A few seconds later, the sphere and walls of Iron Sand disintegrated, spreading out into fine, dark grains that drifted toward the sky and the parched earth below.
The Third Kazekage emerged, his expression grim to the point of being ghoulish. He had been suppressed—completely pinned down—by a mere Tokubetsu Jonin from the Hidden Leaf. Even if this wasn't an ordinary Special Jounin, even if the man were an elite operative, being forced into a purely defensive stance for so long without a single chance to counter-attack was a humiliation that cut to the bone.
The most infuriating part was that this Aburame's official rank truly was that of a newly appointed Tokubetsu Jonin. How was a Kage supposed to explain this?
"That Special Jounin who suppressed me wasn't a normal ninja, you see, he was..."
It wouldn't matter. Any explanation would only make him look worse.
To ruin my reputation, you've truly stopped at nothing, Hiruzen Sarutobi. How insidious.
In the Hidden Leaf, the Third Hokage suddenly paused, feeling a strange chill. (￣_,￣)?
The Kazekage was now consumed by a cold, murderous resolve. Regardless of the cost, he had to kill this Konoha ninja. First, if he died here, no one would ever know about this embarrassing encounter. Second, this "Special" Jounin was simply too dangerous to be left alive.
The battles in the Land of Rivers over the past few days had proven that Tetsumaru's massive swarm was an existential threat to Genin and Chunin. They were effectively irresistible unless gathered in units of several hundred and led by a veteran commander.
But how many elites did Suna have? Four thousand at most.
Tetsumaru's swarm capacity was so vast that if the Kazekage hadn't been personally stationed with the army, this thousand-man force would have been annihilated within two days.
This was a man who could genuinely stand against an entire army alone. And he was only sixteen. If he were allowed to grow for a few more years, expanding his swarm and coordinating with top-tier powerhouses like the White Fang or the Sannin...
The Kazekage shuddered. Suna would have no answer to such a combination. They would be forced to mobilize thousands of troops just to counter one small cell, resulting in a resource-drain ratio of hundreds to one.
The Kazekage knew Suna's greatest weakness better than anyone: logistics. At the start of the war, a Suna ninja's resource consumption was roughly equal to a Leaf ninja's. Since then, it had plummeted. Four years ago, Suna's budget wasn't even half of Konoha's.
Today, the equipment budget for a Suna Chunin was equivalent to that of a Konoha Academy graduate. A lack of money meant a lack of everything.
Puppeteers couldn't afford the materials for major repairs; as long as a puppet could move, they used it, living in constant fear that their dilapidated weapon would lock up mid-battle.
Suna ninjas always opened a fight by throwing senbon instead of kunai or shuriken. It wasn't because they preferred needles; it was because needles were cheap—less than a tenth of the price of a kunai.
When a battle ended, Suna ninjas would scour the field for every scrap of metal, refusing to leave even a broken blade behind.
To a Suna Genin, an explosive tag was a thing of legend, something you only saw the enemy use—unless you were lucky enough to loot one from a Konoha corpse. Even Chunin and Jonin possessed very few. Without a guaranteed kill, they would never dream of using one.
Then look at the Leaf ninjas. Even a fresh graduate started a fight by tossing a kunai as a greeting. The clan kids were even worse—they'd throw a handful of kunai at once, often with explosive tags wrapped around the hilts.
The contrast was so sharp it made the Suna ninjas' eyes sting with tears of frustration.
But even worse than the lack of tools was the lack of food. The civilians in the village were already starving. Deaths from famine had become common in recent years. This year, even the Genin stationed within the borders had begun to go hungry.
In this climate, the appearance of such an anomalous ninja triggered the Kazekage's deepest fears.
He didn't know why this Aburame was so powerful, but his strategic value was higher than that of a standard Kage-level combatant—even higher than the "Darkness of the Shinobi" himself.
In the right hands, he was a tactical asset on par with a Jinchuriki, capable of shifting the tides of an entire campaign.
The most galling part? The kid was loyal. Konoha gave him the measly status of a Tokubetsu Jonin, and he was willing to throw his life away fighting a Kage's army alone.
If Suna had a ninja like this, the Kazekage thought, I would give him a personal guard of elite Jonin. I'd never let him execute an "impossible mission" solo.
The Kazekage actually felt a bit better for a moment. Maybe I'm not such a bad Kage after all. Hiruzen Sarutobi is clearly an idiot, and he's still in charge.
Third Hokage: (＊￣(エ)￣)!!
Kill him now, the Kazekage decided. Before the Leaf even realizes what they have.
He held two fingers to his brow, channeling his chakra. He would start with a wide-range sweep to clear the annoying bugs, then bury the man in Iron Sand and grind him to dust.
Magnet Style: Iron Sand Drizzle!
The Iron Sand obeyed his will, blanketing the sky and surrounding the battlefield before raining down as a torrential storm of metallic needles, converging on Tetsumaru from every direction.
Tetsumaru already knew Earth and Wind wouldn't cut it. He switched to Water.
First, he had to survive the initial hail.
Water Style: Water Formation Wall!
Before the dense senbon could shred the barrier, Tetsumaru completed a second sequence: Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu. A massive shroud of thick fog engulfed the area, and he used the cover to break into a high-speed sprint.
"Cunning," the Kazekage scoffed, his vision obscured. "Do you think hiding will save you? Naive."
Unable to pinpoint a target, the Kazekage simply carpet-bombed every square inch of the mist. As long as he hit everything, he would eventually hit the enemy.
For Tetsumaru, as long as he wasn't the target of focused fire, the defense of his water walls held. This gave him the time he needed to utilize his massive chakra reserves.
He found himself envying a certain "wavy-haired" water master from his memories. Both were ninjas with massive chakra, but Tetsumaru's output efficiency was far lower. He couldn't just "reset" the map with a single move.
Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
While a true master could flood a valley in an instant, Tetsumaru had to laboriously pump out the water in waves. It was a gap in talent, and a gap in the core heritage of the techniques he had traded for.
"Lord Kazekage!"
A group of Sand ninjas finally reached the battlefield, only to find their leader in a state of frenzied destruction. The sky was filled with Iron Sand senbon, spears, and whips.
The enemy, hidden within the Hidden Mist, was holding their ground. Great waves of water surged out from the fog, pushing back the advancing Iron Sand.
"This... this is too much. Is the Kazekage fighting the Mizukage?"
"Unlikely. Doesn't the Third Mizukage specialize in Ice Style?"
"The combination of Wind and Water is Ice. With both elements this strong, who else could it be?"
"Whoever it is, we can't interfere. What do we do?"
The Kazekage's voice boomed over the roar of the battle: "There is only one Leaf Jonin here! Three Genin have already fled—find them and kill them!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Sand units quickly found the tracks of the three disciples and vanished into the distance.
The Kazekage didn't want his subordinates interfering. This Aburame's jutsus were powerful enough that even he had to exert full pressure to keep him pinned. Until the brat ran out of chakra, regular Jonin would just be fodder.
More importantly, he was worried that in the chaos of a crowded battlefield, this slippery ninja might find a way to escape.
In the last few minutes of combat, he had already destroyed thirty-eight Shadow Clones and Insect Clones. These clones had charged out of the mist to draw fire, used Earth Style for cover, or even transformed into Suna ninjas to stage "internal" fights in an attempt to confuse him.
Fortunately, the Kazekage knew he was the only Sand ninja on this specific patch of ground. He simply attacked everything that moved, successfully herding the crafty ninja back into the mist time and again.
Through his Domain Field Barrier, Tetsumaru finally saw the slowest of his students, Nara Yoshito, reach the emergency tunnel entrance. Without a second of hesitation, the boy dove inside and dropped a lit explosive tag behind him.
Seconds later, the entrance collapsed. They were untraceable.
The three kids are safe. Start the countdown: seventeen minutes left.
Tetsumaru kept moving, spamming Water Style, but his raw power was losing out. The Iron Sand net was tightening. Sand began to churn up from beneath his feet.
If it weren't for the fact that he had already flooded the area with a meter of water, he would have lost his footing long ago.
The jutsus he had traded from Orochimaru were genuine, but they lacked the "core secrets" that improved power and casting speed—secrets only passed to a true apprentice. Without them, Tetsumaru's jutsus were "standard," unable to fully leverage his absurd chakra levels. Meanwhile, the Kazekage's Magnet Style was a Bloodline Limit, naturally superior in a head-to-head elemental clash.
In the collision of iron and flood, the walls of sand drew closer. The water trapped within the circle began to rise, forcing the Kazekage to build his Iron Sand walls higher and thicker to contain it.
Nine minutes.
Four figures burst from the mist, attempting to scale the Iron Sand wall. They were instantly disintegrated by hundreds of needles, exploding into four clouds of white smoke. More Shadow Clones.
"..." The Kazekage's face was twisted in disbelief. "What kind of monster is this?"
That was the forty-sixth clone he had destroyed. Not only was the man producing an endless supply of clones, but the Water Style he used had turned the entire valley into a lake. Was this truly the chakra capacity of a Jonin?
The Kazekage's killing intent reached a fever pitch. He no longer cared about the "shame" of the fight; this was a battle against a proto-Kage. The man lacked technical finesse and forbidden jutsus, but with that amount of chakra, those were easily fixed.
He had to die. Now.
As the Iron Sand walls closed in, the area covered by the mist shrank. Finally, Tetsumaru dispelled the useless fog. Eight versions of himself appeared simultaneously.
Five minutes.
Both combatants unleashed their moves at once.
Magnet Style: Iron Sand Spear!Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!
Massive spears of iron were diverted by the water dragons, and the dragons were in turn shredded by more spears. In the end, the sheer volume of the Kazekage's iron won out. All eight Tetsumarus were struck, vanishing into eight clouds of smoke.
The Kazekage smirked. One of the clouds was smaller and thinner than the others—the unmistakable sign of a Transformation Jutsu being dispelled.
Found you. Time for the end. "Magnet Style: Sa—"
He stopped.
As the smoke cleared, a towering figure stood where the "small" cloud had been. It was 3.5 meters tall, with a massive, hulking frame that caused the Kazekage to choke on his own technique.
Trump Card: Attached Insect Limbs Bio-Armor.
The design was inspired by the Guyver from his previous life—the standard-issue space suit of an ultra-advanced interstellar civilization.
In the source material, the armor was stored in a pocket dimension and summoned by thought. It possessed 360-degree vision, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and vibration sensing. It had the strength of tens of tons, protein-based armor that turned the user into a human tank, and a "Mega-Smasher" particle cannon that could disintegrate matter.
Tetsumaru's version wasn't nearly that godly. It was, after all, made of bugs.
Over years of testing these prosthetics on his students, he had eventually collected enough specialized Attached Insect Limbs to cover every part of the human body. He linked them together via Summoning Silk and controlled them through the Fourth Generation Eye of Truth—an organic computer with the processing power of an early-90s PC.
The armor granted him roughly four tons of physical strength. Its arsenal included twin high-frequency vibration blades on the wrists, a shoulder launcher containing 60 Flight-Locusts, acid nozzles in the palms, and pre-loaded jutsu runes under the arm and thigh plating.
Tetsumaru was now encased in a grey-white chitinous shell. His head, chest, and back were covered in thick, spiked plate-armor. Dark red muscle and white connective tissue were visible between the gaps.
The helmet featured two massive, violet-hued compound eyes. Spikes, antennae, and cilia protruded from the frame. It was terrifying—a grotesque, oversized insect-man.
This was why Tetsumaru hated showing it. It was creepy and completely violated his aesthetic of "coolness is combat power."
But seeing the stunned look on the Kazekage's face, Tetsumaru felt a surge of triumph.
Thanks for the free thirty seconds of shock, buddy.
Four minutes left.