"Withdraw?"
Those two words were like a bucket of cold water dumped directly onto Kitsuchi and the two thousand elite Iwagakure shinobi behind him.
They were stunned into doubting their own lives.
They simply could not understand why the Tsuchikage of their own village would say something like that.
At that moment—
From the rear of the Iwagakure ranks, a voice full of rebellion and madness suddenly rang out.
The loud declaration spread through the air and instantly shattered the deadlock in front of them.
"Hahahahaha! Tell me—if we dropped a bomb right here… wouldn't that be very artistic?"
Hearing the sudden voice, everyone looked up at once.
Above the Iwagakure army formation, a massive white bird made entirely of clay hovered in the sky, its wings beating slowly.
Standing on its back—
Was a blond, wild-haired teenager with an extremely proud expression.
His azure eyes gleamed with pure, almost pathological excitement.
Especially when he saw the perfectly leveled foundation of the "Konoha Special District in the Forest of Death," his grin stretched from ear to ear, as if he had discovered the greatest treasure in the world.
If that thing exploded—
Wouldn't the effect be incredible?!
"Deidara?!"
"Y-you… weren't you confined?! Why are you here?!"
Kitsuchi's expression changed when he saw him.
This was the explosive genius of Iwagakure rarely seen in a hundred years.
But at the same time—
He was also the most troublesome rebel bomber the village had ever had, either blowing something up or preparing to blow something up.
If Ōnoki hadn't constantly suppressed him, Iwagakure itself might have already been reduced to rubble by this guy.
But—
Wasn't he supposed to be confined by Ōnoki after the last major incident?
How had he ended up here joining the rescue operation?
"Yohoo—Uncle Kitsuchi! You're here too!"
High above, Deidara waved cheerfully.
He seemed completely unaware of the tense standoff below.
From the moment he appeared, his attention had been fixed entirely on the neat foundation below.
The more he looked at it, the brighter his eyes became.
"So the old man really got captured? Tsk tsk… at his age and still this careless!"
"But perfect! Let this artist teach those Konoha brats what true—ART—is!"
"Blow them to pieces!!!"
Before his words had even finished, Deidara's hands were already moving like butterflies through the clay pouch at his waist.
His fingers moved so quickly that only afterimages remained.
Swish! Swish!
In an instant, two palm-sized white clay birds were molded.
"Explosive Clay: Little Birds! Vanguard of art, go clear the path! Hahaha!!"
With a strange laugh, he flung both hands forward.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!!
The two clay birds shot downward like arrows toward the newly laid foundation of the Forest of Death.
Their target was crystal clear.
He intended to blow apart this perfect, orderly foundation.
Only then could the beauty of art truly be revealed.
"Deidara! Stop! Father is still in their hands!!"
Seeing Deidara suddenly attack, Kitsuchi shouted urgently.
But—
It was too late to stop him.
The attack had come too suddenly and from above.
He couldn't reach it.
Instead, Ōnoki's face darkened as he slammed both hands down again.
A perfectly square earth pillar shot upward and slammed into the two birds.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted instantly.
But Ōnoki clearly had plenty of experience dealing with this.
The moment the explosion began, a giant brown stone hand formed at the top of the pillar and clenched the blast directly.
The remaining shockwaves were completely contained.
Meanwhile—
On Konoha's side.
Hashirama Senju had been watching the battle between A and Killer B with great interest alongside Kai when the two birds suddenly caught his attention.
He looked slightly surprised.
"An explosion? Is that kid's Bloodline Limit? The power seems pretty good."
As he spoke, he raised his arm to disperse the aftershock.
But when he saw Ōnoki already take action—and felt a cracking sound coming from his own arm—
He gave up.
His Edo Tensei body was becoming harder and harder to maintain.
Beside him, Uchiha Kai had somehow produced a small stool and was sitting on it while eating sunflower seeds, watching the passionate battle between the Raikage brothers like it was an action movie.
He had to admit—
The clash between two muscular fighters moving at lightning speed really was entertaining.
Of course, when he heard Deidara's familiar declaration, he still spared half his attention to glance over.
"That kid hasn't joined the Akatsuki yet?"
"Then again… judging by the timeline, this should be around when they start recruiting him…"
Kai felt slightly surprised, but it still made sense.
After all, because of his influence, the situations of Itachi and Obito were completely different from the original story.
At the very least—
Obito probably considered his Kamui space more like a death trap now.
Kai shook his head slightly.
Then he looked up and casually flicked his hand.
A Tailed Beast cloak shot out.
"Old man, you can't let the youngsters outshine you."
"And besides… if you don't keep an eye on your disciple, some bad people might drag him off into their organization."
Buzz.
Buzz—!
With the support of the Tailed Beast cloak, Ōnoki suddenly felt incredibly comfortable.
His back—
Felt completely free of pressure!
His vigor instantly returned.
He nodded to Kai before turning toward his disciple with a dark expression.
"You brat! Didn't I tell you to stay home and reflect?! Who allowed you to run around causing trouble?!"
As he spoke, the old man and the young man immediately began fighting.
Because Ōnoki could also fly, Deidara's explosive clay attacks became extremely restricted.
His accuracy dropped significantly.
With no other option, Deidara narrowed his eyes and shifted his attention back toward the foundation below.
"If that's the case… then don't blame me, old man!"
The moment he finished speaking, his mouth split into a wide grin as both hands rapidly molded clay inside his pouch.
Thirty seconds later he suddenly shouted—
"C2 — Dragon!"
Boom!
Boom boom!!
Unlike the small birds earlier, the white dragon that appeared this time was enormous.
Over ten meters long.
The moment it appeared, it dove straight toward the construction site below without hesitation.
Seeing this, Ōnoki became furious.
"Damn it! Deidara, stop right now!!"
"Are you trying to destroy Iwagakure?!"
Others might not know—
But he knew very well.
Uchiha Kai alone possessed the power to destroy an entire village.
Not only was he overwhelmingly strong—
His personality was also extremely vengeful.
After all…
This was someone who had even ripped off the arm of the God of Death itself.
How could such a person possibly be kind?
"Hm?"
At the same moment, Kai suddenly turned his head, his gaze locking onto the rapidly descending white dragon.
His eyes narrowed.
"If you want to fight, then fight. Why start wrecking things?"
With those words, he lifted his gaze.
Inside his crimson eyes, the spinning pattern of 666 rotated rapidly.
Kamui — Transfer!
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