"Hydrification Technique!"
Hozuki Kumo turned the struck portions of his body into water, avoiding the damage, then leaped high into the air.
The sand soldiers attacked again.
But once more, he dissolved the impacted parts with the Hydrification Technique.
A flicker passed through Rasa's eyes.
"As expected of the Hydrification Technique…"
"A secret art of the Hozuki Clan."
"It may not be a kekkei genkai, but compared to one, it loses nothing."
Clearly, the number of sand soldiers utterly overwhelmed Hozuki Kumo.
And each of them possessed half of Rasa's strength.
Yet by relying on the Hydrification Technique, he had avoided every physical strike.
But those sand soldiers had already fought for quite some time. They had taken damage, and the chakra sustaining them had been heavily depleted. They did not have much battle time left.
Still—
"It's enough."
"Magnet Release…"
At Rasa's command, a large amount of gold dust appeared.
It did not gather into a solid form. Instead, it spread through the air around Hozuki Kumo like a thin mist.
Like a cloud of water vapor—
Only much finer.
Hozuki Kumo frowned, unable to understand what Rasa intended.
But he learned soon enough.
Rasa suddenly jumped down into the nearby crater.
When he emerged, there were two swords in his hands.
"Kiba?"
Hozuki Kumo's heart tightened.
Rasa had already begun feeding chakra into the blades.
Lightning flickered.
Even though he had only just gotten the swords—
Even though he was completely unfamiliar with them—
Rasa still had one advantage Black Hoe Raiga had not.
Gold dust.
Gold dust was metal.
And metal conducted electricity.
The next instant, the gold dust drifting around Hozuki Kumo suddenly condensed into fine lines.
Those lines wrapped toward him.
Their other ends led back toward Rasa.
Rasa lifted the blades in his hand and brought them close to the lines.
Hozuki Kumo's pupils contracted violently.
Inwardly, he cursed Black Hoe Raiga.
In an instant, a powerful electric current surged through the lines of condensed gold dust and shot into Hozuki Kumo's body.
His Hydrification Technique was broken on the spot.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Six spears struck from six different directions at once, piercing Hozuki Kumo's body in midair.
Blood spilled from the wounds.
The sand soldiers let go.
Hozuki Kumo's body dropped heavily to the ground.
Bang!
It hit hard.
The next moment, the sand soldiers vanished.
The spears embedded in Hozuki Kumo disappeared as well, leaving behind only the bleeding holes.
Rasa glanced at the Kiba blades in his hands.
"These swords actually pair rather well with my abilities."
"Metal conducts electricity."
He tucked the Kiba blades at his waist, then picked up Hiramekarei, the blunt sword, and Kushimaru's longsword, gathering all four together.
After that, a mass of gold dust appeared and wrapped up the corpses of Hozuki Kumo and the other three.
Another stream of gold dust rose beneath Rasa's feet, carrying him swiftly into the sky.
"Sensei!"
Maki's emotions were running wild.
He had been on the brink of death, already drowning in despair.
Yet not only had he been saved—he had witnessed Rasa kill four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by himself.
Those were the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Kirigakure's top elite shinobi.
Every one of them was an elite jonin.
On the front lines, they had each placed enormous pressure on Sunagakure.
And Rasa had killed four of them alone.
Without suffering so much as a visible wound.
Taking on the entire elite force of the Hongshan Clan by oneself was shocking enough.
Taking on four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen alone was no less astonishing.
"Sensei is… too strong!"
Rasa looked at Maki.
"Hold tight. We're heading back."
"Yes, Sensei."
Then Rasa stepped onto Yatagarasu's back.
Yatagarasu let out a cry and beat its wings.
In the blink of an eye, it shot dozens of meters forward.
Rasa glanced back once at the corpses of Akebino and the others.
"So the Seven Ninja Swordsmen didn't die to Might Dai after all…"
"They ended up dying to me instead."
"But the reason was the same."
"In the original story, they bullied the weak and picked on Might Guy's group."
"And now, they bullied the weak and targeted Maki."
"Only the dead are slightly different."
"The ones still alive now are Fuguki Suikazan, Juzo Biwa… and Munashi Jinpachi."
"Black Hoe Raiga replaced the Jinpachi who should have died."
"But that part doesn't matter."
"What matters is that this haul is enormous."
First, four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were dead, severely weakening Kirigakure.
Second, four ninja swords had fallen into his hands—an undeniable boost to Sunagakure's strength.
And beyond that, the corpses of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen themselves were useful.
Human bodies could be made into puppets.
Sasori of the Red Sand could do it.
By all logic, Chiyo should be able to as well.
The corpses of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen counted as first-class material.
"What a pity Samehada wasn't among them."
"But if Samehada had been here… I might not have won so easily."
Yatagarasu flew at incredible speed.
Before long, it vanished into the sky.
Only then did a Kirigakure shinobi squad finally arrive.
But aside from the wreckage covering the ground, there was nothing to be seen.
"My lord!"
"My lord!"
A weak voice rang out.
The group turned.
A tiny, strangely shaped summon crawled out from the corner, trembling with fear.
They hurriedly questioned it.
"What happened here? Where are Lord Akebino and the others?"
The summon looked terrified.
"They're dead… they all died!"
The shinobi's pupils shrank violently.
"All dead? How is that possible? Who killed them?"
That was four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen together—enough to conquer a small country.
Even a Kage-level expert would find it troublesome to face several of them at once.
"It was Rasa!"
"Sunagakure's Fourth Kazekage, Rasa!"
"I saw it with my own eyes. Lord Raiga, Lord Kushimaru, Lord Akebino, and Lord Kumo… all died at Rasa's hands."
"He summoned six incredibly powerful sand soldiers."
"Lord Kushimaru was quickly pushed down and had his blade taken."
"Lord Raiga tried to support him, but Rasa found an opening, bound him with gold dust, and had the sand soldiers pierce him through."
"After that, Lord Akebino and Lord Kushimaru worked with Lord Kumo to launch a surprise attack, but it failed."
"Lord Akebino and Lord Kushimaru were killed on the spot."
"Lord Kumo held on for a while with the Hydrification Technique, but Rasa picked up Lord Raiga's Kiba blades and used them to counter his water body."
"Lord Kumo was killed by the sand soldiers too."
"The four ninja swords—and the four lords' corpses—were all taken away by Rasa."
"I'm telling the truth!"
In an instant, every face in the squad turned ghastly.
The deaths of four members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were, for a Kirigakure already in bad shape, nothing less than another disaster piled on top of calamity.
All they could feel was—
The sky had collapsed.
"This must be reported to the Mizukage-sama immediately!"
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