Chapter 346: You Know Nothing About True Power!

“Ho-How is this possible…?! Why is the gap between us so enormous?!”

Rasa’s face was filled with defeat. He had completely lost the will to resist.

Seeing this, Uchiha Ren raised a hand and sheathed Zanka no Tachi. He then pressed a finger against Rasa’s forehead. Sealing formulae spread outward in intricate patterns, locking away the chakra within Rasa’s body.

“There’s nothing impossible about it. It can only be said that your understanding of this world is still far too limited.”

Seeing Rasa’s utterly dejected expression, Uchiha Ren actually took the rare initiative to explain.

Compared with those ninjas in the original storyline who possessed absurdly overpowered abilities, Rasa could be considered a relatively traditional shinobi in this world.

With his ability to manipulate enormous quantities of Gold Dust, Rasa undoubtedly possessed genuine Kage-level combat power. Against most enemies, he had enough offensive and defensive strength to maintain a considerable advantage.

For example, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was proficient in all five nature transformations; the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, who could wield the power of the Three-Tails as a Renchūriki;

the Fourth Raikage, A, who possessed tremendous Lightning Release-enhanced speed; and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, who possessed the virtually unstoppable Kekkei Tōta, Dust Release—none of them could easily suppress Rasa!

Rasa’s Gold Dust Technique combined offense and defense while also possessing an overwhelming advantage in sheer quantity. It was indeed an extremely versatile ability.

Even after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Minato Namikaze, Rasa had merely considered it the result of his own carelessness. Now that he understood Minato’s abilities, he believed that he might not necessarily lose if they fought again.

But when facing Uchiha Ren, Rasa could not see even the slightest hope of victory!

In terms of speed, Uchiha Ren was not much slower than Minato Namikaze. He was merely somewhat inferior to Minato in terms of reaction speed.

As for ninjutsu, Rasa felt that even the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—the universally acknowledged master of the five nature transformations—might not be able to compare with Uchiha Ren!

At the very least, Rasa was certain that Hiruzen’s ninjutsu would not be capable of easily breaking through the defenses formed by his Gold Dust!

Yet Uchiha Ren’s Fire Release could effortlessly melt his Gold Dust into molten metal!

Originally, Rasa had intended to rely on the terrain advantage and overwhelm Uchiha Ren through sheer numbers.

But Uchiha Ren had used reality to teach him a lesson:

Once quality reached a certain level, no amount of quantity could make up the difference!

When Uchiha Ren unleashed his full firepower, the overwhelming tide of Gold Dust had already begun melting when it was still more than ten meters away from him.

It could not even get close to him!

With just a single technique, Uchiha Ren had transformed the surrounding desert terrain into a landscape of molten rock, completely eliminating the terrain advantage Rasa had been so proud of!

Uchiha Ren’s strength had already surpassed Rasa’s understanding.

Faced with such an overwhelming disparity, Rasa simply could not figure out what he could possibly do to win this battle!

When everything he had learned proved useless, Rasa’s mentality completely collapsed.

More importantly, Rasa felt that Uchiha Ren had not even used his full strength during this battle!

At the very least, Uchiha Ren had barely used the Sharingan—the dōjutsu that the Uchiha Clan took such pride in.

“Your understanding of the world…?” Rasa shook his head before looking at Uchiha Ren. “When the temperature of a flame reaches a certain level, it is indeed extremely effective against my Gold Dust Technique.”

“No.”

Uchiha Ren snorted softly.

“What I mean is that there are still many people in this world who are stronger than me. You know nothing about true power.”

Rasa froze for a moment before an embarrassed and angry expression appeared on his face.

It was obvious that Rasa believed Uchiha Ren was humiliating him!

Uchiha Ren could see this perfectly well, but he had no intention of explaining himself. There was no point in explaining such things to Rasa.

Besides, Uchiha Ren was not lying.

With his current strength, there were indeed still many people capable of suppressing him!

The members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, for example, were essentially all Six Paths-level existences.

Once one reached that level, ordinary ninjutsu was no longer effective against them. Only Senjutsu, taijutsu, or powers of an equivalent level could inflict meaningful damage.

The techniques Uchiha Ren was currently using were still only basic ninjutsu. If he faced those Ōtsutsuki, he had no guarantee of victory.

“Enough. You don’t need to humiliate me like this. I may have lost, but Sunagakure has not!”

Rasa slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and spoke with forced confidence.

“Although Konoha’s surprise attack caught us completely off guard, this is still the territory of Sunagakure!”

“Our reinforcements will arrive soon. You’ve ventured deep into enemy territory alone. You won’t be able to escape!”

“Reinforcements? From where?”

Uchiha Ren looked down at Rasa and spoke meaningfully.

“I’m afraid your reinforcements won’t even make it to Sunagakure before the village is gone.”

As if to prove Uchiha Ren’s words, the instant his voice fell, another series of sharp sounds tore through the air.

One after another, Fire Release Type-3 Artillery Shells streaked across the sky, trailing flames as they flew toward the distant horizon!

Rasa’s expression changed drastically. He hurriedly turned his head toward the direction of Sunagakure.

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

A series of enormous explosions rang out.

Far in the distance, where Sunagakure was located, towering pillars of fire rose into the sky!

“Damn it! How could this happen?! Elder Chiyo and the others didn’t make preparations in advance?!”

Rasa could clearly sense that almost all of those Fire Release Type-3 Artillery Shells had struck their intended targets.

This immediately threw his mind into chaos!

The reason Rasa had been deliberately stalling here was to buy Elder Chiyo and the others enough time to prepare a response.

But judging from the current situation, Sunagakure had seemingly made no preparations at all!

Otherwise, even without any prior warning, given Elder Chiyo and the others’ strength, they might not have been able to intercept every single Fire Release Type-3 Artillery Shell—but stopping half, or even the majority of them, should have been entirely possible!

What on earth had happened?

“Did you do something?”

Rasa had no idea what was going on. He could only look toward Uchiha Ren, assuming that Ren had made some sort of advance arrangement.

“I didn’t.”

Uchiha Ren was actually somewhat puzzled himself.

Sunagakure’s completely undefended state had also been beyond his expectations.

Even after being caught off guard, Rasa had reacted almost immediately, intercepting a considerable number of the third volley of Fire Release Type-3 Artillery Shells fired at the Sashan Temple position.

There was no way Sunagakure could have been completely defenseless when they had been given time to prepare!

In fact, Uchiha Ren had ordered Orochimaru to bombard Sunagakure primarily to break the will to fight of the Sand shinobi stationed at the Sashan Temple position.

He had never expected these Fire Release Type-3 Artillery Shells to cause any significant damage to Sunagakure itself.

But now, it seemed that something major had happened within Sunagakure!

Thinking of this, Uchiha Ren turned toward a nearby Konoha shinobi who had just finished his battle and beckoned him over.

“Go and have Hizashi investigate what happened in Sunagakure. Also, notify Jiraiya and the others. Have them finish their battles as quickly as possible and move toward Sunagakure!”