"Let Kagetsu take some people and handle it."
After some discussion, Orochimaru finally made a decision in front of Pakura.
This made Pakura feel very excited. Having lived in Konoha for so many years, no other Sand ninja understood just how terrifying Konoha had become more than she did.
She and some of the ninjas from the diplomatic team would occasionally substitute at the Ninja Academy, giving her deeper insight into the new generation of Konoha.
To maintain her combat skills, she would also regularly spar with Konoha's Jonin.
One of them was her close friend in Konoha—Uzumaki Kushina.
She even knew that Kushina was Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
And yet, Konoha had never once tried to stop her from being close to Kushina.
This was something unimaginable in any other hidden village.
Who wouldn't be cautious about an outsider approaching their village's ultimate weapon? Even Sunagakure wouldn't allow it.
But Konoha turned a blind eye to it—as if they had already accepted Kushina's interactions and friendship with her.
As Kushina herself put it, as long as she didn't betray the village, she was free.
Other than needing permission to leave the village, her activities inside Konoha and her relationships with others weren't restricted at all.
At most, they'd assign an Anbu to "watch over her" in plain sight.
But both the Anbu and Kushina understood that this "monitoring" was just a precaution—so that in case of an emergency, the Anbu could quickly inform the village and call for backup.
…
Land of Wind.
"Four o'clock direction, an unknown energy is penetrating the barrier. There are more than four of them! Guard ninjas, move out to block and support!"
At the center of an oasis, a sensory ninja wearing a sensing amplifier reported the abnormality he detected.
Soon, an elite squad of Chunin rushed quickly toward the direction the sensory ninja had reported.
"Gold Rain!"
When the Sand ninjas arrived to support, Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, was already on the scene.
As he controlled the sand infused with his chakra, several blurry figures of varying heights appeared, covered by the sand filled with Rasa's chakra.
Four Hollows.
One was especially huge, like a giant summoned beast, while the other three were smaller but still about half the size of a One-Tail.
Sensing Rasa's power, all four Hollows turned and charged toward him in unison.
"As expected, the more chakra a ninja has, the more you monsters are attracted!"
Rasa was not surprised when the four Hollows turned and rushed at him.
The Sand ninjas had clashed with these Hollows many times before.
Following the ninja habit of gathering intelligence on opponents and preparing countermeasures, they had already summarized some characteristics of the Hollows based on their behavior.
Namely, the Hollows were not attacking or destroying without reason. Like predators, they came into the world to hunt!
Their prey was ninjas who possessed chakra, or simply, ninjas themselves.
The earliest Hollows were not very strong, so they only hunted ordinary people with some chakra, mainly genin.
Because they are naturally invisible, they were deadly to most genin.
Even experienced chunin, who had been through many battles, would die if caught off guard and ambushed.
If they only threatened genin and chunin, Rasa wouldn't be too worried. But after the Hollows devoured a ninja's chakra or soul, their power grew at a rate that made the Sand ninja's skin crawl.
Some jonin had already died at the hands of these Hollows.
What was even more terrifying was that after killing a jonin and finishing their meal, the Hollow gained human-like intelligence.
It absorbed the jonin's memories and could imitate that jonin's fighting style and ninja techniques.
It didn't even need to form hand seals to release those techniques.
This devouring ability and growth potential were why Rasa felt he was facing a grave threat and had to ask Konoha for help.
He feared that if they delayed, more and more Hollows would hunt enough ninjas and become a massive disaster roaming the Land of Wind!
It would be a moving catastrophe even worse than a rampaging Tailed Beast Jinchuriki!
Now, all he could do was hope that Konoha would respond quickly and send people who understood the Hollows to assist.
Before reinforcements arrived, Rasa could only use the Hollows' instinct to chase chakra to trap them in a certain area.
The Hollows' movement paths clearly followed the Ryūmyaku veins, which was where they could move.
Of course, this wasn't 100% certain because two newly appeared strong Hollows could move outside the Ryūmyaku vein area.
They brought great losses to the Sand ninja.
Three Sand ninja were almost instantly attacked and severely injured or killed.
Among them, the soul of one jonin merged with a nearby wandering Hollow, gaining some intelligence.
The Sand Iron World Rain technique itself didn't have much killing power, but the power swirling around the golden sand was the key to revealing those invisible Hollows.
It was like giving an invisible person a suit that couldn't be hidden, allowing the sand ninja to track them.
Rasa was immediately lifted by a mass of golden sand, floating in mid-air. The chakra inside his body suddenly exploded as he quickly flew toward the oasis's barrier.
As Rasa moved, one of the Hollows that had broken into the barrier suddenly turned back, chasing him relentlessly.
This Hollow was the largest among the four, also the strongest and most dangerous!
For it, the temptation of Rasa was almost unmatched. Only a prey with more chakra than Rasa could divert its attention away.
The other three Hollows also had a strong desire for Rasa, but they were driven off by the large Hollow chasing him, so they had to redirect their targets to the surrounding ninjas.
For them, the group of ninjas gathered in front of them was also an irresistible temptation.
Gold Sand Burial!
Leaving the oasis barrier behind with no worries, Rasa immediately launched an attack on the large Hollow chasing him.
Outside the oasis, the desert seemed to come alive. The vast golden sand turned into a natural disaster, engulfing the huge Hollow.
Rasa didn't try to bury it underground, as that wouldn't solve the problem completely.
From current tests, the only effective method ninjas had against them was sealing techniques!
Only sealing techniques could silence the Hollow and stop it from rampaging again.
Ninjutsu like the Five Nature Transformations could affect the Hollows, but their recovery speed was shockingly fast.
If they weren't killed in one strike, they would quickly heal.
****
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