Suspicious Message Delivery

"With Akatsuki on the loose, we should go back to the village quickly."

After Orochimaru's news, Sato decided to go back home. Normally he would worry about Yugito, but everyone in the ninja world thought Sato was the new two-tail jinchuriki.

Hidden Cloud didn't confirm nor deny this rumor. They did this so they could keep it a secret that they have three jinchuriki in total.

If Akatsuki wants the two tails, their target should be Sato.

"But before we return to our village, I will destroy this lab. Everything that guy has built must be destroyed."

Sato smiled gently and said the most heartless words. This is what he usually did during these three years: just destroy whatever Orochimaru built.

Anko agreed with Sato, but then she looked closely at the lab, which was hidden by natural rock formations.

"Raikage sama, destroying this place would be difficult. The whole mountain is a lab; maybe the underground has a lab too."

"I don't have a jutsu powerful enough to do this. Do you want to use your railgun and blow everything up?"

Anko asked while flipping her hair back. Railgun was Sato's strongest jutsu, as far as Anko was concerned.

"No, railguns do concentrated damage. We need something powerful that does area-wide damage."

"And I have just the thing."

Sato smiled, he gestured for Anko to stay back, and he took a tiger stance.

"You never saw me transform after I reached my full growth. Allow me to demonstrate."

"What a full-grown tailed beast looks like!"

GROWL

Sato's throat let out a deep roar. Blue fire erupted from his body, which twisted into a cat-shaped monster.

This monster grew as big as a mountain before it stabilized and became a beast, resembling a flaming saber-tooth tiger.

"The complete two tails! Sato sama, you are no longer a kitten!"

Anko gasped, Sato rarely transformed inside the village. All his training was done on the turtle island.

This was the first time Anko saw Sato's full-beast transformation after his body had reached its maximum size.

"Cool, isn't it? I had to train hard before I mastered my new body."

"But now that I have fully mastered my new form, I have just the attack for this job."

Sato spoke in a deep voice. His two-tailed beast form was identical to Matatabi, except his voice was that of a man and deep, compared to Matatabi's soft feminine voice.

"Anko, stand back a little further."

"It's time for a tailed beast bomb!"

Sato opened his mouth, and a black chakra ball started to appear. This chakra ball was full of destructive energy; it was a tailed beast's strongest jutsu.

Rasengan, which was Naurto's main jutsu in the show, was a mere copy of this attack.

'And now it's fully charged! My tailed beast bomb is ready.'

'Go ahead and show your strength!'

Whoosh

Sato released the tailed beast bomb, which quickly flew towards the cave.

Within the next few seconds, the whole area turned pure white, and heat so intense appeared that the earth started to melt.

BOOOOM

The loud noise came right after. A shockwave swiftly spread out from this area, which scared nearby villages and caused many houses to shatter.

"This is intense!"

Anko screamed in excitement as she held onto a tree while strong winds blew past her. She didn't get the chance to show her power this time, but the truth is that she was pretty strong as well.

Anko wasn't blown away by Sato's shockwave; this alone proved her growth in power.

"You didn't stay back, Anko. I told you to stay back a bit more."

After his attack was done, Sato looked back and frowned. Anko had gotten a bit reckless these days.

Although she had a good reason behind her recklessness.

"Raikage sama, I can be reckless if I want. Our cloud village has stolen many of Orochimaru's jutsus throughout the years."

"I know almost all of his jutsus. My ability to survive is almost on the same level as Orochimaru now."

Anko grinned. Throughout the years, hidden clouds have found many of Orochimaru's invented jutsus, while

looting his labs.

And Anko learned them one by one. She was a summoner of snakes as well, so it was easy for her to learn these jutsus.

She was pretty much a lite version of Orochimaru. At least in the matter of survivability.

"I know you are a powerful Elite Jonin. But I am beyond a kage."

"You should be careful around me. I might accidentally evaporate you someday."

Sato warned Anko again, but he knew it wouldn't have much effect. Anko liked to stay close to him, no matter the danger.

"Hehe, I know."

"Wait. Someone is coming."

Anko suddenly stopped smiling and looked east. The grasses on the eastern side moved a bit, and a man carefully emerged from the trees.

"Raikage sama, I have an urgent message from the village."

The man bowed to Sato and spoke hurriedly. Sato was taken aback by the sudden messenger, but he allowed him to speak.

"Sure, tell me what happened."

Sato folded his hands and asked, and the messenger took out a scroll and opened it.

"Hidden Sand Village was attacked by Akatsuki, and their Kazekage was captured."

"Sand daimyo's castle was also attacked. The sand daimyo is very angry; he wants help from hidden Cloud and Leaf village."

The messenger gulped, and he was also reading it for the first time.

"The sand daimyo has asked Sato sama's help in particular. You have a great reputation in the world, Raikage Sama."

"You also have a good relationship with the Kagekage family. This is a good chance to make a close connections with hidden sand."

The messenger turned a bit pale when he read the last line.

"That's why Cloud Daimyo and the village council have agreed to this demand."

"The village hopes that you will go and rescue the Kazekage Gaara, and have a meeting with the sand daimyo after that."

The messenger fearfully kept the scroll back. And the reason for his constant fear was Sato's ever-increasing aura.

But when he looked up, he saw a small smile on Sato's face; his eyes were glowing brightly too.

"Sand daimyo's castle was attacked, huh? And they personally asked me to go help the Kazekage."

"I have no choice. I guess I must go then. Especially if Konoha is coming too."

Sato agreed, and the messenger breathed a sigh of relief. Although that constant smile on Raikage Sama's face was a bit scary.

"Messenger, tell the village that Akatsuki is hunting for tailed beasts."

"I wanted to go back, but this mission seems somewhat important."

Sato chuckled and waved the messenger away. After the messenger left, Anko asked Sato.

"Why are you smiling like that? I know you smile like that when there is something wrong."

"Does this mission have a problem?"

Sato heard this and didn't comment for a while. Then he shook his head and said.

"I am not sure. On paper, everything looks right. But I think the invitation is too coincidental."

"I have a feeling that someone is trying to lure me away."

Sato folded his hands and raised two fingers.

"There is a 50% chance this mission is a trap. And there is a 50% chance that it is a real mission."

"If it's a real mission, I have to go and represent my village."

"But if it's a trap, we need to be careful. Only an idiot would walk into a trap knowingly."

Sato thought for a while and decided to summon a crow. This was Itachi's crow.

poof

"Tell Itachi that there might be a trap waiting for me. If I send a signal, he should rush over immediately."

Poof

Sato sent away the crow after giving it his message. Now he was ready for the mission.

Time will tell if Sato was right or, if he was being oversensitive.