[Temari: Whew… Thankfully Nagi came this time. Otherwise Gaara would've been in real danger again.]
[KanShiranui Kūrō: So Deidara and Sasori are basically doomed this time, right?]
[Chiyo: As long as that one called Black Zetsu isn't watching from the shadows, there shouldn't be a problem.]
[Deidara: Hey, hey! Why are you talking like Sasori-danna and I are guaranteed to lose?!]
[KanShiranui Kūrō: Aren't you? You saw Nagi's fight against Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. What chance do you think you have?]
[Deidara: Hmph. I still have my ultimate art! Yeah!]
[Sasori: ...]
(Truthfully, we don't have much of a chance.)
Deidara stared blankly at the two figures standing atop his clay bird.
"Hey, who are you two? ANBU from SunagaShiranui Kūre? Doesn't look like it."
Nagi replied calmly, "Sorry, but Gaara is my friend. I'd appreciate it if you released him."
"Heh heh. I refuse."
"That's troublesome… In that case—"
Nagi vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared behind Deidara.
"Then you can stay as well."
Before Deidara could react, Nagi struck the back of his neck with a lightning-fast chop, knocking him unconscious.
At the same time, Nagi thrust his arm into the body of the Exploding Clay: Giant Bird and dragged out Deidara's true body.
It turned out Deidara had used a clay clone when he captured Gaara. His real body had been hiding inside the giant bird the entire time.
Deidara was completely dumbfounded. He had planned to use the distraction to escape with Gaara—but he had been discovered instantly.
Panicking, he fed explosive clay into the mouths in his palms—
"Crackle—!"
Nagi immediately flooded him with Lightning Release Chakra, giving him a full-body shock treatment.
"Gaaah! Damn it… Lightning Release!"
With his explosive clay neutralized, Deidara was knocked unconscious again. Nagi then bound him securely with Lightning Release Chakra Chains.
Without Deidara's control, the giant clay bird plummeted straight down.
Nagi activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, teleporting everyone away before impact.
They arrived at the Kazekage's building platform.
Maki and KanShiranui Kūrō snapped out of their daze the moment they saw the familiar fox mask.
"You're the Konoha proctor?"
"Yes."
Nagi immediately began treating Gaara with Medical Ninjutsu.
Before long, Gaara regained consciousness.
"Sorry… I troubled you again."
"It's fine. But—"
Nagi suddenly increased the pressure during treatment.
"Ah—!"
Gaara winced in pain.
"Next time, I don't want to have to sense the activation of my Flying Thunder God marker only after you're already severely injured."
It turned out that when Gaara had been critically wounded by Deidara's explosion, the hidden formula within Nagi's Flying Thunder God Shiranui Kūnai had triggered automatically.
"…Sorry. I didn't want to drag you into this."
"Don't let there be a next time."
Nagi's tone was stern.
"…Understood."
Gaara nodded obediently.
"There's still one outside. I'll leave things here to you."
"I understand. Thank you for saving SunagaShiranui Kūre. We'll send reinforcements."
Nagi and Sasuke rushed toward the outskirts of the village.
KanShiranui Kūrō led a squad and followed closely behind.
Outside the Village
"Why isn't he back yet? What a troublesome brat…"
Seeing Deidara hadn't returned, Sasori assumed something had gone wrong and personally went to investigate.
As he entered the canyon—
"Hmm?"
The guards he had previously eliminated began to stir.
One after another, they stood up, gripping Shiranui Kūnai, and rushed toward him.
"A revival technique? No… This is… genjutsu!"
Sasori immediately disrupted his chakra flow and dispelled the illusion.
Before him stood two masked figures.
"Troublesome… Even I was caught in genjutsu. Who exactly are they?"
Nagi observed quietly.
(Only the core of his body is human. As expected, genjutsu is difficult to apply effectively.)
He turned slightly to Sasuke.
"Cat, he's yours. He's a puppet master."
"I figured. His body feels strange."
Sasuke understood immediately. Close combat was typically a puppet master's weakness.
He drew the Sword of Shiranui Kūsanagi and charged.
Sasori used the tail of Hiruko, his puppet shell, to block. They exchanged several rapid blows.
Though Hiruko was designed to prevent close-quarters combat, Sasuke's speed and agility far surpassed it.
With a swing of his Chidori Blade, Sasuke cleaved Hiruko open in a single strike.
Sasori burst out from within.
At that moment, KanShiranui Kūrō and his squad arrived.
Several older SunagaShiranui Kūre shinobi widened their eyes.
"You are… Sasori of the Red Sand!"
"What?! That's Sasori?!"
KanShiranui Kūrō was stunned. Every puppet user in SunagaShiranui Kūre knew the name of their once-genius prodigy—Sasori of the Red Sand.
Sasuke, however, didn't care about titles.
He attacked again.
Sasori swiftly unsealed a scroll.
With a burst of smoke, the Third Kazekage Puppet appeared.
The surrounding shinobi gasped.
"Th-That's the missing Third Kazekage-sama!"
"Why is he in Sasori's possession—?!"
"That's… a puppet?!"
KanShiranui Kūrō felt his brain short-circuiting.
Sasori controlled the puppet, summoning a massive poisoned blade from its sleeve.
Sasuke slashed downward with his Chidori Blade, cleaving the weapon in two.
Sasori immediately countered with Iron Sand.
"Iron Sand: Drizzle!"
In an instant, a tidal wave of iron sand formed, then transformed into countless fine needles that shot toward Sasuke at high speed.
"Chidori Stream."
Electricity surged around Sasuke's body, forming a defensive current that deflected the attack.
"Chidori Spear!"
He reshaped the lightning into an extended spear and thrust forward.
Sasori hastily formed a hardened iron sand shield to block.
But Sasuke had already maneuvered behind him.
With a flash of his blade, he struck again.
The Third Kazekage Puppet was cut cleanly in half, as if sliced through fruit.
Sasori narrowly avoided a fatal strike to his core, but a deep crack split across his body.
Seizing the moment—
Sasuke activated his Sharingan Genjutsu.
Sasori met Sasuke's gaze—
—and froze.
Sasuke immediately advanced, Sword of Shiranui Kūsanagi poised to strike.
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