While protecting Tsuchikuri's rear, Yōkō observed the battle between Konoha and the Suna-nin on the sea surface.
The ships anchored in the shallow waters were all burned, the wreckage of 12 vessels listing.
Some ships still bore the emblem of the Land of Wind's Daimyō.
Building a ship takes over half a year, but burning one only takes about half an hour.
The Daimyō of the Land of Wind would surely be furious. Sunagakure was too weak, unable to even protect the Daimyō's important property.
At the dock warehouses, Konoha shinobi had already broken in and were destroying the supplies from the inside.
The area around the warehouses, however, was somewhat deadlocked.
Two Suna-nin appeared beside Yōkō.
They noticed the Konoha shinobi before them looking around, sometimes even pausing sluggishly.
Their kunai repeatedly struck the Konoha shinobi's body, but he actually wore iron armor under his flak jacket, which the kunai couldn't penetrate.
Suna-nin A panted, saying: "Don't be afraid! All shinobi have weaknesses! This guy is just wearing iron armor, taking a cheap shot. I know his weakness!"
Suna-nin B quickly asked: "Where's the weakness! Tell me!"
Suna-nin A said: "This guy must eat, drink, piss, and shit, right? I don't believe he has armor plates on his ass too! Attack his most vulnerable spot!"
Suna-nin B's expression changed. Why hadn't he thought of such a brilliant method?
Suna-nin B circled behind Yōkō and, using A's distraction from the front, raised his kunai and fiercely stabbed towards Yōkō's posterior.
Yōkō was looking over Suna-nin A's shoulder, observing the distant battle, when he suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind him.
He turned his head and discovered the Suna-nin behind him was so despicable!
Are you a hyena? The director of Sunagakure's Proctology Hospital?
Yōkō clenched his buttocks, trapping Suna-nin B's kunai between them. Enraged and embarrassed, he turned around and punched Suna-nin B in the head.
Yōkō's fist gleamed with copper light, incredibly hard. The skull's hardness was no match for the Copper Light secret technique.
How despicable! Fight if you must, you could even kill me, but how could you attack a man's most delicate area?
Dirty bastards, would you be responsible if you gave me hemorrhoids?
Just as the situation was looking very favorable, a line of golden light appeared behind the dock.
As the line of golden light drew closer, it became visible as a wave of golden sand.
Yōkō was taken aback. It was an old acquaintance, the Third Kazekage's student, Rasa.
At the rear of the dock battlefield, Nara Rokaku saw the young Suna-nin standing with arms crossed atop the wave of gold dust.
Two people stepped forward beside him, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Nara Rokaku.
Nara Rokaku, Akimichi Yamashiro, Yamanaka Inson – the clan heads of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio – had serious expressions.
"Rokaku, who is that?"
Nara Rokaku said: "The Third Kazekage's student, a rising star of Sunagakure who masters the Magnet Release: Gold Dust secret technique, Rasa."
This generation's Ino–Shika–Chō clan heads walked forward together.
Their steps were in sync, their speed increasing.
Rasa's gold dust wave had already reached the dock warehouses. The Konoha shinobi outside the warehouses were quickly buried by the gold dust.
Pools of blood appeared within the gold dust – Konoha shinobi being crushed by it.
Akimichi Yamashiro's body suddenly enlarged, and the iron staff in his hand also grew due to the secret technique.
The dozens-of-meters-long iron staff swept horizontally, smashing into the gold dust wave.
Yōkō threw a kunai, killing a Suna-nin beside him, and looked up to watch the Akimichi clan head battle Rasa.
The dozens-of-meters-tall Akimichi giant was immensely powerful. Swinging his iron staff, he shattered the gold dust wave, instantly halting its advance.
Rasa himself stood on a mass of gold dust, hovering in mid-air.
He stared at Akimichi Yamashiro's feet and formed hand signs.
A large amount of gold dust surged from under Akimichi Yamashiro's feet, causing him to lose his footing and fall sideways.
A Suna-nin near Rasa suddenly jumped up and, like a spy, threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached at Rasa.
Rasa frowned slightly. This was the Yamanaka clan's secret technique.
Ino–Shika–Chō always fought in combination.
The gold dust churned, blocking the explosive-tag-tipped kunai.
However, the Suna-nin was completely controlled, his attacks incessant.
Rasa showed no mercy. A stream of gold dust shot out from the sand wave, engulfing the controlled Suna-nin.
Blood was squeezed and splattered. Rasa directly killed the Suna-nin controlled by the Yamanaka secret technique.
Seeing this, the surrounding Suna-nin hurriedly fled.
This level of combat was not something they could participate in.
Under the moonlight, a shadow on the ground rapidly elongated, stabbing towards Rasa's shadow.
Rasa manipulated the gold dust, swiftly evading the shadow on the ground. As a famous shinobi clan in the shinobi world, Ino–Shika–Chō's intelligence was nearly transparent.
Yamanaka Inson and Nara Rokaku bought time for Akimichi Yamashiro. Akimichi Yamashiro climbed up from the ground and again used his iron staff to smash the advancing gold dust wave.
However, Yōkō, watching from afar, frowned. The three clan heads seemed evenly matched with Rasa, but Ino–Shika–Chō's weakness was too obvious.
As long as Akimichi Yamashiro was taken down, the other two would be powerless to stop the massive gold dust wave.
While the group was locked in combat, the amount of gold dust on the ground kept increasing – some shattered by the iron staff, some from Rasa's missed attacks.
The ground kept trembling; it was the gold dust transforming the soil beneath the ground into new gold dust.
When the gold dust had accumulated to a certain extent, Rasa formed a hand seal and raised his hand.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!"
Over a dozen streams of gold dust burst violently from the ground, forming a spiral in the air that abruptly constricted.
Akimichi Yamashiro's body, dozens of meters tall, was completely enveloped by the Gold Dust Imperial Funeral.
The gaps between the over a dozen gold dust streams grew smaller. Through a gap, Yōkō saw Akimichi Yamashiro's terrified face.
A major function of Magnet Release was to deal with giant Tailed Beasts.
The Gold Dust Imperial Funeral formed a conical shape. Rasa's open hand clenched tightly.
Boom!
Even from far away, the sound of the Gold Dust Imperial Funeral compressing and collapsing could be heard.
Yōkō's heart skipped a beat. Was Akimichi Yamashiro going to die here?
Then Yōkō breathed a sigh of relief. Akimichi Yamashiro was outside the Gold Dust Imperial Funeral.
At the last moment, Akimichi Yamashiro shrank his body, and Nara Rokaku's shadow pulled him out.
The bad news was, while most of Akimichi Yamashiro's body made it out, his left arm was trapped within the Gold Dust Imperial Funeral.
Akimichi Yamashiro was decisive. Holding a kunai in his right hand, he enlarged both his hand and the kunai together, and fiercely chopped down on his left shoulder, severing tendons, bones, and flesh.
"Yamashiro!"
Nara Rokaku cried out in anguish.
Nara Rokaku's shadow continued exerting force, pulling Akimichi Yamashiro away.
The shinobi war was so cruel. Even someone as esteemed as the Akimichi clan head could lose an arm on the battlefield.
Yōkō would need to note in his report: Rasa has the potential to become Kazekage. The Ino–Shika–Chō trio clan heads are no match for Rasa.
Rasa suddenly lowered his head, his head splitting with pain.
Yamanaka Inson had taken the opportunity while Rasa used the Gold Dust Imperial Funeral to attack him with the Yamanaka secret technique.
"Orderly retreat!" Nara Rokaku pointed towards the dock: "Your battalion covers the rear!"
Yōkō was startled. Nara Rokaku was pointing directly at the battalion he was in.
The Battalion Commander jumped onto a gantry crane structure and shouted:
"We'll cover the retreat! Follow me!"
***
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(End of Chapter)