novelraw Chapter 476 476: Hypotheses Are Ultimately Just Hypotheses
Chapter 476 476: Hypotheses Are Ultimately Just Hypotheses
The bathroom of the Provincial Governor's mansion emitted a fragile sound. The floor cracked, and countless streams of gold sand erupted from beneath.
In an instant, the entire bathroom was filled with gold sand, then completely burst apart.
The roof and all four walls were pushed aside by the gold sand.
Rasa appeared by the bathtub, his expression grim.
He thought his gold sand would capture the Konoha ninja assassinating the Provincial Governor. However, there was no one in the bathroom.
No murderer, no weapon, only the wound. The Governor's death was inexplicable.
Several Suna-nin hurried to Rasa's side, shouting, "Kazekage-sama! The Governor's wife and sons are all dead! Their deaths are very strange!"
Soon, the nobles' bodies were lined up by the Suna-nin.
Over thirty bodies in total, all dead from mysteriously appearing wounds.
Under his Kazekage hat, Rasa closed his eyes.
At the same time, a Sand Eye moved through the air above the mansion, monitoring the entire property.
Soon, blood seeing from under a storeroom door caught Rasa's attention.
Even slaughtering an ox wouldn't produce that much blood.
The Sand Eye moved near the storeroom and slipped in through a ventilation fan at the top.
The scene inside the storeroom horrified even the battle-hardened Rasa.
Over thirty bodies lay on the ground, bearing various terrifying wounds. Judging by the wound locations and how they fell, they had all committed suicide.
A grand collective suicide had just taken place here.
The location of those wounds...
Rasa immediately realized the wounds on the suicides matched exactly the wounds on the over thirty noble bodies found by the Suna-nin.
Many nobles in the Land of Wind had been killed recently. Their deaths were bizarre, and Sunagakure had never found the culprit.
He didn't expect to encounter the murderer while completing this mission for the Daimyō.
Rasa Body Flickered towards the storeroom on the north side of the mansion.
Arriving in the courtyard outside the storeroom, Rasa pressed his hands to the ground, activating his Magnet Release: Gold Dust.
The gold sand surged towards the storeroom like a tidal wave, instantly pushing down its outer wall.
Inside the storeroom, Hidan was waiting for the Three Gods Religion followers to recover from their wounds when the outer wall collapsed with a boom. This is bad.
Just as Rasa thought his Magnet Release would destroy this storeroom, a piercing roar sounded from behind the gold sand wave.
The gold sand wave scattered as if hitting an invisible wall.
"Morning Peacock!"
Hidan swung his three-bladed scythe at high speed, generating flames from air friction, creating continuous fireballs that shattered the gold sand wave.
After the gold sand collapsed, Rasa saw Hidan.
Hidan was enveloped in green chakra steam, his aura intimidating.
Hidan scanned Rasa's Kazekage ceremonial robe and hat, shouting excitedly:
"So it's the Kazekage! I've been wanting to test whether a Kage-level shinobi is stronger, or the divine arts granted by the Three Gods!
The era of shinobi is over!
The great Three Gods will guide the transformation of the shinobi world!"
Rasa raised his hand, tossed aside his hat, removed his ceremonial robe, his eyes contemptuous:
"There are always forces that delude themselves into thinking they are stronger than shinobi. Your so-called 'Three Gods' are just some heretical force Sunagakure has already defeated."
Rasa waved his hand. Countless gold sand surged from the ground, forming a gold sand tornado swirling towards Hidan.
Darkness suddenly enveloped Hidan. He and the entire storeroom were wrapped in a vortex of gold sand.
The swirling gold sand compressed inward. Behind him were over thirty Three Gods Religion followers who hadn't yet recovered from their wounds.
These followers had withstood the soul sacrifice ordeal with great difficulty. If they were all crushed into mincemeat, he'd have to painstakingly offer souls to the Three Gods one by one again.
Hidan couldn't help but complain. Where is that Wind guy? The Kazekage has appeared, why isn't he making a move?
Reluctantly, Hidan opened the Seventh Gate of the Eight Gates.
In the distance, hidden in an attic, Namikaze Minato watched the earth-shaking battle.
The gold sand flattened over a dozen buildings but was shattered by air bullets compressed by Taijutsu.
Minato took out many Flying Thunder God kunai and handed them to his three students.
"Approach the edge of the battlefield slowly, be careful to avoid the gold sand." Minato said:
"I will use the kunai as a signal. When you see my kunai, throw the kunai in your hands towards the center of the battlefield with all your might."
Kakashi, Nohara Rin, and Uchiha Yōmomo each took six Flying Thunder God kunai and left the attic.
Kakashi didn't act rashly. He hid behind a chimney.
After forming seals, he summoned the ninja hound, Pakkun.
Seeing Kakashi,Pakkun said, "It's Kakashi. Long time no see."
Kakashi said, "Pakkun, I need your help for the upcoming battle."
"Go on."
"From what I know, the Fourth Kazekage has a Sand Clone technique. Although he stands there, he might be preparing to use a Sand Clone at any time." Kakashi said:
"Soon the battlefield will be covered in gold sand, making Sand Clones hard to deal with.
Sensei's idea is for the three of us to randomly throw Flying Thunder God kunai. Sensei will judge where the Kazekage appears after using a Sand Clone at the critical moment and appear at the position closest to the Kazekage.
That tactic's reliability is too low.
Pakkun, use your sense of smell to find Kazekage Rasa's location!"
In the original story, when Might Gai opened the Seventh Gate, he compressed air into tiger-shaped air bullets to attack the enemy.
Hidan didn't train according to the Eight Gates secret scroll. He preferred teardrop-shaped air bullets.
A teardrop-shaped air bullet struck Rasa at extreme speed.
"Ooooh yeah! Hit him! I hit the Kazekage!"
Hidan was ecstatic. He felt the Kazekage's strength was quite ordinary too.
The gold sand felt soft and flimsy before the Eight Gates' air bullets.
The next moment, Hidan was disappointed to find he'd only hit a Sand Clone.
The real Rasa had long used a Sand Clone to hide somewhere unknown.
Minato quickly threw a Flying Thunder God kunai.
Nohara Rin and Uchiha Yōmomo received their sensei's signal and hurriedly threw their respective six Flying Thunder God kunai.
Kakashi threw five Flying Thunder God kunai, keeping one in hand.
Minato tensely searched the surroundings for Rasa's figure.
When Rasa ended his Sand Clone and his true body appeared, that would be his moment of vulnerability.
Over twenty Flying Thunder God kunai flew through the air one after another. As long as Rasa appeared, Minato would appear as close to him as possible.
Pakkun kept scouting with its nose. It suddenly shouted, "That pavilion!"
Kakashi didn't hesitate, throwing his last Flying Thunder God kunai towards the pavilion.
Sand trickled down inside the pavilion, gradually forming into a human shape.
Just as Rasa finished forming his body from gold sand, a Flying Thunder God kunai was already flying towards him.
Minato also noticed Rasa. As expected of Kakashi.
He vanished with a Body Flicker, appearing before Rasa in the next instant.
As Minato faced Rasa, wholly focused on killing him,
A black spatial vortex appeared in the distance behind him.
Uchiha Obito emerged from the vortex, reaching out to seize Nohara Rin by the neck.
Looking at Nohara Rin's fluttering blue short hair, Uchiha Obito felt an inexplicable stir in his heart.
Back in the Ninja Academy, he had always paid attention to Nohara Rin.
He wondered, if he hadn't defected from Konoha, if he and Rin had graduated, would they have become teammates? Would they have gone on missions together...
However, those hypotheses were ultimately just hypotheses...
Uchiha Obito's eyes hardened.
Sunagakure couldn't be allowed to falter. It was a crucial part of besieging Konoha.
Konoha was too strong!
Take the weakest, Nohara Rin, hostage. Namikaze Minato must be killed!
(End of Chapter)