"Did it... did it work?" Chiyo's voice wavered, betraying a rare moment of profound uncertainty.
Had any other shinobi taken Rasa's Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral head-on, she wouldn't have even needed to ask. Death would be an absolute certainty. But their opponent was the Iron Fist. Let alone his apocalyptic reputation from the Warring States period, his recent re-emergence had already shaken the very foundations of the world. He had single-handedly subjugated two Great Ninja Villages, forcing Ōnoki—who had just lost his beloved son—to swallow his pride and issue a formal surrender to Konoha. Furthermore, he had decreed that the Cloud Shinobi were banished from setting foot in the Land of Fire for the rest of his natural life. These feats alone cemented Ikki as the most terrifying existential threat the Hidden Sand had ever faced.
"Oh, it worked!"
Just as Rasa opened his mouth to declare victory, a booming, mocking voice echoed across the battlefield. Suddenly, the gold-entombed desert floor ruptured. A terrifying network of jagged fissures spider-webbed across the sand. Then, with a deafening roar of tectonic displacement, colossal slashes of pure force erupted from the crevices, shooting into the heavens like auroras. Before the horrified eyes of Rasa and his army, the shockwaves cleaved the desert below and violently parted the clouds above.
Before anyone could even process the reality of the sky and earth being split open, Ikki strolled out from the depths of the abyss. His silhouette, imposing as a mountain bear, moved with a casual, agonizingly slow gait along the edge of the chasm.
"Not a single scratch..." Chiyo stared, paralyzed, as Ikki treated the epicenter of a cataclysm like a Sunday stroll in the park.
"Even his clothes are pristine!" Ebizō gasped. He was staring right at him, yet his brain violently rejected the visual information.
"Don't patronize me!" Seeing Ikki completely unscathed—his immaculate black suit free of even a single tear—Rasa ground his teeth together, his earlier triumph curdling into bile.
"Careful not to flatter yourself, little Kazekage. Do you really think a mere boy holding a title is worth this old man lying?" Ikki tapped the lapel of his collar. "Look closely, oh brave Kazekage. You have successfully soiled this old man's suit!" He pointed to a microscopic speck of gold dust resting on the fabric—a speck so small it was entirely invisible unless scrutinized.
"You bastard!" Rasa's eyes bulged, his face flushing a violent, apoplectic purple. To think Ikki's admission that the jutsu "worked" was nothing more than a punchline about a fleck of dirt!
"Wind Release: Kamaitachi!" Ebizō's face twisted into an ugly snarl. Rasa wasn't the only one being ridiculed; as an elder, this flippant dismissal was a slap to his face as well. In his fury, he immediately unleashed the devastating Wind Style he had been covertly preparing.
BOOM! Ebizō exhaled sharply. The previously stagnant air violently rebelled, whipping up a tempest that blotted out the sun. Countless wind blades, visible to the naked eye, coalesced into a condensed, howling hurricane cannon, blasting straight for Ikki.
"Ah, quite a refreshing breeze!" A squall sharp enough to julienne solid bedrock slammed into Ikki, doing absolutely nothing except prompting him to squint and stretch his neck, looking for all the world like a man enjoying a cool summer draft.
"White Secret Technique: Three Treasures Vacuum Crush!" Simultaneously, Chiyo's fingers danced in a frantic, intricate blur. Under her masterful chakra threads, three of the elite Chikamatsu puppets snapped into a triangular formation. Acting in flawless synchronization with Ebizō's wind, the wooden constructs opened their mouths, generating a horrific, localized vortex specifically designed to suck Ikki into its crushing center.
Yet, no matter how ferociously the siblings combined their raging winds and lethal vacuums, Ikki remained rooted to the spot. He was an immovable monolith towering over the desert. He didn't even sway.
"What is it with you Sand shinobi and ruining good clothes?" Ikki sighed, glancing down as the terrifying vacuum tore fruitlessly at his suit jacket.
He's just playing with us! Chiyo and Ebizō felt their stomachs drop. wed. "Magnet Release: Gold Dust Tsunami!" Commanded by his magnetic field, massive pillars of heavy gold erupted into the sky, crashing down on Ikki in relentless, pulverizing waves. But wind, vacuum, or gold—it didn't matter. Despite the combined Kage-level onslaught, they couldn't force Ikki to budge a single millimeter.
"Well now, I wouldn't want rumors spreading that this old man bullies the youth," Ikki said, stifling a yawn. "Since you are all so desperately persistent... I suppose I'll humor you."
Just as despair began to choke Rasa and the elders, Ikki deliberately lifted his feet. Willingly releasing his immovable anchor on the earth, he allowed the rushing tide of gold dust to shove him directly into the lethal triangular vortex of Chiyo's puppets. Immediately, the three constructs dialed their tornado to the absolute maximum, their mechanical gears shrieking as they attempted to grind Ikki's body into paste.
Screeeech—CRACK! The horrific grinding noise of the puppets struggling to crush their target echoed across the dunes. Yet, watching Ikki voluntarily step into the technique brought absolutely no joy to Rasa, Chiyo, or Ebizō. It wasn't just the demoralizing fact that Ikki had let them do it on purpose. It was the absolute, soul-crushing reality that even while standing directly inside the meat-grinder, the man remained completely, laughably unharmed.
A/N: For this week, every 100 Powerstones will get ya'll an extra chapter! Thank you!