"Huhuhu..."
On the roof of the gold exchange, the wind howled. The blond hair on Deidara's forehead was blown aside by the wind, slightly obstructing his sight.
Looking up at the sky, he unconsciously realized that dark clouds had already covered the sky, brewing a heavy rain.
"The old man's movements are too slow. It's going to rain soon!" Deidara ran his fingers through his long hair and muttered in a low voice. However, at that moment, he suddenly felt a strong sense of restraint overwhelming his body. He lost control and froze in place.
"Why?" Deidara's eyes widened in deep surprise as he struggled to control the left hand hidden in his sleeve to complete a hand seal.
"Success!" Just as Deidara finished the seal, two figures leaped onto the roof of the gold exchange, charging at him with sharp blades. With a loud cry, a short sword and a long scythe pierced through Deidara's body from both sides.
"Konoha's ninja?" At that moment, Deidara regained his mobility. Turning to observe his attackers, he realized they were two unfamiliar shinobi. The forehead protectors they wore confirmed their identities.
"S-rank rogue ninja, Iwagakure's Deidara."
"Eliminate on sight!"
A shadow flickered before Deidara's eyes as Nara Shikamaru and Asuma approached. Looking at Deidara, who was seemingly impaled, Asuma took a deep breath and smirked.
"Really?" Deidara glanced around and grinned. His pierced body suddenly crumbled into a pile of white clay, from which more than a dozen clay insects quickly scurried out in all directions.
"A substitution?!"
"It's a clay bomb! Move!"
With sharp eyes, Asuma immediately noticed the white beetles rushing toward them. Holding out a kunai attached to an explosive tag, he grabbed Shikamaru's belt and swiftly retreated.
"Boom!!!"
A deafening explosion followed, causing a large portion of the gold exchange's roof to collapse. Asuma and the others regrouped in the clearing beside the building, forming a defensive circle around Shikamaru as they remained on high alert.
"What happened? Wasn't he caught by Shikamaru's Shadow Binding Technique? How did he still use the Substitution Jutsu?"
Konoha's Gate Guardian, Izumo, pulled out a kunai from his ninja pouch as he watched the explosion unfold.
"Akatsuki's members don't operate by common logic. Be careful—this explosion likely alerted the other one."
"Kotetsu, send a message to the other squads and call for reinforcements!"
Asuma gave a decisive order. Meanwhile, from the smoke on the gold exchange's roof, a four-meter-long clay centipede emerged and crawled rapidly toward them.
"Scatter!" Asuma shouted while dodging, throwing two kunai embedded with explosive tags. The kunai struck the clay centipede's head and midsection before detonating. The explosion severed its head, and its body collapsed in two halves.
"Stay alert! This guy is Iwagakure's Blast Ninja."
"Detonate his explosives before they reach you—otherwise, they'll keep pursuing you."
Asuma repositioned himself in the clearing while Izumo and Kotetsu stood behind him. At the end of their formation was Nara Shikamaru.
"Since the fight began, Deidara hasn't shown himself again. He manipulated us into reacting to his attacks."
"The Puppet Master from Sunagakure should have realized it by now. With just our team, taking on two Akatsuki members is too much."
"If this continues, we'll be wiped out."
"Sensei, we should retreat," Shikamaru analyzed calmly.
Konoha had been tracking Akatsuki for years since Minato had received intelligence from Uzumaki Raiden upon his return from Amegakure. However, Akatsuki had remained active outside the Land of Fire, making it difficult to hunt them down. Recently, though, Konoha had intercepted information about their presence within the country, and even Chiriku, a renowned monk and former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, had been killed by Akatsuki.
To counter this threat, Minato had dispatched six elite Jōnin squads to track and eliminate them. Asuma led one of these teams, with Shikamaru—despite being a Chunin—serving as its strategist.
"Retreat? Under normal circumstances, that would be the best course of action," Asuma admitted.
"But Shikamaru, we're not facing ordinary shinobi. This is Akatsuki."
"If we retreat now, the team will likely be annihilated."
"The gold exchange is surrounded by dense forests. In that terrain, Deidara's explosive techniques will be even harder to detect."
"Running into the woods isn't an option."
Narrowing his eyes, Asuma dismissed the idea of retreating. He valued Shikamaru's intellect, but his lack of experience meant he didn't fully grasp the vast power gap between Akatsuki and regular ninja. Even an elite like Asuma was nowhere near their level.
"Then what do we do? Wait for backup?" Shikamaru asked with a frown.
"Not exactly."
"Information is just that—information. Even what Lord Raiden provided may not reflect the current situation."
"Before reinforcements arrive, we need more accurate intel!"
Asuma brandished his twin trench knives, infusing them with Wind Release chakra.
"Fight?" Shikamaru muttered before preparing to engage.
But Asuma instructed, "Izumo, Kotetsu, protect Shikamaru. Shikamaru, assist me with the Shadow Possession Jutsu."
"I'm going to draw them out."
Asuma flicked his trench knives before swiftly forming hand seals. Upon completion, his chest swelled as he exhaled thick black smoke, flooding the gold exchange.
"Fire Release: Burning Ash!"
Once the black smoke had saturated the building, Asuma gritted his teeth and ignited it.
"Boom!!!"
A violent explosion tore through the structure. Flames erupted from the windows and doors, sending debris flying in all directions.
"Hey, hey, the old man better not have died from that," Deidara muttered, hiding in the nearby forest. Watching the destruction unfold, he worried about Sasori's safety.
After successfully avoiding Asuma's first assault, Deidara had concealed himself in the woods, using a clay centipede to mislead the Konoha ninja into thinking he was still inside the gold exchange.
"The jutsu that restrained me earlier—it must have come from that brat."
"He's being guarded at the back, so he probably lacks defensive jutsu or strong taijutsu."
"I'll take him out first, yeah!"
Deidara crouched, retrieving two clay masses from his ninja pouch, molding them rapidly. Just as he was about to make his next move, a figure leaped from the burning ruins.
The crimson clouds on his robe were tattered, revealing the wooden framework beneath.
As soon as Sasori emerged from the fire, he scanned the surroundings for Deidara. However, instead of spotting his partner, he locked eyes with the Konoha shinobi standing in the clearing.
"Konoha ninja? You bastards did this?"
His voice dripped with fury. He had just stepped out of his hidden chamber, only to be caught in the explosion. If not for his puppet body hidden within Hiruko, he would have perished instantly.
The joy of exchanging money vanished. Now, he sought only vengeance.
"Be careful! This is the Red Scorpion of the Sand, the rogue ninja from Sunagakure."
Asuma saw that his attack had failed to force out Deidara but had instead attracted Sasori. He immediately warned everyone behind him.
"You recognize me? Were you sent after me?"
"That kid Deidara… is he dead?"
Sasori was slightly surprised when he heard Asuma call out his identity. He hadn't seen a trace of Deidara and assumed he had fallen at the hands of these Konoha ninja.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Shikamaru had no interest in small talk. He crouched down, hiding behind Konoha's gate guardians, Izumo and Kotetsu, as his shadow rapidly extended toward Sasori.
At the same time, Asuma locked onto Sasori, channeling chakra into his trench knives before rushing in for an attack.
"This is..."
Sasori immediately noticed the strange shadow creeping toward him. Having spent years in the ninja world, he recognized this as a secret technique of the Nara clan. Without hesitation, he fired a barrage of Senbon needles from his puppet's mouth, densely packed and raining down like a storm. However, his target wasn't Asuma, who was charging at him—it was Nara Shikamaru, who was hiding behind Izumo and Kotetsu.
In any battle, disabling the strategist was the priority. Even though Sasori had never played shogi, he knew what needed to be done.
"Damn it!"
Shikamaru didn't dare be careless in the face of the incoming Senbon barrage. He instantly abandoned his jutsu and bolted to the side. As the team's strategist, he knew the capabilities of Izumo and Kotetsu well and was aware they had no means of defending against this attack. The moment he moved, Izumo and Kotetsu also dashed away, escaping the deadly rain of Senbon.
In that split second, Asuma had already closed the distance. With his trench knives crackling with chakra, he delivered a powerful strike to the side of Sasori's puppet.
"Boom!!!"
With a muffled impact, Asuma's chakra-infused blade left a deep gash over ten centimeters long on Hiruko's face. He had taken advantage of the moment to strike with full force, but his attack only penetrated Hiruko's outer shell, failing to deal significant damage to the puppet itself.
Sasori wasted no time counterattacking. From behind Hiruko, an iron tail lashed out, striking Asuma hard in the chest and sending him flying.
"Asuma!"
Izumo cried out in concern as he saw her sent airborne. He was unaware that a few small clay beetles had burrowed out of the ground and climbed onto his shoes. Simultaneously, tiny holes appeared in the ground near Shikamaru and Kotetsu, and more clay beetles emerged, crawling toward them.
Neither Izumo nor Kotetsu noticed the impending danger. However, Shikamaru, who was already crouching in preparation to use his jutsu, inadvertently spotted the white beetles creeping toward them.
"This is bad!"
"Get out of the way!"
Shikamaru's scalp tingled as he realized what was happening. He immediately leaped away, shouting a warning while flinging a kunai with an explosive tag toward the hole where the beetles were emerging.
"Tch!"
Hidden in the woods, Deidara saw Shikamaru's reaction and knew his ambush had been exposed. Without hesitation, he detonated the clay beetles.
"BOOM!"
A series of violent explosions erupted on the battlefield.
Among the four Konoha ninja, Asuma had already been knocked away by Sasori's attack, and Shikamaru had sensed Deidara's trap in time. However, Izumo and Kotetsu had no chance to react and were caught in the explosion.
"Izumo! Kotetsu!"
Shikamaru's heart clenched as he turned toward the blast site. The ground was charred black, the bloodied remains of the explosion mixing with the scorched earth.
Not far from the blast, Izumo and Kotetsu lay unconscious, their legs blown off. Blood gushed from their wounds—without immediate medical attention, death was imminent.
"Damn it! Show yourself!"
The severe injuries of his teammates hit Shikamaru like a dagger to the chest. Since becoming a Chunin, he had never encountered such devastation. Even someone as calm and rational as him couldn't suppress the surge of rage and fear at that moment. Deidara, hidden in the shadows, exerted overwhelming pressure on him.
"Heh… looks like that brat isn't dead yet."
Sasori chuckled, quickly noticing Deidara concealed in the forest. Not far away, Asuma groaned and struggled to his feet, clutching his stomach. Though bruised from the impact, he had managed to block Sasori's iron tail with his trench knives, preventing any serious injury.
Out of the corner of his eye, Asuma spotted Izumo and Kotetsu lying on the ground, unresponsive. His expression darkened instantly.
"Damn it."
He muttered a curse under her breath, quickly biting his thumb before forming a series of hand seals. Upon completing them, he pressed his hand against the ground and shouted:
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Boom!"
A thick cloud of smoke erupted from the summoning technique, completely obscuring Asuma from Sasori and Deidara's view.
"Extend, Monkey King!"
From within the dense smoke, Asuma's voice rang out, followed by a long, thin black staff shooting out at breakneck speed toward Sasori. The staff extended so rapidly that Sasori barely had time to react.
In an instant, the black staff pierced straight through Hiruko, sending Sasori flying out of his puppet. The wreckage of Hiruko clattered to the ground, shattered.
"Huh? What the hell was that?"
Deidara, still hiding in the woods, was startled by the sudden turn of events. He momentarily hesitated before shifting his gaze toward the battlefield.
Sasori, now exposed, was no longer encased within Hiruko. Instead, he stood in his true form—a young man with strikingly handsome features, dressed in a black Akatsuki cloak.
Deidara stared in disbelief.
"This guy… he looks just like—"
(End of this chapter.)