Around Isshiki, Kumo-nin lay scattered across the ground, all killed with a single brutal blow judging by their wounds.
"You foolish mortals crawling on the ground, I'm surprised you actually found this place." Isshiki held Ay by the throat with one hand, speaking slowly. "But this is as far as you go."
Ay's strength still lagged significantly behind Isshiki's.
A lone Raikage, heavily injured and missing an arm, stood absolutely no chance against Isshiki.
"Damn disciple of Uchiha Madara." Ay choked out the words, still glaring hatefully. "Where have you hidden my brother?"
"Madara? I don't know what you're talking about." Isshiki sounded genuinely puzzled, but lost interest in continuing the conversation. With a crisp *crack*, he decisively snapped Ay's neck.
Isshiki examined his palm, where several faint blood marks remained.
These were minor injuries from his brief exchange with Ay.
'This body's potential is truly abysmal, it can't even unleash one percent of my power. To think I'd be wounded by such lowly creatures.'
Large sections of the massive underground city had already been destroyed. Many researchers had died in the fighting, alongside numerous android corpses that were wrecked before ever being activated.
That was the primary problem with androids, they were far too fragile when inactive.
"It seems this base is no longer usable. Time to find a new one."
"I'll also need new collaborators. Otsutsuki clan technology is simply too advanced for the humans on this primitive planet."
Thinking this, Isshiki approached the entrance to the largest laboratory. As long as this lab remained intact, that was what mattered, it housed the most essential data and the most powerful androids.
Just as he reached for the door, Isshiki vanished without warning, reappearing dozens of meters away.
"Hah!"
"Art is an Explosion!"
A clear shout came from inside the door, followed instantly by the door exploding.
*BOOM!!!*
With a deafening roar, the entire laboratory was engulfed in flames.
"Ahahahaha... So exciting!" A blond man with a single ponytail emerged slowly from the flaming doorway, several other figures following closely behind him.
"Hey, Deidara. Be careful not to collapse the whole place." A spiky-haired man carrying a scythe complained loudly. "Don't forget we're underground. I don't want to be buried alive."
"If we didn't blow it up, how would we get through? Use your clumsy scythe? I'm afraid we'd still be waiting to get here by New Year's!"
Deidara retorted sharply, ignoring Hidan, who looked ready to fight him. "But this place is pretty fun, lots of novel things you don't see outside."
"Hmm." Sasori, piloting Hiruko, unusually agreed with Deidara. "Those mechanical dolls gave me plenty of ideas. I might try developing some new puppets when we get back."
The mechanical dolls Sasori mentioned were the base's advanced androids.
The Kumo-nin attack had been too sudden, and the personnel activating the androids were just ordinary staff. Most androids were destroyed before ever being activated.
Sasori had conveniently collected quite a few precious materials.
"Too bad there's nothing valuable here. The highest bounty is only 50,000 ryo. This trip was a massive loss." Kakuzu expressed clear dissatisfaction.
Isshiki watched the Akatsuki members, his eyes turning entirely cold.
'All the manpower I worked so hard to gather...'
Deidara finally noticed Isshiki's presence. After looking him up and down, he pointed and said, "Wow, this is the leader of the organization Naruto mentioned? Doesn't look very strong."
"To deal with him, even the leader's real body came out. He's all dried up without a single muscle on him."
"I think I can handle this completely alone."
"Later, I'll show him what true art looks like!"
Deidara kept chattering nonstop like he'd opened a floodgate.
"Let me check." Kakuzu immediately pulled out the booklet he always carried, wet his finger with spit, and started flipping through it. A moment later, he looked thoroughly disappointed. "Not worth much."
The group commented freely about Isshiki, but Sasori alone watched him warily, his gaze fixed on the Fourth Raikage lying at Isshiki's feet. "Shut up, Deidara. Everyone be careful, he took down the Fourth Raikage."
"You mean that old guy lying on the ground is a Raikage, on the exact same level as Old Man Onoki?" Deidara was startled into silence and quietly moved behind Sasori. "And he got taken out that easily?"
In terms of elemental counters, Lightning Release was the biggest weakness of his explosive techniques. His meticulously crafted bombs would fizzle out the moment they touched lightning.
Not everyone was afraid, though.
"The Fourth Raikage's bounty..." Kakuzu pulled out his booklet again and started flipping. Then his beady eyes turned completely red. "Worth a full six hundred million ryo."
"We're making bank, huge money."
"If we offer such a strong opponent to Lord Jashin, he should be pretty pleased, right?" Hidan stared at Isshiki with ill intent, licking the corner of his mouth hungrily.
"Is this guy our target?" Nagato, his hood up, also studied Isshiki suspiciously, sizing him up repeatedly. To his Rinnegan eyes, the man seemed completely ordinary.
If nothing else, Isshiki's ability to conceal his presence was truly impressive.
"This will be extremely difficult," Sasuke said seriously. "Naruto mentioned before that if we aren't careful, we could be wiped out here."
"Our job is to stall until he arrives."
"No way, no way." Deidara pointed at Isshiki in disbelief. "This guy is that strong?"
"Stall until Naruto gets here? For an intern like him to look down on us official members like that..."
Maybe angered by the taunts of these ants before him, or furious about the base he'd painstakingly built being completely destroyed, dark, unique patterns surfaced across Isshiki's face.
Karma State One, Isshiki's combat form.
In that instant, the more perceptive members of the Akatsuki tensed up and shifted into battle stances.
"Everyone, watch out, " Nagato sensed the dangerous shift immediately and called out a warning.
No sooner had he spoken than Isshiki's figure appeared right among the Akatsuki. He launched a flying kick straight at Kisame.
Kisame couldn't react in time, but as a taijutsu specialist, his muscles and nerves moved on reflex even if his mind lagged. He instinctively swung Samehada up to block.
The next moment, an overwhelming force slammed into the sword. Kisame was sent flying, weapon and all, blood spraying from his mouth into the air.
After landing his strike, Isshiki didn't stop. He launched a rapid series of kicks at the other Akatsuki on the scene. Hidan, Kakuzu, and even Sasori were kicked away before they could properly react.
Aside from Sasori, the other two coughed up blood, clearly injured badly.
Only Konan transformed her body into countless sheets of paper, evading the swift attack.
By the time Isshiki turned to attack Deidara, Nagato had just reacted. Without a word, the Deva Path raised his right hand and aimed at Isshiki,
"Almighty Push!"
===============
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