"B! Watch out!"
At the same moment, Killer B—who was still locked in fierce combat with his brother—suddenly heard a voice echo in his mind. His thoughts immediately stirred.
"What's wrong, Gyūki?"
"That kid… is a Jinchūriki."
Hearing this, Killer B's eyes widened in shock even while fighting.
"Seriously? A Jinchūriki that young is already being sent onto the battlefield… Konoha really is—huh?! I can hear you talking?!"
Suddenly, Killer B realized something.
Something very serious.
"So… I'm not under genjutsu?!"
"Of course not," the voice inside him replied matter-of-factly.
Killer B immediately felt a headache coming on.
"Wait! Gyūki-sama! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"
Only then did the deep voice inside him speak again.
"Well… it's not often we get to see you brothers fight each other. Hohoho!"
Killer B: …
At that moment, he felt a little speechless.
He hurriedly used the chaos of battle to retreat, trying to explain things to the Raikage.
But—
Now empowered by the Tailed Beast cloak, the Raikage could suppress Killer B even with just one arm.
Why would he stop now?
Unless Killer B unleashed the full power of the Eight-Tails…
Smack.
At the same time—
Deidara, who had just been dragged down, stared at the boy in front of him with a sour expression.
"Hey hey hey! Kid, I'm telling you—you'd better let me go right now!"
"And also! Don't even think about chatting with me! Give up already!"
His entire body was bound by strands of Tailed Beast chakra, preventing him from moving.
But his mouth never stopped running.
Kai occasionally replied with a nod.
Who said arguing couldn't count as chatting?
Three minutes later—
Ding.
[Conversation with target Deidara for three minutes detected. Attempting to analyze traits…]
[Copyable Traits: Clay Art Fanatic (Black), Art Is an Explosion (Black), Explosion Release Mastery (Purple), Rebellious Phase MAX (Purple), Clay C2 — Dragon (Purple), Hemophobia (Blue)… ]
"Tsk tsk… so it really is 'Art is an Explosion.'"
Seeing the black trait attached to Deidara, Kai couldn't help but chuckle.
That trait seemed deeply rooted within the boy.
Or rather—
Within his mind.
Otherwise, how could someone come up with the ultimate artistic move of turning himself into a bomb and blowing himself up?
That wasn't art anymore.
That was madness.
After all, what kind of normal person would place their strongest bomb inside their own heart?
Just like certain strange puppet users who liked placing their weakness in their chest.
Kai casually reached out and patted Deidara on the shoulder.
Between his fingers, a faint purple glow carrying strange life fluctuations flashed for an instant.
Spore Deity.
"Hey hey hey, kid! I'm warning you! I'm not the kind of person you can just touch whenever you want!"
"Take your hand off me!"
"Ahhh! Don't touch me!"
It turned out Deidara had a bit of a cleanliness obsession.
He looked at Kai's hand with obvious disgust.
But as he kept complaining, he suddenly noticed something strange.
The way everyone around him was looking at him…
Was extremely odd.
And mixed into that strangeness—
Was pity.
Pity?
Once he realized that emotion, Deidara froze.
Why would they look at him like that?
Instinctively, he looked toward his master, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki.
"Hey old man! What are you—"
He stopped halfway.
Because—
Kai frowned slightly.
Nara Shikaku's expression instantly changed.
Not good.
Lord Kai wasn't enjoying the conversation anymore.
He quietly signaled to a few people and stepped back.
Usually at times like this…
Someone was about to get beaten badly.
Not just him.
Even Ōnoki seemed to realize something.
The old Tsuchikage sighed again.
Although this disciple of his was rebellious, disobedient, and constantly causing explosions…
He was still his disciple.
How could he just watch him get beaten?
So after hesitating, Ōnoki sighed again—
And turned around.
If he couldn't watch it happen…
Then he simply wouldn't watch.
Deidara: ???
Old man, you—
He suddenly felt betrayed.
After all, he had come here mainly to rescue his master.
"Hmph! Kid, I advise you to let me go right now! Otherwise I'll show you the true meaning of art—"
"Explosion art?" Kai interrupted him directly.
"If that's the case, do you want to see mine?"
With that, he casually raised a hand and struck toward the distance.
Compressed Tailed Beast Bomb — Eight Trigrams Air Palm!
Whoosh!
A transparent air cannon compressed from one million chakra shot out toward the massive earth wall created by the thousand-plus Iwagakure shinobi.
BOOM!!!
Two kilometers away, a gigantic mushroom cloud erupted instantly.
The power was overwhelming.
The dozens-of-meters-thick earth wall shattered instantly.
It was torn apart and reduced to rubble.
That single attack stunned everyone present.
Even Deidara jumped in shock.
Then a strange light appeared in his eyes.
"Th-this… THIS is explosion!"
"This is true art!"
The explosive power was almost on par with his own ultimate technique!
But the key difference—
This one didn't require sacrificing one's life.
For a moment, the way he looked at Kai completely changed.
Curiosity.
Excitement.
Anticipation.
But his expression was still somewhat arrogant.
"Hey kid… how did you do that?"
"I'll tell you later. For now…"
Kai shook his head, glanced once more at the message indicating the copying had failed, then stood up and walked toward Deidara.
With a wave of his hand, the Tailed Beast restraints vanished.
"Let's fight."
"If you win, I'll tell you."
Then he silently added in his heart:
Even if I tell you, you won't be able to use it.
After all—
It wasn't some complicated technique.
He just had absurdly large chakra reserves.
And no upper limit.
If he ran out of chakra…
He could simply draw more.
Of course, the real reason he bothered with all this talk was because—
He wanted Deidara's Explosion Release clay.
After all, what boy didn't like playing with explosions when they were young?
Clay bombs?
Even better.
"Fight? You removed the restraints?"
Deidara paused.
He first glanced at Kai's crimson eyes.
Then looked down at his own freely moving body.
That familiar arrogant grin returned to his face.
"You really are an arrogant little brat."
Earlier he had underestimated Kai and been caught off guard.
But this time—
As long as his hands could move, he was confident he could defeat Kai.
And then force him to reveal that technique.
With that thought, Deidara grinned widely.
Both hands plunged into his clay pouch.
Explosive Clay — Centipede!
Soon, a large wriggling white centipede took shape.
The moment it appeared, it charged straight toward Uchiha Kai.
At the same time, Deidara quickly created a clay clone.
Kai's attacks were far too fast.
As a long-range fighter, he had to immediately secure a safe position.
Then—
He watched as the centipede wrapped around Kai's figure.
Deidara's eyes slowly turned red with excitement.
"Hahahahaha! Foolish brat!"
"Now taste my art!"
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