Listening to the man's contemptuous and indifferent voice, Sawara Kiri showed no anger on his face; instead, he continued to smile at him, speaking gently:
"It's an honor for a lowly creature like me to bring the great Ōtsutsuki Clan to the brink of extinction."
"Even forcing you important figures to travel through time and space to this place just to destroy me at the root."
"This is my honor."
"After all, the highest respect one civilization can show another is to wipe them out, isn't it?"
"You!"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's already cold voice immediately dropped a few degrees, clearly showing some emotional crack.
However, as if remembering something, the corners of his lips slowly curled up, and he said calmly:
"Do you think you've already won just by killing your own students, standing here unscathed, and eliminating a few insignificant youngsters?"
"Foolish fellow."
"Sawara Kiri, it's not yet time to kill you."
"But, we will start by killing everyone around you: from your country, your Village, your closest friends and relatives."
"Sawara Kiri."
"You will understand."
"What kind of end awaits those who oppose the Ōtsutsuki."
As he spoke, he pulled a pocket watch from his pocket and glanced at it, a hint of arrogant amusement in his eyes:
"Presumably, by the time you rush back."
"Your Village should already be finished, right?"
Sawara Kiri's clear blue eyes reflected his triumphant smile, and the hollow physique clearly visible beneath his Six Eyes.
Evidently, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki would never dare to appear before him in his true form without absolute certainty.
However, this was already expected.
He was not angered by these words; instead, he suddenly pointed something out:
"Oh?"
"Do you really think I'm the kind of person who would sacrifice a dozen of my own people's lives for these fools?"
"That's truly disheartening."
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's expression suddenly froze, his eyes fixed on him, as if trying to discern from Sawara Kiri's face whether he was bluffing or truly held a trump card, a sense of uncertainty and intense crisis rising within him.
What did he mean?
However, before Ōtsutsuki Urashiki could even ask, Sawara Kiri unhurriedly took out a seemingly ordinary, palm-sized card from the Ninjutsu pouch behind him.
"Do you know?"
"My students each have one of these little gadgets."
"Its function is also very simple."
Sawara Kiri said, a malicious smile slowly spreading across his gentle face: "That is, to teleport the bound person back to a fixed spatial node an instant before receiving a fatal blow."
"Minato and Orochimaru spent a long time creating this batch of experimental products, you know."
"I named it the 'Recall Card'."
"—?!"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's expression suddenly stiffened.
"Impossible!"
"Without massive Chakra support, how could the Flying Thunder God Technique teleport a life form the size of a human several thousand kilometers in one go?"
He wasn't so concerned about the lives of a mere dozen Konoha Genin.
But, if what he said was true, and even these Genin could be teleported back to Konoha, then Sawara Kiri, who was in front of him, would be...
Noticing the change in Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's expression, the smile on Sawara Kiri's face grew even wider.
He flipped the card in his hand, revealing a crystalline, doll-like fragment embedded in its center.
It was the Shikon no Tama.
His voice, like the low growl of a demon, softly echoed in Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's ear:
"You wouldn't think that after Konoha has possessed the Shikon no Tama for so long, Sunagakure is the only one in the entire Ninja World to have made practical innovations, would you?"
As his voice faded, his expression gradually sobered, settling into a dead calm like a still lake:
"Then."
"Until next time."
"Sa—"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki suddenly lunged forward.
However, before his body could reach Sawara Kiri, he suddenly tapped the card.
The entire card shattered into countless tiny specks of light, flying away.
His figure, along with the card, vanished from the spot.
"Bang!"
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's lunging figure landed squarely on the ground, creating a large indentation in the scorched surface.
However, Sawara Kiri's figure was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it!"
Once again being toyed with by this lowly creature, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki felt a violent fire burning within him.
However, he didn't have much time to vent his anger.
The information revealed in Sawara Kiri's words was already sufficient.
Now, what worried him more was the situation in Konoha.
With that thought, his figure immediately dissipated, turning into a cloud of smoke and returning to his main body.
Yamishibai was only in its first stage.
If he were to confront Sawara Kiri head-on in this situation...
"Ugh—!"
Almost the instant Kakashi opened his eyes, a series of loud retching sounds reached his ears.
His memory was still stuck on the moment he faced the Five Tails Tailed Beast and a pillar of light descended from the sky; his entire body was in a state of extreme tension, and he immediately sprang up from the ground, relying entirely on Chakra sensing to assume a defensive posture, holding his Kunai reversed.
However, when he saw the scene before him, a momentary bewilderment flashed through his mind.
At this moment, figures stood in the center of a somewhat familiar forest; many familiar faces surrounded him, all leaning against trees or lying on the ground, vomiting incessantly, the air filled with a foul smell mixed with stomach acid.
The closest to him was that idiot, Obito.
"Blegh—"
Unspeakable substances continuously gushed from his mouth like a fountain, startling Kakashi into leaping away instantly to avoid being splashed.
Even Rin, who was usually so clean, was leaning against a tree with difficulty, looking so dizzy she was almost suffocating, unable to vomit even if she wanted to.
What had happened to them?
Just as Kakashi was wondering, he heard a familiar voice from behind him:
"Don't worry."
"It's just spatial dizziness after a super long-distance teleportation."
"You can think of it as seasickness."
Kakashi subconsciously turned his head, then couldn't help but show a look of surprise:
"Lady Tsunade?!"
The person who had just spoken was Tsunade.
Not only her, but all the Anbu guards who had gone to Iwagakure were now following behind her.
"Why is the Fourth Hokage here? Weren't we in the middle of the Chunin Exam?"
"The exam is over."
"I didn't expect you, kid, to actually have some talent in spatial Ninjutsu."
Tsunade casually exchanged a few words, then waved her hand dismissively at him and strode to the other side.
Although the young Ninja around them had suffered more or less injuries in the previous exam due to the encirclement by Iwagakure and two other countries.
However, the most severely injured was Asuma's squad, on whom she and Sawara Kiri had placed high hopes from the very beginning.
"Lady Tsunade!"
Asuma, still in a dizzy state, struggled to prop himself up against a tree; he looked disheveled, with small injuries all over his body.
However, compared to Uchiha Shisui, whom he was carrying on his back, his own injuries were nothing at all.
At this moment, as if having found a lifeline, he immediately placed Shisui on the ground and repeatedly said:
"Please, quickly save him!"
Tsunade didn't need him to say more; she immediately bent down to examine the wounds on Shisui's body, while quickly asking: "What happened? Why are Shisui's injuries so severe?"
"We encountered a Kumogakure squad during the exam, and after defeating Killer Bee, one of the girls in his squad released a seal; she was the Two-Tails Jinchuriki!"
"If Shisui's exoskeleton hadn't activated its counter-explosion program, we would have probably..." he trailed off, gritting his teeth at the end.
He was both struggling with intense nausea and recalling the terrifying scene from before.
Don't look at Sawara Kiri killing Tailed Beasts as easily as stepping on an ant; for ordinary Ninja, whether Chunin or Jonin, there was no difference.
"No wonder."
Hearing that an unexpected Tailed Beast had appeared, Tsunade immediately understood.
In fact, it was truly unbelievable that Asuma's squad could have returned here completely intact—of course, this was also thanks to the 'trump card' they carried.
Tsunade thought to herself, while her hands quickly tore away the clothing stuck to Shisui's wounds, beginning initial treatment.
As she was performing the surgery, she heard a nearby guard Ninja remind her:
"Lady Fourth, do we need to contact the Village now?"
"No need."
Tsunade's tone was very decisive.
Although those two scoundrels, Sawara Kiri and Orochimaru, had withheld a lot of information from her due to time Concealment principles.
However, it was clear from their chosen safe teleportation location that something was definitely happening in the Village right now.
For this team, which was mostly composed of Genin, it made no difference whether they went back or not.
Moreover, this was also her trust in Sawara Kiri.
Since Kiri hadn't instructed her to immediately return to the Village after being teleported away, it meant that whatever was happening in the Village right now didn't require her concern.
"Honestly, that little rascal."
"I should have retired earlier and quickly dumped this troublesome Hokage position on him!"
Kakashi, standing nearby, quietly watched the scene, then subconsciously scanned the surrounding forest, roughly concluding that this should be a hidden spot near Konoha.
But what was happening in the Village now?
Just as Tsunade had guessed.
Ever since the squad led by Sawara Kiri and others departed, the entire Konoha had secretly entered a full-Village combat readiness state.
Not only did visiting merchants receive notifications that markets and trade fairs were temporarily closed, but even the workers in the bustling Konoha Industrial Zone suddenly received notices of temporary leave from their factories.
Although there were still people moving about on the main roads, compared to the usual bustling scene, it appeared somewhat desolate and quiet.
However, for the safety of the Konoha people, this was a necessary measure.
The ordinary people of Konoha did not know that during these few days of forced rest, many important machines in the Konoha Industrial Zone had already been moved underground.
As for the various security barriers and surveillance measures both outside and inside the Village, they remained active 24 hours a day.
Until now.
"Got it!"
"Super-large Chakra reaction detected!"
"South, no, approaching the South City Wall, 196° direction!"
Suddenly, a Hyuga Ninja, with his Byakugan activated and a metal structure fixed to his head, sharply called out to the surrounding sensor unit members.
Almost at the same moment they heard the alarm, all eyes simultaneously shifted to the location he had called out.
However, when the figure of the opponent was reflected in their vision, many people couldn't help but freeze.
Reflected in their sight was a small figure, like a child.
The child had distinctive long white hair, trailing to his waist, and long, dark seal marks outlined his pale skin from his eyes, like tearstains, his eyes showing the same Byakugan as the Hyuga Clan, and he wore a white robe that seemed out of place with the era, somewhat resembling Sengoku period style, walking barefoot across the grass.
If there was anything noteworthy, it was probably the white bone structures on his body, which looked less like 'armor' and more like 'shackles', and the 'eye' on his forehead, which remained closed like a slit.
He looked about twelve or thirteen years old, with a delicate and lovely face, but his expression showed an indifference completely opposite to his age.
Almost the instant these gazes fell upon him, he seemed to sense something and turned his head to look back in the direction from which the gazes came.
The depths of his pale eyes were filled with a contempt that looked down upon mere ants.
"Is that him?"
"A creation of the Ōtsutsuki Clan?"
Namikaze Minato, also standing in the center of the sensor unit, looked extremely solemn.
Ever since receiving the news from Orochimaru and Kiri, he had been guarding this place day and night, just to get the information at the first possible moment.
Now, having confirmed the opponent's location, Minato's figure suddenly vanished from his spot.
'If I remember correctly...'
'The South Gate should be Jiraiya-sensei's assigned direction.'
"Hey! Kid."
As Yamishibai gazed into the distance, a rough voice already reached his ears.
When he turned his head, he saw a tall, white-haired man in a red vest standing, leaning on a long staff, looking at him with a calm expression:
"This is not a place for someone like you."
The sensor unit's radio communication was linked to the earpieces of all gatekeepers.
Jiraiya had received the news the moment the first alert was sounded.
Now, he looked at the young boy opposite him with a stern gaze, his Chakra, already refined, ready to be unleashed at any moment.
"Heh."
Perhaps disdaining to communicate with a lowly creature, or simply ignoring the ant before him.
Yamishibai's steps showed no sign of stopping; he continued to walk unhurriedly towards Jiraiya.
Watching his brazen demeanor, Jiraiya's expression grew even more solemn.
He kicked the long staff to level it, and the large amount of Chakra within him, surging, quickly combined with the natural energy stored in a gourd at his waist.
In just a brief moment, the eye shadow symbolizing Sage Mode already appeared on his cheeks.
In these past seven years, he, Jiraiya, had not made no progress.
Noticing the opponent's clear offensive posture, the young man's steps finally paused for a moment.
Then, he raised his hand towards Jiraiya.
With a light flick, as if swatting away a mosquito.
"Boom—!"