The ice spear danced deftly in Takeshi's hands, each strike aimed directly at Baki's vital points.
Barely dodging Takeshi's relentless assault, Baki gritted his teeth, searching desperately for an opening in his opponent's movements.
Unfortunately, Takeshi's small frame left him with no chance to counterattack.
He could only trade injury for injury.
Facing the spearhead that was nearly at his chest, Baki readied his wind blade, forced himself forward, and blocked the spear tip aimed at piercing his heart with his shoulder.
At the same time, enduring the searing pain, he threw the wind blade in his hand, sending it whistling toward Takeshi's throat.
Sensing the danger, Takeshi snapped the ice spear, reconstructed the remaining portion into the form of a ninja blade, and swung it up to knock Baki's wind blade aside.
"Crack."
The wind blade was blocked, but the newly formed ninja sword was shattered by the sharpness of the strike.
As shards of ice scattered in the air, Baki realized this was his chance. He pulled out a kunai, ready to continue his attack.
"Pathetic."
Seeing Baki's ferocious expression, Takeshi let out a cold laugh, reached out with his free hand, and grasped the other half of the broken ice blade.
The two halves transformed into a pair of fresh ice swords, and before Baki's disbelieving eyes, they slashed through the hand holding his kunai.
His left shoulder was pierced, his right hand cut down—in just a few exchanges, Baki had lost all ability to fight back.
"Boring. I was planning to test some of my taijutsu on you."
As Baki staggered backward, Takeshi kicked him flying. Before Baki could even hit the ground, Takeshi leapt onto him, slamming a knee down hard into his abdomen.
The crushing blow made Baki feel as if his organs were about to surge up his throat. He let out a miserable scream before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
"That's all you had in you."
Shaking out his wrist, Takeshi stepped off Baki, froze him in ice with Ice Release, and finally turned his attention toward Pakura's battle.
To Takeshi's surprise, he had thought Rasa's strength would surpass Pakura's, but the current situation showed they were almost evenly matched.
Pakura's Scorch Release easily melted Rasa's sand into streams of liquid gold, but her proud fireballs could not break through his defenses.
Meanwhile, Rasa's counterattacks were nimbly evaded by Pakura. And with Uchiha Hikari watching intently from the side, Rasa dared not recklessly use his strongest techniques.
The battle was at a stalemate.
But Takeshi noticed something unusual beneath his feet in the yellow sand.
He crouched down and touched the sand. Beyond the searing heat, he felt another substance mixed in.
"Discovered me, have you? In that case..."
Catching Takeshi's movement from the corner of his eye, Rasa realized his trick had been exposed. He closed his eyes, the black circles around them deepening.
"Magnet Release: Great Gold Burial!"
The entire dune quaked under Rasa's chakra. Vast quantities of yellow sand receded, replaced by glittering gold dust that spun wildly in a massive vortex.
Such a large-scale attack left Pakura no chance to dodge, no matter how agile she was.
Takeshi: Guess I'll leave it to you, Isobu.
Isobu: ...
Takeshi stood still, making no move to evade.
"Hey, aren't you going to run?"
Uchiha Hikari, who had been preparing to flee, saw Takeshi unmoving and, gritting his teeth, returned to stand at his side.
"That's it?"
A confident smile spread across Takeshi's face. As Isobu poured chakra into him, an immense wave of cold spread outward from Takeshi's body.
Even Rasa, riding on his cloud of gold dust high above, felt the chill.
"Impossible... don't tell me..."
For the first time, Rasa's face showed shock. Even when facing Sarutobi Hiruzen, he had only displayed unwillingness, never such fear.
But Takeshi gave him no time to process his dread. As the icy aura deepened, the wildly spinning gold dust slowed, frost creeping over its surface.
"Ice Release: Snow Prison, Frozen Sky!"
As cold completely replaced the heat, the Scorch Release fireballs around Pakura were extinguished, dissolving in front of her stunned eyes.
In an instant, everything turned white. The yellow sand became solid ice, the gold dust was buried beneath the frozen layers, and the corpses of Sand shinobi were raised high, turned into sculptures of ice.
"You've actually made me look up to you, Rasa."
Before Rasa could recover, Takeshi's frosty voice echoed. Under his control, sharp ice spikes erupted from the ground, shooting straight toward the sky.
The golden sand cloud was pierced, and Rasa himself plummeted helplessly from above.
When he struck the ice, the impact force even cracked the frozen surface beneath him.
"Kh...!"
Landing face-first, Rasa spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of broken teeth.
"Seal."
Four small ice spikes pierced through his hands and feet in succession, pinning the Fourth Kazekage firmly to the ice.
After securing him, Takeshi didn't recklessly approach. Instead, he drew out senbon and fired them at several of Rasa's chakra points.
Rasa let out muffled groans through clenched teeth, the intense pain forcing another spray of blood from his lips.
Now it was certain—this was no clone. This was the real Rasa.
"Why..."
Rasa couldn't understand. Why would Takeshi turn on him over the Land of Rivers?
Did he truly intend to face the Daimyō's forces and the ninja alliance all on his own?
But Takeshi didn't bother to explain. He grabbed Rasa's hair, yanked his head back, and tilted it toward Uchiha Hikari, signaling him to cast a genjutsu.
With just one glance into Hikari's eyes, the defiance and humiliation in Rasa's gaze melted away into bewilderment.
The Mangekyō Sharingan really was convenient.
Takeshi nodded in approval, promising Hikari an extra portion for dinner tonight.
He couldn't help but wonder—had Shisui, whose life had been drastically altered, awakened his Mangekyō as well?
Kotoamatsukami—an ability even more broken than the standard Mangekyō. No wonder Danzō had feared him so much.
To alter someone's will without them ever realizing it—no ruler would allow such a power to exist outside their control.
"Once he finishes what needs to be done, you'll finally have your revenge."
Takeshi dispelled his Ice Release with a wave. Yellow sand returned to sight as the chill around them was once again pushed away by the hot winds.
Hearing Takeshi's voice, Pakura glanced at him warily.
This kid... his strength had grown again, far more than before.
Using Ice Release to forge weapons, chaining close-combat attacks, altering the battlefield on a massive scale—rendering the enemy's terrain advantage useless.
These were all clever applications of Ice Release that Takeshi had refined.
With Isobu supporting him internally, achieving this wasn't too difficult.
"I'll let you live a little longer."
Pakura didn't reply, only kicking the barely freed Rasa, sending him collapsing back down.