In a secluded spot in the Land of River, an intense confrontation was taking place. Rasa's breathing had become rougher and his surroundings were covered in dead snakes. In front of him was Orochimaru whose clothes had holes and were drenched in blood but there wasn't a hint of fear or exhaustion on his face.

From the corner of his eyes, Rasa glanced towards his Anbu subordinates. His eyes widened as he saw their impaled bodies behind Kimimaro. He thought in shock, 'He killed them so easily?'

Suddenly, he flickered as a powerful jet of water pierced through his previous position. Orochimaru chuckled and asked, "Can you afford to be distracted, Rasa?"

Gold dust floated around Rasa as he prepared to take on both Orochimaru and Kimimaro. He snorted and said, "Don't underestimate me, Orochimaru. I'm the Kazekage. You'll pay for this misadve… Huh?"

As he was speaking, Rasa began hearing a melodious tune from a flute. He immediately felt his chakra flow being affected and disrupted it. At the next moment, he instinctively moved to his right as an arrow barely missed him!

Kidomaru frowned and wondered aloud, "How did he dodge? I attacked from his blind spot right when he fell under your Genjutsu?"

Tayuya replied, "Fool. He is a Kage. Besides, our attacks have served their purpose."

Orochimaru and Kimimaro went on the offensive using the opening provided by their attacks. Orochimaru bombarded Rasa with Water jutsus, which were blocked by shields made of gold!

However, the limited amount of gold with Rasa meant that he didn't have any gold left to stop Kimimaro. Seeing Rasa without his greatest tool, Kimimaro flickered towards him.

However, Rasa glanced in his direction while taking a deep breath.

'Wind Release: Desert Wind jutsu'

A chilling wind blasted Kimimaro as countless small wind blades bombarded his body. Rasa had merged Yin chakra into his Wind jutsu. As the winds moved, it also moved the soil along, turning it into a deadly weapon. Hundreds of minute cuts appeared on Kimimaro's body, covering him in blood. Coarse soil particles hit these wounds, making them hurt even more.

Yet, Rasa's eyes widened as Kimimaro continued moving forward unflinchingly. Even though Rasa's attack managed to break through Kimimaro's skin, it couldn't do anything to the layer of bone he had created under his skin.

Rasa immediately slammed his hand on the ground while moving backwards, away from both his opponents. Dozens of giant spikes rose from the ground and attacked Kimimaro, but he simply crushed them under his feet and instead used them to move even faster.

Rasa immediately recalled the gold that was being used to block Orochimaru's attacks, but Orochimaru attacked once again, forcing him to use the gold dust to defend once again. Rasa cursed, 'Shit, this is bad. I need to retreat…'

Seeing Kimimaro's bone sword inches away from him, Rasa quickly analyzed, 'I need to create some distance. Once I have my gold dust back, I can fly in the sky using it and create a distance from them. Then I'll only need to be careful about Orochimaru's summons. Still, being forced to retreat in such a manner… How humiliating.'

Unfortunately, Rasa could do nothing but swallow his pride. He concentrated chakra on his feet and flickered backwards… Or rather, he tried to. Just as he was about to flicker backwards, he suddenly coughed out blood and his chakra flow was disrupted! Since he failed to manipulate his chakra perfectly, the jutsu failed!

Kimimaro wouldn't miss such an opportunity and pierced Rasa's chest with his bone sword. Moments later, more bones appeared out of his forearm and pierced Rasa's chest and abdomen.

Despair appeared on Rasa's face as he heard, "Did you think you'd be safe as long as you didn't breathe in the poisonous gas?"

The poisonous gas Orochimaru exhaled at Rasa and his subordinates worked even if it wasn't inhaled. Rasa's skin was covered in that poison. However, the poison took longer to work when used in this manner. That is why it showed its effect now instead of earlier.

Even though Orochimaru was confident in killing Rasa, he knew that Rasa could retreat using his gold. He didn't want to risk Rasa escaping and hence played this card right at the start! Without a capable Medical Ninja to help him, Rasa was doomed from that very moment.

Rasa glanced to his left and saw Orochimaru's smug face. His despair immediately changed into hatred as he said, "Orochimaru…"

Orochimaru and Kimimaro could feel the hatred in those words. Orochimaru suddenly felt something amiss. His grin disappeared as he shouted, "Be careful!"

At the next moment, Rasa controlled all the gold dust nearby. In the blink of an eye, they formed into hundreds of needles and rained at both Orochimaru and Kimimaro! Due to how close the gold dust was to him, Orochimaru had no chance to dodge and hundreds of small holes opened up in his body, including a few in his chest.

Sensing the danger, Kimimaro infused even more chakra into his bones, increasing their density and sturdiness. The needles pierced into his body and hit the layer of bone under his skin. They couldn't pierce through them and were left embedded in his bones.

A smirk appeared on Rasa's face as he thought, 'If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!'

The next second, a bone pierced through the center of his forehead.

The Fourth Kazekage, the person who had stepped forward after the Third Kazekage mysteriously went missing and led Sunagakure in the Third Great Ninja War, died in the Land of River without a single Sunagakure ninja being aware of it!

Kimimaro withdrew his bones and glanced at Orochimaru, who was lying on the ground. Suddenly, a pair of hands appeared from his mouth and opened it wide open. A completely healed Orochimaru walked out and looked at Rasa.

He muttered, "At least he died in peace thinking that he killed me…"

Orochimaru could only chuckle and shake his head. Suddenly, Kimimaro collapsed to his knees and vomited several mouthfuls of blood!

Orochimaru's expression became very serious. He quickly began inspecting him. Some distance away, the Sound Four appeared above the ground.

Sakon said, "That was scary. If we had been any slower, those needles would have killed us!"

Jirobo said, "As expected of a Kage's last attack."

Tayuya analyzed, "We were lucky that Orochimaru-sama got rid of the gold in the vicinity. If he had more gold, he could have attacked and defended at the same time. Even though Orochimaru-sama would have still won, he might have killed us. Huh?"

Kidomaru asked, "What happened to Kimimaro? Did his illness get worse?"

They immediately rushed towards Kimimaro. Orochimaru had an ugly expression on his face. Kimimaro had coughed a few more mouthfuls of blood and looked to be completely out of strength. He could barely stop himself from falling to the ground.

As the Sound Four reached close to them, they heard Orochimaru saying, "Even though you blocked the needles, the needles dispersed into gold dust and mixed into your bloodstream. This will make your illness even worse…"

Even though Rasa failed to kill Orochimaru, he had successfully worsened Kimimaro's condition. Just like in the original story, Kimimaro wouldn't be in a state to join the attack on Konoha. Considering Fujin's presence and Konoha's preparedness, the odds were heavily stacked against Orochimaru. Yet, the thought of canceling the attack didn't even cross Orochimaru's mind! He was still as confident as ever!

A few hundred kilometers away, Fujin was still standing, trying to figure out the situation. He finally gave up thinking, 'Ah, leave it. Finding the dead guy in this vast country without the mark is too difficult. I'll need to wait for Shigeki's reports. He could give me some information.

That said, there is one piece of information I have. Whoever killed him tried to read his memories. That lowers the number of suspects. It's either a Yamanaka ninja Konoha stationed here or Orochimaru unless there are others who have learnt this trick too. Hmm, I think Nagato could do it and maybe the Jashin faction could have this ability too.

Of these, the most suspicious one is definitely Orochimaru as I don't think any of the remaining three have a reason to target a Phantom Haven member. Of course, that is assuming he didn't do anything crazy.

Oh well, no point in speculating too much. I'll soon have another headache to deal with. The first death of a member of Phantom Haven Society. I'll need to handle this issue carefully. If I mishandle it, the members will become restless and the organization will suffer.

However, if I handle it properly, I could use this to increase everyone's bond to the organization and make everyone improve their strength seriously.'

Fujin immediately began making plans to use this situation to his advantage. Elsewhere, Orochimaru was even busier than Fujin. Unlike Hiruzen, who had an array of capable subordinates to rely on, Orochimaru had lost an ally and his two strongest subordinates! He had only a week to ensure that all his arrangements were perfect before he launched his assault on Konoha!