Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 328 Deidara's Final Explosion

Above the battlefield, Deidara's mount had changed to a clay dragon.

The clay bird he had been riding was destroyed by the Third Tsuchikage's [Earth Release: Rock Shot Combo].

This is the price he paid for constantly getting closer to Onoki and frequently harassing him.

But Deidara was still smiling happily, because under his cover, the Sky Ninja successfully completed the bombing mission, blasting the Iwagakure ninja on the ground to smithereens.

Although Deidara was unable to participate in the bombing or even try a formation dive bombing due to the interference of the Third Tsuchikage, he was still very happy that he could make the old man furious.

Why do you have to be so controlling of me!

Having completed the bombing and discarded all explosives and detonating tags, the air ninja, now completely incapacitated, began their return flight.

Deidara didn't plan to continue playing with the old man here.

After all, Onoki's eyes were already bloodshot. If he really angered the Tsuchikage and used [Dust Release: Particle Style] on him, it could really be fatal.

But before leaving, Deidara couldn't help but shout, "Old man, now you understand the principle that speed is king in aerial combat, right?!"

"Don't chase me anymore. I'm not going back to Iwagakure."

"Huh?" Deidara suddenly looked up at the golden flash in the sky. "What is that? Such a strong and strange chakra fluctuation. Is it some kind of forbidden technique?"

Ōnoki followed Deidara's gaze and turned to look, also seeing the dazzling golden light. He didn't recognize the aura of Shaza when he flew, but he recognized the Fifth Hokage's chakra fluctuations.

That was fundamentally different, as if it were a chakra unique to the Fifth Hokage.

Upon recognizing the Fifth Hokage, Onoki's expression changed drastically. He abruptly turned to Deidara and shouted, "Run!!"

Onoki's voice was filled with worry for Deidara's life and fear of his own powerlessness, which shocked Deidara like never before.

The Third Tsuchikage's helpless smugness vanished instantly, and as his clear consciousness returned, he sensed a terrifying approach. The malice emanating from the superior being plunged Deidara into an icy abyss.

Ugly as it was, the round, bulging clay dragon flapped its wings with all its might and flew at top speed.

Deidara poured all his chakra into the dragon's body, desperately increasing his speed in an attempt to escape the pursuit of death.

However, Shazor's flight technique comes from the Saiyan Shazor, and his speed is so fast that he can circle a planet in ten hours, a speed that cannot be achieved by flying with wings.

By the time they saw Xia Zuo's golden aura as he flew, it was already too late.

Just as Deidara reached his maximum speed, a golden streak of flame flashed past him.

Xia Zuo was so fast that he couldn't even make out a human figure when he arrived, but he still managed to leave a message at extremely high speeds.

"So you're the explosive Deidara the blonde, huh? I'll deal with you later."

Deidara stared wide-eyed, looking somewhat bewildered as the flames shot towards the distant horizon, catching up with the retreating Sky Ninja. Then, a blinding white light bathed the world in pure white.

Even when Deidara subconsciously closed his eyes and shielded them with his arms, he could still "see" the light shining through his clothes, skin, muscles, and eyelids.

The light, tinged with the red of blood, instilled in him an unprecedented fear.

As the light gradually faded, Deidara opened his tearful eyes and vaguely saw an unprecedentedly large fireball, enough to engulf hundreds of Sky Ninja.

Around the fireball, a white shockwave was "slowly" expanding, gradually widening and fading.

Deidara, who frequently caused explosions, naturally recognized it as a shockwave from an explosion, but he had never seen such a massive shockwave before.

The white shockwave struck the mountain peak, and the slender peak immediately tilted in the direction of the shockwave.

The shockwave struck the ground, causing the earth to sink instantly. Countless cracks appeared and closed in an instant, and everything on the ground was crushed into powder, turning into dust that rose up and obscured the shape of the ground.

Just as Deidara was trying to see the changes on the ground, the shockwave that was "slowly" approaching suddenly seemed to speed up as it got closer, sweeping past him with lightning speed.

Deidara felt a buzzing in his head, as if he had briefly lost consciousness, so much so that he didn't realize the clay dragon beneath his feet had disappeared when he was falling.

Deidara took a lump of clay from his damaged ninja tool pouch and quickly sculpted it into a large clay bird. He then took flight again and had time to survey his surroundings.

Then he saw the Third Tsuchikage, whose clothes, hair, and beard were all disheveled. He saw his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn't hear anything.

Deidara then realized that he had gone deaf and could no longer hear.

He endured the pain in his head and used lip reading to decipher that Onoki was saying "Run" and "Escape for your life," and that he was repeating them over and over.

Deidara's buzzing head finally cleared under the stimulation of fear, and he did not hesitate to steer the clay bird downwards.

The Fifth Hokage's explosion was truly terrifying; fighting was absolutely impossible, and escape was the only option.

He also experienced the Fifth Hokage's flying speed firsthand, realizing that escaping through the air was absolutely impossible.

The only possible escape is on the ground, using the relatively complex terrain of the Land of Iron and the large number of Allied Shinobi Forces ninjas nearby as cover.

As an outstanding genius of Iwagakure, Deidara was naturally skilled in Earth Release ninjutsu. As long as he could touch the ground, he could use Earth Release: Iwagakure Technique or Earth Release: Earth Submarine to enter underground.

By then, even the Fifth Hokage would likely be unable to turn the land upside down, allowing him to escape safely.

What Deidara didn't expect was that as he flew downwards, he suddenly felt gravity again because he was in a state of weightlessness due to the dive.

Earth Release: Super Heavy Rock Technique

This is the Third Tsuchikage's unique technique, the ninjutsu that Onoki had tried to use on him but failed repeatedly.

But the sudden success at this moment caused him to fall even faster.

This makes Onoki's intentions clear: he wants to help Deidara reach the ground as soon as possible so that he can escape using the earth as cover.

At the same time, the Third Tsuchikage could tell the Fifth Hokage that his goal was to accelerate Deidara's descent, causing him to fail to land and die from the crash.

Although the Fifth Hokage certainly wouldn't believe it, with an excuse, he wouldn't make things difficult for a 79-year-old man.

The other three young and strong figures are still watching.

"Hmph, I always thought you were a cunning and shrewd politician, but I never expected you to be such a kind-hearted old rascal, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki."

The Fifth Hokage, Natsume, appeared on Onoki's stone without his knowledge. He crouched down, pressed his ear close to Onoki's, and whispered, "Risking the risk of offending me, you put Iwagakure on the gambling table, just to save your prized disciple—"

"Well done!"

"I have to say, you're very lucky; you won your gamble."

"I admire your courage, your madness, and your tenderness."

"So I'm giving you and Deidara a chance; I won't stop him until he goes underground."

"But you have to leave now and obediently return to the front-line command post."

Xia Zuo stood up and said solemnly, "Remember, this is the last time."

From the moment Onoki heard Natsu's voice, his body trembled uncontrollably, and cold sweat poured out, quickly soaking his eyebrows, beard, and clothes.

Upon hearing Xia Zuo tell him to leave, Onoki immediately complied without the slightest hesitation.

He has already pushed himself to the limit for Deidara's sake; continuing would be irresponsible to Iwagakure and the 30,000 Iwagakure ninja.

Onoki wasn't just Deidara's teacher; after all, he was also the Third Tsuchikage.

Shazo kept his promise, letting Deidara crash into the ground at high speed and disappear into the dust and smoke caused by the impact.

He then waited another ten seconds, giving the bombarded Iwagakure ninja time to react and allowing them time to use Earth Release to build defensive fortifications.

When the time came, Xia Zuo clasped his hands together, and a small black sphere appeared in his palm.

【Nuclear Escape - Sunspots】

As Xia Zuo's strength continued to improve, this nuclear escape technique that created the "Loulan Explosion" no longer needed a dazzling stage and could appear in the form of a black flare from the very beginning.

As Xia Zuo separated his hands, the black flare in his palms instantly magnified and moved to the ground, burrowing deep into the earth.

Just as nuclear weapons continue to advance, shifting from pursuing pure power enhancement to functionality, Xia Zuo has also conducted in-depth development of the technique [Nuclear Release: Sunspot].

The current [Nuclear Release: Sunspot] is no longer the technique that was simply a massive emission of light and heat without any fancy moves.

Xia Zuo was able to control the specific effects of this technique, tilting it in four directions: heat release, light release, strong radiation, and strong electromagnetic field.

This time, he chose superheating.

Just one second after the black flare sank into the ground, the earth suddenly bulged up into a huge mound, more than 10 kilometers long and wide, with a fan-shaped structure.

A stream of red magma shot out from the hole created by the solar flare, like a red fountain.

Then, huge, continuous cracks appeared on the ground, intersecting to form a network structure.

Then all the cracks began to glow and spew out molten lava, forming flowing lava streams on the ground.

In just over ten seconds, even with Deidara's powerful Earth Release ninjutsu, he couldn't escape the area of ​​the bulge underground.

As the underground area transformed into a massive lava lake due to extreme heat, Deidara was forced to emerge from underground and be exposed to Shazo.

He was submerged in lava for less than a second, but Deidara's appearance had already changed drastically. Not only was his thick head of blond hair burned off, but his clothes were also reduced to tattered pieces, barely covering his vitals.

Deidara's body was covered in scalded blisters, gleaming and trembling, a sight that made one feel pain.

But he paid no attention to his own body; instead, he stared at the earth with fascination, as if he were looking at some unparalleled beauty.

Deidara's lips moved as he muttered to himself, "There's such an explosion? So that's the detonation method. But how was it done?"

"The Loulan Explosion is an evolution of the Loulan Explosion. Although the power of the explosion has decreased, the degree of controllability has been greatly improved, which is nothing short of miraculous."

"I never imagined that 70% of the explosive power could be converted into high heat. It's an incredible miracle."

"How did you do that?"

Deidara wasn't a reckless madman, but he knew that once he was captured by the Fifth Hokage, Natsume, he would have absolutely no chance of survival.

Having lost all hope of survival, he let himself go, spending all his remaining time before death contemplating his beloved explosion.

Now, every problem solved will increase the power slightly in the upcoming final explosion.

As this was the last big explosion of his life, he naturally hoped for the greatest possible power.

Deidara raised his head, stubbornly looking at Xia Zuo in the air, and said in a slightly reverent tone, "Being able to create such a special and powerful explosion, you must be the Fifth Hokage, Lord Xia Zuo."

"Hello, I am your admirer. My name is Deidara, from Iwagakure, and I currently serve the Akatsuki. I wonder if I would have the honor of a ninja duel with you?"

"The kind of one-on-one duel."

Xia Zuo: "?"

After taking two seconds to process his shock, Xia Zuo finally spoke, asking, "Do you think you're qualified to have a one-on-one ninja duel with me, the Fifth Hokage, Xia Zuo?"

Deidara bluntly replied, "I know I'm no match for you. You could probably kill me with a single finger."

"But what I want to compete with you in is the art I'm best at."

"Please judge for yourself how far my art has reached!"

With a maniacal grin, Deidara swept away the tattered clothes from his chest, found and tore off the seal that bound his chest, revealing his gaping maw that could give anyone nightmares.

He tore off the sealing line with his left hand, and immediately stuffed a large clump of explosive clay into his mouth with his right hand. As the last of the clay was swallowed, Deidara's strongest and most terrifying technique was ready.

Deidara couldn't help but burst into wild laughter: "Please, Great Fifth Hokage, witness my ultimate art! This massive explosion will erase everything within a five-kilometer radius, and my art will be elevated to its highest level—"

His body began to become transparent, revealing blood vessels and other internal structures, but the most conspicuous feature was the meridians that were flowing with increasingly frenzied chakra.

Deidara gradually lost sensation in his body, eventually only able to feel anything above his neck. In his final moments, he said with gratitude, "Thank you for your leniency, which gave me time to prepare my technique."

97

"It is my greatest honor to be able to self-destruct in front of the Fifth Hokage."

Deidara's body rapidly turned black, the blackness emitting a glow, and a terrifying explosion was brewing to its limit.

【CO·Self-Destruction】

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