"Do other villages welcome guests like this too? So warmly that they burn down their own homes?"
Mirai stared unblinkingly at the pillar of smoke rising from Sunagakure. From this distance, they could even faintly see the flames that had yet to be extinguished.
Rather than asking a question, she was really making a sarcastic comment. After all, she had come here with the mindset of a tourist on a sightseeing trip. Who would have thought that a perfectly good village would suddenly explode just like that? Hopefully, it had not been blown up completely.
But that kind of thought was far too un-shinobi. No matter what, Konoha could hardly be considered Sunagakure's guest. Besides, as a Konoha shinobi, after seeing Sunagakure go up in flames, she should not be hoping that it had not burned completely, but rather that it had burned cleanly to the ground.
"No… but this is also the first time I've seen such an abnormal phenomenon," Yagoromo said.
Burning down one's own home was definitely not a Sunagakure custom. On this point, he could still be certain. After all, he had heard of a Water-Splashing Festival, but never a Fire-Splashing Festival.
However, this matter truly was "abnormal" to Yagoromo. His common sense was that after he entered a village, that village would start smoking, not before he entered… Fine, this was a very insulting and dangerous kind of common sense.
"Sunagakure was probably invaded. And a battle of considerable scale took place. The timing should have been no earlier than last night… In any case, let's go over and take a look first."
In truth, after seeing this situation, Yagoromo already had a vague guess in his heart. At this point in time, who else besides him would be capable of doing something like invading someone else's village? It was not hard to guess.
No matter what, though, it was a rather bold move.
The battle last night had begun with Deidara, tearfully carrying the blame, being violently beaten down from midair. What followed was an even more miserable encirclement… A shinobi of Deidara's strength certainly would not die from a fall. Forget everything else; just by using his special Explosive Clay to make some little thing, he would have enough of a foothold to cushion himself as he fell.
In order to avoid falling into a heavy encirclement, Deidara tried to take off a second time after hitting the ground. But the result was…
He was shot down a second time.
This could be considered Sunagakure learning wisdom from bitter experience. Ever since Yagoromo's invasion, they had already decided to turn the village into a fortress of iron walls. Any flying chicken with bombing intentions could be shot down.
But whether in the air or on the ground, Deidara still posed a sufficient threat. His techniques were most suitable for dealing with large, clustered groups of targets. And so, throughout Sunagakure, the sounds of "Katsu!" and more "Katsu!" continuously rang out, while explosions and firelight gradually spread across the entire village.
When it came to this sort of demolition work, Deidara was even smoother at it than Yagoromo. The only problem was that this situation already meant, in practical terms, that the operation to seize the One-Tail's jinchūriki had failed… Forcing a direct fight against a prepared and fully mobilized great shinobi village was something even Yagoromo would have to carefully weigh, let alone Deidara.
Forget anything else. Just the Fourth Kazekage, Chiyo, and Ebizō were already enough to give this two-man team a hard time.
Therefore, while preserving himself as much as possible, getting out of Sunagakure at the fastest speed was what Deidara ought to be considering.
But this was undoubtedly extremely difficult. Sunagakure had begun wrapping dumplings, and the filling was Deidara.
The Fourth Kazekage hid behind the crowd, watching Deidara and sighing repeatedly. Ever since the White Yaksha, there was unexpectedly another such capable air force under heaven. Truly a tiger general! I should…
Kill him.
Cherishing talent? How could that be possible? The shinobi world had no tradition of recruiting enemies into surrender. As for figuring out the intruder's identity? A corpse would be enough.
In the end, Deidara did not possess the ability to charge in and out seven times. If he could run away once, he should already thank heaven and earth.
Fortunately, this incident still ended with his successful escape. Because Deidara was not fighting alone. He still had a little buddy.
Sasori, who was on the outskirts, saw this situation and knew that the plan had already been exposed. Thus, he gave up on the idea of summoning his spy and immediately began preparing to support Deidara.
In truth, he should have summoned Mr. Spy one day earlier. That way, he could at least have understood this village's anti-air capabilities, and Deidara would not have been violently beaten down from the sky.
Regardless of whether there was any pure revolutionary friendship between this Akatsuki duo, they were at least teammates. Sasori could not very well watch Deidara be surrounded and killed. Thus, Sasori also began getting involved.
At the same time, he could no longer care about hiding his identity. Once he made a move, it was an ultimate-level technique: Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets.
So long as Sasori of the Red Sand is here, Little Deidara shall not be kicked for nothing!
For his bro, he could do it!
Next, the two fought while retreating, beginning a steadfast, unyielding, and magnificently explosive escape operation. Then, in a way that could move heaven and earth, they succeeded.
Thus, the result of this matter was that Sunagakure discovered nothing, yet got blown up for nothing again. What exactly was the other side's identity? Why did they invade Sunagakure for no reason? Was this a conspiracy of war, or the spontaneous act of a thrill-seeking criminal? The Kazekage had no clue at all.
Sunagakure was miserable. Little Deidara was even more miserable. This invasion was simply…
He also never figured out why he had been suddenly ambushed. Shouldn't he have been the one launching the surprise attack? Why had he become the one being ambushed?
Out of a serious and responsible attitude, back then Yagoromo really should have reminded the entire shinobi world: all of his performances were dangerous stunts, for entertainment only. Do not imitate. Any resemblance is purely courting death.
"Tsk, tsk."
As the four of them gradually approached, Yagoromo could see Sunagakure's current state even more clearly, and the situation made him click his tongue.
"What exactly is wrong with this world? People are invading other people's villages at the drop of a hat, attempting to destroy hard-won peace. Is there no law anymore? Is there no heavenly justice anymore?"
Yagoromo's muttering… was indeed very reasonable. But when these words came out of his mouth, no matter how one listened, it felt awkward. Were those words really spoken with a clear conscience?
However, judging from Sunagakure's current level of security, it seemed that the losses they had suffered had remained mostly superficial. In actuality, they were not too severe.
The village's security was still extremely strict. Yagoromo's group was discovered very early on, and when they drew closer, Sunagakure shinobi finally stopped them.
"Stop! Who are you?"
In any case, they were not his own people, so this person's attitude was extremely impolite… He fully demonstrated the sort of emotion that someone whose hometown had been bombed again last night ought to have.
Yagoromo revealed a smile that he thought was very kind, but was actually very suspicious.
"We are envoys from Konoha. Prior notice should have been sent to the Kazekage."
"Envoys from Konoha?"
At one glance, this Sunagakure receptionist was clearly not a professional. He did not even know that important guests were coming.
In truth, he really was not a professional. He had been temporarily assigned to the post, so it was not strange that he did not know this information… The professional one had been killed yesterday.
The words "envoys from Konoha" successfully attracted the attention of the Sunagakure shinobi nearby, who were clearing the path through the narrow canyon entrance. But after one shinobi saw Yagoromo's appearance, the hand he had raised to lift a stone suddenly loosened. Then, with a look of terror and disbelief, he plopped down on the ground.
Had he seen something terrifying?
"What's wrong?"
The sound of the stone hitting the ground, as well as the terrified expression of this shinobi, successfully attracted the attention of everyone around him, including Yagoromo.
"White…"
"White?"
Yagoromo glanced at Haku beside him, then used his eyes to signal: Do you know this person?
Haku shook his head. How could he possibly know someone from Sunagakure?
Of course, the other party could not possibly know Haku either. Or rather, what he wanted to say was not Haku's name. What he wanted to say was…
"White Yaksha!!"
A scream like a slaughtered pig announced just how unwelcome Yagoromo was in this place.
"See that? This is the level you should aim for as a shinobi."
Yagoromo ignored the other party's emotionally complicated scream and instead seized the opportunity to educate Mirai.
The name White Yaksha could make old men cry at night. Was that impressive or not?
After hearing the name "White Yaksha," all the surrounding Sunagakure shinobi also reacted. They entered an extremely guarded state, ready to attack at any moment.
Some of them revealed complicated expressions that seemed to say: Why is it you again?
The identity of last night's enemy had yet to be determined, and now the White Yaksha had appeared here. Therefore, according to a normal train of logic, the Sunagakure shinobi had more than enough reason to suspect that this was Yagoromo's doing.
For no other reason than the fact that he had a record… Had he become addicted to blowing up Sunagakure?
Yagoromo instantly understood their emotions. After considering that his current mission did not seem to be picking a fight with Sunagakure, he opened his mouth to explain.
"What if I told you this was all a coincidence? Would you believe me?"
He was the one who was truly depressed. Was this really necessary? Whenever something like this happened, they pinned it on him?
How could the world be so unfair? What happened to basic trust between people?
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