The strongest Shukaku's Spear met the Spear of Light!
In the next instant, the two clashed above the village, and the very world seemed to lose its color.
Then, in a heartbeat, a deafening roar shattered the sky, louder than any thunder.
Time seemed to stand still as vicious winds roared across the sky.
Torrents of energy swirled and stretched outward like a rising mushroom cloud, scattering endless dust and debris.
At its peak, the radiant glow expanded until it shone like a miniature sun, illuminating the entire Hidden Sand Village.
Shukaku's spear shattered instantly under its onslaught.
Fortunately, Gaara's reflexes were razor‑sharp, and he just managed to dodge the speeding beam of light.
But behind him, the defensive walls of the Sand Village weren't so lucky.
The sturdy barrier was pierced clean through, and the resulting shockwave shot up into the sky, its blinding brilliance like a second sun, filling every witness with dread.
"There was no hand seal, no warning," Gaara thought, cold sweat trickling down his forehead as he frantically analyzed this new ninjutsu.
At the same time, he rode his sand clouds through the sky, planning to lure Toshi beyond the village limits and minimize civilian casualties.
"Think… think fast!" Gaara's mind raced, searching for the only way to win.
A technique requiring no hand seals, not truly ninjutsu, aligned with fire… its heat and destructive power were unlike anything he'd ever seen.
Ribbons of solar flame formed meteors that streaked past him.
With each pass, he felt the scorching heat threaten to vaporize his blood, and the pure light burned his eyes.
"Almost there. Everyone nearly evacuated from the village," Gaara gritted his teeth in determination.
But Toshi sensed his plan and halted in midair.
"Tsk, you're running around like a fly!" Toshi sneered, growing impatient—he had medicine to take on schedule.
"Dodge if you can," he declared, throwing back his arms as the sun's overwhelming light pierced the clouds and rained down from the night sky.
"Let's see where you hide now!"
"No!"
Gaara's eyes widened, but it was too late for rescue.
Boom!
A pure column of light, infused with the sun's power, blazed with scorching white intensity.
It pierced the darkness like dawn itself, yet it brought not warmth but lethal death.
The horrifying heat instantaneously vaporized hundreds of lives.
Vast tracts of land fractured and collapsed.
Countless screams of agony rang out across the shinobi village.
"You bastard!" Gaara stood frozen in place, fury surging through his heart.
"Ha, now you're not running?" Toshi grinned, a sinister smile twisting his lips.
"What do you take human lives for?!" Gaara ground his teeth and glared.
"Obviously, they're game characters~" Toshi shrugged casually and said with utter nonchalance.
"What else could they be?"
"You're all products of my imagination."
"Your only purpose is to entertain me, so you should feel honored."
"Hahahahaha."
Madman, an utter madman!
Furious beyond measure, Gaara shouted, "It's settled—you're completely insane!"
"Yep, I'm a madman." Toshi nodded soberly.
"Play with you for another half hour, then I'll take my medicine."
At those words, Gaara felt his throat tighten and could no longer speak.
This guy… he openly admitted he was insane!
"What, aren't you happy?" Toshi spread his hands and tilted his head.
"Who told you to buzz around like a fly?"
"What if you delayed my medicine time?"
"Sand Prison Barrage!"
Gaara refused to waste another word.
A massive spiral of sand spears whirled overhead with terrifying force and crashed down toward Toshi.
"That's too weak!" Toshi snorted, his body glowing with a pure, blazing light that rippled outward like a halo. "Solar Domain!"
A ring of searing white radiance formed around him, melting and erasing everything it touched in an instant.
"Pure White Beam!"
A scorching ray shot straight at Gaara. The beam punched through his chest, yet no blood sprayed—only sand crumbled away as if withered.
"A clone?"
Toshi paused in surprise.
Seizing his moment, Gaara—who had been lying in wait—snapped his hands into a seal.
Sand infused with jagged rock and metal churned like roaring waves. In an instant it rose around Toshi, burying him under its crushing weight.
"Sandfall of Annihilation!"
The sand sea engulfed him like a natural disaster. Its shifting currents dragged him deeper into the earth.
"Not bad," Toshi laughed maniacally. "But it won't kill me."
With a burst of pure white light from his back, six luminous wings unfurled like divine plumage. The sand slid away under their power.
An invisible aura dropped around Gaara like the weight of a mountain. He stared in horror. "What on earth are you?!"
Bathed in holy radiance and crowned by six angelic wings, Toshi gazed down at Gaara as though from a higher realm.
"Me?" He smiled with eerie calm.
He grinned slightly. "You can think of me as... an Angel."
Angel?
Gaara felt like something had clogged his throat. He didn't know what to say.
"Feel honored~"
Toshi wore a satisfied expression as he looked down at the foolish humans below. "I'm a Sequence 2, a Sun Chaser, a true Angel."
"So what!"
Gaara growled through clenched teeth, breaking free from that twisted illusion. "Even if you're an Angel, I won't let you harm my village!"
"Tsk. It's almost time."
Toshi seemed to sense something. He suddenly smiled wide. "This was fun, but I have to go take my medicine soon, so... it's time for you to exit."
He raised his arms like pulling a bowstring.
A burning, pure white brilliance condensed and formed a bow in his hands.
The bowstring was made of white flames, drawn back to its full arc.
An arrow, forged purely from sunlight, appeared on the string, glowing with divine purity.
"With this move, let's end it."
"Sun Chaser!!!"
The bowstring exploded with power.
The blazing white arrow tore through the night sky, drawing a dazzling arc of light.
Like a falling star, it dragged behind it a radiant tail, like a sun crashing from the sky.
To the people of the Sand Village below, the light grew bigger... and bigger... and bigger!
The burning white arrow was like a falling sun, and its force pulled behind it dragon-like waves of energy, roaring down from the sky.
"Absolute Sand Shield!!!"
Gaara summoned a massive wall of sand, forming petals of defense that bloomed outward like a great flower.
Its vast scale shielded the entire Sand Village.
BOOMMMMM!!!
A thunderous explosion, like the sky being torn apart, crashed down.
The star-like destructive power poured down onto the massive sand wall with unstoppable might.
Shockwaves rippled outward in rings, like tsunamis in the sky, spreading farther and farther from the impact point.
A mushroom cloud like the sun rose high into the sky, releasing a devastating, blinding light.
A colossal sphere of pure white light hovered above, and in just moments, it shattered Gaara's sand barrier.
The vast currents of force poured downward like a heavenly waterfall.
"Back already?"
Inside the Aurora Order, Uchiha Itachi sat in front of the ruined shrine, playing with a kunai. He watched the entrance with keen interest.
"Yeah, I'm back."
The person coming through the door was Toshi, carrying an unconscious Gaara on his shoulder, his whole body charred black like coal.
He casually dropped Gaara to the ground, scratched his head, and said with disdain, "Next time, don't come to me for this kind of thing, got it?"
"How did he get beaten up like this?"
Itachi's mouth twitched as he stared at the burnt, almost roasted charcoal lying on the ground.
"Ah, just got a little excited and went overboard," Toshi waved his hand and turned to leave. "I'm off. It's nothing important. Don't call me next time."
"Alright."
Itachi looked at Toshi as he was about to leave, a slight smile curling at the corner of his lips. "Is the Sun Pathway fun?"
"Not bad. Feels way better than the Spectator Pathway."
Toshi thought for a moment, then looked back at him. "Why don't you try the other Pathway? I think the Witch is pretty good."
Itachi's mouth twitched again, and he snorted coldly. "No thanks. Take care of yourself, you lunatic."
*******
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