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  "I hope that when you remove the blindfold, what will be revealed to the Shinobi world is a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan!"

  "Mangekyo!"

  Even though he held a cold, bck blindfold in his hand, Uchiha Shisui could feel a warmth radiating from it… It felt like it still held Gojo-sama's body heat!

  '…Warmth? What nonsense was he thinking?'

  No, this was a legacy. The blindfold was the link, passing on Gojo-sama's Will of Fire!

  pared to the legacy of the Advisor's Will of Fire, the Mangekyo wasn't something to focus on specifically.

  Thinking this, Uchiha Shisui felt his eyes beoist again, and the disfort from overusing his Sharingan lessened somewhat. He eagerly put on the blindfold.

  Gojo Kaigetsu plopped down on a rock, rexing his body.

  After a series of intetles, his chakra was almost depleted. If a fully-powered Konan had emerged from the Ryūmyaku, and another ninjutsu battle had ensued, he might have beeed.

  ....

  After a while, the space-time fluctuations appeared, and Konan's battered figure was exposed.

  Uchiha Shisui immediately went o, but Gojo Kaigetsu reached out and stopped him, shaking his head at Shisui.

  Gojo Kaigetsu floated, without his feet toug the ground, to the weakened Konan.

  "If I kill you, I'll regret it." Konan's voice, from beh her mask, was still as cold as ever.

  "Konan-san, I believe that uandiween people create true peace! And I also believe that you will make the right choice."

  "If you figure it out… e to Konoha, mention my name. I believe that Konan-san and I have some beneficial business dealings with each other!"

  'No, it's purely, starting from this point!'

  'Let's get to know each other ih!'

  Gojo Kaigetsu showed a bright smile, fshing his pearly whites, and stuck his thumb into his chest.

  Konan was momentarily stuhen looked deeply at Gojo Kaigetsu before silently fpping her paper wings and disappearing from sight.

  …

  The battle at Sunagakure had also ended.

  After Baki led the Shinobi back, they only saw a se of devastation.

  There were Suna Shinobi lying on the ground, groaning in pain; some were missing limbs, with traces of bloody iron sand faintly visible at their wounds; some were sealed in small pyramids…

  ōtani (Sue Jonin) and Yasuke y unscious in a pile of rubble.

  Looking around, there wasn't a single defending Shinobi who could still stand.

  None of this was important. The important thing was—

  "Bunpuku!!!"

  "Tell me, where did Bunpuku go?!"

  Baki didn't care about the lives of the Shinobi lying on the ground. He rushed furiously into the prison where Bunpuku was being held.

  The empty prison, however, poured a bucket of ice water over Baki's ragi, a plete chill, his heart was cold.

  Bunpuku… was gone!

  Where was Bunpuku?! Where was the Jinchuriki?!

  A mouthful of old blood spurted out of Baki.

  A fidant beside him immediately stepped forward to show his loyalty, and worriedly said, "Kazekage-sama! You must take care of your health! Sunagakure 't lose you!"

  "I'm fine!" Baki pushed his fidant aoio the unscious guards lying on the ground.

  "Wake this guy up! Let him tell me how Bunpuku disappeared! Now, immediately, I want to know the test first-hand information!"

  "Yes!"

  The Suna Anbu, who had received Baki's order, quickly took a. Perhaps they didn't have any skill in dealing with Akasuna no Sasori, but they were very skilled in dealing with their own people who were exhausted from defending against Akasuna no Sasori.

  Various methods were used, and soon, the seriously injured and unscious Suna Shinobi woke up with a start, being treated as criminals to colleformation.

  Ihan five mihe fidant brought Baki the test intelligence:

  "…Akasuna no Sasori attacked the prison where Bunpuku was held. He used the Hundred Puppets Teique, the Third Kazekage, and the Fourth Kazekage human puppets. During the process, the guards released Bunpuku, Yasuke, and the other imprisoned ninjas, attempting to resist Akasuna no Sasori together."

  "…In the end, the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki Bunpuku released Shukaku, but was still no match for the Fourth Kazekage human puppet, and was knocked out of his Tailed Beast state and taken away by Akasuna no Sasori."

  "Before leaving, Akasuna no Sasori left a message for the interrogated ninja, asking him to rey it to you—Time is running out."

  'Time is running out?'

  Baki's face darkened, and he immediately uood the meaning of Sasori's message…

  This nned and premeditated attack from [Akatsuk against Sunagakure.

  After successively losing the Ryūmyaku and the Tailed Beast, it seemed that there were only three paths left for Sunagakure.

  Without the Ryūmyaku, and without the Tailed Beast, it meant that Sunagakure had lost its potential for development.

  If this tinued, let alone peting with Konoha, even pared to Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa, the gap would widen.

  That is, puppetry and the foundation of ninja were still iherwise, Sunagakure would likely bee disheartened by the loss of the tailed beast, and fall to the level of Takigakure. Takigakure still had a Seven-Tails, but they, Suna, now had nothing.

  Reality was cruel. There were only three paths left for Suna…

  The first path: to follow Rasa's old path, kneeling behind Konoha and pushing their ass, pushing Konoha towards the unshakable throne of the Shinobi world hegemony, and following behind to eat leftovers, pletely being Konoha's vassal.

  But before killing Rasa, Suna was walking this path. After killing Rasa, Suna was still walking this path, then wouldn't Rasa have died in vain?!

  Without even thinking, Baki rejected this path.

  The sed path: to track down where Sasori's [Akatsuk was, and to use the entire vilge's power to take back the Oail.

  He could also use "ter-terrorism" as an excuse, to morally bind Konoha to participate in the Oail recovery battle.

  This path seemed feasible—but Baki thought about it carefully and found it impossible.

  Konoha was vigorously carrying out ter-terrorism operations in the ninja world for "reputation."

  It was hard to say whether they would really put in effort when entering powerful underground ninjas. It might turn into pushing Suna's ass from behind, further increasing Suna's losses.

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