They ran.
Deidara pursued.
Clay Spiders rained down, detonating in a cascading wave of destruction.
Toneri's Sharingan tracked the bomber while his legs burned. That bird—I know it. Dad's voice echoed in his memory. Deidara. Explosion maniac. Uses clay. Earth Release.
His mind clicked. Earth Release. Lightning counters Earth.
He skidded to a halt, spun, and thrust his lightning-wreathed palm skyward.
"Chidori Senbon!"
Swish swish swish!
Lightning fractured into a thousand needles. They punched through the incoming spiders—each one dropping dead, inert.
Toneri allowed himself a small smile. "Knew it."
Above, Deidara's visible eye widened. "Sharingan? Lightning Release?" His lips curled. "Is this brat Sasuke's bastard or something... Hmph."
He scattered more spiders—but this time, his hands blurred through an extra seal.
Toneri's eyes narrowed. Same trick?
Skeptical, he fired another Chidori Senbon.
The needles bounced off.
"—!"
He launched himself backward.
"Ha!" Deidara's fingers snapped together.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Fire bloomed. Toneri cleared the blast radius—barely—but something hard and sharp slammed into his shoulder.
He hissed. "Damn—"
"Thought I'd ignore my own weakness?" Deidara's voice drifted down, smug. "Ceramic armor coating. Puncture-resistant, insulated. When it explodes, internal pressure shatters it into shrapnel. Mm, mm—that's art!"
Toneri eyed the ceramic shard embedded in his shoulder. Head shot would've killed me. His Sharingan spun. Thank god I caught the warning.
Deidara's hands moved. "Next one ends this."
SNAP.
The C2 Dragon opened its maw. A bizarre "flying pig" shot out—ceramic-plated, diving fast.
Mitsuki's pupils shrank. "That design—C2-level!"
Toneri ripped the shard from his shoulder. Blood welled. He ignored it, wreathed his left hand in lightning, and jumped toward the bomb.
"Is he insane?!" Sarada's voice cracked.
"No." Mitsuki's fist clenched. "He's going to—"
"Pierce the armor with Chidori?" Deidara's grin widened. "Brave. Stupid. I'll detonate it the second you're close!"
His fingers rose.
"Toneri!" Mitsuki's shout rang out. "He'll trigger it early!"
Toneri's eyes flashed. Mid-leap, he shifted.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
CRACK!
Lightning elongated into a lance. Five meters out, it skewered the flying pig.
Deidara's brow twitched. "That shape transformation... his Lightning mastery's that refined?" He lowered his detonation hand. "Sasuke's bastard's got skills."
His smile turned cold. "Too bad. C2's lethal from ten meters. Kid got lucky."
He reached into his pouch. Pulled out an exquisite doll. Tossed it down, formed seals—
The doll exploded in size, plummeting like a meteor.
"C3 Number Eighteen!" Deidara's voice rang with glee. "Say goodbye!"
Toneri's stomach dropped. That's a bomb too—
The house was over a hundred meters away.
Whoosh!
Snake hands shot from Mitsuki's sleeves, yanked Toneri close.
"Both of you—Fire Release! I'll use Wind!"
"Why—" Sarada started.
"Got it!" Toneri's hands blurred.
Sarada didn't understand, but her body moved. Seals formed. Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu erupted alongside Toneri's.
Mitsuki's hands flashed. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
WHOOOOSH!
Wind met fire. The reaction detonated—not forward, but backward. Massive reverse thrust. Mitsuki's snake hands bound them together. They shot like arrows—
—into the house, a hundred meters back.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
C3 Number Eighteen erupted. A mushroom cloud of light. Shockwaves scoured the earth—nothing survived.
The seal-reinforced house didn't even crack.
One wall. Life on one side. Death on the other.
Sarada's breath came in gasps. Fire and Wind—disrupted airflow—reverse thrust— Her mind reeled. Mitsuki thought of that instantly. And Toneri understood immediately. She looked at her hands. The gap between us...
"Will he break in?" Her voice came out small.
"Relax." Mitsuki's breathing steadied. "Deidara's a bombing specialist. Specific times, specific zones. Rules don't let him land."
Relief flooded her. "What is he? If he entered the Exhibition, who'd stand a chance?"
"He did enter. Sixth Exhibition. Self-detonated, eliminated dozens at once. Got banned for breaking game balance."
"So they made him a bombing specialist. Self-detonation's still forbidden, though."
High above, Deidara circled. "Hid in the house at the last second? Terrible design flaw." He reached for more clay. "I'll plant bombs around it. The moment they step out—"
HUM.
Light enveloped him. His body froze mid-air.
"Tch. Time's up?" He glanced at the spreading poison fog in the distance. "Well. Your luck ends here anyway."
Whoosh.
Space-time jutsu whisked him away.
WHOOOOSH.
Purple fog rolled in. It swallowed the house.
"The fog's here." Mitsuki's voice went flat. "We're outside the safe zone."
"This is..." Sarada's fists clenched. "...the worst."
Toneri's vision blurred. Is this... it?
Thud.
He collapsed. Sarada dropped beside him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!📚
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now
💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today!
[✨patreon.com/DarkGolds]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━