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Perhaps there were those who knew of the existence of Sage Jutsu. Pain, for instance, had fought Jiraiya, who had used Sage Jutsu right in front of him. But knowing about Sage Jutsu and understanding senjutsu chakra were two entirely different matters. Take Pain as an example. He knew Sage Jutsu existed, but what did that change?
In the original timeline, didn't Pain still let the Preta Path absorb Naruto's senjutsu chakra? The end result was the Preta Path turning into a stone statue. Pain, the very leader of the Akatsuki, still had only the vaguest grasp of Sage Jutsu, so it went without saying that Kisame understood even less. Zetsu might have known, but he hadn't made a sound. Perhaps, in Zetsu's heart, Kisame was still not one of his own. Considering that in the manga Zetsu hadn't warned Pain either, Midorima could only conclude that this was likely just Zetsu's "standard operating procedure."
And so, when Kisame clamped Samehada onto Midorima like a leech and began voraciously sucking in his senjutsu chakra, using that very chakra to heal his own wounds, it was perfectly natural that he ended up petrified.
Once the Water Release jutsu receded, Midorima drifted down from the air, quickly moved to where Kisame stood, and wrenched Samehada from his grip. He turned the blade around and brought it smashing down, shattering the petrified Kisame into fragments. Kisame was not as simple or straightforward as his outward appearance suggested. On the contrary, he was a deeply cunning man, and his level of danger was in no way inferior to someone like Itachi. Even when your strength clearly surpassed his, you still had to stay on high alert and avoid being bitten hard when you least expected it. So when an opportunity to finish him off presented itself, Midorima didn't hesitate for an instant.
Of course, the reason Midorima had been able to dispatch Kisame so smoothly came down, at its core, to exploiting an information gap. He had known something Kisame hadn't—information that, in the end, was more than sufficient to ensure Kisame's swift death. Once he was absolutely certain Kisame was dead beyond any doubt, Midorima immediately began searching for any trace of Zetsu. But the Water Release jutsu he'd unleashed earlier had simply been far too powerful, and Zetsu had long since been swept away to who knows where.
Midorima was just about to search more carefully when another thunderous roar echoed from the distance. He immediately levitated into the air and peered toward the direction of the sound. Far away, through the haze, he could make out a faint black dot in the sky. Deidara? Midorima froze.
A troubling thought struck him—could something have happened to Orochimaru? He didn't allow himself to dwell on it. He told Tagitsuhime to return to the Ryūchi Cave first. Tagitsuhime was extremely displeased with this decision, but a single sentence from Midorima—"It's dangerous here"—rendered her silent. Although inwardly she appreciated his concern, her mouth kept grumbling on and on, complaining about "why he had called her out in the first place if it was so dangerous." Midorima had no choice but to come up with another excuse to soothe her.
Not soothing her wasn't an option; he still needed her help in the future. As expected, Tagitsuhime's expression soon brightened into a beaming smile, and she happily returned to the Ryūchi Cave. Midorima then headed straight for the source of the sound at top speed.
…
"Cough, cough, cough..." Orochimaru hacked repeatedly before finally feeling even a modicum of relief. But his head was still coated in a thick layer of dust. Like Orochimaru, Shikaku and his team, who had been blasted into frantic hiding, were in equally miserable shape. Their fundamental problem when facing Deidara had never been resolved: they were simply too short-handed. Being short-handed meant they had no way to inflict effective damage on Deidara and could do nothing but passively endure his bombardments. Orochimaru had fared somewhat better than they had. After all, he had once been one of the Legendary Sannin, and the range of jutsu he could wield far exceeded that of an ordinary shinobi. It was only later, after he veered down a twisted path and abandoned serious jutsu research in favor of "cell engineering," that his jutsu repertoire became somewhat peculiar.
"Old man, can you actually handle this?" Might Guy asked skeptically as he brushed the dust from his clothes and eyed Orochimaru with open doubt. Everyone said that Wind Release could disrupt airborne units, but just moments ago, Orochimaru had unleashed "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough," and not only had it failed to blow Deidara out of the sky, it had instead sent choking dust swirling back onto them, nearly suffocating them in the process. As for the raw power of the Great Breakthrough, there was no denying it—the trees for hundreds of meters around had been flattened. Only the airborne Deidara remained completely unaffected.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Orochimaru suppressed the violent urge to lash out and lifted his gaze toward the ever-growing C2 Dragon in the sky. He himself was equally puzzled. Why hadn't that ugly thing been blown out of the sky?
"I know what you're all thinking. Why don't Wind Release jutsu affect me, right? I've already suffered that setback once. You can't expect me to suffer it a second time—I'm not an idiot." Deidara flipped his hair and declared, "The C2 Dragon has been modified by me. Its undercarriage is heavier, and it can fly even higher. Your Wind Release doesn't affect it at all. Therefore, I am invincible!" Deidara spread his arms wide and burst into loud, triumphant laughter. "And now, it's time for you all to die!"
The C2 Dragon opened its jaws, and from its mouth emerged a massively bloated mini-dragon, streaking straight toward Orochimaru at tremendous speed. Orochimaru's brow furrowed. For a jutsu of this magnitude, deploying the Rashōmon Gates would be overkill, but without them, an ordinary jutsu simply wouldn't be enough to block it. In the blink of an eye, the mini-dragon was right upon them. The explosion rocked heaven and earth. A colossal shockwave, carrying sky-high dust and scorching air, surged outward in all directions.
"Ha! It's utterly impossible for anyone to defeat me, because I... fly... too... high!" Deidara was positively giddy with excitement. He had finally found the formula for invincibility. He only had to fly higher still, and he could evade all their jutsu while his own attacks struck them indiscriminately. So what if one of them was a Sannin? If they didn't like it, let them try to hit him!
Just as Deidara was reveling in his euphoria, a voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear. "Is that so? It really is quite high up here."
"Huh?" Deidara whipped his head around and saw Midorima standing behind him, a smile on his face as he casually rubbed his wrist. How was he here?! If there was one person in the world who could make Deidara feel genuine terror, it was Midorima. Because he could never, ever figure out how Midorima appeared right next to him.
A moment later, a devastating punch slammed into his cheek, sending stars bursting across his vision. He stumbled backward two steps and then plummeted straight off the C2 Dragon. The C2 Dragon itself followed Deidara, crashing toward the earth below. The resulting impact was louder than anything before it. The roiling heat and dust surged upward, even reaching Midorima high above, while the violent air currents spawned by the shockwave sent him tumbling through the sky like a kite with its string cut. Midorima covered his ears, but the ringing wouldn't stop. He allowed himself to descend along with the sinking air currents until he landed on the ground.
The Triple Rashōmon Gates had blocked the explosion of the C2 Dragon. A crater roughly two meters deep had been gouged into the earth, and sprawled in its center lay a figure in black clothing. Deidara?! The thought flickered through Midorima's mind only once before he immediately expelled it. He spat a ball of fire from his mouth, and it landed directly on the black clothing. Another explosion rang out.
'Just as I thought—an explosive clone...' Midorima mused to himself. These Akatsuki members really did have an absurd knack for clinging to life.