Paper can't wrap fire, and secrets can't hold back a village-wide panic.
The Third Kazekage's disappearance had moved past the "delay" phase and into "catastrophic failure." The rumors had reached a boiling point, and the leadership realized that continued silence would only lead to a total system crash.
One morning, the emergency assembly bell rang, a long, heavy tone that vibrated through the stone foundations of Suna. Every ninja, from the grizzled veterans to the fresh Academy grads, gathered in the central plaza. The air was thick enough to choke on.
Granny Chiyo climbed the high platform. She looked like she'd aged a decade in a week, but her eyes were still sharp like a kernel process that refuses to hang. She didn't waste time with a preamble.
"People of the Sand," she said, her voice amplified to reach every corner of the plaza. "I am here to confirm what you have already suspected. Our Sandaime Kazekage is officially missing. Contact was lost during a border patrol, and we are now declaring a state of Level 1 combat readiness."
The uproar was instant. It was like a wave of high-frequency noise hitting the crowd. Panic, disbelief, and raw fear. Chiyo let it ring out for a second before she quelled it with a single, heavy gesture.
"Silence! Now is not the time for a system crash! The survival of Suna depends on our response. All regular missions are suspended. All training is offline. Every single resource we have is being reallocated to one task: finding the Kazekage. We will search every cave, every canyon, and every dune until we find him alive, or otherwise."
The village shifted gears instantly. Suna became a massive search-and-rescue machine.
The "Sandstorm" squad was assigned to Sector B-7, a jagged, high-altitude mountainous region in the northwest. It was full of canyons and deep underground caves. Theoretically, it was the perfect place for an ambush or a hideout.
As we exited the gates, the atmosphere was completely different. There was no adrenaline, just a heavy, suffocating sense of dread. We were one of a hundred squads being scattered into the desert like seeds, looking for a needle in a haystack of infinity.
"B-7 is a nightmare for a manual search," Captain Iryō said, unfolding a detailed topographic map. His face was a mask of professional grimness. "Canyons, caves, shadow zones. Stay sharp. We don't just look for him; we look for anything a scrap of cloth, a chakra residue, a disturbance in the sand."
Shiori looked like she was about to vibrate out of her boots. She gripped her kunai so hard her knuckles were white. Lucado had finally dropped his ego; he knew that even a clan-kid's pride wouldn't save him if the thing that took down the Kazekage was still out there.
I stood there, my mind as clear as a mirror. I knew this was a "Ghost Hunt." Sasori's "code" was too clean; he wouldn't have left a trail. The Kazekage wasn't "missing" he was likely already being converted into a human puppet in a workshop I couldn't reach. But I had to play my part.
"I'll handle the sensor array," I said, my voice flat and clinical.
I didn't just call out one Spider. I formed three.
Poof. Poof. Poof.
The MK 2s clicked their legs in unison. "I'm multithreading the search," I explained to Iryō. "I'll have them scout the rock crevices and caves simultaneously. If they detect any abnormal chakra frequencies or unnatural structural changes, I'll get a ping immediately."
Iryō clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Good. We're relying on your tech, Sayo. Shiori, expand your sensory pulse to the limit. Lucado, watch the high ground. Move out!"
We dove into the desolate mountains. I navigated the three Spiders like extended nerve endings, exploring every dark corner of the rock. It was a strange, lucid kind of pain, diligently searching for a man I knew was gone.
We were a single wave in a sea of search squads, all of us drowning in a collective hope that was rapidly running out of battery. The haze of the Third Kazekage's disappearance hung over Suna like a terminal error, and as we moved deeper into the rocks, I realized that the "search" wasn't just about finding a leader.
It was about the village trying to find its own soul before the war outside finally decided to tear it out.