Chapter 374: Fate, Part Eight
"There!" Jiraiya's sage mode tracked Orochimaru's trail in an instant. "You won't escape!"
Just as Jiraiya was about to give chase, the reanimated Third Kazekage, who had remained silent until now, sprang into action. Despite the fact that reanimations were far more resilient, Jiraiya knew that even he couldn't risk taking a direct hit from the Kazekage's sand attacks and was forced to dodge.
"Hey, kid, I'm only here because of that bastard Orochimaru. His cursed jutsu binds me to stop you from pursuing him," the Third Kazekage grumbled. As the most powerful Kazekage in history, he felt he'd been reduced to nothing more than a pawn. The nerve of that man!
But Jiraiya was unfazed. The powerful Sage of Konoha didn't care about the old grievances of the dead. To him, the Kazekage was merely another obstacle Orochimaru had thrown in his path.
"Fukasaku sama," Jiraiya addressed the elder toad sage on his shoulder, "Would a sealing jutsu work on a reanimated corpse?"
Fukasaku studied the undead Kazekage closely and nodded. "Yes. This guy's body is sustained by a web of binding jutsu. A sealing jutsu would do the trick."
Without further ado, Jiraiya focused on the task, lunging forward.
"Foolish brat," the Third Kazekage scoffed, though inwardly relieved that Orochimaru hadn't compelled him to kill. He attacked with Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle, sending a wave of deadly sand needles toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya was ready. He countered with Sage Art: Needle Jizō, his hair bristling into a hardened defensive barrier that deflected the Kazekage's deadly projectiles. He got close enough to initiate the seal.
"Sealing Technique: Four Symbols Seal!"
In a flash, he followed up with another powerful sealing jutsu.
"Five Elements Seal!"
The Kazekage's chakra based attacks came to an abrupt halt, suspended in the air as the seals took hold.
"Damn… I, defeated by a mere…" the Kazekage's voice trailed off.
"Uchiha Itachi!" Jiraiya shouted toward Itachi, who was observing from a short distance. "Watch over this reanimated puppet. I'm going after Orochimaru."
Itachi nodded, standing watch over the immobilized Kazekage. After witnessing the scale of the battle, Itachi knew that Orochimaru would be too much for him to handle alone.
Inwardly, he was thankful that his mission wasn't compromised. Despite the setbacks, Itachi's capture of Sasori had already yielded valuable intelligence information that would still be useful even if the Jinchūriki was nowhere to be found.
As Jiraiya raced off into the desert after Orochimaru, the area grew silent. The Kazekage's head turned slightly, his dull eyes landing on Itachi and then drifting toward the approaching figures of Rasa and Chiyo.
Itachi raised his blade defensively, his gaze cold as he issued a warning: "Stay back, both of you."
Chiyo and Rasa halted, eyes narrowing at the Uchiha shinobi before them. For a moment, no one moved. Despite the recent alliance between Konoha and Sunagakure, decades of mutual resentment couldn't be erased so easily.
The Kazekage tilted his head and finally recognized the two figures. "Rasa… Chiyo…?"
Witnessing the familiar yet distant figures of his former comrades, the Kazekage seemed to grasp his fate.
"Rasa," he asked quietly, "you are… the Fourth Kazekage?"
Rasa, with a shamed expression, gave a slow nod. Seeing his once mighty Kazekage reduced to a reanimated pawn was a bitter pill to swallow.
The Third Kazekage observed his fallen successor with a resigned expression. In his time, Sunagakure had struggled with poverty, internal strife, and its reliance on his magnetic abilities to ward off larger threats. He knew that, without him, the village had likely weakened further, its structure brittle. He could sense it even now.
Even so, he sighed, his face softening. "And the village is it still… intact?"
Rasa gave a solemn nod. "Yes, Lord Kazekage."
As he absorbed this news, the Kazekage's body began to glow faintly. The remnants of his chakra flickered and faded, his spirit finally at peace. The binding jutsu that held him together released, leaving only a trace of his voice in the air as he vanished.
"You've done well, Rasa. Don't be too hard on yourself."
(End of Chapter)
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