Magnet Release VS Magnet Release

The Third Kazekage was hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history, and this moment demonstrated that reputation to the fullest; even when both sides utilized Magnet Release, the disparity in power was immense.

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

A rain of iron sand began to fall from the sky.

If the Magnet Release: Gold Dust Rain that Rasa had unleashed moments ago was a heavy downpour, then the Iron Sand Drizzle unleashed by Hyuga Lan, who was controlling the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, was a violent, raging storm.

The dense, sky-obscuring rain of iron sand blanketed the entire area where Rasa and the Anbu squad members stood, even covering the zones where they might have attempted to flee.

Knowing that evasion was hopeless, they each employed their own methods to defend themselves. As the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa performed far better, his shield of gold dust protecting him so thoroughly that not a single gap remained.

Although Lan's Iron Sand Drizzle was imposing, it was unlikely to achieve a decisive blow against an opponent who also mastered the offensive and defensive capabilities of Magnet Release.

However, compared to Rasa's composed performance, the members of the Sand Village Anbu squad were in a miserable state. Even though they desperately channeled various Wind Release ninjutsu, secret techniques, and ninja tools, the relentless assault of iron sand left them unable to defend against everything, and casualties began to mount quickly.

Soon, the Anbu squad members began to scream one after another.

Watching his subordinates fall one by one, Rasa could no longer ignore the pressure Lan was exerting. He diverted a sliver of his focus to manipulate a portion of his gold dust into a shield to protect the Anbu members.

Seeing Rasa distracted, Lan realized his plan had succeeded and decisively launched a new wave of attacks.

A massive amount of black sand gathered high in the sky, condensing into a giant iron cone several meters long.

Lan controlled the direction of the iron cone, aiming it at Rasa's position. With a wave of his hand, the iron cone shot toward Rasa like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Feeling the sound of the air being torn apart from high above, Rasa's expression turned grave.

He first used gold dust to condense a Sand Eye, which flew into the sky to serve as his vision, then channeled a vast amount of chakra within his body to summon even more gold dust to gather around him.

Layer upon layer, the gold dust wrapped around him, forming a golden sphere that held Rasa firmly inside.

It appeared that Rasa was attempting to withstand Lan's iron cone attack by increasing his defensive measures.

BOOM!

The black sand iron cone collided with the gold dust sphere. With a deafening roar, black and gold sand erupted outward, turning the area where Rasa stood into a mist-filled, impenetrable void.

Under such an attack, is Lord Rasa alright?

The Anbu squad members, temporarily safe under Rasa's protection, began to pray for him in their hearts. In a battle of this caliber between Kage-level powerhouses, they had no opportunity to intervene; in fact, their presence here was merely a burden to Rasa.

Yet, whenever they attempted to retreat, they were blocked by Lan's attacks. Clearly, Hyuga Lan intended to use these Anbu members as bait to lure Rasa into revealing a flaw, so why would he kindly let them leave?

As for Rasa, currently inside the gold dust sphere, he had managed to block the attack without injury, though it had cost him a massive amount of chakra.

Before he could even catch his breath, however, a loud thud echoed, and he felt a tremendous impact through his golden shell.

The force was so great that his internal organs ached, and the gold dust used for his defense began to warp and deform—a precursor to collapse.

Thud, thud, thud...

A massive pounding sound erupted across the battlefield as a giant black hammer made of iron sand struck the turtle-shell-like gold sphere again and again.

When dealing with such a sturdy defensive ninjutsu, a sharp iron cone was far less effective than the blunt force of this giant hammer.

Even if the gold dust shield could withstand the hammer's strikes, the shockwaves generated by the collisions were more than Rasa could endure from within.

Realizing that if he allowed Lan to continue this assault, his gold dust shield risked total collapse, Rasa struggled to maintain his defense while using the Sand Eye in the sky to track Lan's position.

Upon confirming Lan's location, he clenched his right hand tightly.

A vast amount of gold dust surged toward Lan from all directions like flowing water, rising up to engulf him.

Facing the surging waves of gold dust, Lan spread his arms. Two masses of iron sand drifted behind his back, rapidly transforming into a pair of broad Iron Sand Wings.

The giant wings flapped, batting away the incoming gold dust, and carried Lan into the air just before the tide could swallow him.

Seeing Lan take flight, Rasa refused to give up, manipulating the gold dust like a giant wave rising from the sea to lash out at Lan in the sky.

Facing the wave after wave of gold dust, Lan relied solely on the gentle flapping of his Iron Sand Wings to nimbly dodge the attacks.

Rasa's assault appeared imposing, yet it struggled to achieve any real results.

If it were someone else, they might find Rasa's gold dust attacks troublesome, but because Lan was actually controlling the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, his understanding of the Magnet Release bloodline limit was profound enough to know that this seemingly perfect offensive and defensive technique actually had significant weaknesses.

For instance, the gold dust Rasa was currently controlling lacked speed because it was forcibly extracted from the ground using Magnet Release chakra rather than being nurtured by his own chakra over time, making it difficult to manipulate with precision.

Much like when Gaara fought Deidara in the original timeline, this weakness was quickly exposed. The only sand capable of threatening Deidara was the sand Gaara carried in his gourd, which he had nurtured for a long time; any other sand, no matter how abundant, could only be used for defense, as it was too slow to be effective in offense.

Knowing this, and out of a desire to conserve chakra, Lan had not mobilized the iron ore beneath the ground. In this desert, his geographical advantage was even greater than Rasa's.

If he were to unleash a large-scale Magnet Release ninjutsu, the display would be far more impressive than Rasa's current performance, but no matter how grand the display, it was meaningless if it could not inflict effective damage.

Thus, while Lan hammered away at Rasa with his iron sand giant hammer and dodged the surrounding gold dust attacks, he found himself wondering why Rasa was being so stubborn, wasting his chakra on such futile efforts.

In truth, Lan was slightly misjudging Rasa; Rasa was no transmigrator, so how could he know of Gaara's future exploits?

In the Ninja World, ninjas with the ability to fly were extremely rare. A Magnet Release bloodline that offered both offense and defense was perfectly capable of handling non-flying enemies, provided the range was large enough, regardless of speed.

Just as Gaara had fought Kimimaro—no matter how fast Kimimaro was, he eventually became mired in the sand and unable to escape.

Rasa had never encountered an enemy capable of flight in his past battles; usually, a single grand display of Magnet Release was enough to secure victory. Furthermore, having lived in the rear since becoming the Fourth Kazekage, his combat experience had naturally dwindled.

Rasa likely never dreamed that he would one day face a ninja who also mastered Magnet Release. Today, he finally experienced the very frustration he had inflicted upon his own past opponents.