"Controlling so many puppets at once—where does he get all that chakra? What a monster!" Hikka muttered curses while retreating, then suddenly stiffened. "Why do you seem so familiar with him? Have you fought him before?"
Pakura replied concisely, "Three years ago."
Hikka's eyes brimmed with doubt. "How did you survive that fight?"
Pakura shot him a sidelong glance. "Because my teammate back then was Seiki!"
"Oh, that explains it!" Hikka suddenly understood, then froze again.
Wait a second—the contempt in this guy's eyes was obvious, right? Looking down on me as an inferior teammate compared to Seiki Shimaseki?
Just thinking about arguing, but Hikka sadly realized—he probably really was inferior. Even compared to Seiki at age twelve!
Seeing them stubbornly refuse to come out, Sasori hesitated momentarily. Should he just leave now?
This thought flashed briefly through his mind before getting quickly dismissed.
If he withdrew now, those opponents would probably start chasing him again.
After all, recycling and summoning puppets required time. Doing this back and forth would cost him a lot of valuable time.
Rather than gambling on their intentions, better to eliminate them quickly and take control of the situation.
Thinking this, Sasori silently increased his chakra output.
In a corner, the remaining knights and rogue ninjas trembled while huddling together.
They had temporarily forgotten their hatred, focusing all their energy on resisting the battle's residual shockwaves.
It wasn't that they didn't want to escape, but they simply didn't dare move positions.
The battle's collateral damage already demanded their full concentration to resist. If they accidentally moved from the edge toward the front lines, they estimated they'd vanish from this world in an instant!
"What exactly is this Strength?" Heyan muttered in shock, his brain going numb. "It actually allows one person to control hundreds of statues, each one so powerful!"
Haido also began to question his own goal. "Even if I obtain the complete power of the Greer Stone, can I really defeat these Ninja?"
"Absolutely!" a female knight encouraged. "I've heard the most powerful Ninja are the Kage. That man who defeated us killed the Kazekage (Wind Shadow), so he must be the strongest Ninja of all! Once you, Lord Haido, master the power of the Greer Stone, you'll definitely surpass him!"
Although Nord beside her was scared enough to smear snot and tears all over his face, after hearing their conversation, he couldn't help but snicker. "Ignorant fools—he's certainly not the strongest Ninja. The strongest must be the God of the Ninja, Lord Seiki Shimaseki!"
"God of the Ninja?" Haido couldn't help asking. "What qualifications does he have to claim himself a god?"
"The God of the Ninja isn't self-proclaimed, but recognized by the entire shinobi world. As for exactly how powerful Lord Seiki is..." Nord mumbled while smirking. Truthfully, he himself didn't really know the extent of that lord's strength. After all, as a solo Ninja, when had he ever gotten the chance to witness the God of the Ninja in action?
But that didn't prevent him from bragging!
Anyway, those idiots were even more clueless than I am!
Seiki Shimaseki once froze an entire sea, could destroy a mountain range with a mere wave of his hand. He could split the earth open, forming deep canyons, and bring forth molten lava from beneath the ground...
The gathered knights sweated coldly as they listened. This was just terrifying. Were there actually ninja powerful enough to do this?
Or perhaps... was such a figure actually a god?
Suddenly, a scream rang out across the battlefield.
The multiple Earth Release Walls, continuously reinforced by Iwa and Suna shinobi, finally collapsed. Those exposed to Sasori's gaze were immediately hit by a wave of elemental techniques.
Other jutsu could be handled, but the Iron Sand needles scattered throughout the attacks were especially hard to defend against - nearly impossible to guard against. Worse still, these needles were coated in potent poison, causing many ninja to collapse in agony from even the slightest scratch.
"This ends here!" Sasori's eyes turned cold as the final wave of Iron Sand Drizzle surged forward like a great tidal wave.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Surge!" A deep shout rang out as a massive wave of gold dust met the iron sand head-on.
"Great! It's Kazekage-sama!" Pakura let out a sigh of relief, quickly pulling out a Medical Scroll to treat the wounded.
While she could protect herself using Scorch Release to melt the iron sand, protecting others had been too much to ask.
"Kazekage has arrived - Han, come over here too, Kazekage-sama!" Hikka's expression turned slightly worried. It wasn't because he feared getting mistreated by Suna, but rather he worried about who would claim the Greer Stone Records.
Then, he was snapped out of his thoughts by agonized screams.
"Right, treating the wounded!" Hikka hurriedly pulled out a precious Medical Scroll. As he unrolled it, he couldn't help glancing toward Suna's side, his eyes filled with envy.
They did have Medical Scrolls as well, but most were wartime spoils. Unlike Suna, who, as Konoha's ally, had unlimited supplies at their disposal.
In a corner,
"More people? Is this ever gonna end?" Haido sighed. Still, this time he understood perfectly well - with such a commotion, it was only natural enemies would be drawn here.
In fact, he could sense many figures watching from a distance. They kept their distance out of fear of the battle fluctuations.
Boom!
The prolonged stalemate between iron sand and gold dust finally reached a conclusion. Surprisingly, the iron sand was suppressed and scattered!
"Unexpected. You've silently surpassed even the Third, who was hailed as the strongest Lord!" There was genuine surprise in Sasori's voice.
"My strength can't compare to the Third Lord. Your control simply cannot match his!" Rasa humbly replied.
"Hmph. Since becoming Kazekage, you've certainly become more insincere."
At this moment, a laughter echoed from afar, drawing closer.
"Hahaha, that's right. Our dear Kazekage is indeed insincere!"
At hearing this voice, Hikka, who had been sucking on lemon slices, finally relaxed.
"Kazekage, and Five-Tails Jinchuriki..." Sasori's heart sank. Even he was under immense pressure facing such a lineup.
Han, who had just arrived, had been about to taunt further, but suddenly stared wide-eyed at one of the puppets before him. "This is... the Third Kazekage? Wait, just who exactly is this guy?"
Hikka explained, "He is Red-Sand Sasori, a rogue ninja from Sunagakure!"
"Red-Sand Sasori!"
"Han felt a surge of surprise, quickly followed by confusion. 'What are you doing here, Rogue Ninja of Sunagakure?'
Hikka sighed. 'I didn't want to get involved either. But Red-Sand Sasori has the Greer Stone Records—a rumor says they're tied to the Greer crystal vein.'
A flash of realization flickered in Han's eyes before he fell silent again.
Waiting for Rasa to defeat Sasori and then snatching the spoils for himself seemed like a solid plan, but in the end, he dropped the idea.
As he had previously advised the Tsuchikage (Earth Shadow), Seiki Shimaseki was a reasonable and rule-abiding man. If Han took the Greer Stone Records from a Rogue Ninja of Sunagakure, Seiki probably wouldn't do anything about it.
But if he stole the spoils directly from the Kazekage (Wind Shadow), that was a completely different matter. He still had some reservations.
'Kazekage,' he called out. 'Let's defeat him together first. We can talk about the rest afterward!'"
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