Within the small oasis.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, suddenly opened his eyes. "They're here!"
The eight Sand Ninjas scattered around immediately looked in all directions but found no trace of any enemies.
Rasa looked up at the cloud floating above his head.
"That cloud… it's Sarutobi Asuma!" exclaimed Shagin, the captain of the Kazekage's guard.
Just then, the cloud drifting above the oasis transformed into Sarutobi Asuma, and a sharp, piercing friction sound followed.
Scorch Release: Rasenshuriken!
"Disperse!"
Rasa roared. With a whoosh, the Sand Ninjas immediately scattered, using the Body Flicker Technique to vanish from the oasis.
The Scorch Release: Rasenshuriken descended from the sky. Less than twenty meters from the oasis ground, it exploded, rapidly expanding into a massive sphere of light that instantly engulfed the entire oasis.
Rumble!
The small oasis was instantly vaporized, then, swept away by a storm, it turned into barren land.
The heat storm swept through the yellow sand, becoming a sandstorm that raged in all directions, obscuring over ten miles.
When the storm subsided.
Rasa and the others regrouped. However, only four members of the eight-man guard remained.
"I can't sense the others at all anymore!" Shagin's face was grim.
It was clear that during the storm's sweep, the other four had been killed by Sarutobi Asuma.
"Is it a Shadow Clone, or Hatake Sakumo and the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato?" Rasa looked at Sarutobi Asuma in the air, feeling that this Konoha brat was indeed troublesome.
This ability to hover in the air, just like the Third Tsuchikage, was extremely vexing.
"No, Hatake Sakumo shouldn't be here. And Namikaze Minato… is it still just him?" Rasa analyzed rapidly. Simultaneously, his gold dust surged into the sky, transforming into numerous shuriken that whizzed and shot towards Sarutobi Asuma in the air.
Shagin and the other three also simultaneously used Wind Style, infusing the shuriken with Wind Release Chakra. This greatly increased the shuriken's lethality and speed, while also reducing Rasa's own consumption.
In the air, Sarutobi Asuma looked down at the Kazekage's attack and raised one hand.
Scorch Release: White-Eyed Blue Dragon!
A dragon's head emerged from Sarutobi Asuma's back and then dove down. In an instant, a Scorch Release dragon over ten meters long roared and swooped down.
The temperature of the Scorch Release dragon exceeded 1500 degrees. The gold dust shuriken began to rapidly melt as soon as they got close.
Rasa was startled, looking at it. "Such astonishing heat, far more powerful than Pakura!"
"Wind Style!"
The guard captain, Shagin, had already reacted. The four of them joined forces, releasing their prepared jutsu as soon as the Scorch Release dragon entered their attack range.
Boom!
A storm surged, colliding with the descending Scorch Release dragon.
However, the Wind Style used by the four Jonin was torn apart by the Scorch Release dragon.
Shagin and the other three looked grave, sweat beading on their foreheads.
Even though it was also Scorch Release, this guy in front of them was far stronger than Pakura.
Rasa, who had been standing with his arms crossed, finally extended his hands. A large amount of gold dust surged into the sky, forming a barrier above his head.
Boom!
The Scorch Release dragon struck the gold dust. The terrifying heat melted the gold dust, creating green mist and sending waves of intense heat scattering in all directions.
"It's blocking it…" Shagin, a Kazekage guard under the gold dust, couldn't help but sigh in relief as he saw the gold dust hadn't been breached.
But the next moment, Rasa's expression changed, and he roared, "Scatter!"
Before Shagin and the other three could react, a purple light flashed, splitting the gold dust defense in two, followed by a scream.
As Rasa retreated, the gold dust rolled forward. Within his sight, as the purple light flickered, one of his guards had their head silently roll from their shoulder, while another's chest caved in with a scream.
Too fast!
Boom!
The gold dust crashed down like waves.
Rasa immediately raised a hand, and a stream of gold dust rose from his side, blocking a flash of purple light.
Lightning crackled around the gold dust, and the wall-like gold dust was also cut open.
"So sharp! It's truly no inferior to Konoha's White Fang!"
Rasa was shocked.
At this moment, Shagin and another guard completed their ninjutsu, and a storm mixed with sharp wind blades swept out, engulfing Sarutobi Asuma.
But Sarutobi Asuma, like a bolt of lightning, tore through the storm and killed the two of them, Shagin and the other guard, in front of Rasa.
The next moment, swords were broken and men were dead!
Rasa reached out and cupped his hand, "Caught him!"
The instant Sarutobi Asuma took down Shagin and the other guard, gold dust surged from underground. Like a giant python, it coiled around Sarutobi Asuma's feet, binding him.
Immediately after, more gold dust surged up, wrapping around Sarutobi Asuma's body and arms.
Crack!
Riiip!
Purple electricity flashed on the gold dust, but it couldn't make Rasa lose control of it.
In this regard, he was much stronger than Bunpuku from before.
The golden sand churned, engulfing Sarutobi Asuma, and finally forming a pyramid.
Magnet Release: Great Burial of Gold Dust!
Sacrificing two guards to capture the troublesome Sarutobi Asuma was completely worth it, Rasa thought.
However, before he could feel joy, his expression suddenly changed drastically.
Because Sarutobi Asuma within the Great Burial of Gold Dust vanished with a pop.
"Shadow Clone?"
"Impossible!"
Rasa couldn't believe it.
His senses from earlier were absolutely correct.
An ordinary Shadow Clone would absolutely not be able to last until he completed the Great Burial of Gold Dust.
"Is it Namikaze Minato's Body Flicker Technique?"
"Or some other ninjutsu not mentioned in the intelligence?"
Rasa pondered, his nerves highly strung. He simultaneously used his Sand Vision and flew into the sky, immediately spotting Sarutobi Asuma on a distant sand dune.
What's more, he had been sensing the flow of gold dust underground all along and hadn't detected any other hidden ninjas.
"If it wasn't a Shadow Clone, then he must have used some Body Flicker Technique to escape my ninjutsu just now."
"Did his main body and the Shadow Clone switch positions?"
Rasa quickly analyzed, his brow furrowed as he muttered, "No wonder they could capture the One-Tails Jinchuriki and Granny Chiyo!"
"It seems I can't take him down in a short amount of time!"
Based on the current intel, he had no confidence in capturing Sarutobi Asuma, considering the technique he used to escape just now.
No, it would be difficult even to trap him.
Unless he could deplete Sarutobi Asuma's chakra first.
"This guy's chakra is also astonishingly vast, and there's the aura of the One-Tail."
Rasa knew that Sarutobi Asuma possessed the Uzumaki Clan's powerful Fūinjutsu, so extracting the One-Tail's chakra wouldn't be difficult.
However, it was surprising that Sarutobi Asuma could so freely wield the One-Tail's malevolent chakra.
At this moment, Sarutobi Asuma appeared on a sand dune not far away.
"Kazekage, it's still not too late to end this war and negotiate with Konoha. Otherwise, the Sand Ninja might end up being the ones to surrender!"
Sarutobi Asuma said with a smile.
It was fine to stall for time and engage in some verbal sparring.
"It's far too early to say that!"
Rasa snorted, "Sarutobi Asuma, you're far too overconfident in yourself!"
Sarutobi Asuma shook his head, "I'm not just confident in myself, but also in my comrades."
"My mission is to hold you off. As for the rest, I trust them."
Rasa stated, "Hatake Sakumo and Namikaze Minato are indeed formidable, but they can't stop four hundred people."
"And with the Stone Ninja and Mist Ninja, plus the Cloud Ninja, Konoha can't muster any more forces to reinforce you."
The Sand Ninja originally held the numerical advantage.
Now that Sarutobi Asuma was here.
Even if Hatake Sakumo and Namikaze Minato were powerful, facing four hundred people, there was no way they could quickly end the fight. In fact, they might be surrounded and killed.
Then, would the Sand Ninja, who had an advantage of over a thousand people on the front lines, lose to Konoha?
Sarutobi Asuma smiled.
If it were just Hatake Sakumo alone against four hundred people, it would indeed be difficult.
But with Namikaze Minato present, Sarutobi Asuma had immense confidence.
With the two of them cooperating, plus his two Shadow Clones, while they couldn't defeat four hundred elite Sand Ninja in a short time, they could inflict massive casualties.
And it would be enough to shatter the enemy formation.
Once Namikaze Minato departed, Hatake Sakumo alone could stabilize the situation.
On the main battlefield, having Namikaze Minato present was more terrifying than having hundreds of extra Konoha ninja.
The only problem was the Chakra issue.
But with him here, that could also be solved!
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