When the light faded, all six Suna ninja were dead.
Gaara lay on the ground. The explosion had injured him, but thanks to his sand's automatic defense, the injuries weren't too severe.
Seeing Gaara was alright, Kankuro breathed a sigh of relief. But suddenly, a dark figure appeared beside Gaara.
Stab!
A black rod instantly pierced Gaara's chest, pinning him to the ground.
Yuichi, holding the black rod that pierced Gaara's body, slowly let go.
"One-Tail capture complete!"
Gaara was in a state of blurred consciousness, which might allow the One-Tail to escape and take control of his body. To avoid such trouble, Yuichi directly pinned Gaara down with a black rod.
All the black rods created by Yuichi's Kāma had the effect of absorbing chakra. Therefore, even if the One-Tail appeared at this moment and tried to seize control of the body, its chakra would be suppressed by the black rod. There was no need to worry about the One-Tail suddenly rampaging.
"GAARA!!!!"
Kankuro quickly leaped forward, his other puppet, Salamander, not far behind.
Gaara, who had been lying on the ground with his consciousness hazy, fell completely unconscious after being pierced by Yuichi's black rod.
Seeing the unconscious Gaara, Kankuro could no longer remain calm. He wanted to rush over and check on Gaara's condition, but with Yuichi standing right there, he worried that Yuichi would harm Gaara further.
Kankuro grit his teeth and recalled Salamander.
"Let Gaara go! As long as you let him go, Sunagakure will let you leave safely."
"Otherwise, you won't escape Sunagakure!"
Right now, Kankuro's only goal was to ensure Gaara's safety by any means necessary. As for Yuichi, there was no way Sunagakure would ever let him go. Daring to wreak havoc in Sunagakure, killing numerous Suna ninja, and injuring the Kazekage, Gaara—such a person could absolutely not be forgiven.
However, no matter how furious Kankuro was with Yuichi, for now, he could only try to placate him. At least until the rest of Sunagakure's ninja arrived.
"Lies!"
Yuichi suddenly spoke. A single word that made Kankuro's face turn slightly pale.
Did this guy see through my plan at a glance?
"Let me leave safely? Would you be willing?"
"Trying to trick me with words meant for a three-year-old?"
"Do you take me for an idiot?"
Yuichi's counter-questions made Kankuro's face shift between shades of green and white. With his plan exposed, Kankuro was now extremely anxious, but he didn't know what to do.
Yuichi knew Kankuro was stalling for time, but he didn't care. He had a special mission to complete anyway: to beat all of Sunagakure's ninja into submission. Otherwise, if these guys chased him when he left, the mission would fail.
Yuichi smiled and found a broken stone pillar nearby to sit on.
Seeing Yuichi suddenly sit down, Kankuro was a bit confused. What was this guy planning to do? Wasn't he after the One-Tailed Shukaku inside Gaara? After successfully defeating Gaara, shouldn't he be running?
Although Kankuro didn't know how Yuichi planned to extract the One-Tail from Gaara, seeing him sit down to rest, as if he had no intention of leaving Sunagakure, was baffling. What was he doing? Was he waiting to be surrounded and captured by the Sunagakure ninja?
If that was really Yuichi's plan, Kankuro couldn't be happier. But no normal person would do that. Who would wait to be captured?
However, Yuichi really did seem to be waiting to be captured. A full five minutes passed. Suna ninja arrived one after another. As time went on, more and more of them gathered.
In five minutes, about a hundred ninja had assembled. This number was roughly one-fifth of the village's ninja force. In its normal state, a ninja village usually has around a thousand resident ninja. Sunagakure, with its harsh environment, had slightly fewer, with its total ninja population being only about five or six hundred. The rest were either out on missions or stationed in various parts of the Land of Wind. After all, Sunagakure was the military power of the Land of Wind, and there were places that needed ninja protection.
If all the Suna ninja were in the village, Yuichi would truly be courting death. Even if he wasn't defeated, he would be exhausted to death by tens of thousands of ninja.
After a hundred Suna ninja had gathered, the worry on Kankuro's face lessened. Although he didn't understand what Yuichi was waiting for, with a hundred Suna ninja now assembled, they had enough strength to rescue Gaara.
Kankuro didn't let the gathered Suna ninja act rashly. He arranged for a team to sneak behind Yuichi, ready to attack at any moment. Yuichi was too close to Gaara. With Yuichi's strength, if he were to attack Gaara, they wouldn't have time to do anything. They could only watch Gaara die before their eyes.
Therefore, to ensure Gaara's safety, Kankuro couldn't allow any accidents. They had to find a way to lure Yuichi away from Gaara first, to increase the chances of rescuing him.
At this moment, in a dark corner nearby, Sasori, who had infiltrated Sunagakure, was watching the motionless Yuichi.
"What is this guy doing?"
"Since he's captured Gaara, why doesn't he leave? What is he staying here for?"
Sasori looked at the hundred or so Suna ninja gathered around. That was just the number on the surface. Dozens more were silently lurking around Yuichi, ready to strike at any moment.
Sunagakure was also sealing off the village. Hundreds more Suna ninja were on their way. Before long, all of Sunagakure's ninja would be gathered. Except for those responsible for evacuating civilians, almost the entire village's ninja force would be here.
Yuichi had clearly completed his mission, yet he just sat there. Sasori couldn't understand what he was doing! Was he waiting to die?
"Hey!"
Suddenly, Yuichi spoke in Sasori's direction.
Hearing Yuichi speak and expose his position, Sasori finally understood what this guy was up to. Why would he expose his position? He didn't want to be tied down by so many Suna ninja.
After Yuichi spoke, the Suna ninja quickly discovered Sasori.
With his position exposed, Sasori's expression darkened as he stepped out from the corner.
"Yuichi..."
Sasori didn't finish. Yuichi stood up, lifted Gaara from the ground—with the black rod still stuck in him—and tossed him directly to Sasori.
Sasori quickly caught Gaara.
Yuichi stretched his body. "Watch him. Don't let the enemy take him back."
With that, Yuichi turned to look at the surrounding Suna ninja. "Quite a lot of people. Almost all of Sunagakure's ninja are here, aren't they?"
"What are you doing?" Sasori asked.
Yuichi looked back at Sasori and said lightly, "Of course, I'm going to take care of all of them!"
"Otherwise, when I leave, these guys will definitely chase me."
The corner of Sasori's eye twitched slightly. "So... the reason you stayed here and didn't leave was because of that?"
"What else?"
Yuichi's counter-question left Sasori speechless for a moment. Waiting here for such a ridiculous reason. Because he hated being pursued, he was going to eliminate everyone who might possibly pursue him before he left. Was there a problem with that?
What a bizarre way of thinking!
A madman! This guy was a madman.
When he got back, he was definitely going to ask Zero for a new partner...