Chapter 159: Kinoshita Genichi vs. The Fourth Kazekage
"Yes, it has gone on for too long!"
Rasa glanced at the already bustling Kikyō Mountain, then looked at Kinoshita Genichi. "A very courageous young man. Since that is the case, then I will grant you your wish."
Rasa turned to his subordinates. "All of you, fall back!"
The numerous Sand-nin obeyed and retreated.
Genichi then said to Tsunade and the others, "You all fall back as well."
"Be careful," Tsunade said. She then led Uzumaki Ina and the others to a safe distance, stopping on a small hill to watch the battle.
Ina clenched her fists in front of her chest, extremely nervous. "Lord Genichi is the strongest, the best. He will definitely defeat the Kazekage."
"Lady Tsunade, are we really just going to watch?" Nara Akibi couldn't help but ask. "That is the Fourth Kazekage, after all."
Tsunade's heart was also a little nervous, but her face was calm and composed. "Don't worry. He was the one who killed the Third Mizukage. But be ready to move at any time."
Her words shocked Akibi and the others. The Third Mizukage was assassinated by Kinoshita Genichi!
After the shock, Akibi breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, there shouldn't be a problem." He felt that even if Genichi couldn't defeat the Kazekage, he at least wouldn't lose. And in this war, as long as the Fourth Kazekage was tied down, Konoha would win.
A spring breeze, still carrying a hint of chill, blew past, making the hem of Genichi's robes flutter.
Across from him, Rasa raised a hand. "Let's begin."
The next moment, the earth before him disintegrated into fine sand, which then surged forward like a tide, one wave after another, sweeping toward Genichi. It blotted out the sky, completely blocking his view of Rasa.
Clap!
Genichi clapped his hands together. A current of water gathered around him, spiraling upwards. He then spread his hands, infusing wind chakra into the expanding water.
Storm Water Vortex!
When it had expanded to a diameter of over twenty meters, Rasa's sand wave crashed into it. The sand hit it head-on, while the sand on the flanks wrapped around it, attempting to use the vortex's own swirling force to mix into it.
But Genichi crossed his arms and swung them forward. The high-speed vortex immediately tore apart the sand wave and collided with the continuously surging sand behind it, creating a deafening roar.
The sand wave stopped, forming a sandy plain. The storm brought by the vortex then came crashing down, quickly soaking the area.
He's using water to make my sand heavier and slower? Rasa thought. He was only using ordinary sand right now. This was a secret sand-manipulation technique unique to Sunagakure. It wasn't Magnet Release or Earth Release, but an ability to control tools, like controlling puppets or the special cloth used for sealing.
The first round was a draw.
Genichi raised his left hand in a one-handed seal and grabbed with his right. With a puff of smoke, a wide greatsword appeared in his hand. It was the Kaminotachi of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, one of the Kusanagi Swords.
Rasa's gaze hardened. The student of the White Fang of the Leaf. Skilled in Water and Wind Release. As expected, he also uses a sword. He was not completely ignorant of the intel on Genichi.
Swoosh!
Genichi vanished, running across the sandy ground at extreme speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Columns of sand shot up, trying to envelop him. But the sand was wet and slow, completely unable to catch him.
His speed is indeed very fast. I can't let him get close, especially with that Sharingan genjutsu.
Rasa waved his hands, and the sand before him shot up into the sky, condensing into a giant sand wall. Wet sand was heavier, but it also made its defense stronger. After raising his defense, Rasa pressed the fingers of his left hand to his left eye. The next moment, his eye dissolved into sand, which then flew into the air and re-condensed into an eyeball, from which he could clearly see Genichi's every move.
Genichi dodged the sand's repeated attempts to capture him. After getting close to the sand wall, the Kaminotachi in his hand hummed and began to glow with a brilliant white light. He swung the greatsword down, and with a boom, split the wall in two.
Swoosh!
Passing through the wall, he swung his sword, cutting apart the sand that was closing in from the sides, and then brought an axe kick down on Rasa from the air.
Boom!
A shield of sand that had shot up from the ground exploded. Rasa's shoulder took the heavy blow, and his entire body burst apart into sand, which immediately tried to wrap around Genichi.
A sand clone. Rasa's real body rose from the sand several meters to the left. However, he found that the sand he had used to entangle Genichi had no effect at all. When the sand touched Genichi's body, it rippled like water, and he was completely unaffected as he threw his greatsword.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The Kaminotachi, coated in wind chakra, pierced through three rising columns of sand and then plunged deep into the sand wall in front of Rasa, its tip just inches from his face.
Rasa retreated, and columns of sand shot into the air. But Genichi suddenly appeared on the sand wall pierced by his sword. He opened his mouth, and a rapid-fire jet of high-pressure water shot out, piercing through one rising sand wall after another.
Such a fast Body Flicker! Rasa was shocked. He had misjudged Genichi's speed and was unprepared. A jet of water pierced through his sand defense and grazed his shoulder, tearing his clothes and leaving a bloody gash.
He crouched down and pressed both hands to the ground. The next moment, from all around Genichi, four columns of Gold Dust shot into the air and swept toward him.
Boom!
The four columns collided, but they hit nothing. Genichi had appeared on the Kaminotachi. The next moment, he leaped into the air, simultaneously pulling out the sword and throwing it again. The falling Gold Dust once again tried to envelop him in mid-air, but it missed.
The Kaminotachi plunged into a sand person that Rasa had formed. Genichi then appeared, grabbed the hilt, and injected a massive amount of chakra into it. The sword's brilliant white light flared, and a blade of pure chakra condensed from its tip, rapidly extending and completely piercing the sand construct.
Such powerful Wind Release! Rasa's gaze hardened. Gold Dust surged up, spiraling around the extended blade, trying to block and wear it down. At the same time, he manipulated the Gold Dust he had already mixed into the sand person, forming a sword to stab Genichi.
However, the Genichi that was present was an illusionary body. Such an attack had no effect on him.
Still no effect. Is it a genjutsu? Rasa frowned. Through his sand eye in the sky, he saw Genichi let go of the sword, retreat some distance, and clap his hands together.
Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
He spat out a massive amount of water that formed wave after wave beneath him, lifting his body higher and higher. Rasa spread his arms, and a large amount of ordinary sand shot up, sweeping toward him.
RUMBLE!
The waves of water and sand collided again, splashing in all directions.
Genichi then clapped his hands together. A current of water spiraled up around him, condensing into a water dragon. The dragon opened its mouth, and massive water spheres shot out.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One sphere after another smashed down, creating a spreading flood. Rasa used the Body Flicker to dodge repeatedly, looking a bit pathetic, but he was never hit. Even the splashing jets of highly corrosive acid water were blocked by his sand.
When Genichi's water jutsu ended, Rasa stopped. He found that a large body of water had formed around him, covering the sea of sand he had created.
This water won't affect my control over the Gold Dust. But I have to break through that jutsu of his that ignores attacks, whether it's a genjutsu or…
As he calmly analyzed, he said, "Kinoshita Genichi, you should know that Gold Dust is not affected by water."
"Of course I know that," Genichi smiled. "But you should also know, Lord Kazekage, that your attacks are ineffective against me."
Rasa fell silent, recalling their exchanges.
On the other side, the watching Tsunade and the others all let out a long breath as the two of them temporarily stopped. The pace of their battle had been so fast that even the spectators had unconsciously held their breath.
"So amazing… as expected of a Kage!"
"They're on a completely different level. There's no way we can interfere in a battle like this."
"Genichi's strength is just as the Third Mizukage evaluated. He really is at the Kage level."
"Of course. Lady Tsunade said the Third Mizukage died at his hands."
The onlookers were filled with emotion. Both Genichi and the Kazekage rarely used hand seals when casting their jutsu. Even watching gave them a sense of suffocation, let alone participating.
The watching Sand-nin were also shocked, especially when they saw that the Fourth Kazekage had been injured. In this exchange of probes, it seemed their Kazekage was at a slight disadvantage.
"Why are the Kazekage's attacks ineffective?"
"He was clearly hit, but that feeling…"
"It seems to be a genjutsu."
"But his attacks are real. And in my perception, he is also real."
"Perhaps it's a jutsu similar to the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification, which can ignore physical attacks."
The Sand-nin were also silently analyzing. And on the battlefield, Rasa raised his hand again. Gold Dust rose from the water, condensing into shuriken that shot at Genichi from different directions.
Genichi's speed on the water's surface increased greatly, and the shuriken missed. He continued to close in on Rasa, who retreated, calmly controlling more Gold Dust to form an even denser attack, making it impossible for Genichi to defend completely. But the attacks were still ineffective.
If he were completely invulnerable, he wouldn't need to dodge my attacks. So, although I'm still not sure of the nature of this jutsu, I can be certain that even if it ignores attacks, it must have some kind of limit. In that case…
Rasa stopped retreating and spread his arms. The next moment, a massive amount of Gold Dust shot up from under the water, surrounding Genichi. He had been secretly setting this up while attacking. Gold Dust was indeed different from ordinary sand; it didn't become heavier and slower in water. But it was still affected; its speed was greatly reduced before it left the water. So, he had prepared enough Gold Dust this time, and spread it out over a wide enough area.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!
The Gold Dust surged from all directions, enveloping Genichi. His sand eye in the sky, however, was looking at the Kaminotachi. As expected, Genichi appeared there. Gold Dust surged up, trying to envelop him. Rasa had also laid an ambush here; he hadn't forgotten about Genichi's special Body Flicker. If it was a long-distance teleport, then he must have placed a marker on the sword.
With his Sharingan's dynamic vision and his superhuman reaction speed, before the Gold Dust could envelop him, Genichi had already thrown the heavy sword at Rasa. Its astonishing weight, combined with the enhancement of wind chakra, made it impossible for the hastily formed sand to block.
Piercing through one column of sand after another, the Kaminotachi plunged into the sand person Rasa had created in front of him, leaving only the hilt exposed. The next moment, Genichi appeared in front of the hilt.
At the same time, from beneath his feet, Gold Dust surged up, coiling around his legs. From within the sand person, more Gold Dust poured out, wrapping around the sword and quickly sweeping toward him.
"The attacks you can withstand also have an upper limit, don't they, Kinoshita Genichi?" From behind the sand person, Rasa clenched his fist, intending to bury him.
But in the next moment, his expression changed. He had lost control of his Gold Dust. The dust he had hidden underwater and inside the sand person would no longer move.
Through his sand eye, he saw that the Genichi who was half-enveloped in Gold Dust was now covered in an armor of ice. The water below was also rapidly freezing, and the sand person, formed from water-soaked sand, was also turned into a block of ice in an instant.
Crack, crackle~
Rasa looked down and saw the water's surface at his feet rapidly freezing, the ice spreading outward.
"Ice Release! You were the one who killed the Third Mizukage!" Rasa was shocked and immediately leaped back.
Under the ice, his sand and Gold Dust were useless. At the beginning of the fight, Genichi had tried to get close to him. Rasa had thought he wanted to engage in close combat, like the White Fang of the Leaf, relying on his astonishing speed and sword skills. And the water, he had thought it was to slow his sand and increase his own speed. So he had used himself as bait, setting up a triple ambush, wanting to break through Genichi's invulnerability jutsu. And even if he had failed, he had a way to escape.
But all his previous judgments were wrong. Getting close was to freeze him quickly. Creating so much water was also for the sake of freezing. His sand and Gold Dust were now useless, which meant the backup plan he had left was also useless.
So Rasa chose to retreat without any hesitation.
The frozen Gold Dust fell from Genichi's body. He clapped his hands together. The next moment, countless ice spikes, like swords, like mountains, rose from the ground.
Rasa's Body Flicker was not to be underestimated. He flickered repeatedly, dodging the attacks. But they were too dense, and he was inevitably grazed. His clothes were torn, and his flesh was cut open, but the blood froze before it could flow out.
Not good. The cold is seeping into my body. My speed will decrease. Rasa looked at the frozen wound on his arm, a sense of foreboding filling his heart.
Just then, Genichi leaped onto a tall ice spike and blew a breath at him. A freezing mist swept out, spreading rapidly. Rasa shivered. A layer of ice quickly covered his body, and his speed plummeted.
Damn it… He felt his body stiffen. Then, two ice pillars crossed, pinning him in mid-air, completely immobile.
"Lord Kazekage!" The Sand-nin were charging over, but they were intercepted by Tsunade and the others.
Genichi, holding the Kaminotachi, threw it from a distance. The giant blade, coated in wind chakra, cut through the air and pierced through Rasa's chest.
"Cough, cough…" Rasa spat out blood, which was immediately frozen. His sand eye in the sky dissipated, turning back into sand and flying into his left eye, reforming into an eyeball. But his life was rapidly fading. With a sword through his chest, his body was quickly frozen into an ice sculpture, glittering in the sunlight.
The Fourth Kazekage was dead.
On the ice pillar, Genichi exhaled a breath. He felt no excitement or joy of victory, only a great calm. From the initial probing of Rasa's attack and defense methods, to giving him false intel to mislead him, to setting up the field for the final Ice Release, and then the one-hit kill. Kyōka Suigetsu, Flying Thunder God, Water Release, Wind Release, swordsmanship, and Ice Release. The sensory deprivation genjutsu he most often used in battle, he hadn't used at all.
This was not just a victory of hard power, but also of intelligence. The Fourth Kazekage didn't know he had Ice Release. Although he had analyzed the weakness of Kyōka Suigetsu, he hadn't had time to complete his final attack.
Genichi assessed that in a one-on-one fight, his strength had completely surpassed the Fourth Kazekage's. If his opponent had been his teacher, Sakumo, or even Minato, who had also mastered the Flying Thunder God, it would have been very difficult to kill him. The Fourth Kazekage's fighting style didn't let people get close easily. Even with the Flying Thunder God, it would have been difficult for Minato to get close and complete the kill. It would have required careful planning and calculation.
So, was the Fourth Kazekage weak? He certainly wasn't as strong as the Third, who could control Iron Sand, but he was definitely not weak.
"I'm just too strong," Genichi concluded.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Figures landed on the ice spikes and pillars around the Fourth Kazekage's body. It was Tsunade and the others. As soon as the Kazekage died, the Sand-nin had decisively abandoned a few bodies and retreated toward the Land of Rivers. Tsunade and the others hadn't pursued. Now, looking at the body up close, they were all shocked, but also silent.
They had been evenly matched at the beginning, but they hadn't expected the victor to be decided so suddenly. It had happened so fast that both sides had been unable to react. So the Sand-nin hadn't been able to save their Kazekage, and Tsunade and the others hadn't had time to help.
The Third Mizukage had been assassinated by Genichi. They had all heard about it, but no one had seen it. Now, the Fourth Kazekage had been killed by him right before their eyes. The feeling was difficult to describe. After all, the Fourth Kazekage was, like the Third Hokage, a figure who stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world. Even Tsunade's expression was complex.
In the crowd, Kosuke Maruboshi came back to his senses. He looked at Genichi, who had also arrived before the body, and couldn't help but sigh to himself. What an incredible young man. He has already completely surpassed the Second and Third Hokage. With a young man like him, there's no need to worry about the village's future. A look of joy appeared on his aged face.
At this moment, Uzumaki Ina was also full of joy. "Lord Genichi really is the strongest!"
(End of Chapter)
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