One day earlier, in the dead of night, two uninvited guests arrived on the outskirts of Sunagakure. For one of them, this trip could technically be called a return to his hometown. The other, however, was busy calculating how best to blow up said hometown of his returning companion.
"Master, Sunagakure should be your hometown, right? But even if that hometown disappeared, it wouldn't really matter, would it? Mm~"
The speaker came with his own built-in levitation ability. Standing atop a white clay bird, he floated less than two meters above the ground.
This young man's way of speaking was somewhat exaggerated and chūnibyō. His overall image carried a dense "Shamate" punk aesthetic and the unmistakable flavor of an overstyled salon pretty boy. He was the former genius of Iwagakure, now a terrorist of the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki: Deidara.
"I have arrangements in place in Sunagakure. The pieces I planted years ago should still be there… but there is one thing you got wrong. We are not invading in 'our' way. I am infiltrating in my way."
"Our objective is to take away the One-Tail's jinchūriki. Whenever possible, we should minimize direct conflict with Sunagakure… and your techniques and methods are far too flashy."
The one answering Deidara was Yagoromo's old acquaintance, Sasori of the Red Sand. His voice came from within the puppet Hiruko, carrying a tone different from his original voice. This Hiruko was also no longer the same as the original Hiruko. For instance, its tail had become two tails, and there were no small number of other changes to its appearance… Either it had undergone major repairs, or it was an entirely newly made model.
After all, the original had been dismantled by someone many years ago. But then again… who was it that dismantled it?
Sasori did not pay the slightest attention to the part of Deidara's words concerning his hometown, because that did not require an answer at all. With his personality, would he care what happened to Sunagakure?
This operation was supposed to be kept as low-profile as possible. In truth, that requirement was not Sasori's own judgment, but a decision made by the organization's leader. He was merely repeating it.
But would that requirement truly be carried out to the end? Even Sasori, the one who had said it, did not care much about this so-called "low-profile" approach.
The members of the Akatsuki were indeed all very powerful. Correspondingly, however, they were also a group of people with extremely strong personalities. You wanted them to fully obey orders and act meticulously according to instructions?
Heh.
"The mission will be completed. That much is certain. But I will only act in my own way."
Deidara glanced down to his lower left at Sasori, who was trudging along alone, and said this.
Sneaking quietly into Sunagakure and then abducting the jinchūriki was not Deidara's style at all. Without question, that was not artistic enough.
Was there anywhere more suitable for Deidara's performance than a great shinobi village like Sunagakure?
"Next, I'm going to let Sunagakure witness my art."
Deidara seemed full of confidence and could hardly wait… Think about it. For a chūnibyō youth like him, someone with an artistic soul, could he possibly feel comfortable without firing off one blast of explosion magic every day?
Absolutely not. His entire body would start suffering from stomach pain.
As for Deidara's statement, Sasori neither agreed nor disagreed. In effect, that counted as tacit approval.
In any case, both of them had sufficient "confidence" in their own strength. They believed that breaking into Sunagakure would not be difficult at all.
But was that really the case? This was one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and it had a tradition of emphasizing elite education.
Among the different members of the Akatsuki, each had their own "traits." Their combat methods and styles were varied, and there were corresponding gaps in strength between them. But in truth, among these ten people, the only one who possessed the military power to instantly pierce through a nation's defenses and paralyze an entire shinobi village was Nagato himself.
Deidara and Sasori were indeed very strong, but they had not reached the level where they could disregard the military might of a great nation.
Before the comparison between the Akatsuki's overall strength and that of the shinobi villages had become clear, making a somewhat hasty move against the One-Tail's jinchūriki carried the risk of alerting the enemy. However, the current situation allowed no delay. Furthermore, as long as their own identities were not exposed, this seemingly reckless decision by the Akatsuki would not actually endanger them, because they were still hidden in the dark.
Even if the mission failed for the time being, it might still create renewed chaos between different villages. And worldwide disorder was undoubtedly favorable to the Akatsuki.
"Then… let the operation begin. Mm~"
Sunagakure was already right before their eyes. Deidara prepared to act. He raised the clay bird beneath his feet, preparing to infiltrate Sunagakure from high altitude.
Sasori, meanwhile, continued walking toward the narrow canyon entrance at his own pace.
According to Deidara's thinking, with his current altitude and the cover of night, infiltrating Sunagakure should be absolutely no problem. After all, no village could possibly have some sort of high-altitude barrier, right?
This was a classic case of long hair, short insight. The boy was still too naive. He should go home and sing "Rainy Season at Seventeen" a few more times to broaden his horizons, because Sunagakure really did have that kind of barrier.
The very instant Deidara intruded into Sunagakure's airspace, the twenty-four-hour rotating Sunagakure barrier detection team immediately received a corresponding response.
"Captain, a large amount of chakra reaction has been detected within the high-altitude barrier space!"
A shinobi reported this in great agitation, looking as though he had just detected radioactive material in his own backyard.
"A large amount?"
Just how large was this large amount? So large that even a nighttime pad could not hold it?
"When did it appear?" the captain immediately asked. Sunagakure seemed to have suffered an intrusion, and this was clearly no ordinary matter.
"It just appeared. It is circling overhead. The chakra reaction is extremely intense, already enough to notify Lord Fourth Kazekage."
"…"
"Then notify him immediately!"
At this moment, Deidara, who was in midair, still did not know that he had already been discovered. He was considering where he should start bombing if he wanted to lure out the jinchūriki as quickly as possible.
This was Little Deidara's trouble, though it would soon turn into Young Deidara's Bizarre Adventure.
"One night, we shall awaken and revel in life; ahead, this beautiful journey leads to an incredible sky…"
"Lighting a candle is difficult, but cursing the darkness is easy… This moment is the dawn of humanity. Mm~"
Art is an explosion. Right now, Deidara had the urge to immediately shout "Katsu!" But not yet. He still needed to restrain himself a little and observe first.
He restrained himself. Unfortunately for him, Sunagakure had no need to restrain itself.
In the middle of the night, the Fourth Kazekage got out of bed while cursing up a storm, then went directly to the barrier detection team. Because the situation was urgent, he even skipped certain details of getting dressed.
"Can we confirm that it is a hostile target?" the Kazekage asked the captain of the detection team.
"We can confirm it. He has been circling at high altitude. It looks like he is searching for something… Should we attack, Lord Kazekage?"
The Kazekage thought for a moment, then said, "Wait. First, immediately summon the advisors and the other captains."
"Understood!"
The Kazekage gathered all of Sunagakure's upper leadership with considerable speed. Only after they had all arrived did he speak in a grave and concise manner.
"I am now informing you of an emergency. At present, Sunagakure has been invaded by an unidentified individual. For now, we have confirmed only one intruder, but we can judge that the enemy possesses a considerable degree of combat power…"
At this moment, the same name surfaced in the minds of everyone present.
But this time, it really was not him.
"However, considering the possibility that the enemy has other combat forces, our first priority is to strengthen defense and conduct searches… Maki, you will handle these arrangements. Everyone else, do not act rashly."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage!"
Maki was not vague in the slightest and immediately went to carry out the order. At a critical moment, this was exactly the attitude the Kazekage needed.
The current Fourth Kazekage was completely different from the Fifth Kazekage of a certain period in terms of control and prestige. Therefore, even when facing the same kind of incident, the mobility and decisiveness Sunagakure displayed at this time were also different.
What the Fourth Kazekage first thought of was the possibility that other enemies existed. To prevent unrest, they had to prepare their defenses properly. As for not allowing the others to act rashly, that was because he was worried there might be spies inside the village. The possibility of enemies coordinating from within and without could not be ignored.
After all the arrangements had been made, the Kazekage finally gave the order everyone had been waiting for.
"Shoot him down."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage!"
The Sunagakure shinobi responsible for taking action thought fiercely to themselves: You dare show off over our heads? Just wait until you capsize.
Deidara, who was flying joyfully and freely overhead, suddenly heard a faint whistling through the air. Immediately afterward, the clay bird beneath his feet was sliced cleanly in half by something. Before he could react, he felt as though his own body had been struck by a battering ram.
At this moment, the eruption of numerous Lightning Release and Fire Release techniques even lit up the sky above Sunagakure. All manner of sharp weapons and blunt weapons were launched by special ninja tools. A giant shuriken flickering with lightning struck Deidara's little bird directly.
Fortunately, the target of the attack was only the bird beneath his feet, not the little bird between his legs. Otherwise, this story would have become far more tragic. Although Deidara was in a rather miserable state now, at least he was only in pain. He would not have to cry.
Quite abruptly, Sunagakure launched a saturation attack against Deidara, who had not been prepared at all.
First, Deidara spiraled up toward the heavens.
Then, he spiraled down toward the ground.
You didn't expect that, did you? Over the years, Sunagakure had put all its skill points into anti-air artillery.
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