The sky was filled with gold dust and parasitic insects, all mixed together in utter chaos.
The two Aburame shinobi were quite strong. They had turned their own bodies into insect hives and raised a vast number of kikaichu. Now, releasing them all at once, they sent a black tide sweeping across the battlefield.
"This is working!"
The two Aburame shinobi exchanged a glance, both of their eyes lighting up.
Then they directed the kikaichu to swarm toward Rasa.
But what neither of them noticed was the large amount of gold dust already drifting around the insects.
Rasa watched the mass of kikaichu closing in and gripped the hilt with both hands.
A great amount of chakra poured into the Thunder Blade.
In the next instant—
Lightning erupted.
A golden line appeared out of nowhere, linking the Thunder Blade in Rasa's hands with the gold dust suspended around the kikaichu.
At once, the entire area crackled with electric light.
Because the range was so broad, the electricity per unit area was spread thin and no longer overwhelmingly powerful.
But the kikaichu's resistance was far weaker than that of actual shinobi.
The moment the lightning spread over them, the insects fell into a state of paralysis.
They began dropping one after another.
Like rain.
Very quickly, the ground was blanketed in a dense, horrifying layer of insect bodies.
The two Aburame shinobi's expressions immediately turned ugly.
And the instant Danzo saw that, an intense urge to retreat rose in his heart.
Until now, he had still entertained some hopes.
He had brought so many shinobi with him this time. Against a lone Rasa, perhaps there had been a chance to take him down.
Danzo knew full well that with Rasa's status, he would never truly come alone.
But the other Sunagakure shinobi would definitely be slower than Rasa.
That meant there should have been a window of time in between.
And when Danzo chose to leave shortly after meeting Shirasuna Koichi, he had effectively forced Rasa to reveal himself early.
If he had delayed any longer, that gap would have been even smaller.
But now—
With the Yamanaka shinobi dead, and the two Aburame shinobi falling one after another, Danzo no longer held even the slightest hope of killing Rasa.
Even if Rasa truly was alone.
"Attack Rasa with everything you have!"
Danzo barked the order.
At the same time, he formed hand seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
A massive sphere of wind blasted out like a cannonball.
Rasa stepped aside.
Boom!
The huge wind sphere smashed into the ground, sending sand and dirt spraying everywhere.
"Now!"
Danzo's eyes flashed as he retreated at full speed.
"Rasa, I'll remember this grudge."
A large number of Root shinobi abandoned the sand soldiers they had been fighting and charged toward Rasa.
As he withdrew, Danzo glanced at them, his heart bleeding.
He did not care about lives.
He even frequently made his subordinates kill one another for his own purposes.
But in Danzo's eyes, these Root shinobi were extremely important assets.
Assets that belonged solely to him.
Lose one, and that was one less.
Training replacements was far from easy.
It required enormous time and resources.
"Shirasuna Koichi, that useless fool!"
By now, Danzo had also realized that Koichi had not sold him out.
Koichi really had betrayed Sunagakure and cooperated with him, a man from Konoha's Root.
For Konoha, it had genuinely been a rare opportunity.
But Koichi had simply been too stupid.
Danzo even suspected Koichi had been exposed long ago.
The reason Rasa had not dealt with him immediately was because he wanted to use Koichi as bait and lure Konoha into this trap.
"And then he let Koichi escape Sunagakure…"
"That was deliberate too."
"He wanted to kill whoever came to meet him."
"What a vicious Rasa!"
Then Danzo's eyes turned cold.
"But killing me won't be that easy."
"I didn't survive this many years for nothing."
"These Root shinobi are enough to hold you back. Even if you have the power to kill four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen at once, take this as my gift to you."
"Next time, I'll make you pay it back."
A vicious light flickered in Danzo's eyes.
"In all these years, there are very few people who've made me suffer such a loss."
"Rasa… very good."
"I'll remember you."
Danzo withdrew his gaze and turned—
Then his pupils contracted violently.
Because he suddenly saw that Rasa, who had clearly been hundreds of meters behind him a moment ago, had now appeared directly in front of him.
"A clone?"
"No… not a clone!"
"And the one before wasn't a clone either!"
"What is this?"
"Could it be the Body Flicker Technique?"
"But the Body Flicker can't possibly be this fast."
"Unless…"
"…Flying Thunder God?"
Danzo's face darkened.
"Impossible."
"The Flying Thunder God is unique to Konoha. It was created by Teacher Tobirama. At present, only Namikaze Minato has learned it. There is no second person."
Rasa raised his hand.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust!"
A mass of gold dust shot toward Danzo.
Danzo hurriedly dodged.
"Lord Danzo, be careful!"
One Root shinobi noticed Danzo's situation and turned to support him at once.
But right then, a sand soldier suddenly thrust forward.
Puchi!
The Root shinobi's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked to the side. A spear had pierced into his waist.
"How is this sand soldier so fast?"
"There wasn't one here a moment ago."
"Wasn't it only around chunin level before?"
The Root shinobi stared hard at the sand soldier that had killed him.
Then, suddenly, he noticed something.
This sand soldier… seemed different from the others.
Its armor was more refined. Its appearance more detailed.
That was intentional on Rasa's part.
Most of the sand soldiers were low-level. Their job was only to tie the enemy down, and to mislead them into underestimating the strength of all sand soldiers.
Then, by mixing in two stronger ones, he could catch them off guard.
Spend less chakra, gain greater effect.
The moment those two high-grade sand soldiers made their move, they began causing heavy casualties.
The Konoha shinobi had never noticed the difference.
"Quicksand Shift!"
Rasa moved again.
Danzo instantly panicked.
"What is this?"
"The shinobi I painstakingly trained can't even deal with the sand soldiers? Weren't those things supposed to be cannon fodder? And what exactly is this instant-movement jutsu of Rasa's?"
"Could it be…"
"Am I really going to die here today?"
Danzo's face turned ugly.
But in the next moment, it grew even uglier.
A vast shadow fell over him.
Danzo looked up—
And saw an enormous figure looming above.
"Yatagarasu… Rasa's summoning beast!"
Dozens of figures leapt down from Yatagarasu's back.