Malphegor
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HSU: Ch. 217
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 18:53:50 +0000 UTCThe number of Iwa ninjas was gradually decreasing.
Suna ninjas were also dwindling. After the last Suna ninja was impatiently swatted aside by Gaara, he was left surrounded solely by enemies.
Floating in midair using the Lightened Boulder Technique, Masashi observed the boy.
Shukaku truly lived up to its reputation as the noisiest tailed beast. The ten-year-old Gaara already had dark circles under his eyes, resembling eyeshadow from countless sleepless nights.
From above, the remaining Iwa ninjas were seen attacking him from different directions.
They were ferocious, but not purely out of bravery—rather, it was the desperation of those with no escape, forced into a last-ditch struggle.
The sand, which appeared sluggish on the surface, was actually extremely fast. The Second Kazekage, who developed this technique, had referenced Hashirama's Wood Release secrets, aiming to maximize damage with simple yet effective tactics. Speed was a necessary component of that.
In the original timeline, Gaara's sand was only ever surpassed in speed by the Eight Gates technique.
But speed wasn't its deadliest aspect. The sand could burrow underground, fly through the air, mix with other materials, and be combined with Clone Techniques and Body Flicker.
Its versatility was precisely why Masashi had taken an interest in it—to serve as a vessel for his Yang Release power.
As for these Iwa ninjas, the moment they saw Gaara, their fates were sealed.
Sensing their will to fight to the death, Gaara's face twisted into a deranged smile, one that didn't match his age.
He began forming hand seals.
First came a volley of ninja tools, each attached to explosive tags.
As he was enveloped in his sand, the Iwa ninjas quickened their pace. Those capable of using Hardening Technique clenched their fists.
But in Masashi's view, that mass of yellow sand was nothing but an empty shell.
To be fair, Gaara had strong combat instincts. On the surface, he appeared to recklessly wield his Magnetic Release, but his ninjutsu fundamentals were solid.
Rasa, regardless of how he treated his son, had certainly put great effort into training him.
In the next moment, the explosive tags detonated upon contact with the sand shell.
The chakra supporting the sand shell withdrew like a receding tide, and without chakra reinforcement, the spherical sand barrier exploded outward under the force of the blasts.
Sand scattered in all directions, propelled by the explosion. As the Iwa ninjas moved defensively, Gaara emerged from the swirling dust. His gourd transformed into a fresh wave of sand, consuming the closest Iwa ninjas.
In an instant, the sand tightened, crushing its victim. The sand's color then darkened.
After killing this squad of Iwa ninjas, he pressed both hands against the ground.
More sand erupted from beneath, surging like a fountain. Wave after wave disrupted the remaining Iwa ninjas' formation, breaking their coordination, blinding their vision, preventing them from assisting each other or pinpointing his location.
Gaara, on the other hand, remained calm, using his sand as extra eyes to systematically eliminate the isolated Iwa ninjas one by one.
He was highly skilled in combat.
During the Warring States period, it wasn't uncommon for children to be accustomed to killing, but few reached Gaara's level of proficiency.
His entire skill set was standard Kage-level technique. With such versatility, he should have been Suna's most treasured future leader.
Yet, instead of nurturing him properly, they had made him a jinchūriki at birth.
One had to wonder—did the Suna high command regret that decision?
Or perhaps, he was chosen as a jinchūriki not because of necessity, but simply because he was Rasa's youngest son.
Every village had its own struggles, after all.
With the Iwa ninjas around him eliminated, Gaara's mood noticeably improved. He gathered a platform of sand beneath his feet, preparing to take off.
As he rose, he saw Masashi.
Even at a distance, Gaara could tell that he wasn't a Suna ninja.
In his simplistic worldview, anyone on the battlefield who wasn't from Suna was a target to kill.
And since the person could fly, they were no ordinary ninja.
Excited, he stopped his ascent, turned, and prepared to fly toward Masashi.
But before he could, the sharp voice of Shukaku echoed in his mind.
That guy looks tough, brat. Think you can take him?
Gaara had no desire to respond to the One-Tail, but it was unbelievably noisy.
Since childhood, Shukaku had delighted in scaring him with threats like, If you fall asleep, I'll take over your body!
Back then, he had still cared about his family's opinions, despite being alienated by them.
At least, he still had Yashamaru who was an important figure in his life.
Until Yashamaru tried to assassinate him and told him he had never loved him.
Now, he saw the world in only three colors: Himself, Shukaku, and the color of blood when he killed.
Everything else was devoid of color.
"Shut up. If I need you, I'll let you out."
Gaara was utterly annoyed by Shukaku's chatter.
Hah! Getting cocky, huh, brat? You still rely on my power! Let's see you cry when you lose!
Shukaku eyed the figure in the distance, wary. The man gave it an unsettling feeling.
Still, bickering was part of its daily routine with Gaara.
Besides, this brat deserved a beating. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing for him to get roughed up.
If Gaara died, it would mean temporary freedom for Shukaku.
Unfortunately, the technique developed by the Second Kazekage, based on its power, relied on brute force and sheer chakra volume.
Even if his chakra control was disrupted, as long as he had enough chakra, he could still fight.
Otherwise, Shukaku would have long sabotaged him.
At this moment, Gaara was already flying toward Masashi.
Masashi, watching Gaara approach, was puzzled.
He had pulled some Suna ninjas aside and left them incapacitated. If it were Rasa, it would make sense for him to come over and exchange a few words of thanks.
But Gaara wouldn't thank him for that.
Was he coming to fight?
That didn't seem right either.
Gaara's mental instability worsened gradually over time. In the original timeline, before meeting Naruto, his symptoms were at their peak. But even then, he wouldn't attack Konoha ninjas unprovoked.
Gaara's mind was always rational.
Curious, Masashi took the initiative and flew toward him.
After all, this was the future Fifth Kazekage. Regardless of whether he ever met Naruto, Masashi had observed the situation in Suna.
Aside from Gaara, they might truly have no other suitable successor for the Kazekage position.
---
The speed of the flying sand was incredibly fast, and Gaara quickly got a clear look at Masashi's appearance.
The sight of that Konoha ninja uniform made his killing intent subside a little.
It wasn't that he had any goodwill toward Konoha ninjas, but rather that he knew he wasn't allowed to kill them.
Although killing soothed his mind, there were plenty of other people he could kill. So, no need to create unnecessary trouble by targeting those he wasn't supposed to.
That being said, Masashi's face did seem somewhat familiar to Gaara.
But he quickly gave up on trying to recall where he had seen him before.
People he wasn't allowed to kill belonged to the colorless parts of his world, and he had no interest in them.
So, midway through his flight, he simply turned around and left.
Masashi considered calling out to him but decided against it. Extracting chakra from the One-Tail in such an obvious manner would leave too many traces. So, he let him go.
Before long, Gaara disappeared from sight.
Masashi descended once again, landing where the Suna ninjas were lying on the ground.
To say they were "lying like corpses" wasn't exactly accurate—after all, they weren't dead yet. The Suna ninjas were huddled together, looking utterly confused.
They had been fighting Iwa ninjas, and then suddenly, a Konoha ninja had come to their rescue. Their minds were working overtime to make sense of the situation.
"Alright, if you guys have a way to contact your own people, do it now," Masashi said. "I have other places to be soon."
"Is Konoha planning to join the war?" a higher-ranking Suna ninja couldn't help but ask.
"Dude, wake up. Iwa and Konoha are allies too. This was a direct order from the Kazekage. I was just passing by and decided to help."
The Suna ninjas suddenly understood.
Still, they had seen Gaara's actions earlier. At the time, they had honestly thought that the bloodthirsty boy was about to attack this Konoha ninja.
Thankfully, he still had some sense.
This was a messenger from Konoha—forget about killing him, even a single scratch on him would be a huge international incident.
"Then... why exactly are you here?" The Suna ninja was even more confused.
"Sorry, even though we're allies, that's classified information." Masashi wasn't interested in talking too much and used this as an excuse to brush them off.
By this time, some of the Suna ninjas had already fired a signal flare into the sky.
Masashi also sensed chakra signatures approaching.
Before long, a team of Suna ninjas arrived, including medical ninjas.
Seeing this, Masashi left.
Whether these reinforcements were truly Suna or Iwa ninjas in disguise wasn't his problem. He wasn't the one who sent the signal.
For the rest of the battle, he didn't stir up any more trouble. He simply observed the battlefield from different vantage points.
With the Kazekage and a jinchūriki leading them, the Suna ninja army fought with great momentum.
Rasa engaged the Iwa elites, while Gaara mercilessly crushed the lower-ranked ones. Their teamwork was seamless.
Generally speaking, elites alone couldn't replace an entire army of standard ninjas, especially the chunin ranks. Whether a ninja force was strong or weak often depended on its chunin.
But the Magnet Release abilities of Rasa and his son were simply too effective. Their battlefield control was overwhelming, drastically boosting their forces.
After a fierce battle, the Iwa ninjas were driven back the way they came. Even when Kitsuchi himself stepped in to hold off Rasa, the lower-ranked Iwa ninjas still suffered terribly.
They couldn't withstand the attacks from the Suna's puppet masters.
After witnessing this battle, Masashi gained a clearer understanding of the strength of the three villages involved.
At the same scale of battle, Suna was the strongest, and Kumo was the weakest.
It was time for Konoha to show some friendliness toward its northern neighbor.
The only regret was that he didn't get to see Shukaku's power in action. In this war, Gaara's role was simply to crush weaker opponents—he didn't even need to use Shukaku.
Once he had seen enough, Masashi informed Rasa of his departure.
Rasa wasn't surprised that the White Ghost was leaving.
For some time, he had been trying to maneuver things so that Iwa would believe Masashi had fully sided with Suna. Unfortunately, Masashi was too slippery, and Rasa never managed to pull it off.
Since he couldn't achieve that goal, letting Masashi leave was no loss to him.
---
After completing the necessary formalities, Masashi left the Suna ninja camp and began his return journey.
The trip back was always faster than the trip there.
Upon returning to Konoha, he didn't even have time to go home before the Konoha Five had him brought straight to the Hokage's office.
His report was quite detailed.
As a result, the Hokage's office gained a much clearer understanding of the war.
Kumo's incompetence was unexpected.
In the past, Kumo had once seemed poised to surpass Konoha.
Ironically, Suna, which had been considered a disgrace during the last Great Ninja War, had now staged an astonishing comeback.
And their jinchūriki was already a formidable force.
The good news was that there were no signs of this escalating into a full-scale ninja world war.
Most likely, this war would end with Iwa making concessions.
Hiruzen was quite pleased with this outcome. If Ōnoki suffered, he was happy.
He figured that his old "friend" would definitely have to pay a price this time.
While Kumo was weak, it wasn't weak enough to be pushed into the sea.
Suna, on the other hand, was simply too strong this time.
For Konoha, this was good news too.
A three-way alliance was a nice concept, but in reality, the shinobi world was too competitive—every village wanted to be the sole dominant power.
Iwa had been drifting further from Konoha in recent years, proving that "distant alliances and nearby attacks" didn't work well in the shinobi worlld. If Konoha hadn't planted so many traps for Iwa in the past, they wouldn't be busy fighting Kumo and Suna right now—they'd be causing trouble for Konoha instead.
As for Kiri, despite having no buffer zone between them and Konoha anymore, their relationship was actually much better.
Yagura was firmly committed to maintaining good relations with Konoha, and Kiri fully supported this policy. They were focused on rebuilding their strength, determined to make up for their lost years.
Masashi believed this was largely due to Kiri's distant relationship with the Water Daimyō. Yagura had been working hard to repair that connection.
But such damage couldn't be undone overnight.
After finishing his report to them, Masashi finally went home.
Given the current war situation, ninja missions had also been affected.
On one hand, more ninjas needed to be on standby. On the other, the war had disrupted the businesses of nobles and merchants, reducing demand for ninja services.
As a result, elites like Pakura were spending much more time at home.
Having completed his mission, Masashi decided to focus on his family and the ninja academy for now.
Having a third child could wait—his students were entering their advanced training phase, and he couldn't afford to delay their lessons.
Graduation was only a year away.
