BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Yatagarasu's explosive eggs hit like artillery, especially in tight clusters. Jiraiya saw the danger and started to move, but Rasa was already diving hard. A storm of gold dust flared around him.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Needle Rain!"
Thousands of razor-sharp gold needles screamed down like rain, blanketing everything around Jiraiya. He had no choice but to throw everything into defense.
Rasa hung in midair and barked the order.
"Fall back!"
The giant bull and chameleon pulled away instantly. The second they cleared the zone—
"Antlion!"
The ground under Gamabunta collapsed into a massive whirlpool of quicksand. Sand poured in from every side, dragging the huge toad down. Gamabunta thrashed but couldn't escape.
Yatagarasu was already right above him. A white explosive egg dropped straight for his head.
Gamabunta's eyes went wide.
"Jiraiya, I'm out."
He canceled the summoning and vanished back to Mount Myoboku. For a while, Jiraiya would have to call on a different toad if he wanted backup. Gamabunta was done for now.
The sand soldiers charged from six directions, all jonin-level, shields and spears gleaming. Jiraiya tried to slow them with "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld," turning the ground to thick mud.
Rasa barely blinked. A quick surge of sand buried the swamp like it was nothing.
Then Jiraiya fired back.
"Toad Oil Bullet!"
A massive jet of chakra-infused oil blasted toward Rasa. Jiraiya leaped back, eyes locked on the floating figure above.
"Summoning Technique!"
A second colossal toad exploded into existence—Gamahiro, same massive size as Gamabunta but built for swordwork and insane speed. The Antlion technique had clearly spooked Jiraiya. It worked way too well against big summons.
Jiraiya landed on Gamahiro's head.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
The oil caught instantly. The blast roared with terrifying force. Rasa remembered this move—one-shotting a giant summon back in the day.
"Damn strong. Gold dust could tank it, but why bother?"
"Flowing Sand Shift!"
Rasa vanished and reappeared beside one of his sand soldiers. Jiraiya didn't hesitate—he charged straight in.
Waiting for him was a swirling cloud of gold dust.
"Sand Gold Thunder Cloud!"
Lightning exploded outward at invisible speed, slamming into Jiraiya before he could dodge everything. Several strikes scorched his clothes black.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.
"That lightning isn't from the Lightning Blade. It's coming straight out of the gold dust. He never used this against Minato… did he create it after that fight?"
"Magnet Release lightning?"
Jiraiya kept moving, weaving signs. His hair suddenly exploded outward at ridiculous speed. He found his opening.
"Ninja Art: Needle Hell!"
Hundreds of razor-sharp hair needles flew like a personal version of Rasa's gold rain—only made from his own body. Flesh couldn't survive it.
But metal could.
"Gold Dust Cube!"
A massive cube of gold dust slammed into place in front of Rasa. Needles hammered it with a deafening metallic shriek.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
"Again!"
Jiraiya roared. More needles launched. This time some curved mid-flight, slipping around the cube.
Rasa almost grabbed Samehada. Instead he drew the other blade.
"Sand Substitution—Anubis God!"
The second the slender Anubis Blade appeared in his hand, perfect swordsmanship flooded his mind. He swung once.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Every needle coming at him was knocked aside. He never took a single step. Clean. Effortless.
Jiraiya's pupils shrank.
That blade work… it reminded him of someone.
Konoha's White Fang. Sakumo Hatake.
In the ninja world, kenjutsu rarely reached the top. Very few ever made a real name with just a sword. Sakumo had been one of the rare exceptions. As a kid, Jiraiya had looked up to him.
His opinion of Rasa climbed another level.
"Magnet Release way beyond the Third Kazekage's level."
"Plus top-tier swordsmanship."
"And movement speed on par with Minato."
"No question—this Rasa is a genius."
"A top-tier genius."
And when Jiraiya saw real genius, the same old question always surfaced.
Could this be the Child of Destiny the Great Toad Sage had warned about?
If Rasa knew what Jiraiya was thinking right now, he would've laughed out loud.
Child of Destiny? Pure bullshit. Just another way to string people along.