Kōki thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution. In the end, he could only try to use reverse psychology to see if he could trick Rasa into coming down on his own.
"How can the Lord Kazekage of Sunagakure be so lacking in the demeanor of a strong person when facing a child like me? Aren't you afraid of disgracing Sunagakure if word gets out?"
When Rasa in the sky heard Kōki's words, his lips twitched. He hadn't expected that Kōki, who was just a kid, would suddenly resort to provocation. Moreover, his technique was so clumsy that he completely missed the essence of provocation.
So, faced with Kōki's provocation, Rasa simply chuckled a few times and said nonchalantly, "Heh, facing someone who has inherited the Wood Release technique, the signature move of the God of the Shinobi World, I can't be too cautious. It's out of respect for the God of the Shinobi World. Besides, you're no ordinary kid. Ordinary kids don't have Kage Level strength at your age."
Rasa's response was very skillful. He first praised the power of Wood Release, then pointed out Kōki's difference, thus finding a perfect reason for his concession.
Of course, Rasa didn't feel ashamed of his retreat. In the Shinobi World, strength is respected, and age doesn't matter. Even if you're seventy or eighty years old, you'll still be respected if you have Kage Level strength. If you're in your prime but just an ordinary Genin, you'll still be looked down upon.
Kōki was speechless. He hadn't expected Rasa to make his concession so blatantly, which gave him some insight into the shamelessness of the strong.
He realized he had no way to deal with Rasa, so he decided to change his approach: if he couldn't handle Rasa, surely he could handle ordinary Sunagakure?
So Kōki turned and ran toward the other Sunagakure, but before he had gone a few steps, a Gold Dust claw came at him, forcing him to stop.
After he blocked Rasa's attack, he heard a voice coming from the sky.
"Kid from Konoha, although I can't handle you, don't even think about going after anyone else. Just stay here and waste your time with me."
Hearing Rasa say that, Kōki was furious. How could a Kazekage say such a thing? Don't you feel ashamed?
" Lord Kazekage, your behavior will bring shame to Sunagakure and make your subordinates look down on you. You've only just become Kazekage, haven't you? To behave like this so soon after becoming Kazekage is too poor. Will the Sunagakure ninjas no longer acknowledge you as their Kazekage? No way, no way, no one steps down right after becoming Kazekage, right?"
Kōki's words hit a nerve with Rasa, especially the smug tone at the end, which infuriated Rasa in the sky, making her almost unable to resist coming down to fight Kōki to the death.
Fortunately, his last shred of reason told him he couldn't fall into the trap set by those Konoha brats, or he'd be even more humiliated.
The Sunagakure around them also heard what Kōki, and they couldn't help but look at Rasa with strange eyes. They weren't idiots; they could see that Rasa's act of feigning weakness was indeed somewhat shameful, just as Kōki had said.
However, Rasa was thick-skinned enough to ignore the gazes of Sunagakure. He knew that his main goal was to limit Kōki, so he absolutely could not be influenced by Kōki.
Therefore, he tried to calm his anger and embarrassment, and regained a composed expression before retorting, "You kid from Konoha, you're certainly good with words, I can't argue with you. But your plan is doomed to fail, so just stay here with me obediently."
As for whether I will bring shame to Sunagakure, that's none of your concern. I think you should worry about yourself. I seem to have heard that the strong in Konoha don't all meet a good end. Not to mention the distant past, just in recent years, Sannin, one of the Tsunade, left Konoha for unknown reasons, and the legendary Konoha's White Fang Shinobi World by his own hand for some ridiculous reason. You're so young and so strong, I'm afraid the higher-ups in your village will be wary of you, and you'll die a mysterious death in the end."
Rasa claimed to admire Kōki's sharp words, but he himself didn't hold back when digging up dirt on Konoha. He presented his arguments with reason and evidence, deliberately rubbing salt into Konoha's wounds and also trying to sow discord between Kōki and Konoha. It was a double-edged sword.
The Konoha ninjas around them were now ashamed. What Rasa said was true; the actions of some of Konoha High Command were indeed disappointing. They were well aware of these circumstances and were genuinely afraid that Kōki might develop a rift with Konoha because of Rasa's words. After all, Kōki was powerful but relatively young and easily swayed by certain words.
However, seeing Kōki's calm expression, they were relieved.
In fact, their worries were unnecessary. Kōki, who had watched 720 episodes of Hokage, surely knew about the filth within Konoha High Command. He simply didn't need to pay attention. Once he had enough strength and prestige, he would naturally sweep all those scumbags into the trash can of the new era.
"Sigh, I am indeed a little worried. Our Konoha has so many geniuses, not to mention those from the past, just right now, Konoha still has exceptionally talented ninjas like Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake. Looking at Sunagakure, it seems like we don't have many particularly outstanding ones. So I really envy your Sunagakure; you don't have the problem you mentioned, Lord Kazekage. This is probably a unique problem only a village as full of talent as Konoha has. Ah, it's truly a worry."
Although Rasa didn't know what Versailles was, he could clearly sense the sarcasm in Kōki's tone. Especially when Kōki shook his head in feigned annoyance at the end, that affected tone made Rasa's face flush red with anger once again.
He hadn't expected that even after he'd said all that, Kōki would still be able to find something to refute in his words, and the key point was that he found it hard to deny the issue.
The Sunagakure standing nearby were so ashamed after hearing Kōki's words that they wanted to disappear into the ground. Kōki's words were directed at none other than all the ninjas present.
Kōki's words implied that the quality of Sunagakure's ninjas was poor, lacking any outstanding geniuses.
Looking back, the ninjas of Konoha regained their confidence in the Konoha. Kōki; although the higher-ups were incompetent, they still had excellent young ninjas. Once those high-ranking officials stepped down, Konoha would surely be able to create new glories under the leadership of those outstanding ninjas.
Now Rasa was truly at a loss. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't find a way to strike at Konoha. In the end, he could only say dryly with a straight face, "No matter how much you say, it's useless. You should think of a way to proceed next."
Losing face is better than losing the entire war. In any case, he won't let Kōki go looking for trouble with the Sunagakure forces. The Konoha brats have to keep at it here and see who can outlast whom.
"You don't need to worry about that, Lord Kazekage. You should still be careful. I'll be able to break through your defenses soon, but then we'll see how you face the ninja who trusts you."
Kōki spoke loudly, but there was really no way to deal with him in the short term. Now, Rasa was clearly shameless and just wanted to stall him. He didn't have any special anti-air methods, so he could only stalemate with Rasa.