As Deidara tried to retreat, Naruto blocked his path.
A special orb formed in Naruto's hand—the Rasengan, surrounded by a swirling ring of wind blades.
This was the incomplete jutsu Jiraiya had specifically warned Naruto never to use unless absolutely necessary.
After mastering Wind Release nature transformation under Jiraiya's guidance, Naruto developed this new technique through intense training—by infusing wind chakra into the Rasengan. It delivered far greater destructive force than the Rasengan and sliced through targets like a blade.
However, the technique was still incomplete—if Naruto used Wind Release: Rasengan, his own hands would be severely damaged.
Deidara staggered backward, reaching into his ninja gear pouch.
But suddenly, Deidara stopped moving.
["Binding Snake Glare Spell!"]
Sasuke invoked two massive serpents that coiled around Deidara, pinning him in place completely.
"Sasuke shouted toward Naruto, "Do it, Naruto!"
"Wind Release! Rasengan!"
Naruto slammed the swirling orb into Deidara's chest. The impact felt as if thousands of blades were slicing through his body.
Blood burst from Deidara's mouth as he was blasted away violently.
He hadn't expected things to go so wrong this time. Enduring the pain, he glanced down at his chest—now a bloody mess—and his vision started to blur.
"No... I can't die yet... My ultimate art hasn't been revealed..."
Struggling to stay upright, Deidara supported himself with a tree.
His left chest still had half a mouth remaining, its edge torn and bleeding.
With that half-mouth, Deidara swallowed the remaining Explosive Clay.
As the half-mouth chewed and consumed the clay, black lines spread across Deidara's body, which began turning transparent.
"This is my ultimate art!" he declared. "Through death, I become art itself! An explosion unlike any before will scar this land in ways never imagined—and then! My art will earn acclaim beyond all measure! You cannot escape! Ten kilometers in every direction is within the blast radius!
Feel despair! Know fear! Marvel at my creation! Call for aid you'll never receive! My art is…"
Deidara vanished, replaced entirely by a black sphere.
Kakashi tried to stop it with a Lightning Release technique, but shockingly, Deidara's jutsu resisted all effects.
No—it wasn't just unaffected; the sheer power of this technique surpassed anything Lightning Release could counter!
Kakashi shouted urgently at Sasuke and others, "Run now!"
But it was already too late—the black sphere began exploding, emitting blinding light.
At this critical moment—
["Kamui!"]
Space began distorting, centered around the black sphere.
Before the black sphere fully exploded, it was sucked into an alternate dimension.
Obito, Itachi, and Shisui appeared here. Obito wiped his forehead and exhaled deeply, "We barely made it in time."
Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata collapsed to the ground.
The oppressive pressure from that black sphere had been overwhelming; they all felt like they were doomed and had no way to escape.
Only Obito's Kamui could have done it. Kakashi couldn't think of any other way to dodge Deidara's attack just now besides using Obito's Kamui.
Itachi looked grimly at Naruto. "We can't let our guard down yet—the Nine-Tails is starting to lose control."
Meanwhile, Naruto had already grown a fourth tail. Kakashi immediately retrieved a sealing tag and handed it to Obito. "Obito, use this sealing tag to cut off the Nine-Tails' chakra within Naruto. With only four tails, this sealing tag should suffice."
After receiving the sealing tag, Obito quickly body-flickered to Naruto's front and slapped the tag onto Naruto's forehead, cutting off the Nine-Tails' chakra inside him.
Naruto gradually regained consciousness. The first thing he did after regaining his sanity was look for Gaara's corpse. When he found it, Naruto sorrowfully looked at Gaara's lifeless body.
...
On another battlefield,
Sasori entered his monstrous puppet and began controlling it to unleash explosive barrages.
However, Shindai continued to dodge without making a single counterattack.
Although Shindai being able to fly wasn't an issue, Chiyo and Sakura weren't having an easy time, constantly scrambling to evade attacks.
Chiyo even tried attacking the monstrous puppet, but she ended up injured instead.
Moreover, the giant puppet was covered in poison, and Chiyo was hit by a powerful toxin. Fortunately, Sakura had an antidote, saving Chiyo from dying from poisoning.
"What's wrong? At a loss of what to do? Are you only capable of dodging now?"
Smiling brightly, Shindai replied, "At a loss? Helplessly dodging? I was just giving you a chance to show off—Hey, Sasori, tell me, why didn't you realize I knew your true form was your weakness? Earlier, despite having the opportunity, why did I allow you freely into that ugly puppet?"
The monstrous puppet's body paused slightly; Sasori himself was quite puzzled too.
As a puppet master, everyone knew that one's original body was a fatal weakness, which Shindai undoubtedly understood as well.
Therefore, Shindai should've desperately stopped him from entering the monstrous puppet instead of reminding him with something like, "You should have measures against such an obvious weakness, right?" before barely launching a casual sneak attack and ultimately letting him enter the body of the monstrous puppet.
Shindai grinned maliciously. "Your disgusting puppet has excellent sealing integrity—my [Iron Sand Body] cannot seep through the gaps. But! This puppet is stitched together from numerous human puppets. As long as it's sewn, there must be seams!
If its exterior is so tightly sealed, how about the inside of this monstrous puppet?"
"If it were sealed, you wouldn't be able to get inside this monstrous puppet either, would you?"
Let me remind you, my Iron Sand Body can shrink down to a size completely invisible to the naked eye!"
If Sasori had shown any expression at all, his face would surely have been twisted with fury.
Shindai had already made his point—if Sasori still didn't get it, then he was just plain foolish.
Why else do you think Shindai let him into the monstrous puppet so easily? He must've had Iron Sand Body stuck to his body. Once he entered the monstrous puppet, the Iron Sand Body on him would naturally slip in too.
Shindai cackled menacingly, "And the reason I kept dodging was waiting exactly for this—every time your puppet moves, there are bound to be plenty of gaps inside. Sasori, when you build puppets, don't focus only on appearances; try paying attention to the interior too!"
Sasori shot back icily, "I have a demagnetizing device. Even if your Iron Sand Body gets inside, what can you do?"
Shindai shook his head. "You're even slower than I thought. Since I'm telling you now, it means I've already made preparations. I've been guiding my Iron Sand Body all along, tracking down the Human Puppet that wields Steel Release. I used my Iron Sand Body to corrode this Human Puppet. The tide has turned completely—it's already over, Sasori!"
Instantly after Shindai finished speaking, the monstrous puppet lost its Steel Release protection. A massive hole burst open in its back, and Kannazuki scattered into Iron Sand Body, surging straight through the gap.
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