A special thank you to my patrons:
—Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, ZaberZ, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Fredrik Dahlman, Nithin Samuel, Little Sand, Dradin Hebrhal, Luca August, Kyle.S406, Alin Kadas, Sarah Ann Thomas, sediaz, Xanex44.
ad 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Whether I have any chances left isn't for you to decide," Deidara forced a grin, his heart hollow with dread but his mouth still impossibly stubborn.
When facing Hiruzen, he simply couldn't spare any mental energy for anything else. Fortunately, the Self-Destructing Clone from earlier had given him a window to reset. That first clash had been a sudden encounter—caught completely off guard, not knowing the full extent of Hiruzen's capabilities, he had been utterly overwhelmed.
Now, facing Hiruzen a second time, Deidara was determined not to repeat his earlier mistakes. But there was a price to pay. Having used the Self-Destructing Clone to deceive Hiruzen once, that particular trick was now utterly useless. In other words, he had already burned his only reliable means of escape.
In a fight against Hiruzen, the outcome was either death, or... death. The only remaining question was how long he could manage to stay alive.
Hiruzen wasted no further words. Without any apparent hesitation, he launched another assault—dozens of shadow clones surged toward Deidara in a relentless wave. Deidara rapidly chewed his clay, then swapped places with an exploding shadow clone, once again slipping free of the encircling clones. A powerful gust of wind swept through immediately after, scattering the lingering smoke.
Deidara had barely turned his head when he spotted multiple shuriken, propelled by that very wind, accelerating straight toward him. Unlike ordinary shinobi, Hiruzen was a master of all chakra natures, which meant he could infuse his thrown weapons with the Gale Palm technique, drastically increasing both their speed and range. The shuriken launched by Hiruzen flew far faster than normal. Deidara only just managed to dodge them. Those that missed him vanished the instant they struck the ground, save for one that embedded itself firmly in the earth.
Multiple Shadow Clone Shuriken...
Deidara frowned, wracking his brain for a way to evade Hiruzen's next attack.
Wait a moment...
How is this any different from before?!
It suddenly hit him—if all he could do now was still just run away, then what was the point of having used the Self-Destructing Clone earlier?
As this thought crossed his mind, Deidara turned his head again, only to find Hiruzen already upon him, his entire body cloaked in lightning-natured chakra. Before Deidara could even react, he was sent flying by a devastating blow. His body, still numb from the previous lightning strike, was now wracked with even greater agony. He struggled to rise, but Hiruzen was already standing right in front of him.
"As expected of the Third Hokage. But something like this still isn't enough to kill me." Deidara popped a chunk of clay into his mouth, chewing rapidly, desperate to produce new clay bombs.
Hiruzen, having concluded that it was impossible to extract any real information from Deidara's mouth, decided to stop wasting time and simply kill him on the spot.
But just at that moment, multiple missiles streaked through the night sky and slammed heavily into the rooftops and streets of the Hidden Leaf Village. What truly shocked Hiruzen was that the range of these missiles far exceeded anything he had imagined. They weren't just landing nearby—they were striking far more distant areas, places that had previously been untouched by the main fighting. Instantly, flames flickered to life in the distance, garishly bright against the dark night.
Damn it!
Hiruzen's brow furrowed deeply. He traced the trajectory of the missiles and, on the rooftop of a nearby house, spotted a black-cloaked figure launching volleys of projectiles in every direction.
Deidara, seeing Hiruzen's attention waver, didn't hesitate for even a heartbeat. He immediately took off on his clay bird and soared into the sky. Only once he was well outside the range of Hiruzen's attacks did he finally let out a long breath of relief. His back was already drenched in cold sweat.
Hiruzen, at this point, had no inclination to chase after Deidara. Instead, he sprinted at full speed toward the Asura Path, who was indiscriminately firing missiles in all directions.
The Asura Path noticed Hiruzen closing in rapidly and aimed its clenched fist directly at him. Its entire arm detached from its body and rocketed toward Hiruzen like a projectile. Hiruzen wove hand signs and expelled a fireball from his mouth that collided with the incoming arm. Yet the arm punched straight through the flames and continued hurtling toward him. Without pausing to think, Hiruzen formed new seals. In an instant, he split into multiple bodies, scattering in every direction. The arm struck one of the copies, which immediately vanished in a puff of smoke, while the remaining Hiruzens pressed forward toward the Asura Path.
They were within a mere ten-odd meters of the target when a colossal three-headed dog suddenly dropped from the sky, nearly as large as the house it stood beside. The beast drooled, snarled viciously, and radiated an overwhelming, crushing pressure.
"Where on earth are these things coming from?!" Hiruzen hastily evaded the three-headed dog's lunge. Before he could even think of counterattacking, the hound was already lunging at him again. Hiruzen slammed his hands to the ground after a rapid sequence of seals, and a massive earthen dragon burst forth, crashing headlong into the attacking hellhound.
Seizing this momentary opening, Hiruzen activated the Summoning Jutsu and called forth his own personal summon: the Monkey King, Enma.
Enma took one look at the hellhound before him, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. "What's going on here?" he asked Hiruzen with evident puzzlement.
"Exactly what you see. Someone is attacking the Hidden Leaf Village," Hiruzen replied.
"Who are they?" Enma watched the hellhound, which was already rising back to its feet after the collision with the Earth Dragon Bullet.
"The Akatsuki."
"The Akatsuki?"
"Their goal is to collect all nine tailed beasts and merge them into the Ten-Tails. Right now, only the Six-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails remain beyond their grasp," Hiruzen explained.
"What?!"
"Enma, help me destroy this summon!" Hiruzen extended his hand toward Enma as the hellhound lunged at him once more.
Enma instantly transformed into the Adamantine Staff and landed squarely in Hiruzen's grip. As the hellhound charged, Hiruzen leaped high into the air. One of the beast's heads snapped at empty space, but the other two immediately locked onto him and lunged upward.
"Fall!" Hiruzen bellowed, bringing the Adamantine Staff crashing down onto one of the hound's heads with tremendous force. A dull, heavy thud sounded, and the head went utterly silent. Hiruzen twisted in midair and struck the other head with a vicious backswing. Another dull thud echoed.
After landing, Hiruzen turned back to assess the hellhound, only to find that far from being defeated, it had sprouted two additional heads.
"It seems the situation is rather troublesome," Hiruzen observed, immediately realizing that brute force alone would never be enough to kill the massive creature before him.
Summoned beasts were unlike other ninjutsu. Even if the summoner was killed, the creatures would not necessarily vanish. In fact, with the summoner dead, they could very well spiral out of control entirely.
Just then, a second summon appeared. This one, however, was not targeting Hiruzen. Instead, it lumbered laterally, making its way directly toward the heart of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"I can't afford to hesitate any longer. I have to end this quickly!" Hiruzen steeled his resolve, determined to dispatch the hellhound before him in the shortest possible time.