My Journey as Fourth Kazekage

"Dragon Vein: Shukaku's Avatar!"

With a deafening roar, Shukaku's Avatar emerged above the endless desert. Thanks to the Dragon Vein Chakra, the changes to the Aatar were immediately noticeable.

First, the once rough texture of sand grains covering its surface had vanished, replaced by smooth, skin-like skin. This was the true power of Dragon Vein Chakra: the ability to reshape and transform materials.

The chakra had fused all the individual grains of sand into a unified form. Though it might seem trivial, this transformation meant that Shukaku's Avatar was no longer vulnerable to Water Release techniques.

By merging the sand into a solid mass, the gaps between grains were eliminated, preventing water from seeping through. This made the sand heavier, fortifying Shukaku's body against attacks and stopping any erosion or weakening from water-based techniques.

Additionally, the combined form gave the Avatar much greater durability. The sand had now turned into something resembling hard rock, providing far more defense. After all, it's easy to see that a stone's defense is far superior to that of scattered sand.

Along with the physical changes, the Avatar's movements were far quicker and more fluid. Gone were the slow, puppet-like motions it had during past battles with Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya. Now, Shukaku moved like a living, breathing creature. Its limbs were agile, moving with incredible speed whether running, jumping, or throwing powerful punches. Even the swing of its tail was devastating, capable of sweeping away anything in its path, yet still light and graceful.

Most importantly, controlling the Avatar no longer required excessive effort. It felt as if it had shifted from being a puppet controlled by chakra strings to a machine with its own preset instructions.

Though it still lacked its own consciousness, the Avatar could now act almost independently in combat, similar to a summoned beast with its own instincts. This was the true essence of the Dragon Vein Chakra's power – turning lifeless, inorganic matter into something that could be controlled and imbued with life-like qualities.

The result was an Avatar that not only boasted immense defensive strength but also significantly improved offensive capabilities. However, this was far from the limit of what Dragon Vein Chakra could do for Shukaku's offensive power.

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Rasa appeared above Shukaku's head. He connected his chakra to the massive creature below, and with both hands forming seals, Shukaku mirrored him, creating seals with its massive claws.

"Dragon Vein: Great Breakthrough!"

Or rather, it should have been called Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

Though the hand seals and effects of the two techniques were identical, the results were anything but the same. Due to Shukaku's enormous size and the infusion of Dragon Vein Chakra, the wind it produced was far stronger. What was normally a C-rank jutsu now packed the destructive power of an A-rank technique.

The desert was soon engulfed by an overwhelming storm as a colossal sandstorm spiraled through the air, demonstrating the full extent of the attack's power.

Despite the immense destructive power, Rasa couldn't help but feel unsatisfied. There were two key reasons for this:

First, although he had granted Shukaku's Avatar a semblance of vitality through the power of inorganic reincarnation, he still needed to connect his chakra to it in order to control its chakra fluctuations and activate jutsu. This meant the Avatar was still heavily reliant on Rasa for its chakra-based abilities.

Second, the chakra consumption was far too great. Since the sand that made up Shukaku's Avatar was inorganic, it couldn't generate its own chakra. This led to continuous chakra depletion after every jutsu cast, forcing Rasa to constantly replenish it.

Despite the fact that the Dragon Vein Chakra granted Rasa four powerful abilities—Inorganic Reincarnation, Material Transformation, Super-Speed Regeneration, and Chakra Absorption—it didn't directly enhance his physical body in the way that Hashirama's cells had. Rasa's chakra reserves, though formidable, were still limited, and he couldn't endlessly absorb Dragon Vein energy without causing an imbalance within himself.

Looking at the situation from this perspective, consuming the chakra fruit, formed from the condensed Dragon Vein Chakra, could have potentially solved the issue. However, Rasa had refrained from doing so. He feared that eating the fruit could accelerate the thawing of the [Kama Seal] inside him.

Although Rasa had greatly enhanced his strength through the powers of the [Kama Seal], he remained wary of the potential danger of being overwhelmed or taken over by it. His caution wasn't unwarranted, as the [Kama Seal] still posed a lingering threat.

Moreover, considering his current abilities, Rasa felt confident that his strength was more than enough to handle any challenges in the ninja world at the moment. The Shukaku's Avatar was also powerful enough to stall a fully formed tailed beast for some time, meaning there was no immediate need for further risk.

It was a bit of a letdown, though. Rasa had hoped that the Dragon Vein Chakra's chakra absorption ability would be the solution to his dilemma. Unfortunately, after experimenting with it, he discovered that while the Dragon Vein Chakra could absorb chakra, it couldn't convert the absorbed chakra into usable power.

This setback didn't mean, however, that Rasa had hit a wall in his development of Shukaku's Avatar.

With a decisive gesture, Rasa clasped his hands together, and the Shukaku's Avatar began to shift and change. In the blink of an eye, the massive figure split into one hundred smaller versions of Shukaku, each of them resembling the slugs of the Shikkotsu Forest.

Though they were called "smaller," each of these new avatars was still the size of a small mountain when compared to a human.

Rasa had dubbed this technique [Dragon Vein: Shukaku's Avatar Division Technique].

The inspiration for this technique came from Sasori of the Red Sand's Puppet Master: Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets.

Rasa had developed this technique as a response to Sunagakure's lack of military strength.

Thanks to the Dragon Vein Chakra's Inorganic Reincarnation, Rasa, despite not being a skilled puppeteer, could effortlessly control the hundreds of smaller Shukakus, created from the original Avatar. On top of that, through the Dragon Vein Chakra's Material Transformation, each of these miniature Shukakus was equipped with weapons.

Each puppet held a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. With their immense size, chakra absorption abilities, and resistance to most ninjutsu, they were formidable. These puppets could unleash destructive power comparable to a Chūnin's level of combat ability, effectively adding a hundred Chūnin to Sunagakure's forces.

However, despite being the Kazekage and possessing some puppetry knowledge, Rasa wasn't a true master of the craft. Controlling one hundred puppets perfectly was already pushing his limits. Had he been able to do so, the power of these puppets would have far surpassed that of mere Chūnin. Furthermore, their numbers could easily have exceeded one hundred.

At this point, the development of the [Shukaku's Avatar] technique had nearly reached its peak. The next phase would involve further refining Rasa's own abilities, such as [Magnet Release] and [Sand Control Jutsu].

---

Meanwhile, in Sunagakure, under the leadership of Pakura and Michikawa, hundreds of Sunagakure ninjas had left the village. They were headed toward the advancing forces of Kumogakure and Iwagakure, making their way across the desert with determination.

Perhaps it was due to the success of their previous attack on the Land of Fire, but the people of Sunagakure no longer felt the deep anxiety they once had about the looming war.

As time passed, Rasa continued to receive reports from the front lines.

The Cloud forces, who had landed on the coastline of the Land of Ghosts, had pushed through the Land of Marsh and linked up with the Iwa ninja forces in the Land of Birds. Together, they formed a formidable army, preparing to invade the Land of Wind.

Upon receiving this information, Michikawa and Pakura led the Sunagakure forces to the border to confront the combined Kumo and Iwa armies.

The entire border of the Land of Wind grew tense, the atmosphere thick with anticipation as if a battle could break out at any moment. Yet, neither side seemed eager to engage in combat, and a strange calm settled over the region.

Just as the tension reached its peak, a new and unexpected force emerged on the battlefield.

It was known as: Akatsuki!

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