Chapter 225: Making a Move
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"That hurts!"
From the battlefield, Hidan's voice suddenly rang out.
At the edge of the forest, the spot where the Tailed Beast Bomb had landed, Hidan wasn't dead—instead, he staggered back to his feet.
However, his appearance was a complete mess—
The triple-bladed scythe he had wielded was shattered, and his clothes were in tatters, barely covering his body.
"Damn it! That bastard! I swear I'll kill you!"
Shaking his head, Hidan glared at the Eight-Tails, eyes filled with rage.
But before he could even finish cursing, a gigantic tentacle lashed out from above.
BAM!
Hidan—who had just managed to stand up—was smashed into the distance once again.
The loud crackling of bones shattering could be clearly heard.
Evidently, this attack completely pulverized his bones, leaving him in a state of total fracture.
Yet, for Hidan, this wasn't a big deal.
Given some time, his body would fully regenerate.
Seemingly aware of this, Killer Bee left Hidan to the remaining Cloud Anbu and instead controlled the Eight-Tails to rush toward the battlefield of A, Kakuzu, and Sasori—intending to support the Fourth Raikage.
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"Hmph, you think you can just leave?"
Seeing the Eight-Tails trying to escape from under his nose, Deidara scoffed coldly.
He flung out a handful of explosive clay spiders, forcing Darui to retreat.
Then, he formed a hand seal, creating his C2: Dragon.
Moments later, a massive 20-meter-long white dragon emerged from the ground.
Standing atop the dragon's back, Deidara's expression was filled with excitement.
"Now, prepare to witness true art—an explosion!"
With that, he manipulated the dragon to fly above the Eight-Tails.
The clay dragon's mouth opened wide, spewing out countless explosive birds that swarmed toward the Eight-Tails.
A series of deafening explosions rang out.
However—
The attacks did no real damage to the Eight-Tails.
Though Deidara's explosives were powerful, they weren't enough to seriously injure a creature as large and durable as the Eight-Tails.
What's worse—
Taking advantage of the bombing distraction, Killer Bee had the Eight-Tails counterattack with a flurry of tentacle strikes.
But—
Deidara's clay dragon was extremely agile.
With a series of sharp turns, it easily dodged the Eight-Tails' attacks.
However—
This also meant he couldn't stop the Eight-Tails from reaching A's battlefield.
"Damn it!"
Deidara cursed under his breath.
His expression twisted in frustration before hardening with determination.
"Fine… you forced me to do this."
Without hesitation, he ripped open his shirt, revealing a massive mouth on his chest.
From his clay pouch, he pulled out a large chunk of explosive clay, stuffing it directly into the mouth on his chest.
The mouth chewed voraciously, infusing the clay with an enormous amount of chakra before spitting it out.
Deidara carefully molded the lump of clay into a small humanoid figure.
It had a small head, an oversized torso, vague facial features, no legs, and wing-like arms crossed over its chest.
This was one of Deidara's strongest techniques—C3: "18".
Its explosive power was strong enough to level an entire small village.
Deidara admired his creation, his eyes burning with fanatical passion.
Moments later, he shifted his gaze to the Eight-Tails and shouted excitedly—
"ART… IS AN EXPLOSION!"
"Now die!"
With those words, he let go of the clay bomb.
As it descended, the clay figure's wings gradually unfolded, acting like missile stabilizers, keeping it on a direct path toward the Eight-Tails.
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On the Ground
The Eight-Tails sensed the danger and immediately responded with its signature technique—Tailed Beast Eight Twists.
The massive beast coiled all eight of its tentacles around itself, then spun rapidly, creating a gigantic tornado that swept across several hundred meters.
The force of the spin tore boulders apart, ripped trees from the ground, and sent shockwaves through the battlefield.
Even watching from above, Baishi could feel the sheer destructive force.
"Tsk, tsk… things are getting intense."
"But…"
Baishi's eyes flickered as he looked toward the distant forest.
There, several teams were approaching quickly.
Among them were—
Konohagakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure's hunter-nin squads,
Kumogakure's reinforcement team,
And Kirigakure's avenger squad.
Each group was strong, composed of elite shinobi, many of whom Baishi recognized.
If he were to engage in a direct battle, it would inevitably waste too much time.
So—
"It's time to make my move."
With that decision, Baishi's figure vanished from the clouds.
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On the Battlefield
As the dust from the explosion settled—
The Eight-Tails uncoiled its bloodied tentacles and opened its mouth wide.
It quickly gathered chakra, forming several small Tailed Beast Bombs, which it fired toward Deidara.
At this moment—
Deidara was in serious trouble.
In this timeline, he had never fought against Uchiha Itachi, meaning he had never developed C4: Garuda.
Thus, apart from his ultimate self-destruction technique (C0: Suicide Bombing Clone), his C3: "18" was his strongest attack.
But—
Since the Eight-Tails had survived the C3 explosion, Deidara was now out of options.
Even worse—
Unlike his older self from another timeline, Deidara here was still young, meaning his chakra reserves were lower.
As a result, he didn't have enough chakra to keep fighting the Eight-Tails head-on.
And as for self-destruction…
That was his absolute last resort.
Right now, he had no intention of dying.
So, all he could do was flee.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the sky, a series of white explosions erupted as the Tailed Beast Bombs detonated, forcing Deidara to evade frantically.
He was like a lone boat caught in a raging storm, on the brink of capsizing at any moment.
The watching shinobi couldn't help but feel nervous.
But just as the Eight-Tails was about to finish him off—
A massive, hundred-meter-long wooden dragon suddenly emerged!
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"What…!? The Wood Dragon Jutsu!?"
The moment it appeared, the Eight-Tails recalled a memory from decades ago—
A time when it had been defeated by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
Back then, Hashirama had used this exact same technique to restrain it, before sealing it away and handing it over to Kumogakure.
"Wait… no! The Wood Golem too!?"
Before the Eight-Tails could react, a massive humanoid Wood Golem emerged, towering several times larger than the beast itself.
The golem's colossal hand came down, slamming onto the Eight-Tails' head.
As the world faded into darkness, the last thing the Eight-Tails saw—
Was a giant kanji character inscribed on the hand:
"SEAT" (廓庵入鄽垂手).
Just like that—
The Eight-Tails was instantly subdued.
And Baishi, watching from above, smirked in satisfaction.
"All according to plan."
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