Fierce Battle

A towering wave of Gold Dust surged across the sky. Even Dōmeki, hovering in midair, had to look up to see its crest, and his figure seemed impossibly small before it.

"I hate these contests that come down to nothing but Chakra, with no skill involved!"

The Gold Dust wave overwhelmed its enemies through the weight and impact of its immense mass, and the main constraint on its power was the amount of Chakra used. Dōmeki happened to excel in precisely that area.

Dōmeki chuckled in the air and waved his right hand. Metallic elements in the earth rapidly gathered, sweeping the endless yellow sand up with them as a still fiercer wave of sand roared forth.

A spectacle that could almost only occur on a vast battlefield where nations fought one another, or in the natural world, unfolded here. A glittering golden wave collided with a yellow-and-black tsunami, roaring ceaselessly with tremendous energy. In the hands of two humans, that force threatened to destroy everything in its path.

Wave after wave of sand collapsed in the collision, only for even greater waves to surge forward.

In the end, the boy's tsunami proved superior. The towering wave completely overwhelmed Rasa's Gold Dust wave and continued onward, though its momentum had noticeably weakened.

"Boring!"

As Dōmeki withdrew his Chakra, the towering wave of yellow sand gradually scattered, leaving only towering dunes in the desert.

"Lord Kazekage, it seems your Chakra reserves are a little inferior after all!"

Dōmeki folded his arms and looked at Rasa, whose expression had turned ugly, then asked in some puzzlement.

"Why didn't you become the Jinchūriki yourself, instead of stuffing the One-Tail into your newborn son?"

As far as Dōmeki knew, at the Five Kage Summit presided over by the First Hokage, Sunagakure had refused to buy any other Tailed Beasts for lack of money, ending up with only One-Tail Shukaku, whom the Kazekage had personally captured.

Sunagakure had also been absent from the conspiracy-laden feast that was the partitioning of the Land of Whirlpools back then. Its Sealing Jutsu had become the worst among the Five Great Nations, and its techniques for sealing Tailed Beasts were even worse.

Rasa had applied such a seriously flawed seal to his young son, forbidden others from coming into contact with Gaara, and ordered Yashamaru, the uncle who loved him most, to carry out an assassination, making Gaara kill his most precious relative with his own hands and driving him completely into darkness.

His mental instability, combined with the incomplete Sealing Jutsu, had caused the Jinchūriki to go on rampages time and again.

Dōmeki could not make sense of Rasa's thinking. Rasa, who had suppressed Shukaku, was clearly better suited to be the Jinchūriki, yet he had sacrificed his young son instead.

Could he have heard that red hair gave someone an advantage as a Jinchūriki?

The Fourth Kazekage gazed at the boy and sighed. "I had no choice. If I'd known there was a genius like you in the village, I would never have chosen that good-for-nothing Gaara!"

Rasa's gaze then grew calm, and he spoke slowly. "Boy, I'll give you one last chance!"

"Come back to Sunagakure. I swear in the name of the Fourth Kazekage that, as long as you turn back from the wrong path, you will become my only disciple, and"

"The next Kazekage!!!"

"Wow! That sounds awfully tempting!"

Dōmeki cried out with exaggerated enthusiasm, then looked at Rasa solemnly.

"However, I refuse! What I like to do is say no to self-important guys like you!"

Rasa's expression finally began to grow cold. "Once I capture you, you'll agree to all my terms!"

Rasa let out a shout, and the desert began to churn again like boiling water. Unlike the vast spectacle of the earlier Gold Dust wave, the Gold Dust transformed into countless fine needles that shot into the sky, then swept down on Dōmeki in an endless, torrential downpour.

Dōmeki slowly extended his right hand, drawing a pitch-black katana as though from the void. Its blade traced several arcs of light through the air before the boy gripped it tightly.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang~~~"

The sound of metal striking metal rang out without pause, with sparks flashing from time to time.

But the long sword traced brilliant arcs of light in the boy's hand, like a cold crescent moon, deflecting the sharp weapons that came from every direction. Countless golden needles collided as they flew back and shattered into fine dust.

"Damn it! What incredible swordsmanship! Why was someone like him driven out of the village?"

Rasa gritted his teeth, and the Chakra within him surged again. The scattered Gold Dust formed countless sharp steel spears like bamboo shoots, intent on piercing the boy's body. Magnet Release-Gold Dust World Order!

Dōmeki hovered in the air and released the katana in his hand. But when he brought his arms around in a circle, the katana floated before him and began spinning at tremendous speed.

In an instant, a full moon flickering with a cold, ethereal light appeared before the boy. The steel spears, wreathed in sharpness and killing intent, were ground to pieces the moment they touched it.

The next moment, the red-haired boy gently thrust out his palm. The full moon shot forward, tracing a graceful, dazzling arc through the air.

Countless incoming steel spears were cut to pieces along the flashing arc of light as it swept unstoppably toward Rasa.

Close behind the full moon, the red-haired boy raced forward, his figure too fast to make out.

In the blink of an eye, everything between Rasa and the full moon had been swept away, and its cold reflection was already visible in his eyes.

Countless particles of golden dust instantly surrounded Rasa's entire body, forming a solid sphere of Gold Dust under the Fourth Kazekage's control.

"Screech~~"

The rapidly spinning blade struck the Gold Dust sphere, producing a continuous, piercing shriek. Amid showers of sparks, Dōmeki flashed in front of the sphere, gripped the sword's hilt in his right hand with a reverse grip, and swung it through an exaggerated arc.

The boy assumed the stance of a baseball batter and, amid the howling wind, slammed the katana into the Gold Dust sphere.

"Crack! Crack!"

The katana the boy had formed shattered with a sound as though it could no longer bear the strain, but he had actually sent the Gold Dust sphere flying far away as well.

Cracks spread across the rapidly receding sphere from the point where the katana had struck it. Countless fine particles kept flaking off its surface, eventually revealing the Fourth Kazekage at its center.

A cloud of Gold Dust formed beneath Rasa's feet once more, barely allowing him to bring himself to a halt.

Looking at the red-haired boy, who remained at ease even against him, he was surrounded by a rapidly rising aura as his palm abruptly turned.

"Magnet Release-Iron Sand Cube!"

The boundless desert churned like the sea as a gigantic metal cube suddenly rose from beneath the ground. The metal block stood tens of meters tall, an immensely oppressive sight. In the Shinobi World, perhaps only the Tailed Beasts could compare to something of that size!

The enormous mass of metal floated above the two of them, blotting out even the blazing sun. With a wave of Rasa's trembling right hand, it came crashing down toward Dōmeki!