----
Boom!
The explosion rang out, and a grey cloud of smoke was instantly replaced by blazing orange flames, radiating intense heat.
Ash Pile Burning was a Fire Release jutsu that involved spraying out a massive cloud of superheated ash and then igniting it a technique that, in theory, had similarities to a dust explosion.
Turns out, even if Asuma didn't smoke, he could still generate ash to use this jutsu.
Hmm… Maybe I could use this as an excuse to start smoking again?
"I can't perform my jutsu without cigarettes!"
Genius.
Asuma suddenly had a bold idea, probably a sign of withdrawal symptoms kicking in.
As the smoke dissipated, a charred, white body lay on the ground, its skin scorched in several places.
Afei's mask had shattered, revealing his distinctive spiral-patterned face.
Cautiously, Asuma approached, checking for signs of life.
"No pulse."
Then, he squinted at the bizarre appearance of the body.
"…Was this thing even human?"
It wasn't an unreasonable question. Unlike other White Zetsu clones, Afei had no facial features just a single eyehole on the right side.
Meanwhile, Gen, Daiki, and Jiro had deactivated their Eight Gates, their Sharingan carefully inspecting Afei's remains.
Still, they found nothing useful.
Asuma sighed, recalling Hidan a guy who could be decapitated and still not die. His head was currently locked away in Konoha's research lab.
Maybe Akatsuki is just full of freaks.
A Wood Release-using freak this time, but still a freak.
"Well, let's take this thing back with us."
Asuma efficiently sealed Afei's body into a scroll, fully aware that the Uchiha trio probably wouldn't bother doing it themselves.
As the four disappeared, a not-so-bright White Zetsu emerged from the ground.
Looking around at the absolute battlefield mess, he tilted his head.
"So this is the glorious death Afei was talking about?"
"…Honestly, getting burned to death by those three fire-fisted weirdos would've looked cooler."
"HAAAH!"
BOOM!
Ten clay birds launched by Deidara.
Nine were struck down by Sasuke's Lightning Blade, their explosions neutralized before they could detonate.
Only one managed to explode, and even then, it barely grazed them.
Deidara gritted his teeth in frustration.
"Damn Lightning Release!"
"Ya-hoo! Scale Powder Concealment!"
Fū flapped her two pairs of small wings, gaining altitude over Deidara.
Then, she released a massive cloud of paralyzing scales, raining them down like glittering snowflakes.
"Tch! That stuff's bad news!"
Deidara's right hand had barely brushed against the scales earlier, and it had taken him almost ten minutes to regain full function.
Seeing Fū pull away to gain distance, Deidara scowled.
Fū, in response, pulled down her lower eyelid with one finger, grinning.
"Art is a dud! That's what Naruto said!"
"That damn brat!"
A vein bulged on Deidara's forehead. Annoyed, he flung a clay bird over his shoulder.
However, he didn't turn around, wary of being caught off guard.
Because in the past ten minutes, he had been bombarded with nonstop taunts, including but not limited to:
"Hey, where'd your bomb go?"
"Want to see how to defuse a bomb?"
"Another dud! Meow meow meow~"
Etc., etc.
Deidara had learned something important today:
He, Deidara of the Akatsuki, had grown.
Instead of blindly attacking out of anger, he now analyzed the battlefield calmly.
"An Uchiha with a lightning blade, a flying Jinchūriki, and a Copy Ninja waiting below… This is terrible, hm."
Even in a bad situation, he needed a plan.
With a wave of his left hand, Deidara sent a swarm of tiny clay sparrows soaring toward Fū.
Simultaneously, with his right hand, he released a group of jumping clay locusts toward Sasuke and Kakashi below.
"Wow, so many birds, wait, no. So many bombs!"
Fū quickly threw a dozen shuriken and immediately dodged.
The sparrows, being small and agile, mostly avoided her shuriken, continuing their pursuit.
Still, she grinned mischievously and played around, changing flight patterns and dodging in bizarre ways—
Essentially, she was kidding them.
If this were nighttime, she'd be a certain trickster Taoist from another world.
On the ground, Sasuke saw a horde of clay locusts hopping toward him.
Without hesitation, he fired dozens of Chidori Senbon, but…
The locusts were surprisingly agile, dodging most of his attacks.
Sasuke clicked his tongue.
Then—
"Let me handle it."
Kakashi stepped forward.
Instead of using a new jutsu, Kakashi simply copied Sasuke's technique, calculating the locusts' movement patterns based on Sasuke's first attack.
This time, all the remaining locusts were destroyed.
As the fight continued, Sasuke scowled.
He didn't say anything, but he was clearly irritated.
Not only had his technique been copied, but Kakashi had executed it more efficiently.
Still, he couldn't exactly complain Chidori was originally Kakashi's technique anyway.
If anything, his customized techniques should have been expected to be copied at some point.
But right now, that didn't matter.
What mattered was bringing down the bomber.
Sasuke raised his lightning blade and formed hand seals.
"Lightning Blade Art: Thunder Scatter Bomb!"
Hundreds of fist-sized lightning orbs burst from his blade, raining toward Deidara like a shotgun spread.
Deidara narrowed his eyes, immediately ditching his bird.
It had served its purpose.
He leapt off just before it was struck, letting it take the hit and crash down in flames But Deidara had already prepared his next move.
"Perfect timing! My masterpiece is ready—C2, Giant Dragon!"
Deidara leapt onto a massive clay dragon, fully formed and soaring midair.
"Even if you can jam my bombs with lightning, your chakra isn't limitless!"
"But I have infinite clay!"
"And C2 is an entirely different beast, hm!"
Kakashi observed the huge dragon, realizing something was off.
"…That's way bigger than the birds."
"…Which means it should be easier to hit."
"…So why is he using it?"
Kakashi was concerned.
More importantly, he noticed Sasuke's growing frustration.
Kakashi knew that Sasuke was too proud to accept direct warnings.
So instead, he muttered his thoughts out loud, just loudly enough for Sasuke to hear.
Sasuke's expression remained unreadable, but…
His ears twitched slightly.
That was good enough.
While Sasuke and Kakashi analyzed, Deidara formed a hand seal behind his back.
His dragon's mouth opened, releasing dozens of tiny, eyeball-mouthed clay spheres.
Originally, these were meant to be land mines.
But Deidara, having three Sharingan watching him, opted to drop them directly instead.
Seeing the incoming clay bombs, Sasuke instinctively threw a volley of Chidori Senbon.
Deidara smirked.
Then—
BOOM!
He detonated them first, using the explosion to momentarily blind Sasuke and Kakashi.
And in that instant—
The dragon's mouth opened again.
And this time—
It released a high-speed, miniature dragon missile.
"Art is an explosion!"
For the first time today, Deidara shouted his signature phrase with confidence.
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