Deidara chuckled, "Sasori-sama, let me show them the art of explosion this time!"
A deep voice replied from behind the mask, "Do as you like. But don't make me wait—I hate waiting."
"Relax! My explosive art won't disappoint you!"
As he spoke, Deidara raised his hand and created a clay bird, then mounted it. The bird flapped up into the sky above the Konoha shinobi, and a flurry of tiny white clay spiders began falling like snow.
Many of the younger genin were still inexperienced and, despite being wary, couldn't help but look up out of curiosity.
Tenten shouted, "Those are clay bombs! Watch out!"
Clay bombs?!
Everyone tensed up and immediately began evasive maneuvers. Thankfully, their training showed—each squad moved in formation, quickly and efficiently, without chaos or collisions.
Shino's sunglasses flashed as he raised a hand and sent out a large swarm of kikaichuu bugs, intercepting the spiders while they were still far from the ground.
"Art is an explosion! Haaah!"
With Deidara's trigger, the spiders exploded midair, shaking the skies with their power. The violent blasts distorted the air and rattled the morale of many genin below.
Luckily, there were proctors present, and some of the genin were exceptionally well-trained, so panic didn't spread far.
From atop his flying clay bird, Deidara grinned smugly.
Though no one was harmed, this was just his opening act—a flashy entrance meant to show these Konoha brats what they were up against. And he had succeeded.
"Damn it! Take this!"
Naruto angrily hurled a shuriken upward, but it didn't even come close to the flying clay bird.
Shino's bugs continued chasing Deidara, making him the only one able to fight airborne targets effectively—everyone else seemed helpless.
"Heh… from the Aburame clan, huh? But your bugs can't beat my clay bombs!"
As Deidara dodged the bugs, he released another swarm of clay spiders, certain that Shino couldn't block all of them. If even one slipped through, there'd be casualties.
But this time, Shino didn't intercept the spiders—he just kept sending bugs after the bird.
Deidara frowned. A glance below showed the spiders falling directly toward the Konoha shinobi.
Were they giving up?
"I've got this!"
Tenten's voice rang out. She summoned her twin Peacock Swords.
With a swift slash, she conjured a gust of wind, blowing the clay spiders straight toward Sasori.
Sasori didn't even dodge. He let the spiders fall around him—and they didn't explode.
Instead, they turned and began crawling back toward the Konoha shinobi. As expected, Deidara controlled when to detonate them.
But before he could react, Tenten unfurled a scroll—
BOOM!
A dozen Fire Style: Great Fireballs shot out, completely engulfing Sasori and the spiders.
Sasori glanced at Tenten in mild surprise and leapt back just in time.
The fireballs ignited the spiders mid-air, causing a chain of thunderous explosions.
Deidara, still dodging Shino's bugs, had to acknowledge it. "Huh, not bad. She took care of those spiders fast."
Sasori, however, sounded annoyed. "Deidara, are you still playing around? We didn't come here to play."
"Alright, alright, Sasori-sama, I get it."
Deidara stopped fooling around. He shoved both hands into his pouches and fed his palms with clay.
Soon, his palms spit out a small clay dragon, which rapidly inflated into a massive clay dragon.
"Let's see how you like my C2: Dragon!'"
The dragon opened its mouth and spat out a smaller clay dragon like a cannonball.
The massive dragon was the artillery—the smaller dragon was the bomb. If it landed and Deidara triggered it, the results would be catastrophic.
Neji immediately activated the Eight Gates to the third gate—Gate of Life—and launched a Heavenly Spin Bullet.
Spinning rapidly, he leapt into the air and deflected the falling clay dragon upward. If Deidara hadn't tilted his head just in time, he would've been hit by his own bomb.
"The Hyuuga have a move like that? No matter. You blocked one, but can you block them all?"
Deidara continued loading the dragon for another shot.
Below, Kiba shouted in shock, "That's just like our clan's Fang Over Fang! Since when did Neji copy our jutsu?!"
Hinata opened her mouth but didn't know how to explain. The similarity was undeniable.
Thankfully, Shino offered some fairness. "Kiba, Fang Over Fang is a taijutsu technique—physical strikes. Neji's move is different. He turned Rotation, a defensive jutsu, into an offensive projectile. It's not the same."
Kiba wanted to argue, but after imagining himself and Akamaru crashing into a clay bomb with Fang Over Fang, he went silent.
Compared to that, Neji's Spin Bullet was far superior.
Just then, Tenten attached her Peacock Swords to her sides again and picked up the Lightning Blades – Fang in her hands.
Crossing the blades, lightning surged in her grasp. Thunderclouds began to form in the sky above, and Deidara suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Lightning Blade: Thunderfall!"
CRACK! A bolt of lightning slammed down, striking the clay dragon directly.
Just as it was about to fire another bomb, the dragon sputtered and lost control, crashing to the ground.
Deidara couldn't contain himself. "Nani!? How did the Mist Village's Lightning Blades – Fang end up in a girl like you?! You dare desecrate my art!?"
Tenten smirked. "Your clay bombs are naturally countered by lightning-style ninjutsu, aren't they?"
Everyone immediately understood. Those with lightning release all looked eager.
They had been terrified moments ago—but now that they knew clay bombs could be disabled with lightning? Time to settle the score.
"Stupid brat! My art won't stop just because of lightning chakra!"
Enraged, Deidara created multiple spherical clay bombs and dropped them all at once.
Let's see that brat zap them all!
But Tenten was unfazed. She held her crossed blades aloft, lightning arcing from them like a storm goddess.
Zzzzap!
Bolts of lightning danced across the sky, striking every falling bomb. One by one, they fizzled out and dropped harmlessly to the ground.
"All duds," someone whispered.
"Damn you, brat!!"
"I'm not a brat! And my hair's black!"
Tenten shouted back as she poured more lightning into the sky. Thunderclouds gathered even faster now. With a deafening crack, a bolt struck Deidara and his clay bird directly.
Before they could cheer, the charred Deidara crumbled into clay.
He'd already used a clay clone to escape.
(End of Chapter)
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