Chapter 20: The Combat Begins
Rasa's group reacted quickly to the Bandit's Kunai attack and taking advantage of the enemy's missed opportunity for a surprise attack, the three of them didn't waste any time in talking to the Bandits and attacked together.
"Wind Release: Pressure Rupture Jutsu" said Custus as he fanned his giant fan creating a huge storm of air that attacked the three Bandits.
"Earth Style: Earth Spikes Jutsu" Rasa quickly followed and created where the Bandits were standing large earth spikes coming out of the sand.
"Wind Release: Great Sand Cutting Burst Jutsu" Nomad put his hands in the sand and then expelled a large amount of air that slid through the sand mixing with it and then quickly went in the direction of the bandits.
Nomad's Jutsu is a very powerful jutsu capable of shattering anything due to its charge of wind chakra and the sand which gives more cutting power to the air.
"Earth Style: Earth Protective Wall Jutsu" the bandit named Shinto who calmed Domura was the first to react to the attack by sealing with his hands and taking out from his hands a large amount of earth with which he created a wall of earth that stopped Custus' blast Jutsu.
"Wind Release: Violent Air Surge Jutsu" Caratsu also quickly sealed and from his hands shot out a series of wind waves that cut through Rasa's earthen spikes.
"Earth Style: Turtle Shell Jutsu" Domaru also reacted and surrounded his group with a sphere of earth that barely managed to stop Nomad sandblasts.
"Oh interesting..., he managed to stop my attack, yes... I'll take that one!" Nomad said to Rasa and Custus with a maniacal look on his face as he looked at Domaru as if he was his new toy.
"Fine, with Custus we'll hold off the other two until you take him out" Rasa replied calmly.
"If you think we're going to let him do that, you're sorely mistaken" shouted the Bandit named Shinto as he began to seal with his hands.
"Earth Style: Multiple Chains Jutsu" Shinto finished his Jutsu and threw a large amount of chains on Rasa's group, but these were easy for them to dodge.
"No one asked for your opinion rat... Air Escape: Great Sand Cloud Jutsu," Nomad told him annoyed as he formed seals without bothering to dodge first the earth chains.
Nomad quickly used a large amount of wind chakra to lift the surrounding sand and form a cloud of sand with it that covered the entire area they were in, blocking everyone's view.
"Wind Release: Tempest Jutsu," said Caratsu quickly causing the winds in the whole area to become violent and blow strongly thus dispersing the Sand Cloud that covered them.
But the instant he did that, he saw the shadow of a person attacking Domaru, he tried to do something but Custus held him back with an attack of his giant fan.
Shinto on the other hand was held back by Rasa who used her golden dust to block his actions.
Domaru managed to react to the close wind attack that Nomad threw at him, but he was pushed away from his group, leaving him in a close confrontation against Nomad, but with the anger, he had for what had happened to his loved ones he did not care about that and started to defend himself and attack Nomad with all the earth techniques he knew.
That's how each one began to face one on one against the opponent.
"Wind Escape: Gritty Wind Blast Jutsu" Shinto who was facing Rasa used a blast of air that mixed with the sand and impacted against the restraining bindings made of Rasa's gold dust.
'I see, so this is what the intelligence meant by Sunagakure's confidential information' thought Rasa when he saw the Jutsu used by the bandit named Shinto.
That jutsu he used(Gritty Wind Blast) was exclusive to Sunagakure ninja, so no other ninja should know about it unless he stole it.
'But ihis case, it must have been Suna's Jonin who rogue who taught them jutsus from the village and that's why they want everyone dead' Rasa concluded.
"Those bindings you created are quite interesting, they seemed to be made of golden sand but much harder, almost like gold" Shinto said with curiosity clear on his face.
Yes, Rasa had decided to use his Gold Dust in this fight, they didn't always have the opportunity to take on an elite Chunin with all your might and even though he could perhaps buy some time until Nomad had finished off his opponent using only his earth and air elements, Rasa had preferred to try and defeat the Chunin in front of him by his own gutter.
Whether Custus and Nomad discover his identity was secondary, now the important thing was to improve his strength.
"Well... I can say the same thing about that Jutsu you used" Rasa replied calmly making clear reference to the wind jutsu that was from Sunagakure.
"Oh, that one?, it was just a little gift from the leader for our hard work," Shinto said with a smile.
"How generous of him, gifting things to his followers that he knows they will later die for, very kind," Rasa said mockingly.
Hearing Rasa's taunts, Shinto suddenly glared at him with clear anger.
"You know, in the last few years, we all went from being common and despicable thieves to being hard-working people, like dogs, to the point where we managed to grow in strength and goals to what we are today and it was all thanks to the leader" explained Shinto.
"Hard-working people you say, you guys are still just simple thieves preventing the merchants from doing their job" denied Rasa.
"And what makes you so different from us, don't you kill for a living, don't you use force to achieve your goals? What we think about all the time is having more strength, money, and then being able to protect our loved ones and let them live better lives in this evil world."
In fact, Rasa did not disagree with what he said, the ninja world was ruled by strength and those who were weak were destined to die.
But it was true that everyone was seeking power so they could complete their goals and keep their loved ones safe.
Rasa was seeking that too, but he had the backing of Sunagakure and the bandits only had the backing of a Jonin who was probably already being eliminated by Captain Canteen.
"But you and your teammates ruined everything in one night, all our dreams and goals. you killed them all! Now suffer the consequences!" Shinto shouted angrily and began to seal.
"Earth Style: Sandy Earth Impact Jutsu" Shinto reached into the sand and pulled out a large chunk of sandy earth which he then threw with great force at Rasa.
Rasa managed to dodge the impact area with his Gold Dust to quickly slide across the sand.
The chunk of ground crushed everything in its path and Shinto who seemed to be in a rather unstable mood now started to throw Jutsu after Jutsu against Rasa, while Rasa only dodged and attacked with his Gold Dust when he saw an opening.
The more Rasa looked at this bandit, the more he understood that the values of his past life were no longer useful in this world.
He always feels that he still lacks time to fully adapt to this chaotic world.
The expression on Shinto's face distorted a little more with each attack that Rasa dodged.
"Wind Release: Sand Bullet Jutsu" Shinto quickly stamped his hands.
"Gold Dust Shild," Rasa said and the bullets were easily swallowed by the gold dust.
"Damn, it's almost as if my attacks had no effect against it" Shinto complained and it was the truth, wind attacks didn't have much effect against gold dust and sand was much more fragile than gold so no matter if he combined his wind with sand to give more strength to his attacks they weren't effective.
Only the earth attacks were strong enough to bother Rasa, but nothing so problematic, luckily this bandit only seemed to know how to use earth and wind jutsus which were weak against gold dust.
And it wasn't strange that his elements were earth and wind since most of the ninja of Sunagakure and the Wind country, in general, were these.
Chapter 21: Where is Nomad?
"Gold Dust Desert Hand," said Rasa creating hands made of gold dust that chased Shinto to grab or crush him.
Shinto quickly dodged all the attacks from the hands and then seal.
"Earth Style: Powerful Earth Dragon Jutsu," said Shinto and formed from his hands a big dragon made of earth that crashed against the gold dust hands, then this dragon rushed towards Rasa who easily dodged it.
The dragon did not hold out much longer and collapsed after impacting where Rasa had been.
But at least Shinto had stopped being defensive.
"Wind Release: Compressed Air Blast Jutsu" Shinto wasted no time and inhaled a large amount of air which he then fired at great power at Rasa.
Rasa quickly took out a scroll and summoned more gold dust, then joined it with the sand in the area and using a large amount of chakra said:
"Gold Dust Storm Devastation".
Instantly an immense amount of gold dust and sand rose up over Shinto swallowing him completely.
But to be sure Rasa decided to finish Shinto off once and for all, his chakra was already too low.
He had to end this now.
"Gold Dust Burial" Rasa reached out his hand and used the gold dust where Shinto was buried to enclose him inside a dome that looked like pure gold, then he closed his hand and crushed Shinto who was inside the dome.
When he dropped the gold dust again, the only thing that could be seen left from Shinto was a large amount of blood sliding down the gold dust and sand.
Rasa again felt a little strange killing someone, but at least now he seemed calmer and more confident, no longer so dazed after killing.
Seeing that his job was done Rasa went to help Custus, despite his chakra being almost drained he could still help with some or another thing.
...
...
"Wind Release: Jutsu Infernal Birds of the Desert" Custus launched with his giant fan several birds formed of wind that attacked Caratsu the bandit he was facing.
Caratsu quickly dodged all the birds without even being touched by one, it was clear that he had the advantage in this fight because of the state Custus was in and the state he was in.
Custus was barely standing, with several cuts and wounds on his body, while Caratsu had only scratches on his body.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullets Jutsu" the bandit immediately sealed and launched a large amount of bullets at Custus, she was exhausted but despite that she dodged Caratsu's attack.
And the bullets she couldn't dodge were destroyed with her fan.
"Earth Style: Earth Punch Jutsu" Caratsu didn't give Custus time to rest, as he quickly covered his hand with earth and launched himself into the attack.
Custus dodged blow after blow, but finally, Caratsu managed to hit her and forcefully throw her backward.
She quickly stood up and looked at him with defiant eyes.
Caratsu didn't bother to say anything and jumped back at her to hit her again.
"Wind Gold Dust Bullet Jutsu" Rasa was heard to say just as the bandit's blow was about to hit Custus' stomach.
A large amount of gold dust bullets pushed by the wind were directed to where Caratsu was.
Caratsu had no choice but to back up and dodge, unable to hit Custus again.
"Custus, are you okay, can it still go on?" asked Rasa to Custus suddenly appearing at her side.
"I'm fine Gold, I'm not giving up yet, all in all... but... your opponent?" asked Custus with confusion.
"I already handled him, I came to give you a hand, even though I don't have much chakra left."
"You... really?... you defeated him?" asked Custus completely shocked, she didn't expect that.
"That's right, I have some good tricks you know," Rasa told him with amusement as he moved the gold dust around him.
"That's...no way, gold dust, do you even have the Kekkei Genkai of the third Kazekage and his apprentice?" started asking question after question to Custus as if she no longer cared about her injuries or exhaustion.
"Well, unless it occurs to you that it could be something else..." said Rasa jokingly.
"Gold that's amazing, no wonder you defeated your opponent," said Custus euphorically.
"I see, so you defeated Shinto, it's no surprise you did, that strange sand you use seems very troublesome" commented Caratsu who had managed to dodge all the gold dust bullets.
"You're not angry about the death of your partner?" Rasa looked at the bandit and asked him calmly trying to provoke him, it was always easier to deal with an angry enemy than a calm one.
"Anger or rage are annoying, I prefer to control my emotions to survive, besides why get angry when I can make you feel much more pain than he felt when he died/, I'm going to enjoy this," said Caratsu and quickly started a fight with Rasa and Custus.
The difference was clear, Custus was already tired and wounded, Rasa had very few Chakras to fight with, on the other hand, Caratsu could keep fighting without problems, so despite being two against one, the odds were not in favor of the two of them and the bandit knew it.
"Wind Release: Wind Blast Jutsu" launched Custus.
Caratsu dodged the attack in an instant.
But then it was Rasa's turn.
"Gold Dust Burial" Rasa gathered his sand dust and tried to grab Caratsu at the place where he was about to land after dodging Custus' attack.
"Earth Style: Rock Kick Jutsu" the bandit moved quickly, and before Rasa or Custus could react, he stamped and then kicked Rasa into the air.
"Rasa!" shouted Custus and moved to his side.
"Yeah, my taijutsu definitely needs to improve" complained Rasa as he got up without a problem after the hard kick from the punch.
"You, are you okay?" asked Custus worriedly.
"No problem, he still has a long way to go to knock me down," said Rasa amused as if the blow had done nothing to him.
"You...what the hell is that?" said Caratsu completely stunned as he saw how the left side of Rasa's belly where he had hit him seemed to be giving off gold dust instead of blood.
Once the gold dust left the sector of Rasa's belly, it could be seen how there was no wound in that sector, it was as if Caratsu's heavy blow had done nothing more than tear his clothes.
"Oh... this, well just another little trick of mine" Rasa joked, but he wasn't so calm anymore,
Not only was he exhausted and almost out of Chakra, but now the bandit in front of him had completely broken his Gold Dust Armor that he used to always wear to cover his body.
Yes, he stole that ability from Gaara as well.
Custus looked at him quizzically for a few seconds but then turned his focus back to Caratsu.
"Damn, where is that idiot Nomad, he should have finished off his opponent by now" complained Custus.
"Wow, you really thought Domaru was an easy opponent, he's the strongest of the three of us, he may have lost his patience and stupidly rushed to attack you three with Kunai, but he's still very strong, he just needs to be smarter," said Caratsu.
And both Rasa and Custus thought that everything the bandit said could apply equally to Nomad.
"Let's not think about that Custus, for now, let's focus on how to stop this guy" Rasa told him.
Custus just nodded.
Then the three continued to fight for a while, with Caratsu always having the upper hand.
...
...
Nomad was frustrated, he had been fighting more than he expected with the bandit named Domaru.
'That damn desert rat knew too many defensive Jutsu, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have taken so long to eliminate him, and to top it all off when I was about to eliminate him those two junior Chunin had to show up and try to save him' Nomad said irritated to himself.
Nomad at first was very excited to fight the Elite Chunin named Domaru.
But the bandit only focused on defending himself and Nomad spent the whole fight attacking while the miserable bandit just hid behind defensive jutsus.
It didn't even make him feel a little bit excited and to make matters worse when he finally had a chance to eliminate the bandit and end their boring fight, two junior Chunin arrived and prevented him from killing Domura.
After that, he had to deal not only with the annoying defense of the bandit named Domura but also with two junior Chunin who despite being just rats to him, combined with Domaru's defense were very annoying and scurrying rats.
But once he finally eliminated Domura the other two junior Chunin were easy to eliminate.
'Tch, rats, they weren't even good for entertainment, they just wasted my time. Those other two better not be dead yet or my first mission as Anbu will be a disaster for my record' Nomad thought angrily as he ran in the direction of where he assumed Gold and Custus were fighting.