"Take Gaara down with everything you've got."
A flat voice came from the side.
It repeated Gangtai's words exactly.
Everyone whipped around.
Sasori stood in the shadow of a corridor pillar. His face was hidden beneath his hood, and his voice held no emotion.
Before the words had faded—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three things tore through the air at once!
Crow, Black Ant, and Ibuse.
The three puppets shot into the night, leaving three afterimages behind!
Crow spread its arms. With Thousand Hands Manipulation, six arms sprang out at once, casting wire over the Sandstorm like a spiderweb!
Black Ant's joints snapped open, and heavy chains uncoiled from its body!
Ibuse hovered in midair. Pale purple mist seeped silently through the gaps in its back armor.
Sand and iron locked together in midair.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Wire bit into waves of sand, chains wrapped around arms of sand, and poison mist seeped inward inch by inch.
The puppets moved with mechanical precision, not a motion wasted.
The Sandstorm was wild and violent, like a trapped beast.
The two forces tore at each other, shredding the night between them.
Three breaths later.
The raging Sandstorm was forced back to the ground.
Just then, lights flared in the neighboring courtyard.
Boom!
A figure rode a wave of Gold Dust down from the roof.
The instant he landed, all the sand in the courtyard sank.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
His gaze swept over the wrecked courtyard, the human-shaped dent in the wall, and the candidates buried in broken bricks.
Then over the sand and iron tangled together.
His eyes paused on Gaara for half a breath before moving on.
Then he raised a hand.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust."
Hummm!
A golden wave surged up from the ground!
Like a golden tsunami rolling