Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

However, when Deidara thought about the fact that Sasuke was facing Sasori, who was also an artist, he suddenly felt that his regret had lessened considerably.

Deidara's thoughts involuntarily turned to Sasuke and Sasori on the other side of the battlefield.

But soon, he lost all interest in thinking about anything else.

Naruto, who was originally bound and entangled by the white centipede, suddenly turned into a wisp of white smoke!

Deidara stared in astonishment at this sudden turn of events.

Shadow clones?!

impossible!

Deidara can guarantee that Naruto will always be the same person!

unless--

Deidara's confusion was soon answered by himself.

Unless the Naruto who appeared in front of him in the first place was a shadow clone!

Damn it!

Deidara felt that his art was being disregarded by Naruto.

Where is the real Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, who has absolutely no artistic talent?!

Deidara looked around, trying to find the real Naruto.

The next moment, Naruto, whom Deidara had been searching for, burst out of the ground at his feet.

Deidara instinctively wanted to shout to detonate the centipede clay.

But he quickly realized that he was also within the blast radius.

Deidara's previous caution has now become his own undoing!

It was this hesitation that allowed Naruto's attack to hit Deidara.

Deidara wouldn't mistake the chakra nature transformation of Naruto's ninjutsu.

—It's lightning release.

Chapter 47 Escape Technique

Naruto straightened and brought his five fingers together, transforming them into a hand blade, which was then enveloped by a lightning bolt.

The Lightning Release stimulated the cells in Naruto's entire arm as he attacked, allowing Naruto's hand blade to easily pierce through Deidara's left chest from behind at a speed that surpassed Deidara's reaction time.

Naruto's Lightning Release Hand Chop is not a well-known ninjutsu; it is simply a taijutsu that amplifies the damage effect of taijutsu by utilizing the penetrating nature of lightning.

A hand strike pierced Deidara's chest, while lightning release ravaged his body through the wound, disrupting the chakra pathways through which Deidara transported chakra.

Naruto's hand, which had been cleaving Deidara's chest, changed from a chop to a grip, but what Naruto took from Deidara's chest was not Deidara's heart.

It was a large, fat tongue.

In the original work, Deidara would swallow the explosive clay into his chest and then unleash Deidara's ultimate explosion art—CO Self-Destruction.

Naruto had been trying to prevent Deidara from using this ninjutsu.

"It seems your art has fizzled out."

Naruto loosened his clenched fingers, and Deidara's tongue, which was hidden in his chest, was carelessly tossed onto the ground like dirt.

"You can even use Lightning Release..."

Sensing Naruto's strong presence whispering behind him, Deidara coughed up the blood that was blocking his trachea before speaking slowly and with difficulty.

Earth Release and Wind Release, I never expected Naruto could also use Lightning Release.

Of the seven chakra natures, excluding the special Yin and Yang natures which require separate treatment, the remaining five chakra natures constitute the various ninjutsu of ninjas in the ninja world.

Naruto actually displayed three of the five elemental jutsu—fire, wind, earth, lightning, and water—right in front of Deidara.

Most of the Jonin, who form the backbone of the ninja village, may not be able to master all three types of ninjutsu.

Although mastering multiple chakra natures is very difficult, in the ninja world, apart from the chakra nature that is most compatible with the ninja's birth, the chakra natures that ninjas do not originally possess can be mastered through training.

Although Deidara was surprised that Naruto was so proficient in multiple ninjutsu at his age, he didn't think it was worth paying too much attention to.

There are many ninjas who have mastered several chakra nature transformations.

Deidara was even more shocked by the timing of Naruto's use of Lightning Release.

"You know the weaknesses of my art. Was the previous wind technique a setup you devised to lower my guard?"

Deidara managed to finish his sentence before he couldn't help coughing again.

He had just cleared his congested trachea when new thick blood gushed from his lungs.

This is because Deidara's lungs were also pierced by Naruto's Lightning Release hand slash.

"When... exactly did you realize it?"

But more than the physical pain, Deidara was concerned about when his ninjutsu information had been leaked to Naruto.

The explosive clay he sculpted into the shape of a giant white bird was indeed initially severed by Sasuke's Lightning Release ninjutsu, Chidori Sharp Spear.

At that time, everyone thought the white giant bird was "cut off" rather than being countered by lightning.

Moreover, Naruto wasn't even present at the time, and Sasuke didn't have time to exchange information with Naruto.

This feeling is like Naruto knowing from the beginning that Deidara's "art" was in its purest and most original state.

Naruto ignored Deidara's surprise. His hand, which had been used to unleash a lightning chop, was still piercing Deidara's chest, and he continued to restrain Deidara with lightning.

His other hand was always ready to form a hand seal.

To prevent Deidara from having any unknown means to fight back in this seemingly hopeless situation.

Naruto kept his eyes fixed on Deidara's waning life force, quietly awaiting Deidara's death.

The death of the loser is but a fleeting moment in the eyes of the victor.

But losers always feel that their death is very long, especially arrogant young men like Deidara who are full of pride in their art.

He was not afraid of his own death, otherwise he would not have chosen "self-destruction" as his trump card.

What Deidara feared was his own lack of awareness of the flaws in his art!

Naruto's silence made Deidara anxious.

He's about to die, but where exactly is the imperfection or flaw in his art?

"Speaking of which, that guy from the Uchiha clan who's good at Fire Release, Sasuke Uchiha, also uses Lightning Release... Before you and he defected from Konoha, you were both students of Kakashi Hatake..."

Deidara turned to look at Naruto and began to speculate to himself, "Using clones to gather intelligence and lure the enemy, while the main body hides underground using Earth Release to wait for the right moment, and then emerges from underground at the crucial moment to use Lightning Release to defeat the enemy—your fighting style is really similar to Kakashi Hatake!"

As a ninja who rose to fame at a young age during the Third Shinobi World War, the son of Konoha's White Fang, the only surviving disciple of the Fourth Hokage, and a Sharingan user outside the Uchiha clan...

Kakashi's various identities and experiences are too dazzling, and his fighting style has long been known very well.

Before Naruto defected, the Jonin who was the instructor of Team 7 of Konoha was Kakashi Hatake.

It's not surprising that Deidara would make such a speculation.

"You two actually had no idea about the weaknesses of my art; it was just a coincidence that you both used Lightning Release! Right!"

Deidara's eyes widened, unwilling to miss even the slightest change in Naruto's expression after hearing his speculation.

Let's assume you're right.

Naruto readily admitted the "accuracy" of Deidara's prediction.

However, Deidara, a person as proud as Naruto, instantly detected the lie in Naruto's nonchalant tone of admission.

"Damn it! What on earth did you do—!!"

Not only does he lack artistic talent, but he also belittles art in this way. In Deidara's eyes, Naruto is the kind of person with the worst personality and the least likable personality.

Deidara angrily prepared to accuse Naruto.

But the words he uttered with a ferocious roar were abruptly cut off.

Naruto stared at Deidara, whose eyes were unfocused, and withdrew his hand from Deidara's chest.

Deidara's life force had just been completely exhausted.

he died.

……

A deafening explosion echoed through the forest, reaching the other side of the forest.

Upon hearing the sound of the explosion, Sasuke knew that its power was greater than the explosions he had faced before.

Upon returning to the ground, Sasuke's second stage of the Cursed Seal ended, and he looked up slightly at the source of the explosion.

Although the Sharingan has extremely strong insight, its field of vision is still not much different from that of an ordinary person.

Sasuke could only see a huge cloud of smoke, even from high above, which was still visible from the ground.

Aside from the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan, no one could see what was actually happening inside that cloud of smoke high in the sky.

"It seems your companion is in grave danger, but you don't have time to worry about him."

Sasori's voice came from not far in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke withdrew his gaze and looked at Sasori.

Even after falling from a great height, Scorpion's crouching puppet body remained completely unharmed.

“This ‘Hiruko’ is not such a fragile puppet.”

As if guessing Sasuke's thoughts, Sasori introduced Sasuke to the puppet that concealed his true form.

As she spoke, a huge, scorpion-like iron tail slowly emerged from the Akatsuki robes that covered Hiruko.

Sasori stared at Sasuke and continued, "I don't have the habit of keeping people waiting. I'll take care of you before Deidara gets here—a puppet with the Sharingan, just thinking about it makes me very excited."

“There was a warning in Sunagakure: ‘If you encounter an Uchiha on the battlefield, in a one-on-one situation, don’t even think about fighting, just run away.’”

"But this warning does not apply to puppeteers—because puppeteers are never 'alone'."

"Lord Sasuke! Watch out!"