At this moment, Kimimaro swung his arms, and under Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets, large amounts of finger bones shot toward Rasa.
Rasa already knew how strong Kimimaro in Sage Mode was.
Even after borrowing Shukaku's power, Rasa still had no intention of taking the attack head-on.
He raised both arms in front of himself, and large amounts of finger bones struck them with "thud... thud... thud..." sounds.
Looking closely, the finger bones had already pierced straight through the sand-body Rasa from front to back.
But seeing this, Kimimaro showed no joy. Instead, he changed his angle of view and began searching the surroundings.
And the Rasa that had just been pierced really turned completely into a pile of sand and scattered across the ground.
Kimimaro suddenly turned his body sideways. Around fifty meters away from him, a large amount of sand suddenly burst out from underground and gathered into Rasa's sand body.
Kimimaro stomped downward, the ground suddenly caved in beneath him as his body shot toward Rasa like a cannonball.
Rasa slammed both palms together and roared, "AAAAAAH!"
Chakra surged from his body as Rasa's figure rapidly grew larger, and huge amounts of sand gathered around him.
The sand on the ground near Rasa flowed toward him nonstop like rivers flowing into the sea.
Kimimaro's figure continuously flashed forward toward Rasa, but the streams of sand obstructed his path.
But when he got within twenty meters of Rasa, Kimimaro frowned.
Because beside Rasa's mouth in Shukaku form, a massive Tailed Beast Bomb had formed.
Kimimaro was not particularly afraid of this thing, because an ordinary Tailed Beast Bomb could never hit him.
But if that thing was fired into the Uchiha clan grounds, the losses would be severe.
Haku and Gaara, following behind Kimimaro, naturally also understood the danger.
So they controlled sand to build a thick sand wall in the direction of the Uchiha clan grounds.
Kimimaro did not retreat and instead charged straight toward Rasa, trying to interrupt the Tailed Beast Bomb's charging process.
At that moment, Rengoku's voice sounded in his mind, ["Kimimaro, don't take risks. The clan grounds are fine. Retreat immediately."]
Kimimaro trusted Rengoku completely. Hearing that, he instantly turned around and retreated backward.
Within that short time, the Tailed Beast Bomb had already finished charging. But this time, Rasa did not fire it toward the Uchiha clan grounds.
Instead, at the ground.
Whoosh! Boom!
Because it exploded directly at close range, it basically detonated the instant it left the body.
Rasa's Shukaku body was directly blown apart, and yellow sand filled the sky.
The explosion sent sand hundreds of meters into the air. In this direction of Konoha, everything became hazy, and beyond one meter it was impossible to see anyone clearly.
Kimimaro was sensing the direction Rasa had escaped when Rengoku's voice came from nearby, ["No need to chase him, Kimimaro."]
Only then did he stop and look into the distance.
Although Rengoku's voice sounded close, the sandstorm was too thick, and no one could be seen.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Haku's voice sounded near Rengoku.
Whoooosh!
A strong wind blew from Haku's mouth, quickly blowing away the surrounding sand.
Everyone quickly gathered together. Although nobody was injured, their bodies were covered in yellow sand.
"Lord Rengoku, why did you let Rasa escape?"
Gaara asked with some confusion.
Rasa's method of escaping looked novel, but in reality it was not useful at all.
Not to mention how fast Minato's Flying Thunder God was, Karin's Kagura Mind's Eye could also easily detect the direction Rasa fled.
Even a Hyuga clan member could easily find Rasa with the Byakugan.
The only reason Rasa managed to leave was because of Rengoku's orders.
Seeing that Gaara was only confused and not angry, Rengoku felt relieved.
After all, in the past, anything involving Rasa would immediately set Gaara off, let alone allowing him to leave.
Now it seemed Gaara still placed Rengoku's orders first.
Rengoku patted the sand and dust off his body, a smile appearing on his face.
"If we don't let Rasa go, how are we supposed to declare war on Sunagakure?"
———
High in the sky, Kakuzu stood on the Third Kazekage puppet together with Sasori, holding a telescope in his hand.
From time to time, he glanced into the distance while speaking lazily, "This kind of work suits me better."
"Heh..."
Sasori laughed once.
"You like any job with a high return."
Kakuzu sat down cross-legged, looking at Sasori somewhat strangely.
Sasori had already joined Konoha for several years, and they had not seen each other for a long time.
Now Sasori had changed a lot. He would even actively talk to him, almost like a different person.
Kakuzu's most direct feeling was that Sasori had become more human.
Thinking about Sasori's achievements over the years, Kakuzu felt a little sour.
"Hm... Someone like you, who never has to worry about money, wouldn't understand."
Sasori had made many things over the years. Although this world had no such thing as patents, many of Sasori's creations had technical barriers.
Although many people envied Sasori's achievements and money-making ability, as a top expert in the industry, he had an enormous technical gap compared to ordinary puppet masters, model designers, structural engineers, mechanics, and the like.
Most people could not copy his work, and those who could did not dare to.
So Sasori was the only one profiting from it.
With every item bringing him a percentage as payment, Sasori could now be said to be extremely rich.
"I'm constantly upgrading puppets, and that costs a lot too."
"But you've been taking all kinds of missions these years. The rewards are huge, but I never see you spend money," Sasori casually chatted with Kakuzu.
These were things that could never have come out of Sasori's mouth in the past.
Only after his mother was revived recently had Sasori changed this much.
A low laugh came from Kakuzu's mouth, "What do you know? The beauty of money is holding it in your hands and counting it. That alone makes you happy."
Naturally, Sasori did not have Kakuzu's obsession with money, but he had once pursued art.
So he naturally understood Kakuzu's mindset.
He shook his head and said nothing more.
Kakuzu occasionally looked into the distance through the telescope. Far away were a few remaining Sky Ninja survivors.
More accurately, they were the people who had not flown into the inner city after Minato's formation activated.
When they began returning, Sasori and Kakuzu, who had already been arranged in advance, started chasing them together.
As for whether Konoha could defend itself, there was no need to even consider it.
Kakuzu even felt the Sky Ninja must have been insane to come looking for death.
But he was still very happy to get this mission.
Because Konan had told him that everything confiscated from the Sky Ninja would belong entirely to Kakuzu.
These flying tools might look common among the Sky Ninja, but many of them were old stock from Sky Ninja Village.
The outside world did not have these kinds of aircraft at all. If all of them were sold for money...
"Oh hohohoho...", Kakuzu suddenly let out a strange laugh.
He raised the telescope again and adjusted the direction.
"Sasori, I can see the sea."
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