Chapter 243: Cutting the Root
Uchiha Akira slowly ascended, his form rising effortlessly into the smoke-choked sky above the ruins of Sunagakure.
His body floated a hundred meters high, the wind whipping at his dark robes. He looked down upon the devastation he had wrought.
A scene of utter ruins.
Scorched giant craters, steaming from the impact of his Susanoo's attacks. Collapsed buildings, reduced to piles of rubble and splintered wood. And the massive, unnatural rift valley he had personally cleaved through the center of the village, a scar upon the earth itself.
All of it silently, grimly, spoke of the brutality of the war that had just ended.
This war... this battle... was over.
Uchiha Akira's gaze finally turned towards the distant, endless desert stretching out beyond the shattered village walls.
In his powerful, expanded perception, several frantic chakra signatures were fleeing into the depths of the desert at an extremely high speed.
The leading chakra signature... strong, distinct, filled with despair and desperation... belonged to the Yondaime Kazekage (Fourth Kazekage), Rasa.
"Did he escape...?" Akira murmured to himself, a cold sneer touching his lips.
He considered, for a brief moment, letting Rasa go.
Leaving Rasa alive might allow him to use his identity as Kazekage to more quickly gather Sunagure's remaining, scattered forces. It could potentially facilitate Konoha's takeover and integration process.
However... the potential for future trouble was too great.
A former Kazekage, filled with resentment, humiliation, and the thirst for revenge... he was like a ticking time bomb buried nearby, ready to detonate at any moment, causing instability and rebellion.
Uchiha Akira disliked such uncontrollable variables. Loathed them.
In his grand plan, the name 'Sunagakure' would completely disappear from the Shinobi World. Its history, its identity, erased.
It would be replaced by Konoha's "Sand Clan." Subordinate. Controlled.
And the future leader of this newborn, subjugated clan could only be a puppet he personally cultivated. Someone loyal, someone manageable.
For example... the Kazekage's own son. The child named Gaara, the contained Jinchūriki. Yes... he would be suitable.
As for Rasa... and the other remnants of the old, failed era... it was safer, cleaner, to eliminate them completely.
"To cut the grass," Akira murmured softly, his voice cold as the desert night, "one must remove the roots."
The moment his words fell...
Whoosh—!
His figure left a faint, shimmering afterimage in place. He had already transformed into a black stream of light, faster than sound, rapidly chasing in the direction Rasa had fled!
Miles out in the open desert. The dunes stretched endlessly under the pale moonlight.
Rasa was leading the last few loyal Anbu members still alive, desperately fleeing into the distance. Their breaths rasped, their legs burned, but they pushed on.
The wind howled in Rasa's ears, a mocking sound. The yellow sand beneath his feet rapidly receded as they sprinted.
The Village... the Village he had managed, ruled, bled for, for half his life... it was gone. Destroyed in a single, horrifying hour.
His two respected Advisor Elders, Chiyo-baa and Ebizō-sama... they were dead. Brutally killed before his eyes.
The Tailed Beast, Shukaku, their ultimate weapon, their final hope... it had been toyed with, humiliated, and beaten like a common pet before being sealed away again.
Sunagakure was utterly, completely, irrevocably defeated.
"Kazekage-sama! Please hurry!" A Sunagakure Anbu running beside him suddenly roared, his voice hoarse with panic and effort.
"He... HE'S CATCHING UP!"
Boom!
Those words instantly chilled Rasa's heart to its core.
His worst fear. His most primal terror. It had come true.
That monster... he wasn't satisfied with destroying the village. He was coming for him.
"Don't mind us, Kazekage-sama! Go!" Another Anbu shouted, his voice filled with desperate loyalty. "You are Sunagakure's last hope!"
"We'll hold him off! Buy you time!"
"As long as you live, Kazekage-sama, Sunagakure still has a chance to rebuild! A chance for vengeance!"
"Go! GO!"
The five remaining Anbu shinobi stopped almost simultaneously, skidding to a halt in the loose sand.
They abruptly turned around, forming a desperate defensive line. They looked resolutely at the rapidly approaching black speck behind them, their faces grim masks of determination.
Uchiha Akira's figure arrived in an instant, the sound of his passage like tearing silk!
He finally stopped, hovering slightly above the sand, less than a hundred meters from the five doomed Anbu.
"Konoha scum!"
"Die!"
"Fūton: Renkūdan!" (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!)
"Doton: Yomi Numa!" (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!)
"Sabaku Sōsō!" (Secret Technique: Sand Binding Coffin!)
[Inorin's Note: Fūton: Renkūdan is typically Shukaku's technique, but skilled Suna shinobi can use similar high-pressure wind jutsus. Sabaku Sōsō is Gaara's technique, but implies other Suna Anbu might use variations of sand manipulation.]
The five Anbu didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. The moment Akira appeared, they attacked simultaneously, unleashing everything they had left!
Gale-force winds whipped up sandstorms, transforming into countless sharp, invisible blades aimed at Akira!
The desert beneath Akira's feet instantly turned into a sucking, churning quicksand swamp, designed to swallow everything whole!
Countless grains of magnetized sand appeared out of thin air, coiling around Akira like giant, constricting pythons!
They unleashed their ultimate, secret techniques without reservation, hoping to stall him, even for a moment!
Zzzzt—CRACKLE!
Blinding blue-white electrical light suddenly, violently erupted from Akira's body!
Raiton Chakura Mōdo! (Lightning Release Chakra Mode!)
Vivid blue electrical arcs wildly danced and snapped across his body's surface, illuminating the desert night!
Akira's figure instantly vanished from his spot, faster than the Sharingan could track.
Pfft!
A Sunagakure Anbu, the one forming hand signs for the wind jutsu, suddenly trembled. His jutsu died in his throat.
He widened his eyes in disbelief and looked down.
An arm, enveloped in crackling blue electrical arcs, had already pierced clean through his chest from behind.
"So... fast..."
He struggled to utter two words before his body fell backward limply, lifeless before he hit the sand.
"Disperse! He's too—!"
The remaining four's expressions drastically changed. Panic flared. They immediately tried to break formation, to scatter.
But Akira's speed, amplified by the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, was faster than their reactions! Faster than thought!
Pfft! Pfft!
There were two more dull, wet thuds of flesh being pierced!
The chests of two more Anbu exploded outward in sprays of blood and bone fragments. Massive, smoking holes appeared where their hearts had been. They died instantly, collapsing like puppets with their strings cut.
The last two Anbu watched their comrades slaughtered in the blink of an eye. An uncontrollable, primal terror appeared on their faces. Their eyes reflected the indifferent blue lightning.
But they did not retreat. They were Suna Anbu. Their loyalty was absolute.
The two exchanged a single, final glance.
"FOR SUNAGAKURE!!" they roared in unison.
Abandoning all defense, all hope of survival, they transformed into two blurred afterimages, actively charging towards the avatar of death, towards Uchiha Akira!
This was their final, suicidal attack!
"Foolish."
Akira coldly uttered the single word.
What awaited them were two hands, crackling and entwined with furious, unstoppable lightning.
CRACK! CRACK!
Akira struck with both hands simultaneously, moving faster than they could perceive. He didn't punch. He simply... passed through them.
Their throats, their necks... easily crushed like dry twigs.
Having done all this—eliminating five elite Jōnin in less than five seconds—Akira casually flicked the blood from his sparking hands.
His cold, impassive gaze once again fell on Rasa, who had stopped running nearby, watching the slaughter in frozen horror.
Rasa, hearing the final screams, seeing his last loyal subordinates cut down like grass... knew he couldn't escape.
He simply stopped running. He turned around to face his executioner.
His face... it was no longer human. It was a mask of pure, absolute grief, rage, and madness.
"UGH... AHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!"
Rasa roared skyward, a primal scream of despair. His eyes were completely bloodshot, veins bulging on his temples. He looked like a madman, a cornered beast.
"UCHIHA AKIRA!!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME!!"
BOOM—!!!
Endless, impossible quantities of glittering gold dust suddenly gushed out from the sand beneath his feet! It rose like a tidal wave!
A golden tide, shimmering evilly under the moonlight, rolled and roared behind Rasa! He poured everything he had left into this one, final attack!
"Jiton: Sakin Tairyū!!" (Magnet Release: Gold Dust Great Waterfall!!)
Rasa abruptly pushed both his hands forward!
The sky-darkening golden tsunami, carrying an aura that felt heavy enough to crush mountains, slammed down towards Uchiha Akira!
Akira simply raised one hand, palm outward.
"Shinra Tensei." (Almighty Push.)
[Inorin's Note: Shinra Tensei is another of the Six Paths Techniques from the Rinnegan, creating a powerful telekinetic repulsion.]
Buzz—!
An invisible, supremely domineering repulsive force suddenly erupted from Akira's palm!
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—!!!
The golden tsunami, powerful enough to swallow a city, powerful enough to bury an army... instantly stalled the moment it made contact with this invisible repulsive force!
It hung in the air, meters from Akira, a glittering wall of death held in check.
Immediately after...
The entire golden tide was forcefully, violently repelled in all directions! It exploded outwards, sideways, backwards, in a manner that completely defied the laws of physics!
The violent repulsive force didn't just scatter the gold dust; it blew away large sections of the surrounding desert itself, carving out a massive, shallow sand pit with a diameter of over a hundred meters!
Rasa's full-power, ultimate attack... was thus easily, casually, neutralized.
"..." Rasa stared, his mind refusing to comprehend.
But he did not give up! He couldn't!
"Jiton: Sakin Sōyari!" (Magnet Release: Gold Dust Spear!)
Rasa desperately formed hand signs again!
The scattered gold dust, answering his call, quickly gathered and compressed violently in front of him!
In a flash, it condensed into a gigantic spear, over thirty meters long! It gleamed with a dazzling golden light and exuded an aura of absolute, unstoppable piercing power!
"GO!" Rasa roared, pouring the last dregs of his chakra and his will into the attack!
The golden spear, accompanied by an ear-splitting sonic boom, fiercely stabbed towards Akira!
This was Rasa's strongest single-target piercing ninjutsu! His final hope!
Akira didn't even try to dodge.
"Chidori." (One Thousand Birds.)
ZZZZZZZT—!!!
An ear-piercing, high-frequency chirping sound resonated across the desert!
Violent, untamed lightning wildly gathered in Akira's right palm, brighter and more intense than before!
The next second...
Akira transformed into a pure blue bolt of lightning, charging straight towards the incoming golden giant spear!
BOOM—!!!
The two forces—lightning and gold—collided with a thunderous, deafening crash in mid-air!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The golden spear, condensed from high-density, chakra-infused gold dust... shattered. Inch by inch. From its tip backwards.
The moment it made contact with the Chidori... it simply disintegrated!
The violent Lightning Release chakra easily, contemptuously, tore through the Magnet Release's powerful restraint!
The blue lightning, unstoppable, continued its advance, unabated! Straight towards Rasa!
"No... Impossible...!!" Rasa whispered, his eyes wide with terror.
Pfft—!
A dull, wet thud of a blade piercing flesh.
Rasa's body froze in place.
His final attack... vanished.
He slowly, mechanically, lowered his head.
An arm, still enveloped in crackling blue electrical light, had already pierced clean through his chest, emerging gruesomely from his back.
His still-beating heart... was clenched tightly, visibly, in that lightning-wreathed hand.
"Ugh..." Gurgling sounds came from Rasa's throat. Blood, thick and dark, continuously gushed from the corners of his mouth.
Crack.
Uchiha Akira's five fingers suddenly tightened.
Rasa's heart... was crushed. Pulped.
"..." Rasa's body trembled violently, a final, convulsive shudder.
The light in his eyes rapidly dimmed... eventually settling into complete, vacant stillness.
The Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa of the Gold Dust, who had ruled Sunagakure for over a decade... thus fell. Alone. In the cold desert night.
Akira withdrew his arm. He casually flung Rasa's lifeless corpse aside, letting it fall limply onto the yellow sand, forgotten.
He stood there for a moment, the lightning dissipating, leaving only the sound of the wind.
The root... was cut.
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