Chapter 196
The dust and sand gradually dispersed, carried away by the lingering wind and revealing the chaotic battlefield little by little. Pakura lay half-propped against the ground more than a dozen meters away, one hand clutching her chest while fresh blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. Her face was even paler than before, and her breathing was noticeably heavier. It was impossible to tell whether she had been injured by the violent aftershocks produced when the sand wall exploded or whether the injuries she had already suffered during her escape had been aggravated by Guy’s successive attacks. In either case, her current condition was extremely miserable, and she looked as though she could collapse at any moment.
Despite Pakura’s miserable state, Might Guy didn’t lower his guard in the slightest. The deep green steam generated by the Fourth Gate was still swirling around his body, and his muscles remained tense as he carefully scanned the surrounding forest. His ears perked up, while his perception was pushed to its absolute limit. There was a reason for his caution. Although Pakura’s voice had been hurried and strained just now, he was certain that he had heard the two words she shouted before the sand wall appeared.
“Shukaku!”
Combined with that thick sand wall carrying the unmistakable aura of Tailed Beast Chakra, there was only one conclusion that could be drawn. The Ichibi, Shukaku, or at least someone carrying a connection to its Chakra, had to be nearby!
“Has that old monk actually left his seclusion?”
The thought flashed through Guy’s mind, and his expression immediately became grim.
But it didn’t make sense.
The current Jinchuriki of the One-Tail should still be the elderly monk Bunpuku, a deeply religious man who had spent much of his life being confined and feared by Sunagakure because of the beast sealed within him. According to everything Guy knew from the original course of events, Bunpuku was supposed to remain the Ichibi’s vessel for some time yet. It was far too early for Shukaku to have been transferred to someone else.
Then why had Pakura called Shukaku for help?
And why had that sand carried such an unmistakable Tailed Beast Chakra?
Before Guy could organize his thoughts, Ebisu and Genma had already recovered from the sudden explosion. Seeing the dust settle and Pakura still lying within their range, they immediately prepared to attack again.
“Wait!”
Pakura hurriedly raised one hand.
Her expression was filled with urgency, and she forced herself to speak despite the intense pain spreading throughout her body. Because she spoke too quickly, she suddenly coughed and spat out another mouthful of bloody foam.
“That person… I really didn’t kill them!”
Ebisu didn’t believe her at all. His eyes behind his sunglasses were filled with anger as he pointed toward the direction of the Root corpse.
“The person was turned into a mummified corpse, and you still say you didn’t kill them?! Besides your Scorch Release, what other technique could do that to a person?!”
Pakura gasped for breath, every movement causing pain to spread through her injuries. Nevertheless, she forced herself to remain conscious and answered with difficulty, but her voice was unusually clear.
“It really wasn’t me!”
“You… look carefully at that person’s body. Where are the signs of burning?”
Those words caused Might Guy, Ebisu, and Genma to freeze simultaneously.
They looked toward the corpse.
Indeed.
Although the Root shinobi’s corpse was severely shriveled and dehydrated, the surface of the skin showed no obvious signs of scorching or carbonization. The body looked as though every drop of moisture had been drained away, leaving behind little more than skin stretched tightly over bone.
Someone struck by Pakura’s Scorch Release would normally display obvious signs of severe heat damage at the point of impact. Her Bloodline Limit, Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder, was infamous precisely because the scorching heat generated by her technique rapidly evaporated the moisture inside a living target. Victims could be reduced to dried, mummified corpses in moments, but the process still left unmistakable evidence of extreme thermal damage.
That was something many Konoha shinobi had learned through their own deaths on the battlefield of Mount Kikyo.
Guy and the others had personally witnessed the terrifying consequences of Pakura’s Scorch Release.
That was also why, when they first discovered the mummified Root corpse, they had felt that the appearance was strangely familiar without immediately concluding that Pakura was responsible. There was only one major similarity, the body had been dried out, while one major characteristic was missing, the obvious scorching that should have accompanied Pakura’s technique.
It was only after Pakura herself appeared in such a weakened state that their minds had subconsciously connected the two.
Now, after her reminder, the three carefully recalled the corpse.
They realized that they might really have accused the wrong person.
But even if that was true, so what?
Pakura was still a Sunagakure shinobi.
She was still an enemy of Konoha.
At Mount Kikyo, she had killed countless Konoha shinobi and had nearly killed Guy, Ebisu, Genma, and Sarutobi Sosuke. The two sides had fought on opposite sides of a bloody battlefield, and countless lives had already been lost between them.
Even if Pakura hadn’t killed the Root shinobi, she was still their enemy.
That fact had not changed.
Pakura clearly understood this as well.
Seeing the cold expressions on Guy, Ebisu, and Genma’s faces and their ready-to-strike postures, she immediately continued speaking, her voice carrying obvious urgency.
“I… I’m being pursued!”
“The ones hunting me are from the Hidden Mist!”
“That shinobi… was most likely killed by someone from the Hidden Mist!”
“Let me leave now. I don’t want to… involve you!”
The moment those words were spoken, the expressions of Guy, Ebisu, and Genma changed simultaneously.
Ebisu and Genma were stunned for a moment.
Then extremely strange expressions appeared on their faces.
An Elite Jonin of Sunagakure, one of Konoha’s enemies, was standing in front of them and actually saying that she didn’t want to involve them?
It was absurd.
It was almost ridiculous.
Might Guy, however, suddenly became exceptionally serious.
Pakura was being pursued by the Hidden Mist?
That’s right!
According to the timeline he knew, this was roughly the period surrounding Pakura’s death.
In the original history, Pakura had been sent to the Hidden Mist Village under the guise of serving as a peace envoy. The mission appeared to be an attempt at reconciliation between Sunagakure and Kirigakure, but it was actually part of a conspiracy involving Sunagakure’s higher-ups and the Hidden Mist.
Pakura, a hero of Sunagakure and a powerful user of Scorch Release, was ultimately betrayed and killed.
Her death was then manipulated to deepen Sunagakure’s hatred toward Iwagakure.
It was a vicious political scheme.
By creating the impression that Iwagakure had assassinated one of Sunagakure’s greatest battlefield heroes, the conspirators could intensify the conflict between the two villages and strengthen Sunagakure’s commitment to the war.
Guy had always considered such a decision extremely foolish.
Why would a village willingly sacrifice one of its own strongest shinobi simply to manufacture hatred toward another enemy?
Yet the man responsible for Sunagakure’s policies at that time, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, had indeed allowed the tragedy to happen.
And in the original course of events, it had succeeded.
Pakura died.
Sunagakure became even more hostile toward Iwagakure.
The war continued.
But now…
Pakura wasn’t dead.
She was alive.
She had somehow escaped the Hidden Mist’s pursuit and had appeared near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
Why?
How?
What had changed?
Guy’s mind began turning rapidly.
He thought back to the sand wall that had suddenly appeared in front of Pakura.
He remembered the enormous Chakra contained within it.
He remembered the strange moment when Ebisu’s Rope Binding Seal had suddenly failed.
He remembered Pakura’s words about being pursued by the Hidden Mist.
And most importantly, he remembered the fact that his own perception had detected no obvious enemy Chakra in the immediate surroundings.
If there was no hidden ally nearby, then who had produced that sand?
Guy’s pupils gradually narrowed.
An unbelievable possibility slowly began forming in his mind.
“Pakura…”
His heart skipped a beat.
“Could she have become the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, Shukaku?!”
The corner of Guy’s mouth twitched.
Even he felt that the thought sounded absurd.
The current Ichibi Jinchuriki was supposed to be Bunpuku.
The old monk was a powerful and unusual Jinchuriki who had managed to coexist with Shukaku to an extent that most people would have considered impossible. His beliefs and personality had allowed him to maintain a relatively stable relationship with the Tailed Beast despite the hatred and fear that surrounded both of them.
He should still have several years before the events that eventually led to the next major transfer of Shukaku’s vessel.
Later, when Rasa’s wife, Karura, became pregnant, Sunagakure would attempt to create what it considered a perfect Jinchuriki. During Karura’s pregnancy, Shukaku would eventually be transferred into her unborn child, leading to the birth of Gaara.
That was the history Guy knew.
Karura would die during childbirth.
Gaara would be born as the next Jinchuriki of the Ichibi.
That was the established course of events.
But Pakura becoming a Jinchuriki?
That had never happened in the original history.
Not even once.
So why was Guy thinking about it now?
Because there was no other explanation that fit all the evidence before him.
That sand wall couldn’t be fake.
The Chakra contained within it had been too powerful and too distinctive.
Guy had fought against Tailed Beast Chakra before. He had experienced the terrifying pressure produced by the Four-Tails during the battle in the Land of Rice Fields, and he had seen firsthand how fundamentally different the Chakra of a Tailed Beast was from the Chakra of an ordinary shinobi.
The sand wall had carried that same kind of oppressive aura.
Cold.
Massive.
Wild.
Yet strangely controlled.
It wasn’t ordinary sand manipulation.
There was something else inside it.
Something ancient.
Something that felt almost alive.
Then there was Pakura herself.
Her clothes were torn and stained with blood, but when Guy observed her carefully, he noticed something strange.
There were surprisingly few serious wounds beneath the damaged clothing.
She was clearly exhausted.
Her Chakra had been heavily depleted.
She had suffered injuries.
But her body had recovered from wounds that should have left an ordinary shinobi in a far worse condition.
If she had somehow become the vessel of a Tailed Beast, then that extraordinary recovery could be explained.
A Jinchuriki possessed access to the enormous Chakra of the Tailed Beast sealed within them, and depending on their compatibility with the beast and the degree of control they possessed, that Chakra could dramatically enhance their endurance and recovery.
It could also explain how Pakura had managed to survive the Hidden Mist’s pursuit.
It could explain how she had endured such severe injuries and still managed to escape.
And it could explain the sand wall.
Most importantly, it could explain why her strength had suddenly risen to such a terrifying level despite her exhausted condition.
“Could it be… because of the Calamity-Crossing Blade?”
Guy couldn’t help but think of another possibility.
The Calamity-Crossing Blade.
That strike had been far more significant than merely injuring Pakura.
Its true effect had been psychological.
It had cut through the mental barrier that had trapped her.
It had shattered the rigid foundation of her former path and forced her to confront the contradictions within her own beliefs.
That battle had allowed her to break through the psychological restraints that had held her back for years and begin walking a different path.
Her new understanding of the Ninja Way had also strangely resonated with the mindset of the old monk Bunpuku.
Could that coincidence have produced an unexpected chain reaction?
Could Pakura’s encounter with Guy have changed something that was supposed to remain unchanged?
Could Bunpuku’s connection with Shukaku have somehow become involved?
Could the circumstances surrounding Pakura’s pursuit by the Hidden Mist have resulted in Shukaku being transferred into her body earlier than it should have been?
Guy couldn’t prove any of it.
In fact, the entire deduction sounded ridiculous even to him.
Yet the more he examined the evidence, the more difficult it became to dismiss.
The sand wall was real.
The Tailed Beast Chakra was real.
Pakura’s sudden recovery was real.
Her survival was real.
And the timeline had already begun changing because of the things he had done.
The events at Mount Kikyo had changed.
The events in the Land of Waves had changed.
The battle in the Land of Rice Fields had changed.
The death of Roshi’s disciple had changed the movements of Iwagakure.
Even Ōnoki’s injuries had changed the balance of the battlefield.
Guy had long since understood that his presence in this world had become a variable.
He was no longer merely watching the original story unfold.
He was changing it.
And now…
Perhaps Pakura was another consequence.
But once this possibility appeared in Guy’s mind, another question immediately followed.
Who exactly was pursuing Pakura?
Who could force a Sunagakure Elite Jonin with Scorch Release into such a desperate situation?
Who could injure her to this degree?
And who had killed the Root shinobi?
Guy’s gaze slowly moved toward the mummified corpse.
The body was covered in multiple wounds.
There were clear signs of sharp weapons having struck it.
Yet the corpse itself had been dried out in a manner that resembled the aftermath of Scorch Release.
If Pakura hadn’t done it, then who had?
Guy’s eyes narrowed.
There was another weapon in the Ninja World capable of producing a very different kind of Chakra absorption.
A weapon whose reputation had already spread across the great shinobi nations.
A weapon belonging to one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Samehada.
The Greatsword Samehada.
A living blade that devoured Chakra.
A monstrous weapon capable of consuming the Chakra of its opponents and even absorbing enormous quantities of Chakra from powerful targets.
Guy’s expression became increasingly solemn.
“If it’s really Samehada…”
Then the enemy pursuing Pakura was not some ordinary Hidden Mist squad.
It could be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
And if one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was involved…
Then this situation was far more dangerous than he had initially imagined.
Guy slowly clenched his fists.
The green steam around his body continued to rise.
Ebisu and Genma noticed the change in his expression and immediately became serious as well.
Neither of them knew what Guy had just realized.
But they trusted him.
They knew that whenever Guy showed this expression, he had discovered something important.
“Guy?”
Genma asked quietly.
Guy didn’t answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed on the direction from which Pakura had emerged.
Somewhere beyond that forest, the Hidden Mist pursuers could still be moving.
And if his guess was correct, then the person coming after Pakura might be an enemy far more terrifying than the Root shinobi they had discovered.
Guy slowly exhaled.
The situation had become much more complicated.
Originally, they had only intended to travel to the Land of Rivers.
Then they discovered the corpse of a Root shinobi.
Then Pakura appeared.
Now Shukaku’s Chakra had surfaced.
And the Hidden Mist was apparently pursuing a Sunagakure Elite Jonin through the border region.
Every clue was connecting to another clue.
Every answer seemed to create an even greater question.
Guy looked at Pakura again.
For the first time since the encounter began, he didn’t immediately regard her as merely an enemy.
She was still a Sunagakure shinobi.
She was still someone who had once fought against Konoha.
But she might also be the key to uncovering what was happening in the Land of Rain and why the Hidden Mist had suddenly become involved.
More importantly, if she really had become connected to Shukaku…
Then the future of the Ichibi had already begun deviating from the path Guy remembered.
He couldn’t ignore that.
But he also couldn’t recklessly charge into the unknown.
The situation was changing too quickly.
Guy’s gaze hardened.
“First, we need to figure out exactly who is pursuing her.”
Only after identifying the enemy could they decide what to do next.
And somewhere deep within the forest, faintly carried by the wind, there suddenly came the sound of approaching footsteps.
Guy’s expression changed.
Ebisu and Genma immediately tightened their grips on their weapons.
Pakura also raised her head sharply.
Her pale face became even more serious.
The three Konoha shinobi exchanged a glance.
This time, no one needed to say anything.
Someone was coming.
And judging from Pakura’s reaction…
It was very likely the people who had been chasing her.
The pursuit from the Hidden Mist had arrived!