[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a C-rank item: Haloxylon Seeds.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a B-rank item: Telescope Technique.]
...
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an A-rank item: Summoning Beast Card (Strong Attack Type).]
"Telescope Technique?"
Rasa's eyes lit up.
Not the flashiest jutsu, but ridiculously useful. Use a crystal as a medium and you could spy on anything inside the village. Hiruzen used it constantly. Word was the old man's favorite viewing spot was the women's bathhouse.
Rasa had zero interest in that kind of hobby.
But having the technique meant he could keep a much tighter watch on everything happening inside Sunagakure.
"Very practical."
He moved to the next reward.
Haloxylon seeds were straightforward. Tough desert shrub, perfect cash crop for the wasteland around the Sun Disks.
Then there was the new card.
This made four summoning cards total. One strong support type, one strong endurance type, and now two strong attack types.
Of the three he'd already summoned, the giant crow Yatagarasu was still his favorite. The chameleon had its uses, but its camouflage had the same flaw as Moonlight Hayate's Transparent Escape Technique—useless against anyone with decent sensory skills. The giant bull was… fine. Once the Mechanism Sand Boat was finished, the bull's main job would be done.
This new strong-attack card, though? Rasa was genuinely excited.
He flashed outside the village into the open desert.
No need for backup anymore. With dozens of S-rank techniques and twenty percent Ōtsutsuki bloodline, he wasn't worried about any summoning beast getting the better of him.
"Summon!"
White light burst from the card.
A massive shape exploded outward and immediately lunged at him, snarling, drooling, multiple heads sprouting from the same neck. Pure murder.
"Hellhound."
Rasa's expression sharpened. A wall of gold dust snapped up in front of him.
Boom!
The beast slammed into it. Rasa used the opening to leap back and rise into the air on a platform of floating gold dust.
The Hellhound's attacks were vicious, but they didn't matter if they couldn't reach him.
It roared, eyes blazing, multiple jaws snapping.
Rasa remembered the intel. Pain's Animal Path had summoned something just like this during the attack on Konoha. Ferocious as hell and, worse, it split on fatal damage. One became two. Two became four. Kept going until the summoner was taken out.
But this one wasn't being controlled by anyone. It was bound to the card. Tearing the card up wouldn't do a damn thing.
"Still, splitting has limits. Everything comes down to chakra. Even the strongest ninja is useless without it. Same goes for summoning beasts."
"In other words, I can't actually kill it. I just have to wear it down."
The Hellhound suddenly coiled its hind legs and launched itself skyward, jaws wide, aiming straight for Rasa.
"Jumps higher than I expected."
"Still useless."
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Cube!"
A massive cube of gold dust appeared directly above the beast and dropped like a meteor.
Thud!
It smashed the Hellhound flat.
Rasa looked down, one eyebrow raised.
"If we're doing an endurance fight, might as well test some new tricks."
"Sand Soldier Emergence!"
Dozens of highly detailed sand soldiers rose from the ground, each one already at jonin level.
"Kill it."
The soldiers charged, shields and spears ready.
The Hellhound didn't dodge. It met them head-on in a brutal, no-holds-barred slaughter. Blood sprayed everywhere, thick and reeking. Rasa covered his nose.
The beast's wounds piled up fast. Then, with a sickening tear, it split into two complete, even more vicious Hellhounds.
Rasa pointed at one.
"Bestow S."
He pointed at the other.
"Bestow N."
A massive magnetic pull exploded between them. The two beasts were yanked toward each other, snarling and struggling but unable to resist. They slammed together, too busy fighting the magnetism to attack the sand soldiers.
Rasa smiled.
"Works even better than I hoped. Way stronger control than plain Magnet Release."
The Hellhounds quickly realized the problem. Fighting the pull left them open to the soldiers. So they stopped resisting and let the magnetism glue them together.
Now they moved as one awkward, double-bodied mess.
That only made things worse for them.
Rasa gave one of the sand soldiers the S polarity.
Instantly the magnetic forces flipped. The Hellhounds were now being pushed away from the soldier instead of pulled. When they turned toward it, the force reversed again.
They lunged, jaws open—
The sand soldier drove its spear straight down the beast's throat.
Shunk!
The Hellhound split once more.