Southern region of the Land of Lightning.
Gaara, commanding the Fifth Unit, led the army there.
Gaara sat on a flowing bed of sand, floating at the front of the unit as if riding a somersault cloud.
His eyes were tightly shut, and a 'third eye' made of condensed sand took shape above his head, gradually drifting into the distance.
Through this eye, he saw the enemy's deployed formation several miles away.
Upon seeing the enemy situation, Gaara couldn't help but frown deeply.
'Enemy formation—'
'Much larger than imagined.'
Leaving aside the densely packed White Zetsu Army, which was like a white ocean…
At the very front of the White Zetsu Army stood over a dozen greyish-white figures.
Every single one was a powerful figure who had left their name in history.
"Gaara!"
Naruto, a member of the unit, shouted toward him, his voice full of urgency.
"Is Sasuke over there?"
Gaara did not respond to Naruto.
Mainly because he really didn't have the mood right now.
Because the lineup the enemy had sent was truly beyond imagination.
Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu.
Second Tsuchikage, Mu.
Third Raikage.
Fourth Raikage.
Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, his own father.
That's right.
Just Kage-level fighters alone numbered over ten.
And also—
Akatsuki: Hoshigaki Kisame.
Akatsuki: Uchiha Sasuke.
Gaara slowly stood up from the sand cloud, expressionless.
Behind him, Naruto was still shouting his name, his voice growing increasingly urgent.
"Gaara! Can you hear me? Is Sasuke there or not?!"
"To think we would meet again under these circumstances, Father..."
Still not answering Naruto, the only person who could make him repeatedly ignore his unrequited love was probably the father who had ruined his childhood so badly.
"Hey, you Missing-Nin brat from Konoha, what exactly is the situation right now?"
Sasuke and Kisame led this army of Kage-level figures, slowly advancing toward the Fifth Unit led by Gaara.
The speaker was the Second Tsuchikage, Mu.
His body was wrapped in white bandages, with only his eyes showing.
Although reanimated by Edo Tensei, these Kage who still maintained their own will were very curious about the current situation.
What era was it now? Which Ninja Villages were fighting in this war? And who was the caster of this Edo Tensei?
With no other choice, they could only ask the only two living people in the unit, Sasuke.
Sasuke walked at the very front from start to finish, saying nothing, too lazy to bother with these remnants of the old era.
"Tch."
Mu couldn't help but let out a dissatisfied nasal sound.
"The Uchiha Clan really are all this annoying."
A scene from decades ago surfaced in his mind—
That year, he brought his student Onoki to Konoha, intending to sign a peace agreement with Hashirama. As a result, at the gates of Konoha, they were stopped by a man with hair like a hedgehog.
Uchiha Madara.
Madara not only rejected Iwagakure's alliance request, but also thoroughly humiliated him and his student.
"There is no alliance. Submit to the power of Konoha."
Mu still remembered the way Madara looked down on him and his student when he said that, like looking at two ants.
That incident left a huge psychological shadow on two generations of Tsuchikage.
After speaking, Mu glanced again at the short, wrinkled figure of Onoki beside him.
"You living this long before dying surprises me too, Onoki."
Onoki's face was dark and silent for a few seconds before he finally spoke in a deep voice:
"This war... has everything to do with the Ninja World Government."
His gaze crossed the wasteland and landed on the Ninjas in the distance wearing forehead protectors with the character for 'Shinobi'.
Fortunately, although Sasuke didn't speak, Kisame was a chatterbox. Seeing Sasuke not answering, he took the initiative to take over the conversation.
"This is a war that will decide the future of this world."
Upon hearing this, the attention of all the Kage was drawn to Kisame.
"What do you mean, kid?" The one who asked is the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu.
As a Mizukage, he noticed that the forehead protector Kisame wore was from Kirigakure, and even though the scratch mark across the middle showed that the kid was already a Missing-Nin, regardless, the other party was still his junior.
Kisame grinned, not wanting to embarrass this senior.
He opened his mouth to explain—
Just then, a loud noise came from ahead.
Boom—!!!
A large amount of sand and dust surged into the sky, shooting up like a volcanic eruption.
The sand and dust spread and condensed in the air, turning into a tsunami of sand that blotted out the sun, surging toward Sasuke, Kisame, and the many Kage.
"Wow, this is truly spectacular! Which village's technique is this?"
Gengetsu shouted with a strange laugh, his arms crossed over his chest, standing still on the spot with no intention of dodging.
This large-scale Ninjutsu was enough to instantly kill Ninjas below the level of Special Jonin.
But everyone present was at Kage level.
This level of attack meant nothing to them.
Rasa frowned slightly, his grey pupils watching that overwhelming sea of sand, and softly uttered a name:
"Gaara."
The next second, Rasa raised his hand and slapped his palm onto the ground.
"Gold Dust: Sea of Sand Funeral!"
Dazzling golden sand and dust surged from beneath his palm, rushing forward like a breached dam.
The golden sand and the wave-like yellow sand collided head-on in the center of the wasteland.
Boom—!!!
The two surges of sand collided, swallowed each other, and shredded each other.
The golden sand tore the yellow sand apart, the yellow sand swallowed the golden sand, the yellow sand and golden sand intertwined.
In the end, Rasa's gold sand gained the upper hand.
The golden sand and dust suppressed the yellow sand, pushing it back little by little.
After the techniques on both sides subsided, a curved sand dune stretching for hundreds of meters had appeared on the wasteland.
Rasa stood on top of the sand dune, his gaze crossing the wasteland and landing on the figure in the distance standing on a drifting sand cloud.
Red hair, dark circles under his eyes, the character for 'love' carved on his forehead.
Gaara.
Rasa looked up and down at his son, a hint of surprise in his voice:
"I thought you would have already transformed into a Tailed Beast, Gaara."
Gaara responded indifferently, his voice calm without a single ripple:
"I have already been able to control that power, Father."
Rasa was startled.
He truly never imagined that his son would one day be able to perfectly control the power of Shukaku.
In his memory, Gaara was just an uncontrollable failure.
And it was precisely because of this that he had tried to kill his son more than once.
And now, Gaara said he had already controlled Shukaku.
Rasa's lips moved a few times, not knowing what to say.
Seeing the surprise on his father's face, Gaara continued in the same indifferent tone:
"Thanks to the Supreme Leader and Naruto."
"Who?"
Rasa asked, confused.
He had died too early and didn't know what happened later.
At this moment, Onoki floated over and helped explain:
"The Supreme Leader refers to the head of the highest organization that now unifies the Ninja World… Nishikawa Makoto, and that Naruto..."
Before Onoki could finish—
"Sasuke—!!!"
A shout came from the direction of the Fifth Unit.
That voice was full of urgency, and a longing that had been suppressed for three whole years.
Everyone turned their heads.
A golden figure rushed out from the Fifth Unit, incredibly fast.
Sage Mode.
Naruto, with orange-red eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes, wearing a robe with the character for 'Shinobi', charged straight toward Sasuke, who was wearing the Akatsuki's uniform.
Seeing this, Sasuke instantly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
In his crimson red eyes, the six-pointed star pattern spun rapidly.
The next moment.
The fists of the two collided heavily in mid-air.
Boom—!!!
A visible shockwave exploded from the point of impact, spreading in all directions.
Naruto's body slid backward several meters, his feet carving two deep furrows in the sand.
Sasuke's body also slid backward several meters, his left hand bracing against the ground to steady his center of gravity.
The two stood over ten meters apart, staring into each other's eyes.
After nearly three years apart, Naruto finally saw the person he had been longing for day and night, and couldn't help but grit his teeth and say:
"This time… I will definitely bring you back to Konoha!"
Sasuke, looking impatient, but deep in his eyes, there was also a hint of complexity.
After a few seconds, Sasuke couldn't help but ask sharply:
"Are you done or not? Why are you so obsessed with me?"
For Sasuke, who wanted to enter the world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Naruto's existence was undoubtedly his biggest obstacle.
He had already decided to embrace the painful, true reality, and the person in front of him wanted to drag him back.
Naruto looked completely natural and said, word by word:
"Because we are friends!"