Although Hagoromo had always been used to courting death, situations where he truly suffered a loss were rather rare. In the past, he had always been the one blowing others up. When had there ever been any possibility of him getting blown up?
Putting it that way, Deidara really was a great shinobi.
After the explosion, once things had settled down slightly, Hagoromo first dispelled Sage Mode. Then he formed hand seals with both hands and summoned Kimimaro and Haku back from Shikkotsu Forest.
The mental states of those two were not very good either.
"For a moment there, I really thought we were dead…" Haku said as soon as he appeared, his tone carrying a lingering fear.
An explosion of that scale—if he had really been forced to withstand it head-on, how thick an ice wall would he have had to make to block it?
"It would be better for us to treat this as if we already died once," Kimimaro replied. Although he habitually wore a deadpan expression, his mood could not possibly be calm either. That kind of extreme challenge just now could be called an unbearable weight upon life.
"Also, Lightning Release: Four Symbols' first actual combat test completely failed," Mirai added.
But rather than adding to the discussion, it felt more like she was twisting the knife into Hagoromo.
Why insist on taking it head-on? If they had simply chosen to dodge instead of resisting directly, none of this would have happened.
Hagoromo: "…"
Fine. He now understood the terror of being dominated by self-destruction.
Earlier, when he had said "respect," it was actually more an exclamation than sincere admiration. A shinobi who could self-destruct at the drop of a hat and make the self-destruction so large-scale—could the entire shinobi world even find a second one?
Cough. Actually, it really could.
But to be honest, in terms of practicality against a single target, this technique was not exactly ideal. The scale and power of the self-destruction were indeed great, but this kind of "greatness" was far too wasteful. A shinobi who could escape from such a technique would still be able to escape even if Deidara's self-destruction scale were ten times larger.
This self-destruction was clearly an area-of-effect skill. Deidara should have plunged headfirst into some great shinobi village and then self-destructed. Only then could he achieve the best result, and it would have allowed his art's "great name" to spread even farther.
Perhaps Deidara himself had considered this possibility before, but in the end, he had still used his one and only chance in life here. That really could not help but make one feel regret.
One move to blow up one village. Thinking about it was actually a little exciting.
"Cough. Leaving Deidara aside for now, under these circumstances, he's definitely dead beyond dead. The problem is Sasori of the…"
The enemies present just now had not been limited to one person. At this moment, Deidara was definitely dead and gone, but what about Sasori, who had been dragged down by his teammate?
Could he still be rescued? If he could be rescued, Hagoromo still had to go over and finish him off.
Also, in an explosion of this scale, the Anbu shinobi who had previously refused to listen to Hagoromo's persuasion and stubbornly stayed behind to carry out surveillance probably had also met misfortune.
Puppeteers should lack powerful defensive methods. Logically speaking, Sasori had no possibility of survival.
However, before Hagoromo could finish asking this question, Mirai suddenly moved.
Her hands rapidly formed seals, and immediately after she completed them, lightning patterns appeared across her body… She had directly entered Chidori Current, third stage.
Then, with speed almost like teleportation, she appeared somewhere in the distance.
There seemed to be something about to emerge from the ground there… So in the next instant, Mirai smashed her fist down without the slightest hesitation.
Although it could not be compared with the explosion just now, the commotion caused by this attack was still not small. The ground directly cracked and collapsed.
The thing beneath her fist should originally have been a puppet, but after taking that punch, it had already become a pile of parts.
The lightning patterns on Mirai's body faded, but it was not over yet. Immediately afterward, a mass of Chidori Current lightning lit up over that pile of puppet-like debris.
Hagoromo blinked. All right, this was his first time seeing this kind of attack method. It was probably that "Big Sister Tsunade" had taught Mirai some assorted techniques.
There was no need to say how powerful Chidori Current, third stage was by itself, but adding "Chakra Enhanced Strength" on top of this move—what exactly was she trying to do? Did she still think her fist was not heavy enough?
In any case, it was rather creative. With this combination, the power was even more guaranteed.
But was the person who took that hit Sasori?
Hagoromo walked forward, preparing to inspect it. But two minutes later, he discovered that he could not inspect anything at all… He could only vaguely tell that this pile of things had once been a humanoid puppet.
Then was it Sasori? Probably?
First taking a nuke, then taking a friendship face-breaking punch, and to be safe, being electrocuted once more by Chidori Current—who could still tell whether this was Sasori or not?
"Is it Sasori?" Mirai asked Hagoromo.
But Hagoromo was not certain either.
"Probably?"
"Just now, I sensed that this chakra reaction was consistent with Sasori's. If this is Sasori, then he's… already dead?"
Under Mirai's perception, there were no other chakra reactions nearby. In other words, this pile in front of them really might be Sasori.
Deidara died in magnificent fashion, while Sasori of the Red Sand, who was screwed over by him, died in pieces… Earlier, Sasori probably had also miscalculated the power of the self-destruction, right? So he must have been quite frustrated. In other words, he truly had been blown to death by his own teammate.
"No matter what, let's leave here first. In a little while, quite a few shinobi we don't need to meet will probably appear."
After another fruitless search, Hagoromo had no choice but to treat that lump as Sasori. Then he decided to take Team Six and leave this place.
After causing such a huge disturbance, putting aside the Otogakure shinobi of the Land of Rice Fields for now, it might draw Kumogakure shinobi here… No, it should be said that it definitely would draw Kumogakure shinobi.
Since Tsunade had temporarily forbidden Hagoromo from making contact with Kumogakure, it was best for him to leave as soon as possible.
However, this obedience of his lasted only for that single instant.
After Hagoromo took Team Six away from the area and had just returned to the Land of Fire, a crow that had appeared at some unknown point kept circling over his head.
After discovering this, Hagoromo stopped. Then, with a thought, he extended his right arm.
Sure enough, the crow slanted down from midair and landed on his arm.
The crow stood on one foot. In its other claw, it held a small scroll… More importantly, this crow had a pair of scarlet three-tomoe eyes.
As for who its master was, that went without saying.
After Hagoromo took the scroll, the crow immediately flew away… Since Itachi had used this method to send a message, there should be some urgent situation. Hagoromo quickly unfurled the scroll, and the information revealed on it was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations.
This time, Sasori and Deidara's apparent mission had indeed been to go to Kumogakure and capture the Two-Tails' jinchūriki. But in reality, within the Akatsuki's overall plan, they were merely "bait."
This was their punishment for the failure of their previous operation.
And the leaking of their movements had also been partially deliberate. Then, which fish was this "bait" meant to hook?
The answer was too simple.
After Hagoromo was lured away, the other members of the Akatsuki had another major operation.
After putting away the scroll, Hagoromo's gaze flickered slightly… There were also matters he found difficult to decide for a moment.
"Hagoromo?"
Seeing that he had not reacted for a while, Mirai called out to him. Only then did Hagoromo finally come back to himself.
"Move. From now on, we speed up."
"Move? Back to Konoha?"
"No. We turn around…"
"To Amegakure!"
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