"But... Elder Chiyo, I understand your sorrow! I know everything you have sacrificed for the Hidden Sand!" Cold sweat beaded on Rasa's pale face as he desperately tried to exploit the flashes of remorse in Chiyo's eyes. "But my decisions in this war were strategic necessities, not crimes!"
Did Rasa love the Hidden Sand? Yes. But he loved himself far more.
To secure his seat as the Fourth Kazekage, he had ruthlessly conspired with the Hidden Mist to assassinate Pakura, the village's greatest hero. To secure a weapon for the village, he was already planning to seal the One-Tail Shukaku into the womb of his own wife, cursing his unborn son, Gaara. Rasa did not lack the courage to die a violent death on the battlefield—but to swallow this grotesque, absolute humiliation? To act as the sacrificial lamb and eat a mound of dirt to appease a monster, all for the sake of the village's survival?
He simply did not possess that level of supreme, self-sacrificing resolve.
"Eat it, Lord Kazekage!"
While Chiyo felt remorse, Ebizō felt only pure, unadulterated disgust. Had Rasa accepted his punishment with the quiet dignity of a Kage, Ebizō might have respected him. But watching the man worm and evade consequence ignited a fiery hatred in the elder's chest. Stepping forward, Ebizō grabbed a heavy handful of the metallic dust and forcefully shoved it directly into Rasa's mouth.
"Ugh—wait! I am the Fourth Kazekage!" Rasa gagged, thrashing his head wildly. "Pah! You cannot treat me like this! Stop! I am your Kage!"
Rasa was terrified, his eyes rolling in panic as he struggled. But Ikki's Armament-hardened fist had completely pulverized his skeletal structure. Rasa possessed neither the miraculous vitality of a Senju Sage Body nor the indestructible physique of the Third Raikage. His struggles were reduced to pathetic, helpless twitches and furious glares. He couldn't even keep his jaw shut; Ebizō brutally forced the gold dust down his throat, mouthful by agonizing mouthful.
"Sealing Technique: Lion Closing Roar!" (Fūinjutsu: Shishi Heikō!)
Suddenly, Chiyo stepped forward. Her hands blurred through a sequence of seals, slamming a sealing tag onto Rasa's chest to completely sever his chakra network.
"Chiyo, you— ACK!"
Rasa had been desperately pooling the last dregs of his chakra, intending to manipulate the gold dust to tear out his own throat rather than suffer this indignity. But Chiyo had seen right through him. Before he could spit out a string of vicious curses, she, too, plunged her hands into the mound of gold and shoved a fistful of metallic sand past his teeth.
"Should we... should we intervene?" "Are you insane? If we do, we completely invalidate the elders' sacrifice!" "We aren't cowards. We are doing this for the future of the Hidden Sand!" "Elder Chiyo is right. Death is momentary. It is the living who must bear the pain."
Standing along the rim of the colossal fist-print crater, Baki, Yashamaru, and the rest of the Sand vanguard watched the horrific spectacle of their Kazekage being force-fed sand. The expressions on their faces were an agonizing mix of shame, horror, and profound conflict.
A few loyalists instinctively twitched, wanting to rush down and save their leader, but they were immediately violently restrained by the shinobi standing next to them.
Ultimately, Rasa was a newly appointed Kazekage with shallow prestige. Combine that with his pathetic display of cowardice following their utter defeat, and the heavy, sobering words of Chiyo and Ebizō... the vanguard made their choice. They stood completely still, watching their leader be tortured. They rationalized it to themselves: they weren't afraid of Ikki. They were doing this for the village.
Yes... it is all for the Hidden Sand!
"You damned bastards!" Rasa mentally shrieked, his eyes bleeding tears of pure malice as he stared up at his motionless army. "I am in this miserable state because I fought for you! And not a single one of you will save me?!"
Ah... I hate you! I hate you all!
Watching the mound of gold dust shrink by half, with not a single Sand shinobi stepping forward to intervene, the absolute last shred of hope in Rasa's heart fractured into dust. His hatred boiled over, but it changed nothing. He was completely paralyzed, entirely at the mercy of the two elders actively force-feeding him his own weapon.
"I initially thought Ōnoki losing his son, or the Third Raikage being permanently crippled by Uncle Ikki was miserable enough. I didn't think it was possible to be even more ruthless."
Miles away, Tsunade watched the Fourth Kazekage being force-fed dirt by his own elders. She was utterly mesmerized. Over the course of three Shinobi World Wars, the Hidden Sand had slaughtered countless Senju clansmen—including her beloved little brother, Nawaki. She held absolutely no sympathy for the Sand.
She was completely dumbfounded by Ikki's methods. Killing a Kage in battle was one thing; it was a martial feat. But completely shattering a Kage's dignity, forcing his own loyal elders to torture him just to secure the survival of their village? It was an absurdity beyond comprehension.
Tsunade couldn't help it. As she looked at Ikki—who was casually standing at the edge of the crater, admiring the macabre scene with a faint, satisfied smile—a deep spark of profound awe and dark admiration flashed in her eyes.
"I finally understand why the clan elders speak of Lord Ikki with such absolute reverence and terror," Shikaku Nara whispered, wiping a thick layer of cold sweat from his forehead. Just watching the psychological destruction from afar sent violent chills down his spine. He couldn't even begin to imagine the crushing, suffocating despair felt by the samurai of the Warring States, or by Ōnoki, or the Third Raikage, when they stood face-to-face with that monster.
"No wonder..." Choza Akamichi swallowed hard. "No wonder Ōnoki immediately drafted a treaty of unconditional surrender to Konoha the moment he learned his son Kitsuchi had been killed."
Inoichi Yamanaka stared quietly at the broken Kazekage choking on the desert sands. "Of the Five Kage..." he muttered, his voice trembling slightly. "Four have now bowed their heads."
A/N: For this week, every 100 Powerstones will get ya'll an extra chapter! Thank you!