Another Wave

Thunder rumbled as lightning bolts crashed down from high above, blanketing the area around Rasa. Each strike hit a member of the Iwagakure squad with pinpoint precision.

Rasa bathed in the thunder, strolling leisurely as if he were an emperor. The inspiration for this technique came from Sasuke's Lightning Style: Kirin.

The difference was that Lightning Style required Fire Style to create cumulonimbus clouds before drawing down lightning, which had a longer wind-up and weak control over the bolts.

Rasa was different; he manipulated ions and gathered electric charges directly. His wind-up was shorter, and provided he had enough chakra or high Electromagnetic Force Intensity, the preparation time never exceeded three or four seconds.

By leaving the movement of charges beneath the clouds to nature, he saved a portion of his stamina, only needing to provide a slight push to perfectly control the trajectory of every bolt.

Whether in power or range, it was not much different from Lightning Style: Kirin, but his control over it was far superior, which was why he named it Nine Heavens Thunder God.

This was the supreme deity of the Ministry of Thunder in the mythology of his homeland.

In Rasa's memories, there was a manga called Shaman King, where a character named Tao Ren had also used this name to title his own techniques.

Hm?

Rasa's mind stirred as he sensed that the electromagnetic waves emitted by Mahiru's body were off. He must have used a Shadow Clone or similar ability while Rasa was weaving hand signs, hiding his true self underground.

Any object above absolute zero could emit electromagnetic waves. Shadow Clones and Water Clones appeared identical to the original and possessed power.

However, because their essence differed, the frequency of the electromagnetic waves they released remained slightly distinct from the true body.

This meant that many deceptive tactics would not work on Rasa. Electromagnetic force was nearly omnipotent; even at a novice stage, one could develop many practical abilities.

He happened to need someone to carry news of his actions back to the Land of Earth, and this Mahiru was just right.

Manipulating the thunder, he cleared the field in the blink of an eye, turning all the ninjas into charred remains. The sandy ground hissed with blue smoke from the electric heat, and the surrounding area was entirely transformed into murky crystals.

Mahiru was quite clever. The moment his Shadow Clone was struck down, he took advantage of Rasa's "inattention" to throw another Shadow Clone into the same spot.

He mimicked the charred appearance of his teammates after being struck by lightning to pass off the fake as real, while holding his breath and calming his heartbeat as much as possible, hoping not to attract Rasa's attention.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the bright moon crawled back out. If not for the scene littered with corpses, no one would have believed what had just happened here.

It was like a dream.

Rasa adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and looked up at the night sky. Acting cool as the wind, he deliberately said some words to confuse any potential listeners: "A bunch of idiots."

"My self-created Lightning Style ninjutsu is even stronger than the Lightning Style body-refining secret techniques. Even the Raikage himself sighed in admiration at it."

"Truly a mantis trying to stop a chariot; how ridiculously arrogant."

Hidden underground, Mahiru felt even more grief and indignation upon hearing this, yet it was an undeniable fact that his entire group had been wiped out by a single move.

Even for him, hiding his true self underground, the situation was no better. The lightning strikes had heated the sand layer, and since he hadn't dug deep enough, the surroundings felt like a furnace.

Rasa shook his head, left the scene with a light heart, and headed toward the Land of Earth—or rather, the Land of Birds.

The Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, along with the other Five Great Nations, did not actually border each other. Between them lay countless small countries acting as buffer zones. The Iwagakure ninjas had likely broken through from the direction of the Land of Birds.

Establishing an organization like Celestial, the Celestial Group, was not a decision made on a whim. Now that he was out, he had some spare time to resolve the issue of the organization's headquarters.

He would choose the Land of Birds.

The Shinobi World was actually somewhat similar to the New World in One Piece; countries that were not far apart or even adjacent possessed completely different climates and scenery.

The Land of Wind was a desert region, forcing the Sunagakure ninjas to live near water and build villages around oases. The Land of Birds, however, had a peaceful climate with spring-like weather all year round, where migratory birds came to nest every year.

The Land of Birds also had two neighbors: the Land of Rain, which rained all year round, as everyone knew. The other was the Land of Bears, which possessed dense forests and miasma valleys, the location of Hoshigakure.

After searching, he finally found a good spot at sunrise—nestled against the mountains and by the water, surrounded by clouds and mist, a true paradise on earth.

"A good place. This is what you call taste."

Rasa nodded with satisfaction. He released electromagnetic waves to sense the density and structure of the mountain, found a suitable location, and began his excavation work.

Manipulating high-density, sturdy metal ores to chisel into the mountain, he alone was equal to several construction crews. He threw the excavated rubble directly into the lake, startling flocks of birds.

Dozens of minutes after Rasa left, Mahiru finally broke through the surface of the sand. Fortunately, he had used chakra to protect his body in time, but even so, his exposed skin was severely burned in many places.

With eyes full of grief, he scanned the corpses at the scene. He had only used the Shadow Clone to distract Luo Yongxin, intending to sneak in a backstab with his true body, but he hadn't expected it to save his life instead.

He took out a storage scroll and collected the bodies of all his teammates. Firstly, it was so they could be laid to rest; being buried in the Iwagakure martyr's garden could be considered a good final destination.

Secondly, the bodies contained too much information. Someone knowledgeable could look at the types of wounds and the severity of the injuries to identify the killer, the methods used, and their approximate strength.

This was all evidence.

After finishing everything, Mahiru composed himself and hurried away, returning to Iwagakure two days later.

"It's Lord Mahiru! He's an elite ninja of our village," a child pointed at Mahiru and exclaimed in surprise.

"In the future, I want to become a powerful ninja like Lord Mahiru!"

It was noon, and there were many pedestrians on the streets of Iwagakure.

Ninjas who knew a little bit of the inside story glanced at Mahiru from time to time. Wasn't it said he went on a special mission a few days ago? Why had he returned so soon?

The more the children chattered, the more Mahiru felt the pain in his heart. What kind of "powerful" was he? He couldn't even take a single move from the enemy.

Thirty Chunin, two elite Jonin, and one Jonin had gone, and only he had returned alive. This was a disgrace.

The irony was that in order to bring the intelligence back, he still had to live on in humiliation.

Walking in silence, Mahiru's expression was gloomy as he headed straight for the Tsuchikage's office, moving like a walking corpse.

"Bang!"

Not paying attention, he crashed directly into the office door, stumbled inside, and fell to the ground, unwilling to climb back up for a long time.

The Tsuchikage, Two Scales Onoki, who was at the final peak of his ninja career, was sitting at his desk handling official business. Beside him was the legendary "missing" Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi.