Chapter 582: Self-Destruction
Sasori was extremely confident in his second scroll.
Because inside it was sealed his new human puppet—
"Deidara!" Naruto looked at the newly appeared enemy with doubt and shock. "Aren't you already dead?!"
"He is naturally dead." Sasori's smiling face emerged from behind Deidara. "However, I must thank you for merely severing his neck, which perfectly allowed me to make use of the waste!"
In the battle with Haruno Sakura last year, Sasori not only lost a large number of ordinary puppets but also had his precious Third Kazekage puppet destroyed.
After that battle, he lost almost more than half of his combat power.
Therefore, the recovered corpse of Deidara was handed over to Sasori to be made into a human puppet to make up for his lack of high-end combat power.
Sasori had no psychological burden regarding a former comrade becoming a new human puppet. The people of Akatsuki originally had no feelings of comradeship, not to mention towards that noisy youngster who preached "art is an explosion."
How could art be an explosion?
Art should be eternal!
Naruto didn't understand what Sasori's so-called "making use of waste" meant, but from Deidara's lifeless appearance, he could guess it was nothing good.
"To think you wouldn't even spare a comrade!"
This simple-minded guy felt a wave of nausea. With a roar, he pulled the remaining shadow clones and charged towards Sasori.
"Be careful!"
Sasuke hurriedly called out a warning.
Naruto's straightforward charge naturally posed no threat to the battle-hardened Sasori. The latter manipulated Deidara to abruptly wave his hand, and the strange mouths on his palms instantly spat out a large number of clay bombs, catching Naruto off guard and enveloping him within!
Boom—!
With a loud bang, a sky full of water splashed up fiercely from the sea, obscuring the view.
When the splashes settled, Sasori finally saw that the reckless Jinchuriki was not injured; he was firmly protected in the palm of a purple, translucent giant hand!
"...Susanoo?" Sasori sneered. "The legendary Sharingan secret technique that combines offense and defense? Nothing more than this!"
By this time, he had already mounted Deidara's clay bird and was flying high in the air.
Looking down at the tiny Naruto and Sasuke below, Sasori revealed a cold sneer.
In terms of strength, Deidara's power was indeed not comparable to the Third Kazekage, and the ninjutsu he used were nothing more than clay bombs of various powers, lacking the myriad changes of the Third Kazekage's Kekkei Genkai.
However, Deidara's combat method was far more practical than the Third Kazekage's: he could create clay birds that flew in the sky, carrying out high-altitude bombardments against enemies without flight capabilities without any pressure!
Standing high in the sky meant that from the very beginning, he was already in an invincible position!
"Receive the bombardment!"
Sasori manipulated Deidara to frantically scatter clay bombs at the two below!
Boom boom boom—
The unilateral attack began.
Just as Sasori had analyzed, both Naruto and Sasuke were more inclined towards close-quarters combat. They lacked striking methods against long-range targets, let alone an enemy in the sky!
Various clay bombs continuously rained down from Deidara's hands, from the "Explosive Clay - Grasshopper" to the "C1 Bomb - Clay Spider" and the "C2 Bomb - Dragon". The diverse bombs were impossible to defend against, bombing Naruto and Sasuke into a miserable state.
Since creating the Deidara human puppet, this was Sasori's first time using it so freely to bombard an opponent. This combat method of occupying the high-altitude advantage while others could only endure the bombing and struggle to counterattack was indeed thrilling. No wonder Deidara muttered "art is an explosion" every day; in fact, Sasori was also beginning to feel that this viewpoint made some sense!
And at this time, the two who had been dodging the bombs finally realized that fighting like this would only drain their stamina by the enemy.
On the open sea, there was no advantageous terrain to dodge the bombs, nor could they find a foothold to launch a counterattack!
They simply stopped in their tracks.
"Given up?" Sasori snorted coldly and unceremoniously dropped the "C3 - Number Eighteen"!
Boom—!
The violent explosion created monstrous waves on the sea surface, but at the center of the explosion stood impressively a purple giant, its massive figure unmoving amidst the blast!
Sasori was slightly startled.
The purple giant's movements didn't stop. After blocking Sasori's attack, it swiped a hand through the air. Countless lightning sparks instantly coalesced in its hand, and the irritable lightning finally condensed into a tyrannical and bloodthirsty lightning spear!
The tip of the spear aimed at Sasori in mid-air.
Die!
"Whoosh—!"
Sasori subconsciously jumped up, and at the same time, the purple giant fiercely threw the lightning spear. It was as fast as lightning, completely swallowing the small clay bird amidst its whistling!
"Damn it, almost hit him!"
Sasuke looked at Sasori, who had safely landed on another clay bird, and shook his head resentfully.
Naruto was not discouraged: "One more time, Sasuke!"
Exchanging a glance, Sasuke didn't hesitate and once again manipulated Susanoo to condense a new lightning spear. At the same time, Naruto created a massive Rasenshuriken, transformed it into a cyan spearhead, and combined them to form a new Wind and Lightning Release spear.
Since the accuracy was lacking, they would use a large-scale destructive ninjutsu to ensure a hit!
This was the combined strike of Naruto and Sasuke!
The combination of wind and lightning, "Wind Release - Spiral Lightning Spear"!
"Whoosh—!"
The second lightning spear shot out. This time it still didn't hit any target, but the Rasenshuriken at the spearhead detonated the moment it brushed past, the massive explosion hemisphere completely swallowing Sasori and Deidara!
"How could there be such a powerful jutsu?!"
Bang!
With a muffled sound, Sasori and Deidara suffered heavy injuries and crashed down fiercely.
The cellular-level attack of the Rasenshuriken had little effect on puppets like Sasori and Deidara, but the power of the explosion itself was enough to severely damage human puppets that couldn't defend in time.
Sasori slowly stood up, his face so gloomy it seemed like water could drip from it!
He hadn't fully recovered his combat power to begin with, severely lacking both low-end and high-end puppets, and now he had suffered heavy damage... Naruto's Wind Release Rasenshuriken and Sasuke's half-body giant Susanoo gave him too many surprises!
"I must admit, I underestimated you!" Sasori manipulated Deidara with one hand to stand up, saying coldly, "But the victor of this battle hasn't been announced yet!"
He abruptly tore off Deidara's clothes.
Sasuke and Naruto were startled, only to see that the human puppet's chest actually had a giant mouth sewn shut with thick black thread!
The black thread was rapidly removed, the giant mouth abruptly opened wide, swallowing the clay near its mouth in one gulp.
The bizarre actions and intense chakra fluctuations made Naruto and Sasuke not dare to stand by and watch. They intended to stop Deidara's actions, but Sasori spared no expense in pulling out his last Hundred Puppets, only seeking to block them for a moment!
"Deidara's body has many natural mechanisms, which I preserved with my superb craftsmanship!"
Sasori revealed a ferocious grin!
"Take this, the final move from Deidara, C0 - Self-Destruction!"
Feeling that terrifying chakra fluctuation, Naruto and Sasuke had no choice but to stop their forceful charge.
"It's too late... it's going to self-destruct!" Sasuke gritted his teeth, trying hard to remain calm. "I will expand Susanoo to its strongest degree. Hide inside, and I'll protect you!"
"No, it's not enough!"
Naruto sensed the strength of Susanoo; this level of defense couldn't block the power of Deidara's self-destruction. He must also do something!
"Stupid fox, time to pay rent! Sasuke, fuse Susanoo into it!"
Naruto lay on the ground. In the few short seconds of speaking, the tyrannical chakra on Deidara's body gradually reached its peak, and the boy also rapidly activated the six-tailed mode!
The techniques of the two combined once again. Susanoo turned into armor draped over Naruto's Tailed Beast cloak. The massive Tailed Beast chakra enveloped the two simultaneously, surrounding them in the center.
Just as these preparations were completed, Deidara also finished his final accumulation of power at the same time!
Boom—!!!
It detonated.