Within the vast, sandy Land of Wind, inside Sunagakure, Gaara was processing documents in a dimly lit room.
Not far from Sunagakure, in the oasis upon which the capital of the Land of Wind depended for survival, spatial fluctuations silently traveled through the streets and alleys. Thousands of test tubes containing red liquid were placed in several of the Land of Wind's major cities, including the capital.
The hidden black hand raised a finger and released a technique to remotely detonate these test tubes. The next moment, a scarlet mist blocked out the sky and sun, and a long shadow covered the land.
The events that had occurred in the Land of Earth a month earlier were now set to unfold again in the Land of Wind.
But this time...
When the relentless virus descended from the sky, preparing once again to transform all the residents of the Land of Wind, the residents of the various capital cities, who had been full of life, suddenly began to move with mechanical movements.
"What... what's going on?" Obito, drifting outside the city limits, couldn't believe it, his single Sharingan fixed on the direction of the capital.
"Nothing is impossible, Uchiha Obito!" An icy voice sounded from the surrounding desert. "You underestimated our determination to protect peace!"
The desert suddenly shattered. Gaara, leading Sunagakure's puppet corps, rushed out from beneath the ground, surrounding Obito.
The arms, mouths, and abdomens of several puppet units draped in white robes all opened. The symbols inside extended outward, linking together.
The massive barrier they formed forcibly anchored a large area of surrounding space, causing Obito, who had been about to become intangible and leave, to crash into space as heavy as iron and stone, bouncing back from his Kamui intangibility.
"Damn it, what have you done!" The expression beneath Uchiha Obito's mask turned ugly.
He could understand using puppetry to disguise the entire city. But what about the people? Where had they hidden the millions of people from six major cities?
"Don't waste your efforts. The citizens of the Land of Wind have already broken up into small groups and migrated elsewhere!" Gaara manipulated sand to form numerous sharp spikes, erupting in the sky like spiders, stabbing down at Obito below.
After the Land of Earth fell, foreseeing that the weak Land of Wind might become the next target of these ruthless madmen, Gaara, alone, went to the capital of the Land of Wind, personally overthrowing the Daimyo System that had lasted a thousand years.
Then, amidst the resentment of countless commoners, he forced the puppet corps to relocate them, bit by bit using autonomous puppets to maintain the cities' operations, and finally fabricated several empty cities… 'holding seats vacant in anticipation'.
"I see, a deception..." Obito gritted his teeth.
He hadn't expected that the seemingly weakest Land of Wind could actually do something so decisive.
"But you won't find it easy to kill me!" Obito roared as he charged at Gaara.
"Heh, do you think you can compare to what Gaara has shouldered? Someone like you, indulging in such unrealistic dreams, is not worthy!" Kankuro rushed out, standing in front of Gaara, and shouted back with loud mockery.
The several puppets in his hands were at full power, unleashing flames, water jets, and poison-tipped kunai at Obito as if they cost nothing.
"Heh, even if you transferred the citizens, your Land of Wind's fragile ecology is even more weakly resistant to a viral outbreak!"
Obito tore off a corner of his robe, exposing his arm. Countless emerald-green trees grew from his body, forming thick, sturdy wooden spears that thrust out, colliding with the puppets and sand.
In the distance, outside the encirclement, a massive sandstorm was stirred up. Countless animalistic mutants rapidly charged toward the surrounding forces.
The footsteps of death approached blatantly. One could vaguely hear the Death God whispering quietly in one's ear.
How could they not be afraid?
Monsters born almost against natural evolution were too terrifying!
The Ninjas trembled. The depths of their eyes reflected the fear of death. Their breathing was heavy, and they remained silent.
In the face of absolute terror, people cannot make unnecessary sounds.
"Don't be afraid! Prepare to counterattack!" Temari, carrying a giant iron fan, stepped forward and shouted loudly.
"Don't be afraid! Don't retreat! Don't run!"
"Our Kage is still fighting! Fighting to protect everyone! Fighting for the tomorrow of the Land of Wind!"
"Show your guts! Let these ugly monsters see the courage of us humans!!!"
Having said that, Temari led the charge toward the monster horde, swinging her iron fan to unleash a large Wind Release, fiercely cutting through the virus-infected mutants.
Inside the encirclement, Gaara saw the fighting outside, and he too grew increasingly anxious. His attacks became even more fierce, raising the intensity of the battle several levels.
Until the even more fierce sandstorms swallowed everything. Then another heavy piece of news shook the Ninja World.
…
On the other side, within the Land of Earth.
"Fire Release: Heat Breath!"
Above a rocky desert, the black-haired youth took a deep breath and spat out blazing flames.
The burning fire dyed red the sky. The wall of fire formed a defense line, holding back the advance of the mutants.
"Sasuke, these things are endless! Earth Release: Phosphorus Lance!" The blond youth threw a kunai, then formed hand seals to activate the technique.
The soil on the ground flowed to form sharp earth spikes. After piercing over a dozen mutants, they utilized the heat from the previous Fire Release to ignite as well, causing the mutants to wail in pain.
"Don't talk like that. Sakura has already taken on the most dangerous part alone!" Sasuke drew his long sword, entered his half-dragon form, and severed the necks of four or five mutants.
Their blood splattered onto him. The virus inside wanted to erode and infect them, but unexpectedly failed because the two had bodily structures different from ordinary humans.
—Virus: Guys, you won't believe this! These two aren't even from around here!
"No wonder Sakura chose to bring us along. It turns out this virus doesn't work on us." Naruto let a monster chew off his own arm.
Then, using his Logia body and elemental manipulation, he made the monster combust from the inside.
After doing all this, Naruto turned and glanced at the girl inside the cave behind him.
She had now entered her complete Sage Mode. Her pure white haori hung to the ground. A bone mask hung from her silver-white horns. Emerald flames burned at the tips of her horns.
But this calm and ethereal-looking girl had half her body afflicted with severe mutation, making it extremely ugly.
To create a super virus that would be effective against herself, Sakura personally led the team into the Land of Earth to conduct virus tracing and sample collection.
Then, she injected the prepared super virus into her own body, using the third stage of her self-created Senjutsu Evolution Technique, Adaptation, to produce a usable antibody.
However, this approach had a major problem. Analyzing the virus required time to stand still. And self-infection with the Chimera Virus would cause other mutants to be unable to wait to fuse with Sakura, a higher-level life form, triggering a mutant frenzy and riot.
So before setting out, she had gone to find her two old teammates from Team 7, entrusting her life and death to them.
Now, self-infected, she would either evolve an antibody through adaptation and become the savior who turned the tide, or she would lose to the virus, be reverse-fused, and become a new great calamity that would destroy the Ninja World.
Success or failure… rested on this single effort!
Naruto and Sasuke pursed their dry lips and continued to deal with the incoming mutants. Their inner thoughts reached an agreement surprisingly.
'Sakura, you must hold on!!!'