Pakura was breathing hard as she stared at the watchtower and walls that had been smashed apart by Hiramekarei.
She was already close to her limit. She had no idea why the Mist ninja had withdrawn.
"Hero! Lady Pakura is a hero of war!"
"The hero of Sabaku Port!"
Cheers rose one after another all around her.
With two fortified positions plus the two hundred shinobi Pakura had brought, they had started with a total of three hundred and twenty Sand ninja. It should have been enough to deal with the Mist expeditionary force.
But the Mist had hidden a large number of ninja inside their ships. More than four hundred had invaded.
Pakura had thought she was going to become the village's sinner and lose Sabaku Port.
Instead, they had driven the Mist back.
Even the nobles hurried out from the depths of their estate and came down to the walls personally to thank her.
Pakura knew something was wrong.
But at that moment, all she could do was force herself to stand tall and use the name of a war hero to steady the frightened nobles.
Once the nobles had been calmed, Pakura led her people in clearing the battlefield.
The fighting had spread from the shallows to the shore, from the piers to the warehouses, from the docks into the city, from the outer wall all the way to the nobles' estate.
Corpses were everywhere.
Ninja. Sailors. Porters. Civilians. Samurai...
As she walked through streets carpeted with bodies, bitterness welled up in Pakura's heart.
One of her subordinates dragged a one-eyed sailor out of a basement.
"Lady Pakura, this man has a kunai wound in his throat, but he still seems to be breathing!"
Pakura looked at Sail's trembling pupil and said, "Give him some water. This one has a strong will to live."
As he watched the Sand ninja move away, Sail thought to himself that these people really couldn't tell he had an undying body. Lord Evil God was truly magnificent.
Soon, Pakura came across a strange part of the battlefield.
Mist corpses were scattered everywhere.
Every single one had died the same way: a slit throat from a kunai.
There were no traces of ninjutsu. That meant the Mist ninja had not even had time to use techniques.
Not just ninjutsu. There were not even any logs from Substitution Technique.
Pakura quickly found a set of unusual footprints. The same pair appeared in front of every Mist corpse.
The prints did not shift or twist. That meant the killer had not needed to torque the waist or put their whole body behind the strike. A mere flick of the hand had been enough to take a life.
Strong...
Strong enough to wipe out dozens of Mist ninja with taijutsu alone.
While searching for more clues, Pakura suddenly noticed an Earth Spear rising from an alley to the side.
An Earth Spear?
This one was different. The texture and shaping resembled a jutsu used by someone she had once known...
The man who had first guided her chakra training near Crescent Oasis.
The man who had also been the first—and only—man in her life.
After sending her subordinates away to clear the rest of the battlefield, Pakura followed the direction indicated by the Earth Spear until a voice stopped her.
"Pakura. Come here."
She spun around at once and saw a man standing on the second floor of a half-collapsed building.
That... was him?
She rushed inside and stopped on a floor slanted at a sharp angle.
A man stood across from her.
Pakura would never forget that silhouette.
Yako turned and looked at her.
"Long time no see, Pakura."
"It's you! Miqū!"
Yako went blank for a moment.
He had used so many aliases over the years that he had nearly forgotten which one he had used with Pakura back then.
"Miqū, where have you been all these years? No... who are you, really?"
Pakura had replayed every detail of their meeting countless times. She had long been sure that encounter had been full of mysteries.
"I've been watching you all along, Pakura," Yako said. "When we parted, I warned you to be careful of Rasa—now Advisor Rasa.
But you didn't truly listen."
"I was careful with Rasa!" Pakura protested at once. "Every time I spoke with him, I stayed cautious. I analyzed every word he said, every shift in tone, every possible thought behind it."
"Not that kind of careful," Yako said.
"As far as I know, Rasa once tried to draw you to his side, and you refused him.
Chiyo, being another woman and someone closer to you, also tried to win you over, and you refused her too.
That left you isolated inside Sunagakure.
After the Third Kazekage disappeared, the internal struggle in the village intensified.
A mission like reinforcing Sabaku Port—one with risk but no real reward—naturally fell onto your shoulders.
If you succeeded, all you gained was a ruined port.
If you failed, you became Sunagakure's sinner.
Your situation is terrible. Do you understand that?"
Pakura lowered her head and said nothing. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Miqū... who exactly are you? Why do you know our village's internal factional struggle so well?"
"Don't worry about how I know," Yako said as he walked toward her.
"I share some blame here too. Perhaps my warning about Rasa made you too wary of him and only deepened the rift between you.
Rasa saw that you were closer to Chiyo, so he used this mission to make you carry the blame."
Pain crossed Pakura's face as she thought of the struggle between Rasa and Chiyo.
"The two advisors are becoming more and more irreconcilable.
After Lord Kazekage disappeared, the search for him turned into their battlefield.
Where he actually is no longer matters.
What matters is whether the village supports their respective approaches.
Rasa insists on searching the whole shinobi world for his teacher. Lady Chiyo believes the village must come first.
Neither of them is wrong. But any Sand ninja who sides with one becomes a thorn in the other's eye.
All I want is to protect Sunagakure. Protect the Land of Wind.
Neither side likes me for it."
Yako stepped forward and pulled her into an embrace.
Pakura shuddered.
Her memory of Miqū had long since become something distant and dreamlike. Since Crescent Oasis, no man had come this close to her again.
As he gently stroked her smooth back and quietly left behind a Flying Thunder God formula, Yako said, "The next great war is coming, Pakura. Be very careful.
Before we part, let me give you a gift."
He lowered his head and kissed her.
When he pulled away, he bit her lower lip and took a drop of her blood.
Her lip stung, but she said nothing.
She had just been about to ask him once more how he knew so much about Sunagakure's internal affairs when she realized he had already vanished.
She reached out instinctively, trying to catch him, but there was nothing there.
Only a lingering voice remained in the air.
"When your life is in danger, I'll appear again."
***
In the northwest of the Land of Wind, Rasa was leading over a thousand Sand ninja in search of Iwa shinobi, trying to force a decisive battle.
The Iwa forces there had to be cleared out. The Land of Wind's mission market had to be preserved.
If the Land of Wind itself stopped supporting Sunagakure, then Sunagakure would truly be finished.
"Lord Rasa! There are people in the sky!"
Rasa looked up at once and saw two black dots high overhead.
Flying enemies.
His first thought was Ōnoki.
But there were only two figures in the sky, and no other Iwa ninja nearby. This looked more like a parley than an attack.
Sand rose beneath Rasa's feet and lifted him into the air.
And there he saw him.
Ōnoki.
But the other man was even more terrifying.
The Third Raikage.
Why was the Third Raikage in the northwest of the Land of Wind?
Why was he moving together with Ōnoki?
The Third Raikage stood atop a flying white explosive clay bird.
"Rasa, I know you can speak for Sunagakure. You have that authority," Ōnoki said.
"So tell me—what are your thoughts on the coming shinobi war?"
Ōnoki's gaze was full of scrutiny, as though one wrong answer would make both him and the Raikage strike at once.
Rasa's eyes moved back and forth between the Tsuchikage and the Raikage, filled with confusion and alarm.
Those two had joined forces?
Weren't they supposed to be bitter enemies?
Then who were they planning to fight together?
It couldn't be him.
He wasn't worth that kind of alliance.