"Yo, yo! Look at all these people who came out to greet us, un!" Standing at the entrance of Takigakure village, Deidara's gaze swept over Shibuki and his assembled ninja, his voice dripping with playful mockery. When he was with Sasori, Deidara tended to be quite talkative. Among the various two-man cells in Akatsuki, Sasori and Deidara were considered one of the more compatible pairings, despite their contrasting personalities. In the original storyline Tatsuya knew, after Sasori's death, Deidara had actually mourned his partner for a considerable time.
Seeing the leisurely, almost arrogant demeanor of Sasori and Deidara, Shibuki's expression immediately turned grave. The black robes with red clouds! That distinctive attire allowed Shibuki to instantly recognize the origin of the two intruders before him. They were members of Akatsuki! He hadn't expected Akatsuki to re-emerge after so many years of silence!
Shibuki couldn't understand why Akatsuki would target Takigakure. Could they also be after the Hero Water? At this thought, Shibuki's grip on the vials of medicine in his pocket tightened unconsciously.
After taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Shibuki stepped forward and offered a formal, if tense, bow to Sasori and Deidara. "May I inquire as to what business the esteemed members of Akatsuki have in my humble village of Takigakure? If there is anything we can do to assist your esteemed organization, we will certainly do our utmost." From the very beginning, Shibuki adopted the lowest possible posture. This wasn't cowardice on his part; it was a pragmatic acknowledgment of Akatsuki's overwhelming and terrifying power.
Shibuki had personally witnessed the strength of the Divine Court member, Jizo, in the past. For an organization like the Divine Court, which possessed such powerful individuals, to have apparently been defeated by Akatsuki in the Moon battle… the sheer terror of Akatsuki's true strength was readily apparent. Shibuki had no specific intelligence on the two Akatsuki members currently before him, but he didn't believe for a moment that Takigakure's meager forces, this ragtag bunch, could possibly contend with them. In the face of absolute, overwhelming power, humbly admitting defeat wasn't necessarily shameful.
However, Shibuki's hope for a peaceful resolution was quickly shattered.
Opposite him, Deidara, seeing Shibuki's submissive demeanor, was momentarily taken aback, then he laughed boisterously and said without any courtesy, "Haha, it's good that you're so understanding, un! As long as your Takigakure obediently hands over the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, we might consider letting the rest of you off."
Hearing Deidara's words, the blood drained from Shibuki's face, his expression freezing solid. Hand over the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki? Shibuki had never imagined that Akatsuki's target was Takigakure's Tailed Beast. If it had been any other condition, Shibuki might have chosen not to resist. But the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was Takigakure's strongest military asset; as the village leader, how could he possibly hand it over so easily?
Moreover, Fu was the Jinchuriki with the most hope in many generations of Takigakure to become a perfect Jinchuriki, fully mastering her Tailed Beast. The image of Fu flashed through Shibuki's mind. Without replying to Deidara, he simply waved his hand decisively and commanded in a cold, firm voice, "Attack! Take them down!"
The situation was already clear. Since a peaceful resolution was impossible, they could only meet force with force. As ninja, they had all long since accepted the possibility of dying in battle.
"Yes, sir!" Immediately, the dozens of Takigakure ninja behind Shibuki surged forward, charging towards Sasori and Deidara. The Takigakure ninja quickly split into four-person cells, fanning out as they advanced to encircle their opponents.
"Heh heh! Interesting, un." Watching the Takigakure ninja rushing towards them, Deidara chuckled, then took a piece of clay from his pouch and popped it into the mouth on his palm, chewing it for a moment. After a brief period of mastication, a small clay bird appeared on Deidara's palm. He tossed it into the air, then formed a single hand seal. The thrown clay bird instantly transformed into a large, white clay bird. This was Deidara's explosive clay ninjutsu, the C1 Giant Bird.
"Sasori, my man, I'll go on ahead into the village to find our target, un. You can handle things out here," Deidara said, leaping nimbly onto the back of the giant clay bird. After calling out to his partner, he manipulated the clay bird to take flight, soaring towards the interior of Takigakure.
Hearing Deidara's words, Sasori, from within Hiruko, shot him a cold, indifferent glance but said nothing. Opposite him, at the forefront of the Takigakure forces, a ninja squad was already rapidly closing in on Hiruko.
Swish! Shhlick!
From the back of the crouched Hiruko puppet, a long, segmented steel scorpion tail suddenly shot out, extending rapidly and sweeping towards the charging Takigakure ninja squad. Hiruko's scorpion tail moved with incredible speed; the four advancing Takigakure ninja had no time to dodge and could only hastily draw their kunai and short swords to block.
The sweeping steel scorpion tail wasn't aimed at their vital points, but the force behind it was astonishingly great. All four Takigakure ninja who attempted to block the attack had their arms gashed and bruised. The immense power forced the four ninja back several steps. Just as they managed to stabilize themselves and prepare to re-engage, a sudden, intense wave of weakness washed over their bodies.
"Careful! It's poisoned!" In just a few seconds, the four Takigakure ninja collapsed weakly to their knees. One of them managed to shout a warning to his comrades before succumbing. However, it was all in vain.
After neutralizing the four Takigakure ninja with a single poisoned tail strike, Sasori, manipulating Hiruko, began a wholesale slaughter. The steel scorpion tail lashed out and stabbed relentlessly. The mouth of the Hiruko puppet opened wide, and a super-dense barrage of poisoned needles and senbon shot out with terrifying speed. Some of the charging Takigakure ninja, unable to dodge in time, were struck by the poisoned projectiles. These needles and senbon were all coated with a potent, fast-acting poison that could instantly incapacitate a person. Several more poisoned Takigakure ninja immediately collapsed, their strength failing them.
Watching Deidara soar towards the village on his clay bird, and seeing his own Takigakure ninja being utterly routed by Sasori's attacks, Shibuki's face turned deathly pale, his expression one of extreme grimness. Without a shred of hesitation, Shibuki took out the two vials. First, he swallowed all the genuine medicinal pills Tatsuya had given him, then he downed the entire contents of the other vial containing the Hero Water.
As the Hero Water entered his system, an incredibly powerful surge of energy immediately began to well up from within Shibuki's body.
"Aaarrrgh!" The immense chakra coursed wildly through Shibuki's system, and the violent chakra fluctuations emanating from his body formed a powerful, swirling gust of wind around him.
BOOM!
In an instant, a powerful, overwhelming aura erupted from Shibuki. Feeling his body filled with explosive, almost uncontrollable power, Shibuki, however, didn't immediately charge towards Sasori. Instead, he turned and, to everyone's surprise, chased after Deidara, who was flying towards the village.
As he ran, Shibuki swung his right fist with all his might. Empowered by the massive surge of chakra from the Hero Water, Shibuki's punch, much like one from Might Guy with several of the Eight Inner Gates opened, actually compressed the air before him, sending a violent, invisible shockwave of concussive force hurtling towards Deidara.
"Hmm, un?!" In the sky, Deidara, riding his white clay bird, sensed the threatening attack coming from below and quickly manipulated his bird to bank sharply to the side, evading the blow. Because Deidara was flying at a considerable altitude, Shibuki's attack was easily dodged. The invisible blast of concussive force grazed the underbelly of the white clay bird and shot harmlessly into the sky above.
Below, Shibuki continued to run, relentlessly throwing powerful punches upwards. Seeing this, Deidara quickly manipulated his white clay bird to ascend even higher. Then, he began to take out more clay, molding it into explosive bombs.
"Art is an EXPLOSION, un!" After preparing his clay bombs, Deidara declared loudly, then began to rain them down upon Shibuki below.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Soon, continuous, deafening explosions began to rock the interior of Takigakure village.