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The city of Kanzaki vibrated with an energy that rivaled the great capitals of the Elemental Nations.
Strategically located within the borders of the Land of Fire, this metropolis had become the most valuable commercial enclave under the administrative control of Sunagakure a trophy of war and diplomacy that now served as the economic lung feeding the desert.
The streets of Kanzaki were a hive of activity; merchants from all nations crossed its gates, marveled by the security provided by the sand ninjas. Thanks to Pakura's tactical management, the city's security was absolute, allowing the economy to flourish under the shadow of Suna's banners.
However, far from the bustle of the markets and caravans, in a private training ground protected by high stone walls, the air felt much heavier and denser.
Pakura was in the middle of an intensive session with her only student, Maki. The young ninja struggled to use her special cloths to restrict her teacher's movement, throwing chakra-infused rolls with a precision that would have caught any elite Jōnin.
But Pakura was no longer the same ninja she was two years ago; her speed and perception had risen to a level that bordered on the imperceptible to an untrained eye.
With a lateral movement that seemed like a simple blur of heat, Pakura dodged the web of cloth that Maki had thrown into the air. Before the young woman could retract her weapons, Pakura appeared behind her, using a leg sweep charged with kinetic energy that knocked Maki down with absolute cleanliness.
The student fell on her back, panting from the effort, while Pakura's palm stopped mere millimeters from her forehead, emanating a temperature that made the air vibrate.
"That's enough for today," Pakura said, softening her warrior's gaze and extending a firm hand to help her student up from the ground.
"You've grown strong, Maki. Your control over the cloths and your ability to cover blind spots has improved drastically, but you still lack that spark of instinct to predict when a high-level enemy will stop playing with your rhythm and move to a total offensive".
Maki took her teacher's hand, wiping away dust and sweat as she caught her breath.
"It's frustrating, Pakura-sama. No matter how hard I try to catch you, it seems you are always one step ahead of reality. You move like a blink".
Before Pakura could offer more advice, a red-feathered messenger hawk dove from the blue sky, landing with military precision on her bandage-wrapped arm.
Pakura wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and untied the small message cylinder with expert agility. As she unrolled the paper and saw Daigo's signature, her expression grew calmer, expecting a letter from him, though it was not quite that.
The report detailed the massacre in the border village, the crystal pillars that had impaled the houses, and the direct order from Daigo to find the user; the mission report itself had been sent by Rasa.
"Someone else using the Shōton?" Pakura murmured to herself, a note of incredulity in her voice at the thought of another user existing when Daigo was the one who created it. She didn't waste a second in doubt
. "Maki, stop cleaning your gear and get ready. We have a top-priority mission issued directly from Sunagakure".
Pakura disappeared in a burst of dry heat to gather her elite squad. Maki, who thought of asking something, didn't have time; she simply stood up and ran to her place to prepare.
Minutes later, the group was formed and ready; they left Kanzaki at a blistering speed, becoming shadows crossing the forest toward the mission coordinates.
Meanwhile , in what remained of the devastated village, the silence was only interrupted by the creaking of burnt wood and the wind whistling through the pink crystal pillars that protruded from the ground like fangs from the earth.
Among the ruins of a house that miraculously kept part of its roof, a woman named Sayuri was kneeling next to a makeshift bed.
Sayuri, a noble-hearted villager carrying her own few-week-old baby in a wrap over her shoulder, had not stopped caring for the small seven-year-old girl she had found lying among the corpses and the crystal.
Being the only one alongside her son to survive, she would not let this girl die too.
The girl began to toss violently among the blankets, sobbing in a state of semi-consciousness as nightmares seemed to be occurring in her dreams.
Sayuri gently changed the damp cloth on her forehead, trying to lower the fever that was consuming her.
"You're safe now, little one. Don't let the nightmares keep you from resting," Sayuri whispered while softly cradling her baby, who slept unaware of the horror surrounding them.
Finally, the girl opened her eyes suddenly. her gaze was full of terror, unfocused and wild. Seeing Sayuri, the girl cowered against the wooden wall, trembling so hard her teeth chattered. The woman hurried to calm her, offering some water in a chipped wooden bowl.
"Calm down, child. Your name is Guren, right? You repeated it while you slept," Sayuri said with a sad but comforting smile.
"I found you after those crystal spikes appeared. I don't know what happened, but I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you while I'm here".
Guren drank the water greedily, her small hands still stained with crystal dust.
"Thank you very much for saving me and taking care of me," Guren said, her voice soft as she drank from her bowl.
The woman just smiled, stroking her head. "You can call me Sayuri, and this one here is my son, Yukimaru".
Guren, though tired and worn out, stood up and observed the baby, watching him sleep. Sayuri, with a kind smile, showed Yukimaru to her, making her smile.
"How old are you, Guren?" Sayuri asked.
"I'm 6 years old," Guren replied.
Thus, Sayuri, not wanting to disturb her and letting Guren rest, let her sleep while she continued looking for any survivors.
Time passed until three days had gone by since the attack, during which Guren had fully recovered. Currently, Guren was with Sayuri and Yukimaru eating at the main table when a long, icy, and unnatural shadow was projected from the entrance of the room, darkening the little sunlight that entered through the cracks.
From the darkness emerged a tall person with pale skin, yellow snake-like eyes, and black hair: it was Orochimaru.
Guren, looking at Orochimaru, was surprised he was there and tried to say something, but he was faster.
"I am deeply disappointed, Guren," Orochimaru hissed, his voice sounding like scales crawling over stone.
"I gave you the power to rise above the weak, and here I find you, being protected by a simple country woman. You will never be the weapon I need if you allow these sentimental bonds to chain you".
"Lord Orochimaru... please, forgive me. I... didn't want to be weak," Guren pleaded, falling to her knees before the Sannin's presence, trembling at the thought of losing the only one "who gave her this power and would help her be strong" that she knew.
Orochimaru smiled with a malice that didn't reach his eyes, turning elegantly to head toward the exit.
"I will give you one last chance to redeem yourself, Guren. Kill that woman right now. Show me that your heart can be as hard and cold as the crystal that makes you useful. If you don't, you will stay here to die with the rest of the waste".
Guren, barely six years old and with a mind fractured by everything she had been through having previously lost her entire family because she was weak looked at Sayuri.
The woman, although terrified by Orochimaru's presence, did not let go of the baby and kept her gaze full of compassion toward Guren.
Doubt paralyzed Guren; she felt the warmth of the water Sayuri had given her, the laughs they had shared, and the meals with Yukimaru, but the fear of abandonment by Orochimaru, who would make her strong, was something she couldn't lose.
So, standing up, she pointed her hand toward Sayuri, who closed her eyes.
Just as Guren began to channel her chakra, a burst of scorching fire blew out what was left of the windows.
It pushed back Orochimaru, who grabbed Guren and retreated backward, dodging the fire.
Pakura, Maki, and the Sunagakure squad burst into the room like a firestorm, instantly blocking the path between Guren and Orochimaru and the woman.
Pakura moved with such speed that she appeared in front of Sayuri to protect her.
"Don't try anything else," Pakura ordered with a severity that froze Guren, who was further away next to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, observing who it was, let out his characteristic laugh a sinister vibration that seemed to chill the room despite Pakura's presence.
"Well, well... if it isn't the Heroine of Sunagakure. What is someone of your status doing in this crystal cemetery?".
Pakura observed the traitorous Sannin with a gaze of pure steel, showing not a hint of fear.
"If you turn around and hand over the girl, I will let you leave right now, Orochimaru. We have no interest in your games today, only in the Shōton user".
Orochimaru laughed harder, his eyes shining with evil amusement.
"Don't be naive, Pakura. You can't win against me on this terrain, and you don't have Daigo here to save your life like he did in the past. Guren is my most valuable experiment, and she is coming with me, even if I have to step over your dry corpse".
Pakura did not hesitate at the Sannin's words. With an icy calm that contrasted with the heat emanating from her body, she gave the decisive order.
"Maki! Secure the woman and the child. Get them out of here right now!" Pakura ordered without taking her eyes off Orochimaru.
Turning to the rest of her team, her voice resonated with authority:
"Squad, interception formation! Objective: recover the girl at all costs. Attack!".
Maki reacted instantly, wrapping Sayuri and little Yukimaru in her cloths to quickly take them out through the hole in the wall, while the six ninjas of the elite squad launched into a coordinated choreography of direct attacks toward Orochimaru.
Orochimaru, with a smirk of self-sufficiency, did not let go of Guren. He held her with his left arm, using her almost as a living shield as he prepared for the clash.
Despite his arms not being in a condition to perform complex seals due to holding Guren, the Sannin proved why his name struck terror into the five nations.
The first Suna ninja tried a side sweep, but Orochimaru, with a serpentine movement, rose into the air and delivered a downward kick that drove the ninja into the wooden floor.
Two more ninjas charged simultaneously from the flanks; the Sannin used his body's inertia to spin on his axis, hitting one with his elbow and delivering a spinning kick to the other, sending them crashing into the crystal pillars surrounding the house.
"Is this all Sunagakure's 'elite' has to offer?" Orochimaru hissed, dodging a direct punch from a fourth ninja with an inhuman neck movement, then striking him in the solar plexus with the hand he freed to strike.
Despite the numerical superiority, Orochimaru's taijutsu style was fluid and erratic, like a cobra defending itself.
Every time the sand ninjas tried to close the circle to snatch Guren, he repelled them with sharp, precise blows, taking advantage of his elasticity to attack from impossible angles. The six ninjas were forced back, panting at the pressure a man without using jutsus and carrying a girl was exerting on them.
Orochimaru saw the opening to escape and lunged toward the exit, but the air in front of him suddenly distorted from unbearable heat.
A burst of dry heat exploded at his feet, forcing him to stop in his tracks. Pakura was there, with the Shakuton flowing through her hands, blocking the way with a look of absolute determination.
"You're not taking that girl," Pakura declared, launching into the attack with a direct palm strike.
Orochimaru was forced to let go of Guren for a moment to block the impact with his forearm, feeling Pakura's heat begin to scorch his skin.
The fight entered a phase of pure and brutal taijutsu. Pakura chained palm strikes and heat-infused kicks, while Orochimaru responded with precise blocks and rapid counterattacks, moving with an agility that defied logic.
The Suna squad, seeing the opening, regrouped to try to surround the Sannin again, while Pakura kept him busy in an exchange of blows where each hand-clash generated thermal pressure waves that made the village's crystal structure creak.
Orochimaru, harassed by Pakura's heat and the constant siege of the elite ninjas, grit his teeth, realizing that recovering Guren and getting out of there would not be as easy as he had anticipated.
End of Chapter