In the vast desert of the Land of Wind, where sand filled the sky—
The moment Pakura's voice rang out, everyone around her immediately entered a state of alert, and the atmosphere turned tense.
A rhythmic round of applause could be heard.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Right after that, a figure slowly rose from underground.
It was Obito.
He clapped his hands as he slowly straightened his body, a faint smile hanging on his face.
Pakura and the other Sunagakure ninjas instantly treated him like a major threat. They gripped their weapons and stared at the mysterious and dangerous man before them.
Although Obito's appearance had long been placed on the black market bounty list.
Five whole years had passed, and he had vanished as if he had disappeared from the world itself, to the point that people had gradually forgotten about him.
But before this, Rasa had revealed that it was Obito who came and captured him, so the moment she saw Obito, Pakura recognized him right away.
After seeing Obito appear here, she couldn't help cursing beneath. It looked like the information they received was true.
Rasa really had been taken away by Obito.
Pakura did not rush to answer Obito's words. Instead, she immediately made a hand signal.
After receiving the order, the Sunagakure ninjas quickly scattered and formed an encirclement.
At the same time, Pakura watched Obito's every move from the corner of her eye.
As expected, when he saw Rasa wrapped up like a mummy, Obito's gaze unconsciously shifted along with him.
Seeing this, Pakura raised her hand again without hesitation and quickly made another signal toward Maki and the others.
Even though everyone's faces looked extremely grim, they knew the situation was urgent and could only obey the order.
Finally, Pakura took a deep breath and broke the silence.
"Obito, what do you want?"
As the Mangekyo Sharingan user who betrayed the Uchiha clan.
His abilities like space-time movement and intangibility had long been sold by the Akatsuki on the black market as important intelligence.
Everyone knew Obito was extremely difficult to deal with. Even Pakura, who was usually full of confidence, had no certainty now.
Obito slightly raised the corner of his mouth, revealing a cold smile, but he said nothing. His figure flashed, and he rushed straight ahead like a ghost.
"Wind Release: Raging Sand Technique!"
Pakura immediately saw that Obito's target was the jinchuriki, Rasa.
At this critical moment, several Sunagakure ninjas who had just received Pakura's tactical hand signal immediately used this basic Wind Release ninjutsu without hesitation.
A whistling sound rang out.
Whoosh!
Several powerful gusts burst from the mouths of those Sunagakure ninjas like violent dragons, slamming heavily into the ground.
Along with a series of dull explosions.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several huge pits were instantly blasted into the flat desert, and endless yellow sand flew into the air.
In an instant, the entire area was swallowed by the surging sandstorm, blotting out the sky and turning the surroundings into a hazy world where nothing could be clearly seen.
Obito, who was inside it, disappeared in the blink of an eye.
However, Obito only let out a cold snort before using his intangibility technique. His whole body instantly sank underground, and with his sharp perception, he rapidly chased toward the direction where he had sensed Rasa beforehand.
After traveling several hundred meters underground, Obito finally burst back out onto the surface.
When he emerged again, he realized he had already left the range of the Raging Sand Technique.
As soon as he came out from underground, he saw that the Sunagakure ninjas had split into two clearly separate groups.
One group, led personally by Pakura along with four Sunagakure ninjas and the heavily injured Rasa, was rapidly fleeing in one direction.
The other group consisted of the sealing team members. Carrying heavy cloth scrolls on their backs, they hurriedly escaped in another direction.
The four ninjas traveling with Pakura were all powerful jonin.
Compared to them, the sealing squad members in the other group also had some combat ability, but overall they were much weaker.
Staying behind at this point would only get them killed.
Sure enough, just as everyone expected, Obito completely ignored the weaker sealing squad members and could not even be bothered to look at them.
His blood-red eyes locked onto the backs of Pakura's group, and without hesitation, he leaped forward and rushed at them like a ghost.
After Pakura and the other four noticed Obito relentlessly chasing behind them, they realized things were bad.
But they did not panic and quickly responded.
With one order from Pakura, the other four immediately threw the tightly wrapped Rasa, who looked like a mummy, onto the ground.
Then, with Pakura at the center, they quickly formed a circle and took their positions.
Right after that, the five of them began forming hand seals at the same time. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, as though they had practiced together countless times.
As Obito drew closer and closer, the four of them finally completed their hand seals at the last moment.
One of the jonin shouted loudly, "Wind Release: Wind Spiral Blade Dance!"
Before his words even finished, the other four took deep breaths, puffed out their cheeks, and continuously spat outward.
In an instant, a huge number of semi-transparent wind blades appeared out of nowhere and rapidly spun around them.
The wind blades flashed with a frightening light like sharp bolts of lightning, as though they would launch a deadly attack against anyone who dared approach.
"Scorch Release: Blazing Star Ring!"
Pakura rapidly moved both hands, and in an instant, four enormous burning fireballs appeared in her hands.
Immediately after, the four fireballs split apart and gradually shrank as though they had been given life.
With every split, their numbers multiplied. First from four to sixteen, then from sixteen to sixty-four, repeating over and over until more than a thousand tiny fireballs had formed.
The little fireballs spun around Pakura nonstop like a group of playful spirits, forming a dazzling ring of stars around her.
Even facing such a scene, Obito showed no fear as he steadily stepped into the whirlwind woven from wind blades.
But those sharp, screaming wind blades naturally had no effect on him.
Obito's figure was like an illusion. No matter how the wind blades passed through him, they could not touch him at all.