Chiya's gaze swept across the fully prepared Sunagakure forces before finally settling on Kazekage Rasa.
His eyes were calm and without emotion, yet they carried the indifference of someone looking down upon insects.
"A misunderstanding?"
His voice carried the coldness of a freezing desert night.
"The three day deadline has passed, and Sunagakure's answer is this useless defensive formation?"
"It seems that Sunagakure's poor memory needs to be cured with pain."
Before his words had even finished, an enormous chakra pressure, vast as the sea and heavy as a mountain, erupted from Chiya.
Boom!
An invisible shockwave swept through the yellow sand.
The Sunagakure ninja standing at the front could not even keep their footing.
They staggered backward, the color draining from their faces as endless fear instantly filled their eyes.
This chakra...
It was far more terrifying than anything described in the intelligence reports.
Simply standing within it made breathing difficult, and even molding chakra became unbelievably hard.
Warning bells rang wildly in Rasa's mind.
He knew that any explanation at this moment would be meaningless.
Only strength could buy even the slightest chance of survival.
He slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Magnet Release, Gold Dust Great Burial!"
Rumble!
The earth trembled.
Countless waves of glittering gold dust surged upward like an ocean, forming a massive tidal wave that covered the sky as it crashed toward Chiya and the others.
This was the strongest wide area attack he could perform.
He intended to suppress or even bury them in one strike.
Yet faced with a golden tsunami powerful enough to destroy a small hidden village, Chiya did not even move his feet.
He did not even spare the towering wave a glance.
He merely raised his eyes slightly as his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated.
"Hopelessly stubborn."
The next instant, dark crimson chakra burst into the sky.
Bones, muscles, and armor formed in an instant.
It was not the complete form.
It was only the upper body of the complete Karasu Tengu Susano'o.
Even so, its solid form and overwhelming aura of destruction made every Sunagakure ninja feel their courage shatter.
The glowing eyes of the Susano'o flickered like giant lanterns.
Its enormous arm casually swung forward.
The massive chakra arm collided directly with the enormous wave of gold dust.
Crunch!
There was no earth shaking explosion.
Only the grinding sound of absolute destruction.
The golden wave, powerful enough to crush steel walls with ease, was as fragile as a sandcastle before Susano'o's arm.
It shattered instantly, exploding into countless golden grains that scattered through the sky.
"What?!"
Rasa's pupils shrank.
His strongest technique had been destroyed so effortlessly...
Before he could recover from his shock, Susano'o's other arm had already clenched into a fist.
Dark crimson chakra condensed around it.
Then the fist punched through the air toward Sunagakure's massive gate and the defensive formation behind it.
"Defend yourselves!"
A Sunagakure elder screamed with all his strength.
Layers of Earth Style walls and sand barriers instantly rose one after another.
But before absolute power, everything was meaningless.
BOOM!!!!
Wherever the force of the punch passed, every defensive ninjutsu was torn apart like paper.
The terrifying shockwave continued forward without slowing and smashed directly into Sunagakure's gates and surrounding walls.
Massive stones exploded apart.
Dust shot high into the sky.
The enormous gate that symbolized Sunagakure, together with dozens of yards of surrounding wall, collapsed under that single punch and became nothing but ruins.
The ninja hiding behind them screamed as they were buried beneath the rubble or blasted away.
Countless were killed or injured.
The power of a single punch had reached such a horrifying level.
The entire Sunagakure front line fell into complete silence.
Every Suna ninja stared blankly at the ruins.
They stared at the dark crimson giant that resembled a demon god.
They stared at the four people standing completely unharmed beneath its protection.
Despair spread through every heart like a plague.
This was not a battle.
It was a god crushing mortals.
"Do you still wish to continue?"
Chiya's cold voice echoed from within Susano'o without the slightest emotion.
"Or..."
"Surrender."
Rasa's face was as pale as paper.
His body trembled slightly.
He looked behind him.
He saw the terrified villagers.
He saw the ninja who had already lost the will to fight.
Then he looked once more at the invincible Susano'o...
And at Tsunade, Shisui, and the Nine Tails Jinchūriki Kushina, who still had not even made a move.
He knew.
If they continued resisting, Sunagakure would disappear from the map today.
Every trace of pride and resistance became laughable before absolute power and the reality of survival.
Slowly, he raised one hand and stopped the radical elder beside him, who still wanted to fight to the death.
Then...
Before the eyes of every Sunagakure villager and ninja...
The Fourth Kazekage slowly lowered himself onto one knee.
With endless humiliation and helplessness, he lowered the head that had once stood so proudly.
"Sunagakure..."
"Surrenders."
The moment he knelt, it was like knocking over the first domino.
One after another.
The surviving elders.
The Jonin.
The Chunin.
The Genin.
Like an endless tide, they all dropped to their knees and lowered themselves to the ground.
None of them dared to look directly at the dark crimson god before them.
Humiliation.
Fear.
Unwillingness.
Despair.
Relief at surviving.
Every emotion mixed together.
In the end, only silent surrender remained.
Chiya looked down indifferently at the kneeling people of Sunagakure.
Not the slightest emotion appeared in his eyes.
Conquering a village that had already lost its fighting spirit meant no more to him than brushing dust from his sleeve.
He dismissed Susano'o.
His figure lightly landed back on the ground.
"Rasa."
"Remember the choice you made today."
"Sunagakure's future depends on your actions from this moment onward."
His voice was not loud.
Yet every word was branded into the hearts of Sunagakure's leaders.
"Konoha's representatives will arrive shortly to discuss the detailed terms."
"If you harbor any other thoughts..."
There was no need to finish the sentence.
That single devastating punch and those icy eyes had already explained everything.
Rasa lowered his head even further.
"...We would never dare."
Without giving them another glance, Chiya turned around.
"Shisui."
"Remain here and supervise the situation until Konoha's personnel arrive."
"Yes, Teacher!"
Shisui respectfully accepted the order.
"Tsunade."
"Kushina."
"We're leaving."
"That's it? I didn't even get a chance to fight."
Tsunade pouted, but still followed behind him.
Kushina also withdrew the Nine Tails Chakra Mode and quickly followed Chiya.
Without slowing his steps, Chiya looked toward the east.
Toward the Land of Water.
"Sunagakure was only the beginning."
"Next..."
"Kirigakure."
The three figures did not stop for even a moment.
Under the fearful and respectful gazes of the Sunagakure ninja, they became three afterimages and disappeared into the distant desert horizon.
It was as though they had never appeared at all.
Only the collapsed gate, the countless kneeling ninja, and the village forced into submission remained behind.
Meanwhile, in Konoha.
Uchiha Mikoto safely brought the injured Kakashi and the unconscious Obito to Konoha Hospital.
After Rin and the professional medical ninja took over their treatment, she finally let out a small sigh of relief.
After arranging for additional guards to remain alert, she returned to the Uchiha Clan compound.
However, the uneasiness caused by Obito's perfectly planned ambush still lingered in her heart.
Night gradually deepened.
Konoha slowly fell into silence.
Suddenly, an extremely well hidden chakra, carrying an obvious sense of provocation, flashed briefly outside the clan compound.
"Who's there?!"
Mikoto's eyes instantly became sharp.
Her Mangekyō Sharingan almost activated on its own.
The chakra felt unfamiliar and sinister.
It definitely did not belong to a Konoha ninja.
Yet...
It also strangely resembled the chakra of an Uchiha.
Without any hesitation, she vanished from her room and chased after the source of the chakra.
The black shadow moved at incredible speed.
It fought while retreating, deliberately luring her toward the Forest of Death at the edge of the village.
As Mikoto pursued it, suspicion gradually filled her heart.
The enemy's purpose seemed to be nothing more than drawing her away...
'Luring the tiger away from the mountain?!'
The instant that thought appeared, she suddenly turned back.
At that very moment.
Inside the hospital room.
Beneath the bed where the injured and exhausted Uchiha Obito lay sleeping, the floor rippled like water.
A white figure slowly emerged from underground.
Its eyes locked onto the sleeping Obito.
A pale hand silently reached toward the completely defenseless boy.
[Translator: Going to lose my mind if author does this]
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