"Ah!!"
A Sand Village shinobi fleeing at full speed was sliced apart by a pink-white blade gale, then shredded into fragments by the crescent blades embedded within it.
Beside him, another Sand Village shinobi stood frozen in terror, his hand gripping a short blade trembling uncontrollably.
Akashō's six eyes shifted in unison to lock onto him as he raised the Blade of Living Flesh in his hand.
"Die."
A blade gale shot forward, racing toward the Sand Village shinobi. He tried to dodge, but his legs felt nailed to the ground, completely refusing to move.
In the blink of an eye, the blade gale was already right in front of him—but at that critical moment, a loud shout suddenly rang out from not far away.
"Magnet Release—Gold Dust!!"
A stream of sand glittering under the moonlight descended from the sky, directly engulfing the incoming blade gale and saving the shinobi's life.
Akashō raised an eyebrow and turned toward the source of the voice.
A man and a woman stood there, feet planted on a floating platform of sand, hovering in midair as they looked down at him from above.
"That's far enough, Kokushibo!"
Rasa stared coldly at the six-eyed monster, both hands raised high above his head.
"Magnet Release—Gold Dust Cube!"
Endless gold dust surged upward, gathering above Rasa into a massive cube. Then, like a falling mountain, it crashed down toward Akashō.
Akashō watched Rasa manipulate the gold dust, quickly piecing things together. His name hadn't spread within the Sand Village, yet this man knew it—he was almost certainly one of the top leaders in the Sand Village camp.
This kind of sand manipulation… Magnet Release. A kekkei genkai?
Facing the enormous golden cube descending from above, Akashō had no intention of holding back. He immediately used his Blood Demon Art to evolve the Blade of Living Flesh.
"Moon Breathing, Tenth Form—Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves!"
Two massive purple blade gales spiraled outward, crashing head-on into the giant cube with a thunderous boom. The crescent blades within them spun at high speed, and after several seconds of deadlock, they finally tore the cube into pieces.
At the same time, however, the blade gales were heavily weakened. After flying upward for a short distance, they dissipated into the air.
By then, the rest of the Sand Village shinobi who had followed Rasa finally arrived, just in time to witness the scene.
"So that's the enemy? Why does he have six eyes… is that even human?"
"Probably a kekkei genkai…"
"Why isn't he wearing a Konoha headband? Is he not from Konoha?"
"Shouldn't we be more concerned that… in that exchange just now, Rasa-sama lost…?"
Akashō straightened his back, looking at Rasa's darkened expression in the sky, while simultaneously pulling up Kokushibo's Villain Template.
Damn… just that move alone boosted his reputation by tens of thousands.
But it wasn't enough. There were thousands of Sand Village shinobi here, plus those two big targets above.
Maybe tonight he could break through five hundred thousand reputation points.
"Karura, attack together."
Losing face in front of so many shinobi made Rasa increasingly irritable.
If this dragged on, it would hurt his chances of promotion. He had to kill Kokushibo here with overwhelming speed to restore his dignity.
And he couldn't let others interfere—doing it himself would have the best effect. Still, to avoid any mishaps, he called Karura to assist.
"Alright."
Rasa and Karura raised their hands at the same time. Akashō suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, followed by an eruption of sand and gold dust bursting upward like a tsunami.
"Magnet Release—Golden Sand Tidal Waves!!"
"Magnet Release—Flowing Sand Waterfall!!"
Akashō was instantly swallowed by the towering sea of sand, like a lone boat adrift in an endless ocean.
This is ninjutsu!?
A trace of shock flashed through Akashō's eyes. This scale… it was no different from a natural disaster. Compared to this, Pakura's power looked like child's play.
Damn… am I about to screw this up?
Calm down. At the end of the day, they're basically mages. If I can get close, they're nothing.
But within the boundless sandstorm, Akashō couldn't even tell direction—let alone locate Rasa and Karura.
Then…
Transparent World!
Activating the Transparent World, the entire scene before him instantly became a translucent vision.
"Found you!"
He turned his head—behind him in the air were Rasa and Karura.
At that moment, the two, hands raised high, suddenly clasped them together and shouted:
"Magnet Release—Sand Waterfall Funeral!!"
"Magnet Release—Gold Dust Great Funeral!!"
The sea of sand engulfing Akashō reacted as if given a command, abruptly compressing inward.
Akashō felt the once-soft sand around him instantly harden into something like solid stone. It was like being buried in a barrel filled with cement—darkness swallowed everything, not a trace of light visible. Even breathing became difficult. Within moments, the flesh on his body began to tear away, and several bones snapped.
Outside, the surrounding Sand Village shinobi watched like spectators, their eyes filled with admiration.
"As expected of the Magnet Release duo. With strength like this, even the Third Kazekage might struggle to match them."
"Indeed. That monster may be strong, but against the Sand Village's core Magnet Release, this is the only ending possible."
Meanwhile, the so-called monster—Akashō—was already preparing to counterattack.
"I can't stay passive like this any longer."
Kokushibo's Demon Body began to take effect. The torn flesh and broken bones instantly regenerated. Gathering all his strength, he twisted his body to carve out a small space, then kicked off the hardened sand, shooting out of the sand sea like an arrow.
"Boom!"
Seeing Akashō burst out of the sand pyramid they had formed together, both Rasa and Karura showed a flicker of shock.
"What!?"
He escaped that!?
A human body submerged in such a technique should've been crushed into paste long ago.
They had heard that Kokushibo could instantly recover from fatal damage caused by Super Steam Kill—but this was absurd.
Akashō landed atop the pyramid formed by their combined attack. The Blade of Living Flesh had already slipped from his hand and fallen inside—but that didn't matter.
"Blood Demon Art."
He activated it again, instantly forming an evolved Blade of Living Flesh in his hand, then leapt toward the two in midair.
"Moon Breathing, Sixteenth Form—Moonbow, Half Moon!!"
Akashō unleashed his strongest attack, descending from above toward Rasa and Karura.
As the evolved blade slashed down, dozens of massive blade gales fell simultaneously. Unlike before, due to the angle, these gales descended almost vertically—less like wind, more like pure sword energy, granting them far greater piercing power.
The blade gales crashed down, followed closely by crescent blades trailing behind like chains of death.
"Move!!!"
Rasa and Karura hurried to dodge, but the speed of their sand platforms was no match for the incoming assault.
They couldn't avoid it.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Rasa's forehead.
Was this where he would die today?
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