The deafening explosions finally subsided.
Rasa, wrapped inside a sphere of gold dust, crashed heavily three hundred meters behind the Sunagakure formation.
Crack.
The gold dust sphere split apart.
Rasa staggered out from within.
His left leg, right arm, and back were riddled with scorching fragments of gold dust while blood continuously dripped from the wounds.
He gasped heavily for breath before raising his head to look ahead.
It was tragic.
Utterly tragic.
The center of the battlefield had become a scene from hell.
Sunagakure shinobi lay scattered everywhere across the ground.
Some no longer moved.
Others rolled across the earth while screaming miserably.
The air was thick with the nauseating smell of burned flesh and blood.
At least three hundred people had either died or been severely wounded from that explosion alone.
Even more people had been shocked senseless by the blast and now stood there blankly with vacant eyes.
Rasa's eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
"Lord Rasa!!"
Several Sunagakure Jonin rushed over in panic to support him.
Rasa violently shoved them aside and roared:
"Reorganize the formation!! Stabilize the ranks immediately!!"
His voice exploded through the chaos like thunder.
Sunagakure was still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
The surviving Chunin and Jonin immediately began gathering their scattered subordinates after hearing Rasa's command.
The chaos gradually began stabilizing.
But at that exact moment
"Kill!!!"
A roar shook the battlefield from the direction of the Konoha camp.
Choza personally led the charge while bringing every remaining shinobi in the camp capable of fighting.
More than eight hundred Konoha shinobi surged forward like a blazing red blade stabbing violently into the chaotic Sunagakure formation.
"Multi-Size Technique!!"
Choza's body instantly expanded.
His giant fist smashed downward, crushing two Sunagakure Chunin directly into the earth.
Guy followed close beside him.
The youth blade flashed repeatedly through the night as he instantly cut down three Genin attempting to weave hand seals.
Shiranui Genma, Ebisu, and the rest of the assault squad charged closely behind them.
Kunai and shuriken rained down like a storm.
The Sunagakure forces were already dazed from the explosion.
Now they were completely overwhelmed by Konoha's sudden counterattack.
The Konoha shinobi had been suppressed for far too long.
Now every single person fought like a madman.
When their blades dulled, they stabbed with Kunai.
When their Kunai ran out, they smashed with fists.
When their fists broke, they bit with their teeth.
In only a few short minutes, another large section of the Sunagakure front line collapsed.
Bodies covered the battlefield.
Rasa stood at the rear while watching his subordinates being slaughtered one after another.
His teeth ground audibly.
"Enough!!"
He suddenly slammed both palms onto the ground.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!!"
The ground trembled violently.
Countless grains of gold dust erupted upward from beneath the battlefield once again.
But this time, instead of attacking Konoha directly, the gold dust surged upward from both sides of the battlefield like two gigantic walls.
Then they slammed violently toward the center.
Rumble!!
The two golden walls collided heavily together while sending massive clouds of gold powder into the sky.
A gigantic trench instantly appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Thirty meters wide.
Ten meters deep.
The battlefield was forcibly split apart.
The charging Konoha shinobi were abruptly blocked by the newly formed trench and forced to stop.
Choza stood at the edge and glanced downward.
It was too wide to jump across.
On the opposite side, Rasa slowly rose into the air atop floating gold dust while coldly overlooking the battlefield below.
In only that short exchange, more than two hundred additional Sunagakure shinobi had died.
Several dozen Konoha shinobi had fallen as well.
But compared to Konoha's losses, Sunagakure had suffered far more heavily.
Rasa's eyes slowly swept across the battlefield before finally locking onto a single figure near the rear of the Konoha camp.
Sarutobi Sosuke.
The man wearing a brand-new Jonin flak jacket while trying desperately to hide himself behind others.
Among the blood-covered Konoha shinobi, he appeared especially conspicuous.
Rasa clearly remembered the information from the intelligence reports.
Supreme commander of Mount Kikyo.
Member of the Sarutobi Clan.
Never experienced real battlefield combat.
Originally, Rasa believed this battle would be an easy victory.
He never expected things to become this difficult after the initial success.
No.
That was wrong.
Perhaps the initial success itself had merely been bait.
Perhaps the enemy had deliberately lowered his guard from the beginning just to lure him into this exact situation.
Rasa's teeth itched from rage.
He stared directly at Sarutobi Sosuke while murderous intent filled his hoarse voice.
"Commander of the Sarutobi Clan..."
Every word struck into the battlefield like iron nails.
"I truly underestimated you."
The moment those words left his mouth, the Sunagakure shinobi all glared toward Sarutobi Sosuke with eyes full of hatred.
Meanwhile, the expressions of the Konoha shinobi became incredibly strange.
Many wanted to say something.
But none of them knew how to explain this absurd misunderstanding.
Every single one felt suffocated inside.
But Rasa noticed none of it.
He slowly raised one hand and pointed directly toward Sarutobi Sosuke.
His bloodshot eyes burned with terrifying killing intent.
"But debts of blood must be repaid with blood!"
"Sarutobi Sosuke!!"
"Tonight, I will personally kill you!!"
Hearing those words, Sarutobi Sosuke's legs instantly weakened.
He stumbled backward half a step while his lips trembled violently.
"No... it wasn't me... it was Choza... it was Nara Shikaku's arrangement..."
He desperately wanted to deny responsibility.
He wanted to shift the blame onto others.
But Rasa no longer listened.
"Kill!!!"
With bloodshot eyes, Rasa waved his hand forward violently.
The Sunagakure army erupted with furious roars.
The repeated setbacks had already driven them into madness.
The remaining two thousand three hundred-plus Sunagakure shinobi charged forward simultaneously.
Some leaped directly across the trench.
Others crossed temporary bridges formed from Rasa's gold dust.
They charged straight toward the Konoha forces.
There were no more traps.
No more defensive fortifications.
From this moment onward
There would only be blades and Kunai.
Ninjutsu and flesh.
The Konoha shinobi also showed no fear whatsoever.
Although over two thousand enemies still sounded terrifying...
Compared to the despair from earlier when facing three thousand enemies and Rasa's Gold Dust Wave...
Things were already much better now.
For the first time tonight, a thought appeared inside everyone's hearts.
We might actually survive this battle.
The two armies finally collided completely.
Kunai pierced through shoulders.
Blades hacked through armor.
Fireballs exploded within crowds.
Wind blades severed limbs.
The sounds of screaming, roaring, and clashing metal fused together into a horrifying symphony.
The battlefield instantly transformed into a giant meat grinder.
Rasa stepped atop floating gold dust and crossed directly over the trench.
His target was clear from the very beginning.
Sarutobi Sosuke.
Sarutobi Sosuke turned to run immediately.
But the battlefield behind him was already packed with fighting shinobi.
There was nowhere to escape.
"Protect the Supreme Commander!!"
Two Chunin loyal to Sarutobi Sosuke rushed forward to intercept Rasa.
But before they could even complete their hand seals, gold dust had already wrapped tightly around their ankles.
"Sand Binding Coffin."
Crack.
The sound of bones shattering was instantly drowned out by the battlefield.
Sarutobi Sosuke's legs gave out completely.
He collapsed onto the ground while staring helplessly as Rasa drew closer and closer.
The gold dust condensed instantly into sharp spikes before plunging toward his head.
Clang!!
A pair of iron-like giant arms smashed into the spikes from the side and shattered them apart.
Choza burst directly out of the battlefield.
His enlarged arm swung violently toward Rasa.
"Your opponent is me!!"
Rasa's face darkened immediately.
The one he truly wanted to kill was Sarutobi Sosuke.
That man was the supreme commander of Mount Kikyo.
And he had apparently directed this entire terrifying battle.
As long as Sarutobi Sosuke died
Konoha's morale would collapse instantly.
Of this, Rasa was absolutely certain.
But with Choza charging directly at him, he had no choice but to divert his attention and manipulate the gold dust for defense.
Boom!!
Choza's giant fist smashed against the golden shield with a dull explosion.
Taking advantage of this moment, Sarutobi Sosuke scrambled backward while crawling desperately across the ground.
A passing Sunagakure Genin spotted him immediately and thrust a Kunai toward his throat.
Puff!!
A shuriken pierced directly through the Genin's temple.
It was one of Sarutobi Sosuke's personal guards.
"Move!!"
The man grabbed Sarutobi Sosuke and forcefully dragged him backward.
Only then did Sarutobi Sosuke finally recover slightly from his panic.
He tightly grabbed the bodyguard's arm while speaking with a trembling voice:
"Retreat... quickly retreat... we can't win..."
The bodyguard's face twitched violently.
Talking about retreat before battle was one thing.
But now both armies were already fully entangled in close combat.
At this point
Who could retreat?
Who even dared retreat?
The bodyguard ignored him completely and forcibly dragged him toward a less crowded area.
Meanwhile, the battlefield center had already descended fully into chaotic slaughter.
Konoha and Sunagakure shinobi were completely tangled together.
People died every second.
Blood soaked into the scorched earth until it became impossible to distinguish ally from enemy.
Rasa roared furiously while exchanging blows with Choza.
"Leave no one alive!! Kill them all!!"
The Sunagakure forces attacked even more fiercely after hearing his command.
Konoha's formation was gradually scattered apart.
Everyone could only fight independently now.
Guy had just forced back a Sunagakure Chunin with a slash from his blade when he suddenly glanced backward.
Sarutobi Sosuke was being dragged toward the ruined remains of the camp.
Rasa noticed it as well.
Cold killing intent flashed through his eyes.
The surrounding gold dust suddenly exploded outward violently.
Choza was forced backward half a step.
Immediately afterward, the gold dust transformed into dozens of sharp golden needles and shot toward Sarutobi Sosuke like torrential rain.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!!"
An earthen wall rose instantly from the ground and blocked most of the golden needles.
But three still pierced through the wall and stabbed directly into Sarutobi Sosuke's shoulder and back.
"Ahhhhh!!"
Sarutobi Sosuke released a miserable scream before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
Rasa immediately prepared to continue pursuing him.
But Choza charged at him once again.
His fist, wrapped in violent wind pressure, smashed directly toward Rasa's face.
"Get lost!!"
Rasa roared furiously while condensing a gold dust shield before himself.
Boom—!!
The collision erupted with violent airwaves as both men were forced backward simultaneously.
Rasa panted heavily while scanning the battlefield.
Konoha clearly had fewer numbers.
Yet they had endured far longer than he originally expected.
More than eight hundred Konoha shinobi had actually managed to withstand the assault of over two thousand Sunagakure shinobi.
They had even killed several hundred enemies in return.
Rasa's eyes once again locked tightly onto Sarutobi Sosuke.
The man was lying on the ground while clutching his wounded shoulder and screaming miserably.
The supreme commander of Mount Kikyo.
Although he appeared cowardly and pathetic—
Rasa absolutely refused to underestimate him again.
"The enemy is pretending."
Rasa's eyes swept once more across the battlefield.
The destruction of the Gold Dust Wave.
The catastrophic casualties suffered by Sunagakure.
The battle devolving into chaotic close combat.
Everything
Everything had been caused by that man.
"Sarutobi..."
Rasa gritted his teeth while the gold dust beneath his feet churned violently.
He would absolutely slaughter that bastard tonight.
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