A mass of sand rose beneath Rasa, lifting him into the air. Under his control, the sand formed a staircase, merging with kunai and shuriken scattered across the battlefield.
Rasa sprinted up the floating golden steps, heading quickly toward the monster.
Hovering in the air, the Eye of Sand provided Rasa with a clear view of the battlefield. He noticed Pakura locked in a fierce fight with the newest iteration of the A-B Combo.
The intensity of their battle was so overwhelming that even experienced jonin could only provide support from a distance.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust Cube!
With a shout, a massive golden cube descended from the sky, slamming into the monster that had been rampaging through the Sand Ninja ranks below.
The cube's sheer size and weight, combined with the momentum of its fall, caused the ground beneath to tremble violently upon impact.
Seeing Rasa's arrival and his decisive move to pin down the terrifying creature, the surrounding Sand Ninja were reinvigorated, their spirits lifted.
"Did we get him this time?"
Despite the powerful attack, the Sand Ninja nearby still had lingering fear etched on their faces. It wasn't that they doubted Rasa's strength, but the monster's resilience had exceeded everyone's expectations.
Every time they thought he was dead, the creature managed to heal his wounds and recover completely. Again and again, his relentless vitality had even left the attacking jonin feeling hopeless.
"Be careful, Lord Rasa! He's immortal!" one of the surviving Sand Ninja shouted a warning to Rasa in midair.
Rasa frowned, already aware that his attack hadn't finished the enemy. He didn't need anyone to tell him—this wasn't over yet.
A blinding black beam shot into the sky once again, shattering the golden cube into fragments. The creature, battered and weak, lay on the ground.
Its white skeletal mask was covered in cracks, and its dark, destructive eyes burned with violent intent, locking onto Rasa, who hovered midair.
"Targeting me now, huh?"
Rasa's gaze met the monster's in the air. He could feel the overwhelming violence and insatiable desire for destruction radiating from its eyes.
It wasn't just a feeling—it was almost tangible, enough to affect him directly!
This creature wasn't just powerful; it was even more dangerous than a Tailed Beast and utterly incapable of communication.
Rasa made his judgment swiftly.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust Realm Technique! Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novelꞁire.net
The moment the creature bent its knees as if to leap toward him, Rasa acted first. The golden cubes scattered from the earlier explosion were quickly repurposed, conserving his chakra.
Sharp golden spikes formed and pierced the creature from all angles, crisscrossing in a deadly pattern.
Its defense is strong!
Rasa noted the resistance and toughness he felt as the gold dust spikes collided with the creature's skin. He calculated silently: in terms of durability, this creature's body was second only to the Third Raikage's impenetrable Lightning Armor.
Under different circumstances, Rasa might have had the luxury to study this beast and its unique properties. But with no idea when the Third Raikage would break free, he had to act fast.
Gold Dust Sealing Technique!
Layers of golden sand enveloped the creature's body, forming an enormous, seamless golden cube. The surface of the cube was inscribed with intricate, tadpole-like sealing symbols, crisscrossing like chains to secure it tightly.
Feeling the creature's struggles weakening and finally fading inside the cube, Rasa let out a sigh of relief. But he had no time to relax.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Third Raikage had already reemerged from underground, his imposing figure rising to the surface.
Rasa quickly issued orders and then rushed toward the Raikage without hesitation.
The Third Raikage's unbreakable Lightning Armor had left Rasa utterly frustrated. All he could do was coordinate with the elite Sand Shinobi to continuously pressure him, draining his stamina and chakra bit by bit.
However, the Third Raikage's stamina and chakra reserves were astonishingly vast. This made every war involving him a prolonged affair, often lasting for days.
While Rasa's Bloodline Limit and Magnet Release techniques countered the Lightning techniques of the Cloud Shinobi and the Raikage, his chakra expenditure was far greater than the Raikage's.
His only hope now was for the reinforcements promised by Iwagakure to arrive soon. If the battle dragged on much longer, the Sand Village's core forces would suffer losses Rasa couldn't afford to bear.
After one day and one night, the Kumogakure (Cloud) shinobi retreated once more. However, before retreating, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki forcedly used the power of his tailed beast to reclaim the golden cube that sealed the mysterious monster.
In the Kumogakure camp...
The Third Raikage stood before the broken golden cube, watching as it crumbled into a pile of golden sand after losing its chakra support.
Inside, the lifeless remains of a grotesque monster were revealed, and the Raikage's expression shifted in surprise.
"This time, it still left behind a physical body?" he muttered.
He observed the mangled creature's body. From recent experiments, he knew that once someone was transformed into a monster by the mask and subsequently sealed, the monster would typically become a highly unstable bomb.
Yet, this time, the monster's explosion hadn't destroyed the cube entirely.
Killer B stepped forward, using one of his blades to pry the mask off the monster's face. Beneath the mask was the face of a shinobi wearing a Sunagakure forehead protector.
Under the watchful eyes of the Kumogakure shinobi, the moment the mask was removed, the body of the ninja disintegrated into fine ash.
"A mere Chūnin could threaten teams with Jōnin-level combatants and even force Rasa himself to step in," remarked the Third Raikage, studying the black-and-white mask in his hand. "The power of this mask is truly incomprehensible."
Having discovered through experiments that the mask could transform shinobi into extraordinarily powerful monsters, the Third Raikage, Ay, had orchestrated this war with careful planning.
It was an effective tool.
Although the creatures created by the mask lacked control, distinction between friend and foe, and were extremely chaotic and violent, they could be devastating when properly deployed on the battlefield.
At the very least, they were capable of holding off a Kage or an elite Jōnin of considerable renown. Such individuals, even among the Five Great Shinobi Nations, were scarce.
Ay had even tested engaging these monsters in close combat. Despite their raw savagery, their steel-like skin and rapid regeneration allowed them to endure his Hell Stab and withstand his punches.
While most of the time they were little more than punching bags, the fact that they could take his blows without immediate destruction proved their remarkable strength.
For most shinobi, being confronted by such a high-speed, heavily armored monster was nothing short of a nightmare.
Additionally, the mask itself had the ability to absorb chakra, which granted the monster's steel skin resistance against ninjutsu.
Standard ninjutsu could barely scratch the monster's defenses, making it nearly impossible for ordinary shinobi to breach their armor.
Thinking about how this mask had been developed by Konoha, Ay's wariness toward the Hidden Leaf grew even deeper.
But if they could crack the secrets behind the mask's technique, Kumogakure could produce similar weapons for their own use.
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