Ahead of her, a thick fog had begun to rise.
Milky white vapor drifted low across the sand, blurring the boundary between the desert and the night sky.
Pakura walked alone between the dunes, her orange and green hair dampened by the mist and clinging to her shoulders.
She wore only her signature sleeveless backless top and tight shorts. The exposed skin of her body trembled faintly in the cold, damp air.
"This fog... something's wrong with it."
Pakura frowned, her brown eyes cautiously sweeping across her surroundings.
Dense fog like this rarely appeared in desert regions, much less lingered for such a long time.
Normally, deserts had very low humidity and strong winds, conditions that made it difficult for fog to form.
Only in some extremely arid deserts could dry fog occasionally appear, caused by dust particles rather than condensed water droplets.
But no matter how this fog had formed, she still had to go.
Pakura shook her head slightly.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had personally sought her out and informed her that this was a confidential mission that the higher ups of Sunagakure believed only she could accomplish.
Because of that, Pakura had not even informed her disciple, Maki, before setting out.
The so called secret mission was to secretly meet with representatives from Kirigakure and discuss the division of interests after the ceasefire agreement.
For the sake of the village, Pakura was willing to give anything.
Even if her instincts warned her that danger was waiting ahead.
Rustle...
Footsteps echoed from within the fog.
Three figures slowly emerged from the mist, all dressed in the combat uniforms of Mist shinobi, their forehead protectors reflecting cold light through the haze.
The leader was a middle aged shinobi with a scar running across his cheek. He looked Pakura up and down before revealing a somewhat sinister smile.
"You are Lady Pakura of Sunagakure, correct? We are the escort team from Kirigakure. Please follow us."
Pakura nodded.
She followed behind the three men, her shinobi sandals sinking into the sand before pulling free again, scattering grains behind her with each step.
The fog grew denser and denser until visibility had dropped below five meters.
Suddenly, an almost imperceptible sound of something cutting through the air came from behind her.
The instincts forged through years of battle made Pakura twist her body immediately, but the interference of the fog slowed her by the briefest moment.
Puchi!
A shuriken buried itself deeply beneath her right shoulder blade. The blade pierced through the pale skin of her smooth back, sending icy pain through her body.
"Ugh!"
Pakura groaned as she grabbed the shuriken with her left hand and yanked it out. Blood immediately gushed from the wound, flowing down the graceful curve of her back before splattering onto the sand in dark red droplets.
Almost at the same moment, over a dozen more shuriken shot toward her from different directions.
She pushed off the ground and rapidly retreated, scorching chakra instinctively surging into her palms.
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
Three orange red fireballs appeared around her body. The terrifying heat instantly evaporated the surrounding fog, briefly clearing a patch of visibility.
The three Mist shinobi had already formed a triangular formation around her.
The disguises on their faces were gone, replaced only by naked killing intent.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Pakura pressed against the bleeding wound, the sticky warmth beneath her fingers causing her heart to sink.
"Are you trying to start another war?"
"War?"
The scar faced shinobi sneered as he slowly drew the shinobi blade from his back.
"Then perhaps you should ask the higher ups of your own village. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. Your Kazekage personally selected this meeting location."
Pakura's pupils suddenly contracted.
"That's complete nonsense!"
"Whether it's nonsense or not, deep down you should already know the answer."
Another Mist shinobi licked his lips as his gaze swept across her exposed waist and long legs.
"After all, if the 'Hero of Sunagakure' dies here, wouldn't that be the most convincing outcome?"
The moment his words fell, all three formed hand seals simultaneously.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
Three water dragons charged toward her from different directions while a wall of water rose behind her to block her retreat. Above her, a massive water prison descended.
In this dry desert, the Mist shinobi were somehow capable of jointly unleashing water style techniques on such a scale. It was obvious they had prepared for this in advance.
Pakura gritted her teeth as the Scorch Release fireballs exploded in front of her, evaporating into towering steam.
But the enemy had the advantage in numbers.
Every counterattack she launched was easily neutralized, and the wound on her shoulder continued tearing open from the violent movements.
Blood dyed half her back red, trickling down the hollow line of her spine and disappearing beneath the waistband of her shorts.
"Give up already."
The scar faced shinobi swung his blade and split apart one of the fireballs while approaching with a vicious grin.
"You alone can't change anything..."
Victory was already within his grasp.
The current Pakura was no longer capable of causing any real trouble.
Ever since the battle began, she had been continuously losing blood, and her face was becoming paler and paler.
Without any unexpected developments, the only outcome awaiting her was death.
Clearly, Pakura herself understood this as well.
She shook her dizzy head and forced herself to stay conscious.
If not for the fact that her battle against Kiyohara in the past had pushed her to train desperately, causing her strength to improve at a much faster rate, then the first wave of shuriken alone would have been enough to kill her.
Pakura had never expected these Mist shinobi to be this bold.
The two villages were already discussing a ceasefire agreement.
Why would they still do this?
Unfortunately, the only response to her confusion was a cold kunai slashing toward her throat.
The scar faced shinobi intended to kill Pakura immediately and complete his mission.
At the very instant the blade was about to strike her.
Boom!
A streak of golden light pierced through the fog.
Its speed exceeded the limits of human vision, as though someone had drawn a slash through the air with a brush dipped in golden ink.
The cruel grin on the scar faced shinobi's face had not even finished changing.
Pakura herself had not yet reacted.
Then, in the next instant, the shinobi's head exploded like an overripe watermelon. Blood and brain matter splattered across the faces of the shinobi beside him.
The headless corpse swayed briefly before collapsing heavily onto the sand.
The remaining Mist shinobi froze in place, staring toward the source of the golden light in horror.
The fog slowly parted.
Kiyohara stepped out from within it, his long black hair swaying slightly in the desert wind, his face expressionless.
Only his eyes stood out.
Within the crimson Sharingan, three tomoe slowly rotated.
"Kiyohara...?"
Pakura staggered back half a step as the movement pulled painfully at the wound on her back.
But she completely ignored the pain.
At this moment, only one thought remained in her mind.
Why was he here?
How did he know about today's events?
Had Konoha's intelligence network already infiltrated the upper ranks of Sunagakure?
"I warned you long ago."
Kiyohara's gaze swept over her blood soaked back.
"It's unfortunate you refused to listen."
"You...!"
Pakura wanted to retort, but the Mist shinobi had already reacted.
"Kill him! Together!"
The remaining five roared while forming hand seals.
This matter absolutely could not be allowed to leak out.
They rapidly refined large amounts of water style chakra in preparation to unleash another ninjutsu.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A massive torrent of water materialized from nowhere and crashed toward Kiyohara like a miniature tsunami, appearing especially shocking in the middle of the dry desert.
Kiyohara raised his hand.
A Flying Thunder God kunai shot from his grasp and embedded itself into a cactus over a hundred meters away.
In the next second.
His figure disappeared.
The enormous wave struck nothing but empty air before crashing onto the sand with a thunderous roar.
The moment the six Mist shinobi froze in confusion, Kiyohara had already appeared beside the cactus.
After killing the hidden Mist shinobi waiting there to ambush him, he grabbed the Flying Thunder God kunai with one hand and hurled it high into the sky.
Immediately afterward, his body teleported into the air as well.
One hand gripped the Flying Thunder God kunai while the other formed seals in front of his chest.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique."
He inhaled deeply, his chest swelling before exhaling.
With Kiyohara's monstrous chakra reserves and his extraordinary mastery of fire release, the technique that normally produced a maximum of three fire dragons became something entirely different in his hands.
Six dragons.
Six crimson fire dragons burst from Kiyohara's mouth!
The flaming dragons tore through the air, evaporating even the fog wherever they passed.
"Dodge!"
The five Mist shinobi screamed as they tried to scatter, but the fire dragons twisted in midair and pursued them.
"AAAAHHHH!"
The miserable screams rang out only briefly before being drowned by the crackling sounds of burning flesh.
Five charred corpses collapsed onto the sand, smoke rising from their bodies.
Kiyohara casually shook his hand, scattering the remaining sparks from his fingertips before finally turning toward Pakura.
Pakura stood frozen in place, the fingers pressing against her wound trembling slightly.
Due to excessive blood loss and the sharp temperature drop of the night desert, she felt cold.
But colder than that were the words spoken earlier by the Mist shinobi.
"What they said..."
Pakura's voice was dry and hoarse.
"Was it true?"
Kiyohara did not answer.
He simply walked over to her and placed his hand against her blood drenched back.
"You..."
Pakura instinctively wanted to avoid him, but the weakness brought on by blood loss slowed her movements.
Kiyohara's hand was steady.
A green glow of medical chakra spread from his palm, gently seeping into the wound.
The bleeding was temporarily stopped.
"Why exactly are you helping me?"
Pakura asked quietly.
"Aren't we allies now?"
Kiyohara replied with a faint smile.
Her former enemy had stepped in to save her life.
Meanwhile, the comrades she had trusted had betrayed her.
The bitterness in her chest became almost unbearable.
"In your current condition, you won't survive much longer."
Kiyohara continued speaking calmly.
"If you remain here, it won't be long before you either bleed to death or get discovered by the next group sent to silence you."
Pakura opened her mouth.
She wanted to refute him.
She wanted to question him.
But in the end, every word became lodged in her throat.
She looked at the corpses scattered across the ground and recalled the solemn expression Rasa had worn before she departed, the face of a Kazekage supposedly acting for the sake of the village.
Now, all she felt was endless irony.
Betrayal.
The word felt like a red hot nail repeatedly hammered into her heart.
"...Let's go."
She forced the word out through clenched teeth.
Deep within the desert stood a rocky cave.
Kiyohara had gathered dry branches and ignited them with a fire jutsu. Orange flames flickered within the cave, casting wavering shadows against the stone walls.
Pakura leaned against the cave wall while sitting down. The wound on her back had already been partially healed using Kiyohara's Mystical Palm before being roughly wrapped with bandages.
However, some of the injuries had severed parts of her chakra pathway system.
Those would require slow recovery over time.
As Pakura felt the reduced pain in her back, she silently watched Kiyohara sitting across the fire.
He had removed the outer coat stained with sand and dust, revealing the black chainmail armor fitted closely beneath.
The armor outlined his broad shoulders and firm chest. The firelight painted shifting layers of brightness and shadow across his emotionless side profile.
"Other than claiming we're allies, why did you save me?"
Pakura asked once more.
Back when she had been losing blood, she lacked the strength to argue with him.
Now that her condition had improved somewhat, she could finally continue voicing her doubts.
Allies?
Even her own village had betrayed her.
Pakura did not believe Kiyohara had rescued her merely because of some alliance.
Besides, he should have been staying inside Suna right now.
Why had he suddenly appeared in the desert?
"What do you want?"
Pakura asked directly.
Kiyohara tossed another branch into the fire. Sparks crackled and burst upward.
"Your obedience."
"Hah..."
Pakura let out a mocking laugh, though there was not the slightest trace of amusement in her eyes.
"Why should I trust you? Because you killed a few Mist shinobi? Or because of that face of yours?"
Her words were sharp and mocking, but the trembling of her fingertips exposed her true emotions.
Kiyohara lifted his eyes.
The crimson Sharingan appeared especially eerie beneath the dancing firelight.
"Because I can give you power."
"Power?"
Pakura looked as though she had heard an absurd joke.
"Power isn't something you can casually hand over..."
Her voice suddenly stopped.
Because she saw Kiyohara raise his right hand.
A black curse mark pattern slowly spread across the back of his hand.
As the markings extended across his skin, Kiyohara entered the first stage of the Curse Mark transformation.
"That is... a curse mark?"
Of course Pakura remembered it.
On the battlefield, Kiyohara had once displayed this exact state. Black patterns had spread across his skin while his strength and speed skyrocketed.
At the time, she had assumed it was some forbidden technique or bloodline limit.
Only later had intelligence reports revealed that it was a curse mark connected to Sage Arts.
"I can give this power to you."
Kiyohara lowered his hand, and the curse mark slowly faded away.
That was a lie.
Or rather, a half lie.
At his current stage, Kiyohara still could not transplant curse marks onto others.
For now, he could only paint an attractive illusion for Pakura.
"Of course, this power comes with a price."
Kiyohara said calmly.
Pakura fell silent.
The firelight illuminated her face and reflected against her tightly pressed lips.
Her eyelashes trembled faintly, uncertain and conflicted.
She thought about many things.
She remembered all the blood she had shed on the battlefield over the years.
She remembered the hypocritical praise from Sunagakure's higher ups.
She remembered the admiring look in Maki's eyes whenever the girl gazed up at her.
And finally, she remembered the Mist shinobi's words.
"This meeting place was personally chosen by your Kazekage."
"What... is the price?"
She heard her own dry voice asking the question.
"You might die. This power chooses its wielder."
Kiyohara answered directly.
Curse marks were not something that simply succeeded on everyone.
"And when I require it, you will become my blade. You may keep your hatred toward Suna. You may even seek revenge. But the prerequisite is that you obey my commands."
Pakura slowly clenched her hands.
"And if... I refuse?"
"Then you die here."
Kiyohara answered flatly.
"To put it simply, whether you live or die right now, you are already considered dead."
"If you hide quietly and survive, that's one thing. But if you show yourself again and refuse to disappear gracefully, Suna will help you disappear. They'll simply label you a rogue shinobi."
Kiyohara shook his head slightly.
"And think about it carefully. Since things have already reached this point for you, do you really believe your disciple won't one day be forced to sacrifice herself for the village as well?"
Pakura's breathing suddenly became uneven.
Maki.
That kind child who always tried so hard to act mature, yet secretly wiped away tears whenever she got injured during training.
If even she, the so called "Hero of Sunagakure," could be betrayed...
"They wouldn't dare...!"
"Why wouldn't they?"
Kiyohara interrupted her, his crimson Sharingan staring directly into her eyes.
"You've already proven that heroes can be sacrificed. That is Sunagakure's bottom line. As long as the benefits are large enough, even a hero glorified yesterday can be eliminated the next day."
Kiyohara spoke terrifying truths.
The shinobi world had always functioned like this.
Konoha was no different.
Kumo had attempted to abduct the Hyuga Clan's princess, Hinata. After being discovered, the infiltrator died accidentally.
Yet afterward, Kumogakure shamelessly turned the blame around and demanded compensation from the Hyuga Clan.
In the end, the Hyuga Clan could only push their own clan head forward to take responsibility and die as a sacrifice.
Although they ultimately used Hizashi, the twin brother of Hiashi, as the substitute instead...
What if they had not been twins?
Would he have survived?
Or died?
In Kumogakure's eyes, that corpse represented the clan head regardless.
And Hizashi himself had still been a living human being.
Yet he too had been sacrificed all the same.
Below the line of sacrifice, everyone was equal.
Silence fell within the cave.
Only the crackling fire and Pakura's increasingly heavy breathing could be heard.
After a long time, she slowly raised her head.
The final traces of struggle within her brown eyes completely disappeared, replaced by an almost crazed resolve.
At this moment, the strongest emotion inside her was hatred.
Unmatched hatred.
She had nearly burned away everything she had for the village.
She had devoted herself endlessly, desperately trying to contribute.
And in return, this was the outcome she received.
Even whether her disciple would someday suffer the same fate remained uncertain.
This shinobi village had no future.
"Rasa... the higher ups of Suna... I'll make you repay this debt in blood!"
Pakura's heart was overflowing with rage.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to reduce every single one of those bastards to ashes.
"...I agree."
Pakura finally made her decision.
Kiyohara nodded and pulled a slip of paper from his clothes before handing it to her. Written on it was an address along with instructions directed toward Nono.
"After your injuries heal, go to this place and find a woman named Yakushi Nono. She'll make arrangements for you."
Pakura accepted the note.
The address pointed to a location somewhere along the border of the Land of Fire.
"As for the power..."
Kiyohara stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes.
"When you arrive there, I'll give you the first stage of it. For now, focus on staying alive. Don't die before reaching your destination."
After speaking, he walked toward the entrance of the cave and retrieved a Flying Thunder God kunai from his shinobi pouch before handing it to Pakura.
Pakura watched him silently before suddenly asking,
"You trust me that much? Aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word?"
Kiyohara turned his head slightly to glance at her. His Sharingan glimmered faintly within the darkness.
"You'll come."
The moment those words fell, his figure vanished into thin air.
Only Pakura remained inside the cave together with the gradually fading campfire.
She tightly gripped the slip of paper in her hand.
Then slowly, very slowly, she bent forward and buried her face between her knees.
Her shoulders began trembling uncontrollably.
The firelight shone across her exposed back. Blood leaking through the gaps in the bandages had already dried into dark brown stains.
Like a hideous brand burned onto her body.
The next day.
Kiyohara's figure appeared once more inside the guest quarters of Sunagakure, as though he had never left.
He changed out of the clothes stained with desert dust and pushed open the window. The dry morning wind swept into the room carrying Suna's distinctive scent of sand and earth.
The delegation's itinerary continued according to plan.
They toured Suna's hospital, examined several publicly available medical scrolls, and held the second round of negotiations with Suna's council of elders.
At the negotiation table, Tsunade displayed a level of dominance completely different from her behavior in gambling halls.
Several key clauses were contested so fiercely that Sunagakure's side was steadily forced backward.
(End of Chapter)