In a vast, endless desert where yellow sand swirled through the air, stood a cluster of unique buildings brimming with exotic charm, emanating both mystery and allure.
Beneath this architectural complex, a Sand shinobi patrol squad had gathered, casually chatting as they carried out their routine patrol.
They wore standard shinobi uniforms, mostly in earthy yellow tones that blended seamlessly with their surroundings. On their foreheads, they wore the signature forehead protectors etched with the symbol of Sunagakure.
"This war is practically in the bag for us. That Konoha kunoichi Tsunade is totally overrated" said a ninja named Saban, chatting with his teammates about the current state of the war—one of their few ways to kill time in this entertainment-barren outpost.
His teammate, Sajie, eagerly nodded in agreement. "Yeah, exactly. One of the so-called 'Legendary Sannin,' yet she's always holed up way in the back. I haven't even seen her set foot on the battlefield."
"Hey, don't get too cocky" their team leader interjected, joining the conversation. "Iwagakure hasn't made a move yet. Who knows if they're planning something behind the scenes?"
Saban, fiercely loyal to his village, flushed with anger and shot back,
"With Ebizo-sama, there's no way we'd be fooled by those stone apes born of dirt from Iwagakure!"
To Saban, Sunagakure was the strongest village in the entire shinobi world. He couldn't tolerate anyone—even his own squad leader—speaking ill of it.
"Damn Konoha! If they hadn't assassinated the Third Kazekage-sama, we would've won this war already!" Saban had said that line more times than anyone could count.
Like most of Sunagakure, Saban believed the Third Kazekage's disappearance was part of a Konoha plot.
"That's right! They will pay the price!"
"!!!"
Suddenly, a shrill, piercing alarm echoed across the entire Sunagakure base like a blade slicing through the quiet night, immediately setting everyone on high alert.
Ninjas moved quickly, their figures vanishing like phantoms as they sped toward the source of the alarm.
Everyone knew—this kind of sudden alarm wasn't for anything ordinary. A crisis was approaching…
"Enemy infiltration detected at Entrance No. 8! All units, full alert! Full alert!"
BOOOOM!!!
Without warning, an earth-shaking explosion roared through the area, so loud it seemed to shake the heavens themselves.
A massive shockwave erupted at lightning speed, radiating in all directions. The sand shinobi turned in horror toward the noise, only to see the formerly peaceful supply depot completely engulfed in a massive, glowing blue sphere of energy.
The orb shone like a brilliant sapphire, yet radiated intense danger. The surrounding air twisted from the overwhelming chakra, forming visible vortexes in the wind.
A high-pitched hum filled the air, far worse than the alarm itself, grating on everyone's nerves.
Even from a distance, Saban and Sajie could feel violent gusts slicing across their bodies, each gust bringing a stinging pain to their skin.
Sajie's already simple mind went completely blank. "Is that... a Tailed Beast?"
A few minutes earlier...
After quickly exchanging intel with Mitsuki, Minato sensed the positions of his Flying Thunder God kunai. Perfect — they hadn't been discovered by the Sand shinobi yet.
Minato turned to Mitsuki.
"Our mission is to destroy over half of Sunagakure's supply depots. Do you have enough chakra for it?"
Though it was phrased as a question, Minato clearly had full confidence in Mitsuki. He knew that if Mitsuki weren't confident, he would've said something by now.
"No problem. I could blow up all marked sites at once if needed" Mitsuki replied with a confident smile.
Thanks to his incredibly precise chakra control, Mitsuki could use every drop of chakra to its fullest— whether it was for jutsu or even during extraction.
Unlike most shinobi, who inevitably waste chakra during jutsu execution or even basic refinement, Mitsuki's Six Eyes allowed for unparalleled chakra manipulation.
If an average jonin could extract one unit of chakra from a cell, Mitsuki could draw ten — or more.
Don't underestimate that tenfold difference. Take Minato, for instance—his chakra control was already top-tier in the entire shinobi world.
But if they were the same age, Mitsuki could extract over ten times the chakra Minato could—and with zero waste during execution.
Which meant Mitsuki's stamina and sustainability in combat were truly monstrous.
In short, destroying multiple depots with Rasenshuriken was child's play for him.
Minato wasn't one to waste time during missions. Hearing Mitsuki's confident response, he smiled and said, "Then let's begin."
He placed his hand on Mitsuki's shoulder. "Ready? We're jumping."
Mitsuki simply nodded. They had practiced this many times back at the Konoha camp. He was more than familiar with the spatial movement of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
In an instant—flash!—the two reappeared at one of the marked locations.
By this time, the alarms inside the Sunagakure base had already gone off. Teams of Sand shinobi surged from every corridor, searching in well-trained formations for intruders.
From the moment Minato and Mitsuki had infiltrated until now, only 8 minutes had passed.
According to Minato's earlier recon, it would take about 15 minutes before anyone noticed the dead guards at the entrance.
Something unexpected must've happened. Perhaps Sunagakure had implemented other infiltration detection jutsu—after all, it was one of the Five Great Nations. Their defenses weren't to be underestimated.
Still, it didn't matter. The Flying Thunder God kunai had long since been marked.
Mitsuki raised his right hand. Wind-natured chakra rapidly gathered and compressed, spinning violently.
The smooth chakra sphere immediately grew blades like a shuriken.
Minato had seen this jutsu during training, but back then Mitsuki never fully unleashed it.
He had only heard about its real destructive power through Lady Tsunade.
"To push Wind Release nature transformation to this level... and to throw such an unstable jutsu? That kind of chakra control is terrifying."
That's what Minato remembered her saying.
Even he knew how hard it was to handle such volatile chakra and wield it with perfect precision.
And Mitsuki wasn't done yet.
Since the mission was to destroy, why not go big?
Mitsuki increased the chakra output.
The Rasenshuriken continued to grow larger and larger.
As the emergency sirens blared across the base, Mitsuki's lips curled into a smirk.
"You're quick to notice... but it's too late. The seed has already been sown. Prepare yourselves—for the grandest fireworks display of your lives."
With that, he hurled the massive, terrifying shuriken.
"Giant Rasenshuriken!"