The Sharingan could perceive things infused with chakra, but it wasn't omnipotent.
Its vision wasn't powerful enough to see microscopic organisms.
Take Torune Aburame's nano-sized poisonous insects, for example. They were completely invisible. Though controlled by their user, the insects themselves possessed virtually no chakra.
Could you really expect a single insect to possess both spiritual and physical energy, then mix them to refine chakra? Keep dreaming...
White Zetsu's Spore Technique was also exceptionally unique, behaving much like plant mycelium. It was invisible to the naked eye and, containing no chakra, it was impossible to sense.
This was how White Zetsu had been able to use the technique undetected at the Five Kage Summit, surrounded by numerous bodyguards and sensory ninja, and catch several of the Kage off guard—though, of course, it couldn't cause them any significant harm.
Uchiha Nagi was thoroughly disgusted by White Zetsu's little trick. No one enjoys having a human head sprout from their body. At night, it was as terrifying as any horror movie.
He quickly cleared the Zetsu heads from his body, but by then, the injured Sasori had already been whisked away, sneaking off to who knows where.
Uchiha Nagi frowned. This was the second time he had encountered White Zetsu. Its infiltration technique was highly unusual. His Mangekyo had already analyzed and copied it, yet he couldn't replicate its ability to move through the earth as if swimming.
White Zetsu's cells came from the First Hokage, but its genetic makeup was different.
Based on his analysis, he would have to replace his entire body with White Zetsu cells to use that unique infiltration jutsu.
Otherwise, even if he were like Obito, with half his body replaced by Zetsu cells, he still wouldn't be able to swim through the earth.
But Uchiha Nagi wasn't bothered by this. It was no great loss that a person couldn't learn everything in the world. As long as one specialized in a single area and developed it to its peak, it wouldn't necessarily be inferior to anything else.
Take his gains from this encounter, for example. The greatest prize was Magnet Release. He had previously captured Shukaku and kept it by his side for the sole purpose of studying this ability. He hadn't expected to run into the Third Kazekage's puppet while gathering materials to forge a weapon. It was a truly unexpected windfall.
Compared to the arduous task of analyzing and deciphering the ability from Shukaku, it was clearly much easier to copy it from the Third Kazekage, who had once been human. Magnet Release was the biggest surprise of this trip.
"Electromagnetic force..." Uchiha Nagi sheathed his Nichirin Blade, scanned his surroundings, and began to walk out of the village.
The most valuable item at the scene, the Third Kazekage puppet, had been smashed to pieces. Although he had copied the puppetry technique, he didn't know how to repair it. Taking back a pile of junk was useless.
The people of Hoshigakure were all hiding and trembling in fear, likely terrified by the battle. No one dared to come out. He wondered if the young protagonist of this place would still meet Naruto in the future.
In a way, though, Uchiha Nagi had saved them. Why were all the ninja in Hoshigakure's future children? It was because their prolonged training with the Mysterious Peacock Method, absorbing the meteorite's energy, had killed them with radiation.
Now that he had taken the meteorite, those who were fated to die from radiation would have their destinies changed and survive. They might even have cause to thank him.
"So that's Sasori's true body?"
"Unexpected. I never thought Sasori's real body would be so small..."
Traveling through the earth, one White Zetsu was chatting with another. Rescuing Sasori had been a completely spontaneous decision.
After the White Zetsu that had been tailing Uchiha Nagi went missing, a new one had been dispatched to find him. By pure coincidence, just as it located Nagi, it saw him entering Hoshigakure and subsequently clashing with Sasori. The two had then engaged in a great battle.
The end result was that Sasori had been defeated and nearly killed. If it hadn't been nearby...
"You said that the technique he used to defeat Sasori at the end was the Flying Thunder God Technique, right?" White Zetsu #1 asked White Zetsu #66.
"Is that even a question? That kunai had a formula on it. Who in their right mind carves formulas onto kunai for no reason?" White Zetsu #66 replied.
"Could he really be Kakashi?"
"Are you stupid? He's obviously Uchiha Nagi. Kakashi is still in Konoha..."
"But only Minato Namikaze knew the Flying Thunder God Technique, and Kakashi was his student. Didn't Sasori also say he was Kakashi Hatake?"
"......."
"How do we save him? It looks like Sasori is about to die."
"Let's take him back and ask Obito. If Obito agrees, we can use that to save him..."
The "that" they were referring to was, of course, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. If the Demonic Statue could extend the life of a dying Madara, saving a near-death Sasori would certainly be no problem.
Sasori had lost this battle miserably...
The next morning, the group was walking on the road to the Land of Fire. Uchiha Nagi turned his head to Gaara.
"I'm letting you go. You can return to Sunagakure now."
Gaara was stunned. He was just letting him go?
Although he had been a prisoner these past few days, Uchiha Nagi hadn't restricted him in any way. In fact, without Shukaku constantly disturbing his sleep, the dark circles under his eyes had faded. Whenever Shukaku tried to keep him awake, Uchiha Nagi would enter his mind and teach the beast a lesson.
Each time, in the spiritual world, Shukaku would face those red eyes like a helpless lamb. After being disciplined a few times, Shukaku understood that it, just like that damn fox, was powerless against the Sharingan.
The Tailed Beasts could meet in the spiritual world. While they weren't exactly on friendly terms, they occasionally exchanged information. Shukaku had laughed for a long time when it heard that the Nine-Tails had been helplessly controlled by the Sharingan. It never imagined it would be its turn next.
After being taught a lesson a few times, Shukaku understood: as long as Gaara stayed with this Uchiha, it had to keep its tail tucked between its legs.
"Let me go back to Sunagakure?!"
"Yes, you can go back. I believe with your strength, an average jonin won't be able to harm you. Once you reach the border of the Land of Wind, the Suna-nin will find you and someone will escort you back."
"Why?"
"No reason."
Uchiha Nagi certainly wasn't going to tell Gaara that he had only been keeping him around to observe Shukaku and copy Magnet Release. Now that he had gotten the Magnet Release from the Third Kazekage puppet and had even copied the Tailed Beast Bomb, Gaara had no more value. Keeping him around was just a hassle.
"A word of advice: if you want to sleep well, you either need to become stronger than Shukaku—strong enough to suppress it—or, if you can't beat it, you should appease it. Just treat it like a house cat."
Uchiha Nagi smiled. He had experience with domestic pets. Besides, the Tailed Beasts were actually quite simple-minded. Compared to cunning and complicated humans, they were easy to trick. If you could coax them for a while and befriend them, you could become a perfect jinchuriki...
This was why more and more perfect jinchuriki appeared later on. The Fourth Mizukage, the Eight-Tails, the Two-Tails—that was already three perfect jinchuriki.
The three of them slowly walked away, leaving a bewildered Gaara behind. After a long moment, Gaara picked up the bundle Uchiha Nagi had left for him and began to walk toward the Land of Wind. This was the first time he had been outside the surveillance of Sunagakure, alone, without restraint, with no one following him...
"Do I really want to go back to Sunagakure?" Gaara murmured to himself. He didn't yet know what freedom was, but during this time, he had certainly felt what it was like.
The way he felt in Sunagakure was just like Shukaku being trapped in a cage. He also understood why the beast inside him had disturbed him for years, never letting him get a good night's sleep...
With a mind full of confusion, Gaara began his slow walk toward the Land of Wind. It would be a few days' journey back. He would walk slowly and take his time to think.
"Lord Hokage, mission complete."
"Thank you for your hard work..."
In the Hokage's office, Shibi Aburame and the medical team were reporting to the Third Hokage, detailing the mission's outcome and process.
After curing the plague in Sunagakure, they had returned to Konoha. The Third, ever the cunning old fox, had deliberately delayed their departure by a few days, resulting in heavy casualties among Sunagakure's high-ranking ninja.
However, this only applied to Sunagakure. Countries like the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning likely wouldn't be so easy to deal with. Unlike the impoverished Suna, their lands, while not as fertile as the Land of Fire's, were a hundred times better than the Land of Wind's.
The Land of Wind was mostly sand. They had to import all kinds of medicinal herbs, and they had pitifully few medical ninja. Their medical infrastructure was naturally incapable of handling a large-scale epidemic of nano-insects.
This was the reason Sunagakure had suffered such devastating losses when the plague broke out.
After Shibi Aburame finished his report, Sarutobi nodded and dismissed them.
This mission to rescue Sunagakure had earned them a good reputation and weakened Suna's strength at the same time. It was a true win-win. As for the rogue ninja Uchiha Nagi, he didn't give him much thought. He was just one jonin. Even if his strength had increased and he had reached Kage-level, the idea of him attacking Konoha alone was a joke.
"Well, old friend, are you satisfied now? Sunagakure's jonin have suffered heavy casualties, and many of their chunin are dead as well. They probably won't recover from this for at least ten years," Sarutobi chuckled to himself.
"Hmph. If you hadn't sent the medical team to cure them, wouldn't it have been better to let Sunagakure be wiped off the map of the Five Great Nations?" Danzo slowly emerged from the shadows, his face as sour as ever.
He was still bitter about Sarutobi's decision to save Sunagakure. If he were Hokage, he would have sat back and watched Suna's destruction. Wouldn't it have been better to have them removed from the list of Great Nations? More importantly, they could have achieved it without starting a war.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had given up such a golden opportunity, merely weakening Sunagakure. The bastard. The thought of it kept him up at night.
"Alas, old friend, peace is hard-won. Once the balance of the five great villages is broken and something unexpected happens, war will come again. So, weakening Sunagakure is acceptable, but sitting by and watching it be destroyed is absolutely out of the question," Sarutobi sighed.
"Hmph. One day, you will regret this," Danzo sneered, then left the Hokage's office.
When he was younger, Sarutobi had delegated power to his fellow students of the Second Hokage in order to secure his position. As it turned out, taking that power back was not so easy.
Upon the impossibly high walls, a leaf symbol was imprinted. The streets below bustled with merchants from various countries and civilians coming to sell their wares.
From time to time, a few ninja would hurry through the main gate, but the surrounding civilians didn't show the same fear as they did in other places.
Although it was called a village, its population was comparable to a city's. In fact, it was the largest city in the Land of Fire. This was Konoha.
"Wow~ So this is Konoha Village? The walls are so high, and there are so many people! It's so lively!" Yukihime exclaimed with delight, looking around like a country grandma visiting the big city for the first time.
"Yes, this is Konoha," Uchiha Nagi said calmly.
Skill breeds confidence. This time, he had the Flying Thunder God technique, and with Konoha's talent pool so depleted, who could possibly stop him? Unless...
"Hey, wait a minute—"
A voice suddenly called out from behind Uchiha Nagi. He turned around, confused. He was using the Face-Erasing Appearance Technique.
This was Orochimaru's exclusive secret technique, the strongest disguise jutsu in the ninja world, one that had fooled the combined forces of Konoha and Sunagakure when he posed as the Kazekage. It was impossible for anyone to have discovered his identity.
When he turned, Uchiha Nagi froze. A guy with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, clad in a green jumpsuit, was leaning in, his face less than ten centimeters from Nagi's, staring at him with a frown.
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before?!"
Uchiha Nagi: "......."