"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!!"
Having finalized his retreat, Orochimaru immediately controlled the eight-headed white snake. The massive beast twisted its head, smashing through the surrounding puppets as it rushed toward the distant Sound Village.
"Hmph. Starting to panic and flee in disarray?" Sasori's voice dripped with excitement and agitation. He didn't bother having his puppets continue blocking the snake's escape. "Too bad your subordinates back at the snake pit have probably already been wiped out by Deidara. They can't help you escape," he said. "So you'd better become part of my puppet collection. I'll personally rip out your filthy entrails and clean that disgusting snake skin!"
Instead, he leisurely trailed behind, controlling countless puppets to launch continuous attacks from the sides and rear.
He even let several puppets burrow into the eight-headed snake's flesh through open wounds. Lumps formed under the skin like parasites. Crimson blood mixed with gore oozed out continuously.
Inside the snake, Orochimaru sensed the puppet laced with Nine-Tails chakra. His face was a grim mask as he constantly dodged and weaved, trying to avoid detection.
"That masked man from Four-Star Village..."
If I escape, your village and your method of using Tailed Beast chakra will be my top targets! he thought.
Orochimaru had initially prioritized taking Sasuke's body. Now, he had to change his priorities. He absolutely had to obtain the method to control Tailed Beast chakra. If he got it, he could directly gain the Eight-Tails' power from the horn in his lab. Even if it wasn't as strong as the Nine-Tails chakra he'd just faced, it would at least raise his power to Sasori's level.
---
Above the Sound Village, Deidara stood atop a giant clay bird, his body radiating fiery golden-red chakra. He chewed clay in the mouths on his hands, infusing it with himself and the Nine-Tails' power.
At only seventeen, Deidara wasn't like Sasori—a composed middle-aged man who could hide his newfound strength. As a sharp-witted teenager, after gaining such immense power, he only wanted to show it off.
Deidara watched Sound Ninja flee below, crying and howling, desperately seeking cover. He excitedly held a large handful of sticky spiders, tinged with golden-red threads, and hurled them downward.
"Art is..."
BOOM!
The scattered clay spiders transformed instantly into countless towering flames. Brilliant fireballs enveloped the cover and the ninjas beneath. Smoke billowed, debris flew, and the earth cracked open inch by inch. Countless craters resembling meteorite impacts appeared.
In that terrifying explosion, the Sound Ninja vanished. Only charred, mangled limbs remained.
Deidara watched the destruction and finally uttered his catchphrase.
"Explosion!"
He withdrew the Nine-Tails chakra and hugged his shoulders, flushed with excitement. The Explosive Clay infused with that power was two to three times stronger than his original art. For Deidara, this was practically a miracle. The sheer brilliance of an explosion that powerful almost made him faint.
"Menma's art of sharing enhancement is truly amazing!" he thought. "Sorry, Sasori-sama, but I'll have to ask Pain for permission to team up with Menma, hmm!"
Deidara had already decided to abandon Sasori. Just being near Menma made his explosive art grow stronger. With one tail's chakra, it was already this powerful. If Menma gave him the Eight-Tails' chakra... maybe his ultimate C0 self-destruct could wipe an entire Nation off the map.
Just imagining that explosion made Deidara excitedly clench his legs and rub them together.
Before he could finish imagining it, he heard the whistling of projectiles below. Deidara, in his clone form, had no time to react. The giant clay bird's wings were pierced, and it began to wobble and plummet.
"Whoa!"
"Damn it, there are survivors who actually survived my art?" he thought.
He hadn't expected those trash ninjas from the Sound Village to dodge his explosion. He quickly controlled the clay bird to slow its descent, reaching into his pouches to create more bombs.
Just as the bird was about to crash, Deidara leaped onto a nearby tree branch. The moment he landed, countless figures shot out from all around, surrounding him in the blink of an eye.
"Sound Ninja? No... Konoha ninja?"
Deidara turned his head and immediately recognized the whirlpool symbol on their vests.
"So you came here to cause trouble for Orochimaru because of his invasion, huh?"
Considering Orochimaru's past deeds, Deidara quickly understood why Konoha ninja were here.
"Who are you? Why did you commit such a heinous massacre?" a voice demanded.
The surrounding ninja parted, and Hashirama, his face grim, led Tobirama and the others to the front. They had come to annihilate the Sound Ninja Village, but they only wanted to eliminate the ninja, not the unarmed villagers. The brutal massacre, with bodies blown to pieces, was too much.
Faced with Hashirama's questioning, Deidara simply put his hands behind his back, expressionless.
Tobirama, however, frowned, studying Deidara's attire. "A black robe with red clouds... You're a member of Akatsuki."
"It seems after Orochimaru exposed the Sound Village, you've come to hunt down this former traitor."
Jiraiya had already told Hashirama and Tobirama about Akatsuki—a terrifying organization attempting to collect jutsu, secret techniques, and even Tailed Beasts.
"The Akatsuki!"
"You're trying to collect all the Tailed Beasts. Are you trying to reignite the war?"
Hashirama knew the terrifying destructive power of Tailed Beasts on the battlefield. That was why he'd distributed them to other villages while alive—as a means of balance.
"I don't know anything about war, but you're not the mission objective, so don't bother me, okay?"
Deidara recreated a giant clay bird behind his back and jumped on, preparing to leave.
"Since you won't tell me, then I can only apologize."
Hashirama apologized first, then attacked, clapping his hands together. Several vines sprouted from the ground, coiling into a giant wooden hand that grabbed Deidara as he tried to fly away.
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