Naruto: Reborn as Yagura Karatachi

Storming away from Kirigakure, Rasa was already set on his next move—once he returned to Sunagakure, he would immediately reach out to Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Fourth Raikage, A.

Even though Konoha and Kumogakure were practically on the brink of war, if the benefits were good enough, there was nothing that couldn't be negotiated.

Kirigakure had joined forces with Iwagakure and now planned to treat Sunagakure like a pawn!

If they succeeded, how could Hiruzen and the Fourth Raikage ever sleep peacefully again? Rasa didn't believe they could.

The returning vessel made landfall.

Rasa and his escort stepped off the deck, returning to the loyal Land of Wind.

But just as he disembarked, Rasa received an urgent message from the western border outpost of Sunagakure.

—The outpost was under attack by an unknown enemy! The enemy was overwhelmingly powerful, and Sunagakure's forces were outmatched!

"More of those Kirigakure bastards?!"

His escort Baki nearly growled the words through clenched teeth.

Who else but those conniving Mist ninja would dare launch an attack on Sunagakure's western front?

"Let's move."

Rasa's expression darkened. He immediately changed direction, choosing to address the border crisis first.

No matter who the enemy was, if they dared attack Sunagakure's doorstep while the Kazekage still drew breath, he would not sit back and watch.

They raced toward the outpost at top speed.

When they arrived, the sight before Rasa confirmed the Anbu's report without a shred of exaggeration.

It wasn't just that Sunagakure's forces were overwhelmed—they were being slaughtered. Hundreds of Suna-nin lay dead, cut down by a single enemy. Their corpses were strewn across the battlefield, each felled with deadly precision—vital points pierced by sharp weapons in a single, fatal blow.

The lone enemy seemed to sense a formidable presence approaching and ceased hunting the remaining survivors.

Dressed in a black cloak, wearing a mask that revealed only one cold eye, the figure stood high atop the outpost watchtower, silently observing Rasa.

An opponent of equal caliber.

Rasa didn't waste time blaming the fallen Suna-nin for their weakness. Instead, he gave a cold, clear order: "Baki, gather the wounded."

This was not a fight they could interfere in.

Baki and the other escort nodded and retreated from the battlefield.

Rasa struck first.

Raising both hands slightly, he manipulated the dense, golden sand hidden beneath the desert floor. It surged forth like giant pincers from both sides, closing in on the cloaked enemy.

The black-robed figure leapt agilely into the air.

Rasa pursued relentlessly. More gold sand rose from the ground, splitting into multiple tendrils and lunging toward the enemy.

From midair, the cloaked figure spun his cross-shaped kunai with practiced finesse, using it to slice through the golden sand tendrils.

Gold sand, unlike regular sand, possessed immense weight and density.

Even with his skilled strikes, the kunai's cuts began to lose their effectiveness, the heavy sand increasingly resisting his movements. His defenses slowed.

Rasa, feeding more chakra into his technique, increased both speed and pressure.

With the enemy's defense weakening and Rasa's offense intensifying, the balance tipped. One golden tendril snared the enemy's arm, then more followed, wrapping the cloaked figure in a crushing cocoon.

Now was not the time to hesitate.

Sensing the perfect moment to kill, Rasa clenched his fist.

Boom—

Instead of crushing the enemy, the force from inside the golden shell exploded outward, shattering it completely!

Rasa's eyes widened. "What?!"

The enemy emerged from the falling debris, completely unharmed. That single exposed eye stared at him without emotion.

He scanned the enemy's body for injuries. "No damage? Some kind of defensive jutsu?"

Logic dictated that anyone trapped within the hyper-compressed gold sand should suffer severe backlash—even if the enemy had broken out using a powerful jutsu, the closed space should have left him at least shaken.

But no—he looked completely unaffected.

Rasa's eyes narrowed, and he intensified his assault, hoping to force the enemy into revealing his technique.

"Sand Gold Shower!"

"Formation—strike!"

Countless gold sand bullets paused in midair—then all shifted trajectory, locking onto the cloaked figure at the center and raining down like a deadly storm.

The sandstorm kicked up by the barrage obscured vision.

Still, the mysterious enemy didn't respond.

Taking advantage of the cover, Rasa condensed the gold sand again, trapping the enemy in another dense prison.

This time, his hand pressed against his left eye.

He had embedded a surveillance eye inside the sand prison, allowing him to observe how the enemy would break free.

Deep within the golden mass, a third eye opened—only to see…

Nothing.

"What?! When—?!"

A chill shot down Rasa's spine. He immediately deactivated the third eye and leapt away from his position, scanning frantically for the enemy's location.

Behind him—!

A whistle of air sliced through the silence.

Rasa twisted aside just in time to dodge a flying kunai. As it passed, he caught a clear look—this was no ordinary kunai.

It had a cross-shaped blade and a seal etched into its grip.

Swish—

Before Rasa could fully react, the cloaked figure reappeared at the kunai's location—now right behind him.

Without weaving signs, he had already charged up a Rasengan.

Midair, the enemy twisted and slammed the chakra sphere downward.

Boom!

The force of the Rasengan shattered the golden armor Rasa had formed around his body.

Though most of the blow was absorbed, the impact tore his clothing and allowed the enemy to press a palm directly to his torso—leaving behind a Flying Thunder God seal.

Rasa's body burst into sand.

He'd used his Sand Body Flicker to escape, reappearing several meters away, kneeling in the desert.

That unexpected speed and the direct Rasengan strike had dealt him a serious blow.

Blood dripped from his lips. Eyes locked on the enemy, Rasa's mind raced.

Every move, every technique—that fighting style was unmistakable.

In all the shinobi world, only one man was known for it.

The cloaked figure. The mask. The reluctance to reveal his identity.

"Fourth Hokage…"

Despite the short clash, Rasa had left his mark as well.

The grains of gold sand stuck to the enemy's body and clothing were now under Rasa's control, infused with his Magnet Release chakra.

They transformed into fine golden needles that pierced the enemy's body.

One of them shattered the enemy's mask.

Crack!

The fragments fell away, and with them the hood slipped off—revealing a head of brilliant blond hair.

The Yellow Flash. Minato Namikaze.

But what unsettled Rasa even more was the strange condition of his body.

Where the needles had pierced, the body wasn't bleeding—it was tearing, like damaged cloth.

And now, that torn cloth was slowly repairing itself.

Lifeless eyes, cracked skin, and a body that regenerated unnaturally.

It was clear: Minato Namikaze had not died in the Nine-Tails incident—not entirely.

What stood before Rasa was indeed Minato—and yet it was also a corpse, brought back from the dead.

A puppet, controlled by someone else, unleashed upon Sunagakure.

Minato had already been absurdly powerful in life. Now, he appeared nearly immortal.

This was not an enemy to fight.

Rasa made his decision immediately—he had to retreat.

Swish—

Minato vanished.

In a flash, he reappeared using the Flying Thunder God mark he'd just planted, materializing behind Rasa once more.

The cross-shaped kunai plunged into Rasa's back.

At the same moment, Rasa retaliated with a scattershot of golden sand, blasting Minato's body into pieces.

Rasa crashed to the ground, blood pouring from the wound in his chest, staining the sand red.

From afar, Baki and the others finally arrived. Their anguished cries rang out,

"Kazekage-sama!!"

The Edo Tensei body was designed for one purpose—to perish and return again.

Before they could even come to terms with their Kazekage being slain once more, Minato's corpse reformed.

And now, they saw his face—the man who had killed their Kazekage.

Konoha again. Konoha had assassinated their Kazekage again!

"We'll hold him off!"

Another guard stepped forward with the Suna-nin, prepared to give their lives to protect Baki, who now carried Rasa on his back.

"Go, Baki!"

"You must get the Fourth out of here!"

The Third Kazekage had also been assassinated. His body was never recovered—only a gravestone remained.

They could not let the same fate befall the Fourth.

...

Across the sea.

"He's dead. The Kazekage."

Orochimaru opened his eyes, ending the hand seal that had allowed him to control Edo Minato from afar. He turned to Yagura.

"I left one Suna-nin alive to report who did it. That's fine with you, right?"

Yagura nodded. "Fine."

It wasn't about pinning the blame on Konoha anymore.

Frankly, Yagura and Kirigakure weren't as hung up on that as they used to be.

They had power now. They didn't need to worry about perceptions.

Besides, Rasa hadn't been ambushed in the Land of Water—he'd returned to his own country and died in fair combat.

And technically, it was Orochimaru who killed him.

"Good work, Orochimaru."

Yagura stretched and left to carry out the next phase of his plan.

Orochimaru released the Edo Tensei on Minato.

Staring at his own hands, Orochimaru contemplated.

Based on what he knew of Yagura, Edo Tensei would likely be shelved indefinitely unless it proved useful again.

From the start, Yagura had shown distaste for the technique.

If not for the Nine-Tails operation, Orochimaru's creation might've been sealed away forever.

Not that Orochimaru particularly enjoyed the jutsu—he wasn't obsessed with toying with the dead.

But now that he had learned all he could from Kirigakure, even the mysteries he'd once chased in Yagura were no longer compelling.

Yes, Yagura was fascinating, but after years of study, the secrets weren't so secret anymore. The inner circle—Mangetsu Hōzuki and others—knew the truth well enough.

A mystery known by many loses its magic.

For a man with far grander ambitions, Orochimaru was ready to move on.

Under the command of Hōzuki Mangetsu, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Kisame Hoshigaki, Ameyuri Ringo, and Zabuza Momochi led a force of ten thousand Kirigakure shinobi in an all-out assault on Sunagakure!

At this very moment, it was just like that moment back then.

Sunagakure still played its usual role—being Sunagakure. And in that role, they were 100% true to form.

But this time, Kirigakure wasn't following its own script. It had taken up Iwagakure's lines instead.

The difference from eight years ago? This year's Sunagakure was even weaker than it was back then.

During Rasa's time as Kazekage, the village had failed to produce any new kage-level shinobi. After his death, aside from Chiyo, Sunagakure no longer had a single kage-tier powerhouse. Even their average shinobi weren't as strong as they had been eight years ago.

Kirigakure, on the other hand, was far stronger now than Iwagakure had been back then.

"Water Style: Giant Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

Kisame charged at the front lines, swinging Samehada in wide arcs to parry incoming attacks fired from the narrow canyon pass known as the Heavenly Line. He formed hand seals even as he advanced.

A massive volume of water gushed from his mouth, instantly flooding the terrain and forming a giant ellipsoid water prison that trapped both land and sky—sealing in the entire frontline of Suna's defenders at the canyon.

Fusing with Samehada, Kisame transformed into a half-man, half-shark form.

Within the aquatic battlefield he'd created, he swam like a true predator, ruthlessly hunting and slaughtering the trapped Suna shinobi.

"What terrifying chakra…"

Chiyo had personally come to defend the Heavenly Line. Her reaction was far faster than the average shinobi—she escaped the water prison before it expanded far enough to reach her.

?!

A chill ran down her spine and locked her in place.

"Let's not do anything rash, Elder Chiyo."

Hōzuki Mangetsu appeared beside her in a flicker, fingers shaped like a gun as he pressed them casually against her temple. He yawned as he spoke, his tone calm and unbothered.

"Can't promise this won't go off by accident."

With the puppet master's real body now in danger, Chiyo had no choice but to lower the summoning scroll for her famed Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu.

Mangetsu's job was simple: keep Sunagakure's last remaining high-tier combatant locked down.

As for the rest—he could count on his reliable comrades to take care of everything else.

…

The Lightning Blades was stabbed into the ground. In an instant, it drew lightning from the heavens above.

"Lightning Blade Technique!"

Ameyuri Ringo shouted her technique as hundreds of jagged bolts rained down from the sky, tearing through Suna's forces.

The serpentine arcs of electricity writhed like slender lightning dragons ripping the sky open as they struck.

Meanwhile, Zabuza led Kirigakure's elite aerial unit in clearing the upper levels of the Heavenly Line's defenses.

Yagura had personally taught Zabuza his Wind Style techniques, and had appointed him to lead this airborne elite force.

They rose into the air, reaching the highest point of the canyon defense.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

Zabuza sliced a long gash into his forearm with a kunai, letting the blood merge into the forming water dragon.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he hurled a short dagger—forged from the broken remnants of his executioner's blade—into the dragon's tail.

The water dragon opened its mouth. Dozens of long, metallic fangs shot forth like spears, crashing into the canyon wall and decimating the defenders stationed there.

Then, as the water dragon reclaimed the blood through its fangs, it absorbed enough iron particles to complete its transformation.

The water dragon's body hardened into armor, turning it into a metal-clad juggernaut that roared upward, smashing straight through the fortification!

...

Ten thousand Kirigakure shinobi surged forward behind them, mercilessly tearing through the collapsing lines of Sunagakure's defenders.

They weren't even on the same level.

In less than three hours, the once-proud defensive line of the Heavenly Line—Sunagakure's pride and joy—was physically breached by Kirigakure's frontal assault!

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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