Chapter 252: Tsunade Shatters Hiruko
Sasori seemed not to care at all about revealing his infamous identity. He continued in that cold, emotionless tone that matched his puppet shell, stating clearly, "Sasori of the Red Sand (赤砂のサソリ, Akasuna no Sasori)."
As soon as that name was uttered, Tsunade's hardened, defensive expression changed slightly!
Sasori of the Red Sand!
The genius puppet master of Sunagakure! The man responsible for creating some of the deadliest puppets in history.
He had defected from the Village long ago and was classified as an S-rank Nukenin (rogue ninja), the highest possible level!
Information about him in the high-level archives of the major Shinobi Villages all contained only one word of evaluation—lethal.
"It's actually him!" Tsunade thought, her heart churning with a sudden, cold realization.
No wonder... no wonder he could so easily kill two Jōnin just now! Facing such an opponent, ordinary Jōnin—even our elites—are indeed no different from lambs to the slaughter!
"Hey, hey! Uncle Scorpion! Don't steal my thunder!" Deidara grumbled discontentedly, floating above them.
Deidara cleared his throat, struck what he considered a cool, artistic pose on the back of his massive clay bird, and loudly announced to those below.
"Listen up! I am the great artist, Deidara! The one who pursues instantaneous art! My work is an explosion!"
"Also, a proud member of Akatsuki!"
Tokuma, the Hyūga Jōnin behind Tsunade, snorted coldly, his voice laced with contempt.
"Akatsuki?"
"Just a bunch of rats that can't stand the light. Running away from your villages, hiding in the sewers."
"What did you say?!" Deidara was instantly enraged. His handsome, blonde face twisted slightly, losing his 'artistic' composure.
"You artless bastard! How dare you insult my organization! How dare you insult my art!"
Sasori's cold, dry voice rang out again from inside Hiruko, interrupting Deidara's childish roar.
"Enough."
He controlled the hideous steel scorpion puppet, coldly staring at Tsunade with Hiruko's single eye-slit.
"Tsunade of the Sannin."
"We don't want to waste any more time here."
"We only have one objective."
Deidara immediately interjected, eager to sound important, an arrogant smile plastered on his face.
"Hand over the Ichibi (One-Tail) Jinchūriki, Gaara, obediently!"
"If you hand him over, we might consider letting you live! It will save us the effort!"
At these words, the atmosphere on the entire sand field instantly dropped to absolute freezing point.
The Konoha shinobi behind Tsunade all showed expressions of immediate, boiling anger.
Hand over the Jinchūriki?
What a joke! What an insult!
When did Konoha ever have a precedent of surrendering to its enemies and handing over its own? Never!
"Haha…" Tsunade suddenly started laughing. It was a cold, sharp sound.
Deidara frowned, annoyed by her reaction. "What are you laughing at, old woman?"
Tsunade's laughter abruptly stopped. Her face, moments ago furious, was now a mask of pure, absolute disdain.
"I'm laughing at your naivety."
"Akatsuki?" She curled her lips.
"Just a bunch of shadowy trash that only dares to operate in the sewers. And you two truly dare to speak so presumptuously in front of Konoha's Sannin?"
Tsunade slowly raised her right hand. Chakra began to pool and swirl around her fist, visible as a faint, ominous green glow.
"You want the Jinchūriki?"
"Then trade your lives for him!"
As her words fell, Tsunade moved.
Boom!
A deep, violent pit suddenly burst open in the sand beneath her feet, pulverized by the sheer force of her launch. She charged straight towards Sasori's Hiruko puppet with an unstoppable, terrifying momentum!
Her speed was incredibly fast, leaving a clear, rapidly dissipating trail of dust and pulverized sand behind her!
"Good! Bring it on, old woman!" Deidara shouted excitedly from above.
Sasori, inside Hiruko, snorted coldly, unfazed by her speed.
"You have a death wish, Tsunade."
Buzz—!
The hideous steel scorpion tail, Sasori's main weapon, lashed out with a sharp whistling sound. It slammed down fiercely towards Tsunade's head with the force of a battering ram!
At the same time, Hiruko's huge, ugly mouth suddenly opened wide!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Hundreds of thousands of thin, deadly poisonous needles, shimmering with a purple glow, shot out like a storm of pear blossoms, aimed directly at Tsunade!
Facing this deadly, two-pronged combination attack—the crushing tail and the poison rain—Tsunade's face showed no fear at all!
"Petty tricks!"
Tsunade neither dodged nor retreated. Her charging momentum did not diminish in the slightest! She trusted her physical defenses, forged over decades.
Just as the countless poisonous needles were about to hit her, Tsunade's figure suddenly swayed during her high-speed charge!
With an elusive, practiced footwork that was almost impossible for the naked eye to catch, she threaded her way through the narrow gaps in the needle rain!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Numerous poisonous needles flew past, brushing Tsunade's heavy cloak, and shot harmlessly into the sand behind. They left a dark, fizzing corrosive mark where they landed.
And Tsunade was completely unharmed!
Her speed didn't decrease in the slightest! That right fist, now imbued with monstrous, terrifying chakra, had already met the slamming steel scorpion tail!
On the other side.
The moment Tsunade moved, the three Konoha Jōnin—Hyūga Tokuma, Uchiha Shunichi, and Iwa (the Earth Release specialist)—also moved!
Their target was clear: Deidara in mid-air!
"Attack!" Tokuma let out a low shout. The three of them cooperated with perfect, deadly synergy.
"Understood!" Uchiha Shunichi quickly formed hand signs, his Sharingan active.
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!)
[Inorin's Note: Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu is a technique that fires multiple small fireballs, perfect for scattering and area denial.]
He suddenly opened his mouth and spat out dozens of fireballs the size of basketballs. They scattered like a celestial maiden's petals, completely blocking all possible flight paths of Deidara's clay giant bird from all directions!
"Oh? You think you can stop me with this kind of thing?" Deidara grinned, a playful, condescending smile on his face.
He was about to control the clay giant bird to nimbly weave through the narrow gaps in the fireballs.
"Doton: Doryūdan no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!)
Iwa, the Earth Release specialist below, slammed his hands onto the ground!
Rumble!
The sand surged. A giant dragon's head made of hard, compressed sand and earth emerged from the ground, opening its monstrous mouth and spewing countless mud bullets mixed with sand and stones towards the clay giant bird in the sky!
Pincer attack! Fire from the front, mud from below!
"Tch! Annoying flies!" Deidara's playful expression darkened. He had no choice but to immediately control the giant bird to sharply ascend, flying vertically to avoid the dense, simultaneous attack.
However, that wasn't all!
"Hakke Kūshō!" (Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!)
Hyūga Tokuma had already activated his Byakugan, seeing through Deidara's frantic evasion route. With a powerful push from his feet, he leaped high into the air!
He thrust out a palm!
Boom!
An invisible, powerful chakra shockwave slammed into the clay giant bird's wing!
Deidara hastily controlled the giant bird to roll sideways, narrowly avoiding the center of the fatal blow!
The shockwave grazed the giant bird's wing. The resulting gust of kinetic wind caused the giant bird to shake violently, destabilized in the air!
"Bastard! You absolute pests!" Deidara was thoroughly enraged by the incessant, flawless attacks.
These three Konoha Jōnin cooperated flawlessly, giving him no chance to catch his breath, let alone support Sasori!
"Shunichi, chase him! Keep the fire on his tail!" Tokuma shouted, landing.
"Iwa, limit his altitude! Keep the ground dangerous!"
After landing, Tokuma didn't stop for a moment. The three of them, in a perfect triangular pursuit formation, chased Deidara at high speed across the desert floor!
Their objective was clear: to completely tie down this guy, who excelled at area bombing, and split the battlefield!
"Want to chase me?! You're not worthy of my art!" Deidara felt underestimated. He roared and controlled the giant bird to sharply change direction, flying towards the distant sky, attempting to create distance.
But he was fast, and the relentless, coordinated attacks behind him were even faster!
"Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!)
"Hakke Kūshō!" (Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!)
Uchiha Shunichi's giant fireball and Tokuma's Air Palm blocked his predictable retreat route!
Deidara was forced to frantically jump up and down in the air, dodging while pulling out explosive clay from his ninja tool pouch, preparing to counterattack.
Just like that, a three-on-one aerial chase instantly began! The battlefield was successfully divided!
On the other side.
RUMBLE—!!!
A deafening roar suddenly erupted, drowning out Deidara's complaints!
A terrifying wave of air instantly exploded, stirring up a sky full of yellow sand!
In the distance on the sand, Tsunade still maintained her punching stance, her fist buried deep in the ground.
And in front of her fist... Sasori of the Red Sand's steel scorpion tail... had already snapped in half!
Half of the scorpion tail, designed to be stronger than steel, lay on the sand like useless scrap metal.
Beneath Hiruko's hard shell, Sasori's consciousness, the small portion of his human core, also rippled slightly.
Such immense brute force.
She can actually break my tempered, poisoned steel scorpion tail... with her bare hands? With a single punch?
This is the power of the Sannin... the power of the Shodai's blood...
"It's not over yet, Sasori!" Tsunade's cold voice rang out, her body already tensing for the next attack.
Having landed one punch and shattered his defense, she didn't stop. She pushed off with her feet again, instantly closing the distance to Hiruko!
"Be… SHATTERED!"
Ōkashō! (Monster Strength!)
"Not good!" Sasori wanted to control Hiruko to retreat, to jet away, but it was too late!
Tsunade's speed, focused on a linear close-range burst, completely exceeded his expectations!
Boom—!!!
Her chakra-infused fist landed squarely on Hiruko's massive, hunched, steel back!
The next second.
Crack! Crackle, crackle!
Spiderweb-like cracks, centered on the point of impact, frantically spread across the entire puppet's hard shell! The sound of tearing metal and splintering wood was sickening!
Immediately after!
RUMBLE—!!!
A giant explosion, even more terrifying than the sound of the previous blow, erupted!
Sasori of the Red Sand's ultimate defense, Hiruko!
Under Tsunade's single, overwhelmingly powerful, chakra-focused punch...
...it was utterly, completely, reduced to shattered scrap metal!
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