Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 82 Assault and Counterattack

This sandy land has never encountered such a dangerous enemy.

After a loud bang, the east gate tower collapsed amidst the roar, and the puppets that moved through the smoke completely occupied the breached walls, flying into the city in a massive wave.

Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!

Suddenly, a burst of flames shattered the puppets' formation, and the flames even covered one side of the city wall, forcefully halting the puppets' charge.

"Dude, are you sure you can handle this?! They have ninjas skilled in Fire Release techniques on the other side! Hmm." After providing a mount and the bombs needed to open the city gates, Deidara sat on the sidelines watching the show. This was just a small country that barely survived by relying on the oasis; they didn't think the other side had any fighting power, so they attacked without even conducting any investigation. They hadn't expected the other side to have ninjas capable of using Fire Release techniques on such a large scale. Were there many of them?

"Shut up, my puppets aren't afraid of fire." Sasori glared at Deidara with utter disdain, then immediately adjusted the puppets' formation, unleashing a hail of shuriken in the direction from which the fire jutsu was coming.

The fire-style technique stopped, but surprisingly, there was only one ninja visible beneath the smoke and dust. Before they could even get a clear look at the figure, he jumped off the city wall.

"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

The ninja landed squarely on the earth dragon that flew out of the ground. And there was more than one dragon; two earth dragons roared as they rose into the air, with an aura that seemed poised to shatter the large white bird in mid-air.

Deidara swore he'd never seen an earth dragon of this size in all his years in Iwagakure. A normal earth dragon bullet was only about the thickness of a person and five or six meters long, but these two flying up now were large enough to be ridden, and their tails hadn't even left the ground yet. Keep in mind, they were flying! Even though they'd lowered their altitude to coordinate with Sasori's puppet control, they were still over ten meters off the ground!

The giant dragons moved in a crisscross pattern, quickly concealing the attacker's figure. The destructive power of this thing was astonishing; Sasori's ordinary puppets shattered upon impact, and the explosive tags at most left some debris, quickly repairing themselves. Deidara controlled the giant bird, nimbly dodging attacks, occasionally scattering clay spiders, ready to launch a surprise attack on the ninja who was nowhere to be seen. However, the opponent clearly had no intention of engaging in close combat. A sudden thunderstorm descended from the sky, directly breaking the giant bird's wings. Moreover, the creature seemed completely unconcerned about chakra consumption, maintaining the thunderstorm as it fell with them, giving Deidara no chance to create another bird.

The salamander reappeared, protecting the two, while Sasori used the scattered puppets to hold back the salamander and reduce its momentum. He was alright, but Deidara was still made of flesh and blood; falling like that would likely result in serious injury.

"They even have Lightning Release! I hate Lightning Release ninjas the most!" Deidara forgot his usual quirks, and as soon as the thunderstorm stopped, he launched the two-winged bird he had been holding. At the same time, the earth dragon destroyed by the Lightning Release turned into a rain of falling stones, mixed with a few spider bombs that hadn't been affected.

"drink!"

The flying birds blocked the ninja's escape route, and the falling earth rain was his death warrant. In a series of loud noises, the ninja disappeared completely.

"Wing! Damn it!" The ninja controlling the earth dragon finally revealed himself amidst the disappearance of his companion. The man was dressed in the typical desert dweller's attire, covering himself up so that only his eyes were visible. Despite the exhaustion he had endured for so long, he still had the strength to spare, and a wave of earth currents surged forth.

The Qingyu duo, who had finally breached the city walls, were nowhere to be found. Even more terrifying, the enemy managed to seal the breach created by the explosion with an earthen wall!

“The opponent has a lot of chakra.” After a moment’s thought, Sasori pulled out his trump card, a puppet. “Let’s attack together and finish this quickly.”

"That's exactly what I was thinking, hmm."

The black iron sand surged upwards against the randomly protruding rock spikes on the earth-style city wall. Those highly recognizable objects were unforgettable once seen. Senju Kashiwagi, who had fought in World War II, had fought against Sunagakure, and had been killed by that very object, immediately activated his strongest defensive measures. He then glanced at his teammates still in formation.

This state absolutely cannot be seen by the enemy, but he really can't withstand the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release technique!!

"Lord Jinlun! Help!"

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation." It wasn't the Golden Wheel that descended from the sky, but rather Lord Izuna, dressed in very common attire.

High temperatures can melt iron sand into a single piece, instantly increasing the difficulty of manipulating it by several levels. If the opponent doesn't want to lose this useful puppet, they will have no choice but to give up on a direct attack.

"Is it reinforcements? Or..." The impact of the iron sand stopped as expected. Scorpion looked up and saw a unique figure. This person didn't seem like a local at all. Instead, he looked like a resident of a comfortable area who had wandered into the desert.

"For such a remote place to attract Akatsuki's attention... could it be that the old potato from Iwagakure is dissatisfied?" Izuna, of course, saw Tsubasa lying down and carefully turned to signal Kashiwagi to quickly hide him and prevent him from appearing again. The matter of the Impure World Reincarnation must not be seen by Akatsuki. Who knows if the guy behind it, who is causing trouble with his brother's name, knows the details of this technique.

Deidara couldn't help but laugh out loud. It's true, that nickname suits the Tsuchikage quite well. But his companions weren't laughing.

"I heard you're mercenaries who only work for money. How much do you get paid per appearance? Is it enough to repair your puppets? Oh, and by the way, Sasori of the Red Sand, don't even think about taking back the puppets you threw in. The guards are probably having a blast dismantling them right now."

The clay bird, which had been stealthily approaching along the wall, was taken down by two kunai crackling with electricity. Izuna, however, wasn't about to let Deidara off the hook, and continued, "Deidara, aren't you the same? Your Exploding Clay has an important ingredient that can only be found in the northeastern part of the Land of Stone, right? What's that mine called again..."

"How did you know!" Deidara exclaimed in surprise. He was using a secret technique of Iwagakure, and no one except the old man should know the recipe.

"'The Art of Explosion'—that's the name you used in the underground trading grounds of the Land of Earth, isn't it? You should come up with a few more names and change them for each country, otherwise... even the recipe will be guessed~"

Izuna's smile was particularly wicked. Holding onto various remote transportation routes allowed him to act with such arrogance; even underground exchanges had been quietly infiltrated without his knowledge. Of course, these malignant tumors weren't part of his future plans; this infiltration was merely a prelude to a more effective dismantling later.

But the owners of the exchanges have no idea what the future holds; profit-driven businessmen only focus on the present.