The arrow formed from Amaterasu's flames was fired into the sky by the purple Susanoo. Deidara, only momentarily distracted, watched as the clay bird beneath him was struck head-on by the black flame-tipped arrow.
Deidara reacted quickly, jumping off the bird without hesitation, not giving the black flames a chance to touch him. In the previous fight, he had already experienced firsthand how terrifying Uchiha Sasuke's flames were.
"Tch!"
With his bird destroyed, he lost control over the skies. After continuous fighting, his clay supply was also running low.
"This just got troublesome."
He had originally thought it would be easy to take down these Konoha ninja and capture the Nine-Tails jinchuriki as a bonus. But after fighting them, he realized none of them were easy to deal with.
Now another Konoha ninja had arrived. Although he looked like a young kid, Deidara no longer dared to underestimate anyone—Konoha kids seemed to be especially strong.
Deidara had inadvertently discovered the truth: Konoha kids were indeed especially strong.
However, this battle had little to do with Ethan. Seeing Sasuke go all out and activate Susanoo, he simply sat down, rested his chin on his hands, and watched the show.
"Aren't you going to help?"
Chiyo was surprised by Ethan's actions. She didn't understand what this Konoha kid was doing. Wasn't he the backup? Why was he just sitting there?
"There's no need for me to step in."
It was awkward for Sasori and Deidara to face opponents who could use Susanoo. Their attacks couldn't break through Sasuke's defense.
With his entire body protected by Susanoo, Sasuke was essentially untouchable. Maybe Deidara's ultimate technique could pierce Susanoo's defenses, but harming Sasuke inside would still be extremely difficult.
And once he used that ultimate move, Deidara himself would die for sure.
Kakashi couldn't completely suppress Orochimaru, but the combat power of a Perfect Susanoo wasn't something Orochimaru could handle easily. Against such an opponent, Orochimaru could only rely on various strange forbidden jutsu, making the battle drag on, but he couldn't deal any real damage to Kakashi.
Orochimaru was just hard to defeat. He knew too many bizarre forbidden jutsu, constantly coming up with new tricks. It was as if he couldn't be killed. In such a situation, the two could only stalemate.
After exchanging moves for a while, Orochimaru realized there was no point in continuing. No matter what he did, he wasn't taking Sasuke away today.
"What a pity..."
He could sense that if he missed this chance, he might never have another opportunity to obtain Sasuke. Perhaps the only thing to be thankful for was hearing that Uchiha Itachi had been taken down by the pursuit team from Konoha.
Although it was hard to believe that the powerful Uchiha Itachi had been killed by Konoha's forces, since he was dead, Orochimaru didn't need to obsess over Sasuke anymore—or rather, he could change tactics and go to Konoha to see if Danzo had left anything behind. Maybe he could find a Sharingan there.
Since Kakashi had developed the Sharingan to such a level despite not being from the Uchiha clan, did that mean the Sharingan's power didn't require Uchiha blood to unleash?
With that thought, he no longer bothered to keep fighting. When he was blasted away again by Kakashi's blue Susanoo, Kakashi noticed that what he had sent flying was just a discarded skin.
"Did he escape?"
Kabuto, who had been watching the fight from the side, had also disappeared without a trace. In the end, only the two Akatsuki members remained on the battlefield.
While he still had some strength, Kakashi turned to support Sasuke. At this point, aside from the two using Susanoo, no one else had the ability to intervene.
Let alone Ethan standing off in the distance, even Naruto and Sakura, who were relatively close to the battlefield, could only watch in awe.
"So strong!"
Naruto finally understood just how powerful Sasuke had become. He suddenly felt that his training over the past two years hadn't been intense enough. He had thought he had surpassed Sasuke, but now he realized the gap between them had only grown wider.
Sakura, too, was seeing Sasuke go all out for the first time. Even though she often sparred with him back in the village, Sasuke never used powerful techniques like Susanoo during regular training.
Forget Susanoo—he didn't even use Amaterasu or Kagutsuchi.
This meant that apart from a few people, most in the village had no idea just how strong Sasuke had become. That was why Sakura and Naruto were so shocked by what they were seeing now.
"It's time to end this."
As the two stood in stunned silence, Ethan, still seated in the distance, spoke. Chiyo, who had been watching the ongoing battle, paused slightly, then noticed that on the ground, which had been torn apart by the intense fight, green sprouts had begun to emerge.
"Is that your jutsu?"
"That's right."
Because they had been fully focused on the two giant Susanoo, especially the freely moving Perfect Susanoo, Deidara and Sasori hadn't noticed that the terrain beneath their feet had slowly changed.
By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
Countless roses suddenly bloomed from the ground. Carried by the swirling wind from the battle, the petals instantly filled the area with a beautiful, yet deadly, display.
Black and red rose petals were swept up in the wind. Once Deidara and Sasori were engulfed in the sea of petals, their fate was sealed.
Sasori wasn't affected by the red roses, but the black petals could completely shatter his puppet body.
Deidara fared even worse. The red petals and their pervasive fragrance caused him to lose all mobility within seconds. Even if he wanted to transform into a giant five-pointed star for one final explosion, he couldn't move to do it.
"Tch, how disappointing. Couldn't even take a single move."
Ethan had originally thought that creating a sea of flowers would at most weaken the two enough for Sasuke and Kakashi to end the fight more easily.
He didn't expect that the moment he made a move—without even using his full power—the enemies would already be defeated.
"..."
Chiyo, on the other hand, felt a chill in her heart. She had never imagined that such beautiful flowers could be so terrifying. She couldn't help but look down at Gaara.
If Ethan had wanted to kill her and Gaara, their corpses would probably already be cold.
Just then, Gaara opened his eyes. The yellow rose resting on his chest withered and crumbled into ash, carried away by the wind.
"You're awake!"
Although Ethan felt a little speechless, ending the battle so easily wasn't a bad outcome.
If the fight had dragged on and the enemy managed to unleash some suicide move, causing casualties on their side, it would have made Ethan look useless. If he hadn't come, that was one thing. But if he was there and the enemy still succeeded in doing something, wouldn't that be humiliating?
Just to avoid that embarrassment, he couldn't give those two any chance.
With a slight wave of his hand, the petals floating in the air responded. More of them gathered toward Sasori and Deidara. The black petals surged toward Sasori, just like the move's name—like piranhas devouring their prey in wave after wave.
The red petals gathered over Deidara. Unlike the black petals, which dispersed after shattering something, the red petals seemed to bury Deidara completely. They formed a dense pile over where he fell, turning into a mound of red blossoms.
After a few seconds, Sasori completely disappeared from the world, without even a final word.
As for Deidara? He was also dead. His death came without pain.
The two powerful ninja who had kidnapped and wounded the Kazekage, leaving the entire Sand Village helpless, had died just like that. Chiyo sighed again. She really was old. When she returned, she might as well find a place to wait for death.
Gaara, having just awakened, happened to witness this scene. He also saw Kakashi, Naruto, and the others. Judging from the injuries on their bodies, it was clear they had just fought a hard battle.
"They came to save me?"
Then he looked at Ethan beside him. He didn't have much of an impression of him, only recognizing from the Konoha forehead protector that he was part of the Konoha reinforcements—probably one of Naruto's companions?
He also guessed that Ethan had only arrived recently. With strength like his, if he had been there from the start, Naruto and the others wouldn't be so battered.
"Yes. I am Ethan, a Jonin from Konoha, sent here to assist by the Hokage."
"Thank you very much for Konoha's help."
He suddenly remembered who Ethan was. During the Chunin Exams, the Konoha ninja who had clashed with Lee. He hadn't expected him to become this strong.
Gaara stood up, moved his limbs slightly, and found that his condition was excellent—as if he hadn't just fought Deidara and been injured to the point of unconsciousness.
He assumed Elder Chiyo had used medical ninjutsu on him. But when Chiyo told him it was Ethan who had healed him, Gaara was surprised and thanked Ethan again.
At that moment, Naruto and Sakura arrived, carrying the heavily weakened Sasuke and Kakashi.
"You're both in rough shape. You used Susanoo for just a little while and ended up like this. Kakashi, you still need more training."
The worn-out Kakashi glanced at Ethan, then decisively passed out.
"..."
(To be continued.)