Heavens be his witness, Ryūjin truly meant every word he had said to Rasa and the others.
As soon as the check-in location, "Shukaku's Location," was generated, he planned to return Shukaku immediately. He would not hesitate for even a second.
Unfortunately, there was no way Rasa and the others would believe him.
From their perspective, Ryūjin clearly looked like someone targeting the Tailed Beast of the Hidden Sand Village.
"I don't care what you are planning. Return Shukaku to me immediately, otherwise I will have no choice but to attack you."
Rasa stared directly at Ryūjin, his voice cold and stern.
"Kazekage, there's no need to rush," Ryūjin replied calmly. "Since all of you from Sunagakure are here, I can't exactly run away. Why not wait ten minutes and see?"
"If I fail to return Shukaku to you after ten minutes, then you can attack me. It won't be too late."
"And if I do hand Shukaku over, then we avoid an unnecessary fight. Wouldn't that be better?"
Ryūjin simply shrugged.
"Lord Kazekage, be careful. He might be stalling for time," Baki quietly reminded Rasa from the side.
Did this man really think everyone here was foolish enough to fall for such an obvious stalling tactic?
It almost felt like an insult to their intelligence.
Ryūjin fell silent for a moment.
From the perspective of the Hidden Sand Village, it did indeed look like he was deliberately buying time.
He shook his head slightly and gave up explaining further.
No matter what he said, they would not believe him anyway. At this point, the only option was to deal with whatever happened next.
"I'll count to three," Rasa said coldly, his voice carrying clear killing intent. "If you remain like this, then I will not hold back."
"Unless you can give me a convincing explanation, I will kill you."
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Ryūjin sighed helplessly.
"I've already explained everything. If you refuse to believe it, then there's nothing more I can say."
"Hmph!"
Rasa snorted coldly and stopped wasting words.
With a thought, his Magnet Release activated. Several thin needles formed from gold dust, each about the length of a finger, shot straight toward Ryūjin.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Golden streaks flashed through the air, instantly targeting Ryūjin's chest, abdomen, limbs, and other vital areas.
The speed was astonishing.
As expected of the Kazekage, Rasa's strength was far from ordinary.
Yet Ryūjin did not move at all.
The intangibility ability of Kamui activated.
The gold dust needles passed straight through his body as if he were nothing but empty air, then embedded themselves into the ground behind him.
Rasa froze.
Baki and the other Sunagakure ninja were equally stunned.
None of them had ever seen or even heard of such an ability.
"Did I fall under a genjutsu?" Rasa wondered immediately.
But after thinking carefully, he rejected the idea.
From the moment they arrived, this man had done nothing unusual. He had only spoken a few sentences. There had been no suspicious gestures or chakra fluctuations that suggested a genjutsu.
Rasa carefully sensed his surroundings and checked his own condition.
Nothing seemed abnormal.
Which made the situation even more unsettling.
Suppressing the confusion in his mind, Rasa circulated his Magnet Release chakra once more.
The gold dust hidden within the surrounding sand began to gather rapidly.
Soon, a cube made entirely of gold dust formed in the air before him.
Chi! Chi! Chi!
Under Rasa's control, the gold dust cube continuously reshaped itself. One sharp golden blade after another condensed from its surface before shooting toward Ryūjin in rapid succession.
The attacks rained down relentlessly.
However, the result remained exactly the same.
Every blade passed straight through Ryūjin's body before striking the ground behind him.
After launching several waves of attacks, Rasa finally stopped.
His expression had grown extremely serious.
Although he did not understand the nature of the technique, one thing was obvious.
This man seemed capable of ignoring all physical attacks.
And yet, Rasa could clearly sense chakra within Ryūjin's body. That meant he was definitely not some illusion or phantom.
He was a real ninja.
Which made the situation even more strange.
"Lord Kazekage, are you finished?" Ryūjin asked calmly.
At that moment, he stood up and began walking toward Rasa step by step.
The Sunagakure ninja immediately tensed.
The man who had been passively standing there was finally making a move.
Rasa and the others instantly grew cautious.
Ryūjin indeed planned to counterattack.
Even though Kamui allowed him to ignore Rasa's attacks, he had no intention of standing still forever while someone kept trying to kill him.
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
Rasa stretched out his hand toward Ryūjin.
A massive wave of gold dust surged forward like a raging sea, rushing toward Ryūjin from every direction. The sand intended to completely engulf and restrain him.
This technique was not a direct killing move but a powerful restraining jutsu.
The method was simple.
First, the target would be completely immobilized by the sand. Then the user would compress it with immense pressure using techniques such as Sand Waterfall Funeral, crushing the enemy to death.
Ryūjin knew the technique very well.
During the Chunin Exams, Gaara had used the exact same method.
With sand approaching from every direction, escaping with the Body Flicker Technique would be impossible.
However, this situation did not trouble Ryūjin in the slightest.
He casually threw out a Flying Thunder God kunai.
In the next instant, his body vanished.
Ryūjin reappeared outside the encircling sand and immediately rushed toward Rasa.
Rasa reacted instantly.
Amid the swirling gold dust, a gigantic golden fist formed in midair and smashed directly toward Ryūjin.
"Perfect. Let's test the Sage Mode I just learned."
Excitement flashed across Ryūjin's eyes.
In an instant, he entered Sage Mode.
Natural energy surged into his body, dramatically amplifying his strength.
Although natural energy made up only one third of Sage Mode's power, that one third still brought a tremendous transformation.
Facing the massive gold dust fist rushing toward him, Ryūjin did not dodge.
Instead, he clenched his fist and struck forward.
Baki and the others watched with disbelief.
"This guy is insane."
"Using taijutsu to fight against the Kazekage's Magnet Release? He must have a death wish."
Even Rasa felt anger rising within him.
Using a bare fist against his Magnet Release, Gold Dust.
Was this man deliberately looking down on him?
In the blink of an eye, Ryūjin's punch collided with the gold dust fist.
Boom!
The result stunned everyone present.
The massive gold dust fist shattered instantly.
Ryūjin's punch blasted straight through it, dispersing the condensed gold dust into a cloud that exploded into the air.
Rasa's pupils shrank violently.
Shock filled his face.
"This man's physical strength… is actually this terrifying?"
The atmosphere instantly became heavy.