Every grain of sand in that storm was packed with chakra, sharp as a bullet. Maintaining a defense dense enough to block something like that demanded terrifying control.
It was the first time the others had seen Akira reveal a Lightning Style jutsu that could attack and defend at the same time.
Akira ignored their shock and spread out his sensory field.
Within an instant, every chakra current for miles around formed a clear map in his mind. Everyone's position lit up.
"Found them. The rat creating the storm is in that direction."
He pointed the way, then pushed off the ground and led the other three straight through the storm as if it were nothing.
With that invincible shelter around them, the desert that had been nearly impossible to cross suddenly felt flat and easy.
At the other end of the sandstorm, the mysterious shinobi maintaining the technique seemed to sense something.
"So the Konoha has stepped in too? Hmph. That Akira really is a nuisance. Still, stopping me won't be that easy."
Akira suddenly slowed, a faint crease forming between his brows.
"That's odd. Why is Gaara in here too?"
In his sensory field, a huge, violent surge of chakra was racing toward the heart of the desert. It was Gaara.
Asuma quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Akira thought for a moment, then relaxed. "Nothing. This might actually make things simpler. Protecting the target and rescuing the students can now be handled at the same time."
"You mean Gaara's in here too?" Kurenai asked, surprised.
Akira nodded.
Asuma immediately looked annoyed. "Has he lost his mind? He knows someone's trying to kill him. Why would he leave the safe zone and walk straight into this?"
Akira sighed softly. "Probably because someone important to him is in there. I heard his precious student is nearby too. For a guy like him, who only barely opened up enough to take on a disciple, there's no way he'd sit back and do nothing."
That shut the three teachers right up. After all, they had rushed in for exactly the same reason. No one was in a position to judge.
The four of them pressed forward at top speed and soon reached the core of the battlefield.
What they saw made all of them pause.
Gaara was pinned in place by the strange sound of a biwa being played by the monk Hōichi, while the chakra of Shukaku inside him was being forcibly drawn out.
Even more startling, a green-haired girl was trapped nearby as well. It was Fū, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki.
Meanwhile, Neji, Tenten, and Lee were working together with two shinobi from Takigakure, launching a fierce assault on Hōichi.
Akira stopped and motioned for everyone to stay hidden.
"Don't rush in yet. I want to see what the kids can do."
"This is a rare chance for them to get real combat experience."
He dropped the lightning barrier, and the four of them took cover behind a massive wind-carved rock while they watched the fight.
"That monk's got a few tricks, but he's not unstoppable."
Akira's eyes were sharp. He had already seen through the man's limits.
This was clearly an internal purge within Sunagakure.
A lot of people in the village's upper ranks were unhappy that Gaara had become Kazekage so young. Even if he was the previous Kazekage's son, even if he was a jinchūriki, putting a fourteen-year-old in charge was always going to leave some people bitter.
This assassination attempt had obviously been made possible by an insider.
But that was Suna's family business. Akira's job was to make sure Gaara didn't die, not to help clean out his political enemies.
Watching Neji and the others coordinate their attacks so smoothly, Akira's eyes showed a flash of approval.
"That monk really does have some skill. Holding down two tailed beasts while fending off Lee and the others in close combat isn't easy."
Fū, in particular, impressed him. Even while trapped, the girl had somehow managed to weave a chakra net from the inside, slowing the rate at which her chakra was being drained and buying Neji precious time.
Gai, seeing how much pain Gaara was in, could hardly sit still. "Akira, if we wait any longer, Gaara's going to be drained dry!"
Akira shook his head, calm as ever. "Relax. I think Neji's already found the key."
"Besides rescuing them, I'm more interested in whoever's hiding behind all this."
Asuma, seasoned enough to read the situation at a glance, nodded. "A sandstorm on this scale is a large barrier technique. There's no way that monk put it together by himself. There's definitely a bigger player behind this."
Ten minutes later, the fight was over.
Neji proved worthy of Akira's confidence. Using Gentle Fist, he cut off Hōichi's chakra pathways, saved both jinchūriki, and captured the monk alive for good measure.
Only then did Akira step out with the three teachers, strolling into view as if they'd just arrived for the finale.
Gaara was slumped on the ground, drained and pale. When he saw Akira, he gave a bitter smile.
"I knew you were nearby. And you really watched that whole thing before stepping in."
Akira didn't bother responding. He turned to Neji instead, who was already interrogating the prisoner.
"Well? Did he say anything interesting?"
Neji wiped the sweat from his brow and answered in a low voice, "He talked. The one behind this is someone named Fugi."
"Fugi?!"
Gaara's pupils shrank at once, disbelief plain across his face.
Fugi was one of Sunagakure's senior elders, a man who had always seemed to support him. Gaara had even thought of him as one of the few older figures in the village he could trust.
He had never imagined that the sharpest knife in his back would come from the one person he least suspected.
That kind of betrayal hurt far worse than anything the monk had done to his body.
Akira noticed the change in Gaara immediately and spoke in a quieter tone.
"Looks like this has become one of your village's private matters. Since it involves your upper ranks, it wouldn't be appropriate for us from Konoha to interfere."
Gaara lowered his gaze and nodded silently.
Family shame stayed inside the family. Once politics at that level were involved, outside help stopped being help and started becoming a liability.
Akira stretched lazily. "Well, we rescued the target, so the mission's done. Gai-sensei, let's head out. No point hanging around here getting in the way."
Just as they were getting ready to leave, the green-haired girl named Fū bounced right up in front of Akira, her big eyes sparkling.
"Hey, you're Akira from Konoha, right? I want to be friends with you!"
Akira looked at her, amused.
The girl really did have nerves of steel. She had just barely escaped disaster, and already she was trying to make friends.
Still, the fact that she could control the Seven-Tails without going berserk really was rare in the ninja world.
Her only weakness was that she still lacked polish. She had incredible power, but couldn't draw it out properly yet.
Akira nodded once. "You're the Seven-Tails jinchūriki, aren't you?"
Fū blinked in surprise. "Huh? How'd you know that? Do you have x-ray vision or something?"
Akira's mouth twitched. "Come on. A minute ago, you and Gaara were both being drained like water from a well. Your tailed-beast chakra was flaring all over the place. I'm not blind."
"I've got to say, though, Takigakure has guts. Sending a walking strategic weapon to take the Chunin Exams isn't exactly normal."
"But for what it's worth, the way you handle your tailed beast is a lot better than how Gaara used to, back when he only knew how to lose control."
The completely innocent Gaara, dragged into the conversation for no reason, shot him a dark look.