The mist was thick as volcanic ash, hanging between the spear-sharp peaks that surrounded the scorching plain. The earth vibrated at short intervals, as if something beneath the surface was restless. Konan landed silently on one of the highest rock formations, her paper wings folding behind her Akatsuki cloak.
Beside her, emerging from the ground like a root breaking through the earth, Zetsu appeared. The white portion of his body watched with curious eyes, while the black side remained silent as death itself.
"He's close," whispered White Zetsu, with an almost amused tone. "His chakra... it's fierce, impatient. Like a caged beast."
Konan nodded. "Han, the jinchūriki of Gobi. He moves like an avalanche. We must neutralize him before he fully merges with the beast."
Black Zetsu whispered, his voice graver: "The terrain favors him. Lava and pressure. It will be difficult to control him if he enters his Partial Release Mode."
Konan raised her arm. Her fingers dissolved into hundreds of paper-thin blades. "Then we won't give him time. We will cut him off from the source."
And then she disappeared in a whirlwind of papers, scattering through the wind like a silent storm.
Han was kneeling, the steam mask attached to his face, and his body enveloped in scorching steam. His protective cloak reflected the signature of the beast within his body; the chakra, five times denser than normal, vibrated around him.
"They're already here," he murmured, without turning. His eyes observed the distorted reflection in the sulfur puddles. "Akatsuki..."
He struck the ground with a clenched fist, opening a crater. The steam exploded in all directions like a roar. "Then come!"
From above, thousands of paper leaves descended like a sharp rain, spinning with lethal speed. Han jumped back, his chakra exploding in a jet of steam. The leaves collided with the ground, cutting stones like steel blades.
But Konan did not stop. The leaves grouped together, forming paper spears reinforced with chakra. Three of them pierced the spot where Han had landed — he dodged by millimeters, the steam protecting him with a high-temperature barrier.
"You are no ordinary opponent," Han growled, eyes fixed on the wings that now recombined in the air, forming Konan's cold figure.
"I am not a messenger. I am here to seal your fate."
Konan opened her arms.
"Shikigami no Mai: Funshitsu Kamikiri."
The wings exploded into a thousand pieces again, but now they spun like saws. Han enveloped his body in steam.
"Yōton: Shōkaki no Jutsu!" He fired a jet of molten lava from his mouth, directly towards the swarm of paper.
Konan dodged upwards, but some of the leaves were carbonized. Still, some bypassed the steam and hit Han on the shoulder. Blood flowed, but cauterized almost immediately. The pain did not shake him.
As the aerial confrontation intensified, Zetsu was already infiltrating the earth below. His fusion with the soil was perfect. White Zetsu murmured, almost playfully: "We'll pull him out by the roots..."
Black Zetsu emerged beneath Han's feet, his black body wrapping around the jinchūriki's legs like sticky vines. "Mayu," he whispered, trapping him with parasitic chakra.
Han grunted, trying to move, but his legs were violently pulled.
"Damn it...!"
With a scream, he released more chakra. The five tails began to emerge, undulating behind him like steam serpents. A burst of chakra freed him from the prison, destroying part of the ground and making Zetsu retreat.
But the damage was done. The flow of the bijuu's chakra fluctuated for a second.
Konan seized the opportunity.
"Kami no Shisha no Jutsu."
Thousands of papers began to swirl around Han, forming a vortex that slowly encircled him. Each leaf was impregnated with explosive tags.
"You have nowhere to run."
"If you intend to blow up this entire field with me inside," Han growled, "then come!" He roared, the steam around him solidifying like armor, and then jumped towards Konan like a human missile.
Konan retreated, but she was prepared. She murmured:
"Kami Bunshin."
Her body exploded into papers. The explosion did not come immediately — Han passed through the clone, realizing the mistake too late. The tags exploded in a sequence, each detonating with more force than the last.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOOM!
Smoke covered everything. The impact displaced even the clouds.
From the middle of the smoke, a figure covered in blood and steam stumbled out. Han was still standing. The Bijū Mode began to form: a semi-transparent bony shell covered part of his body. The five tails thrashed like whips.
"You... won't take me!" he roared, chakra overflowing through the cracks in the armor.
But Black Zetsu appeared right behind him. His hand emerged from Han's shadow, plunging black spikes directly into his tenketsu.
"Spore Jutsu: Chakra Parasite."
Han howled. His chakra control destabilized for milliseconds — enough for Konan to finish.
She emerged from the air like a winged shadow, and with a precise gesture, plunged a reinforced paper spear directly into his left shoulder, piercing the muscle and pinning him to the ground.
"The sealing begins now."
Konan began to recite a sealing technique based on paper formulas that enveloped the jinchūriki's body, each layer slowly draining his chakra.
Han still resisted, his red eyes overflowing with hatred and pain.
"Damn you...! You don't know what... you're doing..."
Black Zetsu replied:
"We know exactly what we're doing. Fueling the rebirth of something much greater than you."
Konan finalized the paper layer with a final seal marked with blood.
"Sleep, Gobi's bearer."
Han let out one last roar, and then... passed out.
Konan, standing, observed the motionless and partially sealed body of the jinchūriki. Her wings folded, forming a protective cloak over the captured body.
"Iwagakure will react," she commented. "We will send clones to divert attention. We need to get him to the hideout as quickly as possible."
Zetsu was already absorbing the body for underground transport.
"He fought well. A monster to the end."
"They all are," Konan said, without emotion. "And they will all fall."
As the mist closed again over the plain, the Akatsuki retreated, leaving only the trail of destruction and the echo of the Gobi's roar trapped in the silence of the earth.