To Repay My Debts, I'll Become Hokage!

Chapter 69: The Death of Rasa

Bang!

A massive plume of smoke erupted as Manda, the size of a small mountain, vanished from the battlefield.

The Akasuna Couple panted heavily, their faces etched with exhaustion.

The man of the Akasuna Couple spoke, "We exhausted all our puppets, but we finally managed to drive that snake back."

He felt a pang of heartache for the puppets he had spent so long cultivating; each one was worth a fortune and represented the culmination of his life's work.

To lose them all in one go meant that replacing them would be impossible in the short term.

The woman of the Akasuna Couple looked at the scattered, broken puppets across the ground, her heart twitching with sharp, rhythmic pain.

She looked helplessly at the state of the battlefield; their Sunagakure had suffered heavy losses in this engagement.

"Let's retreat."

The man nodded, and the next moment, he waved his hands. A Konoha Anbu suddenly moved, raising his blade to strike at his own comrade.

Clang!

Fortunately, the comrade reacted in time, blocking the attack at the very last second.

Hyuga Quande: "Watch out, he's being controlled by the enemy!"

The woman followed suit, her Chakra Threads instantly connecting to a Konoha ninja, forcing him to charge toward Hyuga Quande.

"Damn it!"

Hyuga Quande parried the attack from his comrade, his Chakra Blade slashing toward the Chakra Threads his Byakugan had detected.

As the blade met the threads, it produced a sound like clashing metal.

The Akasuna Couple wore mocking expressions.

"You won't be able to cut our Chakra Threads!"

Puppet masters were known to have a common weakness: their Chakra Threads were fragile and easily severed.

But this did not apply to top-tier puppet masters like the Akasuna Couple. To counter this weakness, they had refined high-density Chakra Threads, which were as durable as steel and not so easily cut.

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Orochimaru flicked his right hand, and a snake surged from his sleeve, baring its fangs. With vicious eyes, it lunged toward the Akasuna Couple.

The Akasuna Couple did not panic; they controlled another Konoha ninja to step in front of the snake's maw.

Let's see if you have the guts to ignore your own comrades.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his snake-like pupils betraying his dissatisfaction. He steered the snake to bypass the disposable Konoha ninja, but the snake's head slammed directly into the ground, eating dirt.

The Akasuna Couple continued to manipulate the Konoha ninjas, forcing them to fight their own kind.

Orochimaru and the others felt deeply stifled, hesitant to strike for fear of harming their allies.

The Akasuna Couple fought while retreating, simultaneously signaling Karura with a secret gesture.

Seeing this, Karura took a deep breath, pulled a signal flare from her ninja pouch, and fired it into the sky, where it burst open.

The Sunagakure ninjas currently engaged with Konoha saw the signal, cast one last hateful glare at Konoha, and looked with sorrow at their fallen comrades whose fates remained unknown.

"We are retreating!"

With that cry, the Sunagakure ninjas turned and fled.

"Don't let them run! Pursue them!"

Seeing the enemy attempting to escape, Nawaki immediately prepared to give chase.

However, the memory of nearly stepping on an Explosive Tag earlier was still etched in his mind. He glanced stealthily at his Konoha comrades, seeing that they were all preparing to pursue as well.

After waiting a moment and hearing no order from his teacher, Orochimaru, Nawaki felt emboldened and confidently joined his comrades in hunting down the retreating Sunagakure forces.

"Wind Style: Kamaitachi!"

Karura used her fan to repel the pursuers. Seeing that Rasa was still locked in a standoff with Uchiha Chonhua, she hurriedly shouted, "Rasa, we are retreating!"

After waiting a moment, she saw no movement from Rasa, and Uchiha Chonhua, standing opposite him, was also frozen in place.

The cubes and triangular pyramids formed from the mixture of sand and gold dust remained suspended in the air, motionless.

Even the sand that had been reaching out to grab Uchiha Chonhua had solidified.

A sense of unease gripped Karura's heart.

Something was wrong!

"Rasa?"

The next second, Karura's pupils constricted, her face contorted in horror.

"Rasa!!!!"

Uchiha Chonhua moved, walking slowly toward Rasa, his hands forming hand seals. He raised his right hand high, where concentrated lightning radiated outward.

Uchiha Chonhua looked at the dazed, foolish expression on Rasa's face, his own expression dark and his complexion unreadable.

Come to think of it, this was the first prominent character from the original story he had killed since arriving in this world.

He felt no melancholy; at the end of the day, the man was merely his enemy.

Uchiha Chonhua thrust his right hand fiercely into Rasa's chest!

The intense pain jolted Rasa back to consciousness. His face twisted, and he spat out a large mouthful of blood.

Cold sweat dripped from his brow as Rasa stared at his own chest in disbelief.

Blood gushed out, unstoppable, the violent pain stimulating his nerves.

Rasa's face turned ghastly pale, his eyes wide open, fixed firmly on Uchiha Chonhua's cold, indifferent gaze.

Those demonic, scarlet Sharingan!

"I clearly... prepared so many measures to guard against your Sharingan..."

Uchiha Chonhua replied indifferently: "Your preparations were useless; you do not understand the Sharingan."

Rasa fell silent. He truly did not understand the Sharingan; all the precautions he had taken had been in vain.

He had been outplayed, caught in a genjutsu.

He recalled the experience: being pinned down by suddenly appearing giant iron stakes, his body unable to move freely.

Those stakes had tightened with every passing moment, leaving him drenched in cold sweat and in excruciating pain.

He had gritted his teeth, suppressing his groans until a surge of immense pain broke him free from the giant stakes, shattering the world of the illusion.

The world returned to reality, but reality was far from kind.

Rasa laughed bitterly, unable to stop himself from coughing up blood, even coughing up fragments of his own flesh.

"What was that genjutsu called?"

As his life faded away, Rasa asked his final question.

Uchiha Chonhua granted him his wish, giving him the final answer of his life: "Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"

Uchiha Chonhua's expression suddenly shifted as he glanced at Rasa.

"Save your breath. Your chakra meridian system has already been destroyed, and your cells have been scorched by lightning. You want to make a final struggle before you die?"

"Delusional."

Uchiha Chonhua leaned in close, whispering into Rasa's ear: "If not for me, you would have been the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure."

Rasa, exhausted and wanting to drift into sleep, felt a surge of doubt upon hearing Uchiha Chonhua's words.

What is this? The pity of a victor?

What a twisted sense of humor, Uchiha Chonhua.

But thinking of the Kazekage title... a look of regret crossed Rasa's face; his dream would never be fulfilled.

"However, you weren't doing a very good job as Kazekage. The village was growing weaker, and you were even at odds with your own children."

Uchiha Chonhua chuckled softly: "So, I've come to resolve your troubles ahead of time."

"Uchiha Chonhua!" Rasa glared at him: "You are insulting me!"

What did he mean by saying he wasn't doing a good job as Kazekage, why was the village getting weaker under his tenure, and what was this about being at odds with his children?

Naturally, he did not understand the deeper meaning behind Uchiha Chonhua's words, assuming only that he was fabricating stories to insult him before his death!

He had dreamed of becoming the Kazekage, and naturally, he possessed the ambition and the desire to develop and strengthen the village.

Rasa trembled with rage; this was a denial of his dreams! And a denial of his capabilities!

Seeing Rasa's angry appearance, Uchiha Chonhua blinked innocently.

Crackle, crackle—

The Chidori lightning in Uchiha Chonhua's hand expanded instantly.

"Ugh... cough..."

Rasa's body went limp. He wanted to lift his head to look at Uchiha Chonhua, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and the light in his eyes was rapidly fading.

Thud!

Rasa collapsed to the ground, his eyes vacant, his consciousness extinguished.

Uchiha Chonhua dispersed the lightning in his hand, and the yellow sand behind him lost its master and scattered.

"I was only telling the truth, after all."

Chapter 70: Hatake Sakumo: Surprised? Unexpected?

"Lord Rasa!?"

"Rasa!?"

The death of Rasa caused shock among the people of Sunagakure.

Rasa was the youngest Jonin in their Sunagakure, and as a disciple of the Third Kazekage, he had mastered the secret Magnet Release technique of his master.

Many in Sunagakure idolized Rasa, but...

They stared, dumbfounded, at Rasa lying lifeless on the ground, seemingly unable to process what had happened.

That genius of Sunagakure, Lord Rasa... he was dead!?

"Rasa!!"

Karura looked at Uchiha Chonhua with a face full of hatred, gripping the Three-Star Fan in her hands tightly.

Her mind went blank, and her body moved on its own accord.

She had to avenge Rasa!

"Sister!" Yashamaru's face turned pale with shock, and he hurriedly held his sister Karura back.

"Let go! Yashamaru, I am going to avenge Rasa!"

Karura struggled, but Yashamaru held onto her with all his might.

"We cannot defeat Uchiha Chonhua!"

Rasa had died at the hands of that man, and judging by Uchiha Chonhua's state, he clearly still had plenty of strength left.

If Uchiha Chonhua could kill Rasa, he could kill his sister Karura just as easily.

Yashamaru was trembling with fear; he absolutely could not let his sister rush forward to throw her life away!

While Yashamaru had stopped Karura, he could not stop the other Sunagakure ninja who wanted to avenge Rasa.

"Damn you, Uchiha! I will avenge Lord Rasa!"

A Sunagakure ninja roared, manipulating the puppet in his hands as a blade coated in deadly poison thrust straight forward.

Uchiha Chonhua glanced at him with indifference.