The flame strike, resembling a god of fire wielding a blade, slashed against the yellow sand fortress, which was as tough as a turtle's shell. The fortress immediately showed several fissures like deep ravines, and the intense heat even melted the sand. However, until the flames burned out, the yellow sand fortress was not breached. Tatsuma frowned and looked at the figure approaching from afar.
Having heard of situations where after defeating a male opponent, a female one would appear, this was the first time Tatsuma encountered such a scenario. Seeing the girl with yellow-brown hair and a gentle expression, Tatsuma quickly guessed her identity: Karura.
Karura hurriedly made her way and soon arrived at the fortress. She watched Tatsuma warily, and upon seeing the age conveyed by his appearance, Karura was visibly taken aback.
The person beside her, though wearing a mask, did not seem much older than the white-haired boy in front of her. When she had just seen the combination of Fire Release and Wind Release Jutsu, Karura thought it was a collaboration between the Hokage and the legendary "Darkness of Konoha." But now, seeing that it was just two younger boys, she was surprised.
"Why are you here?!"
The yellow sand fortress was disintegrated from the inside out by the sand gold. Rasa emerged with a stern face. Although Karura had saved him, Rasa's tone made it seem as if Karura had made a mistake.
"I-I just... The sand on you told me you were in danger, so I..."
Karura hurriedly explained. Rasa's face remained grim, but he took two steps to block Karura, slightly turning his head and said through clenched teeth:
"Do you know how dangerous it is here?! What if you got hurt coming here alone?!"
Karura lowered her head and remained silent under the scolding. As Yashamaru, who had just emerged from the fortress, saw his older sister, his eyes lit up. However, upon seeing Rasa's expression, he didn't dare to greet his sister.
"Clap, clap, clap—"
Tatsuma clapped his hands and said, "Rasa, Karura, you really live up to being the model couple of the Hidden Sand Village."
Rasa was taken aback and glared at Tatsuma. How did this damned Sakamoto Tatsuma know about Karura? Her confidentiality level was even higher than his own.
Wait, what did he just say? Model couple? At the same moment, both Rasa and Karura realized and felt their ears turn red.
"Where did you learn about our identities?"
Rasa, with more field experience, quickly composed himself and questioned Tatsuma. Tatsuma shrugged and said:
"Your confidentiality level is indeed very high, and outsiders can't obtain your information. But… people from your own village can."
As he spoke, Tatsuma showed a smug smile. He knew their information not through any intelligence means, but because he had once had a god's-eye view.
But Tatsuma would never miss an opportunity to sow discord among his enemies. Rasa wouldn't miss it either; his face darkened with anger as he demanded, "Who is it?!"
"Could prolonged contact with gold lead to symptoms of heavy metal poisoning? How could I tell you who it is? Just think of the resources required to cultivate a ninja from an enemy village and elevate them to the status of an Elder."
Upon hearing this, Rasa's expression grew even darker as he began to count the identities of the Hidden Sand Village Elders in his mind. He decided that once he returned, he must inform his sensei and thoroughly investigate the entire group of Elders!
Tatsuma was just speaking off the cuff, but Tenko genuinely looked at Tatsuma with curiosity, as if he would ask if the situation were more appropriate. Given Tenko's nature, he might really ask.
At this moment, Tatsuma glanced over at Minato and noticed he was teamed up with Caterpillar, with Bunta and Shokuyu assisting, engaged with other rogue ninjas. Tatsuma pursed his lips and said, "Badger, go help Minato and the others."
"Then here?"
Seeing Rasa, who was glaring at them like a demon, Tenko still felt uneasy. Tatsuma said, "It's fine. We need to resolve things over there so we can achieve victory."
If things remained at a stalemate, the rogue ninjas wouldn't be defeated, and handling Rasa would also be difficult. This wasn't what Tatsuma wanted.
Upon hearing this, Tenko nodded, no longer wasting words. He drew his Ninjato from the ground and headed towards Minato, with the head of the Hidden Sand Village ANBU still swaying at his waist.
Seeing the disrespectful treatment of his teammate's corpse ignited Rasa's anger once more. With a bit of rest, his Chakra and condition had improved, so he gathered his Chakra again.
His hands joined together, and the sand gold once more coalesced. The sand spear, shaped like a double helix drill, reappeared.
"Magnet Release! Gold Sand Spear!"
The spear was thrust towards Tenko's direction. Tatsuma performed a Body Flicker to block its path. Rasa frowned as he looked at the Summoning Jutsu seal Tatsuma was forming, a disdainful smile appearing on his face.
The strange door that had just been pierced was now going to be summoned again by Tatsuma? Even if he could, so what?
Rasa knew that the Chakra he was outputting this time was far beyond what he had used before, but he had also allocated a bit more Chakra. He was prepared to crush it all in one blow, without delay!
"Triple Rashomon!"
While Rasa understood how to output more Chakra, so could Tatsuma. Feeling his Chakra being massively drawn out by the Summoning Jutsu, Tatsuma bit down on the Military Rations Pill already in his mouth and swallowed it.
"Boom—"
Smoke erupted, and the spear controlled by Rasa pierced into the smoke. The impact, which Rasa had just experienced once, was now feedback through the long Gold Sand Spear.
This time, Rasa, who was already well-prepared, responded with much more ease. He exerted his strength, and his Chakra exploded rapidly. The first layer of Rashomon was instantly shattered.
Just as Rasa felt a sense of accomplishment, a much more intense impact than before hit him again.
"Boom—"
The Gold Sand Spear disintegrated, and at that moment, the smoke cleared, revealing a ground littered with debris and a slightly damaged gate, with another gate as pristine as new.
Rasa was stunned. He hadn't expected that the special Summoning "Beast" with such powerful defensive capabilities not only could be summoned repeatedly but also involved more than one gate. Judging by the weight of the second gate, it seemed that each gate was progressively stronger in terms of defense. Even if he had managed to breach the second gate by luck, there would be no chance against the third gate.
As Rasa tried to recall information about the gate, a segment from a book he had read in the library suddenly came to mind. It was a record of the Warring States period.
The legendary five gates of Hell, and the user at that time was Senju Hashirama!
The name Senju Hashirama appeared in his mind. Even though Rasa had never dealt with Senju Hashirama personally, he couldn't help but shiver inwardly. Senju Hashirama was a god-like figure; if not for his ambition to merely establish a Ninja village, the landscape of the ninja world might have been vastly different.
Even though the person standing before him was not the legendary First Hokage Senju Hashirama, who founded the Ninja Village era, Rasa still felt a decrease in his momentum when faced with Senju Hashirama's techniques.
Even though this technique was not well-known in Senju Hashirama's wartime achievements and its representativeness, power, and impact were far less significant compared to the unique Wood Release of the ninja world, the name still carried weight.
However, why was this kid so stingy, summoning only one gate at a time, and even then just three gates? Why not summon all five gates?
If Rasa's thoughts were known, Tatsuma would definitely cry. Did he want to be stingy? It's not that he wanted to; it was more like a skilled cook struggling without ingredients.
His Chakra consumption for summoning the same Summon Beast was already lower than others, but summoning the complete Quintuple Rashomon was another story. Even in his current state, Tatsuma would need to find a day when he was in optimal condition, not having stayed up late or risen early, to barely exhaust enough Chakra to summon it.
The defensive capability of Rashomon indeed increases progressively with each layer, but the Chakra required for summoning also grows progressively. The amount of Chakra needed for summoning a single Rashomon compared to the Quintuple Rashomon differs by dozens to hundreds of times.
Standing on Rashomon, Tatsuma was unaware of Rasa's thoughts. He only noticed that Rasa was distracted and quickly formed hand seals to seize the opportunity.
"Ninja Art! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Boom—"
A cloud of smoke appeared beside him, and a Shadow Clone materialized next to him. Tatsuma, feeling his Chakra, which had just partially recovered, was again drained by half, clicked his tongue.
The Chakra was like a fat, well-fed cat—it looked robust but would shrink to half its size with a little water. Especially when high amounts of Chakra were needed for a few techniques, it drained rapidly.
For a brief moment, Tatsuma considered deliberately injuring himself to increase the number of Divine Tree Cells, as they seemed to be beneficial and harmless at the current stage.
But this thought only lasted a moment. With his [Strategist] talent, such distractions did not affect his ongoing actions.
"Fire Release! Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Wind Release! Vacuum Waves Barrage!"
Both the main body and the Shadow Clone executed the technique simultaneously, with a coordination effect that was even more refined than Tatsuma and Tenko's combination, resulting in double Chakra output.
"Boom—"
The already ferocious fire dragon, infused with Wind Release, became even more rampant and its size expanded several times. Under Tatsuma's control, it lunged fiercely towards Rasa and his group.
"Secret Jutsu! Desert Hand!"
To attack Tenko, Rasa had mobilized so much sand gold that there was no sand gold left for defense, but it was not a problem as the other half of the couple acted quickly.
In the desert, two enormous hands suddenly appeared, reaching out to grasp the fire dragon. Tatsuma frowned as he sensed a peculiar Chakra from these yellow sand arms.
In the next moment, he understood the purpose of this Chakra. The fire dragon, combined from Fire Release and Wind Release, was firmly grasped as if it were a living creature.
Karura's body trembled slightly, sweat beads appeared on her forehead and nose, and the giant sand hands quivered but still managed to hold off the fire dragon with determination.
The Chakra was able to capture both fire and wind. Tatsuma frowned, instinctively sensing something was wrong. Upon closer inspection, he finally discovered the clue.
The giant hands were not grabbing the flames but rather the fire and wind Chakra attributes carried by the fire dragon. However, before he could rejoice at uncovering the secret, Karura made her next move.
The fire dragon was redirected by her, now lunging towards Tatsuma at an extreme angle. Such a drastic change in direction made it nearly impossible for Tatsuma to control it as he wished. Even if he managed to alter the fire dragon's path, it would consume too much unnecessary Chakra.
For Tatsuma at the moment, this was far from ideal.
"I need to use that technique."
Tatsuma turned to his Shadow Clone, who nodded and immediately used the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to distance himself.
Tatsuma then turned back to the fire dragon that had now reached him and began to form hand seals quickly.
"Boom—"
The fire dragon lunged towards Tatsuma, the caster.
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