On the veranda of the tallest tree in Flower Ninja Village, Gaara lounged contentedly in the sunlight—his dark circles nearly vanished thanks to Tō's efforts. Although his tailed beast had been extracted, Gaara remained alive. It turned out that the Six Paths Sage mode's chakra separated the Tentails, and that the Sage transformation and the empty husk's residual life-force had preserved him.
Tō, exhausted, stepped onto the veranda. He grimly reported that Tobi had revealed the locations of both Rain Hidden and Flower Ninja Villages—the coming war was inevitable. With only seven of the nine tailed beasts captured, the Eighth and Ninth were too weakened to subdue. Preparations for a full-scale defense were underway, including the deployment of traps and ambush lines between the villages.
Seeing Tō slump into a chair, Gaara smiled wryly. "Are you worn out?"
Tō nodded, "We're up against the Five Great Nations. With only our two villages, we'd be wiped out. So we made full preparations—and we're still searching for Tobi. If we locate him… we might stand a chance. Pain and I have prepared for the worst."
Gaara's voice hardened: "I'll be on the frontline. The cold indifference in this world—after spending all that time in Flower Village—I understand now. That indifference breeds true evil."
Meanwhile, in the Land of Rice, Konoha's scout party, led by Kakashi and Might Guy, examined maps and saw no activity at the border. Kakashi didn't trust that Tō would wait passively—Tō was too strong, too confident. Guy was excited: they might face the Flower Village's renowned body-tech ninjas.
Just then, a thunderous explosion thundered behind them, followed by an arrogant voice: "So these are the ninjas who helped Flower Village? Daring…" A figure named Arashi emerged, flanked by shinobi from Flower Village. One of them summoned an iron ape beast and cried out, "Death Thunder Sword!"
A black lightning bolt crackled toward the allied forces, but Kakashi prepped a Chidori slash and severed it midair. Guy rushed to stop the enemy from sealing jutsu, warning Flower shinobi not to be deceived by Tō.
The Flower shinobi began a mass release of chakra, earth tremors, and explosive runes detonated across the field. Kakashi shouted for the Earth ninjas to respond, but the ground was booby‑trapped with explosive tags. Screams echoed as explosions ripped through the ranks. Kakashi unleashed more tactical ninjas via summoning.
However, the main foe, Re‑no‑Zan, never used chakra-based jutsu—only devastating taijutsu without chakra trace, making detection nearly impossible. Kakashi ordered the recon team to track him.
Then Kakashi faced Re‑no‑Zan head-on: Kakashi intercepts a killing strike with a kunai, but in the fog, Re‑no‑Zan vanishes again. Then Kakashi's Kunai gets blocked by an inhuman arm, and suddenly Re‑no‑Zan reappears, slashing Kakashi across the chest, though Kakashi's Kusanagi barely grazes him.
At the same time, Guy avoided an attack from the iron ape beast and countered. Kakashi lunged again, but though he prepared Chidori at Re‑no‑Zan's heart, the iron primate distracted him, making Guy slip on a hidden banana peel (lethal sabotage). The fog and chaos continued, with Kakashi determined to find and defeat this elusive, taijutsu-based threat.