metal door, and large fragments of rock showered down from the reinforced earth!
It was the still-living Sunagakure ninja who were being controlled.
The reinforced earth wall quickly crumbled under the attacks, the metal door groaned under the strain, and the sealing cloths on the door were being torn into more and more fragments!
"Maki!"
Pakura suddenly stood up, looking at a pale young female ninja behind her. "Can you still use the Cloth Binding Technique?"
The girl named Maki looked at the scroll tube, which was long since emptied of all the specialized sealing cloth, and shook her head bitterly: "Sensei, there's none left. Not a single piece."
Hearing this, Pakura's heart sank.
In fact, not only were the seals gone, but so were the food and water. If they remained here, they would starve or die of thirst even if they weren't killed.
Seeing the increasingly fierce attacks outside, the multiplying cracks in the door, and the desiccated fingers already poking through the gaps, frantically scratching!
She clenched her jaw, seemingly having made a decision, and was about to speak...
"I'll take the lead," a deep, calm voice preempted her. "Your Scorch Release can't kill them. You should take them and go."
Pakura spun around, looking at Rasa, who had walked up to the metal door, the golden Gold Dust swirling around him.
"Go?" Pakura's mouth twisted into a complicated curve. "Where can we go?"
The entire Sunagakure village was sealed off. There were not only these controlled people but also the Sand Eyes hovering overhead...
That 'monster' would absolutely never allow its 'toys' to escape.
"I'm sorry. I never thought it would come to this," Rasa sighed. "But no matter what, we must struggle to survive. Sunagakure has always been this way, hasn't it?"
He was certainly not a good father or a good husband. He had failed Gaara, and he had failed his wife, Karura.
But he had indeed sacrificed a great deal for Sunagakure. Now that the moment required him to stand up and die, he would not flinch.
"You..." Pakura looked deeply at Rasa's back, intending to say more.
But just then.
BANG!
A deafening explosion suddenly erupted!
The battered metal door, along with the Earth-Style Wall reinforcing it, was finally and completely breached, shattering into countless fragments that shot inward!
"Aaargh!"
The few Sunagakure ninja closest to the door were instantly struck by the fragments, screaming as they were sent flying backward!
The next moment, countless hideous, twisted corpses and hollow-eyed Sunagakure ninja surged in like a tide!
"I'll hold these guys off. You find a chance to break out and get to the surface!"
Rasa shouted: "Go to Konoha and find the Third Hokage. The Five Great Shinobi Nations have decided to unite against the Void Realm. He will accept and protect you!"
Before his voice faded, he slammed his hands together, and the chakra within him surged out!
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!"
Boom!!
Vast amounts of Gold Dust erupted from his feet and surrounding area, forming a mighty golden wave that crashed violently against the surging tide of death.
The golden sand wave collided fiercely with the corpses. In an instant, dozens of corpses and controlled ninja at the forefront were engulfed, squeezed, and pulverized by the heavy Gold Dust!
A barely holding, yet momentarily solid golden dam was forcefully erected!
Seeing this, Pakura clenched her jaw and hesitated no longer, shouting: "Everyone follow! Charge out!"
Without another word, she immediately became a blur, shooting out of the shelter entrance that Rasa had cleared with his Gold Dust, like an arrow released from a bow!
The other mobile Sunagakure ninja immediately followed, suppressing their grief and fear, protecting the crying, stumbling civilians, desperately rushing outward!
However, the scene outside the shelter was even more terrifying than they had imagined.
More corpses and controlled ninja, like sharks smelling blood, swarmed in from all directions!
They hissed and screamed, brandishing withered arms or remaining ninja tools, launching a frenzied assault!
"Get out of the way!"
Pakura roared, forming hand seals. A scorching fireball whistled out, blowing the corpses blocking their path into burning fragments, but more enemies immediately filled the gaps.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
The surviving Sunagakure ninja fought desperately, fiercely clashing with the surging enemies. Ninja and civilians were constantly dragged into the corpse tide, their screams echoing.
"Over there!" Pakura shouted, pointing to a giant earthen tree that supported the ceiling of the underground space.
That was the most direct "passage" leading up to the sea of sand above!
Everyone exerted their last ounce of strength, fighting toward the giant tree.
Finally, after paying a heavy price, Pakura and a few stronger Jonin were the first to reach the root of the "giant tree."
They channeled chakra to their feet, struggling to run up the incredibly rough surface, which was constantly shedding sand!
However, just as Pakura and the others at the front had climbed less than ten meters.
The surface of the sand tree beneath their feet suddenly came alive without warning!
Whoosh!
Large amounts of sand instantly detached from the trunk, coalescing into huge, savage sand hands that violently clawed at the climbing Sunagakure ninja!
"Watch out!" Pakura sensed the danger and shrieked a warning, leaping sharply to the side and slightly above, narrowly dodging the giant sand hand reaching for her!
The Jonin beside her also used their various techniques, either Shunning away or blocking with Ninjutsu, narrowly escaping the sudden attack.
But the weaker Chunin and Genin were not so lucky.
"Aah!!"
"No! Let go of me!"
Desperate, piercing screams erupted instantly.
Several ninja were caught off guard and grabbed directly by the enormous sand hands. The hands suddenly clenched, applying terrifying pressure to the trapped bodies!
Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral!
Crunch! Squish!
The nauseating sounds of shattering bones and crushed flesh were clearly audible!
Warm blood and ruptured organs spurted, oozed, and dripped from the fingers of the sand hands!
The people who were alive a moment ago had become pools of unrecognizable bloody flesh!
This horrifying sight struck terror into the hearts of all the civilians below, instantly freezing their attempts to climb.
"Over here!" Rasa's hoarse shout came.
They saw that while he was struggling to block the corpses with one hand, he was manipulating another mass of Gold Dust not toward the enemy, but sharply upward!
Avoiding the giant sand trees, it rapidly coalesced and took shape in the air, forming a somewhat crude but sufficiently sturdy Gold Dust staircase!
The staircase connected directly to the "sky" constructed of sand above them. The sand layer at that location was pouring downward, forming a swirling depression, clearly the weakest point.
"Quick! Get on the staircase!"
The survivors rushed toward the golden staircase as if clutching a final lifeline, forgetting all fear, scrambling desperately upward!
Just then.
Rumble!!
The entire space seemed to shake.
Vast amounts of sand and dust violently converged, transforming into torrents of brownish-yellow sand, like giant pythons, crashing down on the fleeing group on the staircase from all directions.
"Magnet Release: Gold Sand Tidal Wave!"
Rasa stood on a cloud of Gold Dust, his eyes crimson. He slammed his free hand upward!
The surrounding Gold Dust instantly boiled, turning into surging golden waves that actively met the incoming giant sand pythons!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The gold sand and the sand pythons collided fiercely, with golden sand and brownish-yellow earth raining down!
Under Rasa's desperate cover, Pakura and the last of the survivors, climbing the constantly shaking staircase that looked ready to collapse at any moment, finally reached its end!
Pakura did not hesitate. Her hands instantly completed a seal, and the remaining chakra in her body surged out without reservation!
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!" she roared, forcefully pushing her palms forward.
A highly compressed fireball, carrying terrifying heat, slammed into the constantly shifting ceiling of the dome!
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion suddenly erupted, and a wave of scorching hot air instantly radiated outward!
The thick layer of sand was instantly shattered by the impact, and a massive gap, whose edges were still collapsing, was forcefully blasted open.
Long-absent sunlight streamed through the gap, dispelling the gloom of the underground space and stinging the eyes of all the survivors who had been in the dark for so long.
Gold Dust rushed in just in time, preventing the surrounding sand from closing the gap.
"We did it!!"
"The exit! It's the exit!!"
The ecstasy of survival and an unbelievable excitement instantly overwhelmed everyone.
They cried out hoarsely, rushing toward the hopeful light without regard for anything else.
However, almost at the exact moment the gap was blasted open.
Ommm!!
The surrounding sand and dust seemed to be completely enraged, and an even more massive and surging torrent rushed toward the crowd from all directions!
"GAARA! ENOUGH!" Rasa's extremely hoarse roar came from below.
"Hurry! Go!" Pakura screamed at the crowd behind her, while abruptly turning, condensing chakra in her hands again, preparing to fight to the death against the surging sand flow.
The sunlight was right there, freedom within reach!
However, in that instant.
A cold, raspy voice clearly pierced her ears, seemingly freezing her blood!
"There you are."
The hopeful sunlight in Pakura's eyes was suddenly completely obscured by a figure.
The figure was not particularly tall, but it carried a suffocating coldness and stillness.
It appeared silently in the center of the blasted gap, perfectly blocking all the light, slowly descending through that opening.
As he descended, his full appearance gradually came into the view of all the survivors looking up.
It was a figure entirely covered in heavy, pale, hideous armor!
A bone mask that only exposed the eyes covered his entire face. Beneath the mask were a pair of eyes that shone with pure murderous intent, looking down upon them.
It was Fifth Espada, 'Corpse Bone,' who had come to take the newly promoted 'Great Hollow'!
'Corpse Bone's' crimson gaze slowly swept over Pakura and the others below, finally settling on Rasa standing at the very bottom.
"Kazekage?" he said. "A pity. You are not who I'm looking for."
His voice fell, and he looked toward the pyramid-shaped building in the distance. A chilling, almost unholy sound of sniffing came from beneath the bone mask.
As if he had caught the scent of his prey.
"Found it." 'Corpse Bone's' voice, carrying a sinister chuckle, rang out.
However, the instant his voice faded, as if sensing his predatory intent and threat, the sand and dust in the entire underground space instantly boiled over!
Rumble!!!
This was no longer the minor skirmish previously aimed at the Sunagakure ninja.
This time, all the sand and dust in the entire space seemed to possess a unified will and anger. Countless tons of earth and sand surged wildly from the dome, the walls, and the floor.
Like a brown-yellow ocean unleashing world-ending tidal waves, it rushed and squeezed from all directions toward 'Corpse Bone,' who was suspended in mid-air!
The scale was far beyond any attack Rasa and Pakura had faced before!
The colossal sand wave instantly engulfed 'Corpse Bone' entirely, compressing into a giant sand sphere that writhed and squeezed violently, emitting a teeth-grinding, crushing sound!
This sudden, terrifying sight caused Rasa and Pakura's faces to change drastically.
They immediately understood an even more cruel and desperate truth.
Everything they had faced—all the obstructions and pursuits—was not the true power of that 'monster.'
It was merely a series of games!
Like a cat playing with a mouse, it was just savoring the despair and fear generated by their struggle to escape!
If this 'Hollow' had not appeared, the monster that Gaara had become would absolutely have crushed all their hope at the very last moment before their escape...
It would have dragged them back into the abyss to meticulously savor their final collapse!
That monster was still playing!
It was treating Sunagakure as its playground, and the ninja were its 'toys'!
"Now! Go!" Pakura's voice was hoarse and sharp with terror and rage.
She did not hesitate, taking one last look at Rasa struggling below and the sand sphere enveloping 'Corpse Bone,' then abruptly turning and rushing out through the opening!
The other surviving Jonin also reacted, suppressing their grief and rushing out, followed by the others who scrambled out.
Seeing Pakura and the others finally escape, Rasa felt a huge wave of relief. He prepared to use all his remaining chakra to fully manipulate the Gold Dust, ready to face the monster that Gaara had become.
However, in the next moment.
Putt! Putt! Putt!!
Innumerable, incredibly sharp, hideously twisted giant bone spikes suddenly pierced the surface of the sand sphere, which was compressed by tons of earth, bursting out from the inside!
BOOM!!
The entire sand sphere was forcibly blasted open by a brute force from within, sending endless sand and earth flying everywhere!
In the swirling dust, 'Corpse Bone's' pale figure slowly emerged. The giant bone spikes extended from his body slowly retracted, melting back into his skin.
"Is that all you have?"
'Corpse Bone' brushed the dust from his armor, looked at the silent pyramid in the distance, and sneered: "Still refusing to come out?"
"Then, how about this?"
The moment the words left his mouth, his figure vanished!
Below, Rasa's pupils abruptly contracted. A wave of instinctive terror made him instantly realize the arrival of death.
Shhkk!!
The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out!
The solid wall of Gold Dust Rasa had instinctively summoned was as fragile as paper before the pale figure, and was effortlessly pierced!
Pierced along with it was Rasa's chest.
"Ugh!" Rasa coughed up a large mouthful of blood mixed with fragmented organs. His body was lifted into the air by an irresistible force, slowly being impaled on the bone spike!
He struggled to look down, seeing a section of a sharp bone spear, stained with his own warm blood, protruding from his chest.
He futilely raised his trembling hand, trying to form a seal, but his chakra was depleted. Agonizing pain and the chilling sensation of rapidly draining life force swept over him.
"Those fleeing insects—they were your 'toys,' weren't they?"
'Corpse Bone's' raspy voice came from behind Rasa. His crimson eyes looked toward the distant pyramid with a challenge: "And this... this must be your most cherished 'toy,' right?"
Shkk! Shkk!
As his voice fell, the bone spear that had pierced Rasa's chest suddenly grew and branched out wildly inside his body!
Countless smaller, yet equally sharp bone spikes instantly burst out from within Rasa, erupting through his skin!
His heart, lungs, liver, spine...
Were instantly perforated and torn apart by the multitude of bone spikes. His entire body transformed into a grotesque flower of flesh and blood, composed of his own tissue and the pale bone spikes!
Rasa's body suddenly stiffened. His eyes widened to their limit, and the last flicker of light rapidly vanished from his pupils.
Blood showered down like rain.
The previously boiling, surging sand and dust abruptly paused in that instant!
All sound vanished, leaving only the "drip, drop" of falling blood.
But this silence lasted for only a moment.
The next second, a voice filled with fury and madness suddenly exploded from the direction of the distant pyramid!
"You! Will! Die!"
BOOM!!
Accompanied by this soul-shattering roar, the top of the majestic pyramid in the distance suddenly exploded!
A small figure carrying a white gourd emerged, floating amidst the flying rock fragments and sand!
Behind him, endless sand and dust converged, forming a gigantic, clear female face.
"Karura, it's really you..."
"Do you... do you think I was wrong too..."
Seeing the face filled with tenderness and sorrow, a flicker of pain crossed Rasa's vacant eyes before they completely lost their vitality and life.
'Gaara' was unmoved. His eyes, no longer human pupils, radiated cold brutality, fixed fiercely on 'Corpse Bone' who was holding Rasa's corpse aloft.
"Well, finally decided to come out?"
Seeing his target appear, 'Corpse Bone' was overjoyed rather than surprised, letting out a savage laugh and mocking: "Looks like a good little baby who can't leave his mommy...!"
However, before he could finish, Gaara sharply raised his hand!
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!
With that simple movement, the entire underground space began to collapse wildly!
The giant sand trees supporting the space lost all structural integrity, collapsing like sandcastles built by a child, transforming into an endless downpour of quicksand!
At the same time, all the sand and dust surrounding Gaara seemed to share a unified will, turning into a destructive torrent that submerged the location of 'Corpse Bone'!
This time, it was no longer a game, no longer play.
"Hahahaha!"
'Corpse Bone' flung Rasa's body away, spread his arms wide, and roared with laughter as he looked at the descending sea of sand: "That's it! That's it! Now we're talking!"
"Let us hate and kill each other! Until we tear each other completely to shreds!" Pure battle joy flashed in his crimson eyes.
The moment his words fell, 'Corpse Bone' violently slammed his fists into the ground beneath his feet!
"Graveyard Extinction!"
BOOM!!
A completely different aura of annihilation, centered on the point where his fists struck, instantly spread throughout the entire space that was about to be completely submerged by the sea of sand!
The next moment, the bone-chilling sounds of cracking and growing bone, overpowering the roar of the sandstorm, echoed throughout the entire space.
From the collapsing cracks in the ground, from within the cascading sand waterfall, and even from the air itself...
Countless pale, sharp giant bone spikes, bone forests, and bone flowers erupted from the earth and pierced through the sand with unprecedented scale and density, forcibly remodeling the landscape of the space!
Giant bone pillars shot up, forcibly supporting the collapsing dome.
Savage bone walls ripped through the sand waves, partitioning the roaring sea of sand!
Bone branches, sharp as knives, stabbed out from all directions, converging on the center of the sandstorm!
"Hahahaha! Come on! More! Even more!"
'Corpse Bone' laughed wildly, standing atop a giant, rapidly growing bone pillar. The bone armor around him also deformed, transforming into larger bone blades and bone shields to slash and parry.
'Gaara' floated in the center of the sandstorm. The face of sand condensed behind him seemed to take on a layer of visible wrath. He violently pushed his hands forward!
More sand and dust converged from all directions. The sand waves grew thicker and more ferocious, condensing into colossal sand arms that brutally smashed into the constantly growing bone forests!
The entire underground space instantly transformed into a terrifying battlefield of two distinct forces!
On one side, the furiously roaring, all-consuming sea of sand!
On the other, the wildly proliferating, all-tearing bone forest!
The yellow sandstorm waves and the pale bone jungle collided with hatred and a desire for destruction!
BOOM!!
A terrifying, indescribable explosion ripped through the air. The very ground seemed to tremble violently under the impact, and sand grains and bone shards sprayed everywhere.
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