"Damn humans, I'll kill you!" The Eight-Tails' bull-like head rose from the seawater, its face still marred with large, charred burn marks.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Faced with an incoming Tailed Beast Ball, the best course of action was to dodge. However, the dragon's mobility was limited, making evasion impossible. Just like when he fought the Seven-Tails, Deidara could only counter explosion with explosion.
"Hah!" Boom!
"Eight-Tails Shock Value +1000" "Sasori of the Red Sand Shock Value +500" "Water Man Shock Value +500" "Motoi Shock Value +100" "Damoi..."
A deafening explosion erupted, and a powerful shockwave radiated from the core of the Tailed Beast Ball and the Dragon Mother's detonation. The two massive figures, the Eight-Tails and the clay dragon, were both blasted far away.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!" Using the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release to shield himself, Sasori observed the apocalyptic scene before him. For the first time, he began to doubt his own strength.
Blub blub... "I'm dizzy!" The intense shockwave caused the ocean surface controlled by Water Man to rise and fall violently, akin to a high-speed roller coaster. His head spun in disorientation.
This won't work! We can't win!
Deidara began to entertain thoughts of retreat. On the surface, it seemed like he had successfully neutralized a Tailed Beast Ball with an explosion, appearing invincible. But in reality, Tailed Beast Balls were not a significant burden for the Tailed Beasts, whereas his clay dragon could only withstand a few more detonations.
"C2 Standard Type: Squid!"
A massive clay squid fell into the water, accompanied by Deidara's shout from the sky.
"Brother Sasori! Water Man! Restrain the Eight-Tails! I'm about to unleash a masterpiece!"
"Not a chance!"
"Continuous Tailed Beast Balls!" Gyūki spat out a series of smaller Tailed Beast Balls like a machine gun. Although each one was less powerful than the earlier massive ball, their sheer quantity made them nearly impossible to defend against.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall!" "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Bind!" "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" "Water Release: Water Stream Whip!"
Sasori and Water Man gave it their all, and with the help of the clay squid, they barely managed to restrain the Eight-Tails.
From the sky, the C2 Enhanced Great Dragon, now reduced to half its original size yet still colossal, descended directly toward the Eight-Tails, aiming to collide with it.
"No!"
"Damn humans!" Gyūki roared in fury. In this critical moment, it unleashed 200% of its strength, breaking free from its restraints. However, it was too late to escape. It could only curl itself tightly into a ball to shield its vital areas.
Boom!
After the explosion, the world fell silent. The immense heat from the detonation instantly vaporized a large volume of seawater into steam, enveloping the Eight-Tails in a dense mist.
Then came the towering waves, resembling a terrifying tsunami. If this explosion had occurred near the shore, coastal villages and cities would have been completely submerged.
"Eight-Tails Shock Value +2000" "Sasori Shock Value..."
"Let's go!" Deidara quickly collected some of the Eight-Tails' blasted flesh and called out to Sasori and Water Man to retreat.
Deidara didn't entertain any illusions that the explosion would completely defeat the Eight-Tails. After all, it was the Eight-Tails. Such an attack might injure it, but defeating it was a far cry. Tailed Beasts were pure chakra constructs, and what would be considered severe injuries for others were merely inconveniences for them.
If they didn't flee now, they wouldn't stand a chance once the Eight-Tails recovered.
In the distance, on Giant Turtle Island, the Kumogakure ninja were in a state of panic, desperately trying to avoid the massive waves rolling toward them. They couldn't comprehend what kind of battle could create such devastation.
"Watch out! Another huge wave is coming!" Motoi shouted.
"Oh no! Giant Turtle Island is flipping over!" one of the Cloud ninja yelled. Despite its enormous size, the giant turtle was timid and gentle by nature, with virtually no combat ability. It was easily overturned by the waves.
"Damoi! Damoi!" As the island flipped, many Cloud ninja were thrown into the sea, disappearing from sight in an instant. Their fates seemed grim.
After a while, the ocean finally calmed. Led by Motoi, the remaining Cloud ninja rushed to the previous battle site. Fortunately, the unconscious Killer B was found floating quietly on the water's surface, miraculously not swept away to some unknown location by the earlier waves.
"Lord B is still alive!" one of the Cloud ninja exclaimed in delight.
"Thank goodness!" The group cheered. Losing the Eight-Tails would have been a devastating blow to Kumogakure.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the ocean's surface began to distort as space twisted. A figure emerged from a spatial wormhole, wearing a vortex-patterned mask that revealed only a single crimson Sharingan. Dressed in the Akatsuki's signature red cloud cloak, he gazed thoughtfully at the scene.
"Because the Eight-Tails hadn't fully separated from its Jinchūriki, it couldn't withstand Deidara's explosions."
"But this has created a coincidence: Deidara and his group were scared off by the Eight-Tails, while Deidara's explosions depleted the Eight-Tails' overflowing energy just as it was about to break free." Uchiha Obito chuckled. "That Jinchūriki sure is lucky."
"Should I take this Jinchūriki back with me?"
After pondering for a moment, Obito answered his own question. "No, for now, the Akatsuki should remain low-profile. Let's first collect the other Tailed Beasts in secret before targeting the heavily guarded Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails."
"Otherwise, we might provoke a direct retaliation from the Five Great Ninja Villages."
"But Deidara's abilities are truly impressive, especially for capturing Tailed Beasts and during large-scale warfare," Obito remarked calmly.
"It seems I'll need to have a talk with him and bring him over to my side." With that, Obito activated Kamui and disappeared once again.
Elsewhere, the somewhat battered Deidara, Sasori, and Water Man arrived on a deserted island. After roughly estimating the distance and deeming it safe, they finally stopped to rest.
Under the dim night sky, the atmosphere was heavy. All three had set out with high spirits—Water Man even boasting that he could rival the Three-Tails. Yet this battle with the Eight-Tails had delivered a harsh reality check.
This was especially true for Deidara. After capturing the Seven-Tails, he had felt invincible, as though his art was unmatched. But this battle had shattered that illusion.
Thinking about how Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha could easily subdue Tailed Beasts, and how the power levels in the later stages of the Naruto timeline kept escalating, even making Hashirama seem insignificant, Deidara realized there was still a long way to go.
But at least he must have earned a significant amount of Shock Value from this battle, right?
Having been too busy fighting earlier, Deidara hadn't had time to check the system notifications. Now, as he opened the interface, he scanned through it.
Huh? What's this? Something unusual had slipped in!
A long string of Shock Value notifications from Uchiha Obito made Deidara realize that Obito had been secretly observing the battle. Kamui truly was a stealthy ability.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
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