The Third Kazekage was hailed as the strongest Kazekage in history, and that reputation was on full display now. Even though both techniques used Magnet Release, their power was worlds apart.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Iron sand began to rain from the sky...
If Rasa's Gold Dust Rain had been a heavy downpour, then the Iron Sand Drizzle Lan unleashed while controlling the Third Kazekage Human Puppet was a violent storm.
The dense, blinding rain of iron sand covered the entire area where Rasa and the Anbu squad members stood, even blocking off the routes they might have used to escape.
Knowing there was no way to dodge, they each used their own methods to defend themselves. As the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa fared much better. A shield of Gold Dust protected him so thoroughly that not even a gap remained.
Lan's Iron Sand Drizzle was certainly powerful, but it could not take down Rasa in one hit when he, too, wielded Magnet Release, which could both attack and defend.
But compared to Rasa's calm composure, the Sunagakure Anbu squad members were in dire straits. Though they desperately unleashed all kinds of Wind Release Ninjutsu, secret techniques, and ninja tools, the relentless attacks of iron sand left them unable to defend themselves. Casualties soon began to mount.
Before long, the Anbu squad members were screaming one after another.
Seeing his subordinates wounded one by one, Rasa ignored the pressure Lan was putting on him and devoted a fraction of his attention to controlling some of his Gold Dust, turning it into shields to protect the Anbu squad members.
Seeing Rasa's attention divided, Lan realized his plan had worked and decisively launched another attack.
A large amount of black sand gathered high in the sky, then condensed into a massive iron cone several meters long.
Lan aimed the cone at Rasa's position. With a wave of his hand, the iron cone shot down from the sky like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Hearing the air split above him, Rasa's expression turned grave.
First, he formed an Eye of Sand from Gold Dust and sent it into the sky to serve as a lookout. Then he stirred up a huge amount of chakra and summoned even more Gold Dust, gathering it around himself.
Layer upon layer of Gold Dust wrapped around him, forming a golden sphere that protected Rasa within.
It seemed Rasa was trying to withstand Lan's iron cone attack by reinforcing his defenses.
Rumble!
The black iron sand cone slammed into the Gold Dust sphere. Amid a deafening crash, black sand and Gold Dust burst outward, shrouding the area around Rasa in a fog that obscured everything from view.
Lord Rasa should be all right after that attack, shouldn't he?
Temporarily safe under Rasa's protection, the Anbu squad members began praying for him. They had no chance of joining a battle between Kage Level fighters like this. In fact, their presence was only a burden to Rasa.
But whenever they tried to retreat, Lan's attacks drove them back. Clearly, Hyuga Lan intended to use the Anbu members as bait to lure Rasa into making a mistake. There was no way he would kindly let them leave.
As for Rasa, inside the Gold Dust sphere, he had expended a great deal of chakra to withstand Hyuga Lan's attack, but he had still come through unscathed.
Before he could catch his breath, however, a tremendous crash rang out. Inside the Gold Dust sphere, he felt an immense force slam into him.
The impact was so powerful that his internal organs ached, while the Gold Dust protecting him began to twist and deform—the first sign that it was about to collapse.
"Thud, thud, thud..."
Loud blows rang out across the battlefield. A black giant hammer made of Iron Sand was pounding the Gold Dust sphere, which resembled a tortoise shell, again and again.
Against a tough defensive technique like this, a blunt strike from a giant hammer worked better than a sharp iron cone.
Even if the Gold Dust shield could withstand the hammer blows, Rasa, trapped inside, could not withstand the shock waves caused by their collisions.
When Rasa realized that Lan's continued assault might shatter his Gold Dust shield, he struggled to maintain it while using the Eye of Sand in the sky to locate Lan.
Once he had found Lan's position, he clenched his right hand.
A great mass of Gold Dust flowed toward Lan from every direction. When it reached him, it surged upward, trying to swallow him whole.
Facing the oncoming torrent of Gold Dust, Lan spread his arms. Two clouds of iron sand floated behind him and quickly transformed into a pair of broad Iron Sand Wings.
The huge wings flapped, batting away the Gold Dust surging toward him. Then they lifted Lan into the air just before the Gold Dust could engulf him.
Seeing Lan fly into the sky, Rasa still refused to give up. He controlled the Gold Dust, sending it crashing toward Lan in the air like enormous waves rising from the sea.
Wave after wave of Gold Dust surged at him, but Lan needed only to gently shift his Iron Sand Wings to evade them with ease.
Rasa's attacks looked imposing, but they were accomplishing little.
Someone else might have struggled against Rasa's Gold Dust attacks. But because Lan was controlling the Third Kazekage Human Puppet himself, he understood the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai deeply. Though it seemed capable of both offense and defense, Magnet Release had significant weaknesses.
For example, the Gold Dust Rasa was controlling now was too slow. He had forcibly drawn this huge mass of Gold Dust from underground with Magnet Release chakra, rather than cultivating it with his own chakra. As a result, he could not control it with ease.
When Gaara fought Deidara in the original timeline, Deidara quickly discovered this weakness. The only sand that could threaten Deidara was the sand Gaara had cultivated over a long time and stored in the gourd on his back. No matter how much other sand he had, it was only useful for defense; it was too slow to be effective in an attack.
Knowing this, Lan had chosen not to draw iron ore from underground, conserving his chakra. After all, in this desert, his geographical advantage was even greater than Rasa's.
If he unleashed a large-scale Magnet Release technique, it would certainly look far more impressive than Rasa's attacks. But no matter how impressive it looked, it meant little if it could not inflict real damage.
So Lan kept swinging the Iron Sand Giant Hammer at Rasa while dodging the Gold Dust attacks around him. He couldn't help wondering why Rasa was so stubbornly wasting chakra on such pointless attacks.
In truth, Rasa was being treated unfairly. He wasn't a time traveler; how could he know what Gaara would do in the future?
After all, very few ninja in the Ninja World could fly. A Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai that could both attack and defend while allowing its user to fly could easily deal with enemies who couldn't fly, as long as its range was broad enough. It didn't matter much if its attacks weren't especially fast.
Just look at Kimimaro's fight with Gaara. No matter how fast Kimimaro was, faced with sand attacking from every direction, he eventually sank into the quagmire and couldn't escape.
And among all the opponents Rasa had faced, none could fly. His imposing Magnet Release attacks had usually been enough to secure victory. After becoming the Fourth Kazekage and spending most of his time away from the front lines, he had naturally seen even less combat.
Rasa probably never dreamed he would one day face another ninja who wielded Magnet Release. Today, he finally understood how his past opponents had felt when his Magnet Release attacks had driven them up the wall...