"Good girl."
Evan gently patted Pakura's backside, thoroughly satisfied.
"Go on now. Time for a teacher–student reunion."
Finally free, Pakura rushed to Jun's side.
"Jun, are you alright?"
"Teacher!"
Jun flung herself into Pakura's arms, her cheeks already streaked with tears.
"Teacher, I missed you so much…"
"I missed you too…"
Click, click, click…
Evan made exaggerated emotional noises from the side.
"What a touching bond. I'm almost moved to tears myself."
Pakura gritted her silver teeth and glared at him.
"Evan, hand over the antidote."
"No."
Evan smirked. "Your precious disciple didn't give her future master-in-law even a hint of respect."
"Master-in-law, my foot!"
Pakura spat lightly. "Stop talking nonsense."
"Eh? Isn't that what you implied? You even kissed me earlier—very proactively, I might add."
Pakura's face went crimson. "You—!"
Before she could finish, Evan asked suddenly:
"Oh right, little Jun. Are the Sand shinobi fully assembled?"
"…They are."
Jun's guard went up instantly. "What exactly are you planning?"
Evan's smile deepened, dazzling and dangerous.
"Why, attack the Hokage Building, of course."
"What?!"
Both women froze, eyes wide with disbelief.
Pakura frowned. "Konoha already agreed to release me, and you honored your word. Why would we attack them now?"
"Is releasing you somehow contradictory to attacking Konoha?"
Pakura opened her mouth, but no answer came out.
Evan laughed.
"Isn't Sunagakure always itching to storm Konoha? What's wrong—only tough in your speeches?"
"You still have the nerve to say that?"
Pakura snapped. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have lost the war!"
"And now, with just a dozen Sand shinobi, you expect us to attack the entire village? That's suicide!"
"Who said it's only you dozen?"
Evan raised a brow. "You still have me, don't you?"
That shut both women up instantly.
Jun stared at him.
"Y… you're a Konoha ninja. Aren't you?!"
She had long known he wasn't a good person—but this?
A core pillar of Konoha… conspiring with Suna to raid the Hokage Building?
Evan tilted his head.
"And what about it?"
Pakura's voice trembled.
"Why would you do this?"
"Because I'm sick of this village. Sick of all the schemes, the backstabbing, the hypocritical unity."
Evan raised his head, gazing at the stars above.
"Tell me, Pakura. The Five Great Nations have fought for decades. For what?"
For what?
The question landed heavy in her mind.
Land, money, resources, missions…
Yet after all the fighting, what truly changed?
Evan sneered.
"A country with both a daimyo and a shinobi regime…
Instead of developing industry and prosperity, all anyone wants is more war."
"Even if Sunagakure defeats Konoha, then what? Can you hold the Land of Fire? Iwa, Kumo, Kiri—will they sit and watch?"
Pakura's heart tightened.
She understood these truths. Everyone did.
But changing the world?
Impossible… wasn't it?
Evan continued, voice low but resolute:
"And I intend to change it. I want to unify the shinobi world.
I will destroy all the villages, topple every daimyo's palace,
and make this entire world kneel beneath my feet."
Before they could process that insanity, Evan stepped forward, raising a hand.
His fingers brushed Pakura's flawless cheek.
She bit her lip but didn't pull away—too shaken to react.
Unifying the entire shinobi world?
No one had ever even dared dream that.
They only ever thought about winning the next war, securing the next resource, the next mission.
"Pakura."
Evan cupped her cheek while placing a hand on Jun's shoulder.
"Hasn't life in Sunagakure always been harsh?
Don't you want your people to stop suffering in that desert?"
Pakura trembled. "E-even if I wanted to change things… how?"
Evan's eyes chilled.
"Simple."
His pupils turned pitch black.
A violent wind roared—
Countless grains of black iron sand surged from the earth like a living tide, rising into the sky until they blotted out the stars.
In moments, the heavens themselves turned into rolling black stormclouds.
Jun collapsed to the ground, terrified.
Pakura gasped, her mind blank.
He… had this much power?
She'd never seen him reveal anything like this before.
"Iron sand… M-Magnet Release?!"
Jun's voice cracked as she stared upward.
Evan flicked a finger.
The mass of sand iron plummeted like a torrential downpour—
PAPAPAPAPAP—
Then silence.
The earth was left covered in countless needle-sized punctures, as though pierced by a million blades.
Pakura's voice shook.
"Who… what are you? How do you have Magnet Release?"
The overwhelming iron sand…
This was unmistakably the kekkei genkai of the Third Kazekage.
But he had vanished years ago…
Evan gave a mysterious smile.
"Actually… I am the Third Kazekage's—"
Pakura and Jun swallowed hard.
Could he be…?
Kekkei genkai were inherited through blood…
Evan finished smoothly:
"—father."
"…"
Both women went completely blank.
Evan grinned wider.
Of course it wasn't Magnet Release.
It was simply thousands of microscopic iron grains controlled with his Spirit-Sword Manipulation, cleverly disguised.
If he wanted to frame Sunagakure…
Magnet Release was the perfect tool.
He ignored the stunned duo.
"Pakura. I want you to return and seize the Kazekage position.
Make Sunagakure mine."
"And I will kill Rasa for you."
Pakura's breath hitched.
Kill Rasa…
Take back everything she'd lost…
Become Kazekage…
That temptation had lived in her heart for years.
Evan then tilted Jun's chin up.
"And you, little Jun—obediently help your teacher become the next Kazekage. I'll give you the antidote… and save Sunagakure from the desert."
Jun's chest heaved violently.
What was she even hearing anymore?
Kill the Fourth Kazekage?
Make Pakura the new one?
Pakura finally murmured:
"How… how do you intend to do all this?"
"From today forward, I will have two identities."
"One: Evan of Konoha."
"And two: Kuyue, the hidden master behind Sunagakure's future Kazekage."
"Kuyue and Evan… are both me."
He pulled out a demonic mask and put it on.
"Kuyue…?"
Both women stared, stunned.
Behind the Hokage Monument
"Kuyue…?"
Suna shinobi Kudō stared at the cloaked figure wearing a grotesque mask.
Suspicion flashed across his face.
Pakura nodded calmly.
"Kuyue is a close friend of mine. A sleeper agent Sunagakure planted in Konoha years ago."
"Oh?"
Kudō straightened and bowed slightly.
"I am Kudō, bodyguard to the Fourth Kazekage."
Evan's disguised voice came out rough and aged.
"Hoho… I leave the village for a few decades and Rasa is Kazekage now? That brat grew up fast."
Pakura and Jun's cheeks twitched.
Decades? Really?
But Kudō froze, horrified.
Decades…? Just who IS this man?
He forced himself to remain composed.
"Kazekage-sama will be delighted when you return."
"No rush."
Evan's voice turned sinister.
"Before we go back, we have something important to do."
"Oh?"
Kudō blinked. "What task?"
Evan's grin was audible.
"Attack the Hokage Building, of course."
"…Hah?!"
Kudō and over a dozen Sand shinobi stood dumbfounded.
Attack the Hokage Building?
With this handful of people?
In the middle of Konoha?
Was he insane?
Evan chuckled softly.
Hiruzen was right.
The Will of Fire burned warmly in him indeed…
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
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