"Rasa actually appeared here?"
"Sunagakure learned of my movements. Did he come here specifically to kill me?"
"That situation just now… was that also Rasa's ninjutsu?"
Roshi could no longer remain calm.
Even though he had never fought Rasa before.
Even though he basically had no dealings with Sunagakure.
As someone who traveled through the shinobi world, Roshi still had basic channels of information.
Over these years, Rasa's battle record had been far too dazzling.
Before inheriting the Kazekage position, he had kept a low profile, and many people had believed Rasa had only learned a little from the Third Kazekage, with personal strength not even comparable to Pakura's.
But after inheriting the Kazekage position, Rasa's performance had shocked the shinobi world again and again.
He suppressed the Red Mountain clan alone.
He killed four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by himself.
He fought Minato Namikaze and gained the upper hand.
He killed the Fourth Mizukage, the Six-Tails jinchuriki, Yagura Karatachi.
He crippled Jiraiya in a single battle.
Compared with those feats, even severely injuring Shimura Danzo seemed insignificant.
Roshi's expression became solemn.
"Borrow chakra!"
He still maintained human form, but a tail emerged behind him.
In this state, all of Roshi's attributes would receive a certain improvement.
"Rasa's abilities lie in remaining high in the sky and moving quickly."
"That means killing Rasa will be very difficult."
"But correspondingly, it will not be easy for Rasa to kill me either."
"And this place is not a desert. Rasa cannot bring out one hundred percent of his abilities."
"This place is my battlefield!"
Just as Roshi formed that thought, Rasa landed.
"Surface Fissure!"
In an instant, an invisible force spread outward with Rasa at its center.
As that force spread, it was as if all moisture had been forcibly extracted.
The moisture in the ground.
The moisture in the trees.
The moisture in the flowers and grass.
The moisture in the air…
The surface began to crack and dry.
The air also became extremely arid.
Trees withered.
Large amounts of sand surged across the ground.
"Sand Soldier Manifestation!"
Many of Rasa's ninjutsu received an enormous boost in the desert.
Correspondingly, in non-desert environments, they were somewhat restricted.
What should he do when encountering such a situation?
Very simple.
If it was not a desert, then he would turn it into one.
More than a dozen exquisitely formed sand soldiers appeared. Each possessed jonin-level strength. Each held a shield in one hand and a spear in the other. Under Rasa's control, they surrounded and attacked Roshi.
To be honest, Rasa did not put Roshi in his eyes.
To the others in Sunagakure, Roshi was indeed an expert.
Even Pakura and Chiyo would not find it easy to deal with him.
But Rasa was different.
He had already taken down Yagura Karatachi.
At the time, Rasa had borrowed the power of the Sun Disk.
But that was because Rasa had been facing Yagura while the latter wielded Samehada.
Now, facing Roshi, Rasa's strength was already greater than it had been back then. He had mastered more S-rank ninjutsu, and even Samehada, a divine weapon against jinchuriki, was in Rasa's hands.
In the original storyline, Kisame Hoshigaki defeated Roshi by relying on Samehada.
For Rasa, doing so would only be easier.
Facing the sand soldiers' charge, Roshi's expression turned serious.
He continuously shifted his position.
Attacks he could dodge, he dodged.
Attacks he could not dodge, he blocked.
He formed a shield out of magma and placed it before himself.
"These sand soldier puppets are all very strong!"
"To think one person can create and control so many sand soldier puppets at the same time. It is terrifying."
"As expected of the current strongest man in the shinobi world."
"It is said Rasa can also use these sand soldiers for instant movement, just like Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique. Because of this, some people previously called Rasa the Red Flash."
Roshi raised his head and looked at Rasa in midair, his eyes flickering.
"He wants to use the sand soldiers to probe me?"
"That is indeed a good strategy."
"The sand soldiers are like shadow clones. No, they are even more convenient than shadow clones."
"He himself remains high in the sky, maintaining safety."
"But how could I let you have your way so easily?"
Roshi snorted coldly.
The next moment, his form changed again.
"Lava Release Chakra Mode!"
His entire body was enveloped in magma. Intense heat overflowed from him, seeming to burn and distort the nearby air. Under the effect of the high temperature, the sand on the ground began melting.
Facing the incoming sand soldiers—
"Lava Release: Granite!"
A massive defensive ninjutsu.
But it was not merely defensive.
When the sand soldiers' spears stabbed into the granite, they were completely unable to break through its defense. Instead, they were damaged by the high temperature emitted from the granite, their spearheads melting.
If they were flesh-and-blood bodies, not only would they fail to harm Roshi, they would also be injured by the heat.
But sand soldiers were different.
They pulled back their spears and stabbed them into the ground. The spears immediately began repairing themselves.
This was the advantage sand soldiers had over shadow clones.
If a shadow clone were injured, it would likely vanish directly.
But when sand soldiers were injured, they could endure for far longer.
"But this is enough!"
Roshi temporarily forced back the sand soldiers. Then he raised his head and looked at Rasa high in the sky.
"Lava Release!"
Fireballs formed from magma appeared in Roshi's mouth.
One.
Two.
Three…
Until there were dozens of them, densely packed and blotting out the sky, all rushing toward Rasa.
The scene made Rasa think of a certain move used by Akainu next door.
Great Eruption.
These magma balls wove into a net.
However, Roshi's attention was not entirely on Rasa. He was constantly watching those sand soldiers.
The moment Rasa used Quicksand Displacement to appear beside one of the sand soldiers, Roshi would immediately strike.
This was Roshi's true plan.
Roshi had never expected to injure Rasa with these magma attacks. His real purpose was to force Rasa down.
And if Rasa continued rising higher, Roshi would rush toward the surviving Sunagakure shinobi.
He would use those Sunagakure shinobi to threaten Rasa and force him to take the attack.
"It may be somewhat shameless, but for shinobi, winning is enough."
"Besides, I destroyed a Sunagakure outpost last time. Now that Rasa has appeared, he is most likely here with the intention of killing me. This is a battle of life and death!"
But to Roshi's surprise, Rasa neither increased his altitude nor used Quicksand Displacement.
Instead, he directly wove a shield from gold dust.
Puchi!
Puchi!
Puchi!
The gold dust shield did not last long. It was quickly broken through.
This made Roshi let out a breath of relief.
But in the next moment, something that shocked Roshi occurred.
Roshi saw the magma balls pass straight through Rasa's body the instant they struck him, encountering no obstruction whatsoever.
Rasa's body seemed as though it did not exist.
"Genjutsu?"
"No, that's not right!"
"That is Rasa's real body!"
"I think I saw it. In that instant just now, part of Rasa's body turned into sand!"