Thirty thousand explosive tags—it was like thirty thousand grenades going off simultaneously! The power of this explosion was so intense that it could have destroyed a large part of Sunagakure!
Rasa's eyebrows twitched violently as he watched.
Is this for real? So many explosive tags?
Even the entire stock of explosive tags in Sunagakure wouldn't be much more than this, right? And this woman from Akatsuki just casually unleashed so many tags in a single attack against Sunagakure?
Was she here for Gaara? Or was she trying to completely wipe out the village?
"Is it over?" Konan watched as her thirty thousand explosive tags detonated, completely engulfing Uchiha Akira. She stared seriously at the area of the explosion.
With such a terrifying blast, he couldn't possibly have survived, right?
However, as the dust and smoke began to clear, Konan's expression darkened.
A golden Susanoo had enveloped Uchiha Akira entirely. The golden Susanoo was now in its third stage, its body showing muscle fibers and appearing enormous!
Though the Susanoo was full of cracks after enduring the attack from thirty thousand explosive tags, it had not been shattered. Uchiha Akira, protected inside, was unharmed.
"Phew…" The explosion had left Uchiha Akira's mind completely blank.
Now that the explosion had ended, he breathed a long sigh of relief, but also felt a lingering fear.
This woman, Konan, is terrifying—throwing out tens of thousands of explosive tags at the drop of a hat!
She truly embodied the idea of "nuclear deterrence." There was nothing that a few tens of thousands of explosive tags couldn't solve. And if it couldn't? Just throw more!
Luckily, he had activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and had Susanoo's protection.
Otherwise, even though his body was extremely tough in his dragon form, being bombarded by so many explosive tags would have left him seriously injured, if not dead.
It was like a small firecracker—it might sting a bit, but wouldn't cause injury. But what if you tied a few hundred firecrackers to yourself and lit them all at once? Could you survive that?
Or worse—what if you were buried under a few hundred strings of firecrackers and they were all set off? Could you survive?
"Retreat!" Konan shouted loudly as she saw that her attack with thirty thousand explosive tags had been blocked by Uchiha Akira's Susanoo. She also glanced at the situation in Sunagakure before making the call.
The mission to capture the One-Tail had failed. It was time to retreat.
No one had expected Uchiha Akira to be in Sunagakure, let alone that he would bring Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, with him.
With just the four of them, the mission was impossible.
As Konan's words fell, the four Akatsuki members turned and swiftly retreated without hesitation.
Zetsu reacted quickly, immediately retreating and sinking underground. No matter how Gaara manipulated the sand beneath the earth, Zetsu refused to come out.
Deidara also reacted swiftly, creating another giant clay bird and flying high into the sky, well out of reach of any jutsu.
Sasori, as a human puppet himself, controlled all of his puppets to flee in all directions. For a while, it was impossible to tell which one was the real Sasori. Given his familiarity with Sunagakure's terrain, he had a significant advantage.
As for Konan, she transformed into countless sheets of paper, similar to the element-based logia users in One Piece, and quickly left the area.
The four Akatsuki members who had attacked Sunagakure each had their own unique abilities, making it possible for them to attack and retreat at will.
If Itachi, Kakuzu, or Kisame had been the ones attacking, escaping wouldn't have been so easy.
"Trying to run?!" Uchiha Akira's voice boomed out as he watched Konan dissolve into paper, attempting to flee. He wasn't about to let her escape.
With a shout, Uchiha Akira's body also broke apart into countless fragments, chasing after her.
Fight magic with magic! Walk the woman's path and leave her with no way out! Uchiha Akira's strength was far superior to Konan's, and he had also mastered the same techniques that Konan used.
So, just like her, Uchiha Akira's paper fragments flew up and completely cut off Konan's escape route.
The pieces of paper tangled together, forming a paper whirlwind.
Uchiha Akira's body reformed, though he looked somewhat exhausted. In the air, Konan's paper fragments also reformed, and she once again fell to the ground, her injuries worse than before.
Konan was now blocked by Uchiha Akira, and escape seemed impossible.
After a brief silence, Konan gritted her teeth, as if making a difficult decision.
Suddenly, countless sheets of paper appeared in the air, and Konan's body began to rapidly expand.
In just a few moments, she transformed into a giant paper figure, dozens of meters tall.
"Whoa? She still had this move? I've never seen this in the original story!" Uchiha Akira was shocked as he watched the towering paper giant.
As expected from Jiraiya's disciples—none of them are simple.
Jiraiya's true disciple, Minato Namikaze, earned the title of Yellow Flash, shaking the ninja world. As a commoner, he became the Fourth Hokage of Konoha.
Naruto Uzumaki, the protagonist of the Naruto world and the reincarnation of Asura, became the strongest ninja after the Fourth Great Ninja War, bar none.
And then there were Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, who created Akatsuki.
Yahiko, the leader of Akatsuki, might have died young, but he could have been another top-tier ninja in the world. As for Nagato, his power was undisputed.
So, it wasn't surprising that Konan was this strong—it made sense given that she was Jiraiya's disciple.
While Uchiha Akira was inwardly amazed, he realized this was Konan's trump card.
Without saying another word, Uchiha Akira quickly formed hand seals.
The ground cracked open, and countless pieces of timber appeared.
Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!
A giant wooden golem, over a hundred meters tall, rose from the earth.
Even though Konan's paper giant was massive, it was dwarfed by Uchiha Akira's wooden golem.
In terms of sheer size, Uchiha Akira completely overwhelmed her!
"And I'm not done yet!" Uchiha Akira's Mangekyō Sharingan spun, and a golden Susanoo appeared, wrapping around the massive wooden golem.
It was Armored Susanoo!
In the original story, Sasuke and Naruto combined the Nine-Tails with Susanoo. But with Uchiha Akira's Mangekyō Sharingan and Wood Release, he didn't need anyone else to assist him. He could combine his own abilities perfectly!
The wooden golem, now clad in golden Susanoo armor, looked even more majestic!
Then, the Susanoo-armored wood golem charged at Konan's paper giant.
It was a one-sided battle.
The paper giant was strong, but it stood no chance against Uchiha Akira's armored wood golem.
The battle ended in just a minute. Konan's paper giant was thoroughly crushed, and she reverted to her original form, collapsing to the ground.
Uchiha Akira raised his hand, and several chains imbued with sealing power shot out, binding Konan tightly. She was unable to move.
"It's over. We've successfully driven off the Akatsuki," Uchiha Akira said as he secured Konan. Rasa, the Kazekage, breathed a long sigh of relief. Not only had they repelled the Akatsuki, but they had also captured one of their members.
Rasa felt a deep sense of gratitude toward Konohagakure and Uchiha Akira. Without their timely intervention, Sunagakure would have had no chance against the Akatsuki. Not only had they saved Gaara, but they had also saved Rasa himself, the Kazekage.
As the battle concluded, Rasa couldn't help but feel a mixture of relief and shock.
Is this what Konoha's intelligence network is capable of? Sunagakure hadn't even received word of the Akatsuki's impending attack, but Konoha, through Uchiha Akira, had intercepted this information?
With such a mysterious and powerful intelligence system, no wonder Konoha remains the strongest of the Five Great Nations!
But while Rasa was inwardly celebrating and thanking his allies, Uchiha Akira had his own matters to attend to.
With the battle over, Sunagakure needed to start its post-battle recovery. But Uchiha Akira wasn't planning to stay long—he had business to deal with in Iwagakure.
He had already spent too much time in Sunagakure. Iwagakure was still waiting for him, and it was time to pay them a visit. After all, the 12 million ryo that Kakuzu had sent him was almost used up. It was time to extort Iwagakure for more funds to maintain his future simulation experiments!
"Hey, do you have a moment to chat?"
Even though he planned to leave soon, there was no rush. Uchiha Akira decided to spend one more day resting in Sunagakure. He brought Konan, who was now bound and immobilized, into his room.
"Let's have a talk," Uchiha Akira said, greeting her as he sat down.
However, Konan remained silent, sitting quietly without acknowledging him at all.
She didn't even lift her eyelids, as if she hadn't heard him at all.
Her defiance irritated Uchiha Akira, but at the same time, it made him smirk.
So, you're going to play the tough girl, huh? You really think I can't break you?
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Next bonus chapter if we reach 600 Powerstone
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Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 260+ at patreon.com/Emik01.