The night sky was illuminated.
A terrifying red light erupted, violently blasting through the thick layer of clouds hanging over the Hidden Sand Village.
A dazzling sun bloomed in the heavens, its searing light nearly burning those below, while the roar of the explosion threatened to shatter everyone's eardrums.
Immediately afterward, the shockwave from the blast transformed into a surging gale, pressing down on the entire Hidden Sand Village until it felt suffocating.
This was the power of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Furthermore, this was merely the result of an explosion occurring hundreds of meters in the air above the village.
The villagers thought with lingering fear that it was difficult to imagine what the Hidden Sand Village would have become if such an attack had landed directly within its borders.
Because of this realization, their fear of Gaara and Shukaku grew even deeper.
As expected, such a monster should not be allowed to remain in the village, even if he was the son of the Kazekage!
Fortunately, it was all about to end.
They looked toward the battlefield with eyes full of intense anticipation.
Having released the Tailed Beast Bomb, Shukaku no longer had a chance to struggle. To minimize the damage to the village, Rasa quickly controlled the ocean of Gold Dust to perform a sealing jutsu on Shukaku once more.
Other ninjas stood guard around Rasa with high vigilance, terrified that someone might leap out to sabotage the results.
As the Gold Dust completely covered Shukaku, a massive number of sealing formulas were rapidly spread across its surface.
Under the suppression of the sealing power, Shukaku's body began to shrink inch by inch, unwillingly turning back into chakra as it was resealed into Gaara's body.
Gaara still lacks the capacity to become a perfect Jinchuriki. It seems he can only become an emotionless weapon.
Rasa sighed with some disappointment, silently adding several extra layers of seals to Shukaku.
As the Tailed Beast chakra was sealed back into his body, Gaara's tiny frame re-emerged from the sand.
Because of the external release of the Tailed Beast chakra, Gaara's skin had been completely eroded, leaving him in a bloody state.
Rasa did not care about this; his only concern was whether his child could grow into a weapon that satisfied him.
Based on current events, he was quite dissatisfied with Gaara's performance.
To choose to fall into darkness simply because of Yashamaru's death and hand over total control of his body to the One-Tail was nothing short of cowardly!
Moreover, it had given that mysterious person an opening, causing the Hidden Sand Village to suffer heavy losses.
If Rasa had not risked his life to restrict that mysterious man, the Hidden Sand Village would have been in grave danger this time.
Thinking of this, Rasa's gaze toward Gaara became even more unfriendly.
If Gaara hadn't been so weak, the village wouldn't have suffered such damage!
"Someone, take Gaara for medical treatment."
Rasa summoned a medical nin to provide aid to Gaara.
After all, if the Jinchuriki died, the Tailed Beast would die along with him.
While it was true that a Tailed Beast would eventually be resurrected after death, God only knew how many years it would take for Shukaku to return, or where he would reappear.
The attack on the Hidden Sand Village and Shukaku's rampage were major events that definitely could not be hidden from the other Great Shinobi Nations.
If the Jinchuriki died now and the news unfortunately reached other villages, the Hidden Sand Village would face immense pressure from the threat of war.
Even if the village could withstand it, they would still have to send people to recapture Shukaku years or decades later.
Therefore, regardless of Rasa's personal attitude toward Gaara, the Jinchuriki absolutely could not die right now.
After finishing the arrangements for Gaara, Rasa could finally turn his attention to the other matter—the masked mysterious man.
He was impatient to find out exactly who dared to plot against the Hidden Sand Village from the shadows!
Was it the Hidden Leaf? Or another Great Nation?
What was the goal? The Tailed Beast? Or simply a desire to inflict massive damage on the village?
Regardless, he had to find the guy and get answers.
Of course, if the opponent refused to cooperate, the Hidden Sand had other ways...
Rasa approached the small pyramid sealing Simu and slowly began to undo the seal.
To ensure everything was foolproof, Rasa temporarily deployed several Anbu ninjas to stand guard nearby.
After all, his own chakra was nearly exhausted after the continuous battles.
Had it not been for this, he certainly wouldn't have taken the risk of unsealing the enemy at this moment.
Wouldn't it be better to wait until the chaos in the village was settled before interrogating him?
However, there was no choice. If Rasa did not deal with the enemy now, the seal binding him would weaken rapidly over time.
It would be disastrous if the enemy took the opportunity to break free.
Naturally, Rasa was still quite confident.
Under the suppression of his sealing jutsu, that masked man shouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
Not to mention the numerous Anbu ninjas standing by; if anything went wrong, they would all strike together.
With multiple layers of protection in place, Rasa finally broke the seal.
As the sealing formulas faded, the Gold Dust suppressing Simu began to collapse.
Rasa cautiously controlled the speed of the collapse, stopping only once Simu's head was exposed.
To gather intelligence, exposing the head was enough.
At the first sight of Rasa, Simu flashed a smile.
Of course, because of the mask, Rasa could not see it.
However, he could still hear the hint of amusement in Simu's voice.
"As expected of the Kazekage, to suppress Shukaku so quickly."
Rasa ignored Simu's teasing and spoke coldly, "I will ask you once more. Who exactly are you? What is your purpose?"
This time was different from before; Rasa was the victor, and Simu was merely the defeated.
Yet, there was no sign of dejection on Simu's face. Instead, he continued to smile and said, "I will answer once more. I am the worldly walker of Lord Jashin, his most loyal believer, Tobi."
Rasa narrowed his eyes and commanded the ninjas on either side, "Take off his mask. He's just playing ghost."
Simu remained unmoved, allowing the two Anbu ninjas to remove his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face.
The two Anbu ninjas exchanged looks and shook their heads slightly.
This meant the man was not from the Hidden Sand Village, nor was he a recorded member of any other ninja village.
"Since his identity is unknown, search his soul directly!"
Since the Kazekage had given the order, one of the Anbu immediately performed a secret technique to invade Simu's mind, attempting to extract information.
Strangely, Rasa waited for a long time, but the ninja showed no reaction.
"What's happening?"
The other Anbu ninja placed a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly, the scout ninja turned around, a nearly crazed smile on his face. He drove a kunai through his partner and then raised both hands, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Long live Lord Jashin!"