"They're All Tailed Beasts—So Why Is the Gap So Huge?!"
"Magnet Style: Gold Dust Sand!"
Floating in the air atop a cloud of gold dust, Rasa raised his hand and condensed the particles into a massive cube before smashing it downward toward Kushina Uzumaki.
At that moment, Kushina had already entered a partial Tailed Beast transformation.
Six chakra tails whipped through the air, instantly shattering an incoming puppet into pieces. Then her arm suddenly extended, her fist slamming upward into the descending gold cube.
BOOM!
The enormous cube was blasted backward by a single punch.
Seizing the opportunity, Kushina turned her head and fired several small Tailed Beast Bombs toward Rasa.
"Magnet Release: Air Sand Barrier!"
Rasa's expression turned grave.
With a wave of his hand, a huge mass of gold dust surged forward, forming a thick wall in front of him as he rapidly retreated while riding the sand.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—
The explosions rang out one after another.
Rasa's defensive wall was instantly blown apart, turning into a rain of gold dust that scattered across the sky.
Fortunately, he had retreated quickly enough to avoid being caught in the blast.
But his expression had already turned extremely ugly.
The confidence and high spirits he had at the start of the battle were long gone.
A sharp crack sounded.
Elder Chiyo, who had been keeping part of her attention on the rear, suddenly shrank her pupils. She glanced down at the ground and bent her knees, preparing to leap away.
Even she was shocked by Kushina's strength.
Leaving aside the power of the Nine-Tails' chakra, Kushina's basic physical abilities alone were already comparable to an enhanced version of Tsunade.
She was practically the natural enemy of puppet masters like Chiyo.
Taking advantage of the moment Kushina attacked Rasa, Chiyo manipulated three puppets to form a triangular formation at her flank.
Hidden mechanisms within the puppets labeled "Buddha," "Dharma," and "Sangha" activated.
A powerful tornado-like vortex erupted, generating a massive suction force that dragged Kushina toward them.
"Puppet Technique: Three Jewels Suction Crush!"
Kushina staggered slightly as the opposing forces pulled at her body, causing her to stumble toward the three puppets.
For a brief moment, her movement stiffened.
But she reacted almost instantly.
A black-red chakra arm shot downward into the ground, anchoring herself firmly in place.
Meanwhile, several golden chains suddenly erupted from Kushina's back.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
The chains spiraled through the air, smashing away the incoming puppet head and then coiling toward Rasa in the sky.
At this point, Rasa's heart was already filled with shock.
When he had first assessed the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, he believed she might be stronger than Shukaku, the One-Tail of Sunagakure—but probably not by much.
But after actually fighting Kushina, he realized he had been completely wrong.
His proud gold dust techniques were like paper before Kushina's attacks.
At best, they could only slow her down slightly.
Her regeneration speed was also visible to the naked eye.
At times, Rasa even felt like he was fighting a second Raikage.
And her speed was terrifying.
His gold dust simply couldn't keep up with her movements.
Without Chiyo's assistance, he doubted he could land even a single hit.
In the Sunagakure (Hidden Sand Village), Rasa had fought the rampaging Shukaku many times.
Each time, he could suppress the Tailed Beast with overwhelming waves of gold dust.
But now…
Just a small portion of the Nine-Tails' power was already stronger than Shukaku.
And Kushina wasn't even a Perfect jinchūriki yet.
If she ever became one—
Rasa didn't dare imagine how powerful she would become.
Nearby, Chiyo's eyes flashed with determination.
In only ten minutes of fighting, three of her Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu had already been destroyed by Kushina.
If the battle continued like this, defeat was inevitable.
For the sake of Sunagakure's future, Chiyo had already prepared herself to trade her life if necessary.
She suddenly tossed a small puppet head the size of a palm toward Kushina.
With a hand seal, she activated the seal within it.
"Sealing Technique: Lion Closing Roar!"
The puppet head expanded instantly to human size and opened its jaws filled with sharp teeth, lunging toward Kushina.
The technique could completely seal the target's chakra once it landed.
If it succeeded, the tide of the battle might change.
But before Chiyo could follow up—
A massive black-red chakra hand burst from the ground.
With tremendous force, it grabbed Chiyo and hurled her straight toward the triangular puppet formation.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted.
The location of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha puppets collapsed into a crater, puppet fragments scattering everywhere as dust filled the sky.
Rasa couldn't help glancing toward the distant battlefield of the Three-Village Allied Forces.
What he saw made his heart sink.
Although three thousand allied shinobi were fighting only five hundred Konoha defenders, they had failed to gain a decisive advantage.
In fact, they were beginning to show signs of collapse.
Because of Namikaze Minato.
Whenever the allied forces gained even the slightest momentum, Minato would appear instantly and crush it.
Many elite shinobi were killed before they could even react.
If two thousand Konoha reinforcements arrived…
The Three-Village Alliance might not even have a chance to retreat safely.
At this point, Rasa finally understood.
The coalition's surprise attack had already failed.
They had to withdraw and reorganize their forces as quickly as possible.
But another thought lingered in his mind.
All Tailed Beasts were supposed to be similar in power.
Sunagakure's One-Tail,
Iwagakure's Four-Tails and Five-Tails,
Kirigakure's Three-Tails and Six-Tails,
Kumogakure's Two-Tails and Eight-Tails,
Takigakure's Seven-Tails—
They were all roughly comparable.
So why…
Was Konoha's Nine-Tails so absurdly different?
Compared to the Nine-Tails—
The other Tailed Beasts' power was practically insignificant.
A Nine-Tails jinchūriki alone possessed the ability to decide the outcome of an entire war.
No wonder Konoha had guarded its Nine-Tails jinchūriki like a precious treasure, never deploying her even when surrounded by multiple villages in previous wars.
And if Namikaze Minato joined the fight here…
Rasa had a strong feeling—
He would die miserably.
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