On the other side of Konoha's outskirts, Deidara was facing off against Tsunade.
"C2 Enhanced Type: Mighty Ants!" Deidara chewed out two clay ants, which charged at Tsunade from both sides.
"These things again! They're useless against me this time!" Tsunade showed no fear, dashing toward the ant on her left.
"Ha!" With a shout, her pale fist, imbued with immense strength, collided with the ant's punch, sending it staggering backward.
The ground beneath them cracked and shattered, debris flying everywhere, a testament to the sheer power of their clash.
"Ha!" Another punch from Tsunade sent the second ant attacking from the side retreating as well.
Despite being outnumbered two to one, Tsunade held her ground effortlessly.
Deidara was secretly shocked. The last time, Tsunade had to release her Yin Seal to defeat his Mighty Ants. But now, even in her normal state, she was overpowering them.
If that's the case, I'll have to rely on the art of explosions to win.
"Take this!"
One of the Mighty Ants was detonated by Deidara. Caught off guard, Tsunade was engulfed in the fiery explosion.
However, in the next instant, she burst out from the flames. Though her skin bore significant burns, they healed rapidly without her needing to use any medical ninjutsu.
"If that's all you've got, you're dead today!" Tsunade shouted at Deidara, who hovered in the sky.
"Tsunade-chan, anyone can talk big, but I'm up here, and you can't even touch me," Deidara teased with a smirk, pulling out a large chunk of clay and chewing on it.
"Tch!"
"This brat!" Tsunade trembled with anger, releasing her Yin Seal. The massive chakra stored within her began to flood her body.
She had no intention of wasting time with the remaining white ant on the ground. Gathering a significant amount of chakra in her foot, she stomped down on the other Mighty Ant.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
Crash!
The ant tried to block with its fists, but it was instantly smashed into a pulp, along with the ground beneath it, which turned into a chaotic mess.
After easily dealing with the ant, Tsunade bit her thumb, formed hand seals, and slammed her palm onto the ground. "Summoning Technique!"
Boom!
The smoke this time was particularly massive. As it cleared, a giant, adorable Katsuyu emerged from within.
Looking up at Tsunade standing atop her head, Katsuyu spoke in a gentle yet slightly surprised tone, "Lady Tsunade, you've managed to summon one-tenth of me."
Though one-tenth might not sound impressive, even at this fraction, Katsuyu's size rivaled that of Deidara's Flesh Colossus.
In terms of sheer size, Katsuyu of the Shikkotsu Forest was arguably the largest creature in the ninja world, even surpassing the Ten-Tails.
"Katsuyu, now's not the time to discuss this. Our target is that enemy in the sky," Tsunade said, seemingly reluctant to delve into the reasons behind her newfound strength.
"That person up there?"
"For Lady Tsunade to take such precautions, he must be quite formidable," Katsuyu said, turning her gaze to Deidara in the sky.
At that moment, Deidara stopped chewing and looked surprised. "Tsunade, it just so happens that I've got a Katsuyu of my own."
"Let's see whose is stronger."
"C3 Enhanced Type: Katsuyu!"
Boom!
A massive clay Katsuyu crashed to the ground, causing the earth to quake. This wasn't the C2-level Katsuyu from before; it had been upgraded to C3-level.
"Shock Value from Tsunade +3000" "Shock Value from Katsuyu +3000"
"Just like me, Lady Tsunade, what is that thing?" Katsuyu's tentacles waved as she spoke in a puzzled tone.
"Be careful. The enemy's creations can all explode, and the larger they are, the more powerful the explosion," Tsunade explained.
"If we want to prevent the enemy from using such devastating explosions, there's only one way: force them into the blast radius themselves. That way, they'll hesitate to detonate it, as they'd blow themselves up too."
"I understand. Leave it to me," Katsuyu replied. She opened her mouth and spat a large amount of acid toward the sky.
"Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid!"
Though Katsuyu was primarily a healing and support-type summoning beast, as one of the three great sages alongside the Great Toad Sage and the White Snake Sage, she had her own offensive techniques.
The acid she spat was one such technique. Don't be fooled by how effortlessly she used it; its corrosive power far surpassed Mei Terumī's Lava Release.
Sizzle!
Deidara underestimated his opponent. He created a clay shield, thinking it would suffice. However, the shield dissolved rapidly upon contact with Katsuyu's acid, dripping onto Deidara's body.
Although he quickly used Clayification to protect himself, the sensation of his body being corroded and pitted was deeply unpleasant.
Deidara hurriedly retreated into the body of his clay Katsuyu, using its clay to patch up the corroded parts of his body.
But Tsunade wasn't about to let such an opportunity slip by.
"Ha!" With a shout, she leapt into the air, her chakra-enhanced fist slamming down on the head of the clay Katsuyu.
With Tsunade's fist as the epicenter, large sections of the clay Katsuyu began to crumble under the force of her punch. To prevent further damage, the clay Katsuyu quickly disintegrated into countless smaller Katsuyus, scattering in all directions.
"Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid!" Katsuyu spat another stream of acid, attempting to inflict as much damage as possible on the counterfeit Katsuyu.
But Deidara wasn't about to let that happen.
"C2 Special Type: Clay Myriad Snake Hands!"
This was an advanced version of Clay Serpent Hands. Deidara extended his right hand, the mouth in his palm opening wide. Dozens of clay snakes slithered out, and each of these snakes opened their mouths to release even more clay snakes.
In an instant, the number of snakes reached the thousands.
"Take this!"
Boom!
The massive explosion generated shockwaves and intense heat, blocking Katsuyu's acid and obscuring the battlefield in flames. This also gave Deidara a brief moment to catch his breath.
But the appearance of a figure told him that he had miscalculated once again.
Tsunade had charged straight through the explosion. With the Creation Rebirth technique enhancing her, her injuries healed rapidly. By the time her fist was about to hit Deidara, her once gruesome wounds had already fully recovered.
This might be the only consolation for Deidara—being punched by a smooth, unscarred fist was certainly better than being struck by a horrifyingly burned one.
"You brat!"
"I've been waiting for this punch for a long time!" Tsunade growled through clenched teeth as she sent Deidara crashing to the ground with a single punch.
"Impressive, but regular physical attacks don't work on me, sis!" Deidara's voice came from below. Despite his head being smashed flat by Tsunade's punch, he had used Clayification in time, avoiding serious harm.
"Dammit! Just die already!" Tsunade roared in fury, unleashing dozens of punches in an instant. Each punch carried the force to shatter mountains, reducing Deidara into a pile of clay.
But the clay pile slowly dissolved, vanishing into thin air.
Where is he? Where did he go?
Tsunade stood there, puzzled.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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