The devastated Hidden Sand Camp now lay in ruins.
Everywhere were the ravaging traces of Shukaku's rampage, and an entire forest had turned into desolation, no longer resembling what the camp originally looked like.
In the air of what used to be the camp and is now a wasteland, the cold chakra of Shukaku still lingered, and that pressure had not yet dissipated from the area.
At the place where Shukaku once stood, now stood a ninja clad in a long black coat.
This person was none other than the current leader of Hidden Sand Village, and also the most outstanding and powerful ninja in Hidden Sand Village—the Third Kazekage.
On the barren land, black sand scattered around, and he looked at a monk who had fainted on the ground nearby.
The monk's skin was burnt, yet it was recovering life force at an extraordinary speed.
Even for him, the Third Kazekage, it was an astonishing sight.
"If it were an ordinary jinchuriki, they would have been dead already... quite a tenacious fellow."
He murmured to himself.
Shukaku had been the tailed beast of Hidden Sand Village since ancient times.
However, because the power of a tailed beast was too immense, for ordinary ninja, even getting close to it, let alone looking at it from afar, would invoke a soul-deep fear.
Thus, a sealing technique was necessary to seal the tailed beast within a human, treating the human as a sacrificial jinchuriki to contain the tailed beast's power, to be used when necessary.
And this monk was the jinchuriki of Shukaku in their Hidden Sand Village.
"Kazekage-sama!"
A large group of Hidden Sand Ninja arrived, roughly numbering four or five hundred, consisting of the elite ninja of Hidden Sand Village.
One jonin came forward, and seeing that the jinchuriki was unscathed, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the leader, the Third Kazekage, with eyes full of admiration and respect.
The Third Kazekage nodded at these Hidden Sand Ninja.
"As expected of Kazekage-sama, Shukaku should settle down for a while."
To this jonin's judgment, the Third Kazekage shook his head and replied, "It's not that easy. Bunbuku still refuses to cooperate. If this guy were willing to cooperate, I wouldn't have to resort to other means to provoke Shukaku."
Bunbuku was the name of this monk.
As a jinchuriki, he had a very good relationship with the tailed beast Shukaku sealed inside him, and so Shukaku had always been securely sealed over the years.
But there were also problems.
Bunbuku, being compassionate and merciful, was a jinchuriki who disliked conflict.
Therefore, during the rule of the Second Kazekage Shamon of Hidden Sand, the Second Kazekage imprisoned Bunbuku to research the Shukaku power within him, developing a series of magnetic style jutsu to militarize Shukaku's power.
Even so, Bunbuku did not succumb to the Second Kazekage.
Upon the death of the Second Kazekage Shamon, his disciple, the Third Kazekage, succeeded him and naturally inherited the will of the previous Kazekage, pondering how to militarize the tailed beast.
This time was an attempt to catch Konoha off guard by using the tailed beast's power to seize the Land of Fire's abundant resources.
However, the result was not ideal. Due to Bunbuku's lack of cooperation, Shukaku's mood had been extremely unstable recently. If he hadn't sensed a problem with the seal, he would not have rushed here immediately to seal the rampaging Shukaku back into the jinchuriki's body.
"What should we do next, Kazekage-sama?"
The jonin asked.
"Never mind the jinchuriki matter for now; there's always a way to make that stubborn Bunbuku cooperate. But what's with the Konoha ninja appearing here?"
Suppressing Shukaku didn't take much effort, after all his ninja techniques were developed for this purpose.
Compared to the exposure of Shukaku's location, the sudden attack by Konoha ninja was what the Third Kazekage deemed to be the key issue.
Deploying a tailed beast to the battlefield must be done secretly so they could swiftly crush the Konoha ninja and invade deep into the Land of Fire.
"We don't know either, that group of Konoha ninja just suddenly came and attacked."
The responding jonin's face also looked a little grim.
The issue of the tailed beast should have been a top priority, and there couldn't have been any risk of information leakage.
"Re-examine the personnel here."
The Third Kazekage ordered.
"Yes!"
The jonin nodded seriously.
As it currently stood, the likelihood of a traitor within the village was higher.
"By the way, what should we do with those Konoha ninja?"
"No need to worry about those few Konoha ninja. When I came, I had already dispatched a unit to pursue them, so I believe good news will be coming back soon."
The Third Kazekage gazed calmly into the distance, confident in the Hidden Sand Ninja sent to pursue the Konoha ninja.
The jonin nodded and instructed that the fainted monk be carried over his shoulder.
"Well then, Kazekage-sama, I'll go ahead and get the jinchuriki resettled properly."
"Go, and I'll suitably increase the guard strength afterward. Make sure no mishaps happen again this time."
"Yes!"
◎
Land of Rivers, at the bottom of the forest cliff valley.
"Ah!"
After stabbing a kunai into the enemy's chest, Hakushi let out a heavy gasp, took a step back, and then sat wearily on the ground, clutching his bleeding side.
"These guys are really troublesome... Wind Blade, is it?"
Easily leaving such a deep and long cut on his body strengthened by natural energy, the Wind Blade, commonly used by Hidden Sand Elite Ninja, was indeed an incredibly sharp ninja technique.