The desert flats were blinding. The sun, now at its zenith, bleached the color from the world, turning the sand into a sea of white fire. Heat waves rippled off the horizon, distorting distance and making the scrub brush dance like ghosts. The heat was oppressive, heavy and dry, sucking the moisture from his eyes with every blink.
A single hawk cried out high above, circling the thermals, its screech lost in the vast, white ominous quiet.
Sasuke adjusted his collar, wiping a bead of sweat from his neck. The air tasted of ozone—a sharp, electric tang that shouldn't exist in a place where the only technology was rusted mining gear.
Sasuke glanced back at the fork in the road where the dust was still settling; Team Anko—minus one unpredictable blonde—had peeled off minutes ago to escort the merchant wagon south, leaving Team Kakashi to hold the vanguard.
"Contact," Kakashi signaled, his hand slicing the air.
It wasn't a stealth approach.
A figure crested the dune ahead of them.
It wasn't a ninja. It wasn't a bandit. It looked like something out of a storybook Tenten might read.
The figure wore bulky, medieval-style plate armor. It was polished to a mirror sheen, reflecting the sun with painful intensity. A red cape fluttered in the wind, pristine against the dust. His armor clanked softly as he shifted his weight—clink-clank—a sound of manufactured precision that felt alien in the wild desert.
A broadsword, easily five feet long, was strapped to his back.
"What is that?" Naruto whispered, squinting. "Is he lost?"
Sasuke scowled at Naruto; the idiot should have gone with Jiraiya and Sylvie, but of course, he had stubborn-glued himself to Sasuke's flank the moment the enemy appeared.
"He's not lost," Sasuke murmured, his Sharingan activating. "He's hunting."
Three more figures appeared on the ridge. Women in similar, though lighter, armor. One with purple plating (Eva), one with turquoise (Mina), and one with dark grey (Gwen).
They didn't move like shinobi. They didn't crouch or hide. They stood tall, broadcasting their presence.
The scent of polished steel and leather wafted from them, clean and sterile, devoid of sweat or fear.
"Halt," the leader (Temujin) commanded. His voice was amplified, booming across the flats without the use of chakra. "By the authority of Master Haiduk, this land is under reclamation."
"Reclamation?" Kakashi stepped forward, his posture relaxed but ready. "This is Wind Country territory. You're trespassing."
The Knight didn't argue. He didn't weave signs. He simply drew his sword.
The blade extended, segments sliding out with a metallic shing-shing-shing. A low hum started, vibrating in Sasuke's teeth, growing louder as the green light intensified.
A green light pulsed from the hilt, running down the fuller of the blade.
"Authority authorizes force," Temujin stated flatly. "Technique is obsolete."
He swung.
He was fifty meters away. It shouldn't have reached.
But the green light exploded from the sword tip.
"Raging Thunder!"
Sasuke's eyes widened. English?
A beam of pure, condensed energy tore through the air. It wasn't lightning chakra—it was raw power. It slammed into the ground in front of Kakashi, exploding with the force of a bomb.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, realizing suddenly how exposed they were without Jiraiya's massive summons to soak up the damage or Anko's snakes to bind the target.
The smell of charred sand—silica fused into glass—filled the air instantly, acrid and hot.
BOOM.
Sand turned to glass. The shockwave knocked Naruto off his feet.
"Scatter!" Kakashi yelled.
Sasuke moved. He blurred to the left, flanking the Knight.
He's slow, Sasuke analyzed, watching the heavy armor clank as Temujin turned. No shunshin. No subtlety.
Sasuke wove signs.
Chidori.
CHIRP-CHIRP-SCREEE. The lightning sound was deafening, drowning out the wind.
Lightning chirped in his hand, a thousand birds screaming for blood. He launched himself at the Knight's blind spot.
You rely on that armor, Sasuke thought, a sneer curling his lip. Let's see how it handles a piercing strike.
He drove the Chidori straight at Temujin's chest plate.
CRACK-ZZZTT.
The lightning hit. But it didn't pierce.
The green stone embedded in the center of the chest plate flared. It didn't just block the attack; it drank it.
Sasuke felt his chakra being sucked out of his hand, pulled into the vortex of the stone.
"What?" Sasuke gasped, kicking off the armor to break the connection.
His hand felt numb and cold, the sensation of having his life force drained lingering like a phantom limb.
He landed in a crouch, his hand smoking.
He looked at the stone. It pulsed brighter now, fed by his own lightning.
The stone pulsed with a rhythmic thump-thump, mimicking a heartbeat, mocking his exhaustion.
Temujin didn't look winded. He didn't look drained. He just looked... charged.
"Your energy is inefficient," Temujin noted, raising his sword again. "It requires gestures. Focus. Mine simply is."
Sasuke stared at the stone.
He thought of the Curse Mark on his own neck. The pain it caused. The way it ate at his mind, corrupted his thoughts, demanded a price for every drop of power.
The curse mark burned, a searing itch beneath his skin, demanding attention, demanding blood.
He's using that stone like a battery, Sasuke realized, a cold knot of envy tightening in his gut. No seals. No drawbacks. No pain? Just... power?
He watched the Knight fire another blast- "Plasma Ball!" -without even flinching.
So this is what power looks like when it doesn't ask permission, Sasuke thought. The idea was intoxicating.
He licked his lips, tasting salt and copper, his mouth suddenly dry with desire.
He remembered Kakashi's warnings about shortcuts. About the cost of unearned strength.
Fear, Sasuke decided, dismissing his teacher's wisdom. He's just afraid of what I could be if I didn't have to bleed for it.
The reflection of the glowing stone danced in his eyes, obscuring his own pupil, painting his vision green.
The ground began to shake.
It wasn't an earthquake. It was rhythmic. THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.
"Something big is coming," Neji warned, his Byakugan veins bulging. "Massive chakra signature. It's... it's the size of a mountain."
Dust rained down from the sky, shaken loose by the vibrations, coating everyone in a fine, gritty layer.
The dune behind the Knights exploded outward.
A structure rose from the sand.
It defied logic. It was a castle—gothic arches, stained glass windows, stone gargoyles—welded onto the chassis of a rusted, industrial nightmare. Massive tank treads, each the size of a house, churned the sand, crushing boulders into powder.
GRIND-CRUNCH-ROAR.
The sound of the treads was a mechanical scream, relentless and terrifying.
It was a cathedral welded to a tank. A moving fortress that ate the horizon.
Black smoke poured from exhaust pipes shaped like organ pipes, polluting the clean desert air with the stench of diesel and decay.
"The Master has arrived," Eva laughed, her purple armor crackling with electricity.'
A gargoyle head snapped off the fortress wall as it turned, smashing into the sand with a heavy thud, forgotten debris of a moving god.
The Fortress didn't stop. It was moving straight for them.
"It's going to run us over!" Tenten screamed.
"Move!" Kakashi ordered.
Tenten was already moving, unsealing a bo staff and stepping in front of Neji to deflect a stray blast of debris, their movements synchronized by years of teamwork.
But the battlefield was chaotic. The Knights were pressing the attack, using the distraction of the fortress to pin them down.
"Where is the old man?" the female knight taunted, scanning the battlefield. "Did the coward run?"
Naruto engaged Temujin again. "Hey! Stop that thing! You're gonna crush your own guys!"
"Sacrifices are necessary for the Utopia," Temujin said calmly.
They locked blades—kunai against Knight Sword. The ground beneath them crumbled.
A fissure opened up, triggered by the weight of the approaching fortress.
"Whoa!" Naruto yelled.
He and Temujin tumbled backward, falling into the dark ravine that opened up like a hungry mouth.
Naruto's shout faded rapidly, swallowed by the darkness, leaving only the rumble of the fortress.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, reaching out reflexively.
But he couldn't reach. The tank treads were looming over him.
Sasuke leaped back, but Neji and Tenten were in the path of the treads. Neji had been knocked back by an attack from Eva and was struggling to stand.
The massive steel tracks, caked in mud and crushed stone, were seconds away from flattening them.
"Neji!" Tenten screamed.
She didn't run away. She ran at him.
She slammed a massive scroll onto the sand.
"Unsealing Technique: Segmented Iron Dome!"
The smell of raw iron exploded outward, metallic and sharp, overpowering the exhaust fumes.
POOF.
A colossal mass of iron erupted from the scroll. It shaped itself instantly into a segmented, armadillo-like shell, covering Neji and herself.
CRUNCH.
The fortress tread hit the dome.
The sound was deafening—metal screaming against metal.
Sparks showered down like fireworks, blindingly bright even in the daylight, searing the sand.
The ground shook.
Inside the dome, Tenten screamed, her hands pressed against the ceiling, channeling every ounce of chakra she had to reinforce the structure. Blood trickled from her nose.
"Hold..." she gritted out. "Hold..."
The dome groaned, buckling under thousands of tons of pressure. But it didn't collapse. It held just long enough for the tread to roll over the curve, pushing the dome down into the soft sand rather than crushing it flat.
The darkness inside the dome was absolute, smelling of terror and blood, the only sound the groaning metal above.
The fortress passed overhead. The world went dark as the undercarriage blocked out the sun.
The shadow of the fortress passed over him, cold and sudden, chilling the sweat on his skin.
Sasuke stood alone on the dune, watching his teammates disappear under the machine, watching Naruto fall into the abyss.
"Sylvie!" Sasuke shouted into his comms, hoping the sensory ninja was still in range to catch Naruto, but only static hissed back—she was too far away.
He looked at the Knights, who were retreating to the fortress.
He looked at the Gelel stone glowing on Eva's chest.
Authority authorizes force, Sasuke thought, the words echoing in his mind.
Eva sheathed his sword with a sharp click, the sound final and decisive in the sudden quiet left in the fortress's wake.
I need that authority.