"Bang!"
Under the giant bird's impact, the Gold Dust Shield lasted only a brief instant before shattering violently.
Not only was Rasa not alarmed, he was delighted.
"What a powerful impact!"
"Excellent. Excellent."
"As expected of a powerful combat-type."
With a flash of movement, Rasa dodged the giant bird's charge.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
The Vacuum Wave struck the bird's beak.
"Clang!"
A metallic sound rang out.
Rasa noticed immediately that the bird's beak had not broken.
It had only been dented slightly.
"Even its defense is this strong?"
"That was Danzo's prized Wind Release—Vacuum Wave."
Seeing that his attack had failed to achieve much, the giant bird's eyes flared with anger. It let out a piercing cry and snapped its beak toward Rasa.
That huge beak split wide into two halves, like an enormous blade.
Compared to it, Rasa's body looked no bigger than a pebble.
But just before it could reach him—
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Cascade!"
A torrent of gold dust appeared above the giant bird, crashing down like a waterfall and slamming directly onto its body.
It flowed like water—
But its force far exceeded any normal current.
"Boom!"
The giant bird's body dropped sharply.
Still, it had not suffered real damage. It only grew even angrier, glaring at Rasa with open hostility.
Rasa did not care.
The testing phase was already over.
He was very satisfied with the giant bird's strength.
A summoning beast like this would undoubtedly play a major role on the battlefield.
For the current Sunagakure, it had come at exactly the right time.
Now it was time to end the battle.
The moment he had seen the bird, several methods of defeating and suppressing it had already formed in Rasa's mind.
The bird was powerful.
But it happened to be perfectly countered by him.
It could fly.
So could he.
Its speed was impressive.
But he was even more flexible.
And he was highly experienced in dealing with massive opponents.
He had suppressed Shukaku several times already.
Compared to that, this giant bird was hardly anything extraordinary.
Large quantities of gold dust slipped through the gaps in the bird's feathers. As more and more dust invaded its body, its wings became harder and harder to beat, while its weight increased more and more.
Soon, the giant bird could no longer maintain its balance and began to fall.
It struggled frantically to stabilize itself, beating its wings with all its strength.
But it was useless.
The gold dust clung tightly to its body, and it had no way to shake it off.
Its descent grew faster.
And faster.
"Boom!"
At last, it crashed heavily into the desert.
Countless grains of yellow sand exploded upward.
A massive crater appeared in the ground, the giant bird's body lying at its center.
Even then, it still refused to submit.
It glared fiercely at Rasa, fury blazing in its eyes.
Hovering above, Rasa looked down at it.
Then he extended one hand toward the bird—and pressed downward sharply.
At once, the surrounding sand surged upward like waves of the sea, one after another.
"Magnet Release: Great Gold Dust Burial!"
Countless streams of gold dust shot into the sky—
Then came crashing down upon the giant bird, covering it, burying it, engulfing it whole…
No matter how violently it struggled, more and more gold dust piled over it.
Layer upon layer.
When the bird was completely buried, Rasa's outstretched hand suddenly clenched into a fist.
The gold dust wrapped around the giant bird compressed instantly.
"Bang!"
The desert fell silent.
A small golden hill stood there in the sand, and the giant bird trapped inside no longer moved.
At that moment, the Summoning Beast Card in Rasa's hand turned into a streak of light. Half of it flew into Rasa, while the other half entered the giant bird beneath the golden mound.
A flood of information poured into Rasa's mind.
[Yatagarasu]
[Ability — Explosive Egg.]
"So it really is Yatagarasu."
With a wave of his hand, Rasa shattered the golden mound, and the giant bird emerged from within.
This time, when it looked at Rasa, there was no more savagery in its eyes.
There was even a hint of affection there.
Compared to a summoning beast…
It almost felt more like a pet.
That thought flashed briefly through Rasa's mind.
"Just its flight capability and massive size already place Yatagarasu at a very high level."
"And with the Explosive Egg ability on top of that, it's an absolute weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield."
"In a one-on-one fight, Yatagarasu might not rank among the very top."
"But on a battlefield, against dense groups of Kirigakure ninja, its destructive power is absolutely top-tier."
Its ability to fly high overhead was already a huge advantage.
The overwhelming majority of Kiri ninja had no means of attacking Yatagarasu at that altitude.
All they could do was watch helplessly as it hovered above them.
Meanwhile, Yatagarasu could bombard them from the sky with Explosive Eggs.
And even without Explosive Eggs, a Suna ninja could simply stand on its back and throw weapons down below.
Oil.
Explosive tags.
Poison.
As for poison, Sunagakure was practically expert in it.
That was one of the main reasons Sunagakure had managed to hold out until now despite being weaker in nearly every area.
"No time to waste. We head for the front lines now."
Rasa did not know the exact state of the front.
Last time, by using the One-Night Dream Fabrication Card and combining it with Sunagakure's army movements, he had driven a wedge between Fuguki Suikazan and Kushimaru Kuriarare, stopping one of Kirigakure's offensives.
But so much time had passed since then that Kirigakure had most likely already responded.
"Let's go."
Yatagarasu beat its wings and rose into the air.
Rasa leaped lightly.
In the next instant, Yatagarasu flew beneath him of its own accord, bearing him on its back.
Rasa pointed in the proper direction, then folded his arms across his chest.
His feet stood firm on Yatagarasu's back, his body not swaying in the slightest.
Yatagarasu climbed even higher.
Yet even at that altitude, people below could still see it clearly.
It was simply too enormous.
A Sunagakure civilian suddenly noticed the burning sunlight overhead disappear. He looked up instinctively—and his pupils shrank.
"What is that?"
"It's huge!"
"A giant bird!"
His cry immediately drew the attention of the people around him, and everyone looked up.
"It really is huge!"
"There's someone standing on its back!"
One person asked nervously, "Could it be an attacker from Kirigakure?"
"Impossible. That bird is flying away from Sunagakure, not toward it."
"And if it really were an attacker, the ninja would have reacted already."
Rasa glanced down at Yatagarasu beneath his feet.
"All that effort I put into earning points wasn't wasted."
"At last, I've drawn something truly worthwhile—something that can actually strengthen Sunagakure."
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