The battlefield of Deidara and Sasuke.
"Is that so? My swordsmanship is ineffective against you, but your explosions don't seem to be of much use either," Sasuke's arrogant voice echoed from the shadows. Deidara was instantly enraged. All Uchiha were so condescending, which Deidara detested.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
Sasuke, too lazy to waste words with Deidara, quickly formed hand seals. A ball of lightning appeared in his hand, which could also be extended like a laser sword, but with a much greater reach.
Deidara's attention was entirely on Sasuke. The moment Sasuke made his move, Deidara conjured a large bird and rapidly ascended.
"This jutsu is Kakashi's, isn't it! But your lightning release can change form, is that also due to the Uchiha bloodline? Hmm."
Sasuke's eyes turned cold. He leaped high, thrusting the Chidori Sharp Spear in his hand directly at Deidara's chest. However, Deidara, having understood Sasuke's inability to fight in the air, immediately commanded his bird to climb higher.
Deidara's assessment was correct. As Deidara ascended to a certain height, Sasuke's Chidori Sharp Spear could no longer reach him. This meant Deidara was completely outside Sasuke's attack range, while Sasuke was within Deidara's explosive radius from all angles.
"I see. The effective range of this jutsu is about five kilometers. Now, please enjoy my art! Hmm!"
Deidara grinned evilly in the air, reaching into his ninja pouch and stuffing clay into his mouths.
Before long, countless medium-sized clay figures emerged from the mouths on Deidara's hands, which he continuously threw at Sasuke.
"Chidori Senbon!" Seeing the dense barrage of bombs raining down from above, Sasuke immediately used an area-of-effect jutsu to intercept the aerial projectiles.
"Useless! My new art! Lightning release won't be effective! Hmph!"
Deidara shouted, and the clay figures hit by Chidori Senbon instantly exploded. The countless sparks scattered by the explosions detonated again, albeit with reduced power.
However, these continuous explosions ignited other unexploded medium-sized clay figures, creating a chain reaction. The sound of explosions never ceased.
"How about that! My art! Even if you are an Uchiha prodigy, you cannot survive this continuous barrage of explosions! Hahahahahaha!" Deidara seemed to have descended into madness, solely focused on killing this arrogant, show-off of a guy.
"Fuma Shuriken!"
Sasuke dodged the surrounding explosions while contemplating a countermeasure. Upon hearing Deidara's voice, Sasuke immediately threw two Fuma Shuriken.
Seeing two shuriken fly out from the explosions, Deidara descended slightly and easily dodged them. But that wasn't the end. Sasuke waved his hand, pulling the steel wires attached to the shuriken forcefully. The shuriken swiftly swung back, striking Deidara. Deidara, clearly caught off guard, was pinned to the back of his bird by Sasuke's two shuriken.
Simultaneously, Sasuke activated the Cursed Seal of Heaven, transforming into its second state. Two wings grew from his back, his hair turned blue, and a cross-shaped mark appeared on his face.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
Sasuke unleashed the Chidori Sharp Spear again. With a wave of his hand, he severed the wings of the bird Deidara was riding, forcing Deidara to descend from the air.
"Quite capable, aren't you! Since aerial combat doesn't seem to be effective, how about this! Hmm!"
Deidara knelt on the ground, and from the mouths on his hands, he extruded a mass of white clay, which slowly formed into a humanoid shape. There was also a clay line used to control the clay bombs.
"Explosive Clay, Puppet Technique!"
This clay was incredibly soft and highly adhesive. Once stuck, escape was impossible, and it would split when struck by sharp objects.
Sasuke initially used Chidori to destroy these clay puppets, but the clay exploded upon contact with lightning. He was now forced to use his Kusanagi sword.
However, clay puppets struck by the Kusanagi sword would quickly split into two, and continued cutting would result in further splitting. Sasuke couldn't think of a way to deal with these clay puppets and could only engage in a protracted battle within the forest.
Before long, Sasuke accidentally got entangled by a clay puppet. Subsequently, other clay puppets rapidly climbed onto Sasuke's body, enveloping him in an instant.
"Gotcha! Hmph!" Deidara rejoiced inwardly and quickly formed hand seals to detonate the clay puppets.
However, only a log flew out from the explosion; Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.
"Another substitution jutsu? What a persistent brat! Hmm. Not good!" Just as Deidara was marveling, Sasuke suddenly appeared beside him and swung his sword towards Deidara's hands. Fortunately, Deidara reacted quickly and retracted his hands; otherwise, both would have been lost. However, the line connecting the clay puppets was severed by Sasuke, breaking the Puppet Technique.
"Tch! If that's the case, then you'll taste this technique I was saving for Itachi! Tobi, you get out of here!" Deidara retreated, picked up a ball of clay, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Upon seeing this, Tobi immediately fled the battlefield: "Oh no! This is Master Deidara's C4 Garuda!"
Sasuke, knowing Deidara was about to unleash a powerful technique, used Shunshin no Jutsu to get close and thrust his sword into Deidara. However, it was too late. The Deidara who was stabbed began to swell, followed by a violent explosion.
It was a clay clone of Deidara. At this moment, Deidara had returned to the air, formed hand seals, and spat out a large mass of clay, which formed a giant Deidara on the ground.
"C4, Garuda!"
The giant Deidara slowly walked towards Sasuke. Sasuke, seeing this, quickly moved away. However, with each step the giant Deidara took, it covered the distance of a hundred of Sasuke's steps, making it impossible for Sasuke to escape.
The Garuda then rapidly expanded, only to deflate as if it were a leaky balloon. Sasuke wasn't foolish enough to believe it was a dud and not prepare for defense.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Sasuke summoned a giant snake that tightly protected his body. However, the snake's body began to disintegrate. Sasuke, unable to do anything else, used the summoning jutsu again, and another giant snake was summoned...
Meanwhile, Deidara, having exhausted all his chakra using Garuda, was slumped on the ground, gasping for breath. Sasuke had completely disappeared from his sight. However, Deidara was confident that Sasuke could not withstand this attack.
...
After a while, Deidara slowly stood up and walked in the direction Sasuke had fled. His pupils then constricted.
A giant snake stood before Sasuke. However, this snake was dead, having been reduced to mere bone and scraps by the Garuda's explosion. Sasuke himself was slumped on the ground, his chakra for summoning jutsu completely depleted, unable to even activate his Sharingan.
"You rascal! You're still alive!" Deidara was furious that his meticulously prepared Garuda couldn't kill such a brat.
Deidara took out another ball of clay, removed his cloak, revealing a large mouth on his chest. Just as he was about to put the clay into his mouth, Li Xing suddenly appeared beside Deidara and grabbed his hand.
"Hmm? Li Xing, let go! I'm going to kill this guy! I will become art with my body!" Deidara struggled to break free from Li Xing's grasp, but he was unable to due to his own strength.
"Alright, alright. You won this fight. Sasuke couldn't possibly defeat you. You still have clay and chakra, while Sasuke has lost his fighting ability. There's no need for you to perish with Sasuke. If you still want to discuss art with me, then listen to me." Li Xing took the clay from Deidara's hand and then threw a red cloud robe at him.
Deidara thought for a moment. What Li Xing said made sense. Why should he use his ultimate art for a defeated opponent? It would be more enjoyable to exchange ideas about art with Li Xing later.
"Indeed, you are right. I will spare Sasuke's life today. Hmm."
Seeing that Deidara was no longer suicidal, Li Xing immediately turned to Sasuke and said, "Itachi is in the southern part of the Land of Fire, at the ruins of the Uchiha clan. You should know the place, but I suggest you recover from your injuries before challenging Itachi."
Li Xing couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. Sasuke actually thought of using Manda to block Garuda. This death was far more tragic than in the original story; he wouldn't even have a complete corpse.
Afterward, Li Xing and Deidara flew away from the scene, where Karin and Yugito were waiting in the air.
"Deidara, I sincerely advise you not to detonate yourself. You should pursue more beautiful art. If I hadn't sensed the explosion here today and flown over immediately, you probably wouldn't even have a body left." In the air, Li Xing tried to persuade Deidara to change his profession and pursue other forms of art. Playing with mud every day was too dangerous.
"Now is not the time for that. My chakra hasn't recovered yet. Let's find a place to rest. Hmm."
Li Xing and the other two didn't mind. If rest was needed, they would rest. They landed and casually made a house. Deidara ran inside and collapsed into sleep.
"Tch. He's already not afraid of lightning release, yet he fought to this extent. This art is worthless. But Karin wanted me to save Sasuke's life. Is this some kind of Heavenly Dao plot correction? The protagonist cannot die. He actually mistook me for that benefactor," Li Xing muttered while sitting beside Deidara, shaking his head and lamenting the weakness of Deidara's art and the damnable law of "no smoke, no injury."