Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

In the ruins of the Wind Temple, Uchiha Gin expressionlessly endured the torment of the black and white silk threads. Unable to change the cruel reality, he pathetically chose to compromise, letting the two women, locked in their struggle, do as they pleased.

Sigh~ I'll only lose one pair of pants at most; my meager savings can still afford it.

"Crunch~"

Pulling out the sunflower seeds and snacks he always carried, Uchiha Gin stared blankly at the Shamon prison in the distance, displaying his might.

Unexpectedly, the unassuming Shamon was able to comprehend a new Magnet Release technique in a desperate situation, slapping the tailed beasts in the face. It's true that those who become Kage are all quite skilled.

"Tsk! Ichibi is getting serious now."

Before we could even cheer for the amazing maneuver in the Shamon prison, the next to appear was Shukaku with murderous intent!

"Hehehe, bald guy, you've really enraged me." Don't hit a beast in the face!

The blasted mouth began to slowly recover, and the mocking look in Shukaku's tiny copper-coin eyes was gone, replaced by a palpable malice.

At this moment, it decided to end this farcical cat-and-mouse game and make the humans in front of it realize the insurmountable gap between them.

After saying that, to the astonishment of the monk, Shukaku, who had just been trapped in the sandstorm burial, easily lifted his foot and walked out.

He quickly activated the Magnet Release technique, only to find that the sand beneath his feet no longer obeyed his commands and instead flowed towards Shukaku's direction.

"Sandstorm Burial!"

Unwilling to accept defeat, Shamon once again refined the little chakra he had left and poured it into the ground, but it was like throwing a stone into the sea, receiving no response whatsoever. In an instant, his face turned extremely gloomy.

"I am the master of this desert. Do you think you can defeat me just because you've stolen a little bit of my access?"

Shukaku's shrill voice, filled with mockery, sent chills down Shamon's spine.

How could Magnetism Escape fail?

Shamen clenched a handful of fine sand in his hand, and through the swirling dust, he vaguely saw mysterious runes that were strikingly similar to the patterns on Shukaku's body.

Sealing technique?

Feeling that he could no longer communicate with the sand, Shamon stood up with a furrowed brow. Now that his strongest technique was banned and his chakra was nearly exhausted, was he really going to lose the title of knight?

Just as the monk was searching for a way out of the predicament, the sand beneath his feet suddenly began to become volatile.

Familiar with this attack method, he immediately leaped high into the air, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of sharp sand spears sprouted from the spot where he had just stood.

"You're pretty fast, huh? Well, let you taste what sand feels like!"

Undeterred by its failed attack, Shukaku pressed its two enormous claws to the ground, causing the sand and soil within a radius of several miles to begin to stir.

"Whoosh!"

As soon as he landed, Shamen immediately dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a sand blade that shot out from the ground, but he was still cut on the cheek by the sharp aftershock, and the gushing blood stained the blue dragon tattoo on his face.

Rumble!

Before he could wipe away the blood, the sudden appearance of four sand walls around him made Shamen's heart tighten. He quickly formed hand seals, his mouth bulged, and he spat out his most proficient Vacuum Jade towards one of the approaching sand walls.

"Bang!"

A hole was punched in the sturdy sand wall, and Shamen slipped out, while the damaged sand wall was quickly restored to its original state.

"Huff, huff."

Having just regained his freedom, Shamen discovered that the sunlight overhead was blocked by a shadow. Alarm bells rang in his mind, and without even raising his head, he fled the spot as if the wind were blowing.

The next moment, the giant claw pressed down.

boom!!!

"Hmph~ No wonder it's an insect."

Shukaku curled its lip in disdain, then with a hint of disappointment, withdrew its claws. Shamon, who had been swept up by the shockwave, landed in a sorry state, blood on his face already seeping into his eyes, which affected his vision.

For a ninja, losing a sense is tantamount to losing life.

"teacher!"

Upon witnessing this scene, Ebizo, who was watching the battle, couldn't help but cry out in shock. Unable to bear seeing his teacher being killed, he pulled out the scroll he was carrying on his back and prepared to go and provide support.

"Wait a minute!"

Equally anxious, Chiyo, recalling her teacher's earlier words, stopped her younger brother.

"Big sister, the teacher is dying!"

Chiyo held his hand firmly down as he pulled the scroll. For the first time, a violent expression appeared on Ebizo's usually timid face. Shamon was his teacher, whom he regarded as a father. No matter what, he could not stand by and watch him be tortured to death by a tailed beast.

"Trust your teacher."

Chiyo gritted her teeth, the veins on the back of her fair hand bulging. She had seen Shamon's miserable state, but as a disciple who understood her teacher's personality,

She knew that she must not do anything to disturb this fateful battle before the monks sought her help.

"First-sama!"

Stopped by his sister, Ebizo could only turn his gaze to the silent Retsuto, hoping he would lend a hand.

"How can I entrust the future of Sunagakure to you with such carelessness?"

With his arms crossed, Lie Dou's aged eyes gleamed with a faint light. He could sense the indomitable fighting spirit emanating from the Shamen on the battlefield.

"Your teacher hasn't lost yet!"

Even though he was injured and his chakra was nearly depleted, the Second Kazekage of Sunagakure, Shamon, did not lose his fighting spirit; in fact, his fighting will gradually increased.

"Huff, huff."

His vision had turned blood red, and the tearing sensation in his chest as he gasped for breath kept his drowsy mind from going completely blank.

"what?"

Looking up at the large, scarlet raccoon cat in front of him, he was surprised to find that he, who should have been terrified, felt no fear at all.

An unseen force was calming the monk's anxious heart, allowing him to enjoy a rare moment of calm.

"Boring~"

That's how Shukaku is, spoiled by the Sage of Six Paths. He gets bored with a new toy after playing with it for a couple of seconds and then goes to steal it from other tailed beasts.

"I don't want to play with you anymore."

In Shukaku's eyes, Shamon, with whom it had been dealing for a long time, had lost its appeal. Apart from Magnet Release, this human had brought it no more surprises. Therefore, this unqualified toy should enter the Pure Land Recycling Station to wait for remelting.

Having said that, Shukaku raised his hands, and countless grains of sand gathered in the air, transforming into giant sand balls that floated in mid-air.

【Sand and Gravel】

With a wave of his hand, Shukaku sent the giant sand sphere in the sky plummeting into the ground at incredible speed, creating numerous craters several meters in diameter on the soft sand with a series of thunderous booms.

As for Shamen, who was at the very center of the crash site, his chances of survival are slim.

"Ah Yin, aren't you going to make a move?"

Although she was competing with her sister-in-law, Uchiha Hikari didn't miss the show. After seeing Shamon covered in sandball fire, she couldn't help but ask Uchiha Gin a question.

"Ptooey!"

Uchiha Gin, looking apologetic, flicked away the sunflower seed shells he had just spat onto his sister-in-law's white-stockinged thighs. The soft, firm touch of her fingertips sent a shiver down his spine.

"Excuse me~"

Before he could even process what he'd just witnessed, he felt two completely different gazes, so he quickly apologized, then solemnly shook his still-warm fingers.

"It's not over yet, wait a little longer~"

"Hmph! Weren't you two sworn brothers? Were you just fair-weather friends who played along?"

With a cold snort, Uchiha Hikaru subtly shifted his thigh upwards during the questioning, dispatching the experienced Black Jade Foot General, intending to launch a surprise attack on Uchiha Gin's triangle area without anyone noticing and take the last tower.

"Your eyes are nothing special."

Under her disapproving gaze, all her subtle actions were exposed. Otsutsuki Tsukihime sneered and brazenly followed.

Triangle area: Danger!

"What do you mean by that?"

Not only were his little tricks exposed, but he was also mocked for having poor eyesight, which infuriated Uchiha Hikaru, a master of eye techniques.

If she weren't worried about the white side capturing the triangle area, she would have jumped up and given that hateful, glaring woman a sledgehammer long ago.

Ōtsutsuki Tsukihime continued to sneer, a hint of smugness on her beautiful face, as if she knew some secret that no one else knew.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing, put your feet down first~"

Uchiha Gin quickly spoke up to stop the two women from doing something out of line, otherwise the review would be about to begin.

"Hmm? Sit still!" *2

However, things didn't go as planned. Verbal resistance only led to further aggression. Just when the triangle area was reduced to a tiny space, the three of them felt a violent tremor in the ground beneath their feet, as if something was moving underground.

"What happened?"

Uchiha Hikaru blinked in surprise, withdrew the Black Team's Jade Foot General, and temporarily abandoned the attack on the last line of defense in the triangle area.

"There's still some left, and such a large quantity?"

Princess Tsukihime also ceased her fighting, and the black and white sides temporarily called a truce. She stared with astonishment into the blue dragon surging through the earth, her beautiful white eyes wide with surprise.

"What exactly did you see earlier?"

This is one of the differences between the Sharingan and the Byakugan. Although the Sharingan can also see some chakra flow, its vision penetration is far weaker than that of the Byakugan, which is why Uchiha Hikaru didn't notice anything amiss.

"There was a wisp of chakra beneath that bald man's feet that didn't belong to him. I thought it was some kind of secret technique before, but now it seems that something is helping him."

Since Uchiha Hikaru had asked so sincerely, Otsutsuki Tsukihime decided to mercifully tell her, and then recounted what she had seen when the sand ball fell.

"Ah Yin, do you know its origin?"

Seeing the smug look on Tsukihime Otsutsuki's face, Hikaru Uchiha turned his gaze to Gin Uchiha, who was celebrating the successful defense of the triangle area.

"I know a little bit about it."

Faced with Hikaru's questioning, Uchiha Gin scratched his face and replied in an ambiguous tone,

"Fine, fine, so I'm the only one kept in the dark, huh? Take this!"

Feeling isolated, Uchiha Hikari was furious. Taking advantage of Uchiha Gin's open face, she commanded the Black Jade Foot General to launch a surprise attack.

"what?"

"That despicable woman, how dare she run away!"

Princess Otsutsuki narrowed her eyes, and the white-footed general requested to go into battle.

"teacher!!!"

Watching in despair as the sand spheres indiscriminately covered the entire battlefield, Ebizo's eyes filled with tears of regret. Chiyo, standing beside him, lowered her purple head to her chest, and glistening tears streamed down her collarbone and into her scar.

"well"

Lie Dou, silent, looked up at the sand sphere that had kicked up a cloud of yellow dust as it landed, let out a long sigh, and his already dull eyes became even more so.

"Both of you need not blame yourselves too much; this was all Shamen's own choice."

Even if the main support is gone, life still goes on, doesn't it?

Retsuto suppressed his grief, his gaze shifting between the two young men, as if choosing who would become the new backbone of Sunagakure.

Ebizo? No, that kid is too cowardly and can't handle it.

As for Chiyo, it seems there's no precedent for a woman to be the shadow.

"Let's go back and gather our forces, then we'll kill Shukaku. That will also serve as a warning to the spirits of the monks in heaven."

Since they could no longer seal it, Retsudou, adhering to the principle of keeping the benefits within the family, decided to lead the main force to completely destroy Shukaku, and then, while the resurrection cooldown was running out, research a new sealing method.

We absolutely cannot let them run wild. If they get angry with other countries, Sunagakure will be completely finished.

"Yes."

Wiping away their tears, the siblings, their eyes red and swollen, gritted their teeth and nodded in unison.

"Huh? How come you're not dead?"

Just as the three turned around, a sharp scream suddenly rang out from the battlefield, which was shrouded in yellow sand.

"Pat~"

Upon hearing this, the three stopped simultaneously, turned around in disbelief, and stared intently at the still-lingering yellow dust, wanting to find out what was going on.

"Wind Release: Dragon Vein Vacuum Jade!"

As the familiar voice rang out, Chiyo and the other two simultaneously showed expressions of joy.

"Whoosh!"

The next moment, a vacuum-generated bullet, comparable to Shukaku's training bullet, pierced through the yellow sand, bringing everything back into the sunlight.

"It's the teacher! He's not dead!"

Lying on the ground, dodging the aftershocks of the sand-laden blast, Ebizo, ignoring the sand covering his head, stood up and pointed at the reflective figure standing in the center of the field, excitedly announcing to the world.

"That is."

Lie Dou, who then stood up, looked at the unharmed Shamen with considerable surprise, noticing the striking deep blue chakra on the other's body, which contained an extremely ancient and profound power.

"First Master, what is that wrapped around my teacher?"

Chiyo, who also noticed the unusual chakra on Shamon's body, quickly asked the knowledgeable Retsuto.

"Um, if I'm not mistaken, that's the power of the dragon vein."

After a moment's thought, Lie Dou began to explain.

"The power of the dragon vein? Is that the protective power of our hometown that Father spoke of?"

Chiyo blinked in confusion, then her memories, which had been dormant for many years, were awakened, and the stories her father had told her about their hometown, Loulan, when she was a child, came vividly to mind.

"Isn't that a bedtime story?"

Ebizo had heard his father tell many stories about dragon veins, but he still believed that they were just legends from his hometown of Loulan.

"No, the power of the dragon veins is real, and..."

Lie Dou shook his head. As someone who had been fortunate enough to witness the dragon vein, he naturally knew that this was not just a legend.

"Your teacher, besides being the Kazekage, has another identity." (End of Chapter)