Faced with Deidara's blazing gaze that seemed about to spark, and that fervent cry of mutual recognition, Menma's expression did not waver in the slightest.
He casually pulled another ordinary kunai without any explosive tags tied to it from his ninja tool pouch, flipping and tossing it idly between his fingers, the cold gleam of metal flashing sharply in the air.
Menma's gaze completely bypassed Deidara, whose eyes were fervent with the joy of finding a kindred spirit, and landed on Ku and Kirara.
'Artificial humans... and not the rough semi-finished products from the Boruto era.' Menma analyzed in his mind.
In his memory, the artificial humans, Ku and Kirara, secretly created by Onoki during the Boruto era, driven by his paranoid worry about the future of the Ninja World, possessed special abilities but had serious defects. They required frequent maintenance, and their range of activity and endurance were extremely limited, more like unstable test subjects.
But these two before him had not only traveled long distances with Deidara to Konoha, participating in the multi-day Forest of Death examination, but had also just been able to react quickly and deploy Dust Release for defense against an explosion of that scale. This level of stability and completeness far surpassed the ones in Boruto era, twenty years later.
What concerned him more was that, under the extremely subtle perception of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, besides the certain unnatural hollowness and precision machinery-like regularity unique to artificial humans, the Chakra flow of Ku and Kirara was also faintly entangled with an extremely faint strand of Natural Energy.
'Fine', a cold glint flickered in Menma's eyes, and he steadily gripped the kunai, ceasing his flipping. 'This is a good opportunity to test exactly how capable these artificial humans created by Onoki and Mount Myoboku are, and to see what hidden cards they possess.'
"Hinata!" Menma said to the girl standing alert behind him, without looking back.
"You and Naruto focus on dealing with Deidara. His clay explosions have a large range, but close-quarters combat is his weakness. Use the Byakugan's insight and Gentle Fist to restrict him. Naruto, use shadow clones for harassment and induced detonation."
"I'll handle the other two."
"Yes, Menma-kun!" Hinata responded immediately without a moment's hesitation.
She had absolute trust in Menma. The veins slightly stood out around her Byakugan, already firmly locking onto Deidara's Tenketsu and Chakra Flow.
At the same time, a warmth and fighting spirit surged within her.
Menma was entrusting the important opponents to her and Naruto, which is a recognition of their abilities!
"Got it, Menma-nii!" Naruto's main body, hidden among the shadow clones, also called out excitedly, as more shadow clones began to coalesce around him.
"Alright! Let's go beat up that blonde first!"
"Charge!!"
The moment the tactical orders were issued, Menma moved.
He flicked his wrist, and that ordinary kunai turned into a blurry grey line, flying straight towards the three members of the Iwagakure's team.
Its speed wasn't fast, its trajectory was clear, and it wasn't imbued with much Chakra... it looked like a casual probing attack.
"Hmm?" Seeing the other party completely ignore him and begin tactical deployment and launching an attack, Deidara was momentarily stunned, then a surge of anger at being looked down upon welled up in his heart.
"Bastard! How dare you ignore me? Brush me off?! Where is your artistic passion?!" Deidara felt that the resonance between 'artists' had been sullied.
Ku and Kirara also watched the incoming kunai warily, preparing to fight.
Sensing that this kunai carried no explosive tags, Ku suspected the opponent was about to close in, so he slightly turned his body and easily dodged it.
However, just as the kunai flew past Ku's side and headed towards the open ground behind him…
A sudden change occurred!
With a 'poof', that ordinary kunai suddenly exploded into a cloud of white smoke!
A figure emerged from the white smoke!
Menma twisted his waist in mid-air violently, his right leg swinging like a battle axe with a tearing shriek, sweeping fiercely towards the nearest Ku with lightning speed!
"What?!!" Deidara and Kirara's pupils contracted sharply!
Thud—!
The dull sound of body impact rang out!
Ku was caught off guard, his left face taking the full force of this powerfully heavy, sharply-angled roundhouse kick.
The immense force sent him flying backwards!
After flying back over ten meters, Ku finally barely steadied himself, landing somewhat stumblingly after several spins in the air, his feet plowing two deep trenches into the solid ground, dust flying!
"Ku!" Kirara exclaimed.
Ku knelt on one knee, one hand propping himself up.
He slowly raised his head. On his stocky face, instead of swelling, several cracks had appeared.
On his left cheek, at the point where Menma's kick had landed, the skin had split into several fine black cracks, like inferior quality porcelain!
At the edges of the cracks, no blood seeped out... instead, an unnatural matte sheen flickered.
Even more strangely, through the gaps of these cracks, what lay beneath was not flesh and bone, but faintly glimmering pale green energy channels.
"This is...?!" In the competitor rest area, Gaara and Temari, who had been intently watching the battlefield, both had their eyes harden almost simultaneously.
Both instantly sensed the abnormality in Ku's body.
"Kankuro!" Temari said in a low voice.
Kankuro had also long since put away his lazy demeanor. He crossed his arms, his brow deeply furrowed, his eyes, hidden behind the face paint, fixed intently on the strange cracks on Ku's face.
As an orthodox successor of puppetry from Sunagakure, who had also studied the more advanced puppetry of the Otsutsuki Clan on the Moon in the Land of Stars, his gaze was exceptionally sharp.
"Very strange..." Kankuro's voice carried confusion and gravity.
"The structure beneath those cracks... is definitely not the muscle tissue of a living person, nor does it resemble any biological or puppet material I know."
"Speaking of puppets, he doesn't have the obvious characteristics of puppet joints. His movements are too fluid... he breathes, he has Chakra Flow..."
"If it were the forbidden puppet technique of living human modification I've seen recorded in Sunagakure's forbidden scrolls, it would generate intense resentment and deathly aura, but he doesn't have that. And..."
He paused, pointing at Ku's next movement: "Look, he's repairing himself."
On the field, Ku had clearly also realized the damage to his 'outer shell'.
He was somewhat alarmed, quickly raising his left hand and forming a peculiar hand seal with one hand in front of his chest.
Hum—
A wisp of pale green energy, brimming with vitality, quickly spread from the cracks on his cheek.
Wherever the green energy passed, those black cracks closed and disappeared at a visible rate. The damaged skin became smooth and flat again, as if it had never been injured.
'Natural Energy... traces of Senjutsu Chakra. Very faint, but unmistakable.' A glint of understanding passed beneath Menma's eyes.
This explained it…
Why Onoki had the audacity to bypass the surveillance of the Land of Stars' military advisory group in Iwagakure and secretly advance this forbidden artificial life experiment, achieving results that exceeded expectations.
'Mount Myoboku... that old toad. As expected, he couldn't resist reaching his hands into the Ninja World.' Menma sneered inwardly.
It seemed that the message he had Jiraiya deliver to that old toad last time had gone unheeded.
Or perhaps, with that old toad's abilities, he might have glimpsed fragments of the future in this divergent timeline, felt a threat or an opportunity for Mount Myoboku, and thus chose to cooperate with Onoki, who also harbored apprehension towards the Land of Stars and whose ambition had not yet died.
To curb the uncontrollable Shura, whose strength had already subtly surpassed the Sage of Six Paths, that old toad was really willing to stake a lot.
Onoki provided Iwagakure's resources, the secrets of artificial human techniques, and his own cell samples, while Mount Myoboku provided methods for utilizing Natural Energy and some knowledge of Senjutsu.
The combination of these two gave birth to Ku and Kirara, these [Sage Art Artificial Humans] more perfect and with greater potential than their original counterparts.
The Land of Stars' Anbu Intelligence Division and the stationed military advisory group in Iwagakure had long sensed the abnormal flow of certain supplies and personnel in Iwagakure, and had also captured traces of Onoki's secretive movements and frequent contacts with certain forbidden research sites.
It was just that the other party had done a sufficiently concealed job, coupled with the cover of the Tsuchikage's identity, decisive evidence had yet to be obtained.
Now it seemed, all the abnormalities had a reasonable explanation.
The kick he had just delivered not only contained conventional Chakra but had also deliberately incorporated a trace of Dark Chakra.
This type of Chakra had special properties, possessing both destructive and corrosive qualities. Even against an opponent of Isshiki's level, it could cause considerable damage.
'Using Natural Energy to maintain the activity and repair of the artificial body... not a bad idea, but the technology isn't perfect. It seems that old toad wasn't willing to give the real goods, or maybe Onoki couldn't figure it out himself.' Menma made an instant judgment.
This gave him a more accurate assessment of these two artificial humans' combat effectiveness.
They had weaknesses, and not small ones.
Just as Menma's thoughts were racing, analyzing Ku's information, Kirara on the other side also made her move.
"You... hitting Ku so hard." Kirara sighed softly, her voice still sweet, but carrying a trace of coldness.
She seemingly casually swung the purple parasol in her hand forward.
Whoosh—
A wave of light purple fragrant breeze, carrying the rich scent of violets, swept towards Menma's direction!
The fragrance was sweet and intoxicating, spreading rapidly through the air.
Several of Naruto's shadow clones that charged up from the side trying to attack Kirara, as soon as they contacted this fragrance, their movements immediately became sluggish and chaotic, their eyes dazed, and they actually began attacking each other!
"Ugh! So fragrant... no! Feeling a bit dizzy..."
"Why are you hitting me?!"
"Not me! My body moved on its own!"
The shadow clones' chaotic mutual killing temporarily blocked the approach of other shadow clones.
But this fragrant breeze was just a feint.
Kirara's true killing move was in her eyes, which suddenly lit up with a purple glow, as brilliant as jewels!
The moment Menma's gaze slightly shifted due to the incoming fragrant breeze and met Kirara's purple pupils, Kirara's eyes erupted with a brilliant purple light!
A surge of Ocular Power, carrying intense mental occupation and manipulation will, invaded Menma's mind!
She was going to turn this dangerous boy into a puppet on her strings too!
However, the next instant, the elegant smile on Kirara's face abruptly froze.
It was replaced by a ghastly pallor and uncontrollable terror!
Her spirit, her consciousness, the moment her Ocular Power contacted Menma's mental barrier, did not invade and manipulate as usual. Instead, it felt like crashing into a boundless, bottomless dark vortex!
A wave of suction so powerful it was desperate came, forcibly dragging and devouring her spiritual body!
The world spun!
When Kirara's 'consciousness' regained perception, she found herself standing in a completely strange world of dark red, filled with endless desolation, the smell of blood, and death.
Beneath her feet was scorched black, cracked earth soaked with dark red scabs, emitting a pungent smell of rust and ashes.
The sky was an eternally unchanging, oppressive dark red dome. There were no sun, moon, or stars, only low, rolling clouds like clotted blood.
The air was thick with a concentration of blood and despair that would not dissipate.
And a bone-chilling killing intent.
And before her was a towering mountain of countless broken corpses, piled high enough to reach the clouds!
The corpses wore uniforms of different Ninja Villages, their faces twisted, their deaths in various states. The flowing blood converged into streams, forming scarlet puddles at the foot of the mountain of corpses.
Just witnessing this scene, boundless fear and chill almost completely overwhelmed Kirara's spirit.
However, what chilled her even more was the existence at the top of the mountain of corpses.
A gigantic demon fox, its body covered in dark red fur, ten fierce tails swaying behind it, was perched atop the mountain of corpses!
Its beastly pupils, as crimson red as molten lava and radiating pure malice, looked down at her from a height, like looking at an ant that had accidentally stumbled into a dragon's lair.
Just the contact of their gazes made Kirara feel as if her spiritual body was about to be completely torn apart by that pure malice!
And reclining casually on the body of that dark red Ten-Tailed demon fox was a figure.
It was a black-haired boy.
He wore a black robe, his posture relaxed, even somewhat lazy.
But his eyes were colder than the surrounding bloody world, more dead than the mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
He leaned against the world-ending, fierce beast-like Ten-Tailed demon fox as if taking an afternoon nap.
When his eyelids slowly lifted and his gaze fell on Kirara's trembling spiritual body—
"Gyaaah—!!!"
In the real world, on the arena floor.
Kirara let out a short, shrill scream so piteous it barely sounded human. The light in her purple pupils instantly extinguished, replaced by boundless fear and dispersal!
Her small body shook violently, staggering back several steps. The white bandages wrapping the lower half of her face loosened from the violent trembling, revealing the delicate yet ashen, paper-white chin beneath.
"Kirara?!" Deidara, who had just dodged a Gentle Fist Tenketsu Strike from Hinata and was about to throw a clay bird, turned his head in horror at the sound. He saw Kirara as if all her strength and soul had been instantly drained, her eyes vacant, only extreme to the point of distortion terror remaining on her face.
She could no longer support herself. Her legs gave way, and with a 'thud', she collapsed to the ground, her entire body shaking violently like a sieve.
Her previous elegance, composure, and that playful mystery were all gone, replaced only by collapse and fear emanating from the depths of her soul.
In that instant, what had she seen... inside that black-haired boy's spiritual world?
Menma slowly withdrew his gaze, paying no further attention to Kirara, whose spirit had already broken.
He looked towards Ku, not far away, whose cheek had just been repaired and whose eyes were grave, then glanced at Deidara in the distance, who had been surrounded by Naruto's shadow clones taking advantage of the situation. Finally, he locked his gaze back onto Ku.
"Let me see how many of my punches you can take." Menma clenched his fists, cracking his knuckles in front of his chest, and began walking unhurriedly towards Ku.
Boom—!!!
Just as this match reached its climax, a sudden burst of smoke appeared on the VIP viewing stand, instantly attracting the attention of tens of thousands of spectators.
Menma stopped walking and looked up, seeing two figures leap from the smoke.
'Orochimaru couldn't hold back so soon?'