He lowered his head and looked at what his hand was pressing against. Beneath the loose sand, a corner of something angular and clearly carved was exposed. It did not look natural.
A powerful sense of familiarity made Third Kazekage's heart race wildly. He began clawing at the sand with both hands, grains packing under his nails. More of the object slowly emerged.
It was not a rock.
It was part of a stone monument.
A boundary marker that should have stood several meters tall at the entrance of Sunagakure.
Third Kazekage's body went completely stiff. He slowly raised his head and looked toward the massive dune ahead. By now, the dawn light was a little brighter.
He could finally make out the shapes beneath the sand. Broken outlines of buildings peeked through in fragments. It looked like a giant buried alive, its last struggling limbs frozen beneath the dunes.
There was no sound, yet it radiated despair, helplessness, pain, and fear. Something in his heart kept telling him the truth, over and over. This was the place he had been searching for.
This was Sunagakure.
Yes.
Sunagakure.
"No, No no! Impossible!"
Staring at the familiar stone marker, Third Kazekage felt his throat bob. His cracked lips opened and closed, but only a broken, hoarse sound was forced up from deep inside. What he saw in front of him shattered the calm and reason he had maintained as Third Kazekage.
Is this Genjutsu?
It has to be Genjutsu.
"Release!"
He raised both hands sharply and forced himself to form the hand signs for Genjutsu Release with all his strength. His eyes were wide, his breath held, waiting for the scene to twist, break apart, and fade, revealing the familiar outline of Sunagakure. Nothing happened.
Only the wind continued to howl, whipping fine grains of sand into his face. The sharp stinging felt like countless ants biting his skin, clear and real. This was not Genjutsu.
A bone-deep chill surged up from his feet and crawled along Third Kazekage's spine inch by inch. His hands shook uncontrollably as fear and disbelief overwhelmed him. How could this happen after only a few days away?
Before he could recover from the shock, the sand beneath him burst open.
Several withered, charred arms twisted like the roots of an old tree and thrust out of the ground. They were nothing but skin stretched over bone, black as charcoal or dead gray, with sharp curved nails like bird claws. Their movements were stiff, yet they locked tightly around Third Kazekage's legs and arms.
"What…"
Before he could react, an irresistible pulling force surged from those arms. It was like demons from hell dragging him down, trying to pull him into the endless sea of sand. The ground beneath him turned into quicksand, and his body began to sink at a frightening speed.
"What kind of monster is this?"
Third Kazekage's chakra flared instinctively as he struggled. More arms emerged from the sand, locking his limbs and preventing him from forming seals. He forced a small amount of Gold Dust into motion, slashing wildly and cutting the reaching arms apart.
The severed arms did not bleed. They crumbled into lifeless sand and fell away, merging back into the dunes. No matter how many he destroyed, more rose up, gripping his ankles, waist, and arms, dragging him toward the abyss.
It felt like fighting the entire desert alone. His strength was laughably small.
"No…"
Third Kazekage's final cry was filled with despair and rage, but it vanished like a stone dropped into the sea. Countless arms dragged him beneath the cold, loose sand.
The sand pressed in from all sides, crushing his body as it poured into his mouth and nose. He forced down his panic and gathered the last of his chakra, forming a shell of Gold Dust around his head to hold open a small pocket of air. He coughed violently as fresh air filled his lungs.
He was still wrapped in sand, the pressure draining what little chakra he had left. The abdominal wound he suffered in Land of Demons from Moryo had been treated by a Medical-nin, but it was not fully healed. Every attempt to move only made the sand tighten around him, pulling him deeper.
Is this how I die?
Despair wrapped around him like the cold sand itself. He did not know how long he endured the slow descent.
Suddenly, the ground vanished beneath his feet.
He dropped free of the sand with a rush of weightlessness and slammed onto solid ground. Staggering a few steps, he managed to steady himself. He lifted his head and looked around.
The dim light seeped in from nowhere, barely illuminating a vast and twisted space. The sight froze both his body and his thoughts. Endless yellow-brown sand had been shaped into towering trees that held up a ceiling of sand, with fine grains falling like slow waterfalls.
Beneath this strange canopy, he recognized familiar outlines. Sunagakure had been built in a basin, already similar to an ant nest, and now it truly looked like a massive ant nest buried underground. The streets, plazas, and houses were all there.
What filled them were dried figures, packed tightly together. Their bodies were cracked and desiccated, frozen in their final moments. Some crawled on the ground, some reached upward, mouths open in silent screams.
There was no sign of struggle, no living flesh. Only overwhelming death remained. The silence covered everything.
Third Kazekage's heart felt tightly gripped, his breathing labored. He looked toward the village center, where the Kazekage Building should have stood. Instead, a massive pyramid of sand rose there.
"How is this possible…"
His mind went blank. This was not something Shukaku or any of the Tailed Beasts could do. This was beyond human ability.
What kind of thing could turn all of Sunagakure into a giant ant nest?
Cold sweat soaked his back as his chakra surged and Gold Dust gathered around him. At that moment, a faint sound cut through the air behind him. He reacted instantly, swinging a blade of Gold Dust.
The figure barely avoided the strike.
"It's me."
The familiar, exhausted voice made him stop. He turned to see a female Ninja in a torn Sunagakure vest, her face smeared with sand and dried blood. Her eyes were bloodshot and alert.
"Pakura?" he blurted out in disbelief.
"This is not the place to talk," she said sharply, staring toward the sand ceiling. "Move, now."
She vanished and rushed ahead. Third Kazekage followed her gaze and saw a massive eye made of sand drifting toward them. Without hesitation, he used Body Flicker and followed her through the buried ruins.
They stopped at a hidden entrance covered by sand, surrounded by standing corpses. Third Kazekage realized they looked familiar because they bore the marks of Scorch Release. He asked if she had killed them, but she did not answer.
She moved to a sealed metal door bound with white cloth marked with a 'Jin' symbol. After forming hand signs, she released the seal and opened a narrow gap. She went in first, and he followed.
Inside was a dim shelter converted from an emergency refuge. The air was thick with medicine, sweat, and blood, lit by flickering lamps. Hundreds of survivors filled the space, exhausted and terrified.
When they saw Pakura and Third Kazekage, faint hope lit their eyes. Children like Kankuro and Temari ran over crying. Pakura ignored them and went to an elderly man resting against the wall.