"Shinra Tensei."
I spread my arms.
Repulsion exploded outward—
the desert buckled like a living thing, sand blasting away in a tidal ring.
Every puppet rushing me was shredded instantly, bursting apart into splinters that rained through the air.
Too many puppets to erase with a single push, though.
Liedou had brought an entire factory's worth of them.
"Tch. Fine. Let's go full Asura."
Four mechanical arms unfolded from my back, metal plates clacking into place.
"Asura Path: Missile Barrage."
Missiles the size of bamboo stalks screamed upward—
hundreds of them—
lighting up the sky like chakra-fueled fireworks.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The puppets detonated mid-air, torn to pieces before they could finish a single formation pattern.
Across the sand, Liedou flinched.
Even with his desert-weathered poker face, the pain was obvious.
Those puppets weren't mass-produced junk—
they were special-grade weapons, custom-built for war.
Seeing over a hundred of them erased in seconds would hurt anyone's wallet.
Meanwhile, I just admired the falling debris.
"Asura Path—pretty trash for duels, great for crowd control," I muttered.
"Basically the ninja world's equivalent of a machine-gunner in a kunai fight."
The mechanical arms folded away.
Liedou was still glaring at his ruined puppets like I'd kicked his childhood dog.
I shrugged.
"Your turn's over, Kazekage-to-be. Mine now."
Scarlet chakra surged.
Susanoo roared into existence—a towering giant, armored like a wrathful tengu, blade gleaming.
With one sweep of its sword, the desert split apart.
"Evade!!" Liedou shouted, dragging his Sand shinobi backward.
I laughed.
"Oh come on, don't run now!"
Susanoo stomped forward, each impact shaking dunes apart.
Sword swings carved trenches hundreds of meters long.
Sand exploded upward in golden curtains.
Liedou's squad scattered like ants before a titan's boots—
and half of them didn't even get far enough.
One sweep of wind and sand, and they were unconscious or buried up to the neck.
"Damn it…!" Liedou snarled, retreating.
"Amamiya Raizen, I'll remember this debt!"
Of course you will.
Leaders don't forget humiliations that threaten their entire village.
I dissolved Susanoo with a flick and turned away.
"Let's go," I said to my Anbu. "We've got what we came for."
Return to Konoha
We made it back fast. One Tail sealed, Sand Village annoyed, ego intact.
A productive business trip.
When I got home, I found a very familiar pair of Sharingan glaring at me.
Uchiha Madara stood waiting, arms crossed.
"Huh? Madara, you're back already?" I grinned.
"Don't tell me you caught yours before I did."
Madara smirked.
"I captured Two-Tails the moment I found it. The Forest of Death isn't exactly shy."
"Hey, hey. If you can do it, obviously I can."
Madara twitched.
"…Are you saying you're better than me?"
"I didn't say that."
"But if you want to hear it that way, be my guest."
"You infuriating brat—!"
We bickered all the way down to the underground altar, like two kids arguing over who got the bigger rice ball.
The sealing squad was already prepared—Mito's fuinjutsu had been fully taught, and Rinnegan suppression made it easy.
Madara forced Two-Tails into a summoning contract.
I released One Tail from the Ten-Fist Sword's pocket dimension.
Madara's eyes widened at the weapon.
"You actually possess the Ten-Fist Sword… that relic was recorded in Uchiha history, then lost. So you ended up with it?"
I gripped it protectively.
"Don't even think about it, Madara. I'm not letting you 'borrow' it."
"…I wasn't asking to borrow it."
"Good. Because you're not getting it."
His eyebrow twitched so hard it looked like it might snap.
The sealing began.
Under the pressure of my Rinnegan, both tailed beasts were locked down smoothly.
Madara watched the process with envy in his expression.
"Those eyes… stronger than even the eternal Mangekyō."
I didn't respond.
He didn't need the reminder.
Instead, I asked, "What's Hashirama doing? Still no tailed beast?"
Madara clicked his tongue.
"That idiot probably saw someone arguing on the road and started mediating. He forgets actual missions exist."
I nodded solemnly. "Classic Hashirama-senpai."
Madara squinted. "Don't call him that."
Cloud Trouble
"By the way," Madara added, "I got intel. Kumogakure has already located Eight-Tails. They're monitoring it closely."
I stopped walking.
"…Already?"
Madara nodded.
"They might move to capture it soon."
Which was a problem.
A big problem.
"The strength of Cloud Village is already high," I murmured.
"If they get Eight-Tails, they become a threat even Hashirama will struggle against."
Madara folded his arms.
"So? What will you do, Raizen?"
I clenched my jaw.
"…We can't let Cloud get Eight-Tails."
Not now.
Not before the balance between future villages had even begun shifting.
The tailed beasts were chess pieces in a game I knew the ending to.
And I wasn't about to let one of the strongest pieces fall into the wrong hands.
"Looks like our next stop," I said quietly, "is the Land of Lightning."