"Where is Gaara?"
A single sentence.
The calm but heavy voice instantly made Baki feel his hair stand on end.
Even his legs couldn't help but tremble.
He had experienced countless battles of varying scales, yet in front of this man, he was trembling!
One could imagine how terrifying the other party was.
To make him involuntarily shake merely from their aura and a single sentence.
This man's target was Gaara.
A Tailed Beast?
Their goal was the Tailed Beast.
This was bad!
Baki's face turned extremely grim. A ninja of such caliber invading Sunagakure.
And if Gaara was their target, this was exceedingly dire.
Absolutely... he couldn't reveal Gaara's whereabouts to this person.
There was only one chance!
If he wanted to counterattack, he had to ensure success in one move.
He needed to guarantee that his strike would take down the opponent; otherwise... he would be the one to die.
"Not talking?"
"Fine... we'll find him eventually. As long as he's in Sunagakure, Gaara... can't escape!"
We?
Baki's pupils shrank again. It wasn't just one person; he had companions.
Damn, this made the situation even worse.
It was highly possible that Gaara had already been located.
He had to think of a way to deal with this guy immediately and then rush to Gaara's side as fast as possible.
He couldn't let anything happen to Gaara.
Sasuke's eyes glowed red, the three tomoe in his Sharingan spinning slowly.
With the Kusanagi sword pressed against his throat, Baki swallowed silently.
"I can tell you where Gaara is!"
"But you must promise not to kill me!"
Sasuke eased the Kusanagi sword slightly and said calmly, "Don't worry. As long as you tell me, I won't..."
Swish!
In an instant, Baki turned and stabbed a kunai directly at Sasuke's heart. A dull thud resounded as Sasuke's body was flung backward, hitting the ground hard.
Baki didn't even stop to check on Sasuke's condition. He turned and vanished into the yellow sand, quickly heading in Gaara's direction while suppressing his presence.
After passing through half of Sunagakure, Baki stopped in front of a building and dashed inside.
The next second, Sasuke appeared there as well.
He looked at the seemingly ordinary building in front of him.
"A barrier?"
"No wonder I couldn't sense Gaara's chakra!"
Upon entering Sunagakure, Sasuke had used his sensory technique, but he couldn't detect Gaara's chakra, which puzzled him.
Now he understood why.
The barrier had blocked Sasuke's search. No wonder he couldn't sense Gaara's location.
Looking at the barrier before him, Sasuke thought it would be too easy for him to enter silently.
After forming a few hand seals, Sasuke stepped into the barrier without triggering any alarms.
Once inside, Sasuke headed upstairs.
At that moment, in a large, spacious room upstairs.
Gaara was training but looked up when Baki burst in through the door.
He was about to ask what had happened to make Baki so agitated.
But in the next second, Baki looked at him as if he had seen a horrifying scene.
He immediately formed hand seals and launched an attack at Gaara.
Something was wrong... he was under genjutsu!
Gaara controlled sand to block Baki's attacks while trying to restrain him to break the genjutsu.
For someone to cast genjutsu on Baki without him realizing it, the caster had to be incredibly skilled.
Sasuke had already heard the commotion upstairs.
Genjutsu was peculiar like that. The easiest time to detect it was at the very beginning.
Once caught in genjutsu for a prolonged period, the victim would sink deeper into it.
Baki was in this exact state now.
Using his Sharingan, Sasuke easily cast genjutsu on Baki.
And led him straight to Gaara's location.
'It seems that even Jonin, let alone elite ones, find it hard to break my genjutsu.'
Sasuke smirked.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud crash erupted as a violent gale tore through the sand.
Baki's eyes were bloodshot. "Let go of Gaara..."
In his vision, Gaara appeared as a man in black like Sasuke, gravely injured and held by the enemy.
This enraged Baki.
But in reality, Gaara was defending against Baki's attacks, trying to incapacitate him without causing harm.
Gaara's idea was good, but with Baki in a rage, it was almost impossible to free him from genjutsu without injury.
Reluctantly, Gaara used the Sand Binding Coffin to restrain Baki.
Once Baki was restrained, Gaara quickly used chakra to break his genjutsu.
When Baki regained his senses, he saw Gaara unharmed.
Baki was stunned. What... had just happened?
"Genjutsu? I was under genjutsu?"
Recalling everything that had just happened, Baki realized how absurd it all was. Such terrifying speed.
The opponent's strength was overwhelmingly unreasonable.
...
But now he understood it had all been an illusion.
Sasuke, who had just arrived at the door, sensed the genjutsu dissipate. He didn't hide anymore.
He stepped forward.
His shoes, still sandy, scraped audibly against the floor.
"So here you are... I've finally found you... Jinchūriki of the One-Tail, Gaara!"
Sasuke's voice echoed.
Baki felt utterly humiliated. He had led the enemy straight to Gaara.
A supposed elite Jonin of Sunagakure had been duped so thoroughly by genjutsu.
It was unforgivable!
"Gaara, you go first. I'll deal with him!"
Hearing this, Gaara frowned, not at Baki's words but at Sasuke's.
That voice was familiar too familiar. He felt he had heard it somewhere before but couldn't recall immediately.
"You..."
"Who are you?"
"I feel like I've met you before!"
Baki was momentarily stunned. Gaara had met this enemy before?
How could that be?
Swish!!
Sasuke removed his hat. "Of course, we've met. During the Chūnin Exams, didn't we just fight? Gaara of the Sand!"
"Sasuke... Uchiha!!!"
Both Baki and Gaara exclaimed simultaneously.
The rogue ninja of Konoha, a renowned prodigy whose strength now rivaled the Legendary Sannin.
Why was someone like him here in Sunagakure? What was his purpose?
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 30 advanced chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Leanzin