After going through layer upon layer of danger, Chiyo's side finally rendezvoused with the forces led by Rasa.
With their meeting, the scale of Sunagakure's forces instantly swelled to more than eight thousand people.
As soon as Chiyo saw Rasa, she did not waste a single moment and immediately reported all the important intelligence regarding Rengoku to him in detail.
When he heard Chiyo describe how Uchiha Rengoku's shadow clones were actually able to activate Susanoo as well, Rasa could not help but widen his eyes, his face filled with shock, "What? Uchiha Rengoku's shadow clones can also use Susanoo? This is simply unbelievable!"
Then he learned that there were as many as four such powerful shadow clones, each standing thirty meters tall, while Rengoku's main body could reach a terrifying fifty meters.
This information made Rasa suck in a sharp breath of cold air, as he secretly thought to himself, 'With such terrifying strength, no wonder Uchiha Rengoku dared to come provoke us with only a mere thousand men. So this is the trump card he's holding.'
Thinking this far, even the usually calm and confident Rasa felt that the situation was rather troublesome.
After all, if there was no effective way to break through those four astonishingly powerful Susanoo, this battle would be extremely difficult.
Even if they could successfully surround Konoha's forces completely, truly wiping them out would probably require paying the price of many Sunagakure ninja lives.
What's more, no one could guarantee that if the situation turned unfavorable, Rengoku would not choose to decisively retreat and leave the battlefield.
So how to crack this problem had now become the most urgent and crucial task placed before Rasa.
It was worth mentioning that Rasa's own ability was Magnet Release, and he was especially skilled at controlling gold dust.
And while standing in this vast, boundless desert, this undoubtedly gave him an unparalleled advantage, allowing him to rapidly convert the ordinary sand around him into incomparably hard gold dust anytime and anywhere.
Relying on this special ability, he might be able to form a certain degree of suppression against those gigantic Susanoo.
However, this strategy was only applicable in desert environments. Once they left this sandy land, its effectiveness would inevitably be greatly reduced.
The ground in the Land of Rivers region was covered with hard rocks and thick, compacted soil. Turning it into terrain suitable for combat would undoubtedly require an enormous amount of time and precious chakra resources.
In that case, fighting here would inevitably cause Sunagakure's combat strength to be greatly weakened.
It was truly frustrating and ironic.
All along, many of Sunagakure's ninja had constantly dreamed of escaping the sky full of flying sand and the raging winds of the Land of Wind.
Yet ironically, it was only when they were within that vast, boundless desert that they could unleash their strongest combat power.
There was no other reason. After years upon years of survival and development in the Land of Wind, the many ninjutsu and unique tactics passed down within Sunagakure had already become closely intertwined with that harsh environment of endless wind and sand.
If they left this special environmental condition, those ninjutsu and tactics would probably be unable to display their original power.
At this moment, Rasa said in a deep voice, "I brought two sand worms."
Hearing this, a trace of delight immediately appeared on Chiyo's face, and she hurriedly asked, "You actually caught two! How mature are they?"
You had to know that under normal circumstances, it was extremely rare for two such sand worms to appear at the same time and be captured.
Rasa gave a slight nod and replied, "They've both already entered adulthood."
Adult sand worms were enormous in size, generally possessing a diameter of up to seven meters and a body length exceeding one hundred meters, and their strength was frighteningly powerful.
But when he thought of the astonishing appetite of these two behemoths, a hint of pain appeared on Rasa's face.
Since capturing these two sand worms, in just a short period of time they had already consumed a huge amount of his stored supplies.
Fortunately, he had already had sturdy, durable custom armor made for these two sand worms in advance.
That way, even in environments that were not sandy terrain, these two sand worms could still participate in battle.
The sand worm's drilling relies entirely on the rotation of its head. Breaking through sand is very easy, but other types of ground are relatively more difficult.
When fighting in non-desert areas, the first thing to do is to put armor on its head.
"We still need to test how their combat ability actually is," Chiyo said conservatively.
Sand worms, as a type of creature, have relatively low intelligence.
Although Rasa had successfully captured them, achieving precise and effective command was clearly still somewhat difficult.
Just then, a Sunagakure ninja responsible for reconnaissance hurried back and reported to Rasa,
"Lord Kazekage, according to our observations, Konoha's forces are withdrawing from the battlefield."
It had to be said that after the two forces led by Rasa and Chiyo joined together, their strength was indeed exceptionally powerful.
By comparison, Konoha's side only had a mere thousand troops.
Therefore, from a strategic standpoint, choosing to retreat was a wise move, so the people of Sunagakure were not particularly surprised.
However, the key issue now was whether they should proceed steadily, gradually push into the Land of Fire and directly attack Konoha Village, or concentrate their forces to pursue the unit commanded by Rengoku.
Faced with this dilemma, Rasa and Chiyo could not help but exchange glances, both falling into deep thought.
After a brief pause, Chiyo turned to the attendant beside her and asked, "Have there been any reports coming back regarding the latest movements of Iwagakure and Kumogakure?"
That Sunagakure ninja quickly responded, "Reporting to Elder Chiyo, according to the intelligence we currently have, Kumogakure's forces are rushing nonstop toward the Land of Fire, but the specific battle situation is still unclear."
"In addition, the force personally led by Tsuchikage Onoki has already successfully rendezvoused with the reinforcement units later dispatched by Iwagakure."
"They have now changed their marching route again and are once more closing in on the troops led by Uchiha Fugaku."
"The unit that was originally holding back the Demon Legion has now merged with Uchiha Fugaku's forces. The initial estimate puts the total number on both sides at around five thousand."
After some thought, Rasa fixed his gaze and said, "Pursue! Elder Chiyo, go and make the arrangements."
Chiyo also agreed with this approach. If Rengoku were allowed to retreat back to Konoha, or to join up with Uchiha Fugaku's forces, it might become even more troublesome.
If Rengoku's unit did not retreat to Konoha, then they would either go support Iwagakure or circle around to flank Sunagakure.
Although they only had one thousand men, Rasa did not dare to hand the initiative over to Rengoku.
This battle was already a fight on foreign ground, and Sunagakure's strength was already discounted.
If they were forced to respond passively on top of that, Rasa did not know what kind of scheme Rengoku would come up with to plot against them.
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