Chapter 285: Guy Cried
The collision of their two ultimate jutsus happened in an instant.
In just a few seconds, the explosion had run its course, leaving behind nothing but a desolate wasteland. Sasori's eyes were wide as he stared ahead; the sealing patterns on the scroll before him had completely vanished. Those eighteen puppets from a moment ago were like single-use props—the scroll was now a blank sheet of paper.
Sasori could only use his puppet frame to prop himself up, struggling to keep from collapsing. What had just erupted wasn't just the chakra stored within those puppets; the energy required to trigger such a forbidden jutsu had been drained directly from his core.
"Deidara... I never thought I would end my life in your style of art."
As death approached, a kaleidoscope of memories flashed through Sasori's mind. His only regret was that he wouldn't leave this world in the manner he considered true art. He certainly hadn't expected that man to possess such terrifying Lightning Style.
However, he could no longer see his opponent. He assumed the man had been reduced to ash and scattered to the winds during the clash. To force him to violate his artistic beliefs and release a forbidden jutsu he never wanted to use—the man was a worthy opponent. From the day he created that technique, he had viewed it as a curse, a betrayal of his inner faith.
Tap, tap, tap.
Hearing footsteps, Sasori lifted his head. He saw Sakura and Chiyo, both physically exhausted, walking toward him from the distance. Looking at Chiyo, the images of his parents appeared in his mind, followed by memories of Chiyo teaching him puppet mastery as a child.
"Ten days from now, at noon... Tenchi Bridge in the Grass Village. I have a spy at Orochimaru's side... he is scheduled to meet me there. Although you weren't the ones who defeated me, still... that guy is just too disgusting..."
Spurt!
Before he could finish, blood sprayed from the core in his chest. His puppet eyes slowly closed.
Sakura and Chiyo hadn't expected Sasori to reveal information about Orochimaru in his final moments. Sakura let go of Chiyo, stepped forward to examine him, and pulled out the core from inside the puppet.
"His physical energy is depleted, and his chakra is exhausted... so he died," Sakura murmured. Sasuke's image immediately filled her mind.
Crush!
Sakura tightened her grip, shattering Sasori's core into dust.
"Lady Chiyo..."
She turned to speak but saw the hollow look in Chiyo's eyes. A breeze swept by, carrying with it a longing that had been suppressed for decades... floating in with the wind, and now floating away with it. The purple hair of the elder fluttered, carrying the weight of her memories.
"Sakura, let us go. This old woman's remaining breath must still make one last contribution to the Sand Village," Chiyo said before Sakura could utter a word.
"Yes."
Sakura supported Chiyo as they headed toward Kakashi and the others. It took them three full minutes just to walk out of the central crater created by the explosion.
"Waaaah~ My luck is too good!"
On a cliffside, Guy was hugging a fallen tree trunk, tears streaming down his face. If he hadn't run fast enough just now, he would have been a goner. He wiped his eyes. "Right, my three beloved students..."
Beep, beep!
He frantically pressed the radio at his ear. After pressing it for a long time with no response, he wailed, "It can't be... Waaaah... my dear students... in that explosion..."
The tears already covering Guy's face turned into a literal waterfall.
Snap!
Suddenly, his hand stopped. He took the radio off and realized the sound he'd heard was just the noise of a broken device.
"The radio is just broken? ...Ah! My beloved students!" Infinite hope rose in Guy's heart as he scrambled up the cliff.
On a massive rock face, a three-meter-wide crater sat illuminated by the sun. Neji was embedded in the wall in a star shape.
"Not dead..."
Crack, crack!
The sound of misaligned bones echoed. Neji used the tiny bit of chakra he had just recovered to open his Byakugan. He quickly snapped his bones back into place. Thanks to the clone acting as a shield against that powerful attack, he had survived. Even so, his chakra and physical body were pushed to the limit. He would need time to recover before he could provide support to Naruto. Fortunately, he hadn't been too close to the center.
"The radio is broken..."
Rock Lee stood behind a massive fallen tree, five men wide, staring at the radio in his hand. Because of the trees and his speed, his injuries weren't heavy, but the radio couldn't withstand the pressure. He stood up and climbed to the top of the remaining timber to look back at the battlefield.
Everything in sight was in ruins. The forest where he stood had been flattened like wheat in a storm. Only in this far-flung area had a few individual trees withstood the aftershock.
Gulp. Lee swallowed hard. "Sakura..."
A look of worry flashed across his face. He jumped down and sprinted back toward the direction of the blast.
On top of a massive earth wall, a girl with twin buns poked her head out. Looking ahead, out of the ten layers of earth walls, only the one beneath her was intact. The other nine had been pulverized.
"Teacher Tonbo is such a blowhard. He said these were ultimate defenses, and yet so many layers were broken just by an aftershock. I'm definitely complaining when I get back," Tenten grumbled. But seeing the scene in the distance, she let out a sigh of relief. Regardless, she had cheated death.
"Wait, I wonder how Guy-sensei and the others are?" She quickly pressed her radio, but after a while, there was no response.
Whoosh!
Worried, Tenten hurried off. She knew they weren't specialists in defensive ninjutsu. A wide-range attack like that could easily cost them an arm or a leg.
Zetsu emerged next to the remains of Sasori, holding a cracked ring engraved with the kanji for "Jewel" (Gyoku).
"Impressive. A ring made by the Rinnegan actually shattered under this kind of attack."
Swish!
Suddenly, a figure snatched the ring from his hand. "It's broken! It's broken! Does this mean I can't become an official Akatsuki member anymore?" A masked man hopped around playfully with the ring.
"There's no one here, stop acting. It's annoying," Zetsu said.
"Is that so? He was quite something... Sasori," the masked man said, his voice turning deep and somber.
"Let's go. The Konoha ninjas will be back to investigate soon. They aren't dead." Zetsu picked up a piece of organic debris—a fragment of the core Sakura had crushed.
"Heh. It's coming soon... for this world filled with war." The space around the masked man warped, and he vanished. Zetsu watched for a moment with a strange smile before sinking back into the ground.
A short while later, a figure in a green jumpsuit appeared. Lee looked at the empty shell of the puppet.
"The enemy is dead. Sakura should be safe." Not seeing her body, Lee felt a wave of relief. But what had happened here? It had taken him three minutes just to walk from the edge of the crater to where Sasori was. What kind of attack... could Lady Chiyo or Sakura really have caused this?
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