"Kurama! Are you trying to kill me and stop the Ten Tails from being revived?!"
Shukaku howled to the sky, his face full of fear.
Boom—
With a loud explosion, a huge humanoid monster made of white explosive clay landed right in front of Shukaku. Then, under his horrified gaze, it blew up in a violent storm of wind and flames, tearing apart most of his body.
On the back of a white clay bird, Deidara didn't look too happy. "Damn One-Tail! You're making me use this level of art again and again! Don't you know art is all about fleeting beauty?! Bastard!"
To someone who believed "art is an explosion," this kind of repeated area bombing had no beauty at all. What he really loved was that one-time, sky-filling blast—that split-second flash of glory.
Unfortunately for him, Shukaku's body was made of sand, which gave him some natural resistance to physical attacks. That was just part of his basic setup.
Not complete immunity though. While most of Shukaku's body was sand, his real core was actually the sealing formula, not the sand. The sand just gave him a shape. So physical attacks could still hurt him.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
"Earth Style: Earth Spike Spear!"
Kakuzu and the black monster beside him formed hand signs at the same time. A gust of fierce wind shot out of the monster's mouth. Shukaku, whose body was already half-destroyed, didn't have time to recover before he was hit by the massive storm. Before it could react, countless spikes suddenly shot up from the ground, piercing through its whole body.
Even though those two jutsu were just basic Wind and Earth Release, they had the force of S-rank techniques. Kakuzu really lived up to his reputation.
Sasori landed in front of Kakuzu. He didn't attack — he just silently watched everything unfold.
Puppets were almost useless against Shukaku, and Shukaku's sand body made him immune to poison. Sasori was like Minato — both of them were powerful against people, but nearly useless when it came to tailed beasts.
If the enemy were human, then puppets, poison, Flying Thunder God, and Rasengan would all be very deadly. But against a giant beast, they weren't very helpful.
Sasori existed to fight ninjas.
He turned to look behind him and said in a cold voice, "Most of the ninjas are already dealt with. You guys still not done yet?"
"Tailed beasts aren't that easy to handle." The black monster merged back into Kakuzu's body. He looked calmly at the falling remains of—
Shukaku. "But we're about done. Even for a tailed beast, this One-Tail has pretty much used up all of its chakra."
"Honestly, I'm more surprised it lasted this long," Kakuzu said, glancing up at Deidara in the sky. "That guy's not bad."
What he meant was... someone that strong could fetch a high price — more valuable than Sasori.
After all, Sasori's bounty was issued by the Sand Village. Deidara's bounty came from the Stone Village — and they wanted him alive. That made the price even higher.
Deidara, sensing Kakuzu's eager eyes, flew down on his bird. But as soon as he landed, he suddenly shivered.
He instinctively looked at Kakuzu, his face full of suspicion. "I saw something greedy in your eyes just now, hm! Kakuzu, what are you trying to do?"
Kakuzu looked away, expressionless, and stared at Shukaku. "You're overthinking it."
"Hm?" Deidara still looked a little confused.
Sasori couldn't be bothered to waste time talking to them. He cut in, "So what do we do with this thing? If it doesn't turn back into the Jinchuriki, we can't take it back. Where's Zetsu?"
Shukaku's situation was different from the other Jinchuriki. The others were just in tailed beast mode, so when they got beaten, they turned back into their human form. But this was Shukaku's real body. It was like he and Gaara had swapped control between body and inner world, so even if they beat him, he wouldn't turn back into Gaara.
Put simply, it was like the two of them had become one — a weird two-tone monster.
Though... that might not be the best way to put it. Whatever, not much difference.
"Whatever works, just hurry up and get this thing out of here. I have a really bad feeling," Kakuzu said. At some point, his face had turned gloomy, as if he could sense a storm coming. His voice even had a hint of panic.
Deidara gave a mocking smile. "What are you so worried about? Didn't White Zetsu say that Uzumaki Naruto has already been held up? There's no way he's getting here in five minutes. That's more than enough time to seal this big guy."
"Yeah!" Deidara nodded confidently.
But in the very next second, Sasori and Kakuzu's faces suddenly changed. Before Deidara could even react, the two of them turned around at the same time, looking behind them with shock.
"Wha..." Deidara froze for a second and instinctively turned his head. He didn't even finish his sentence before seeing a purple chakra sphere flying from the horizon. That familiar color—
That familiar chakra feeling…
Deidara's expression changed. "Tailed Beast Ball!"
"And it's a strong one!" Without hesitation, Sasori pulled out two scrolls from his cloak and opened them before Deidara could even react. "There's no way to dodge something that big!"
Two huge puppets appeared in front of Sasori. One looked like an insect, as big as a T-Rex, covered in heavy armor that glowed with a strange metallic light. The other was shaped like a giant door, with monstrous limbs and blood-red eyes embedded in the door like some kind of nightmare.
"Puppet Technique: Iron Ant!"
"Puppet Technique: Jūmonrishi!"
As thick smoke poured out, Sasori quickly got inside one of the puppets, shielding himself completely.
He made sure Deidara and Kakuzu were inside the protection too.
Deidara, who barely had any defense, looked at Sasori with surprise in his eyes, and for a moment, he was even a little moved. "Sasori, you…"
"Idiot! Hurry up and get us into the air!" Before Sasori could say anything, Kakuzu cut in, forming hand seals. Two monstrous Earth Grudge Fear masks appeared beside him. "Earth Release: Hardening Technique!"
"Wind Style: Wind Wall!"
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
The three jutsu were used almost at the same time. Water and wind rose up and formed walls that surrounded them.
Deidara may have been a bit slow to react, but he wasn't dumb. As Kakuzu was forming seals, he suddenly pulled out a handful of explosive clay. All three mouths—his hands and his face—started chewing at once. In almost no time, he had finished the technique.
As he formed the final seal, the clay was spat out and turned into three giant dragons. One appeared under them and lifted them into the sky. The other two charged toward the incoming Tailed Beast Ball, trying to blow it up before it reached them.
As long as it didn't hit them directly and only the shockwave got through, they were confident they could take it.
Shukaku's body began slowly regenerating, but the speed was sluggish. It was clear he was completely drained.
Still, at least he could hold out long enough to recover one of his heads.
Those tiny bead-like eyes looked ahead, and the moment Shukaku reappeared, he started shouting, "Bastard! I'm not that easy to mess with—Wait, Kurama you ￥%#%%#@%￥%￥\*（）..."
Boom!
World peace.
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