"Not good! That's an Explosive Clay Dragon! Its power is enough to flatten a mountain hundreds of meters wide in an instant!"
Ōnoki's face darkened completely.
He first glared at Deidara, then hurriedly waved his hands toward the people below.
"Run! That kind of power cannot be stopped by manpower!"
Even he would need preparation to block something like that.
But now he was suspended in midair. Having missed the initiative, it was already too late.
Buzz.
Buzz—buzz—
Space suddenly distorted.
Soon, just as the dragon rushed to within three meters above everyone's heads, a rotating vortex abruptly appeared.
The vortex wasn't large—only two or three meters wide.
But it appeared precisely in front of the dragon.
Plop—
Like piercing through the surface of water, the massive dragon plunged directly into it.
No explosion.
No further movement.
It simply vanished.
"Huh? Where's my dragon? My huge dragon just disappeared?"
Deidara was stunned.
He hadn't expected his invincible C2 Dragon to vanish just like that.
"So… a space-time ninjutsu? You're quite bold, little brat."
Following the disturbance, his gaze slowly locked onto the young boy sitting on a small stool below, cracking sunflower seeds.
He licked his lips.
At that moment, Kai spoke.
"Deidara, right? Come down—let's have a chat."
Thump.
The moment those words were spoken, the Konoha shinobi who had rushed over all let out a collective sigh of relief.
Their tense bodies relaxed completely.
Even the overseers behind them casually flicked their whips, preparing to resume work.
"Relaxed? Could it be…"
Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes as he looked toward Kai and the others.
Earlier, the Konoha shinobi had appeared calm, but they were clearly in a defensive stance.
But now—
They looked as relaxed as if welcoming an old friend's visit.
Something wasn't right.
Very wrong.
As he continued observing, his gaze suddenly landed on the man standing beside Kai.
His thick brows furrowed tightly.
Why did that man look… somewhat familiar?
Instinctively he looked a few more times, muttering to himself, but couldn't figure it out.
In the end, he gave up and shifted his gaze back to Kai.
The more he looked, the more puzzled he became.
"Strange… why is this Uchiha kid standing in the center position?"
That wasn't a place a boy with little experience should be standing.
And it seemed the change in Konoha's atmosphere had started right after this boy spoke.
"This guy…"
Ōnoki also shook his head, looking at his disciple with a complicated expression.
He didn't even know what to say anymore.
In the end he sighed heavily and floated downward.
But when Deidara saw that reaction, it only confused him further.
"Why did everyone suddenly stop reacting?"
"Could it be… they're stunned by my art?"
"Ahahahahaha! Konoha really is a village lacking artistic sense!"
The more he thought about it, the harder he laughed.
Thus the situation became extremely strange.
Two forces that should have been mortal enemies simply stood there watching him laugh.
"Hey. Done laughing yet?"
Below, Kai rolled his eyes and urged him impatiently.
He absolutely refused to allow anyone in the ninja world to laugh better than the Uchiha's Four Great Maniacal Laughers.
Only then did Deidara finally look down.
His gaze was filled with arrogance, contempt, and disdain.
"Hey, brat! You want to chat with me? Are you even worthy?"
Typical arrogant teenage delinquent.
Kai shook his head.
He simply raised a hand and curled his fingers.
A beam of energy slowly condensed in his palm.
Buzz.
Instant Tailed Beast Bomb.
Before Deidara could even react, a basketball-sized black Tailed Beast Bomb shot out.
Its speed was so fast it was impossible to dodge.
BOOM—!
High above, Deidara had no time to react.
The clay bird beneath his feet was instantly blasted into fragments.
And he himself fell straight down.
From dozens of meters in the air.
In panic, he could only grab another lump of clay and throw it out.
Bang!
A clay owl slightly smaller than the bird appeared out of thin air and caught him midair.
"Hah—"
Deidara exhaled in relief.
But when he looked at the boy below, his expression became far more serious.
"That attack just now… what kind of ninjutsu was it?"
Just raising a hand and firing a shell with that kind of power?
That wasn't right.
That was completely beyond normal limits.
"In that case… I'll just fly higher before showing you my art!"
Thinking this, he gestured.
The clay owl beneath him spread its wings and attempted to take off.
But—
It failed.
"Hoo… hoo…"
The owl flapped its wings twice in struggle.
But it felt as if a giant hand behind it was gripping tightly.
Deidara turned his head.
And sure enough—
A massive chakra hand was clutching the owl's legs.
Crimson chakra stretched upward more than ten meters into the air.
Following it down—
It led directly to the boy sitting calmly on the ground.
Deidara froze.
Was that even possible?
Kitsuchi, who had been watching the entire time, froze as well.
Something about this situation was… very wrong.
And then—
Taking a deep breath, he suddenly realized something.
From the Tailed Beast Bomb earlier…
To the Tailed Beast cloak now…
"The Uchiha brat… is actually a Jinchūriki!"
That was something he had never expected.
"And judging from this… he seems to have completely mastered the power of the Tailed Beast…"
"A perfect Jinchūriki at barely over ten years old… this might be very bad…"
But what shocked him even more—
Was his father, Ōnoki.
After descending, the Tsuchikage simply stood beside Kai.
Like a subordinate.
"…"
Kitsuchi was completely confused.
Even the shinobi behind him were at a loss.
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.
"Kitsuchi-bro… are we… seeing things?" a bespectacled man behind him asked.
"Cough… perhaps Father has some leverage being held by that boy…"
Kitsuchi explained stiffly.
But the bespectacled man adjusted his glasses and leaned closer excitedly.
"In that case… if we capture that boy, wouldn't we be able to rescue Lord Bald Eagle?"
"Huh? You know… you might actually be right!"
Kitsuchi's eyes lit up.
With two thousand elite shinobi behind him, he wasn't afraid of a perfect Jinchūriki.
He patted the bespectacled man on the shoulder approvingly.
"Kid, you've got brains."
Then he strode forward and shouted toward Kai.
"Hey, young man—how about we have a chat?"
Deidara: ???
What the hell?
What was Kitsuchi doing?
Instead of seizing the chance to attack, he wanted to chat?
Was his brain broken?
That was what Deidara thought—
But the next second, both he and the clay owl beneath him were violently dragged downward.
Kai glanced at Kitsuchi and shook his head.
"You'll have to wait in line."
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