Cresting a dune, the circular wall that ensconced Sunagakure came into view of the weary sand shinobi.

Chiyo breathed out a sigh of relief at finding the village unscathed.

Last night when she had looked into the creature’s eyes just before it had vanished, she had seen its pupils mutate into ones that resembled the tailed-beast’s.

Whatever that creature was, it had been conceited enough to take on a tailed-beast without a proper seal and had paid the ultimate price.

It wasn’t the creature she was worried about, it was the beast now occupying it.

Freed after centuries of subjugation, she believed that a disaster was imminent for the hidden sand.

Curse that perverted toad lover. If not for him, she would already be within the walls, participating in the efforts to shore up their defences before the inevitable attack.

She turned around to urge the rest of her squad only to find them gaping at the sky.

Following their gaze, she squinted against the sun to pick out a black dot in the upper air.

…

The perpetual sandstorms that acted like a natural barrier for the village slowly stilled as a dreadful pressure proliferated.

Tendrils of sand began to gather to the dot. They grew in number and thickness and soon it seemed as though they were in a forest of sand.

The dot grew until its shape became clear to her enhanced senses.

A cauldron. A tripod cauldron made of tens of tons of sand. A cauldron that enlarged every second.

No words were spoken and none were needed.

A golden shimmer covered the entirety of the village, dazzling under the noon sun. the fourth Kazekage had made his move.

Every capable shinobi released their strongest defensive techniques.

The sand ninja being mostly affined to wind, released a community technique that clad the entire village in swirling currents of air, blurring its outline from outside.

Yet, the cauldron grew as did its shadow, slowly covering more of the village with every passing moment.

Those under its cover shivered, some panicked and ran, some knelt and prayed while some found courage they didn’t know they had and helped others escape.

Yet, it grew. Slowly. Inexorably.

A hundred puppets suddenly emerged around the village walls and sped towards various positions.

Upon reaching them, they spread out their arms and legs in the form a star. Out of each appendage emerged a chakra string connecting them to their fellows.

Soon, the entire village was covered with a pentagonal grid with a puppet at each node.

Seals shone on each puppet’s chest, echoing with similar seals on the boundary wall, and a membrane of light filled in the grid, completing the barrier.

“Don’t underestimate us!” Chiyo screamed in challenge at the monster in human form.

Drawing confidence from her, the entirety of the sand shinobi rallied their morale. Screaming, they poured their chakra into the barriers.

“HUMPH!”

The entire desert seemed to tremble at the contemptuous interjection.

“THIS LIN GIVES YOU TWO OPPORTUNITIES. SURRENDER OR DIE!”

The sand responded with a fiercer war cry while Rasa shot a hail of golden bullets at him.

Smirking, Lin Feng just pointed at the protected village. The cauldron which was the size of a small hill by now began to descend.

Most of the golden bullets were blocked by the cauldron and the ones that did hit were twisted into pretzels by his spatial barrier.

The cauldron began to speed up, the friction with the air heating it and chipping away at the uneven edges.

The speeding cauldron smashed into the puppetry barrier. For a moment, it held, before, with a sound like glass breaking, the barrier shattered, destroying most of the puppets due to the backlash.

Next was the barrier of wind, which managed to slow it down a little.

With a low roar, the golden sand under Rasa’s command gathered into two gigantic arms that cradled the errant cauldron.

With a shockwave, that eradicated the community wind barrier, the two colossal techniques collided.

The sound of metal groaning reverberated throughout the village as the cauldron finally lost its momentum and integrity, collapsing into a pile of sand and trickling out of the seams of the distorted golden fingers.

Every sand shinobi cheered loudly and embraced each other as they revelled in the feeling of being a survivor of a disaster.

“IT WAS TRULY AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY. BUT, WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT THE SECOND ONE?”

Everyone froze mid-jubilation as the world darkened when Lin Feng teleported another cauldron he had been secretly making to the air above the village.

He stood on a floating patch of sand as he observed the reactions of the shinobi.

A few unable to control their trembling collapsed onto the ground. Some broke under the stress and began laughing hysterically. The leaders clenched their teeth and tried to minimize the losses.

Rasa howled defiantly and the golden palms merged into a larger fist that collided with the hurtling cauldron.

The ensuing screech of metal against stone ruptured the eardrums of those close at hand while those far away suffered from tinnitus.

All that was left of the area was a crater with a smoking, crumbling lump of sand, resting on the twisted and slightly molten remnants of the Kazekage’s arm of gold.

At the edge of the crater, lay the unconscious form of Rasa, uninjured except for a nasty concussion from overstraining his technique.

In a flash, Lin Feng was beside him, lifting him up by one arm.

“SURRENDER OR DEATH. YOUR LEADER HAS BEEN DEFEATED AND THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. IN THESE TUMULTOUS TIMES, YOU NEED MY STRENGTH FOR SELF PRESERVATION. SUBMIT AND ASCEND THE PEAK OR REFUSE AND EVERY MAN, WOMAN OR CHILD WILL LOSE THEIR LIVES. EITHER AT MY HAND OR AT THE HANDS OF YOUR ENEMIES.”

“CHOOSE.”

For a long moment silence reigned.

Then, Chiyo stepped forward, kneeling on both knees, back straight and head lowered in submission.

Soon, the rest of the ninja and civilians imitated her.

A soft choking sob broke the sombre silence and as if the floodgates had been opened, the skies of the village hidden in the sand reverberated with the lament of a fallen people.

A smile stretched Lin Feng’s lips. His hands twitched.

Now that he had a foothold, he felt an insatiable need to build it up into a fortress worthy of housing the hegemon of the Grand Architectural Sect.

His smile stretched wider.

He couldn’t wait.