Chapter 787 : Losses pile on...

“You call those lousy explosions as art? Look there, that is art!”

Deidara looked in the direction Fujin's Wind Clone was pointing in. Deidara squinted and raised an arm to shield his eyes as the intense flare burst in that direction, momentarily forcing him to look away. Moments later, a searing wave of heat washed over him, prickling his skin and making the air around him feel heavy and suffocating.

Deidara tried to look in that direction again as he wondered, ‘What was that explosion? And, why did it release such intense heat waves? Though my explosions are bigger and more destructive, they never release such heat…’

Deidara’s eyes gleamed with admiration as he took in the fiery spectacle before him. The heatwave set fire to the area that was previously untouched by the flames. It rapidly expanded towards the burning fields and intensified the flames even further while triggering a few more explosions! While others would find the scene distasteful or dangerous, Deidara was mesmerized by the swirling heat and vapor. He subconsciously muttered, “Now that is true art…”

“Isn't it? You should go take a closer look.” Fujin's clone casually said. Deidara subconsciously nodded when he suddenly realized, ‘Wait, what did he mea…?’

His eyes widened as an intense wind current formed behind him and hit him and the clay bird he was standing on! Both were dragged along by the wind current. The clay bird couldn't endure such pressure and exploded, hurling Deidara towards the ground even faster. As he tried to stabilize himself, he wondered, ‘What the hell? Why didn't I sense that attack?’

The answer was rather simple. The clone's attack simply lacked the intent to kill or even hurt Deidara. Though Deidara was very young, he was still someone who the Akatsuki considered worthy enough to recruit to their ranks. If the clone had tried to sneak attack with wind blades or air bullets, Deidara would have instinctively felt it and dodged despite being so close and distracted.

Fujin's clone wouldn't look down on Deidara to that extent. What he did was quite similar to how Naruto pushed Shikamaru into the arena, except that it was a wind current instead of a simple push. Without his instincts warning him, Deidara simply failed to react quickly enough.

——

On the ground, Sasori hid behind an iron dome to protect himself from the scorching heat. He thought, ‘That was close! I didn't think he'd leave that dome or know Pakura's Kekkei Genkai. Hiroku's puppet stood no chance against that attack. In fact, my core could have been hurt as well due to the invasive nature of the Scorch Release. Hmm?’

Sasori noticed that the temperature inside the Iron Dome was heating up. However, he didn't find it too strange. Even though the iron particles stuck together closely, they couldn't block the heat completely. Once the heat from the jutsu dispersed, the pressure on the dome would ease too. Yet, Sasori suddenly felt uneasy. He wondered, ‘Did I miss something?’

He quickly analyzed his situation when he suddenly realized a terrifying possibility. The iron dome moved, creating a path behind him from where Sasori immediately escaped along with the Third Kazekage's puppet. His eyes immediately noticed the terrifying possibility he saw was not just a possibility but a reality!

The winds that formed the Wind Domain were moving. Had Sasori stayed inside the Iron Dome for a couple of seconds more, he'd be trapped inside Fujin's Wind Domain! While he wasn't sure whether Fujin could kill him, he did not doubt that Fujin would steal most of his puppets irrespective of the result of their battle. That said, his new position wasn't safe either. He and the puppet were bombarded with Air Bullets and Wind Blades. Luckily, he could still control the iron sand to block or divert the deadly attacks.

Sasori blocked and dodged all of Fujin's attacks. Just when he finally caught a breather, Deidara crashed next to him. He quickly got on his feet and cursed, “That bastard! I'll get him next time!”

Both Fujin and Sasori were left speechless by his little outrage. Sasori looked at his partner in disbelief as he wondered, ‘Is he cursing his Wind Clone instead of the one who sent it after him? How does he plan on finding his Wind Clone the next time? Will he ask Fujin to create one for him?’

Sasori stopped thinking about his partner's idiosyncrasies when Fujin suddenly laughed loudly and said, “Great that you are finally here, Deidara! Help me kill him!”

Fujin's words caught both the Akatsuki members off guard. Sasori raised his guard against both Fujin and Deidara while Deidara wondered, ‘When did I say I'll betray Akatsuki?’

Before either of them could figure out what was happening, dense vacuum cores started forming at Fujin's fingertips! He was about to attack when he suddenly felt something off and raised his guard.

——

“What sort of perverted Kekkei Genkai is this? This freak killed 16 of our comrades by himself!” A disgruntled Kumogakure Chunin spoke as he took his anger out on Kimimaro's dead body!

After Orochimaru left, Kimimaro stopped holding back and went all out with no regard for his own life. While the experienced ninjas recognized that he was a survivor of the Kaguya clan, none of them imagined Kimimaro to be so fearsome. His sudden outburst had caught the Kumogakure ninjas off guard and 16 ninjas died before Darui and Yugito could contain him. In fact, Darui, Yugito, C and Samui had scars on their bodies as well. Even though he was finally killed, none of them was pleased.

Darui sighed and muttered, “It's almost as if we're cursed. Ever since that expedition Boss started, our ninjas continue to fall…”
He sighed again and said sorrowfully while looking at the bodies of his dead comrades, “Sorry, I wasn't strong enough to protect you.”

C added, “Sacrifices on the battlefield are inevitable. However, we lost so many ninjas to this sick Kaguya shinobi. If we had captured or killed Orochimaru, it would have been an acceptable sacrifice. Unfortunately…”

Kumo once again had little to show for their loss. This time, Darui's group could at least take solace in the fact that they at least got their hands on the dead body of Kaguya ninja, unlike their previous encounters where they truly returned empty-handed.

——

In the Land of Fire, Itachi and Kisame ran away from Jiraiya just like in the original story. Unlike them, an intense battle raged in the Land of Water. While Mei and Mangetsu locked horns with each other, thousands of other Kiri ninjas battled on various battlefields as well. With neither side showing any signs of backing off, the civil war reached a crucial stage. Whoever wins would get a significant upper hand in the war!

——

In the Land of Rice, Fujin suddenly launched the Vacuum Gatling Gun towards Sasori and Deidara. However, there was one big difference between the way he used it this time as compared to the previous times. Instead of just targeting Sasori, Deidara and their escape routes, the jutsu was wayward. As a result, the Vacuum Bullets covered a much larger area but there were several gaps between them as well.

While Fujin became more famous in Konoha quite recently, his fame had spread outside Konoha long ago. While every major village and almost every minor village studied him closely, there was one organization that focused the highest on him. That was none other than Akatsuki.

While they didn't pay much attention to Team Renjiro's encounter with Kakuzu and Kaminari or to the rumors of the Spectral Swordsman, Fujin killed one of their members during his second encounter with them. Juzo's death made them take Fujin very seriously and they conducted a thorough investigation of him.

Yet, Fujin's abilities surprised them once again when he clashed with Kakuzu for the second time, this time destroying one of his hearts and putting Kakuzu in a difficult spot several times. He also managed to get away successfully from Kakuzu, Konan and Itachi.

So, the Akatsuki members were very well aware of the abilities that Fujin had previously displayed. Therefore, Sasori couldn't help but be surprised, ‘Didn't Kakuzu say that he could only fire one bullet at a time from each finger and fire five rounds in quick succession? The old information has become too unreliable now. Luckily, he has lost his aim while trying to increase their numbers.’

Deidara also observed, ‘So, this is the famous technique of the Spectral Swordsman? Tsk, it is extremely sharp! However, why is he attacking me when he says that he wants to work together with me? Hmm? Weird, though the bullets look like they're heading towards me, none of them will hit me. Could this be his way of saying he wants to cooperate with me? However, why is he so confident that I'll cooperate with him?’

The words and actions of Fujin and his clone left Deidara completely confused. Before his mind could come up with any strange theory, he felt something behind him. While dodging Fujin's attack, they glanced back and saw a sight neither had seen in their lives! Deidara questioned in shock, “What’s that?”