From the high slope, exclamations of shock echoed repeatedly, no doubt stirred by the sudden emergence of Magnet Release and its devastating power.
"How does it feel, Sasori-bro?"
"Doesn't it feel satisfying?" Deidara teased with a smirk.
"Shut it!"
"But with this, both the Third Kazekage puppet and your abilities are exposed," Deidara continued.
"You used to guard this secret so carefully. What's with the sudden change of heart? Feeling soft today?"
"I said shut up, Deidara! One more word and I'll kill you!" Sasori snapped, his tone both enraged and flustered.
Though tempted to press him further, Deidara recognized that this was no place for banter—it was still a battlefield, after all. And since the shinobi of Konoha and Sunagakure seemed so eager to throw their lives away, they might as well indulge them.
"Th-that's the Third!" a Konoha ninja shouted, retreating hastily to the canyon's edge. Meanwhile, Baki froze where he stood, his face riddled with disbelief.
The Third Kazekage, who had vanished years ago, was now before them, albeit in a form no one could have anticipated.
"It really is him," Sasori confirmed with an air of finality, his voice low and calm. "Baki, long time no see."
"Who are you?! And what have you done to the Third?!" Baki demanded, his eyes scanning the figure before him.
Though Sasori had crafted the puppet Hiruko during his time in Sunagakure, it had undergone such extensive modifications over the years that even someone like Baki couldn't recognize it at first glance.
"Hiruko," Sasori hinted.
"Hiruko?!"
Baki's pupils contracted as realization dawned.
"You're… Sasori!" His voice trembled with rage. "Did you… did you kill the Third?!"
"Of course," Sasori answered, utterly unbothered by the accusation.
At that moment, kunai adorned with explosive tags shot through the air, but Hiruko's tail casually flicked them away.
The attack signaled the start of Konoha's offensive.
"Sasori-bro, I'll leave you two to catch up," Deidara called out, hopping aboard his clay bird and soaring toward the canyon's upper reaches.
Baki, meanwhile, had already put distance between himself and Sasori, readying for battle.
"So, that incident at Kumogakure—was that you too?" Baki asked, recalling the diplomatic outcry from the Hidden Cloud not long ago. At the time, they'd dismissed it as baseless accusations. Now, the truth painted a darker picture.
"Indeed," Sasori replied casually. "The Eight-Tails is powerful, after all. Without the Third's Magnet Release, it would've been far more troublesome."
"Traitor!" Baki roared, his anger erupting. "Today, Sunagakure will put an end to your betrayal!"
"Betrayal?" Sasori sneered. "Compared to your village, still waging meaningless wars and slaughtering innocents, being a 'traitor' is far less cumbersome."
"Prepare yourselves!" Baki commanded. "Launch the Drilling Air Bullets!"
"Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!"
Countless compressed air projectiles shot toward the canyon, so dense they seemed to blot out the sky itself.
"Useless."
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!"
The shimmering black barrier rose again, as unyielding as a fortress. No matter how ferociously the attacks rained down, they failed to even scratch it.
"Stop wasting chakra with group jutsu!" Baki ordered, retreating to the high ground. "The Third's Magnet Release is too formidable. The Iron Sand Wall is a defense even the One-Tail's Tailed Beast Bomb couldn't breach. Our attacks won't do anything!"
"Then what do we do?" a Sunagakure Jonin asked, his voice shaking. The sight of the Third Kazekage, reduced to a puppet, had already pushed many of the shinobi near their breaking point.
"Spread out and focus your attacks! That's the only way!" Baki commanded, forming an elite squad of seasoned Jonin. "Follow me! We'll take out Sasori's real body. That's the only way to end this!"
Meanwhile, in the canyon below, Riku Hozuki turned to Konan.
"What's our move?"
"Focus on your own survival," Konan replied, her tone as cold as ever. "There's no way the three of us can stop this many enemies alone."
Her words rang true. Rough estimates placed the combined Konoha and Sunagakure forces at six to seven thousand, including numerous Jonin and Elite Jonin. Even someone like Nagato couldn't hold off an army of this scale by himself.
"Watch out!"
On the Konoha side, Kakashi locked eyes on Deidara, who hovered high above on his clay bird.
"That's him," Kakashi muttered grimly. "One of the mysterious figures we encountered outside Kusagakure. Now we know—he's Sasori's partner. And if they're working together, he won't be weak."
"Captain, what's the plan?" a Konoha Jonin asked, looking uneasy. "We can't reach him from here."
"Forget him for now!" a Root ninja barked. "Our priority is to eliminate the Mist defectors!" With that, he led a group into the canyon below.
Oh? Ignoring me, are you?
Deidara smirked, eyeing the mass of shinobi like a swarm of ants. The prospect of unleashing his art without restraint sent a thrill through him.
"This… this is true art!"
"C2: Enhanced Dragon!"
The clay dragon roared, its cry reverberating across the battlefield. For many Konoha shinobi, it would be their last sound.
"Secret Technique: Dragon's Nest!"
One after another, massive white eggs appeared, transforming into a swarm of clay dragons that dove toward the battlefield.
"Defend!"
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Rampart!"
Dozens of Konoha shinobi combined their chakra to raise a massive earthen wall, momentarily halting the dragons' advance.
"Gotcha!" Deidara sneered.
The wall exploded into fragments, obliterated by the dragons' payload. The survivors scattered, their cries lost amid the roar of successive explosions.
"Stick with me!" Kakashi commanded his squad. "The only way to neutralize their attacks is to force close-quarters combat. We take the fight to the canyon floor—now!"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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