Three days later, Uchiha Gen returned to Sunagakure to check on Rasa's "progress."
As expected, Pakura's promotion had gone through—she was now officially one of the Village Elders, standing among the true leadership of Hidden Sand.
After spending the morning with her in quiet celebration, Gen departed in the afternoon, heading back toward Konoha.
A month later, word arrived from Fuguki.
Biwa Jūzō and Kisame Hoshigaki had both defected from the Hidden Mist according to plan and were ready to act at a moment's notice.
Gen took the news in silence.
On a clear day off, he quietly slipped out of Konoha, his trail vanishing into the wind. His destination: the Land of Wind Daimyō's mansion.
It was never easy to assassinate a Kage within their own Village.
Danzo's attempt on the Third Hokage, Sasori's murder of the Third Kazekage, Orochimaru's plot against the Fourth, all had happened outside the Villages, far from the eyes of the masses.
And indeed, luring a Kage out was no small feat either. A Kage would never travel for trivial matters.
But Gen understood Rasa well. He knew one of the man's greatest weaknesses; greed for military funding.
Under the guise of the Land of Wind Daimyō, Gen prepared an irresistible summons: a promise of increased war expenditure.
He didn't believe for a second that Rasa could resist that bait.
The Daimyō himself was a minor obstacle. Gen slipped through the Samurai and guards of the mansion unseen.
With a flicker of scarlet light in his Sharingan, he ensnared the Daimyō's mind—bending his will, issuing the necessary command, and then erasing every trace of manipulation.
The stage was set.
Predictably, Rasa took the bait.
The moment he received the Daimyō's "invitation," he departed, bringing along his elite Kage Guard—eager to discuss the matter in person.
Hidden in the dark, Gen received the confirmation.
Without delay, he departed for Kirigakure, collecting Suikazan Fuguki, then rendezvoused with Jūzō and Kisame near the ruins of Whirlpool Country.
There, under the cold stars, Gen summoned Kyouki, the winged beast streaked with lightning, and together they took flight toward the Kobe Oasis, a crucial midpoint between Sunagakure and the Daimyō's capital.
The Kobe Oasis was the Land of Wind's beating heart, a nexus of trade and transport.
Naturally, Hidden Sand maintained a permanent outpost there.
To ensure no interference, Gen and his team struck the outpost the night before Rasa's arrival.
The four of them, Gen, Fuguki, Jūzō, and Kisame, sealed the area with a plain but powerful barrier. Using a high-profile Uchiha Fire Formation would have been too obvious, so Gen chose something understated but precise.
The Sand ninja stationed there were no match for the combined strength of the four. Within minutes, the outpost was silent.
Those who were gravely wounded met a grim end. Gen didn't waste lives so easily—they were fuel. Souls and lifespans were extracted cleanly, leaving behind only cold, empty shells.
By dawn, not a trace remained.
When Rasa's group arrived at the oasis later that morning, they saw nothing out of place—until a shimmer appeared overhead.
The barrier rose silently, sealing the entire oasis under a translucent dome.
Though such a barrier alone might not have held a Kage indefinitely, this one was infused with Senjutsu chakra, its strength and resilience far beyond normal. Rasa could break it, yes, but only with sustained, focused effort. And Gen's assassins would not allow that.
From the treeline ahead, figures emerged—three shadows bearing the headbands of the Hidden Mist.
Fuguki, Jūzō, and Kisame.
Rasa's eyes narrowed immediately.
He recognized the names. Suikazan Fuguki and Biwa Jūzō, two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, both infamous for decades. Even the younger Kisame, with Samehada slung over his shoulder, radiated danger.
His guards instinctively moved to protect him, weapons drawn.
The three Mist swordsmen smiled—grim, predatory, utterly without pity. They surged forward, weapons gleaming, their reflections rippling across the surface of a nearby lake.
That lake and five others scattered across the oasis had not been chosen by accident.
Gen had selected this battleground with surgical precision.
In the desert, Rasa's gold sand reigned supreme but by a lake, the Mist held the natural advantage.
Water Release neutralized Rasa's Gold Dust and Iron Sand. Wet sand grew heavy, slow, and chakra-draining to control.
And with the barrier restricting the battlefield's range, Rasa couldn't summon more sand from the outside.
Fuguki had the terrain, the numbers, and Gen's unseen support from the shadows.
The ambush began in earnest.
Rasa's guards moved first, unleashing Wind Release and Puppet Techniques, while Rasa himself countered with Magnet Release.
The Mist trio didn't meet them head-on—they shifted into fluid defense, their Water Release clashing against Rasa's golden waves. The first exchange ended evenly, the air thick with steam.
Then, with a hand signal, Kisame and Jūzō spread their chakra.
"Hidden Mist Technique!"
A dense fog rolled outward, filling the barrier. Under normal conditions, Rasa could have cleared it with a gust of Wind Release but the barrier disrupted airflow, trapping the fog inside like smoke in a glass bottle.
Visibility dropped to zero.
The battlefield became a world of gray silence perfect for the Mist's assassins.
For Rasa and his guards, the blindness was suffocating. To protect against ambush, they resorted to large-scale attacks, flinging jutsu in every direction.
The Mist trio retaliated in kind.
Water dragons clashed with golden waves and explosions echoed in the fog. As the barrier trembled under the combined pressure of Kage-level chakra.
But the tide was turning.
Rasa's guards specialized in diverse arts—Wind Release, Puppetry, Poison, Sensory, and Medical Ninjutsu. Useful in support, but ill-suited to large-scale combat. Only one of them could keep up with the Mist's flood and even then, not for long.
Rasa's golden sand began to falter, his supply dwindling. When the mist-thickened water weighed down the particles, his Magnet Release wavered and finally collapsed.
The oasis flooded.
Water surged waist-high, then chest-high, swallowing the battlefield whole. Within the barrier, there was nowhere to stand but the shifting surface.
The Mist swordsmen vanished beneath the water, moving with inhuman grace. Their attacks came from below—silent, unseen.
Within minutes, the Kage Guard fell, one by one.
Rasa fought valiantly but was overwhelmed, disarmed, and forced to his knees.
And then, through the drifting fog, Uchiha Gen appeared.
The Sharingan gleamed crimson through the mist.
"My lord," Fuguki said, kneeling with two unconscious Jōnin in his grasp. Jūzō held another. Kisame dragged Rasa himself forward, the Kazekage's face battered, his breathing shallow.
Rasa's swollen eyes opened weakly. Blood mixed with sand dripped from his face. Through the haze, he saw that all-too-familiar red glow.
"…So it was you," he rasped. "You were behind it all."
Gen's smile was calm, almost gentle. "You didn't really think what happened with Pakura was over, did you?"
He stepped closer, the air itself seeming to tighten around him. "You'll pay for what you did to her, and to me. You stood in her way. So now, you die."
Rasa coughed, a bitter laugh escaping his cracked lips. "Heh… The victor claims the right to judge. I have nothing to say. But… one favor."
"You want me to spare your children," Gen said flatly.
Rasa nodded weakly. "Y-yes. Please… they're innocent. They know nothing. I beg you."
Gen's eyes softened—just slightly. "Normally, I'd pull out the roots with the weeds. But Pakura… she's too kind."
"You die, and it ends there. Your children will live—ordinary lives, as ordinary Sand ninja."
It was more mercy than Rasa deserved. His existence had always been a double-edged sword—beneficial for the Village's stability, but poison to Gaara's soul.
Now, with Rasa gone and Yashamaru alive, the fates of Temari, Kankurō, and Gaara would all shift irreversibly.
"Th… thank you," Rasa whispered, eyes fluttering shut.
Gen said nothing. He simply raised his hand.
A flicker of red light bloomed from his eyes, and Rasa's consciousness fell into stillness. His body slackened as his soul and lifespan began to unravel.
Fuguki, Jūzō, and Kisame opened the eyes of the fallen Jōnin. Gen absorbed each in turn, the air pulsing faintly with residual chakra.
When it was done, the four corpses were tossed into the water. Kisame gave a whistle, and sharks erupted from the depths, shredding the remains to nothing.
Within minutes, only faint blood ripples lingered on the water's surface.
Gen dismissed the barrier. Kyouki descended, wings spread like storm clouds, and the group rose silently into the mist, disappearing into the pale morning light.