In a small, uninhabited oasis in the Land of Wind, the Third Kazekage and Rasa had temporarily settled down.
Staring at the campfire flickering before them, the two men fell into silence.
At this moment, their hearts were filled with confusion.
For so many years, they had worked tirelessly for Suna, mining everywhere just to keep the village's finances from collapsing.
But they never expected that Pakura would stab them in the back so directly.
The Third Kazekage wasn't stupid, how could he not see that all of this had been quietly set in motion by Pakura?
He had long been trying to address the problems within the village, but after the Second Great Ninja War, his prestige had plummeted, and his words no longer carried the same weight.
If it weren't for his ability to keep making money for the village, people wouldn't have tolerated him up to now.
So all he could do was watch it happen, powerless to stop it.
Originally, he had planned to wait until the village's economy improved before tackling internal issues, when resistance would be much smaller.
Who would have thought that, half a year ago, Konoha and Kumo, those two sly foxes, would be "moved" by Pakura's so-called sincerity, starting trade with Suna and bringing in considerable profit for the village.
It was said that Iwa, Kiri, and Ame were also considering the possibility of cooperation.
As a result, Pakura's prestige rose again, while the importance of himself and Rasa dropped further.
The Third Kazekage had warned that this was a conspiracy by other ninja villages.
Once he and Rasa were gone, Konoha and Kumo would immediately cut off cooperation, and the other villages would stop considering it as well.
By then, Suna would be plunged into ruin.
Unfortunately, no one believed him, many were even more disappointed in him.
What was wrong with having more sources of income for the village?
And after Pakura takes the position, would he and Rasa simply refuse to earn money for the village anymore? What did "leaving" mean?
That was a naked threat.
Thinking of this sent a chill straight to the Third Kazekage's heart.
In truth, he also wanted to return to Suna, even without being Kazekage, as long as he could keep contributing to the village, he would be content.
But he could tell: Pakura genuinely wanted him dead.
In that battle at the Kazekage Building, he hadn't gone all out, facing his own student, he had held back.
But Pakura had shown no mercy, even ordering other shinobi to ambush him.
Perhaps to outsiders, it seemed like Pakura was stopping him from committing violence, but the malice in Pakura's eyes was something he could see all too clearly.
After serving as Kazekage for so many years, he knew exactly what that look meant.
If he stayed, not only would he die, but Rasa's fate would likely be no better.
But now, where could they go?
As someone who had dedicated his life to the village, he could never act like other missing-nin, doing things that harmed Suna.
But if he stuck to his principles, Suna would list him as a wanted man, and no other ninja village would welcome him either.
Just as his thoughts wandered, he caught sight of a shadow out of the corner of his eye.
Startled, the Third Kazekage immediately manipulated gold dust to surge toward the shadow.
"You sure have gotten short-tempered since I last saw you," the shadow's voice rang out as its figure vanished from the spot.
The next instant, it appeared right in front of him, smiling at him.
"Shin?"
"It's me!" Shin replied. "Back when Suna lost the war and we were negotiating, didn't we have a pretty good conversation? What's going on today? Why attack me the moment we meet?"
"Playing dumb!" the Third Kazekage said coldly. "What business do you have with me? Don't tell me you're planning to capture us and hand us over to Pakura for some reward?"
"No, no, you misunderstand. What could Pakura possibly offer me? Even if she sold Suna to me outright, it still wouldn't be worth as much as the two of you, master and student."
"Then why did you come all this way?"
"Of course, for you," Shin said seriously. "I'm inviting you to come to Konoha."
"That's impossible!" the Third Kazekage rejected him flatly. "Don't even think about getting any confidential information about Suna from me, and I'll never help Konoha go against my village. So give up that idea!"
"Hahahahaha!" Shin burst out laughing, clearly amused. "Confidential information? What secrets could Suna possibly still have from us in Konoha?"
"At most, it's just your puppet techniques. But our puppet arts have already surpassed Suna's long ago. I've simply never shown it, so you wouldn't know. As for needing your help to deal with Suna? Aren't you overestimating yourself a bit? If I really wanted to destroy Suna, I could do it alone, no one's help required."
As he spoke, the air in front of Shin began to ripple. When the ripples faded, his eyes were revealed, purple Rinnegan, radiating an overwhelming pressure as he locked his gaze on the Third Kazekage.
"Those eyes... Sage Eyes?" The Third Kazekage's body trembled.
Shin ignored his reaction and simply reached out his right hand.
In the next moment, an immense suction enveloped the Third Kazekage. Pulled like an arrow loosed from the string, his body shot uncontrollably toward Shin.
Startled, he immediately used Magnet Release, sending a torrent of gold dust surging from all directions toward Shin.
Rasa, seeing Shin suddenly attack his teacher, also used Magnet Release, hurling massive amounts of gold sand at him.
Shin only gave a contemptuous smile before unleashing the Rinnegan's special power.
In his vision, the entire world seemed to suddenly freeze.
The countless grains of gold dust and iron sand, each already fine, were broken down further into even smaller particles, over and over, until they could be divided no more. Then they began recombining in entirely new configurations, repeatedly, more than ten times, before finally returning to their original forms.
In this process, Shin completely grasped the principles behind the two men's chakra control over gold dust and iron sand.
When he was done, his gaze followed the iron dust and gold sand back to the Third Kazekage and Rasa.
With just one look, their bodies began breaking down at a speed visible to the naked eye, endlessly decomposing into nothing.
Soon, their bodies vanished entirely, replaced by countless minuscule particles suspended in midair, shimmering with different colors and lights.
Then, as if following an unseen commander's orders, these particles began rearranging and combining in an orderly fashion.
After a while, the bodies of the Third Kazekage and Rasa reformed, returning to exactly how they had been before, as if nothing had happened.
In truth, nothing had happened in the real world at all, it had all occurred within Shin's analysis space.
With just one glance, he had mastered all the secrets of Magnet Release.
Exiting the analysis space, Shin looked at the swarming gold dust and iron sand and waved his left hand.
Immediately, all the gold dust and iron sand broke free from the Kazekage and Rasa's control, floating obediently in the air.
The Third Kazekage, meanwhile, was dragged right into Shin's right hand, his throat caught in a crushing grip. Not only was he completely immobilized, but the chakra within his body was also being drained away by Shin's hand.
He stared at Shin in utter terror, as if looking at a monster.