As that person lightly shouted, the sand enveloping Tatsumi suddenly contracted violently.
However, only some wood chips fell from the middle of the sand.
"Substitution Jutsu?" the person muttered.
Tatsumi flashed and appeared beside Mikoto and Nawaki.
He looked up and saw that the ninja in front of him looked about the same age as him. He had brown hair and panda-like eye markings.
Tatsumi immediately recognized the other party's identity—Rasa.
After all, apart from the hair color, his other facial features were almost exactly the same as Gaara's.
Tatsumi immediately became vigilant. Although the other party was young, he would not underestimate him.
Rasa was, after all, the future Fourth Kazekage and undoubtedly a genius. Since he was a genius, it was naturally impossible to judge him by common sense.
What's more, Rasa also possessed the Bloodline Limit—Magnet Release. He could freely control iron-containing materials and even manipulate the gold within the sand. These abilities gave him a strength far beyond his peers.
From this perspective, Rasa was practically a veritable rich and powerful prodigy. Not only did he possess a Bloodline Limit, but he would also rise to become the Fourth Kazekage. Most importantly, his Magnet Release allowed him to easily extract gold sand, making him one of the wealthiest ninjas in the world.
The only one who could surpass him in terms of wealth was probably Konan, the wealthy kunoichi, right?
Of course, it was also possible that Konan had spent all the bounty money Kakuzu earned on explosive tags.
Back to the point—both were destined to become Fourth Kage, but the starting points of Minato and Rasa were vastly different. It was a pity that Rasa had such a perfect background, yet his judgment was flawed.
Minato's son was the protagonist, so he had no hesitation in sealing the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. He never had to worry about a rampage because Naruto would undoubtedly gain control over the tailed beast.
But Rasa? He displayed a similar level of blind confidence, sealing the One-Tail inside his own son. Then, he even ordered Yashamaru to assassinate Gaara just to test him.
Rasa's logic was completely flawed. Did he assume that Gaara had the Uzumaki bloodline just because he had red hair and could suppress a tailed beast?
So, while Rasa was a genius, his decision-making was questionable. Otherwise, as the leader of a village, how could he have been killed by Orochimaru?
Thinking of this, Tatsumi suddenly had a bold idea—should he take this opportunity to kill Rasa, this future disaster?
It would be killing four birds with one stone. Gaara would never be born, and even Temari, Shikaku's future daughter-in-law, would be gone.
Thinking of this, Tatsumi felt a spark of excitement.
Seeing the young ninja in front of him appearing distracted, Rasa felt irritated. He had never been ignored before. As a genius of the Sand Village, he was always the center of attention.
Rasa snorted coldly.
He reached out and took a scroll from behind. When he opened it, the word "Sand" was inscribed on it.
Rasa quickly formed hand seals, and a large amount of sand gushed out from the scroll, forming a tidal wave that surged toward Tatsumi.
Tatsumi tilted his body slightly, dodging the incoming attack with ease.
Then, he swiftly formed hand seals and spewed out a stream of water, drenching the sand and causing it to lose its form and collapse.
"The environment here is overwhelmingly unfavorable to you. This is the Land of Rain, and the constant rain slows down your sand's movement speed."
As Tatsumi spoke, he used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared in front of Rasa, his kunai crackling with lightning as he stabbed forward.
A layer of sand rose from the ground, blocking Tatsumi's attack.
"So what! Overcoming unfavorable conditions will only highlight my true strength."
Rasa was aware of the disadvantage, but he refused to admit defeat. He reached into the sand wall blocking Tatsumi and formed a hand of sand to grab him.
The lightning-infused kunai in Tatsumi's hand sliced through the arm with a single stroke. However, the severed sand arm quickly reformed and lunged at him again.
"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!"
Tatsumi quickly retreated, spitting out several powerful water jets to disperse the pursuing sand arm.
"You've been fighting for quite a while. With your chakra reserves, how many more Water Style techniques can you use?"
Rasa smirked and waved his hand, sending a stream of sand slithering toward Tatsumi's ankles like a snake.
Tatsumi jumped to avoid it, but Rasa's attacks were relentless. The sand surged toward him again, behaving almost as if it were alive.
In mid-air, Tatsumi twisted his body, dodging the incoming attacks while activating a genjutsu.
Then, he flicked a kunai toward Rasa like a bullet.
Rasa, caught in the genjutsu, remained motionless. However, the sand instinctively blocked the kunai, its defensive nature still intact.
But how could sand alone block a kunai traveling at such speed? The projectile pierced through the barrier—yet, just as it was about to strike Rasa, it suddenly veered off course.
"This Magnet Release ability is really troublesome."
Realizing that his shuriken and kunai throws would be ineffective, Tatsumi frowned.
Rasa, shaking off the effects of the genjutsu, squinted his panda-like eyes before pulling out another scroll labeled "Gold."
In an instant, golden sand flowed from the scroll, mixing with the regular sand.
Rasa had come prepared—golden sand was highly resistant to rain and water-based jutsu, countering Tatsumi's advantage.
Sure enough, the speed of the sand's movements increased dramatically.
Seeing this, Tatsumi also accelerated.
Rasa smirked and released another surge of sand, which shot up like writhing tentacles, overwhelming Tatsumi in mid-air.
Unable to evade, Tatsumi's ankles were caught. More sand tendrils followed, wrapping around him layer by layer.
"This time, you can't use the Substitution Jutsu!" Rasa sneered, clapping his palms in the air.
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