Out in the endless dunes of the Land of Wind, a convoy of over a hundred people crawled across the sand. A lone figure crouched behind a dune, watching.
"That soul flame is massive," Taiichi muttered, eyes glowing faint blue with Soul Vision. "And that ring of crimson around it? That's the One-Tail for sure."
It had been over six months since he last crossed paths with the Two-Tails jinchuriki. In that time his strength had exploded. He could probably beat two versions of his old self without breaking a sweat—better body stats, stronger nature transformations, and Flying Thunder God completely mastered.
Now he had the power to actually trade blows with a tailed beast. The sight of the convoy made his blood sing.
Too bad it wasn't just the jinchuriki out there.
He zeroed in on the biggest soul flame besides the One-Tail's—the one radiating a strange, non-elemental signature. Rasa. Of course the Fourth Kazekage was personally escorting his village's ultimate weapon. If the beast went berserk, only Magnet Release could rein it in.
Fifteen more jonin-level souls surrounded the formation like a living fortress. Too many. Taiichi wasn't suicidal. One wrong move and he'd end up buried in gold sand.
He stared at the convoy, frustration itching under his skin. Was he really going to let this golden opportunity slip?
Then it hit him—he still had Minato's Flying Thunder God kunai from their last swap.
He closed his eyes and searched through the web of markers he'd planted across the entire country. After nearly a minute he locked onto the one moving with Minato and vanished.
Back at the convoy, the Sand sensor ninja immediately noticed. "Lord Kazekage, the probe vanished. Completely gone."
Rasa smirked. "That's Matsushita Taiichi. He didn't even try anything—just left. Probably went to fetch help." He wasn't worried. This was his desert. Even if Taiichi brought Namikaze Minato, he still held the home-field advantage.
"Keep your sensing wide. The moment he comes back, I want to know."
Taiichi reappeared at the edge of a small oasis market—only to nearly get skewered by a kunai.
He blocked on instinct. "Minato-sensei, it's me!"
Minato's cold expression melted into his usual sunny grin. "Taiichi? You scared the hell out of me. Thought I'd been made." His eyes flicked toward a small supply team he'd been tailing.
"Sorry," Taiichi said quickly. "I found the One-Tail jinchuriki. Sand's moving him toward the front right now. Rasa's there in person with fifteen jonin and a whole army of chunin. I can't hit them alone."
He gave Minato the quick rundown. Minato's face went through several emotions before settling on reluctant amusement.
"You really think the two of us can take that?" he asked. "That's basically suicide."
Taiichi grinned. "We're not trying to wipe them out. We just need to poke the jinchuriki hard enough that he loses control. One unstable tailed beast rampage and Sand's whole operation falls apart. Win-win."
Minato's eyes lit up. "Yeah… that could work. And with Flying Thunder God we can pull out the second things go south."
They slapped hands.
Taiichi teleported back to his forward marker first. Minato followed a minute later.
Ten minutes of hard running brought the massive convoy into view. The moment they got close, Minato spoke.
"We've been made. Sand's got a damn good sensor."
Taiichi blinked. His own sensing hadn't picked up anything. "How the hell did you notice that fast?"
Minato scratched the back of his head, looking almost embarrassed. "Natural talent. It just… happens."
Taiichi could only stare. Cheater.
He dropped all subtlety and flooded the convoy with full-powered sensing. Multiple jonin immediately reacted to the blatant probe.
Rasa's voice carried across the dunes. "He's not even hiding anymore. Prepare for contact."
The Sand formation tightened instantly. Gold sand began drifting into the air in thin, almost invisible layers—Rasa prepping his battlefield.
Taiichi and Minato exchanged a look.
"We can't just sit here," Taiichi said. "They're setting up some kind of sand trap. If we wait too long we're screwed."
Minato nodded. "One probing attack. If it doesn't work, we bail and report to Jiraiya."
"Together?"
"Together."
They charged.
Minato launched eight kunai in a wide arc—ordinary ones meant to draw attention. Rasa reacted exactly as expected, pulling a massive gold-sand shield out of the ground.
Taiichi was already moving. He slammed through hand seals and exhaled a roaring golden inferno.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation.
The blazing wave slammed into the sand shield, melting huge sections of it into liquid gold that rained down. At the same instant Minato hurled eight marked Flying Thunder God kunai.
Rasa's eyes widened. "Destroy those kunai—!"
Too late.
Minato vanished in a yellow blur. Eight flashes. Eight Sand chunin dropped dead before anyone could react. By the time the survivors turned, Minato was already back at Taiichi's side, kunai gone.
Taiichi tried to push forward but got hammered by a literal rain of gold sand. He looked up and cursed.
Rasa hovered on an inverted pyramid of gold sand, face grim. Below him, four jonin led waves of chunin in a coordinated counterattack—close-range fighters pressing in while long-range ninjutsu rained from above. Rasa himself kept launching wide-area gold-sand waves that forced Taiichi to keep dodging.
"Son of a bitch," Taiichi growled, creating two shadow clones to split the fire. "I've never fought a fight this goddamn annoying."
He formed seals again, launching a golden Fire Dragon Flame Bullet straight at the formation. Rasa answered with another massive gold wall. The Sand jonin on top of it blasted the dragon apart with combined Wind Style.
Taiichi burst through the smoke anyway, short sword flashing, and forced the jonin back with three blazing sword arcs.
He never got the chance to press further. Another barrage of ninjutsu forced him to teleport out.
Thirty meters away he reappeared. Minato landed beside him a second later.
"You hit?" Minato asked, eyeing the cuts across Taiichi's clothes.
Taiichi glanced down. The wounds were already gone thanks to his Fire Body technique—just looked messy. "I'm fine."
He stared at the convoy one last time—Rasa floating above it like some golden god, the entire formation locked down tight.
"They came way too prepared," he admitted. "We're not breaking through this."
Minato nodded. "Yeah. Time to pull back and tell Jiraiya what we found."
Taiichi gave the distant figure of the Fourth Kazekage one final glare, then turned away.
For now, the One-Tail stayed in Sand's hands.