Immediately, Rasa poured chakra into the platform of gold dust beneath his feet.
He flew over the crowd from midair like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging straight toward the white figure swinging his blade at the rear of the valley.
Before Rasa himself even arrived, a giant hand of gold dust reached for Mikami Yuu first.
"Konoha brat! Die—!"
"!"
Mikami Yuu had naturally noticed Rasa long ago. Seeing him charge over now, he did not dare be careless. He immediately stabbed his short blade into the ground, brought his hands together, and shouted:
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Splash!
A clear stream of water surged upward around Mikami Yuu in a cylindrical shape, wrapping around him and cutting him off from the outside world.
It had to be said—the Senju Tobirama-improved version of the Water Formation Wall was simply convenient to use, and its effectiveness was even better than the original.
Rasa's giant gold-dust hand was stopped by the ring of water just a few meters away from Mikami Yuu, producing a deafening roar like a waterfall crashing down.
Then water sprayed everywhere, the gold dust scattered, and damp fragments fell like rain.
Water Formation Wall: Yay, I blocked another hit for Master! Wonderful!
Immediately after—
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
Before the curtain of water could fully fall, a cold voice rang out from behind it. The scattered water gathered once more, compressed and spun, forming a highly condensed water blade that swept directly through the air and slashed toward Rasa in midair.
"What?!"
Rasa's pupils shrank slightly in surprise.
But as someone capable of becoming acting Kazekage, his reaction was not slow. Besides, there was already some distance between the two of them, so Rasa quickly controlled the gold dust beside him and formed a thick golden shield in front of his body.
Clang!
An ear-piercing metallic crash exploded through the air.
The high-pressure water blade slammed heavily into the gold-dust shield, making it tremble violently. In an instant, a deep groove was cut into its surface, as if it had been struck by the sharpest blade imaginable.
However…
In the end, the gold-dust shield was not completely pierced.
After several brief seconds of stalemate, the high-pressure water blade exhausted the last of its force and split into two ordinary streams of water, falling from midair and soaking the ground.
As the water curtain fell around Mikami Yuu, his figure was once again revealed to the Sand ninja, including Rasa.
The other Sand ninja did not dare approach Mikami Yuu, afraid that taking even one step closer would get them melted. Mikami Yuu, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked up at Rasa in midair, feeling that this was going to be troublesome.
"As expected, he won't be that easy to deal with…"
All right.
Mikami Yuu had actually expected this result.
After all, the Magnet Release bloodline of the Kazekage line had always carried the reputation of an "absolute defense." Whether it was Gaara's "Mama Susanoo" or the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand World Method, their defensive strength was nothing to scoff at. Ordinary attacks had a hard time breaking through their defenses.
Although Rasa was the weakest overall among those three Kazekage, he still could not be underestimated.
No matter how much one looked down on his intelligence, one could not underestimate him in battle, much less expect this fight to end in two or three moves.
Of course, if Senju Tobirama himself were the one using this Water Severing Wave, the situation might have been different.
All that could be said was that Mikami Yuu's mastery of this technique was still nowhere near Tobirama's level.
"This guy is using gold dust to float in the air and has control of the skies. I can't just activate Instant Prison Shadow Killing Formation and rush in for the kill like I did against the others… I'll need to test him first and find his weakness."
Mikami Yuu thought to himself.
In theory, as long as he used Substitution Jutsu: Simulated Realm Instant Cast within an eighty-meter range, he could directly drag Rasa down from the air. But the distance between them was a little too far right now.
And unless he could kill Rasa instantly at the moment of switching positions, even dragging him down would not mean much.
So Mikami Yuu decided to try other methods first.
On the other side, Rasa was secretly alarmed too.
According to Sunagakure's intelligence, Mikami Yuu specialized in Fire Release and swordsmanship. Pakura, who had fought him before, had confirmed that. As for other aspects, Pakura had not mentioned a single word.
But now, from the looks of it…
This brat's Water Release was not weak at all!
A technique capable of leaving such a clear mark on his gold-dust shield was no ordinary Water Release. At minimum, it had to be a B-rank technique, or even an A-rank one.
"Damn Pakura. She actually concealed key information… As expected, ever since she returned from captivity, she's had some unclear relationship with Konoha!"
That thought rose uncontrollably in Rasa's mind.
Strictly speaking, Rasa and the others' accusation that Pakura had "colluded with Konoha" was not entirely baseless. According to hidden agents Sunagakure had planted in Wildfire City, during the time Pakura had been captured, she had indeed had several special contacts with Mikami Yuu.
Especially that time they had "cooperated" on Scorch Release research. Although Pakura had given an explanation that made sense on the surface, in Rasa's eyes, it was not very convincing.
Originally, Rasa had only been thirty percent suspicious of Pakura. But now that he had seen Mikami Yuu display this technique, that suspicion instantly rose to eighty or even a full hundred percent.
He even began worrying whether Pakura might take advantage of his and Chiyo's absence to harm Karura and the other Sand ninja.
However…
Although Rasa's brain was not exactly outstanding, he still knew that he could not openly voice that suspicion right now.
First, even if it were true, Konoha would never admit it easily.
Second, there was still no solid evidence. Leaving Pakura in Wildfire City had been Rasa's own order, and Pakura had fought quite hard during the battle to capture Wildfire City a few days ago. If he said now that she might have defected, it could shake the army's morale.
So…
He had to kill the brat in front of him first, return to Wildfire City, and then deal with Pakura's matter.
"Brat, I heard your name from Elder Chiyo and Pakura long ago. I thought you were some once-in-a-generation genius, but it turns out this is all you amount to? How laughable."
"Let me show you the true power of Magnet Release… Magnet Release: Gold Dust Tidal Wave!"
As he spoke, Rasa suddenly spread his arms in a motion resembling a conductor leading an orchestra.
Rumble!
The earth began to tremble, as if a massive beast was awakening underground.
But it was not a real beast.
It was countless pale-gold grains of sand and stone, all controlled by Rasa, surging madly out of the ground like boiling magma. In the blink of an eye, they gathered into a towering golden wave seven or eight meters high.
Then it swept toward Mikami Yuu.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!