A Battle of Desperation

The entire ocean of gold dust suddenly compressed violently, the earth itself trembling under the immense pressure.

"Boom!" Gold dust was heavy by nature, and coupled with such tremendous force, everything beneath it was crushed into powder. The intense tremors had yet to subside when wave after wave of pressure descended: "Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"This gold dust shall be your coffin! Let me send you into the earth! [Magnet Style: Gold Dust Burial]!" The ninja controlling the gold dust held his sword-fingers upright before his chest. The center of the gold dust sea suddenly began to swirl rapidly, creating a vortex. The gold dust began to sink deeply, and the surrounding sand rushed madly toward the center, all of it pouring into the depths of the earth, burying everything within it deep underground.

The gold dust user crossed his arms and watched it all with cold indifference. "Hmph! Even if you aren't dead, you're trapped 200 meters underground under all that heavy gold dust—there's no way you're getting out! Hahaha!" The ninja laughed maniacally. He had short black hair, and when he used Magnet Style to control the gold dust, dark circles appeared around his eyes.

"Heh, looks like there's no need for me to step in," another ninja carrying a large fan sneered.

"Dosa! We owe this to you," Ebizo said, clearly shocked by the sea of gold dust covering the forest floor.

"This was merely a mission assigned to me by my master. You should also thank yourselves for bringing so much gold dust here." Dosa was the proudest disciple of the Third Kazekage; he was gifted and possessed the Magnet Style bloodline limit, allowing him to control gold dust, which was heavier than sand—a power identical to that of Gaara's father.

Suddenly, pale yellow slime erupted from the center of the gold dust sea. The slime was highly corrosive, dissolving the surrounding gold dust and sending up wisps of white smoke. The range of the slime expanded rapidly, carving a path through the gold-dusted ground.

"Hm? What is this?" Chiyo and Ebizo were startled.

"Boom!" A giant slug emerged from the pale yellow slime, and Princess Tsunade and the others surfaced from within its body. Unfortunately, two elite jonin who had been too far away were swept up by the gold dust tide; Tsunade had been unable to save them, and they were already buried deep beneath the sand.

The remaining eight elite jonin of Konoha glared at their enemies. Dozens of Hidden Sand ninja had arrived nearby, but fearing the immense power of the gold dust, they merely surrounded the perimeter, cutting off the retreat of the Konoha group.

"Damn it, we can't retreat now, we're going to be wiped out!" The Konoha elite jonin knew the situation was dire. They had already exhausted a large amount of chakra attacking the supply station, and now, facing several well-prepared, powerful enemies with their path of retreat severed, they were in grave danger!

"Bastards! This was a trap!" Tsunade roared. Having lost four comrades in quick succession, she was consumed by grief and fury.

"Indeed! You captured a Hidden Sand ninja and checked the memories in his mind. Those memories were real, but the main supply station he remembered was a fake! Because even he truly believed that was the real location! It was all to lure you here and slaughter you Konoha elites! Princess Tsunade!" Ebizo laughed triumphantly.

Chiyo took the opportunity to pull out a scroll and release ten puppets: "[White Secret Technique: The Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu]! Leave Tsunade to me and my sister! Dosa, this is your home turf; finish off the others and then come help us! Kalo will assist you."

Ebizo and Chiyo worked in tandem to control the ten puppets. The other Hidden Sand ninja, Kalo, prepared to strike as well, drawing the large fan from his back—the Three-Star Fan. Dosa raised his hands once more, and the surrounding gold dust began to hover and swirl around him.

Dan Kato was protected by the giant slug, swallowing several military ration pills in one go as he focused on fully recovering his chakra. The remaining Konoha elite jonin exchanged glances, stood together, and shouted, "Fight to the death! There are no cowards among Konoha ninja!" They had no choice but to make a desperate last stand! (BGM: Hyakka Ryoran, Takanashi Yasuharu)

As the two sides stood in a standoff, dark clouds from afar drifted over the battlefield. Rain began to fall from the gloomy sky, pattering softly onto the gold-dusted ground.

"Tch, how unlucky! The gold dust gets even heavier when it gets wet," Dosa grumbled. Hearing the complaint, Kalo spoke up, "Dosa, let me take the lead. You just focus on pinning them down!"

"Charge!" Chiyo moved first, maneuvering the ten puppets toward Tsunade.

"Kill!" The Konoha ninja clashed with their enemies.

Dosa crossed his hands and swung them forward, causing over a dozen giant hands to erupt from the gold dust and reach for the other jonin: "[Magnet Style: Gold Dust Hand]!"

"Dodge!" Facing the lightning-fast gold dust hands, the Konoha jonin immediately leaped away. The ghostly hands pursued them relentlessly, closing in from all sides. Forced to scatter, each ninja found themselves pinned by several hands, leaving them with no room to counterattack.

Under Dosa's deliberate maneuvering, the group was driven further and further away from Tsunade, making it easier for Chiyo and Ebizo to handle her.

"Damn it, are you trying to isolate Lady Tsunade? Don't underestimate us! [Konoha Style Sword Technique: Sweep]!" The jonin holding a long sword swung it horizontally; with a flash of light, a gold dust hand was sliced clean in two.

He immediately charged toward the hand that tried to grab him, his blade dancing: "[Konoha Style Sword Technique: Cleave]!", "[Shave]!", "[Slash]!", "[Thrust]!", "[Graze]!" After several flashes of light, the sword-wielding jonin appeared behind the gold dust arm, and the massive limb crumbled into pieces.

"Not bad! [Wind Style: Wind Cutter]!" Kalo, who was supporting Dosa from the side, saw someone break free and immediately swung his fan, unleashing a large, thin blade of air. The sword-wielding jonin leaped aside to dodge the wind blade.

"Take this! [Fire Style: Great Flame Bomb]!" Another Konoha jonin dodged the hands attacking him and spat out a massive fireball, which flew toward Kalo.

"[Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel]!" Kalo swung his fan violently, sending out a raging whirlwind. The cylindrical vortex contained countless wind blades; the Great Flame Bomb was blown back, and the wind blades sliced the flames into pieces.

"What? Doesn't Fire Style counter Wind Style?" The Konoha jonin was shocked. The violent whirlwind was already upon him, and he was swallowed by the vortex, which carried the flames and shredded him with countless wind blades.

Kalo sneered, "Hmph! Foolish Konoha ninja. Powerful Wind Style can also counter Fire Style, especially the kind that creates a vacuum."

"Damn it!" Tsunade, who was struggling with the puppets, saw her comrade in danger and tried to rush to his aid.

"Tsunade! We are your opponents!" Chiyo immediately manipulated the puppets to block her path. The female puppet with dual blades struck down, and Tsunade dodged to the side.

At the same time, the Konoha jonin hit by the Great Sickle Weasel landed dozens of meters away, covered in wounds, before his body transformed into a puddle of brown mud.

"Oh? [Earth Substitution], is it? You can't run!" Dosa, who was pinning the others down, immediately spotted the jonin's position. Two gold dust hands lunged at the survivor, who scrambled to jump away. The hands followed like a shadow, and after a few leaps, the ninja was a split second too slow, and the gold dust ensnared his foot.

Several teammates saw this and rushed to save him.

"Trying to save him? No way! [Wind Style: Pressure Damage]!" Kalo took a deep breath and exhaled a gale, forming a massive sphere of wind. The sphere expanded rapidly, tearing apart everything in its path. The raging wind forced the Konoha jonin to retreat.

The Konoha swordsman pushed through the gale, his clothes shredded by the wind, and used a Body Flicker technique to reach his teammate. "[Konoha Style Sword Technique: Slash]!" He severed the gold dust arm, saving his comrade.

"Die! [Magnet Style: Gold Dust Killing Spear]!" Not far away, Dosa had already condensed a spear of gold dust in his hand. He threw it with all his might at the Konoha ninja who had just broken free. The spear shot forward like a bullet, pinning the ninja to the ground. The Konoha jonin was finished off; only seven remained!

"No!!" Seeing his teammate killed, Tsunade was filled with fury. She smashed the white-haired puppet attacking her into pieces with a single punch, but Ebizo immediately pulled out a scroll to replace it, pinning Tsunade down once more.

By now, the rain on the battlefield was growing heavier. Raindrops the size of beans pelted the gold dust, making Dosa's medium exceptionally heavy and difficult to control. His speed slowed significantly, and he had to expend several times more chakra to maintain control.

"Kalo, this technique of mine needs time to prepare! I'll let you play for half a minute!" Dosa retreated to the back, pressing his palms together to accumulate chakra.

"Heh, I'll just take care of it all! I'll finish you off in one move! [Shadow Clone Technique]!" Kalo created two shadow clones. The three of them stood in a triangular formation facing the Konoha jonin, and all three swung their Three-Star Fans at once!

"[Wind Style: Great Net]!"

The moment the fans swung, the gale in front of the three formed a towering wall of wind. Within the wall, countless wind blades formed a dense, intricate net. The wall of wind pushed forward with unstoppable force, slicing through even the raindrops falling from the sky. The range and speed of this technique were so great that even the Third Raikage wouldn't have been able to dodge it, let alone the Konoha group!

"Oh no! [Earth Style: Earth Wall]!" The Konoha ninja desperately erected an earth wall, but the wind wall swallowed it instantly. The Earth Wall was sliced into neat, small blocks by the wind net, and the elite Konoha jonin were on the verge of being decapitated!

At the critical moment, the giant slug split into several smaller slugs, which appeared just in time to wrap around the group and burrow into the ground, narrowly escaping death. However, two others were too slow to dodge and were shredded into pulp by the wind blades.

Heavy rain now drenched the battlefield, but no one cared. The Konoha ninja were driven into a corner!

"You all retreat! I'll hold them off!" Tsunade shouted to the others. Only five Konoha jonin remained, and since Dan Kato's chakra hadn't recovered, only four were still capable of fighting. Tsunade decided to have the giant slug protect them as they retreated, while she stayed behind to cover them.

"No! We will never abandon our comrades to save ourselves!" one Konoha jonin said without hesitation, and the three of them charged back into the fray to fight to the death.

Protected by the slug, Dan Kato was frantic. "No, if this continues, everyone will die!"

He glanced at Tsunade, then fixed his eyes on Dosa, who was still accumulating chakra, and made up his mind. "If I can just take him out, there's a chance... I have no choice. I'll have to force the use of the Spirit Transformation Technique!"