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Inside Sunagakure, the panic triggered by the disappearance of the Third Kazekage had yet to subside, while outside, a storm had quietly taken shape and was sweeping across the entire Ninja World at an astonishing speed.
The Kazekage's disappearance was a fatal blow to Sunagakure—a sword hanging above their heads—yet to the other great nations watching like predators, it was a heaven-sent opportunity. A Sunagakure deprived of its strongest weapon and left leaderless was like a fat slab of meat exposed to the desert vultures: tempting and fragile.
Sayo's squad, along with countless search parties, scurried like headless flies across the desolate borderlands. Every encounter with foreign shinobi foreshadowed the situation sliding toward an uncontrollable abyss. The frequent appearance of Iwagakure was no coincidence.
Sure enough, bad news arrived in quick succession.
The first to move was Iwagakure of the Land of Earth. The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki—the shrewd "Two-Tiered Scale"—bared his fangs the moment he confirmed the Third Kazekage wouldn't reappear. The Iwagakure army marched south, occupying small border territories in a crushing sweep. Immediately after, the main force pressed the frontier and brazenly invaded the already war-torn Land of Rain.
Although Hanzō, leader of Amegakure, was powerful, the Land of Rain had been weakened ever since the Second Great Ninja War. Facing Iwagakure's full-scale invasion, its resistance was failing. Ōnoki's target was obvious: hit them while they're down, squeeze Sunagakure's strategic space, and challenge Konoha's hegemony.
Almost simultaneously, Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning stirred. The Third Raikage, A, possessed a temperament as direct as his Lightning Release. He ordered Kumogakure's forces to strike in full strength, swiftly seizing the Land of Hot Springs. In an instant, the Land of Fire faced dual military pressure—Kumogakure from the northeast and Iwagakure from the northwest.
Konohagakure felt the tremors. Although the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was hailed as the "Professor," facing near-simultaneous advances from two great nations forced him to mobilize. Mighty ninja such as Jiraiya and Orochimaru were entrusted with heavy responsibilities; Konoha's war machine was now running at full speed.
Sunagakure now fell into an unprecedented state of passivity. At the high-level meeting, the conservative faction led by Ebizo insisted on continuing the search for the Kazekage, while the war faction argued that the village could not sit idle while its territory was eroded. Elder Chiyo sat among them, her face gloomy, filled with resentment toward the global order that had claimed her family and now her leader.
In the end, Sunagakure made a painful decision: drastically reduce the search teams, pull the main force back for domestic defense, and focus on the northern border touching Iwagakure.
When this order reached Sayo's squad, Captain Iryō remained silent for a long time. They had just survived a fierce battle where Sayo's nascent Magnet Release had been the only thing that saved them.
"The situation has deteriorated to this point…?" Iryō stared at the order scroll, his voice a hoarse rasp. Officially, the search for the Kazekage was virtually halted. The chance he was still alive became even slimmer.
Sayo wiped bloodstains from his "Spider" puppet, saying nothing. Images flashed through his mind: the barren villages, the gaunt children, and the desert devouring the oases. Internal hardship and external enemies—this was the reality.
He unconsciously touched the Divine Fragment hidden against his skin, the one emitting that ancient energy. Shukaku's mutterings about the "God Tree" and "Kaguya" seemed connected to this artifact. The energy within was vaster and more natural than anything he had known.
"Chaos is a ladder…" Sayo murmured, recalling a phrase from his previous life as Liu Yu. The collapse of the world was a crisis for Suna, but for an engineer with his knowledge, it was a forge.
He lifted his gaze toward the village. The materials to upgrade the Puppet Core and the Body Tempering Furnace were almost gathered. It was time to return. Before the full-scale war erupted, he had to realize the blueprint of his "Mirage" and reach a level of power that could truly change the fate of this parched land.
The wind carried the smell of distant gunpowder, heralding the rise of the Third Great Ninja War.
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