After mocking Scorpion, the Third Kazekage decided to end the fight once and for all.
Gathering the last of his chakra, he unleashed every ounce of his power. Iron sand surged through the air like a storm, forming countless spears around the barrier.
"Go to hell!" he roared, raising his hand for the finishing strike—
But before the attack could land, his expression twisted.
The Kazekage's entire body trembled violently. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his jutsu collapsed.
The swirling storm of iron sand fell apart instantly, scattering into dust.
Even the Iron Sand Realm itself broke apart like shattered glass.
Lock, still suspended midair and skewered by an iron spear, crashed to the ground. The sand and iron that pierced him disintegrated into harmless dust.
"What the—?"
He blinked, stunned. The crushing magnetic pressure around him had vanished.
The Kazekage's chakra—gone.
Lock immediately realized what had happened. Without the Kazekage's chakra sustaining it, the iron sand lost all cohesion. The remnants embedded in his body stung, but his paralysis faded. His fingers twitched. He could move again.
"The Third Kazekage's chakra just vanished…?"
He pressed a hand against his bleeding abdomen, grimacing. He didn't know what caused it, but something had clearly gone wrong — fatally wrong — for the Kazekage.
Then his gaze shifted to Scorpion.
"…Was it you?"
Scorpion didn't answer immediately. Instead, he tilted his head, smiling faintly as the dying Kazekage struggled to rise.
"You… poisoned me?" the Kazekage rasped, blood dripping from his lips. His voice was weak but full of fury. "How… how could you? When did you—?"
Even poisoned and on his knees, his presence was formidable. But his chakra was gone, and his body no longer obeyed him.
Scorpion's smirk widened. "How? You think I'd tell you? Let's just say your guards weren't as careful as you thought. I've been preparing this for a long time, Kazekage-sama. Your organs are already rotting from the inside. There's no antidote."
The Kazekage's eyes widened in shock, his pale face turning an ugly shade of purple.
"...So it was you… all along…"
Scorpion chuckled softly. "Since the day you led that mission to hunt down that 'monster,' you were already mine. I poisoned you then, in small doses, slow and patient. I waited for the right moment. Today, I simply finished the job."
The Kazekage's voice was hoarse with rage. "You fool! You have no idea what you've done. The ninja world is already on edge — another war is coming! Without a Kazekage, the village will fall into chaos! You'll doom us all!"
Scorpion's expression darkened, his smile fading into something cold and twisted.
"You think the village matters to me?" he spat. "Because of you, my parents died! You talk about duty and glory, but you're just a hypocrite! Even if the entire village burns… what does it have to do with me?"
The words hit harder than any jutsu.
The Third Kazekage's hands trembled as he pointed at Scorpion, fury and disbelief etched across his face.
"You… ungrateful… monster…"
His voice broke. Blood spilled again from his lips.
With a final, strangled breath, the strongest Kazekage in Sand's history collapsed to the ground — lifeless, his eyes still open in disbelief.
The last remnants of iron sand clattered uselessly to the earth.
Lock staggered to his feet, the crushing magnetic field gone. The weight lifted from his body, and for the first time in what felt like hours, he could breathe freely.
The Third Kazekage — one of the Five Kage of the Great Nations — had fallen here, in an empty wasteland, betrayed and killed by one of his own shinobi.
Lock exhaled slowly, staring at the corpse.
Even as an enemy, the man's power had been awe-inspiring.
"If not for Scorpion," he muttered under his breath, "it might've been me lying there."
Scorpion walked toward the fallen Kazekage, his expression calm once more. He took out a sealing scroll, pressed it against the body, and sealed it with practiced ease.
Then he turned toward Lock, a faint smirk on his face.
"You should be grateful. If it weren't for me, you'd be the one dead."
Lock's eyes narrowed. Despite his exhaustion, a chill crept down his spine. Scorpion's tone was calm — too calm — but there was something hollow in it. Ruthless.
For all his youth, Scorpion was colder than any veteran assassin Lock had met.
Clutching his abdomen, Lock took a cautious step back.
He had no intention of sticking around any longer. With a flick of chakra, he readied his escape technique.
This place reeked of death — and he wasn't planning to be the next corpse added to it.
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