Bang!
An elderly, once-robust body collapsed amidst the dying embers of the sea of fire.
The classic shinobi trait of "high attack, low defense" was on full display. With half of his neck severed by Minato's blade, even a Kage-level powerhouse had finally reached the end of his path.
However...
Ebizo stared at the pale red barrier before him, now so webbed with cracks it seemed a mere touch would shatter it. Beyond the barrier stood Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage—standing motionless, watching with cold indifference.
Even in his final moments, Ebizo couldn't understand.
Why?
Why didn't Rasa move?
As the Kazekage, why would he sit back and watch a comrade of the village perish? Was Rasa caught in a genjutsu? Or was everything before him—the desert, the battle, the blonde youth—merely a cruel mirage shimmering above the dunes?
"Haha..." Ebizo gasped, his head lolling back as he stared toward Rasa with bloodshot eyes.
He fruitlessly clutched his spurting neck and dragged himself forward, one agonizing step at a time. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he saw his sister, Chiyo—young and beautiful as a desert rose—standing at the village gates. She opened her arms and called out:
"Otouto, come to sister!"
Spurt! Cough!
Ebizo vomited another glob of blood. His world was fading into a hazy grey.
"That's right, sister... I finally understand."
"A person like me doesn't need a final resting place."
"I just need to keep moving forward..."
As he stumbled, he hallucinated the people of the village standing ahead, waiting to welcome him home as a hero.
"Yes, I see it now. My vision, the Sand's vision... everything..."
"As long as you don't stop, the path will continue to extend!"
In his final act of defiance against death, Ebizo dragged himself to the very edge of the barrier. He stared directly at Rasa—not with hatred or resentment, but with a flickering spark of hope.
"Rasa... do you understand now?"
"So... don't let the war stop. Don't stop moving forward..."
Ebizo's raised hand, stained with blood, slid down the surface of the barrier.
Then, there was only silence.
The legend of Ebizo—one of the Sand's top leaders, the supreme commander of the Land of Rain front, and a master of Wind Style and Puppetry—had officially reached its conclusion in this world of shinobi.
In the heart of the fire, Ren Uchiha panted heavily as he used his third and final Orochimaru-Style Substitute. He vomited out a fresh version of himself and stood up.
His serpentine Sharingan locked onto Rasa. The Fourth Kazekage had waited until Ebizo was confirmed dead before finally making his move.
As Rasa stepped forward, a cushion of Magnet Style: Gold Dust rose beneath his feet, lifting him high into the air. Like a golden tsunami, the sand surged upward, stacking higher and higher until it blotted out the moon and the stars!
The golden wave loomed over the barrier like the coming of the apocalypse.
Ren's gaze sharpened. He turned to the blonde youth beside him. "Minato, can you still fight?"
Beside him, Minato's eyelid twitched as he watched Ren's "molting" process. He knew Ren was a disciple of Orochimaru, but he hadn't expected the boy to master such a grotesque and effective technique so thoroughly in such a short time.
"Yeah. The opponent is the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa," Minato replied. He took a deep breath, his eyes showing no hint of fear.
Ren frowned. "Why is he here? Didn't Orochimaru go to assassinate him?"
Minato was silent for a moment before answering. "The plan changed. We intercepted Pakura and Chiyo. Rasa wasn't where the intelligence said he'd be. That area has turned into a full-scale battlefield now; Lord Orochimaru and Master Jiraiya are fighting there."
Ren felt a surge of adrenaline. His gaze returned to the slowly approaching Rasa, and he licked his dry lips. Ebizo was dead, the timeline was shattered, and the plot was in shambles. Ren decided to embrace the chaos.
"So that means the assassination target has come to us!" Ren said. "Maybe we can finish him right here!"
Minato looked at Ren with a strange, complicated expression and shook his head. "No. You've done enough."
He reached into his pouch and tossed a scroll to Ren. "Lord Orochimaru sent this for you."
Ren caught it. It was a summoning scroll with the kanji for "Snake" written boldly in the center.
"From Orochimaru?" Ren wove the 'Ram' seal.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke erupted, revealing a small, timid white snake sitting on the scroll.
"A messenger snake?" Ren was familiar with these; he'd seen one the night he learned the summoning jutsu. These were specialized breeds—covert, intelligent, and capable of self-destructing their intel if captured. Due to the properties of the Binding Snake Glare Spell, they could even transport physical goods. They were expensive and rare, even in Ryuchi Cave.
Ren looked at the snake, puzzled. "Does he have intel for me? Or am I supposed to send something back?"
Minato stepped forward and hauled Ebizo's corpse over, dropping it in front of Ren. His expression was solemn. "A shinobi's body is a library of intelligence. Since Ebizo was the supreme commander, if we can extract the secrets from his brain, we've already won half the war. So..."
BOOM!
CRACK!
The massive tide of Gold Dust slammed into the pale red barrier. The surface screeched under the pressure, spiderweb cracks spreading across the translucent dome.
High above, standing on his golden platform, Rasa raised a hand and glared down at the two.
"Leave Ebizo's body, and I will let you go!" he bellowed. "Otherwise—die!"
Rasa had arrived. To him, a living Ebizo was a headache and a political rival. But a dead Ebizo? That was a treasure! He could use the body to manipulate Chiyo, suppress his political enemies, and discredit the previous front-line strategy—all while looking like a grieving hero.
Neither of the two inside the barrier took him seriously. Minato was a master of seals and the Flying Raijin; unless he was trapped in a cornered deathmatch, Rasa couldn't even touch the hem of his cloak.
As for Ren Uchiha... he simply didn't know the meaning of fear. In fact, he was annoyed. He looked up at the "bird-man" in the sky and shouted:
"Shut up! I'm coming out to kill you in a minute!"
"You!" Rasa's face reddened with fury. The golden sand around him began to churn even more violently, forming jagged spears that hammered against the barrier.
Inside, Ren was trying to get the white snake to vomit up a scroll, but it wasn't working. He grabbed the snake and started shaking it upside down.
"Dammit, did you swallow the intel scroll and digest it? Spit it out!"
Suddenly, the snake broke free from his grip. It slithered up his arm to his neck and bit down hard on the location of the Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Psh!
In an instant, the pale white skin of Ren's transformed state receded, the black markings shrinking back into the seal. Around the mark, a circular ring of black sealing formula appeared, forcibly cutting off the flow of natural energy.
Sealing Jutsu: Evil-Sealing Method!
The white snake sucked the remaining natural energy from Ren's body and then injected a potent paralytic venom through its fangs.
Thump!
Ren's eyes rolled back as he collapsed into the sand, completely weakened.
The snake then unhinged its massive jaw, using the Binding Snake Glare Spell to swallow Ren whole. With another quick movement, it gulped down Ebizo's corpse as well.
Finally, under Minato's silent gaze, the white snake vanished in a cloud of smoke, summoned back by Orochimaru hundreds of miles away.
Minato looked up as the barrier finally shattered, and the glittering tide of Gold Dust began to pour down. A gentle, determined smile touched his lips.
"Sorry, Ren Uchiha. You've done enough."
"I'll take it from here!"
He opened his hand, a three-pronged kunai spinning between his fingers. In the next heartbeat, Minato became a yellow flash, charging directly up into the heart of the golden tsunami!
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