"Not bad. The Anubis Blade actually feels right."
Rasa looked at the slender sword in his hand and smiled with real satisfaction. Unlike the Lightning Blade, which was basically just a lightning generator he didn't even need anymore, this thing was a real weapon. He could already make lightning with Magnet Release and had even created Sand Gold Thunder Cloud. The Lightning Blade had become useless. The Anubis Blade was the real deal—one grip and he got top-tier swordsmanship plus that freaky ability to cut through objects and hit whatever was behind them.
Jiraiya saw his Needle Hell get completely shut down and immediately switched tactics.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
This one was ten times stronger than the regular Flame Bullet, with a much wider blast radius. Even with the gold dust cube in the way, Rasa would still get caught in the inferno. A massive wall of fire exploded outward, turning the whole area into a sea of flames.
"Flowing Sand Shift!"
Rasa vanished before the fire could touch him. He had way more sand soldiers than Jiraiya realized—most of them were just cheap chakra anchors for teleporting, not meant to fight.
"Missed again?"
"Another damn teleport?"
Jiraiya's brow furrowed. "Just like Minato. Moves way too fast."
But he didn't give up. The second he spotted Rasa again, he charged straight in. The two of them traded blows in a furious blur for several rounds.
"Damn, they're both monsters!"
"Jiraiya's on another level!"
The Sand ninja watching finally understood—Jiraiya hadn't been serious earlier. This fight was in a completely different league.
"But Lord Kazekage is still gonna win!"
"No doubt! Lord Kazekage's got this!"
"Kazekage-sama will win!"
The Leaf ninja gritted their teeth at the Sand cheers.
"Rasa's gonna win? Are you kidding me? We've got one of the Legendary Three here! Jiraiya was already famous in the Second Great Ninja War while Rasa was still playing in the sand!"
"Lord Jiraiya is winning this!"
Rasa glanced around. The gap between shinobi could be insane—sometimes bigger than the gap between regular people and ninja. Right now, everyone else on both sides was basically just background noise. They couldn't do shit to help.
"Fire Release: Flame Dragon Bullet!"
Three roaring fire dragons came screaming in from the front, left, and right, boxing Rasa in.
"Flowing Sand Shift!"
Rasa vanished again.
The Leaf side exploded with rage.
"Is that the only move he knows? Just keep running?!"
"If you're too scared to fight Lord Jiraiya head-on, then fuck off and surrender already!"
Back when Minato used Flying Thunder God, Leaf ninja used to laugh at enemies getting pissed. Now the tables had turned. Sand ninja were the ones mocking.
"Why not use it if you can?"
"Go ahead and catch him then!"
"Yeah, teach Jiraiya how to use Flying Thunder God!"
That's when one sand soldier started moving toward Rasa in a weird but deliberately casual way. Just before it got close, a figure burst out of its shadow.
"Toad Shadow Manipulation Technique!"
Jiraiya had been hiding inside the sand soldier's shadow the whole time, controlling its movements. After watching Rasa spam Flowing Sand Shift, he realized normal attacks wouldn't land. The second anything got close, Rasa would just teleport away. So he used the sand soldier as cover, stayed hidden in its shadow, and waited for the perfect moment to strike.
"Now!"
"Rasengan!"
A compressed, spinning ball of chakra formed in Jiraiya's palm—the A-rank technique Minato had invented after studying Tailed Beast Bombs. The same jutsu Naruto would spam for years, even after he got stronger. Jiraiya slammed it straight into Rasa.
But Jiraiya had no idea his clever shadow trick was completely visible. High above, a Byakugan wrapped in gold dust watched everything with perfect clarity. Nothing could hide.
BOOM!
The Rasengan connected. Jiraiya's face lit up—then froze.
"Wrong!"
The body he hit exploded into sand. A clone. The real Rasa was already directly above him.
"Bestow S!"
"Bestow N!"
S on Jiraiya. N on a sand soldier. Instant, brutal attraction yanked them toward each other. The soldier rocketed at Jiraiya faster and faster the closer it got.
Jiraiya's eyes widened. He spun and sprinted toward Rasa instead.
"Bestow S!"
Rasa slapped S polarity on another nearby sand soldier. Now the closer Jiraiya got to Rasa, the stronger the repulsion pushed him back. Back and forth, Jiraiya's speed dropped hard.
"What the hell is this technique?!"
Jiraiya had never seen anything like it. He had no idea how to counter. Rasa, meanwhile, moved completely unhindered and started hammering him with everything he had. This was his best chance to finish Jiraiya for good.
The Leaf ninja's faces went pale.
"Lord Jiraiya's losing?!"
"No way…"
"Even Lord Jiraiya can't beat Rasa?!"
"We have to help him! Now!"
Dozens of Leaf shinobi charged forward. The Sand forces saw them coming and surged out to meet them.