This wave of gold dust was far more staggering in scale than the giant gold-dust hand from earlier.
At first glance, it looked like a real ocean wave—one surge after another, rolling toward Mikami Yuu with the crushing force to topple mountains and grind everything in its path to dust. It looked as if it meant to crush his entire body into pieces.
"Tch!"
Chakra erupted beneath Yuu's feet as he leapt backward.
His taijutsu ability was still quite good. Even without opening the Eight Gates or activating Neural Activation Technique, his movement speed was extremely fast. Golden waves several stories tall crashed down from midair again and again, brushing past the hem of his clothes before slamming into the ground with thunderous force, carving out deep trenches and sending shattered stone flying everywhere.
During the brief intervals between dodges, Yuu's hands formed seals at high speed. He inhaled deeply, his chest swelling.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
One after another, dozens of orange-red fireballs bloomed like scattered balsam seeds. Under Yuu's control, they screamed through the air from different angles and at different speeds, shooting almost simultaneously toward Rasa, who was controlling the gold dust in midair.
Rasa stood atop the air and moved his will. The gold dust swirling around him split apart and scattered, forming dozens of shields of varying sizes that intercepted each fireball.
Bang, bang, bang, bang—!!!
Continuous explosions erupted across the sky.
Under the effect of Scorching Flame Burstflow, every Phoenix Sage fireball violently detonated the instant it struck the gold dust. For a moment, flames surged into the sky and thick smoke billowed. Rasa's entire body was swallowed by dense smoke and fire, making it impossible to see his original appearance.
Then, scorching airwaves and shockwaves spread in every direction, making the clothes of the people below snap loudly in the wind.
During this process, Yuu deliberately used Overload Pulse for a few seconds to enhance his dynamic vision and observe the reaction after the Phoenix Sage Fire collided with the gold dust.
"Did it work?"
Not far away, Obito looked toward Yuu and Rasa's direction, his Sharingan wide open.
As a ninja who was also skilled in Fire Release, Obito felt envy and jealousy toward Yuu's Phoenix Sage Fire: Scorching Flame and desperately wanted to pull off something like it himself.
"No, it shouldn't be that simple…"
Kakashi shook his head, his expression grave.
Although he did not know Rasa's exact strength, Kakashi understood very well that an enemy of this level could not be defeated by a C-rank ninjutsu. Even though Yuu's Phoenix Sage Fire was far more powerful than ordinary, that wave of chain explosions just now likely had limited effect on Rasa.
After all…
the gold dust on the ground, like waves of the sea, still had not stopped. Its surging momentum had only slowed slightly, like the calm before a storm. If Rasa had truly been injured, the gold dust should not be behaving like this.
On the other side, the Suna ninja fighting Kakashi and the others also stopped one after another, watching the mass of flames in the sky with uneasy hearts.
A dozen seconds later,
the smoke dispersed.
Rasa still stood steadily atop the gold dust platform, overlooking the ground from more than ten meters in the air.
Although most of the gold-dust shields he had used to block the Phoenix Sage Fire were now pitted and uneven, his actual body had indeed been well protected by them. He looked merely stained by a little soot, without the slightest injury.
Seeing this, Sunagakure's side was reinvigorated.
Rasa spoke coldly. "Hmph. So this is Konoha's genius? Nothing more than this! An attack of this level cannot even touch the hem of my clothes. It poses no threat at all! Let me teach you what a true expert looks like, brat!"
As his words fell,
Rasa spread his arms farther, and chakra surged wildly.
The gold dust suspended in the sky churned with even greater intensity than before, then rapidly condensed and transformed. It formed blades, swords, spears, and even huge angular cubes—dozens of them appearing in midair out of nowhere.
Then…
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!!
With piercing sounds of tearing air, those gold-dust weapons poured down like a torrential storm! They did not target only Yuu, but also covered Kakashi, Obito, Kurenai, and the others within a radius of nearly a hundred meters! He clearly intended to wipe out all the Konoha ninja at once!
Magnet Release: Gold Dust World Method!
"Not good! Everyone, dodge!"
Kakashi shouted sharply, then slapped both hands to the ground, trying to help block for the others.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Beside him, Obito widened his Sharingan and formed seals rapidly.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Whoosh—!
A thick earth wall rose from the ground.
A giant fire dragon roared upward, trying to intercept that deadly metal storm.
However, the gold-dust weapons were too dense, and their coverage was too wide. Obito's fire dragon had only collided with the foremost weapons before it was instantly scattered, then quickly extinguished by the gold-dust spears that followed behind.
Kakashi's Earth-Style Wall did not fare much better. Even though he deliberately carved several extra dog heads into the wall, it was still torn apart like paper under the weapons formed from gold dust. Countless pieces of stone flew in all directions, and the shockwave violently blasted Kakashi away when he retreated half a step too slowly.
Seeing this,
Obito rushed over and, with sharp eyes and quick hands, grabbed Kakashi by the arm. He narrowly pulled Kakashi away from several gold-dust spears shooting toward him, but one of the spears still grazed Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi grunted, and a spray of blood flew up.
On the other side,
Asuma and Maruboshi Kosuke shouted loudly for the nearby Konoha ninja to dodge farther away.
Kurenai and Namashi Raidō reacted slightly slower. Yuu used Substitution Technique twice in succession, one time wrapping an arm around Kurenai's waist and the other grabbing Raidō's wrist, pulling them away from the center of the strike zone.
Even so, several Konoha ninja failed to dodge in time. Their chests or skulls were directly pierced by the hard gold-dust weapons. By the time they fell, their bodies were already incomplete, looking unbearably tragic.
After doing all this, Yuu immediately retreated in the opposite direction.
"Spread out toward the outside of the valley! His main target is me! He won't have much attention left for you!"
After the first wave of attacks, more than a dozen gold-dust swords formed in midair. The blades and swords that had pierced into the ground also trembled under the control of magnetic force and flew up again. Together with the golden waves surging like a sea, they formed a full-direction strangling net around Yuu.
From an outsider's perspective, it seemed as though Yuu was deliberately protecting the other Konoha ninja, actively dodging toward a more open area with fewer people. But without anyone noticing, his movement space was being rapidly compressed, gradually forcing him into a desperate corner.
Finally…
"Chance!"
A sharp gleam flashed in Rasa's eyes. His hands suddenly came together.
"This ends now!!"
All the gold-dust spears pointed in the same direction and shot down toward the corner where Yuu had last dodged. At the same time, the golden sand waves on the ground roared and transformed into a pair of massive golden palms, slamming upward as if to completely wrap around and crush Yuu!
"Yuu—!!"
Kurenai watched this scene and screamed in anguish.
Obito's eyes also nearly split from rage. The two tomoe in his Sharingan spun wildly, and his body instinctively tried to rush forward.
Kakashi clutched his bleeding shoulder, his face pale.
Boom—!!!!
A deafening crash and crushing sound erupted violently. Dozens of gold-dust spears pierced deep into the ground, raising smoke and dust into the sky. Two massive waves of golden sand slammed together like colliding mountains, squeezing fiercely with a teeth-aching metallic grinding and crushing sound. The entire valley seemed to tremble.
"Got him!"
The corner of Rasa's mouth lifted.
It had not been in vain that he had deliberately spent so much chakra to create such momentum, all to display his magnificence as "Kazekage."
Under an attack of this level, even an iron puppet would be ground into powder, let alone a flesh-and-blood body. He could almost see that hateful white-haired brat turned into meat paste.
However…
the smile remained on his face for only an instant.
Something… was wrong!
Inside that mass of gold dust just now, there had been no sensation of flesh and blood. Instead, it felt like he had crushed a mass of water!
Shadow clone? When did he use it?
Or had he escaped using that miraculous "space-time ninjutsu" while Rasa wasn't paying attention?
Rasa's face changed abruptly. He turned his head sharply, his gaze sweeping through the surroundings like lightning. Yet for the first moment, he failed to find Yuu's figure amid the chaotic crowd.
At this moment,
within the smoke and dust at the side of the battlefield,
Asuma raised both hands and glanced at the empty space behind him. His expression looked somewhat hesitant.
"Yuu, are you sure such a simple ninjutsu can break through his defense… Forget it! I'll trust you. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!!"
Almost at the same time Asuma acted,
behind him,
a blurry human-shaped outline appeared, both hands forming the seals for Great Dragon Fire.
That was right. The one Rasa had crushed just now had been Yuu's shadow clone, created when he rescued Kurenai and Namashi Raidō from Gold Dust World Method. After that, while the shadow clone drew aggro, Yuu's real body quietly used Transparent Escape and came to Asuma's side.
Originally, he had wanted to find a stronger Wind Release ninja. Unfortunately, Wind Release was relatively rare in Konoha. Aside from Asuma, who was still only a chūnin, it was hard to find another powerful Wind Release user. He couldn't exactly summon Jiraiya or Orochimaru over to help.
But…
this should be enough.
"Great Dragon Fire: Incineration!!!"
At this moment, Yuu spat out a blazing fire dragon even thicker and more condensed than the one Obito had used earlier! It roared and merged with the gale Asuma had released.
Then, everyone heard—
Boom—!!!
Wind fed the fire!
The fire dragon, already impressive in momentum, seemed to be injected with violent fuel. Its body instantly expanded by nearly double, swelling to over ten meters long. Its massive dragon head opened wide, its posture powerful and soaring.
Not only that,
the color of this fire dragon underwent a shocking transformation.
First, a deep blue glow appeared from its "organs." Then the blue spread toward the outer layer of the dragon's body. In the blink of an eye, it coated the dragon's scales, transforming it from blazing white into deep azure! The terrifying heat violently distorted the air, producing crackling explosions.
Perfectly Controlled Fire!
When flame reaches around 1,200 degrees, it shifts from orange-red to blazing white. At around 1,600 degrees, it becomes blue. This is "perfectly refined fire."
Now…
Under Yuu's full-force activation, plus Asuma's Wind Release support, this Great Dragon Fire had clearly broken past 1,600 degrees, reaching a domain ordinary Fire Release could not touch. Wherever it passed, the grass and trees on the ground instantly charred and turned to ash!
"What?!"
Rasa's heart shook violently as he looked at this scene.
With his level of education, he did not know the relationship between flame color and temperature.
But he could still roughly judge the power of this "blue dragon." He did not dare take it lightly and immediately mobilized gold dust, constructing a sturdy shield in front of him.
However,
during his earlier use of Gold Dust World Method to annihilate Yuu, Rasa had used a large amount of gold dust to create blades, spears, swords, and halberds, then sent them slashing outward. So at this moment, the amount of gold dust remaining around him was not that large. In his haste, he could only form a relatively thin shield.
Although Rasa was now desperately urging his chakra to pull the gold dust back, his speed was still clearly a little too slow.
And this was precisely part of Yuu's plan.
Although he was confident in this perfectly refined Great Dragon Fire, if there was a chance to weaken Rasa's defense, there was no need to clash head-on with him at full strength.
One breath later,
Boom—!!!!
The ten-plus-meter-long blue dragon, carrying a fierce tearing wind, slammed hard into the gold-dust barrier!
It was like Mars colliding with Earth.
Along with a deafening roar, pale-red high-temperature airwaves exploded outward and swept recklessly in all directions.
Moreover…
there was an ear-grating sizzling sound from the contact point between the "blue dragon" and the gold-dust shield, like a red-hot branding iron pressed against ice.
"This is…"
Rasa's eyes widened in horror. He discovered that the gold-dust barrier he regarded as an "absolute defense" began softening and warping at a visible speed the instant it touched the blue flame! Its surface quickly turned red and bright, even showing signs of melting!
"…Impossible!"
What kind of Fire Release was this? It could even melt gold dust! Not even Pakura's Scorch Release could do that!!
Mm… in truth, the melting point of gold dust was indeed very high, above 1,700 degrees. Under normal circumstances, only a special Lava Release like Iwagakure's Rōshi could melt it.
Unfortunately, Yuu's Fire Release was not quite the same as ordinary people's.
Almost at the same time the gold-dust barrier shook violently and began to melt,
Yuu took a deep breath, drew his sword from behind his back, activated Overload Pulse once again, then pushed off the ground hard with both feet.
Bang—!!
Using the recoil from that stomp, Yuu's figure shot into the sky like a cannonball, rushing toward Rasa in midair!
Underdog Victory buff unlocked.
Monster Strength Technique… Gamble begins!
~~~
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