The aftermath of Kushina's victory had not yet fully settled when Minato Namikaze stepped forward, lifting her from the arena with an apologetic bow toward the officials.
"I acted rashly," he said calmly, his tone sincere.
Only after they returned to their side did the tense atmosphere ease slightly. Nara Shikaku exhaled, rubbing his temple in quiet exasperation. This was an event overseen by the Sacrificial Shop itself—fatal outcomes were structurally impossible. Minato's sudden intervention, while understandable, could easily have been misinterpreted as a fresh challenge and disrupted the rhythm of the battle entirely.
Fortunately, nothing escalated further.
Shikaku let the matter drop and shifted his attention back to the field.
"According to the intelligence gathered so far," he said evenly, "Feng Xiaotian also possesses sustained flight capability. This match is yours."
His gaze settled on Rasa.
The Fourth Kazekage candidate nodded without hesitation.
He had been waiting for this moment.
Since Pakura's strength had surged—after acquiring a puppet forged with her own flesh and blood as its core through Sasori—the political atmosphere within Sunagakure had quietly shifted. Support for her succession had grown louder, more insistent. Rasa knew that if he wanted to remain relevant, let alone dominant, he needed a decisive victory that could not be questioned.
When he stepped onto the stage, the change was immediate.
The air trembled.
Hundreds of tons of gold dust rose from the ground like a living tide, swirling around his body in controlled, lethal currents. Unlike Killer Bee's direct and violent Lightning Blade, this was an executioner's weapon—cold, precise, inexorable.
"The battle begins!"
The moment Mo Jiao's voice faded, Rasa's hands flashed through seals. The gold dust surged upward, lifting him into the air as if borne by a golden sea.
Then it crashed forward.
A massive wave of shimmering gold swept across the arena, blotting out vision as it descended upon Feng Xiaotian like a falling sky.
Clang!
Twin wind blades ignited along Feng Xiaotian's arms, flaring with sharp green brilliance. With a single decisive cross-slash, he cleaved the golden tide apart, the compressed blade aura ripping through the dust with violent force.
But Rasa did not react.
The split gold dust twisted midair, fragmenting into countless spear-like shards that stabbed in from every direction.
Feng Xiaotian moved.
His body blurred, blade arcs tracing emerald afterimages as he shattered spear after spear. Yet even as he held his ground, his breathing grew heavier. The continuous maintenance of high-density wind blades was draining him far faster than anticipated.
Rasa's eyes flickered.
The gold dust suddenly converged, compressing into an enormous palm that blotted out the light as it slammed downward.
Feng Xiaotian's pupils contracted. Spirit power roared through his meridians as the green glow along his arms surged outward by several inches.
The impact screamed.
With a tearing shriek of compressed air, the golden palm was split apart.
Green wings erupted from Feng Xiaotian's back as his Third Spirit Ability activated at full output. He transformed into a streak of emerald lightning, launching himself straight toward Rasa in the sky.
For the first time, Rasa responded directly.
A shield of condensed gold dust formed instantly in front of him.
Feng Xiaotian's blade cut through it—
And his expression changed.
The figure before him dissolved into flowing gold, the dust binding his limbs mid-motion and forcing him to halt. He slashed again, tearing free just as Rasa's true body emerged several dozen meters away.
"Your attack is sharp," Rasa said calmly. "Sharper than my shield."
The gold dust regrouped, flowing back under his control like obedient water.
"But my ability naturally counters fighters like you."
Feng Xiaotian understood.
He lacked a battlefield-wide suppression method. He lacked the overwhelming speed needed to bypass the gold dust and strike the core directly. And worse—he lacked the spirit power reserves for a prolonged attrition battle.
From the moment the exchange began, the outcome had already tilted.
Rasa never lingered in one place, riding the gold dust as it surged and retreated in endless waves. Feng Xiaotian's movements slowed. Sweat soaked his brow.
When another tidal surge arrived, his blade light faltered for just an instant.
That was enough.
The gold dust wrapped around his limbs like chains, immobilizing him midair.
"I surrender," Feng Xiaotian said calmly.
The dust released him at once.
Cheers erupted from the Ninja World side. Rasa allowed himself a brief, quiet breath of relief.
Before Gao Feng could speak, Huo Wu stepped forward.
"I'll go."
Gao Feng hesitated. "You wanted Minato—"
"I'm not ready for him yet," he admitted.
"Then get stronger," Huo Wu replied, already walking past Feng Xiaotian toward the arena.
This was not a duel of speed or precision.
This was Magnet Release against an alternative Scorch Release.
The battlefield ignited.
Flames erupted, transforming the arena into a blazing inferno. Gold dust warped, melted, and demagnetized under the extreme heat, control slipping away almost instantly.
Complete suppression.
Rasa's gaze darkened.
"High temperature again?" He exhaled sharply, forming seals. "Magnet Release is more than this."
The ground shook.
A towering wall of gold dust surged upward, forcibly blocking the firestorm.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust World Method.
The golden tide rushed toward Huo Wu, attempting to engulf her completely.
She sneered.
The flames around her compressed violently, erupting outward in a blinding white fire ring.
Boom!
The gold dust disintegrated under the extreme heat.
Rasa did not retreat.
Grinding his teeth, he condensed the remaining gold dust into countless fine needles, firing them at extreme speed.
Pinpoint penetration.
"It's meaningless."
Huo Wu gathered the flames tightly around her body. Every needle melted on contact, leaving nothing but brief sparks across the surface.
Rasa was breathing heavily now, sweat dripping freely—but his eyes remained sharp.
"It's not over!"
He compressed everything he had left into a single weapon.
A golden spear formed in his palm.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust Sharp Spear!
Huo Wu finally focused.
She crossed her hands. Flames condensed, spiraled, and erupted forward.
Impact.
The explosion shook the arena.
When the smoke cleared, she stood unharmed.
"Your attack is sharp," she said lightly. "But my ability naturally counters people like you."
Rasa lowered his arm.
Defeat—again, to a high-temperature user reminiscent of Pakura.
Yagura stepped beside him, voice steady.
"Magnet Release is more than form control," he said. "If even air becomes your magnetic pole, heat will no longer be an absolute counter."
Rasa nodded slowly, thought replacing frustration.
Yagura then walked onto the stage.
Huo Wu raised an eyebrow. Residual heat still lingered in the air.
She attacked immediately.
Water surged.
Water Release clashed with flame, filling the arena with dense steam.
Illusions danced within the mist.
Yagura ignored them.
Heat refraction.
She changed tactics.
A beam of condensed white fire pierced the fog.
Yagura responded instantly, twisting water into a rotating wall. The beam pierced through—but deflected.
Momentum shifted.
A water dragon formed.
The final clash erupted like a storm.
In the end, endurance decided everything.
"I surrender," Huo Wu said, stepping aside.
Yagura dispersed the water, restoring the arena.
"Your mastery is impressive," he said sincerely.
She laughed. "Losing is losing."
Watching them, Yagura felt the truth settle deeper.
Only by standing among such geniuses could one truly grow.