"Hoh? Is this the true form of Sanbi? It's like a turtle. And a jinchuriki? Never mind, that Copy Ninja Kakashi is here too. If he uses that strange jutsu from last time again, it'll be trouble. Let's capture Sanbi first! Hmm." Deidara hovered in the air with Karin and Yugito, scouting. It was Deidara's first time seeing a wild Tailed Beast, and he couldn't help but exclaim.
"Are we really going to capture it?" Yugito still felt a twinge of sympathy for the Tailed Beast, clearly unwilling to fight Sanbi.
"You're not an Akatsuki member. Just watch from up here. Deidara will handle this. But you need to get used to this scene. This is just Sanbi," Karin noticed Yugito's reluctance and gently held her hand to comfort her.
"This is a lake. Small clay bombs won't work. So, I'll use this! Hmm."
The mouth on Deidara's palm spat out a clay bomb shaped like a Western dragon. After forming a few hand seals, he dropped it towards Sanbi's location.
The ninjas below felt the sky suddenly darken. Looking up, they saw a giant dragon-shaped object plummeting at an incredible speed.
Naruto and Kakashi, having fought Deidara before, immediately recognized it as an Akatsuki bomb and shouted, "Run! It's an Akatsuki bomb!"
"Art is an explosion! Hah!"
As Deidara's voice fell, the giant dragon exploded above the lake. Brilliant fireworks streaked across the surface, forming a beautiful scene.
"So beautiful... Is this the true power of the Akatsuki?" Yugito stared at the scene below, stunned. She had only seen such sights during fireworks festivals, but never with such power.
Sanbi, being closest to the explosion's epicenter, felt a searing heat despite its tough exterior. Feeling injured, it plunged into the water, intending to temporarily evade Deidara's blast.
"Tch, miscalculated. The power wasn't enough, and Sanbi escaped into the water." Deidara's face showed obvious regret as Sanbi sank to the lakebed. He should have just used C3 directly.
"The one who took Gaara!!" Naruto looked up at the giant bird flying in the sky, his eyes filled with rage.
Meanwhile, Honglian, to protect Yugimaru, shielded him with her body, taking a significant amount of damage and spitting out a mouthful of blood that stained the white camellias.
Seeing the red camellias, Yugimaru suddenly recalled the day his mother died, when the camellias were also red. Honglian was the same now, as if he had returned to that day.
"No! Honglian, don't turn the camellias red! Don't!" Yugimaru cried, looking down. A powerful chakra emanated from him.
Kabuto, seeing Yugimaru like this, couldn't help but smile. Emotions were key to fully unleashing Yugimaru's abilities.
Sanbi, which had sunk to the lakebed, felt this power again. Its remaining eye turned red, and it lost its mind and went berserk once more.
Suddenly, a column of water shot up from the center of the lake. Sanbi surfaced and immediately unleashed a Tailed Beast Bomb, resembling a laser cannon, with Deidara as its target.
"Hoh? That brat can make Sanbi go berserk? What a significant discovery, hmm!"
Deidara had been contemplating whether to dry up the lake to prevent Sanbi from escaping. This turn of events delighted him, as it would save him a lot of trouble.
"Deidara, now is not the time to be spacing out! The attack is coming!"
Seeing Deidara's inaction, Karin quickly unleashed Susanoo to block Sanbi's attack.
"Sorry! I was just thinking about something else. You two, go watch from the side!"
Deidara gestured for them to fly further away and watch, intending to deal with Sanbi himself.
"As I thought, you're here for Yugimaru too?" Honglian slowly stood up, looking at Deidara in the sky. She believed these people were here to obtain Yugimaru and control Sanbi. To protect Yugimaru, she ignored her severe injuries and began forming hand seals.
"Crystal Style: Crystal Dragon Descending Technique!"
A giant dragon-shaped crystal shot up into the sky, directly confronting Deidara, with Honglian standing on its head despite her grave injuries.
"Honglian! No!" Yugimaru shouted with all his might, telling Honglian not to go. But Honglian's eyes were only on Deidara, and she couldn't hear anything else.
"Crystal Style: Hexagonal Shuriken! Barrage!"
Innumerable crystal shuriken appeared in the air, flying towards Deidara's giant bird at extreme speed.
"Hmm? Who is this woman? Never mind who she is, if she dares to attack, she's an enemy." Seeing Honglian's aggressive move, Deidara casually threw out a dense swarm of clay spiders, which exploded in the air. Honglian's crystals couldn't break through Deidara's explosive range.
"Akatsuki business! All irrelevant individuals, disperse!"
Ryo turned appeared in front of Honglian, kicking her back down with a single blow, knocking her unconscious. He shouted to intimidate the ninjas present.
"Ryo!"
"Star..."
Several Konoha ninjas who knew Ryo exclaimed in surprise. Naruto wanted to bring Ryo back to Tsunade, but he lacked the strength.
Shizune felt a sense of helplessness. Shizune knew Ryo's terrifying talent best. Seeing Ryo now meant this mission was doomed to failure; instead, they had to protect Naruto, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
Of course, Ino's feelings were completely different. She was only filled with excitement. She hadn't seen Ryo in a long time and wished she could rush to his side immediately. However, she couldn't fly and it was inconvenient to reveal herself, so she could only call out to Star in her heart.
"That Tobi fellow, he must be hiding somewhere watching, right?" Ryo knew why Tobi wasn't present and couldn't help but complain internally about how good Obito was at pretending.
"Sister Shizune, it's been a while. And Ino, have you missed me!"
Ryo looked down at them, greeting them with a smile.
"Star..." Ino couldn't openly greet Ryo, but her gaze as she looked up at him held a special emotion.
"Ryo-kun, Lord Tsunade has been waiting for you to return." Shizune slowly walked up to Naruto, intending to protect him as they left.
"What's going on? Ryo, do you know any of these Konoha ninjas?" Deidara, busy dealing with Sanbi and analyzing its weaknesses with his left eye's mechanical lens, noticed Ryo conversing with Konoha ninjas and asked.
"Deidara, it's fine. Hang on, I have something to take care of, and I'll be right there to help you."
Ryo flew towards Naruto and grabbed his head with one hand, whispering in his ear, "Hurry and leave! Our mission is only for Sanbi. If you want to avenge Gaara, I suggest you come back after you've developed a new jutsu. Otherwise, my performance today will increase by another Nine-Tails."
Naruto was shocked. Ryo was indeed still the Ryo he remembered, completely different from the other Akatsuki members. This further strengthened Naruto's resolve to bring Ryo back. However, Naruto wasn't foolish; he lacked the combat power and chakra to continue fighting. He needed to find a way to leave first.
"Chidori!"
Kakashi, unfamiliar with Ryo and not understanding him, charged forward with Chidori. Ryo deliberately allowed Kakashi to strike him, and in an instant, one of his arms was severed.
Kakashi then didn't linger, grabbing Naruto and fleeing the scene. Anywhere was fine, as long as the Akatsuki members didn't see them.