[A/N: Once again, thanks for all your love and support guys. My family and I are doing far better now. The rituals are more or less done as well, and most of the relatives have left too, though a few may come to visit in the coming days. So, the release schedule could be inconsistent for a week, but I shouldn't miss any chapters hopefully. Anyway, let's get back to the story. Stay safe and healthy!]
"I have always been curious about how many Explosive tags it'll take to break a barrier of this level. Any guesses, Hoka?"
Hoka just chuckled as eight thousand Explosive tags flew towards the barrier. He replied, "Does it matter? No matter how many it takes, it won't even leave a dent in your storage of explosive tags, will it?"
Hoka fully expected Fujin to have at least a dozen more such scrolls on him. As for how many might be in his house, Hoka didn't even bother to make a guess. He just knew that it would be some unbelievable number.
Tayuya shouted, "Don't hold back!"
The sight unnerved the Sound Four, who wondered, 'Why does he carry so many explosive seals on him?'
The same thoughts ran through the minds of the Suna ninjas who were relieved that they weren't heading towards them. Baki wondered, 'Was he planning on blowing up an entire village or something?'
Inside the barrier, Hiruzen chuckled and said, "It's over, Orochimaru. I hope you have already secured an escape route. If not, I'll fix the mistake I made a decade ago."
To Hiruzen's surprise, Orochimaru chuckled and asked, "Are you so sure that it's over Sensei?"
As he said that, a large amount of Gold Dust appeared in the path of the tags! Relief and hope appeared in the eyes of the Suna ninjas keeping an eye on the barrier. Baki muttered to himself, 'Finally, Kazekage-sama has arrived. However, defeating Fujin will be difficult. Everything will depend on why he was so late. This will be the crucial moment of the war. Whoever wins will win the war!'
A massive explosion attracted the attention of every ninja in the vicinity as the tags exploded after coming in contact with the gold dust. Most of the ninjas stopped fighting and glanced in its direction. The explosion was so massive that even Jiraiya, who was several minutes away, heard the explosion. He looked worriedly in the direction of the arena and muttered, "What is happening there? Hang on, old man."
Smoke had covered an entire side of the barrier, which was bombarded by high-speed gold particles. Several shockwaves hit the barrier as well. Both Konoha and Suna ninjas wondered whether the barrier had been broken. At the same time, the few remaining Oto ninjas became worried.
As the smoke cleared, the Oto ninjas sighed in relief seeing that the barrier was still up. Even though it was bombarded by gold dust and shockwaves, it was nowhere near enough to create a crack in the barrier, let alone destroy it.
The Sound Four sighed in relief. While they had the confidence to weather the barrage of explosive tags, none of them had any confidence against Fujin. Tayuya thought, 'That was close. Fortunately, Orochimaru-sama made arrangements for all possibilities. Though Rasa isn't strong enough to defeat that monster, stalling him shouldn't be an issue. With him, the barrier won't fall.'
Fujin looked at the gold dust and analyzed, 'So Rasa was here too? However, he didn't make any move when I was cutting down the Suna ninjas. I even slowed down to see whether he'd make a move. In addition, he's waiting here and obediently protecting the barrier, a task unfitting of a Kage. That means...'
While Oto ninjas were relieved when the smoke scattered, the Suna ninjas were ecstatic. They couldn't care less about the barrier. Instead, their eyes were glued to the massive amount of gold dust floating around the barrier.
"Yes!!! Kazekage-sama is finally here!"
"He'll take revenge on our fallen comrades and kill that bastard swordsman!"
"Enough defending! It's time for our counterattack! Kill Konoha scums!"
Confusion immediately spread among the ranks of Suna ninjas. Instead of attacking Konoha ninjas, they shifted their focus back to defending and tried to get closer to the barrier to understand the truth.
Baki stopped fighting Genma and Hayate and flickered towards Fujin. Needless to say, he wouldn't take the word of his enemy at face value. However, the bad feeling he had intensified several times when he heard Fujin's words.
He appeared some distance away from Fujin and shouted, "Bastard! Stop lying!"
From a close distance, Baki could see that Rasa didn't have the features of a reanimated ninja. However, he could see that something was off. Be it Rasa's absence when Fujin was slaughtering Suna ninjas, or the fact that he hadn't refuted Fujin's words. Yet, he shouted to ensure that the Suna ninjas didn't lose their morale entirely.
Fujin merely chuckled and taunted, "Why don't you talk with your dear leader then? Hehehe."
Baki immediately followed his advice, "Kazekage-sama! Please reply!"
Inside the barrier, Orochimaru frowned and wondered, 'When did he learn Sound-based jutsus? Tsk, this is annoying.'
Hiruzen heard Fujin's words and was shocked as well. He stared at Orochimaru while analyzing, 'So, he killed Rasa first? The main question is when this was. Even I was fooled by his impersonation of the Kazekage. Was Suna the one who wanted to make a move against Konoha, or were they manipulated by Orochimaru? Regardless...'
Hiruzen immediately went on the offensive, directly targeting Orochimaru. He was aware that the caster could speak through the Edo Tensei. He didn't want to give that opportunity to Orochimaru. As Orochimaru became busy dealing with Hiruzen's assault, Hiruzen thought, 'Good thinking, Fujin. This war is over!'
Unknown to Hiruzen, Orochimaru didn't intend to attempt fooling Suna ninjas again. He knew that the Suna ninjas weren't all fools. Now that Fujin had planted a seed of doubt in their minds, they would suspect Rasa. Any act Orochimaru put up would be seen through. So, Orochimaru didn't see any point in doing something like that.
Hence, Rasa, whose will had been completely suppressed, didn't reply to Baki. Baki just stood there with a stunned expression and disbelief on his face! For a moment, he had let his guard down completely!
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