Yato vs. Rasa

The first match had been spectacular. Both Hiashi's offense and Pakura's final counterattack had been impressive.

At that moment, Uchiha Yato announced, "A half-hour intermission. The second match will begin afterward."

Pakura, having stepped off the field, began teasing Uchiha Yato. "Konoha Village isn't going to lose all three matches, is it? If so, I don't see much point in you occupying this place. You might as well give it up."

Uchiha Yato did not indulge her. "Not a chance."

"It's daytime. Stop dreaming about impossible things."

"But congratulations on winning the first match. You can think about what you want to take from the Uchiha."

"Or do you secretly want to marry into Konoha? We wouldn't necessarily refuse."

Pakura had intended to disgust Uchiha Yato a little, but after just a few words from him, she was the one who seemed petty.

In the end, she rolled her eyes at Uchiha Yato and left.

After the brief break ended, preparations for the second drawing began.

This time, the photos of the final two contestants lit up, making Hiruzen Sarutobi smile.

That was right—Uchiha Yato and Rasa.

This was also a matter the higher-ups on both sides cared deeply about. Hiruzen Sarutobi did not believe Rasa could defeat Uchiha Yato at all, and he hoped Rasa could force more of Yato's hidden cards into the open.

Chiyo, perhaps influenced by the previous match, felt that if Rasa was not restrained by the Sharingan's genjutsu, he might very well defeat Uchiha Yato.

The two combatants did not exchange pleasantries. The moment they entered the field, they began fighting.

Rasa instantly unfurled two ninja tool scrolls, and a massive amount of gold dust spilled out.

Rasa immediately shouted, "Sand Control: Gold Dust Collision!"

A huge mass of gold dust surged toward Uchiha Yato.

Rasa was clever enough to keep a small portion of the gold dust around himself for protection.

His fighting style was very similar to Uchiha Yato's. They were both artillery mages.

Uchiha Yato was not about to be outdone. He opened with Wildfire Across the Plains.

In an instant, the entire battlefield was filled with Uchiha Yato's flames.

These flames did not have much effect on the gold dust, but they could make Rasa uncomfortable and weaken his chakra control.

With his vision obstructed and his control impaired, the mass of gold dust became much easier to evade.

With the Sharingan's dynamic vision, combined with his own strength at the threshold of jonin and Kage level, if Uchiha Yato could not dodge it, that would be his own problem.

But for the people in the stands, it was truly unpleasant.

The flames were incredibly powerful and covered an enormous area.

Uchiha Yato used his usual trick, giving Rasa no time to react before following up with Great Meteor.

That combination immediately gave Rasa a taste of the joy the A-B Brothers had experienced.

The difference was that Uchiha Yato had mixed in other ninjutsu this time.

Dust filled the ground, blocking Rasa's vision and making it extremely difficult for him to see Uchiha Yato's figure clearly.

And Uchiha Yato was especially devious. He secretly used a small, gentle Wind Release breeze.

He blew all the smoke in the arena toward Rasa, making it appear from outside that Rasa was alone within a single isolated area.

Seeing Uchiha Yato's maneuver, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help but sigh.

In terms of talent, Uchiha Yato would absolutely rank among Konoha's finest.

And by finest, he meant compared to the First and Second Hokage. If those two had not died so young, it was hard to say whose talent would have been greater.

His control over such faint Wind Release currents, keeping the smoke confined to one area for so long, even left Danzo—an expert in Wind Release—deeply astonished.

At that moment, Uchiha Yato suddenly stopped attacking and bowed toward the stands.

The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi saw that gesture, he knew this brat was about to pull something again.

And Uchiha Yato did not disappoint him. He pulled out his ninja tool pouch and took out quite a few shuriken and other throwing weapons.

Then he began hurling ninja tools into the foggy zone, with Rasa in the center as his target.

Rasa, trapped within the circle, was being scorched by fire, choked by smoke, and forced to dodge sneak attacks from shuriken coming from all directions.

Watching from above, Chiyo grew anxious and distressed. Rasa was one of the village's core forces. Of course she would worry about him.

Rasa had no good options within the encirclement. He could only rely on sound to block Uchiha Yato's attacks.

Slowly, he sent some gold dust outward, intending to use it to locate Uchiha Yato and serve as his eyes.

Then, Uchiha Yato "accidentally" stepped on some gold dust.

The gold dust seemed to come alive, immediately wrapping around Uchiha Yato's entire body.

From within the encirclement, Rasa said, "You can admit defeat now. Once my gold dust restrains you, there is no possibility of escape."

Uchiha Yato did not answer, and Rasa continued.

"We are only sparring now. On a real battlefield, my Gold Dust Grand Funeral would have sent you on your way already."

Only then did Uchiha Yato speak. "Have you still not noticed anything?"

Faced with Uchiha Yato's sudden question, Rasa found it baffling.

But the people outside the field already knew the final result of this duel. The victor would undoubtedly be Uchiha Yato.

From their perspective, Rasa had already been completely exposed, and he was looking directly into Uchiha Yato's Sharingan.

Rasa had no idea that he had already fallen into the Sharingan's illusion.

Uchiha Yato was still fooling around with everyone outside, while Rasa battled himself within the illusion.

Besides farming emotional points, Uchiha Yato also wanted to test how effective his Mangekyo Sharingan's ability was against high-level shinobi.

In fact, Uchiha Yato had activated his Mangekyo Sharingan's ability from the very beginning.

Otherwise, there really had been a chance that Rasa could catch him. But Uchiha Yato had altered the flow of time across the entire battlefield.

Time within the arena was now slightly slower, meaning the rhythm of Rasa's abilities would also be slightly slower.

Through Uchiha Yato's testing, he could now confirm that those wandering shinobi from before had been around the boundary between chunin and jonin.

Using the same ocular power to control Rasa had a slightly weaker effect.

Just as Uchiha Yato had expected, even cheats had their limits. They could not violate the law of conservation.

Uchiha Yato also took the opportunity to mock the self-satisfied Rasa inside the illusion.

Naturally, once the experiment was over, he had to collect some of Rasa's bodily samples.

After all, he could not forget the experimental materials he had promised Orochimaru.

Once all the experiments and everything he needed had been completed, Uchiha Yato kindly bestowed his unique genjutsu upon Rasa.

The people outside had been watching Rasa stand there perfectly still, when he suddenly began dancing in a grotesque manner.

That dance instantly stirred up memories for quite a few people.

To name a few key figures: several troublesome Uchiha, the Sand Shinobi participating in the exchange, and Ryoma Aburame. The instant they saw that dance, their shoulders began twitching uncontrollably.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other Konoha higher-ups said nothing. After losing the previous match, they had wanted to regain face however they could.

At this point, as long as Uchiha Yato did not kill Rasa, they would find every possible way to punish the Sand Shinobi.

There was no helping it. Konoha F4 were just that petty, so Uchiha Yato had used that fact to achieve his goal as he wished.

Obito, who had come within a step of this genjutsu, as well as Hyuga Boya and Sarutobi Kakuya, who had experienced it before, were even more shaken.

Watching it on a recording and seeing it in person were completely different experiences. Even those who had not fallen under the genjutsu could potentially be drawn into that dance, much less those who had already been caught by it.

Uchiha Yato did not fool around for too long this time and directly dispelled the genjutsu. Only then did the referee announce,

"Uchiha Yato wins."

The large screen immediately displayed news of Uchiha Yato's victory, surrounded by little figures celebrating.

That made Pakura feel extremely miserable. In the final screen for her previous match, flowers had been arranged around her photo, making it look like a funeral scene.

But after Uchiha Yato's victory, he was surrounded by celebrations and the cheers of firecrackers.

Pakura, who had only just begun to let it go, started resenting Uchiha Yato again.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped in to smooth things over, preventing any further incidents.

Today's two matches had both concluded, leaving only one more match to be held.

It had originally been planned as three days, one match per day.

But because of Pakura's addition and the Kazekage's urgent demands, they decided to finish it all in two days.