Chiyo Couldn't Understand

Faced with Manda's incredibly swift attack, Rasa didn't dare let his guard down. He controlled his sand platform and shot straight into the sky.

The huge purple figure flashed past below, tearing a gash through the forest.

"Hey, Manda, aim for the target!" Chisato Morino, standing atop Manda's head, reminded him impatiently.

That Big Raccoon Dog was almost at its limit. If he didn't save it soon, it really would be sealed away again.

"Cut the chatter. I don't need you reminding me, brat. Just watch me do my thing!" Manda twisted around, his cold eyes fixed on Rasa. The next second, he lunged again.

Rasa furrowed his brow and muttered, "What a nuisance."

His sand platform shifted sideways in midair, once again dodging Manda's bite.

As Manda passed by, Rasa freed one hand, curled his fingers, and pressed down. "Quiet down!"

Streams of gold sand shot up from the earth and slammed into Manda's body.

Boom!

Manda crashed heavily to the ground, unable to control himself.

That wasn't all. More gold sand gathered, twisting around Manda in sections like reins. It tightened and constricted, trying to squeeze the life out of him.

"Ah, this hurts like hell!" Manda cried out in pain. His enormous body twisted and thrashed, but it did no good; the gold sand only wound tighter.

Chisato Morino kept the chakra beneath his feet firmly attached to Manda's head, preventing himself from being flung off.

Watching Manda being squeezed until he looked like a sausage, he could only feel exasperated. "You talked such a big game. How come you're so useless?"

At his words, Manda's eyes grew even more vicious. He roared, "Shut up, you damn brat!"

He'd thought this would be a simple summoning, an easy task that would earn him some extra money. He hadn't expected to run into a Tailed Beast as soon as he appeared, let alone a human who was a monster, too.

This brat really was even more trouble than Orochimaru. That guy controlling the gold sand was terrifying—he was about to squeeze Manda's body in two.

"Hey, why is that human so difficult to deal with? Who is he?" Only now did Manda think to ask who his opponent was.

"That's the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa."

Those few simple words left Manda completely silent.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

The gold sand continued to tighten and constrict, ripping open gashes in Manda's flesh. Blood gushed out like a fountain.

At this rate, even his bones would be crushed... No, he couldn't stay here any longer. He had to get out!

Manda bellowed, "Brat, I'll settle the score with you for setting me up this time. Remember, you still owe me a hundred living sacrifices!"

With that, Manda voluntarily ended the Summoning Technique and vanished from the battlefield in a cloud of smoke.

Chisato Morino plummeted from the sky, rolling his eyes so hard they nearly disappeared.

You performed like that, and you still had the nerve to make demands of me?

"Forget it. I can't rely on other people. At a time like this, I can only depend on myself."

Using the vast cloud of smoke from Manda ending the Summoning Technique as cover, Chisato Morino formed Hand Seals the instant he landed. "Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof, poof, poof!

Three Shadow Clones appeared and immediately scattered.

As he burst out of the smoke, Chisato Morino had already finished forming Hand Seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball shot into the sky, crashing toward Rasa like a meteor.

"Don't be so naïve, brat. The same trick won't work on me twice." Rasa sneered and controlled the gold sand, turning it into a huge hemispherical shield in front of him.

This time, the gold-sand shield was three times thicker and divided into three layers, with gaps between them. The middle layer was made of ordinary yellow sand.

Now that he knew the weakness of Magnet Release, how could Rasa be unprepared?

Information was crucial in a ninja battle!

Just as he'd expected, the fireball struck the outermost layer of the gold-sand shield. The intense heat instantly dispersed his Magnet Release chakra, and the gold sand fell away in a heap.

But with the yellow sand in the middle blocking the flames, the innermost gold-sand shield remained completely unharmed!

The instant his view was blocked, the Third Eye had already risen into the air.

Even though the gold-sand shield obstructed his vision, Rasa could still see every one of Chisato Morino's movements.

Another Chisato Morino appeared on the ground, with a large mass of water swirling around him.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

The water transformed into a huge dragon that charged toward the gold-sand shield, its head held high.

Boom!

The tremendous impact shoved Rasa and the gold-sand shield several meters backward, but Rasa was unharmed.

He frowned, though. "What's this brat up to now?"

His Magnet Release wasn't vulnerable to Water Style. He refused to believe Chisato Morino didn't know that.

At that moment, water and fire met, and a vast cloud of steam erupted and spread. Before long, it covered nearly a hundred meters around the gold-sand shield.

Rasa's heart sank. His Third Eye had been rendered useless!

He realized what was happening, and his expression changed. "No good!"

The brat's target wasn't him!

Rasa hurriedly controlled his sand platform and flew toward Shukaku. As soon as he emerged from the mist, he saw exactly what he'd least wanted to see.

Chisato Morino stood on Shukaku's head, spewing out a huge stream of water, practically a waterfall.

Boom!

The water washed over Shukaku, sweeping away all the gold sand Rasa had attached to his body. Shukaku's body was thoroughly soaked, then collapsed like a sandcastle on the beach.

Rasa's face turned livid. His sealing was almost complete, but it had been forcibly interrupted.

As for Shukaku, although he looked as if he'd been washed apart, he was completely fine.

Yellow sand began gathering a hundred meters away. Within seconds, Shukaku reappeared.

"You stinking brat! How dare you drown me!"

The instant he recovered, Shukaku's eyes turned vicious. Chakra of yin and yang attributes began gathering and compressing in his mouth at a ratio of 2:8, eventually forming a black chakra sphere.

A Tailed Beast Bomb!

Rasa's pupils contracted, and Chisato Morino immediately retreated at full speed.

But the next second, the Tailed Beast Bomb flew toward them both.

Before either of them could escape, the Tailed Beast Bomb hit the ground and exploded.

Boom!

The terrifying explosion engulfed an area two kilometers across. Blinding light swallowed Rasa and Chisato Morino completely, destroying everything within its reach. Even people more than ten kilometers away felt the ground shake and saw the dazzling light in the distance.

Orochimaru, who had set out for this location after receiving the message, stopped at once. With a few leaps, he reached the top of a large tree and narrowed his eyes at the site of the explosion.

"That's not the kind of power an ordinary technique could produce."

With that thought, Orochimaru set off again, moving even faster.

"So it wasn't just Rasa..."

On the other side, the Konoha and Sand Hidden forces had been fighting on the main battlefield when they suddenly stopped and stared blankly at the site of the explosion.

Chiyo's fingers, which had been controlling her puppets, stopped moving. A look of astonishment crossed her aged face, then turned to disbelief. "Is that... a Tailed Beast Bomb?"

Hadn't Rasa taken his men to launch a Surprise Attack on Konoha Base Camp? That wasn't even where Konoha Base Camp was!

Had Orochimaru discovered them and intercepted them on the way?

But even if he had, there was no need to release Shukaku, was there?

Besides, hadn't the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Monk Bunpuku, already earned Shukaku's acknowledgment? How had they ended up using a Tailed Beast Bomb?

Had Orochimaru gotten this powerful?

One question after another surfaced in Chiyo's mind. She couldn't understand it at all.