When Yubi woke again, the first thing he felt was hunger.
He had slept all the way until noon. His eyelids still felt heavy, his limbs soft and sluggish, but the sharp ache in his empty stomach dragged him fully back to the waking world.
Inside the base, the Sand shinobi who saw him stir were visibly relieved.
One of the medical nin handed him a ration pill used by soldiers in the field. While Yubi ate, the other explained the latest news from the front. The Third Kazekage, Lady Chiyo, and the rest of Sunagakure's high-level forces had already gained the upper hand, and report after report of good news was arriving from the battlefield.
It sounded as if the great clash between Sunagakure and Amegakure was already nearing its end.
"That fast?"
Yubi was genuinely surprised.
With both the Third Kazekage and Chiyo personally taking action, Hanzo of the Salamander was almost certainly overseeing Amegakure's side himself as well. A large-scale war between forces like that would normally drag on for several days and nights before either side truly withdrew.
He lowered his eyes and thought it through in silence.
It seemed Hanzo's intent to strike the Land of Wind had never been as absolute as it first appeared. He had launched a surprise offensive, yes, but perhaps it had been more probe than all-out gamble. A brutal test. A fast knife aimed at Sunagakure's ribs, meant to carve out advantage before anyone could respond.
That fit Hanzo's style.
In Yubi's memory, Hanzo had always been painted as a ruthless, ambitious figure. He had led the Land of Rain from a weak, fractured place into one with real territory, real military weight, real influence in the ninja world. A demigod by title, and not without reason.
But strength and leadership were not the same thing.
After the Second Shinobi World War, Hanzo's inactivity and distrust would eventually plunge the Land of Rain into chaos. His subordinates would exploit his prestige while the country itself rotted beneath them. From that angle, Hanzo's brilliance only went so far. His power was unquestionable, but as a ruler... he was far from perfect.
Yubi swallowed the last of the ration pill and glanced around the base.
Then his eyes narrowed.
Where was Sasori?
He should have been nearby, resting like everyone else. Yet there was no sign of him.
"He went out as soon as it got light," someone nearby said.
Yubi's brow twitched.
By now, most of the Rain shinobi who had infiltrated the canyon had already been cleared out, but that did not mean the place was safe. Sasori was injured. No matter how gifted he was, moving around alone in that condition was still dangerous.
Could he have slipped off to the front lines on his own?
The thought was so like Sasori that it made Yubi's eyelid jump again.
But just as he was considering whether to go look for him, a familiar figure appeared at the end of the passage.
Sasori walked back in without a word.
Only then did Yubi finally let out the breath he had been holding.
Sasori gave him a brief glance, unreadable as ever, then found a quiet corner and sat down. Before long, he had already taken out puppet components and begun tinkering with them again, as if nothing in the world mattered more.
After resting a short while longer, Yubi rejoined the other medical ninjas and resumed treatment.
Now that the rear had been stabilized and no enemy forces were slipping past the line, the role of the medical team shifted at once. Their main task was no longer scrambling through hidden outposts or patching people up inside temporary shelters. Instead, the wounded from the front began arriving in waves, and the rear became a proper support line.
Sunagakure's assignment in this conflict had become clear.
Hold the rear. Treat the wounded. Keep the army standing.
The Land of Wind was not only under pressure from Amegakure. Kirigakure and Iwagakure were both lurking like wolves at the edge of the battlefield, waiting for openings.
Kirigakure, in particular, occupied a peculiar position. It was isolated like an island nation, without the obvious land-border disputes that dragged other countries into constant friction. That freedom allowed it to conserve strength and act more opportunistically whenever the ninja world descended into turmoil.
When chaos spread, Kirigakure could strike where it pleased.
It harassed the Land of Wind.
It harassed the Land of Fire.
It took what it could.
Iwagakure operated in much the same way.
At the heart of the current war, the fiercest fighting was still centered on the Land of Rain, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Fire. The more fiercely those three bled each other, the better it was for villages like the Hidden Stone and Hidden Mist. They could nibble at the edges, seize resources, and expand their influence while others paid the cost.
That was exactly why Sunagakure could not afford to pour all of its strength into crushing Hanzo.
Only the Third Kazekage and Chiyo had been deployed to deal with Amegakure directly. Fighters like Rasa still had to remain wary of Konoha and the other villages making trouble while the Sand's attention was elsewhere.
The spark that had ignited this great war seemed, on the surface, to be Hanzo's rise.
But Yubi knew that was only part of the truth.
The real reason was simpler, and uglier.
Each great village preached peace while seeking expansion.
Each called its ambitions order.
Each claimed necessity.
And beneath all those banners, the thing they truly resented was Konoha's near-monopoly over the ninja world's best land, best resources, and strongest overall position.
Konoha had become the common target.
Even the attacks launched by Iwagakure and Kirigakure struck the Land of Fire more often than they struck the Land of Wind. The so-called cry for peace from the other great villages was, at its core, dissatisfaction with Konoha's dominance.
Yet in the end, none of them truly profited the way they had hoped.
Konoha continued producing brilliant new talents. Its foundations did not crack the way the other villages had expected, even when it was forced to defend on multiple fronts. The Second Shinobi World War injured the Leaf, certainly, but in Yubi's view, the damage still did not compare to what the Third Shinobi World War would do later.
Sunagakure, on the other hand, had been shaken much more deeply.
Its losses were real.
Its manpower was stretched thin.
Its future was already beginning to fracture beneath the strain.
***
By nightfall, the battle was finally over.
Hanzo withdrew, taking Amegakure with him.
The Third Kazekage, Chiyo, and the rest of Sunagakure's upper forces also pulled back from the front after securing the immediate situation. One by one, the wounded were transported toward the rear and then back to the village, while new deployments and defensive arrangements were reorganized at the front lines.
The Sand army temporarily established camp on a stretch of barren Gobi Desert.
Yubi and Sasori left the canyon with the rest of the surviving rear personnel and rejoined the main force.
Strictly speaking, Yubi's mission had not yet ended.
But before anything else, the Third Kazekage wanted to see him.
The camp sprawled across the bleak gravel plain, a cluster of rough military tents planted beneath the night sky. Some shinobi were cooking. Others were sorting supplies, checking weapons, or preparing for another march.
A Kazekage guard led Yubi and Sasori through the camp to the largest tent in the center.
The moment they entered, the guard dropped to one knee.
"Kazekage-sama, they have arrived."
At last, Yubi was able to look closely at the Third Kazekage.
He had seen him once before, back in the village, but only from far away. Since the first sparks of the war, the Third Kazekage had been buried beneath endless conflict, and as the Kage of Sunagakure, he rarely appeared before ordinary people without reason.
Now, face to face, the pressure he gave off was unmistakable.
Long dark-blue hair framed a stern, angular face. His pupils were a brownish yellow, cold and penetrating, while his thin build gave him an austerity that felt even sharper than brute force. He did not need to raise his voice. The dignity of his position was simply there.
Yubi's thoughts moved immediately to the thing that defined him most.
Magnet Release.
Iron Sand.
The bloodline limit that had made him famous.
In many ways, all of Sunagakure's present strength stood on the foundation laid by one man: the Second Kazekage, Shamon. He had refined and spread the art of puppetry, turning it into one of Sunagakure's great specialties. He had also developed the broader direction of the village's sand-based combat systems, allowing generations of outstanding shinobi to rise from that groundwork.
And from that line of inheritance, the Third Kazekage had emerged as the most terrifying of them all.
His voice, when it came, was deep and restrained.
"Sasori."
His gaze paused on the red-haired boy for a moment, and he gave a faint nod of approval.
It was obvious that he knew Sasori well.
Sasori, in turn, showed almost no change in expression at all.
"Yubi."
Then the Kazekage's eyes shifted to the boy standing beside him.
"Kazekage-sama," Yubi answered with a grin.
There was no trembling in his voice. No obvious excitement. No fear.
Only calm.
That reaction clearly surprised the Third Kazekage a little. It was not the response most genin would have when standing in front of him.
Still, he simply nodded.
"Good."
Praise from the Third Kazekage was rare. Even that one word carried weight.
Then he spoke plainly.
"Amegakure's true aim in this surprise attack was for Hanzo to tear open our front-line defenses, disrupt the rear, and destroy the entire force our village had deployed along the border."
His eyes remained on the two boys.
"He assumed the rear would collapse quickly. He believed the personnel stationed there lacked the skill and strength of those on the front. He did not expect you to hold out for so long. Because of that, he lost opportunities on other fronts as well."
The tent was quiet.
The words were not exaggerated. Yubi understood that much at once.
Every hour they had managed to hold the rear together had forced Hanzo to spend time, people, and attention where he had hoped to meet only chaos and easy slaughter.
The Third Kazekage continued.
"The shinobi stationed in the rear outposts all performed exceptionally well. But in this battle, the two of you were undoubtedly the most outstanding."
Yubi smiled, but shook his head.
"Not exactly. There are many seniors who are more outstanding than we are. We only did what we could. Honestly, I don't think we were all that useful. At some moments, we were even a burden on our seniors."
At that, Sasori turned and gave him a look from the side.
It was the kind of look that plainly said: if you're going to answer, then answer. Why drag me into it?
The Third Kazekage, however, did not seem displeased.
"Humility is a virtue," he said. "But young people should not be too humble. Pride has its place as well."
Yubi met his gaze directly.
"The place Sasori and I were stationed was only one canyon. There were many Rain shinobi there, but their scale and numbers couldn't compare to what the seniors faced on the front lines. For those who fight the true border battles every day, what we experienced was only a small fight. The reason Kazekage-sama thinks we did well is because, for our age, we showed some ability. That's all."
He paused, then continued more quietly.
"I'm not being falsely modest. I just know the difference. Compared to the seniors of the village, what we've gone through still isn't enough."
This time, even the Third Kazekage fell silent for a moment.
The way he looked at Yubi changed slightly.
There was something almost moved in that gaze.
He clearly had not expected such clarity from a child so young. Not only skill, but awareness. Not only talent, but perspective.
That was a far rarer thing.
And a valuable one.
Because it was true.
To experienced shinobi, the canyon battle had indeed been dangerous, but not extraordinary. The reason Yubi and Sasori stood out was precisely because they had endured it at their age and still performed the way they had.
That was talent.
Talent so bright it could not be overlooked.
At last, Sasori seemed to have had enough.
He looked at Yubi with cold annoyance and said, "You are you, and I am me. Don't lump me together with you."
Yubi immediately flashed a shameless grin.
"What does it matter? We've already gone through life and death together. That makes us friends."
Sasori's brows knit together.
He turned his face away and ignored him outright.
The atmosphere in the tent shifted in an instant.
Even the oppressive formality that had clung to the meeting lightened a little.
Yubi, meanwhile, kept smiling as if he had not noticed the disgust in Sasori's expression at all.
Inside, though, his thoughts were far calmer than he looked.
The Third Kazekage had summoned them personally.
That alone meant this battle had already changed something.
Sunagakure had noticed them.
Not just Sasori, who was already treasured.
Him too.
And in a village as strained, wounded, and desperate as this one, being seen by the Kazekage himself could mean opportunity just as easily as it could mean danger.
But whichever it turned out to be, one thing was certain.
From this moment on, Yubi was no longer just another newly graduated genin hidden in the rear.
He had stepped into the sight of the people who decided Sunagakure's future.
And that future, whether it led toward strength or collapse, had just become a little harder for him to avoid.